St. Paul daily globe., 1895-10-27
CHAT WITH THE SECRETARY ON
QUESTIONS RELATING TO
THE SOUTH.
WONDERFUL DEVEI nPMENT.
THE NEW GEORGIA AND UNION
SOLDIERS AS IAMI-
GRANTS.
THE NEGRO AND HIS FUTURE.
Doesn't Seek Social Equality, and
Very Much Prefers to Flock
by Himself.

copyrighted, 1895, by F. G. Carpenter
WASHINGTON, Oct. "A. - Hon.
Hoke Smitm, secretary of the interior,
has made number of visits to
Georgia during the past few weeks.
His eyes have been opened by the
Atlanta exposition, and he overf1ows
with enthusiasm about the South
and its wonderful development. He
thinks that Georgia is the coming
Ell Dorado of the United States, and
he paints its prospects in such glow
ing terms that they make you think
of the Indian chief OF that name
who smeared his body with oil and
then sprinkled it with gold dust so
that he became an animated golden
statue. This chief took his baths
in a sacred lake, which was bedded
in gold and emeralds, and by his ex-
travagances made his country a syn
onym for the golden goal Of all for
tune hunters. Well, Hoke Smith
thinks this goal is now located in
Georgia. 1 called upon him at the
interior department yesterday, and
was straightaway admitted to his
there few moments while
he disposed of such dignitar-
les as a congressman or two,
an Indian chief, Buffalo Bill and de-
partment chiefs, and then, with
single question. formed the siphon
which brought out enthusiastic in
formation about the South from the
secretary's mouth in steady
stream. My question was as to
whether the exposition showed that
the South was advancing, and wheth-
er there was any chance there for a
poor man to make a fortune. The
secretary replied:
THE South is full of possibilities
From now on it will grow like Jo-
nah's gourd. 1t will become an ag-
ricultural and industrial empire,
and it is only on the edge of its
development. 1 believe the lands
upon the Southern Appalachian
chain form some of the best fields
for investment today. There is TO
place where a man can make money
quicker or surer. There is no land
more healthy. Take the upper part
of Georgia. The lands there are
nearer heaven and the sky than
most other agricultural parts of The
Union. The air which blows over
them is loaded with ozone, and the
average height is about 1000 fest
above the sea. Atlanta is LOO feet
higher than Washington, and it has
a better climate than you have here.
1t is warmer in the winter and
cooler in the summer, and 1 have
never suffered there from the heat
asI have here at the capital.
GOLD IN THE GROUND.
'The climate may be all right, Mr..
Secretary" said I, 'but 1 have heard
the land is not They say the soil is
worn out, and 1 have heard wicked
people say that the only things that
could be raised upon it were sheol
and Christmas trees"
THAT is not true" replied Secre-
tary Smith, Indignantly. ''We have
millions Of acres of good lands, and
the worn-out lands need only a lit
tie cultivation and care to bring
them up. 1t is out of those very
lands that poor men can make for
tunes. All that they need is sub
soiling and cultivation, and with the
addition of a little manure they can
be made to blossom like the rose.
These lands you can now buy at
from five to ten dollars an acre. Aft
er they have been cultivated a few
years they become worth from twen-
ty-five to thirty dollars an acre.
Take the man who has 800 to in
vest. He can buy 100 acres for 81, 600
and have $500 to stock his place and
to help him along for year or so.
He will put a part of his land in
wheat and oats and another part in
grass for his stock. The third por-
ton he can put down in cotton,
which will bring him in all the cash
he needs from year to year. The
profits of his farming will pay all
his expenses and give him a surplus
AT the end of five years his 100 acres,
if he uses it rightly, will be worth
$4,000 instead of 81 900, and he ought
to be at least $1,000 richer than when
who are doing this in Georgia today
A great many are making money
off of fruit. There is no such land
in the world for peaches, apples and
grapes. We sent hundreds of car
loads of our peaches to New York
this year. The high altitude makes
them sweeter and juicier than the
average peach, and when they come
in they drive the others out of the
market. We are producing grapes
which make good wine, and the state
is changing in that the people are
now diversifying their crops"
You used to raise nothing but
cotton?''
Yes. But we are now raising all
of our own corn, and we make our