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TO THE PEOPLE OF GEORGIA.
BOOMS OF EXECUTIVE COMMITEE STATE
TEMPERANCE CONVENTION.
In obedience to a call made through
the public journals of the State, a Con
vention assembled in this city on the
4th inst. to consider the best way to
relieve our State of the evils connected
with the use and abuse of intoxicating
liquors. The Convention was composed
of representative men from all parts of
the State. In their opinions they were
conservative, in their plans they were
practical, and in their purposes they
were fixed and determined. The body
in its deliberations was singularly free
from unreasonable enthusiasm and un
bridled fanaticism. The body after a
calm, thoughtful and harmonious ses
sion, agreed to go, through its commit
tee, before the General Assembly with
a bill embodying the features of a local
option law, with the position of parties
thereto reversed. It is needless in this
address to rehearse the minor details
of the bill, they are such as seem best
calculated to secure the enforcement
of the law and the suppression of the
evils of intemperance.
We now call upon the citizens of the
State to express their approval of the
measure and to indorse the action of
the Convention. This they can do by
resolutions adopted by neighborhoods,
districts, cities and villages, assembled
in their court-houses or academies or
other places of meetings, or by peti
tions circulated to which their names
may be signed, and then give public
ity to their action through communica
tions addressed to the secretary of this
committee at Atlanta, and to the pap
ers published in their respective coun
ties.
Fellow citizens, we are near to the
victory! The evil in all its magnitude
has been apprehended by the men and
women in our State; the danger of de
lay is fully appreciated and the im
portance of calm, determined action is
recognized. The judiciary of the State
is right on the question; the press of
Georgia favors repressive and restric
tive measures; the ministry of our
churches are supporting the reforma
tion ; the solicitous parents are anxious
ly watching for a remedy; the unfor
tunate victims of the wine cup are ap
pealing for help; the good citizens of
every race and color, of all creeds and
parties, of all ranks and stations in
society are expecting relief, and the
noble women of our grand old Common
wealth with entreaty crystalized in tears
and embalmed in prayers, are appeal
ing to the General Assembly to stay the
tide and break and beat back the
waves of ruin and sorrow that come
like'a flood in the wake of strong drink,
and God who enjoins virtue and society
upon his intelligent creatures—all—all
are on our side.
Be hopeful Be firm. Be decided,
and in the name of Peace and Honor,
and Truth and Manhood we beseech
you make known your requests, and
demand an everlasting redemption from
the thraldom of the terrible monster
who is blighting our fair land with
drunkeness, ruin and infamy.
J. W. H. Underwood, Chairman.
George N. Lester, of Cobb; M. L.
Mershon, of Glynn; George Hillyer,
of Fulton ; Thomas Hardeman, of Jef
ferson ; C. D. McCutchen, of Whitfield;
C. R. Pringle, of Washington; J. D.
Stewart, of Spalding; A. Hood, of
Randolph; G. A. Nunnally, of Floyd;
J. G. Thrower, of Fulton ; H. G. Ever
ett, of Chatham; D. H.Walker, of Wal
ton ; G. W. Adams, of Monroe; J. D.
Cunningham, of Fulton.
W. G. Whidby, of DeKalb, Secretary.
The press of the State are requested
to publish this address.
Atlanta July 6th, 1881.
We call attention to the advertise
ment of the corrugated and crimped
iron roofing and siding, advertised by
the Mosely Iron Bridge and Roof Com
pany, New York.
The Reidville Female College, a sel
ect school for young ladies, at Reid
ville, S. C., offers attractive features to
parents. See the advertisement.
Gainesville Female Seminary.—
The Commencement exercises of this
prosperous institution were exceedingly
interesting and passed off with unusual
eclat. The programme was choice, aryl
“the feast of reason and flow of soul”
was enjoyed by large and delighted
audiences. President W. C. Wilkes'
has cause to be rejoiced at the success
of this important institution. The
Seminary is on the high-road of pros
perity.
