The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-27

G. A. n. Colony. and the City and
Port of Savannah.
Willis ]. Abbott. in the Outlook.
The new invasion OF Georgia, and in
deed OF the entire southeast. is stin a
northern invasion. and. TO very great
degree. is a repetition in peaceful guise
Of the invasion. with an the enginery Of
war, which Sherman led. That northern
capital is flowing into the south is only
natural, but there is a certain picturesque
ness. wholly distinct from any business
or commercial Importance. attaching TO
the fact that members Of the Grand
/ Army OF the Republic by the thousands
are docking into Georgia and Alabama to
make their homes. IN Georgia has lately
been established a colony, membership in
which is limited to members OF the G. A.
r. Its age is reckoned by months; its
population is reckoned by thousands.
Where there was a broad expanse Of I'M
titled fields or uncleared forests. now
stands a town like one OF those which in
late years sprang up so quickly within
/ the borders of Indian reservations open
/ ed suddenly to settlement. Fitzgerald is
scarcely three months old; its population
to-day is almost 5000. The method of its
organization savors at once OF communism
and individualism. Only Grand Army men
have place in the organization, and the
amount of land that any who purpose
earning their living by cultivation Of the
soil may hold is limited. Excepting these
limitations, however. the settler is free to
do as he will A curious feature about
| this colony, and about divers other colo
| MES established by northern people in the
/ south, is that they absolutely bar the ne
gro from participation in the rights or
colonists and, more than this, deny him
the right of residence or OF employment
within the limit of the colony, Southern
ers comment upon this curious TACT with
not unnatural satire.
| 1t may be doubted whether there is to-
day in the United States any other move
ment of such great importance as TINS
toeking of northern people into the south
Evidences of its vigor are not to be found
alone in the southern states, and, indeed,
to discover them there requires somewhat
extensive touring, for the colonies are es,
tabished, naturally, in little-frequented
and out-of-the-way spots. But one has
| only to take up to-day a newspaper pub
| lished in the northwest, or a folder OF a
railroad connecting the northwest with
the southeast, in order to discover that the
movement Of settlers from the far north
western states, which but few years ago
were considered the agrcultrists Ell
| Dorado, toward the southeastern states,
with their less fertile soil but more equa-
| BILE climate, has developed to degree
which commands the attention and the
fostering care of the great railway sys-
TENS.
Naturally enough, the settlers who come
to Georgia come seeking agricultural land
The northern capital which flows into
Georgia is directed toward the many
small manufacturing centerS Whlch are
springing up in that state.
When the visitor making, like Sherman,
, the trip from Atlanta to the sea, reaches
the Atlantic coast at Savannah, he dis
covers that, after all, nature has its COM
pensations, even in the rivalries of cities
Atlanta may have qaudrupled its popula-
ion sir ia wa
grown barely 10000 90 in the same period.
| Yet Savannah has retained and develop
ed a certain southern beauty, a spacious
ness of street and park area, a stateliness
of architecture, both ecclesiastical and do
nestle, which cannot but result in making
of it resort for people seeking beauti-
full home city, or an attractive abiding
place in which to escape the asperities Of
a northern winter Not that the city Is
tagging at all In its commercial activities.
AS a distributing point Tor the isouthea
and as a port of SHIPMENT Tor the products
of that naturally. rich region il ranks first.
Its harbor, developed at very heavy cost
within the last decade, is probably the
best on the South Atlantic coast, and il
has accordingly taken away from Bruins
wick the large shipping interests which
formerly made of that point a notable and
prosperous port. The Savannah Morning
News, a paper of marked ability and ma
tional reputation. in its commercial edi-
ton of Sept. IL, 1885, fixes the tonnage of
vessels engaged in foreign trade which
enters the port of Savannah at 3152 S5 tons,
distributed among an ships. In that mar,
Dor, during the busy season, when cotton
is being shipped to foreign ports, the flags
of all the world may be seen, the scarlet
of Great Britain with the Gross of St.
George, of course, predominating. Besides
this very heavy foreign trade, Savannah
is the headquarters for two notable lines
of coastwise steamers. plying between that
city, New York, and Boston. The coast
wise clearances at the port for the year
ending the first of September, 1885, were
40 with a gross tonnage of 649. 3O3
As matter of fact. Savannah is the
water-gate to the same territory to which
Atlanta holds the key. An enormous
amount of freight traffic is carried on by
means of the steamships plying from New
York and Boston to this port and the rail-
at present there is much ado made in the
northwest because Chicago, though near
err Atlanta than New York, cannot secure
for its wholesale merchants freight rates
as favorable as those enjoyed by New
Workers. The explanation of this SEEM
ing injustice lies IN the fact that, Dy
utilizing the water carriage between New
York and Savannah. the actual cost of
transportation from the eastern metropolis
to the heart of Georgia is made less than
that by Chicago's all-rail route. While
this situation perslsts-and there is moth
ing conceivable which can change it
Savannah will always prosper as a point
of transshipment from vessels to freight
car, and vice versa 1t will always, too
remain a great center for jobbing houses
dealing with merchants throughout Geor-
gia, in Florida, and in certain sections of
South Carolina and Alabama In export
ing naval stores, notably fOSln and turpen-
tine, Savannah ranks first among the cities
of the world.
It's harbor and it's geographical location
will keep Savannah always a prosperous
and a principal distributing point of the
southeast, yet to the visitor its advantages
as home place, its qualities as a city al
most wholly free from sqaulid poverty
and equally without that even more
threatening feature of modern city life
enormous concentration OF wealth, are
most engaging.
4
This statement is not quite. correct
The population of Savannah in 1850 was
22,292, and in 1870 it was 2S,235. The popu-
lation of the CITY is now 6h 600 in rnlird