Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1896-01-09


from ei|e, Alabama, to Montgomery,
via t4, ALBANIA river by steamboat, and
the"ee Icy train through eastern
Alsbanta, through Georgia, South Caro-
lima, Moth Carolina, Virginia, District of
Com Mary and, Delaware, Pennsyl-
vaniE and New Jersey to New York.
That ), - aefore tae war of the rebellion,
when ,4e population of our whole
country nd not much exceed 10000 900,
of mA.yA number probably not more
than onv-third is now living; and OF the
10000, 800 of the present population it is
fair to estimate that not more than one
IN ten nas distinct recollection about
the period now under consideration.
In 1895, at the close of the war, 4,000, 900
of SLAVES came out of bondage, but SO
rapid have been the changes since that
date that it is probable that not more
than one i'll three of those who had
reached the years of understanding, is
now numbered with the living popuIa-
tion of The colored race of the country.
Frederick Douglass predicted, shortly
after the close of he late war, that he
old Israeiites must die in the wilderness
before the uplifting OF his race would be
possib The old Israelites, white and
black in large mum bers, have died in the
wilderness, and a different state of things
now exists in the South, but the colored
people are not yet in possession of the
promised land. The evolution OF time,
like hi III Egypt, has produced people,
the grea er part of whom know not by
experience the conditions that existed
under the slave task mssters, but they do
know that they still suffer indignities
which that old system has entsited upon
them.
In October last, al the solcitati ion of
friends, was appointed by Governor
Greenhaige a delegate to the farmers
national congress At Atlanta, Ca, to
represent Massachusetts i'll that assem- bly,,
and going to and III returning from At
lanta, | passed over much of the route
trayerse4 i'll 1860.
As Il member of the farmers congress
and the good roads parliament, in visit
ing the cotton states exhibition | came
in contact with men from all over the
country; and in looking about The city l
kept iuS eyes and ears open for i'm
pressions which would naturally come to
me from the new South" and which l
could compare with The state of the old
South under slavery. l spent very
joyable week at Atlanta, and the i'm
pressioHs | there received, and those en-
route, shall try to embody in this paper,
thai those who hear it, or read it, may
see n new South through my eyes as
saw it.
Wendell Phillips, in an address before
the Massachusetts, Charitable Mechanics
association in Boston, some years ago,
made The following remarkable statement
in regard to the South as compared with
New England:
''The handwriting on the wall is so
plain That none but fool need mistake
it. New England is doomed just sure
as natural laws produce fixed results.
New England has no soil wort b mention
ing, and her wealth has all been derived
from her manufactures. These are grad
ually leaving, her and eventually they will
all GO; some to the West, but most to he
South where the advantages for profit
able manufacturing are all located. The
coal and iron in the South are easily got
at, and mex haustibie in amount; and
the iron mills, foundries and machine
shops can go to them better than they
can be carried to the shops. Then he
cotton. and the wooden mills must go
there, for the raw materials are produced
there most cheaply. uniformly and bet
ter. Then look at the advantages of the
extra hours OF daylight in years run.
This OF itself is no small matter. As the
South grows stronger, the wealth, cul-
ture and power of the country viii be
centred there. until she will become, not
alone the mistress of America, but the
centra! empire of the world"
do not fully agree with the prophecy
of Mr.. Phillips, but having seen with my
own eyes some of the developments of
the South along the lines of that proph-
ecy, ann not now the sceptic l was " hen
the words We're first spoken. Cotton
mills, Woolen mills iron mills, foundries
and ma nine shops have in a marvellous
manner sprung into existence in the
South within the last two decades, and in
soroe particulars the advantages of the
South over New England have attracted
and ar, attracting Northern capital to
build md run cotton mills in 1.-The land
of the cotton"
All alos- through South Carolina and
Georgi here were signs of new life in
the vii 3D.. es, at the railway stations, and
other p nts where new factories We're
erected OF in process of erection. The
cotton fields, white with bolls, ready for
the second picking, lined the way, the
plants uodding their white heads in sa-
Lutte as we passed. The season had been
very dry one, and the crop one half of
what ii vas the previous year, and yet
the prics was nearly double, SO that the
planter are making money, whereas in
1894 they lost money.
CHICAGO OF THE SOUTH.
Allan the capital of Georgia, is sit
matted II. IN the dividing ridge between