The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1894-09-20
New York Sun.l

From all parts of the South come
excellent reports of material progress.
The Southern corn crop IS greater than
ever before the cotton crop IS larger
and Of fine quality. In Texas the
latter is the largest that the State has
raised, and the prospect of the market
is assured. While cotton Is now cheap,
it will not do TO overlook the fact that
six cents a pound for cotton nowadays
is a very different thing from what it
was a few years ago. People generally
have not vet learned TO take into con-
sideration the fact that the modern
bye products Of cotton are worth
nearly two cents a pound more, SO
that the farmer Six cents Is really
equivalent to eight cents.
The corn crop is SO large that the
South will this year have surplus IN
stead of being compelled to import
corn for her own consumption. The
outlook for her manufacturing indus
tries, and her cotton mills in particu
lar, is better than ever before in her
history, and in every substantial and
material element Of business the gem
eral condition of the South is most
encouraging and satisfactory.
In respect of Southern railroad in
terests of reorganization of the Rich
mond Terminal system and the merg-
ing of the thirty or forty railroads
composing it into the new Southern
Railway Company IS nothing short of
revolutionary. As affecting Southern
business affairs of all kinds its signfi-
canoe can not be overestlmated. 1t
means the substitution in the pivotal
industry and dependence Of the Coun-
try of order in the place Of chaos, and
of stability and responsibility in the
place Of absolute responsibility.
Never in the history of railroads was
such hopeless chaos and inethcienCy
manifested as in the administration of
| the thousands and thousands of miles
of railroad directly and Indirectly in
volved in the Richmond Terminal
system. Shippers could place no de
pendence upon the railroads. They
had no guarantee that goods Confided
to them would reach their consignees,
or that goods they had bought would
ever arrive. And above all they had
no redress. There was no such thing
as recovery OF loss, even when the
courts had done their duty and or
| dered restitution. 1t was one vast
| system OF lnethClenCy, mlsmanaSement,
and worse, and its effect upon all
mercantile business was disastrous.
The new order of things is very
different. The Southern Railway is
he result Of the practical obllteration
OF between thirty and forty corpora
lions, the elimination of millions of
fictitious valuations and unreasonable
burdens, and it sets up in their place
a solid, resourCeful; and vigorous rail
road system founded upon modern
and scientific economies and of the
first efficiency. This has been &C
complished by Mr.. Samuel Spencer,
in conformity with the general plan
and purpose of the reorganization IN,
dertaken by the great banking house
Of DreXel, Morgan & Co.
Mr. Spencer, in addition to being
one of the first railroad men in the
country, was specially equipped for
the problem in hand by his intimate
knowledge of Southern roailroad pro
perties, and of those of the Terminal
system in particular. Besides, it is
doubtful if anybody is better qualified
for dealing with the familiar aiment
of railroad dropsy. When Mr.. Spencer
was elected President of the Balti-
more and Ohio Railroad Company,
one of his earliest acts in office was to
take SIS, 100000 off the surplus OF
that great corporation by simple
stroke of his pen. 1t is to this gift OF
Mr.. SpenCer's that we may attribute
the fact that the Southern Railroad
Company enters upon the conduct of
Its business, even after such conditions
as have SO long prevailed, earning its
fixed charges and very considerable
surplus,
Taken for all in all, the business
prospects of the South are, at the
present moment, brighter than those
of any other part of the country. 1t
depends upon the people of the South
themselves if these conditions are to
continue. What they need is unin-
termitted industry and Z sound res.
peCt for law. If they have the good
sense to adjure populism, and social
ism, and anarchism, and see to it that
the rights of property are observed in
behalf of great and small, rich and
poor, they can be as prosperous as they
please. There is no appreciate limi,
to their resources, and with industr,
and honesty going hand in hand, there
should be no limit to their develop
ment.