The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-13


1t is one of the anomalies of Southern
life, and particularly of life in this sec
ton of the South, that while we are
blessed with a superb climate and sur
rounded on all sides by lands of great
fertility, which only wait to be 'tickled
with hoe TO laugh out a bountiful harv-
est" we do not produce the food we eat
Year after year we depend upon less fav-
ored sections to feed u.s. while we drift
along In the old channels and
send away our money TO pay
our more progressive neighbors
for those necessary foods which we
might ourselves produce Take number
of staple articles of food, and make the
application to the city of Savannah and
Chatham county. The articles and the
chief sources of supply may be briefly
stated as follows: Poultry and eggs come
to Savannah from Tennessee; butter
comes from Illinois, New York and Balti-
more; bacon, hams and lard come from
New York, Boston, Kansas City and Chi
cago; beef comes from Kansas City and
Chicago; flour comes from Minneapolis
and the West; buckwheat and oatmeal
come from the West; potatoes come from
the North and the West. 1t is worthy of
special mention that only a few days ago
a grocery firm of this city received a large
shipment of Irish potatoes from Colorado
There Is hardly an article in the list
WHICH might be heightened. but could be
produced in Chatham county as cheaply
as, If not cheaper than 1t can be produced
elsewhere. If other sections find it profit
able to raise these things for us and ship
them hundreds of miles to reach us, why
would we not find it more profitable to
raise them at homer 1t has been calcu-
lated that it requires on an average of
twenty-five cents worth of provisions per
day 10 feed each resident in city like
Savannah. Taking that figure as basis
and calculating that there are $4,000 per-
sons within the city limits of Savannah, it
will be seen that the grocery bin of the
city is about S1S,750 a day, and approxi-
mntely s6,sOOOo0 year, virtually all of
which is sent outside of Chatham county
for supplies, and only fractional portion
of which stops in the state of Georgia.
Why should this be so? Is there any
good reason for it?
There are no better lands to be found
a short distance of and connected by good,
hard roads with the city, in which there
is a ready-made market for country pro-
duce-poultry, eggs, butter, bacon, lard,
potatoes and dozens of other articles.
These lands, now idle are awaiting deveI-
opment by Industrious and thrifty work
ers. Farms, or lands which can be
made into farms with but little trouble,
can be secured upon very favorable terms
No man who really desired to work would
fail to secure a piece of land upon which
TO sow and reap If he went about ii earn
eslly. Still there are TO be seen about the
streets of the city number of able-bodled
men, principally negroes, who exc out a
precarious existence by picking up odd
jobs and ''scrapping around" rather than
go out of the city and earn a comfort
able livelihood upon a small farm. The
blacks. however, are not the only persons
who do not take advantage of the oppor-
tunities offered by the situation. There are
a number of whites also who could better
themselves by exchanging the uncertainty
of employment in the city for the certain
~ of crops in the county. And of the
state at large, it may be said that we shall
never enjoy full measure of prosperity
while we send into other states for our
food supplies and devote ourselves TO the
production Of cheap cotton