Personal.—We are pleased to know
that Prof. James T. White, who has
been for several years connected with
the public schools of this city, has
bought out the interest of Mr. Fain in
the carpet store of Lathrop & Fain,
Marietta street, and is now a partner of
Mr. Lathrop, under the firm name of
Lathrop & White. We commend the
new firm to the confidence and patron
age of the people of Georgia.
Personal.—We had the pleasure of
a call from Mr. W. R. Linn,'Traveling
Agent for the Land Department of the
Atchinson, Topeka and Santa Fe Rail
road Company. Mr. L. visited our city
for the purpose of securing space at
the coming International Cotton Ex
position for the company he repres
ents. As at the Centennial in Phila
delphia,this company will make a grand
display of the minerals and other pro
ducts along its route. The space it will
occupy in the Exposition will embrace
about two thousand feet.
1 *5 _ ■
Secular Editorials—Literature— ' Domestic and Foreign Intelligence.
Personal. —Mr. J. E. Haskins, the
worthy representative of Mr. Thos. F.
Goode, proprietor of the Buffalo Lithia
Springs, of Virginia, is now on visit to
our city and will remain here for some
days in the interest of this celebrated
watering place and summer resort.
These waters have the indorsement of
many leading physicians of the United
States, and the health fulness of the
location is not surpassed by any resort
on the continent. To the seeker of
pleasure or health, Buffalo Lithia pre
sents claims of the highest weight. See
advertisement on our eighth page.
Washington and Lee University.
The Commencement Day exercises at
this famous institute of learning, at
Lexington, Va., were held June 22nd.
The address before the Literary Soci
eties was delivered by Hon. J. Ran
dolph Tucker, of Virginia. The honor
ary degree of LL. D. was conferred
upon Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar, of Missisip
pi and Col. J. T. L. Preston, of Vir
ginia.
During the past year this Univer
sity has received donations aggregating
eighty-seven thousand dollars.
At the Commencement in June next
year, this University will celebrate the
centennial of its corporate existence.
It was chartered in 1782 under the
name of Liberty Hall Academy. This
was changed in 1813 to Washington
College, and in 1871 it received its
present title—Washington and Lee
University.
An advertisement of this institution
will be found in this issue.
Winship’s Iron Works. —The at
tention of farmers, planters, and of all
who require machinery, is called to
the advertisement of the Winship Iron
Works, Atlanta. Messrs. Winship &
Bro. have stood for many years in the
front rank in their line of business. The
excellence of their works is the best
possible indorsement.
The celebrated Liquid Enamel Paint,
of which Mr. C. P. Knight, 93 Lom
bard Street, Baltimore, is tlije General
Agent, is universally admitted to be
the best in use. Builders and others
will find it to their interest to consult
the advertisement in this number of
The Index.
From the New York Sun: Char
les J. Guiteau, the assassin, was former
ly a member of Calvary Baptist church
in Twenty-third street. He brought a
letter to that church from a Baptist
church in Jersey City. But his con
duct was such as to very soon arouse
against him not only personal dislike,
but a conviction of his insincerity and
dishoitesty, and his desire to profit pec
uniarily by his relation with thechurch.
His ill-treatment of his wife and his
wild talk and acts caused him to be
disciplined and from church
membership in 1872. The pastor of
the church, the Rev. Robert S. Macar
thur, alluded to these facts in his ser
mon yesterday morning. He said:
“The assassin who has plunged a
whole nation into mourning was once
a church member. His prospects in
life were once bright. Once he stood
up and confessed Christ as his personal
Savior before men. Once he received
the hand of Christian fellowship. Once
he partoook of the bread and wine,
the symbols of Christ’s body, broken
and bleeding, and blood shed for sinful
men and women. There is reason to
believe that he imposed upon the
church to which he first belonged,
and which gave him a letter of intro
duction to another church. But soon
his true character was discovered, and
he proved himself false in every rela
tion of life as a man and as a husband.
