Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-12-23
PIG IR0NK ELLEYIN DIXIE
THE SOUTH'S MARVELLOUS PRO
GREsS ASTONISHES HIM.

| A Land OF Desoiation in 1867 Trans
formtd d Into Hot Bed of Prosperity
A Good Impression of Some of the
booming Cities - industrial Art
Schools for Negroes Advocated-A Big
| Future for AnnistOn.
BALTIMORE. Dec. 22.-Hon. William
! d. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, who has
lately made an extensive trip through the
| SOuto, contributes to the Baltimore Manu-
| facturers' Record OF Dec. % a lengthy
article reviewing the progress Of that Sec
tiOn, in which he presents some striking
facts as to the great Industrial develop
ment now in progress there. Referring
| TO his visit to the South in 1867 Judge
Kelley says: "'rbe South was land of
desolation. Her fields were fenceless
and uncutivated, and her people were
without reproductive stock. or that with
which to impel modern agricultural i'm
| plements had they been bestowed upon
them gratuitously. They were, gener-
| ally speaking, without seed for feed crops
except what was bestowed upon them BY
| personal friends or the government
| through the Freedmeu's Bureau and the
agency Of the Agricultural Department"
THE PRESENT.
Luts Win WUdJ uC saw On
| his late trip, he says: "rhe progress in
! wealth. in means of individual comfort
! and productive power, has been marvel
| GUS; and that change wrought from then
/ until now in the immense development OF
the coal and iron ore OF these States, and
! the increase IN the number and extent OF
! the industrial centres, may Justly be re-
garded as the work of Titans. Tue sys-
tens of railroads that now traverse the
| South are as perfect in construction OF
roadbed, track and bridges, and in pas
senger cars and tue means provided for
the transportation of freight as those of
the North.
BRANCH ROADS.
"Lateral roads branch into such valleys
as are known to be specially rich, not in
| iron alone, but in other minerals, some OF
which are found in such profusIon and
! juXtapOsitiOn as to seem TO DEFY geologic
| laws as elsewhere illustrated"
"Prior to the war;" Judge Kelley writes,
"the South neither had nor desired to
have great cities. IL is also true that her
statesmen preferred that their workshops
should be in foreign lands and that the
ships that exported their products and
brought them commodities in exchange
should be built and owned by foreigners.
| In this respect the contrast is most strlk-
ing"
SOUTHERN CITIES.
Nashville he found to be a beautiful
city which surprised him by the extent
and variety of Its manufactures and the
magnificence of its buildings. Chat
tanOoga and Birmingham are each a
! marvel In its own way. In the former he
visited the great industrial enterprises
that are in operation there, and it was
here that his attention was first attracted
to the neat, commodIous and well painted
homes of the negro labOrers in mining,
smelling and mechanical pursuits.
THE FUTURE OF THE NEGRO.
The mechanical skill OF the colored
laborers in some of these enterprises sur
prlsed and convinced him that, with an
industrial art school, they would soon
produce gratifying evidence OF the adap-
tation of negro labor to mechanical pur-
suits requiring a high degree OF skill.
Referring to the proximity of coal, iron
ore and limestone at Birmingham, he
says that it is not surprising that the
over-sanguine men OF that city really be-
lieve that they will be able to make iron
so cheaply as to soon close up the works
at Pennsylvania, and to force her iron
masters and their employees to re-estab-
lish themselves at Birmingham.
WILD SPECULATION.
This, he states, has produced specula-
tion in town lots that may retard the i'm
mediate growth OF Birmingham, and
time, by various processes, will determine
the actual value OF the corner lots
in city where success Is to
extingush the furnace fires Of
Pittsburg, Braddocks, Johnstown,
Bethlehem. and generally throughout
Pennsylvania. At AnnIstOn he spent ten
days, making thorough Investigation OF
! the resources of the country tributary 30
that place. Here he found extensive iron
works, machine shop, a rolling mill, car
works, and other industries, besides a
large cotton mill. which ships a con-
siderable part of Its product direct to
China.
ANNISToN'S BRIGHT FUTURE.
The company which planned and built
Admission owns 10000 acres OF land, in
which are immense deposits Thrown and
red heInatite, tossiillferOus, specular and
magnetic ore, mountains of limestone
and seemingly ineXhaustible supplies of
wood and coking and gas coal. They
have just completed a sixt-ymile rail-
road, and will build another sixteen
miles in length, besides two fur
naces and other enterprises. He
predicts that though Admission
has never had "a BOOM" and though its
planting and development have been
managed so quietly that ITS name is hard
ly recognized by the popular ear, it will,
before two decades shall have passed, be
one OF Tue InO5J TttudTkdple Centres Oh
iron. steel and kindred Industries to be
found IN those wonderfully endowed
States, GeorgIa, Alabama and Tennessee.
GEoRGIA's CAPITAL.
The growth of Atlanta surprised him.
In 1867 ne found lt In ruins and ashes.
NoNgit has $4,000 inhabitants whose pros
perity is attested by everything seen
there. In closing, he says: | have given
but faint limitations OF the resources of
the mineral regions OF the South, OF the
impulses that now animate her CONTROL.
ing people, and of the rapid strides with
which the spirit OF the nineteenth Gen.
fury is changing, not only the aspect Of
the country, but the purposes and aspira-
tons Of the people OF the new South.