The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-03-20
DOWN IN ELBERTON.
Bill Arp Pays a Visit to Thrifty
Town.

Town.
If you want to see a good old town that is
renewing her youth go to ElSerton. thirty
years ago these old Georgia towns were con-
siGered finished and they made no progress III
population or in business. The young men as
they came to maturity emlgrated ana none
came to take their places. No new buildings
were pat up and the old ones were suffered to
go to decay. But within the last few years
most Of these Old towns have put on new
| life. Look at Washington and l1atonton and
| Milledgcviile and Newman and Gainesville
and Llbeiton and many others that used TO be
called finished. One can hardly solve the
mystery OF their late progress, but one thing is
to be observed. The Weather classes from
the country arc making an exodus TO the
towns ali over the south. If this exodus con-
tinues there will soon be nobody left IN the
country but negroes and the poorer
class Of white people. The social attractions
of towns and cities and the privileges OF
schools and churches are very inviting, but we
fear this exodus will have bad effect upon
intelligent farming. A town farmer soon
loses his interest, his enthusiasm. He goes
out once in a while to see how his teuantS are
getting along. he gives few directions and
makes few suggestions, but that IS all. Ills
ambition becomes centered upon the time
when the rent wheat and the rent cotton Will
come in, and that ends IT,. The tenant is not
going to fill up a gully or stop wash. nor
cover the CALLED spots with straw. The orchard
=
nor the gates kept in repair. This
town farmer soon becomes town trader or
Spectator. for he can make more money at
anything else than al farming 1t does look like
farming is poor business Here and there
You find q thrifty farmer, but their name is
not legion They are about one III a hundred,
and when you investigate the successful one
you will find him Shrewd trader who knows
how 10 buy cheap and sell dear. He will pick
up mule for seveuty-hye dollars cash and sell
him to has tenant FOR a hundred and ten ON
time. He will buy his cotton seed at ten
cents bushel and sell them Tor fifteen he
will make him advances of meat and meal at
the same profits, and SO he gets in the papers
as u successful farmer, and all others are con-
demncd for not following his example. Well,
they can't do it, for they can't get start, a
fair start, and that is the whole of
it. Farming lands i'll Georgia are
in no demand. Tie owner can not get as
much for them today as they could ten years
ago-they are returned for taxes, lower and
lower every year. But everything else seems
| to thrive. Merchandise, manufactures and
mining are all doing well. Even teaching
| school, or preaching, beats farming, and hence
| the towns are prOSperinG and the country Is
languishing. Blacksmiths, carpenters and
| brick maSons make fair support and the
| chair factories and broom makers are getting
rich. A brick mason will not work for less
than two dollars day, but farm hand has TO
| take seventy-ive cents.
| One of our most intelligent farmers told me
| that he made more moneyotf of his fruits than
| from all his corn and wheat and cotton. We'll,
| L reckon these things will regulate themselves
| after while, but they look very discoGraging
now. A Rome merchant told me yesterday
! that this depression Of farming was al owing
! to the protection that the tariff gave 10 manu-
| features, and that the farmer would never
| prosper until he had the same amount of pro-
| tcCtiCn, and that he ought TO have a bounty Of
at least ten dollars bale on his cotton. Well,
| that would help him OF course, but TO my
| ~. how too NV
| farmers in proportion to the other
| occupations. In Pennsylvania there
| are twenty-five persons engaged in farm
work to sevcnty-hyc engaged iii other pursuits,
aud so every farm worker has three ether
| mouths who are also hungry and waiting for
| the products Of his labor. lie can sell every
| thing he makes for good price and there is
| always good demand. In Georgia there are
| seventy-tive farm workers and only twenty-five
| consumers outside to buy their products. The
whole thing is reversed, and SO while farm
| lands average forty one dollars per acre in
| Pennsylvania they average only five dollars
and sixty cents in Georgia. Now, while we
| are inviting our northern brethren to come
| down let us make q specially OF inviting arti-
| sans, mechanics, manufacturers, and let us
! encourage our young men to go to the techno-
| logical school and learn trades instead OF pro-
| fesSions. We have long talked and written
| about the pleasures and profits and independ-
| ence of farming, but it is OF no use. Our young
| men are not going to try it in the face of the
| hard experience of their fathers When there
are more people to feed and fewer to plow they
| will go at il, and not until then.
| AT Elberton, l heard the busy hum of ma
chinery and the sound of the hammer and the
| saw all about. New houses ornament the sub
urbS and many more are going up. The people
| are looking for the early advent OF the great
railroad that is to come from Monroe, in North
| Carolina, to Athens and Atlanta. This has
| stimulated their energy and increased the val
| ues OF their property. 1t has aroused their
young men and they have formed a military
| company. and are proud OF their new uniforms
| and their own good looks besides, and have q
right to be. Colonel Jones, the school teacher,
| is their file leader, and is the colonel OF the
| Ninth Georgia battalion. lie showed me the
| photograph of noble Leslie Devote, the first
soldier who died III the confederate service. He
| was the son of DR.. j. IL. Dew otie, on of the
most eminent Baptist ministers of the south,
! end was member OF the Governors Guards
| from Tuscaloosa. That company was ordered
| to Fort Morgan, in Alabama, and on the 18TH
| night of February, 1861, he, by some sad mis-
take, stepped off tie wharf in the darkness
| and was swept out to sea by the receding tide
| aud drowned. il is said and believed that he
was the first soldier who lost his life in the
| confederate service. and have no doubt of its
| truth.
| AS was going TO Elberton had curious
| experience. l was sitting quietly in the Kim
| ball house and Eliminating upon the scores Of
| men who were all the time coming and going.
| / thought L was alonea ana ullknOWn ana niu
| retired from under the glare OF the gas light,
when suddenly a gentleman approached me
and said in very pleasant voice How dc
| you dc, major; am glad to see you. lie was a
tall, black eyed gentleman Of about thirty
years, and remembered travelling with him
last year. overland in buggy cut west l said:
"Well, what are You doing here" and he re-
| piled. ~ am lunatic, and I am on my way
| to the asylum at AIilledgevile There is my
guard right there-he said l might speak to
| you'
never was moro astounded in my life, for l
knew him to be a man of no ordinary culture
Indeed he was gifted man, and was minis
ter of the gospel and l greatly enjoyed his
company in my trayels-s5 l said, "Ny friend
1 can hardly notice this. Are YOU really era
| zy? Il am said he ''and / am entirely
conscious of it. 10 you know Doctor Powell %
81 DO" said l. will he treat me kindly?"
He certainly will" said 1. His black eyes
frightened as he said, "Well, want you tc
write him letter and tell him
that am gentleman and want kind
treatment. I have been handcufTed and
knocked about like YVES dog, and it makes
me worse" l saw some fresh scars on his fore
I L.. ~,