His wife, after suffering, untold agonies
was obliged to leave him, and when
his true character was discovered, he
was disciplined and excluded from the
fellowship of the church to which he
then belonged. He gave loose rein to
all his base passions. Never good, he
became at times very bad, and went
down step by step until he lifted his
hand against the first citizen of this
mighty Republic. Perhaps reason was
dethroned. It is to be hoped so.
Whatever excuses may be claimed for
regicide in the old world, there are
none for President killing in this Re
public. We cannot bear the thought
that such an idea could have entered
that miserable man’s mind. We can
not suffer the thought that such lan
guage should find place in the liter
ature of our beloved country. All sin
is in fact insanity. In that sense .the
assassin may have been insane, but, I
think, in no other sense than that."
The total number of newspapers in the
United States is 10,297, of which 904 are dai
ly journals. The total number of newspapers
published in Great Britain is 1,835.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, JULY 14, 1881.
BOOKS AND MAGAZINES.
Loukis Laras : Reminiscences of a Cbiote
Merchant Duricg The Greek War of Inde
pendence. By D. Bikelas. Translated from
the Greek by J. Gennadius. D. Appleton <t
Co., New York, publishers.
The narrative of “Loukis Laras” af
fords a graphic picture of life in and
about Greece during the war of inde
pendence, with accompanying views of
Chios, the scene of .the recent earth
quake. It purports to be the reminis
cences of a Chiote merchant, and is
well written.
—The Great Violinists and Pianists. By
George T. Ferris. D. Appleton & Co., New
York,publishers.
Brief, encyclopedic sketches of the
celebrities in musical art, in the bran
ches named. These sketches are en
tertainingly written, and give in handy
shape the information really worth
knowing in the lives of the twelve vir
tuosos herein described. The. “New
Handy-Volume Series” of th* Apple
tons,of which the above two volumes are
pirts, are admirably prepared com
pendiums.
From the same publishing house,
through J. J. and S. P. Richards, book
sellers, of this city, we have also recei
ved “The Fathers of the Third Centu
ry,” by Rev. George A. Jackson. This
is one of the series of “Early Christian
Literature Primers,” edited for the Ap
pletons’ by Professor George P. Fisher,
D.D. Two of this interesting series
have been published: “The Apostolic
Fathers,and the Apologists of the Sec
ond Century,” and this. These will
be follow ed by two others, "The Poat-
Nicene Greek Fathers,” and “The
Post-Nicene Latin Fathers.” The
price is sixty cents.
—Another deeply interesting book
to Biblical scholars published by the
same firm, and for sale at Richards’,
is:
The Old Testament in the Jewish Church:
Twelve Lectures on Biblical Criticism, with
Notes. By W. Robertson Smith, M A. re
cently Professor of Hebrew and Exegesis of
the Old Testament. Free Church College,
Aberdeen. 1 vol. 12ino. Cloth $1.75.
Professor Smith was teacher of He
brew and lecturer on Hebrew literatw*
at. Aberdeen, where he was deposed by
the Scotch ecclesiastical authorities
for alleged heresies. This action made
the Professor exceedingly popular with
the laity, influential members of which
inducdl him to deliver at Edinburgh
and Glasgow the course of lectures On
the present state of Biblical criticism,
which are now put in book-form to
reach a still larger circle of hearers.
—Mr. Presley Blakiston, publisher,
of Philadelphia, is doing the public a
real benefit by the issuing of small vol
umes, prepared by competent men, bn
various topics relating to health ; the
health of individuals and of commu
nities. The latest of these books is en
titled “Dyspepsia, and How to Avoid
It," by Joseph F. Edwaids, M.D. There
is much knowledge in this book of im
portance to every one who would be at
peace with his stomach.
—The numbers of Littell’s Living
Age dated June 18th, and June 25th,
contain articles on The Sword, Black
wood; Autobiography of an Agnostic,
and A Lancashire Poet’s Corner, Fra
ser; A Dialogue on Poetic Morality,
Contemporary; The “Silver Streak,” by
Admiral Lord Dunsany and George
Eliot, Nineteenth Century; Statius,
Fortnightly; Spring Wanderings, Coin
hill; The Revised New Testament,
Spectator; Refugees, St. James’ Ga
zette; with an instalment of “The
Frere’s,” by Mrs. Alexander, “A French
Speculation,” and “Molly: a Sketch in
Three Tones,” and the usual amount
of poetry.
