The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-07-31
Banking on Georgia's Mistakes.

1 BANKING on Georgia Al5JakoS-
| In another column Of this issue will be
4 found an article that is of great interest to
/ the people Of This state, and which should
be read and carefully studied by every
! membe- Of the legislature. L Is from the
! Norfolk Landmark, and deals Nth the
/ railroad situation in 50 far as it concerns
| Norfolh The article shows that that port
is hopeful Of becoming the great port Of
the South Atlantic coast, and 1t points out
/ the grounds Of this hope.
/ II is q well-kno8n fact that Norfolk is
| steadily growing in commercial Importance.
/ ner cotton receipts are now very large, and
she expects that they will be much larger
/ in the very near future. Nearly all the
/ business she has IS drawn from territory
/ that is a long distance south Of her-terri-
tory that, from its position, ought 20 be
tributary to other southern ports. Her rail
| roads, however, have given her
this business, and now by means
[ Of other railroads and railroad
combinations, she hopes to draw from dis
tant South Atlantic ports the gre ter part
Of their business. The writer of the Land
mark article says on this point: 'In fact,
we propose to draw the cotton and turpen
tine bu mess that has heretofore found an
outlet az Wilmington, Charleston, Savan-
nah and Brunswick directly To US by the
proposed extension Of the seaboard 7 ute
through North Carolina, South Carolina
and Georgia 10 Florida
There was no thought in Norfolk of get
ting this business when the Richmond
Terminal system absorbed the East Ten
nessee, Virginia and Georgia railroad and
the Central railroad system. Indeed, that
city thought she would lose much of the
business she already had Her hopes were
revived, however, when the Gre )rgia legisla-
ture threatened to strike a hostile blow at
the Richmond Terminal system. Speaking
Of this system the writer Of the article in
the Landmark says: This move is now in
an embarrassed condition on account of
antagonistic legislation in Georgia, which
has redounded greatly to the interests CT our
state, and we have strong hopes that this
great volume Of business will not be inter
fered with hereafter in anywise." Further
along in the article the writer says: an
| fact, we are satisfied that if Mr.. Jay Gould
fails 10 secure an outlet for his system of
| roads, that now center at Mem phis, through
the States Of Alabama and Georgia, ne Will
| necessarily be driven to this point, as he is
seeking point that will give him advan-
tages over his competitors Attention is
called to the fact that Virginia has been,
and is, exceedingly liberal in dealing with
railroads, and this lberality has been help
tul' and not in any way hurtful TO her
1t will hardly be denied that the hostile
attitude of the legislature to railroads. as
shown in the Olive bill, has been exceed
ingly injurious to great inte ests in this
state. Capital has been made timid,
great te prises have been checked and
ports outside Of the state have been encour-
aged to make efforts to gain the business
which properly belongs to our own ports
And who will the Olive bill benefit if it
should become law, and how will it pro-
mote the interest of the statel No prac-
teal business or railroad man would un-
dertake to defend the bill 1t doesn't ap-
pear that the people want it, They say they
nave all the protection they want in the
railroad commission, and the commission
decla es that it can protect the people, aud
that the bill is one that ought never to have
been introduced INTO the legislature. a
little foolish legislation can do
incalculable harm-harm that cannot be
coun eracted by the good that flows from
wise legislation. The Olive bill has pro-
voked good deal of discussion The
people have heard what there is to be said
for and agai ust it and il is sq fe TO say tina
their Judgment is against it,