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THE SPIRIT IN THE AIR.
Under this title Rev. Dr. Prime, in
one of his famous “ Irenajus Letters ”
in the New York Observer, discusses,
suggestively and forcibly, one of the
most pressing and tremendous ques
tions now before the civilized world.
It is a subject that demands the earnest
attention of every man, especially of
■every friend of popular government
and its permanency.
The incentive to the article was an
unpleasant incident of a personal char
acter, which happened to “ Irenaeus ”
while seated in a car of the Elevated
Railroad in Sixth Avenue, New York.
He says:
“Two decent-looking men sat immediately
in front of me, on one of the cross-seats in the
middle of the car. They had the appearance
of respectable mechanics. Neither of them
was in liquor. They spoke occasionally
without turning their faces toward each
other. At length one of them said, loud
enough for me to bear him distinctly :
“ ‘I am a NiAiZist,’ throwing the accent
on the second syllable and giving the t the
sound of «. My first impulse, on hearing
this remark, was to leave my seat for an
other, as the nearness to such a person was
offensive, and a sort of foreboding of evil
took possession of me. After a few mo
ments’ reflection, I turned partly around and
looked away. I was not aware of showing
any feeling of contempt, nor of giving the
men the slightest reason to suppose that I
was aware of their presence. The train
stopped at a station: both of them rose
quickly : one of them struck me with the
flat of his hand, and the other said, ‘You
ought to have your old neck broke.'
He put in an oath where I make a dash:
then they passed rapidly out of the door and
upon the platform. I turned to look after
them, and the one who struck the blow was
shaking his fist at me as he saw me through
the window.
“ What was the meaning of it ? You have
all the facts, and can judge for yourself. I
think they intended to provoke a fight, and,
as either was more than a match for me,
they would have robbed and perhaps killed
me iu a moment, had they received provoca
tion for prolonging the assault. They were
desperate, wicked, lawless bandits, such as
commit outrages on persons and property
every day and night in the streets and rail
cars. They make a row, and in a moment
perpetrate a crime and escape by their quick
ness and coolness, and the proverbial absence
or blindness of all policemen when they are
wanted.”
Then, commenting upon the fact
that human life is no more imperilled
by assassins in New York than in Lon
don, for instance, and that England
furnishes a notable list of outrages, the
writer proceeds to moralize upon this
suggestive incident, and discusses the
main question in its general bearing
upon politics and society: We may
doubt it, or try to deceive ourselves
into disbelieving the fact, but there is a
spirit of evil in the air. The Socialism
of Germany, the Atheism of Ingersoll,
the Nihilism of Russia and Poland, the
alliance of politicians with criminals,
so that “roughs” are as powerful in
party conflicts as statesmen, are so
many stimulants to violence and pro
tections against punishment.
The Irish dynamite plots in England
and in this country, by which it was,
and probably is, determined to destroy
the lives of innocent beings for the
sake of appalling the Government, are
crimes that, even when imaginary,
make the world turn pale. But there
are men among us who have made
assassination one of the fine arts, and
are now devising infernal machines for
the murder of men, women and chil
dren.
It is not likely that governments can
repress these seditious heresies, out of
which flow the streams of vice and
crime that frighten society. It is a
great mistake to suppose that Com
munism, Nihilism, Atheism, or any
other form of Infidelity, has its origin
in bad governments. These heresies
are often attributed to oppression.
Excuses are made for criminals, who
are said to be driven to their evil deeds
by the hard times or the severe exac
tions of the State. This is all bosh.
The germ of Socialism, and every other
vice that aims at getting property with
out labor, is in the laziness of wicked
men 1 . They want to have for nothing
what honest industry has earned under
the primal law of sweat and toil.
Bismarck, the greatest living ruler,
may combine with Russian and Aus
trian despotism to crush Socialism.
But the combination is powerless. The
instruments of government are not
formed yet that can suppress ideas.
Thought is free even in a dungeon.
Chains do not bind the soul. Out of
the heart proceed evil thoughts, mur
ders, and the like, They are in the
moral atmosphere, and death is borne
on the air. We are becoming as famil
iar with the idea of assassination as one
of the steps to office and revolution, as
they are in the Empire of the North.
It is horrible to read in the leading
newspaper of one of the parties of this
country that the election of a President
of the Senate will invite assassination.
It is mortifying that such a thought
can be harbored, and, still more, that it
can find expression. To utter it is to
inspire bad men with it. And when
we ask, “What is to be done about it?”
we are confronted with the great prob
lem of all ages,— how to reconcile liberty
with order. Men must be governed,
but how is it possible where they are
all equal and cannot govern them
selves? Who will rule such unspeaka
ble scoundrels as the voters who assail
ed me three hours ago? It is an
unspeakable calamity to live under a
government that practically acknowl
edges the right of such men to be the
leaders of political parties, to control
primary meetings, to nominate legisla
tors and presidents, and dictate the
voting at the polls. I do not know of
any men in this city who have more
influence in party politics than the
roughs whose physical prowess is one
of the chief factors in all political
campaigns.
