The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1889-12-26
THE GREAT SOUTH.
AN elaborate Review of Its Industrial
Progress.

DALl1MOAE, Lev. ~. - I've - /,
monds, the editor of the Manufacturers
Record, contributes to this weeks issue
of that journal, under the title of "The
South's Redemption-From Poverty to
Prosperity" the most elaborate review
ever published of the industrial history
of the South, the occasion for it being
the issuing of special edition, a copy of
which will be sent to every banking
house in the United States to show what
the South has accomplished and what
are its prospects. Opening his review
with the statement of Hon. William
D. Kelley that "the South is the coming
Eldorado of American adventure" Mr..
Edmonds briefly refers to The combina,
tion of advantages possessed By the South
in climate, soil, mineral and timber
wealth, in rivers, large and small, in an
abundant rainfall. etc., and says: With
the rapid progress now being made in
the development of all these resources,
the South is entering upon period of
prosperity greater than any part of this
country has ever yet enjoyed. The
conditions for this are far more favorable
than in the West during the period Of
the most rapid growth of that region,
and this prosperity being free from licti.
tious imitation will be permanent.
Blessed with such marvellous advan.
tages, what has the South accomplished ?
is question which the world has right
to ask. Tt needless to enter into any
discussion of the reasons why the South
did not undergo Industrial development
prior to the war. Her people preferred 10
give their attention to agriculture. But
It may be we'll to call attention to the
fact that when the census of1860 was
taken the South ranked very high in
wealth as compared with the rest of the
country, showing that she was not sloth.
fulin the business of money. making.
The losses entailed upon the South
by the war are estimated at over S5,000,.
100000, or double tho total amount oi
capital invested in manufactures in the
United States.in 1880.
At the close of the most disastrous wal
in the worlds history. the South was iu
a deplorable condition. Its business
Interests had been destroyed; for four
years ithad been drained of everything
that could help to maintain its armies
it had been the hatlle. ground of millions
of men; its cities and its towns were in
many places in ruins; the blackened
chimpeYs marked the sites where thou.
sands Of fue dwellings had stood its
foremost men had been killed by the tens
of thousands, apd 30 gloomy Was the
outlook when the war ended that hun.
.dreds of thousands of the young and
vigorous men and boys that were growing
up left during the next few years for the
West and Southwest, and for the North.
IN 1860 the assessed value of property
in Georgia was greater than the com.
bined wealth Of Maine, New Hampshire
Vermont and Rhode Island. South
Carolina was S6S,O00,000 richer than
Rhode Island and New jersey. Missis.
sippi outranked Connecticut by $3.50, 0,0O0,.
900. In the assessed value Of property
per capita, Connecticut stood first in
rank; Rhode Island second, South Car.
olina third, Mississippi fourth, Massachu.
setts fifth, Louisiana sixth, Georgia
seventh, District Of Columbia eighth,
Florida ninth, Kentucky tenth, Alabama
eleventh, Texas twelfth, New Jersey
thirteenth, Maryland fourteenth, Arkan-
sas fifteenth, Virginia sixteenth and Ohio
seventeenth. New York and Pennsyf.
yania were also far behind the South in
the amount of wealth in proportion to
population, the former State ranking
twenty. second and the latter thirtieth.
By 1870 there was q startling change.
The assessed value of property in New
York and Pennsylvania alone was grea.
ter than the. whole South; Massachu.
setts had just one-half as much wealth
as the fourteen Southern States combin-
ed. South Carolina, which in 1860 had
been third in rank in wealth in proper.
ton to the number Of her inhabitants,
had dropped to be the thirtieth I; Geor-
gia, from the seventh to the thirty.ninth
Mississippi, from the fourth place to the
thirty.fourth Alabama, from the elev-
enth to the forty fourth; Kentucky, from
tenth to twenty.eighth, anel the other
Southern States had gone down in the
same way. while the Northern and West.
-ern States had steadily increased in
woalth. In 1850 the assessed property
in South Carolina, according to the
census, was $489,000000, while the
combined values in Rhode Island and
New Jersey aggregated $42l, 100000 or
$6S, 100000 less than South Carolina's.
In 1870 the combined values in Rhode
Island and New Jersey amounted to
S6S,0OO,000 and the value in South Car.
olina was $l8S,O00,0OO. Thus, while
South Carolina had 1868 100000 more as.
sessed property in 1860 than these two
States, it had in 1870 $685., ,000,0 900 less
than they had. In 1860 the total assessed
value of property in the United States
mas $4,000 600, 900, and of this the South
had S., 200, 600, 900, or A per cent; in
1870 the total for the country was S14,-
l70,00O,O0O, and of this the South
had only sS,064,000,0 900; or22 per cent.
In 1880 the South had commenced to
regain its position of 1860, and its pro.
gress during the last nine years has been
the wonder of the age. Since 1865 over
s7,SOO,0O0,0O0 have been drawn TO the
South to pay for cotton, and the value Of
cotton exported to Europe during that
period has been S., 100000. Hereto.
fore the bulk ofmoney received for cotton
has gone North and West to pay for home
and farm supplies, but now the South is
raising its own corn and bacon, and large.
ly produces the manufactured goods re.
quired for home consumption. In this
change there is a revolution in the cur.
rents of business. Added to the one or
two hundred millions of dollars of cotton
money that have for IS years annually
gone North but which will now remain
in the South, will be an equal or possibly
q greater amount brought to the South to
pay for the iron, the lumber and the cot.
ton goods that are now being shipped
North, the millions that will come to
pay for mineral and timber lands, the
50,000,000 or more that is now paid for
early vegetables and fruits, and the great
aggregate, reaching probably already
$25, 100000 spent by winter visitors who
come South to enjoy its climate.
The agricultural advancement has
been almost as marked as the industrial.
In 1879 the value OF the South's agricul-
tural products was S571, ,000, 900; in 1888
it was 5000, 900, and in 1889 it will be
about $3.50. 100000. In 1879 the South
produced 431 100000 bushels of grain,
and in 1883 632, 100000 bushels, and the