Also the title and index to Volume
CXLIX.
A new volume begins with the next
number, making this a good time to
subscribe.
For fifty-two numbers of sixty-four
large pages each, (or more than 8,300
pages a year), the subscription price
($8) is low; while for $10.50 the pub
lishers offer to send any one of the
American $4 monthlies or weeklies
with The Living Age for a year both
postpaid. Littell & Co., Boston, are
the publishers.
—The name of the corporation for
merly known as Scribner & Co., (pub
lishers of Scribner’s Monthly, St. Nich
olas, “The Spiritual Songs Series” of
hymn and tune books, “Songs for the
Sanctuary,” etc.) has been changed to
the Century Co. The title of Scrib
ner’s Monthly will become The Century,
with the next volume. St. Nicholas is
slightly changed as to its sub-title, be
ing now St. Nicholas, an Illustrated
Magazine for Young folks. The July
numbers of these magazines are the
first to bear the new corporate im
print.
Scribner for July contains a paper
of special and timely interest, “The
People’s Problem,” in which the writer
takes the ground that the time has
come for the people of this country to
exercise their right to “alter the gov
ernment.”
Besides a wealth of literary and illus
trated matter, there are also, in this
number, the concluding chapters of
two brilliant novelettes, “Madame Del
phine,” by George W. Cable (begun in
May), and “A Fearful Responsibility,”
by W. D. Howells (begun in June).
The May, June and July numbers,
containing these two complete novel
ettes, are offered for SI.OO.
The July number of St. Nicholas,
contains many brilliant features for
vacation-time, including chapters of
two capital serials for boys by Rossiter
Johnson and W. O. Stoddard : “How
to Stock and Keep a Fresh Water
Aquarium”; a full page portrait of
Dengremont, the boy-violinist; “Sto
ries of Art and Artists,” with some ex
quisite reproductions, etc.
—M' Fingal: An Epic Poem. By John
Trumbull. With an Introduction by Ben
son J. Lossing. LL.D. New York: Ameri
can Book Exchange, publishers.
In cheap, yet elegant form the
American Book Exchange presents us
with an edition of this justly celebrated
satire, which cannot fail to meet the
approval of book-buyers. In wit and
humor not at all inferior to Hudibras,
it excels that celebrated poem in sev
eral important points. Its keen, felicit
ous touches, its capital portraiture of
noted personages of the times, the
fidelity with which the author reflects
the tone and spirit of the Revolution,
and its thoroughly American color,
make it a representative poem, a classic
epic of American humor which will
survive when many a far more preten
tious work has disappeared in oblivion.
The historical notes supplied by Mr.
Lossing are entertaining and valuable.
—We have received Blackwood’s
Magazine for June from the Press of
The Leonard Scott Publishing Co., 41
Barclay St., N. Y. It deales largely
in poetry; and the article. “A Talk
about Odes,” a companion paper to the
“Talk about Sonnets,” which appeared
in the nurabet-for August last, is filled
with quotations.
The “Land of Khemi” is a fertile
oasis about seventy miles southwest of
Cairo, and is supposed to be intimately
associated with the history of Joseph ;
many interesting antiquities have been
discovered there.
“Beolco and the ‘Commedia dell’
Arte’ ” is an account of an early Italian
dramatist, whose comedies illustrating
rural life and manners, and written in
the peasant dialect, are still popular
with the villagers. Several of his-plays
are here described, with numerous ex
tracts.
Besides these we have “The Cruise
of the Goya,” a fishing excursion in
the wilds of Norfolk ; a continuation of
“The Private Secretary,” which ap
proaches a conclusion, and “Mattie;
the History of an Evening” which re
minds us of the story of Cinderella.