The future of this Republic depends
Secular Editorials—Literature— * Domestic and Foreign Intelligence.
on the moral forces that are used to
reform our politics and our people.
The same causes that have culminated
"in the murder of two Presidents already
are rankling in the nervous system of
the country. The fierce mobocracy,
flying from Old World monarchies,
rears its ignorant front, defying law
and controlling elections. Brute force
and weapons of war are elements in
our civil contests. And the man must
be very stupid who does not recognize
the need of all pervading religious and
educational influences to restrain and
guide society through the next century
of our national existence. Will it be a
century?
KING COTTON.
International Cotton Exposition, Atlanta, Oa., 1881.
CHARLES W. HUBS’ER.
King Cotton, monarch of the Western World!
Great Solomon In all his glory shone
Not half so flue as thou upon thy throne,
In rustic crown and white robe dew-impearl’d ;
Crowns shall be lost aad thrones to ruin hurl’d,
Yet when the mightiest of thy peers are prone,
Then shalt thou see thy power still ampler grown,
Thy conquering flag in every sone unfurl'd !
All-potent Lord of Toil I Benignant sire
Os weal and comfort and prosperity 1
Here have we built a temple In thy name,
Here bring we incense for thine altar-flre,
Here Art and Science tribute pay to thee,
Here sings the world the pean of thy fame I
Fifth Baptist Church Concert.—
The concert, last Thursday evening,
for the benefit of the Fifth Baptist
church was greatly enjoyed by a large
audience. The programme was
pleasingly varied, comprising appro
priate selections of sacred and other
music, rendered under the skillful
management of Prof. Kruger. Mem
bers of the Second Baptist church
choir assisted the choir of the Fifth
church. The singing of Mrs. Wade
was especially admired. The solo
“Judith,” was brilliantly rendered.
The concert, as a whole, was gratify
ing musically and financially. The
choir of the church, and those who
assisted them, well deserved the ap
plause they received, for certainly
their desire to please and entertain the
audience was crowned with success.
Personal. —Messrs. E. Hamlin and
Wm. A. Hemphill, of the carpet house
of Hemphill, Hamlin & Co., New York,
were in the city last week, taking in
the Exposition. These gentlemen
have visited all of the leading South
ern cities this fall, and they express
themselves surprised at the wonderful
amount of enterprise and thrift they
have observed generally throughout the
South. They left here for Savannah,
and after a short trip through the
Carolinas and Virginia they will re
turn to New York. They represent
one of the leading carpet houses in
this country and have a large South
ern trade.
The friends and admirers of Sidney
Lanier held a memorial meeting in
Baltimore last week. President Gil
man of Johns Hopkins University
and others made addresses. It was
decided to raise a memorial fund for
the support of his family. Among
those named as members of the Me
morial Committee were George W.
Childs, George H. Boker and H. H.
Furness.
This is a step in the right direction.
It is an appropriate and practical way
of honoring the memory of one of the
purest and most richly gifted of our
poets and litterateurs. Neither should
Georgia forget her worthy son. Let
her unite with Baltimore in substanti
ally honoring his memory and his
worth.
In the Sanatarian, for October, the
mortality statistics in the United
States, of cities of 30,000 population
and upwards, show that the six health
ist cities were, at the date of publica
tion, and in the order named : Utica,
New Haven, Portland, San Francisco
and Lawrence, Mass. We notice that
Atlanta comes close to San Francisco
in this report, the latter city showing
15.4 deaths per thousand, Atlanta, 16.
The six unhealthiest cities are in the
order named: Charleston, Memphis,
Cleaveland, Chicago, Hudson, N. J.,
and Lynn. The six unhealthiest cities
in the world are, in the order named :
St. Petersburgh, Charleston, Malaga,
Alexandria, Warsaw and Budha-Pest.
On the application of the counsel of
Guiteau, the Court postponed the trial
of the case from November 7th to No
vember 14th. Mr. Scoville, in his argu
ment, stated that, in his judgment, the
Court had jurisdiction, and intimated
that he would not raise any question
on that point.
Judge Potter, of New York, tele
graphs his willingness to assist in the
defense of Guiteau.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1881.
LITERARY NOTES AND COM
MENTS.
—A new scientific journal entitled
Knowledge, will shortly appear in Lon
don, under the editorship of Mr. Rich
ard A. Proctor.
