The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1894-11-12
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.
HHenr i'm NIinai.H

Admission. Ala, November 6.-Editor Con-
stitution: I have before me an editorial
which appeared in a recent issue of your
valued paper under the head of Bear in
Mind" in which you say that the present
crop of cotton would yield the farmers of
Georgia S25, eco. and that if we manufdct-
ured this cotton at home il would yield
them S105,OO0,V00 more than four times what
get for the material; and you say
that we are not running our affairs upon
business principles, and you ask what sense
there is in letting outsiders manufacture
our great staple and reap all the profits;
and You say further, that the same rea-
sons which carry the furnaces to the
iron and coal fields should bring the cot
ton factory to the cotton belt; and you
conclude with the assertion that that policy
is the souths royal road to fortune and
that the present policy is the straight road
TO poverty. Mr.. Editor, no greater truths
We're ever spoken than these, and your
able editorial points to the only true poll
cy by which the southern states can be
guided in order to develope the splendid
natural resources with which bountiful
Creator has endowed them. 1t must be
conceded by all thinking men that we must
depend for our future development and
progress upon our industrial resources,
for it is equally as true with agriculture
until we secure a better market for its pro-
ducts and that market must be beyond all
doubt a home market. and the best market
in the world is that furnished by the fac
tory operative, the skilled laborer and the
merchant and professional man, which are
the necessary result of manufacturing
community. They are the real consumer,
and, in fact, the only real consumer we
have. Some time since / visited Spartan
burg, s. c., and in the county of Spartan
burg there are nineteen cotton mills in
which are employed over 5000 operatives,
and through all our hard times for the past
two gears you could not have found hard
times i'll that county with a PinkertOn de-
tective. Why? Because the farmer had a
ready market for all his pork and vege-
tables or anything i'll the way of food pro-
ducts that he could raise besides the mer-
chant, the tradesman and the professional
man had a market for their wares, for
their labor and for their professional ser
vices. And such must lie our policy in GeOr-
Gia our efforts must be in the direction of
industrial development. The OLD red hills
OF Georgia contain greater wealth than the
tabled mines of King Solomon, and our duty
is as plain as the MONDAY sun. We must
realize upon this wealth, and by So doing
we will furnish a market for our agricul-
turai products. Do YOU know why our splen-
did city of Atlanta SO nobly withst0od the
shock of the panic of last year and the
hard times that have prevailed for two
years? Because she has within her limits
over seven hundred diversified Industries.
And what is applicable 10 Atlanta is equally
applicable TO the whole state OF the whole
country. The policy OF our people and our
statesmen must, in the future, be the poll
cy which you so ably expressed in your
clear and patriotic editorial entitled Bear
In Mind" Very truly yours.
T. A. OLLIE