The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1888-04-20
HARDPINE.
Correspondent Of the Sioux City (IOwS,
Daily Times;
PAscAoouIA. MISS. March IL 1899.


time southern planter at The pres.
cut day is, | take IL, a gentleman
who sits under a SLOUGH hat on the
vcraBda Of % ruined mansion, and
glOomily sells of a few acres now
and then to get means with which
to exc out a somewhat miserable
existence. The idea may be cOr.
rect for all | know, | only know that
| have not met any such. Tho men
whom | have accidentally learned
were large slave owners before the
war, whom We have met, were usu-
ally the pushing leaders in bust
ness, farming, OF whatever else they
were engaged Iu-the brain aud
nerve OF the country. This partic-
ularly impressed me to-day in u
talk With S. s. Henry, of this town,
aud dealer in Lumber cargOes, an
ex-SlavehOlder and the sOn of a
STAKEHOLDER. To him | am indpbt.
ell for some facts and views about
not only the lumber trade OF this
portion of the hard pine country,
but something on side issues like
the negro question, manufacturing
south, and the labor question.
There are here a dozen saw mills
With a daily capacity of half ii mil
lion feet, three planning mills with a
daily capacity of 10000 feet, and
three dryers with nearly tue same
capacity. In port there are thirty
sail of vessels, mostly laden for
points north of Baltimore, the bal
ance taking on cargoeS for English
and French ports mostly, though
some caraOes are for the West In
dies aud South America. The town
having such a saw mill and s~eafar-
ing population would, | have
thought, require something rigid in
the way of government, and was
surprised TO find that the town,
which is nearly as large as the First
Ward, had nothing but the county
government. l asked Mr.. Henry
how it was managed:
awe get the sheriff to appoint
one good deputy for this beat IA beat
is something like a township aud
manage to elect one good justice of
the peace. The Sheriff's officer has
the backing of tue better element
OF the community, aud rarely has
any trouble"
"But your saw mill hands, ale
they orderly ~ for | remembered to
have read something of tue man
ners and morals OF Hurley and 9th
er such towns in the mining aud
lumber parts of Wisconsin.
Our mill hands are nearly all col.
Ored men, aud IA tirSt-class set of
men, industrious aud as a prosper
Gus. Very few of them are given
to drink. The cottages you passed
on the way up are their homes.
Most of the lumber handlers, light
er men and short trip sailors, are
cOlOred men. They are decidedly
our best class of labor, almost our
only class. THIS large mill has no
man from engineer down to slab
carrier who is not a cOlOred man.
The next mill has but three white
men aud so Oh through them all.
The foundry had trouble to keep its
white labor and so trained cOl0red
men to do the work. They work
better where they are together than
singly.
l asked why white labor is hard
TO get here.
81 cannot tell, but only know
that it is. The pay is, everything
considered, fully as good as at the
north. But white labor is hard to
get and hard to keep. That is
against this point as a ship build.
ing place, though we do some ship
building"
Then Mr.. Henry told of the trou.
BILE experienced in running the
glass factory recently burned.
There was every facility. The sand
lIgbtered IN from Horn Island cost
but 90 cents u ton laid down in the
factory yard. This sea sand had in
it enough salt tor glass making,
and the soda, brought over as bal
last, could be delivered at the fac
tory at Liverpool prices, handling
added. The glass made from this
sea sand is beautifully clear, aud
brought the highest price in mar
ket. Everything was favorable
excepting the labor. The glass
blowers struck aud struck, and
each time their wages were raised
wanted some new concession, and
finally left, leaving the melting pots
full of glass. There was no reason
why tue men should not have staid
excepting hat they would not.
Aud so the best opening for a glass
factory on the continent remains
undevelOped.
just now this entire southeast
quarter of Mississippi is a pine
country, a umbering country, aud
excepting on the coast is not much
l am trying TO fud out why
it is nothing else, but have not yet
succeeded. Certainly the soil is
but not too light to grow
fruit, and the native grass that
everywhere the trees do not
shade the ground says that 1t
to be u stock country. No
Dne l have yet asked can tell
whether clover or tame grasses will
grow.
N. B'-I have spared readers all