The appearance of the index suggests
that the present is a good time to sub
scribe for a new volume, and any one
who reads this number must feel that
in so doing he is likely to get more
than the worth of his money.
Littell’s Living Age comes each week,
freighted with the cream of English
literature. It is conducted with ex
cellent taste and judgment. At the
end of a year the subscriber will be the
fortunate possessor of a body of the
choicest contemporary literature, in
itself a very respectable library in ex
tent, and, in quality, unexcellable. For
these reasons “Littell’s Living Age”
has been a household favorite for years.
Subscription per annum, eight dollars.
Published every Saturday by Littell &
Co., Boston.
“For My Children,” —Hon. W.A.
Harris, Secretary of the State Senate,
informs us that a man in his county
circulating a temperance petition for
signatures, and himself at the time un
der the influence of ardent spirits, pre
sented the petition to him. As he did so
Mr. Harris remarked that the gentle
man seemed to be the proper person
to carry around a temperance petition
—he carried the symbol of his mission
in his face. The man, with tears in
his eyes, replied • “Ah, Colonel, all
the salt in the world could not save
me—but I am working foi my child
ren and my grand-children.”
—The report of the board of visitors of the
State University shows 217 pupils in the
Thomasville branch, 125 at Cuthbert, 195 at
Milledgeville, 212 at Dahlonega, and 155 in
the University prorerw-aggregating 904 pu
pils for the institution" The income of the
University is $40,370.70, of which amount
the thirty paying students contributed $2.100.
The board is decidedly of the opinion that
scholastic fees should be abolished and free
tuition immediately inaugurated, believing
that such a course would treble or quadruple
the attendance.
PROPHETIC WORDS.
[From the Boston Daily Advertiser—J illy 4 ]
Miss Frances E. Willard, who is now
visiting friends in Brookline, relates
the following incident of a conversa
tion she had with President Garfield,
shortly after his inauguration. She
had expressed to him the pleasure it
had given her to make his mother’s
acquaintance, and he replied: “Dear
old mother, she takes such an interest
in her son James.” He then went on
to say how she had such fears for his
personal safety that, on one occasion
during the campaign, alarmed by the
presence of some rather suspicious
looking strangers at Mentor, she took
him aside and cautioned him to be on
his guard against them. She thought
that they would like to get him out of
the way as a quick solution of the
pending contest. After speaking thus
to Miss Willard, the President remark
ed : “I presume it is true that any
man who has been put forward as the
chief executive of a nation, whether he
be a King or a President, is a target so
conspicuous that he has a sort of fascin
ation for a certain class of men with
homicidal tendencies.” Immediately
after, he added, thoughtfully and ser
iously, these prophetic words: “I pre
sume, personally, occupying the posi
tion I do, I am in daily danger of as
sassination.” The conversation then
turned upon lighter subjects, but an
impression had been made upon Miss
Willard which she now vividly recalls.
In commenting upon the attempted
assassination yesterday Miss Willard
said that in all the demonstrations of
sorrow there was nothing so significant
of good as the universal sympathy ex
pressed by the South. New York and
Chicago, loyal as they were, had sent
no message to the White House since
the satanic shots were fired, but
Charleston and Atlanta were swift to
think as well as feel, to comfort and
console in the President’s darkened
room as well as to weep at home. It
was like their genial and expressive
nature. Since President Garfield’s el
ection Miss Willard has spent three
months in the fourteen Southern States
working and speaking for temperance
in nearly all the chief cities, and every
where, from the best classes in religion,
philanthropy and politics she says she
has heard only the kindest expression
toward the new master of the White
House. The general opinion of people
and press, as she had heard and seen
it, was that his fair and liberal spirit,
his policy of national education, inter
nal improvements and fraternal inter
change, would do what no other Nor
thern man had done to bring about the
era of good feeling, the really reunited
Republic.
The present of the sum of two hun
dred and fifty thousand dollars by the
New York Chamber-of Commerce to
Mrs. Garfield, the devoted and noble
wife of the President, is one of the
most notable instances in history of
princely and well applied generosity.
