Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-04-11

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The people OF Atlanta are just begin
ming TO realize that their custom house
is little too far from deep water and that
/ theirpOrt will never be what they want
I II to be until the harbor is dredged out a
great deal deeper than it is or some
thing else is done. The Kimball
House bar, it is true, will be re-
moved about the first of July, but then
the channel will be SO poorly buoyed and
/ lighted that it will be extremely difficult
to navigate even schooner into the port
except on the highest of spring tides.
The excellence Of the waters of Atlanta
has been published far and wide. The
waters Of Ponce de Leon, of " est End, of
the Fuller well, OF the hOle-in-the ground,
and above all that OF the pond on South
| river, which, even when prohibition comes
about, will remind the people what beer
used to look like, have all become famous.
1t is not the quality but the quantity of
Atlauta's waters, however. that is unsat-
isfactOry. Only three or four years ago
the waters Of the Chattahoochee river
were extensively advertised and elabo-
rate plans were laid for conveying them
dred thousand horsepower of the latent
energy they contain had been utilized
in turning the machinery OF IN
Vulnerable factories, they were to be made
available in furnishing a waterway to the
ocean. Now, however, that Atlanta has
become dry town, we hear no more Of
this gigantic and meritorious enterprise,
The wet route to tide water, it seems, has
| been abandoned, and there is disposition
/ to keep the briny deep and it's intoxicat-
| ing pleasures, and staggering waves at
arms length, and to give all imports a
chance to become perfectly dry lest
! they offend the oltactories OF the Atlanta
customs officers.
The truth is, Atlanta has many splendid
railroads connecting il with deep water.
/ First Of all is the Central, then comes the
Georgia and the East Tennessee, Virginia
and Georgia, connecting at either ter
minus with Norfolk and Brunswick. The
Air Line leads direct to Richmond and con-
/ meets with lines to New York and all the
| Eastern ports. The West Point road leads
towards Mobile and New Orleans and the
lsthmuses of Tehuautepec and Panama,
and the Pacific gives an outlet to San
! Francisco, while the Western and Allan
tic leads away in the direction of Sitka.
None Of these lines, however, nor all of
them together, satisfy Atlanta. Since
the Georgia Midland has been dropped il
has been determined to build road to the
sea which can be controlled by that city
and operated for her especial benefit The
I "a . ho -
make Atlanta practically-as it is now
theOretically-a port of entry, and that it
must be made to have all the advantages
Of protective tariff to her factories and
trade-that is, it must shut off competition,
The question is, can all this be done?
There are only two difficulties in the way
the selection OF route and the raising
Ofthe money. 1t is proposed to build a
narrow guage road via Hawklnsville to
Brunswick, or by Eatonton, Sparta and
WaynesborO, to Port ROYAL or Charles
ton. We don't intimate, however, that it
is altogether a narrow guage scheme
1t has also been proposed to tap the
Savannah river at some point above this
city-perhaps old Ebenezer-whIch NAV
be made branch of the port of Atlanta
when steamships are invented that can
run wherever the ground is a little
damp. The committees will soon be
earnestly and prayerfully considering the
subject, and they shall have our
sympathy and advice if wanted, Atlanta
is noted for its enterprise and vim, and if
it does not command success, 1t will at
least deserve it.
1t is to be regretted that the people of
that city still think they are the victims
OF unjust railroad discrimination, not
witnstanding they have been blessed with
all the peculiar benefits of the Railroad
| Commission.