The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-06-13
The South Is the Best Country In the
World.

Editors 1ntcHigcnccr: Approaching
your liberality in Offering space in your
columns for the discussion of such topics
as are, or should be of public interest,
shall continue my article by showing
why organizations for the developm ent
of our resources are of vast importance,
and why they are needed. The only cri-
terion man has by which to correctly
Judge the future is to look back to the
past. It will not be necessary to refer
America, but let us take up the census
from 1881 and follow it up to 1891 and
see why the South is attracting attention,
why capital has commenced coming our
| way (until checked by unwise legisla-
| tion) and Why we may confidently look
forward to an era of unheard Of prosperi-
ty. TO begin with, the total assessed
value of property in the Southern States
was, in 1881, little less than three billion
dollars as against nearly five billion dol
lars in 1891 an increase OF two billion
dollars in ten years.
In 1881 the total railroad mileage in the
South was 23,S11 miles, while in 1891 it
had increased to A, sos miles. The cotton
yield in 1881 was five and one-half mill
| lion bales. while in 1891 it went up to
nine million. The cotton used for manu-
featuring In 1880 in the South was 234 900
bales; in 1890 $4,000, and in 1898 ~. 900
bales. In 1880 the South had $4,000, 900
in cotton mills; in 1890, SCI, 900, 900, and
in 1894, $97 ,0O0, 900, estimated. The num-
Der of mills in 1880 were $50, and in 1894
South Carolina aud Georgia lead in cot
ton manufacturing and show the great
est increase in new mills. Water power
is practically unlimited in the States
named, and no living man can estimate
to-day its value when developed.
In an address delivered by Gov. w. j.
Northen, at the opening of the Augusta
Exposition, be stated that the agricultu-
raj products of the South, exclusive of
cotton, for the past ten years will average
more than one billion dollars yearly, or
total of $l0,6O9, 100000. The products
which yielded this vast sum are corn,
SEQ oSassa %hss sSSSooS s0aat 0ats
and molasses, S36, ,OOO, 600; rice, S9,OOO,OO0
hay, $25,0OO,0 600; potatoes, 5000, 900;
and other crops, $1S5 5,0OO, 900, making the
enormous total of over ten billions. The
figures are authoritative, having been OBJ
tanned from official sources in Washing
ton.
The cotton crop will give an annual
average yield of $500, 100000, and to this
should be added S27,OOO,0o0 for oil, cake
and hulis,
These figures are calculated to excite
surprise and admiration for the pluck,
courage and energy OF a people who only
quarter of q century ago were denuded
of everything.
A people who had sustained an esti-
mated loss of five billion dollars in prop
erty, and thousands Of whose best men
were slain in the most sanguinary war Of
modern times.
Practically, alone and unaided, the
South has accomplished these grand re-
suits, and the time was never more ripe
than it is right now for the utilization of
capital and the introduction for more and
stronger efforts to develop her unlimited
and most wonderful resources. Calaml-
ty hoWlers who are constantly growing
about the poyerty-stricken South, are no
longer 10 be NOTICED, for the figures given
will bear me out, that there is no earthly
cause for dissatisfaction, that the stride
the South has made during the past is
marvellous, and, if the future can be
Judged by the past, we may con-
fidently look for still grander achieve
ments,
The movement inaugurated in lSaS is
calculated to produce wonderful results
if our people will only realize that while
Massachusetts, with q population Of 2S7
to the square mile, Rhode Island 264,
Pennsylvania l4l, and the Empire State,
| New York, l27, are not oyer-crowded
that we here in South Caro- lima, with
population Of 80 per square mile, only
under more favorable natural advantages
could very easily double our population
and then have plenty of elbow room left.
The South finds itselfin the possession
of vast territory which it is not able to
fill with its own population, of vast stores
of mineral wealth, which it has not the
experience, if 1t had the capital, to devel-
op. It has abundant water=poWer which
Is not being utilized, it has railroads not
over-burdened with freight, it has sea-
ports not over-crowded with shipping.
It has room for the industrious farmer,
for the skillful mechanic, for the expert
miner, for the experienced manufacturer,
for the astute capitalist, and above all for
the enfeebled invalid, who coming among
T. 70 improve their fortune or better
their physical condition, disturb no So
cial or economic relations, blend insensi-
bly, with our people, become fellow-citt-
gems, and enlarge and liberaliZe the ma
tional American sentiment,
We are ready to welcome honest, In
teIligent and industrious mep and Wo-
men, whether they come from the North,
East or West, or from Europe, but it has
no room fer the anarchist, and those who
come tc destroy and not to build up. In
deed, the atmosphere Of the South would
prove worry unhealthy for that class of
people. But for the right sort, those who
| believe in our Institutions, who are ready
| to identify themselves with our people
and contribute their energies and money
| to the development of our country's re-
sources, they will find a most cordial
welcome, genial home, and the hrmest
| friends.
To accomplish this we must begin,
through most thorough and systematic
way, to advertise our advantages and re-
sources, and whenever we hear of farm
or, mechanic, manufacturer, capitalist or
health seeker looking for locality in the
| South, we must make it our duty to To-
cate him or them in Anderson. The
| Journal has sometime ago suggested the
| organization of a Young Mems Business
League, which is very popular and
spreading very rapidly, speaking of it in
stronger terms again in last weeks issue.
7 hope that our citizens will take up this
important matter, and not delay while
time is not so very valuable and at least
investigate the good that Is to be accom-
plished through proper organization.
10 Lao OuAy td0oho Ah ~ OPAdASA
by which we will be able to remove the
erroneous idea, that in order to secure
blessings, happiness and prosperity, we
must attack corporations and individuals
who have accumulated wealth, and
fight everything that comes along, which
all sound thinking men know to be a
fallacy.
Statistics prove very conclusively that
the South is the largest wealth producing
section in the Union, that by systematic
methods in farming, wealth has been and
will be accumulated rapidly, that the
farmer who does not prosper is no more
unfortunate than the mechanic, mer-
chant or other professional men who do
not succeed in their various undertake
ings, and that tho only thing worth
fighting for is for industrial supremacy.
If statistics are true, and believe they
are, we must all agree upon one thing,
and that is, while the South was busy
with politics, the New England States
were building mills and sending their
goods all over the world and grown rich
thereby. Now, the South has learned
better ways, and she is beginning TO un-
derstand that life Is too short to waste on
politics, and her claims that to her justly
belongs the industry of manufacturing
cotton goods, is asserting itself very rap
idly, and believe that during the next
decade we will double discount any
country on earth. 0. GE!sBERG.