The motive of the donorc was to re
lieve the anxiety of Mrs. Garfield as to
pecuniary difficulties resulting from
the calamity which has befallen the
family, and to give practical force to
the sympathy which exists in that city
for the noble sufferer and his equally
noble wife. The merchants of New
York are princely in their munificence
in every good cause, and this instance,
as well as many others, illustrates the
genuine gentlemanhood of the mer
chants of the great American me
tropolis.
In the North American Review for
June, Dr. Austin Flint, of New York,
gives some facts in reference to “vac
cination.” In England in the seven
teenth and eighteenth centuries, seven
to nine per cent, of the deaths were
from that disease. In 1776 Junker
computed the deaths from Small-pox in
Prussia with its then 7,000,000 inhab
itants at nearly 26,000. One hundred
years ago 30.000 persons died anually
in France from small-pox, and Sir
James Simpson estimated the same
number for England during the latter
half of the last century, and from the
statistics of the register-general he finds
that the number of deaths to-day from
that cause, in a vastly increased pop
ulation, is less than one-third. Exten
ding this average over Europe it is
found that frm ofour to five hundred
thousand fewer persons now die annual
ly of small-pox than would have been
the case fifty years ago with a similar
population. Dr. Flint says in view of
these data: “It is not necessary further
to adduce facts to substanciate the state
ment that, of all past discoveries, vac
cination is beyond the reach of com
parison when its effects upon one of
the most loathsome of diseases is consid
ered.”
GEORGIA NEWS.
—The crops are promising everywhere.
—The colored people of Rome areabout to
organize a public library.
—The thermometer registered one hundred
and one degrees in Savannah recently.
—The factories in Columbus were never
busier at this season of the year than now.
—The Grand Lodge of Georgia has severed
its connection with the Female College at
Covington.
—The Conyers Weekly says unless some
disaster befalls the crops there is going to be
the largest yield ever known in that county.
—An election will be held in Douglass
county on the 25th of July on the issue of
restriction or no restriction of the sale of
spirituous, vinuous and malt liquors, in
quantities less than one gallon.
—LaGrange Reporter: “Peaches have not
yet made their appearance The crop
throughout this section was almost totally
destroyed by the cold weather last winter,
and there will be but very few produced.”
—D. H. Walker, President of the Walton
Railroad Company, gives notice of applica
tion to the Legislature for branch charters
from Monroe to Athens, and from Social
Circle to connect with any road from Macon
to Atlanta,
—The Brunswick and Albany railroad
authorities heve published notice ot their
intention to apply to the Legislature for a
charter to build a branch to that road, and
also to change its name to that of Brunswick
and Pacific.
—The cotton States consume, in their
manufactories, less than one bale out of
every thirty produced. This is a lamentable
fact indeed. Georgia only consumes 67,874
bales, and produces 815,065, still she is ahead
of any other State in the South,
—The attention of the Legislature will be
invoked to take into consideration the en
largement of the Lunatic Asylum at Mil
ledgeville, or of establishing an asylum or
asylums at other points, as well, because the
accommodations in Millelgeville are not
sufficient to supply the demands upon it. It
is astonishing, yea, alarming to see the vast
numbers of this unfortunate class of people
in our State, and the numbers still increase.
—Augusta Evening News: “It is eithera
dgn or a feature of the times that, in all
parts of the country, and especially in Au
gusta, men of ready means now prefer in
vestment in real estate and in the building of
business and dwelling houses, to investment
in any other way. In numerous places,
carpenters, masons and painters are overrun
with work, and are vainly striving to recruit
their force by bringing like mechanics from
abroad.”
