The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1915-04-29
Richmond, va., 4-25-l5
Editor Lee County Journal.
Dear Sir

i
sabbath school and I promised You
in nv last letter | would tell you
. Of some of the most important
places I had visited here. will
now proceed to give you an idea q
what Richmond is doing and you
can see at once what makes tins
city grow so fast, it is the enor-
J nous pay roll they have 10 .
former letter / told you Of some Of
their industries here. 50 | will not
go over them again. Well TO start
with | first went through a large
steming tobacco mill This is the
Eonly one SO for as | can learn in
the United States. This mill buys
all the tobacco stems from every
tobacco manufacturer in the Unit-
ed States, as ,7ell as foreign coun-
!. tries. The manager Of this great
plant told me that they bought
stems from England, Europe and
Glasgow, Scotland, as well as the
U. S. They grind the tobacco
into meal and this meal analyses
Z to s per cent potash. They sell
it for $500 to $4,000 per ton,
They pay from $4.00to 500 per
ton. They have vats that these
stems go through and they get the
nicotine out at them, and it analy-
ses 40 per cent. They sell this
\ for fancy prices to the large drug
houses and also make it into insect
powders. It is said that it is the
! finest insect poison in the world.
for the potato bugs, feas. ETC., so
you can see what a profit they
mike on It. Farmers here tell me
-ithey buy this tobacco meal and
mix with other ingredients and
thatjt is the best fertilizer they
can use on wheat, tobacco and
corn. then went into a cedar
factory where they make buckets,
pals, tubs and cedar chests. Here
I saw some of the finest cedar
chests and safes in this country.
They ship in solid train loads all
over the country. Both Of these
mills are located on the banks Of
the St. James river and it is a fine
sight to see the large boats come up
the river from down south loaded
with cedar treas and to see them
unload them all by machinery and
to smell the cedar in the dry mills,
it has such a fine odor.
I then went through the cigarette
and tobacco factories where they
make cigarettes and plug tobacco.
It is a sight to see how much they
make day. One thing | forgot to
tell You about this 40 per cent nj
cotine and while speaking Of the
cigarettes made me think Of it.
The manager told me that this nj
cotine was a deadly poison. He
said you could give a dog one tea
spoon full and it would kill him
in five minutes. So boys all Of you
who smoke cigarettes can see what
you are putting into your lungs
when you inhale the cigarette
smoke.
/ then went through large beer
distilIing plant. Now / know some
ofthe old boys around Leesburg
Z will smile, but I only drank one
bottle of beer and the manager had
to insist on my taking that. So l
told him l wanted to be sociable
J and that | had made it rule all
my life never to take drink I'M
less / was by myself or with some
J body. 1t is a great treat to go
through one of the breweries and
see how they make beer. / then
J went out to reservoir where they
pump the water from the James
river to an 8 acre reservoir. They
first pump the water to a filterinp
station and from there into the s
acre reservoir. It is 20 feet deep
J and here the mains are laid for s
miles and they supply the city with
; all the water they want, and il is
fine water to drink. I visited a
number Of other important places,