The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1888-02-09

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facts IN the history of Georgia Since
the war Georgia has made $500 600 :
QUO worth of cotton. The anon az
property returned for taxation nov
Is about s350,0O0,O00. The amonnt
returned directly after the war Was
about s2OO,000,00O, Subtract this
from the $3.50 100000, and WE have
lett Sl5O,000,O00, which renresent.
the apparent increase of wealth since
the war. II we deduct this amonnt
from the sS00,000,OO0, it leaves s650 ]
OOO,OO0 to be accounted for. Wbaro
is this vast sum! Who has it? 81
lar as we are concerned, it is an,ib;.
lated, 1t is humiliating to think
that we have been such IDIOTS in bus
mess as to spend $3.50, 900, 600 and 10
have nothing to show for it; but the
facts seem to prove it,
Now, Mr., Editor | wish 10 saw
with all the emphasis possible, thai
two and two do not more certa;nlv
make four than that an agricultural
people who import their food sun-
plies will become poor, and the lono-
or they continue it the poorer thew
will become. 1t is violation of finn
damental principles. Agriculture is
the oldest and most honorable of the
pursuits OF man, and it was intended
primarily, to supply the first great
necessity of our being, which is food.
Experience has demonstrated that
when large agricultural community
turns aside from this original, primal
purpose, and devotes itself to the pro-
duction of other commodities, with
the view of buying its food supplies
from abroad, poverty is the ineyita-
bic result, Some of the principles
and maxims of business life NAV he
dlsregarded for time without much
detrlment to the body polite, but this
Is not one OF them. TO Professionally
violate this principle is to subvert
the very foundations of our economic
life, aud, when the foundations give
way, the result is widespread ruin.
1t is unpleasant to review mistakes,
but sometimes it is profitable. II, by
such review, we shall discover the
means by which to restore the losses
resulting from these mistakes, it will
be worth the trouble.
Our grand mistake, then, was the
ss0 rniuovior. 20 plant -ouuvu11- urrct
import TCou supprrrs. inns was, and
is, the prolific mother of all our woes.
Out OF this was born the credit sys-
TEN, the monumental curse of the
ages. Ii the cash system, that pre-
vailed for six or eight months after
the war, had been firmly adhered to
we would have been to-day the most
prosperous people on the globe. The
cash system would have forced the
raising of food supplies at home. TO
do this is to make Georgia aud the
cotton States the grandest country
on earth. Not to do it is to make
them land of poverty, where the
many are poor and the few are rich
where the poor get poorer and the
rich get richer.
Our great advantage over other
countries consists in the fact that,
with proper preparation, we can
raise vegetable and animal TODD rs
cheaply as they can, and in addition,
have monopoly in the production
Of cotton, one Of the greatest staples
Of commerce. If the cotton States
will raise their own supplies tor man
and beast, they could not produce
enough cotton to reduce the price be-
low fifteen cents per pound. A four
million crop would sell for as much
money as a six and halt million
crop. Georgia produces now $4,000
bales, worth about S38,000,000. Re
duce the crop to 100000 bales, at $40
per bale, and we still have crop
worth s35, 100000. But what vast
difference in the results to those who
produced it Instead OF going out
Of the State to pay for what they had
imported, most of it would remain in
the hands producers. If such a state.
Of things as this could be brought
about, it would not be many years
before we would see an agricultural
boom that would astonish the most
hopeless farmer.
Doesn't your conscience trouble