—The Dade county Coal Mining Company
now employs about five hundred hands, and
turns out fifty cars of coal daily. The greater
portion of the hands are engaged in opening
several new coal leads. The company will
put about one thousand men at work in the
mines next winter, and mine nearly one
hundred cars of coal pr day. Seven hun
dred men were employed last winter, and
the largest amount mined in any one day
was seventy-seven broad gauge car loads.|
—An Atlanta correspondent savs; “ The
Temperance question has risen to proportions
which few adequately estimate. It is said
that the balance of power in North Carolina
politics is held by the temperance men. So
ardent are they in the advocacy of their doc
trine that they are willing to subordinate
political preferences to it and support that
party whic i promises the strictest temper
ance legislature. The feeling in favor of
stringent liquor laws was never before so
strong in Georgia as it is now.”
—The Temperance Convention, which
convened in Atlanta July 4th, was largely
attended, harmonious, zealous and deter
mined in spirit. The following resolutions,
reported by the Committee on Business were,
after lengthy discussion, adopted unani
mously: "Your committee respectfully
recommend that this Convention ask the
General Assembly to pass an Act forbidding
and prohibiting the manufacture, sale or
furnishing of any and all intoxicating or
malt liquors, except for medicinal, manu
facturing or sacramental purposes, under
proper restrictions.
That the manufacture and sale of all in>
toxicating or malt liquors is a nuisance, an
unequalled curse to the people and State,
but whenever any county, city, town or
malitia district shall or may desire to estab
lish a distillery for the purpose of manufac
turing intoxicating or malt liquors, or to
sell any malt or spirituous liquors, they may
petition the ordinary of the county* who
shall order an election to be held as in case
of election for members of the General As
sembly, upon giving thirty days notice
thereof, at which election all the qualified
voters within the county, city, town or mill
tia district shall be entitled and authorized
to vote- That the tickets shall be indorsed
‘whisky’or ‘no whisky,’ and should ama
j ority of all the q ualified voters living within
the county, city, town or militia district vote
‘whisky,’ then the ordinary or mayor may
issue license as prescribed by Jaw.
“That no law shall be passed modifying or
repealing any prohibitory or Local Option
law now of force in this State.”
—ls the following could reasonably be
considered the prevailing sentiment in Geor
gia, in regard to immigration, it would be
useless to advocate measures looking to the
encouragement of immigration. However,
we do not think that the article reflects the
opinion of any number of influential men,
or that it will, in the slightest degree, inter
fere with wise measures for promoting the
cause of immigration in our State. It is to
be regretted, however, that even a particle of
such reactionary and narrow-minded senti
ment can find public expression at this peri
od in the history of the Empire State of the
"New Smth.” The Oglethorpe Echo has
the distinction of being the author es the
following’: l
"Immigration There will doubtless be a
strong effort made, during the coming session
of the Legislature, to get an appropriation
from the State treasury to aid Mr. Fontaine
in his visionary immigration scheme. We
have but a limited acquaintance with the
gentleman, and from the high character
maintained, consider him honorable and
reliable; but, at the same time, feel fearful
that his new departure will prove the same
stupendous failure as that advertising bureau
he established a few years ago in New York.
The farmers of Georgia, taken as a whole, do
not want foreign immigration, especially
when they have .to pay for the experiment
from their hard earned money. If a for
eigner chooses to come among us at his own
expense, and either work as a laborer or buy
a form, and thus become identified with the
country, he will meet courteous treatment
so long as he obeys our laws and conducts
himself in a becoming manner. But for the
State of Georgia to use public money to flood
our land with a lot of foreign paupers, who
have no sympathy with our people or their
customs, will be an outrage and a force-
There have been hundreds of Europeans
brought to Georgia since the war, and we
would inquire how many are now at work
on farms? They soon find they can’t ooms
pete with the negro and jump their con
tracts, or hie to some city and seeking a
softer place by retailing lager beer, or open-*
ing a bar-room. So long as the negro re>
mains among us, there is no hope of success
ful foreign immigration to the South. If
our Legislature appropriates anything for
bringing them over, it will inure to the
benefit of the Western States. There they
can herd together free from the restraining
iafluence of the native American— and there
they will soon drift. We are opposed to one
dollar of the State’s money being given to
this purpose. If individual planters wantto
try the experiment of foreign laborers, let
them order through Mr. Fontaine and get
them out a t heir own expense.
