Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1892-08-11

the >outn had @1-ll miles OF raftrrAtfs
at the end Of 1891 Il had a.. SOS miles. q
gain II u. 9as miles. or - per cent In
isSf the mileage Of IN. rest ~ ths. conn
try was -, ;i.fs. aud in 1891 il was i.s.-
~a- miles, a gain Of a.. SD. OF only -
per cent against the South's - pr cent
Probably the mrst striking comparison
that can be- mad. 10 show the growth
of tbs. Sputh'S railroad business II based
on the census figures Of 1850 and I 500.
Comparing the richest and most popu-
lous section cf the west. here railroad
building has been very active. nearly
$1,000 miles having been constructed in
ten years, with the south, il il seen
that the relative progress Of the
latter between 1850 and f~90 has been
far ahead Of that of the former In Iss0
eight southern states had s.rsT miles
OF road. which carried in that year 8.
a95.0st passengers. or leSs than one
third a. many as werr carried on the
%. So miles in the western group.
W he rras. by 1899. the number on 2s.s5s
miles u southern rad had reached
over o.oOo. .ooo, nerrIy one-half as many
as on ~ a9a miles of western ry,ad The
number 0f passengers carried on south
eru roads increased gf9 PER crnt. and
on western ruads fss per cent The
freight moved increased in the same
way. the number VI tons handled hav-
ing gained Zfs per cent On the south
ern roads, against rs per cent. on the
western ruadS The gain in earnings.
both FROM passengers and freight. shows
very largely IN favor of the south.
In f-ss the average r~criptz p.rr mile
per passenger were s-s4le on western
roads and 3t9sc ON southern ruaais. a
difference Of o.s55c in favor ~ the for
mer, in t-ao the average in the west
was s-3J~c. and in the south , ssfc.
showing that south~ru ruasiS arr now
carrying passengers at a lower average
mt. than western rs.a.A. Th.. d.selans.
IN the south was q. 9G,ls.. or = ps-r cent
and in the west o .oSc. or : per cent
THE rRoS TRADE.
Looking at the growth II IN. iron
trade. we find that in is>I the entire
south made only AL. 80 tsus of pig
iron. the output fer the rest of th..
country in that year having been 9. 100
ga tons In f>-f the south male /, :
9is.efs tons, and the rest of the eoun-
try 1.S5s.tiS tons. Starting in tsst
/ with AL .eaa tons, the south increased
its output by 1891 by I. sss0. 900 tons. or
Sss per cent. against a gain OF - per
| cent in the north aud west In i-sf
the BOrth and west uaasie over min.
/ times s> much iron as the south. in 1881
they made less than four times "a
much Ten years axo the south was
almost wholly d.p-ndent up.in other
sections for its finished iron prssius-t. is
cars. locomotives. engines. b.pil-rS. az
riculturaI implements. etc Now it
has some excellent locomotive building
works and many ear wheel and axis
foundrirs. which even ship their prod
uet 20 the leading railroads rorth and
west, large machine shops. agriculture
al implement works and tbs. finest and
best equipped iron shipyaryi in tbs.
world. which has lately launched the
largest iron Steamer built in this coun-
try. except some Of the new war xe.-
seIs.
/ COAL. cOrroS-sEKb oE-. ErC.
/ The output of coal from southern
mines in 1897 was over ~. 000. .gso tons.
compared with about 5000. 0a0 tons in
fsst The forty eottou-se,.si oil mills.
with n capital of 81. 500 600, in operation
in ISL. have grown 70 over 600 mills.
with an investment Of $50 coo 0o0 OF
more Of phosphate rock the pro.i,t,.-
tion IN 1891 wzs between 500. .000 and
zoo, 900 tons, as compared with I'D. 600
tons ten years ago.
EXPORTS.
The value Of exports from southern
ports in fssI was sa55 SIS, 49f and in
1891 ss49. soI. 900. an increase of s.rs md.
SOS. The value from all other United
States ports was s57G, ,0I5. Ta6 in 1881 and
$3.50. 7Is. s0f in 1891. a gain II So. 7O0. .055.
Not only did the south gain - per cent,
against an increase of only :. per cent.
at all other ports. but the actual gam
| by the former WIS s9a. 2iB. SOS, as com.
pared with So. 700. .07s by the latter.
Examining the banking business. it is
found that the south has $40 national
banks. with an aggregate capital Of
800. 9o5, 405. against 2e2i, with a capital
of s45.0tO. o90 in Issi, the percentage Of
gain being very much larger than in
tne rest OF the country.
That the advance has been general as
To states and as to all lines of progress
Is eonclusively shown by the assesset.
value Of property. In fss0 the total
assessed value Of property in the south
ern states was ss.9I3. 436, ,0a5. By 1891
this had increased to 81, sI6, 39si, s95, a
gain Of si 800, 000, 600. The average as
II fr4as N.nF
| s2TI. while in 1.sO il was sfs7 II
would only require the same rate OF
| gain per eaoita and the same rate Of in
crease in population as during the last
ten yearS-and certainly these will be
maintained-to give the south a total
assessed value Of nearly ss. 500, 600. 00G
ten years hence. The growth in manu-
factures Is illustrated by the fact that
| the increase in capital invested In man.
ufaeturing in 1890 over 1850 was more
than the total capital invested in 1870.
4
The protestant churches of this
country are gaining more rapidly than
any other churches. The past decade.
notwithstanding immigration, the
Protestant denominations have gained
from twenty-five 70 forty per cent.
each. while the Catholic churches have
gained twenty per cent The gain in
population, meantime. has been about
twenty-five per cent The fact that the
churches. both Protestant and Catholic,
have gained more than the per cent o.
gain In population IS very encouraging.
| Capt R H. Pratt. of the govern
ment Indian school At Carlisle, Pa.
/ wants to place three hundred of the