Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1896-03-05
rirz0sRALDs FATE.

E - r~N
An Atlanta, c., Pager Prists . scathina
Article apon i Old soldiers co1ony.
THE COURIER is always anxious to
print the truth and in the printing Of
the article below we do not for a
moment assume that it presents q con
dition Of the real facts and make NO
claim whatever a. to what it pretends
to state. The paper containing the
article was received and we reprint
the same without comments:
The naked truth about Fitzgerald,
the boom city Of southern Georgia, as
presented in last weeks Looking Glass,
has attracted a vast deal of attention
throughout the country. The story is
borne out by every n no: interested
In the money grabbing scheme Of colo
nization who is familiar with that ster-
lie region where the old soldiers Of the
northern armies have been induced 70
settle.
An eminent Atlanta physician, who
formerly lived in that section OF the
State and is thoroughly informed re-
garding its climatic resources, its soil
and its people, furnished The Looking
Glass with some interesting details this
week.
''The land about Fitzgerald, he said,
lis absolutely worthless for farming
purposes. 1t is formed Of loose yellow
sand, entirely unsupported by = SUBJ
stantial sub-stratum of soil. Dig fifty
feet into the earth and you will never
touch anything but the sand. The
most lavish use of fertilizers cannot in
tensify the producing power Of such
barren earth. If q ton of the richest
phosphate we're laid on to the acre it
would be Of no benefit. The first hard
rain would wash it into the ground
past any hope Of fruitful resurrection.
In short, - the loan itself is lacking,
any amount of fertilization must prove
useless.
1.-THE fact that the native cracker
farmers make shift to exist in that
sparsely settled country, would seem to
disprove my assertion. The evidence
is scarcely worth considering. They
are q lean, jaundiced, shiftless people
Of low racial type, whose small ~necessi-
ties are easily satisfied. They manage
to raise sweet potatoes, q little stunted
corn, and enough other vegetables and
cereals to live upon. The rod aud gun
are rs important factors in their house
hold economy AZ the plowshare and the
hoe. Their life is q wretched one at
best, and the poverty of it is less the
OutgrOwth Of their own thriftlessness
than Of the incorrigible agricultural
conditions with which they are con
frOnted. So In this inhospitable region,
where the natives, seasoned through
generations, as they, ARE to grasp every
small advantage of their hard environ
ment, succeed in producing such poor
returns, the tate of the northern colo
nists becomes a problem of perplexing
interest. Just now, deceived by warn
southern sunshine and balmy air, these
emigrants from frigid latitudes are
elated with hope and dreaming ROSY
dreams Of success. If they depend up
on the land about them for sustenance
they will be disappointed. Their only
chance to realize upon their invest
ment Is to unload upon other purchase
ers, who are greater gudgeOns than
themselves. But il they find buyers
for their farms of sand they must look
for them In the North. Southern peO-
pie acquainted with the section will
tight clear Of such investments except
as speculations.
"But for these deluded colonists, the
future holds not only poverty in store.
II holds the reasonable certainty of dis
ease and death. Fitzgerald is in the
centre OF what Is known rs = limestone
belt. The land rests upon a deep layer
OF calcareOus DEPOSITS or rotten lime-
stone. This stratum Of rock Is the
natural basin Of it's water supply. The
water Is Of q milky Wilderness and full
OF unwholesome germs. In summer it
avoided as much a. possible by the ac-
climated natives. 1t 10 q customary
thing for farmers about Albany, in the
same region, to drive twenty or thirty
miles I obtain pure water from arte-
sian wells. When the warm weather
sets In and vegetables come into 8
1t Ia safe to prOphesy that the use OF
foul water will cause an epidemic of
dysentery among the ~colonists. This
malady In war times was almost as
deadly as battles among the Confeder-
ate soldiers. Its appearance in Fitz-
gerald a. early at least as May /. it
seems TO me, 10 inevitable, and that its
ravagee will be of sweeping extent, /
cannot help but believe.
1T is certainly unfortunate that the
colony should have been planted where
It ~ II it had been found 10 the red
clay hills anywhere north Of Macon
where the soil could have been en-
riched and made 10 yield handsomely
under careful husbsndry, and where
orchards and vineyards would have
fourished famously. it would have un-
doubleday been q grand success. The
hill lands, too, could have been pur-
chased about as cheaply as the pine
grown sands Of Irwin and Wilcox
counties, and, in consequence, would
have proved IN equally satisfactory In
vestment to the company. AS things
have fallen out, however, Fitzgerald
can, Ia the nature Of things, become
nothing more than a stupendous fall
ure. II will prove moi only q disaster
to the col0nists hut a source Of lasting
injury to the state. AS a success Il
would be n Of most potent Influences
possible toward attracting settlement
and promoting the development OF
|Georgia's magnificent resources. AS 4
failure, it, tragic lesson will operate 70
repeal outside capital and turn the
tides Of emigration 10 other directions