—There was a dinner given to the
Literary Congress at Vienna by the
editor of the Wiener Allgemeine Zei
tung. The contributors of the paper
made speeches to the foreign guests in
Spanish, French, Italian, English,
Polish, Swedish, Latin and Greek.
—ln “Aurora Leigh,” the greatest
poem ever written by a woman, Mrs.
Browning tells us that
“♦ » » We get no good,
By being ungenerous even to a book,
And calculating profits—so much help
By so much reading. It is rather when
We gloriously forget ourselves and plunge
Soul-forwar.l, headlong, into a book's profound,
Impassioned f r its beauty and salt of truth—
’Tls then we get the right good from a book.”
“lt is less difficult,” says Dr.
Samuel Johnson, in one of his honest
and striking essays, “to write a vol
ume of lines swelled with epithets,
brightened with figures, and stiffened
by transpositions, than to produce a
few couplets graced only by naked
elegance and simple purity, which re
quire so much care and skill that I
doubt whether any of our authors have
yet been able, for twenty lines together,
nicely to observe the true definition of
easy poetry.”
—St. Nicholas is unquestionably the
foremost magazine for boys and girls
in the world. The wonderful success
of it is due probably to the wisdom of
its editorial management and the lib
erality of jjts publishers. It may be
reckoned among the curiosities of
modern literature that so many emi
nent persons have been pressed into
the service of writing for young people.
It is very likely that, if this magazine
had not been invented, we never
should have heard of Longfellow, Bry
ant, Whittier, Bret Harte, Charles
Dudley Warner, Mrs. Oliphant, and
Bayard Taylor, as being engaged in
juvenile literature. Perhaps, when
they first ventured into this rich field,
allured by the bright pages of St.
Nicholas, they were surprised to find
that they had in themselves the rare
faculty of interesting the children as
well as the older folk. If for nothing
else than this, we should be grateful
that St. Nicholas has been brought into
the republic of letters. It is some
thing to be worthy of the noble repu
tation won by this magazine. It is
very much more to have brought face
to face some of the foremost writers of
the time and the young folks of Eng
land and America. It may be truly said
that the boys and girls of the English
speaking race have now presented to
them, in the annual volumes of St.
Nicholas, the best work by the best
writers for young people. It will be
a happy day for our country when
such wholesome, attractive, and en
riching literature as this shall displace
the wretched stuff with which the
land is flooded.
—With fine point and pith Prof.
Matthews, in one of his charming es
says, remarks: “Journalism, which
reaches the" million, is the very last
kind of literary production that should
be abandoned to feeble, shallow think
ers, and vulgar writers who lack ca
pacity for more enduring work. It
should be the work of minds of the
largest size and of ‘the divinest met
tle.’”
True, true, and hence how un
fortunate it is that so many “feeble,
shallow thinkers and vulgar writers”
are permitted to disgrace the profes
sion 1 Nor is this class of impostors
to be found exclusively in second and
third class journals, some that claim
the honors of first class journals per
mit their columns to be disgraced by
feeble and vulgar work, the mana
gers being too penurious to employ
first class talent, at first class wages,
or because they wish to cater to the
depraved tastes of certain low classes
of patrons. Either of these motives are
unworthy, and malign the fair fame
and weaken the good influence of
legitimate journalism.
—A new romance, entitled “Descen
sus Averno, or the Downward Drift'” a
story of real in New Orleans and
the South-west, written by Rev. J. H.
Curry, pastor of the Baptist church in
Dallas, Texas, is in press, and will soon
be published by C. R. Barnes, St.
Louis.
—According to the poet Longfellow,
who takes the hint from Dante, Italian
is the language spoken in Paradise.
—The Philadelphia A of
the opinion that if Mr. Tennyson had
died or ceased to write some time ago,
it would have been the better for his
fame, and it adds : “It would be hard
to find anything more ridiculous, in
point of fact, than his recent lines on
the marriage of Princess Frederica, of
Hanover, and Baron Von Pawel-Ram
mingen, wherein the late King was
represented as leaning over the celes
tial battlements to bless the union. The
truth is that the King was bitterly op
posed to the match, and it was not un
til after his death that the lovers dared
to marry! But when one is laureate,
one must be laureate.”
—A reward was recently offered by
M. Henri des Honx for the best poem
on the birthday of “his Majesty Henri
Cinq,” the poem to consist of thirty
five verses. Five medals—one of sil
ver, four of bronze—were struck, to be
given to the five candidates who should
produce the five best pieces. The re
ward was not quite so generous as that
bestowed on the English poet-laure
ate, whose butts of sherry have so long
served to sharpen the wits of satirists
and brother poets, but the successful
candidate was to have the additional
honor of beholding his verse inserted
in La Civilization. To the amusement
of many, the supply has been so great
that the republic is in doubt whether
the poem and Civilization, and Henri
Cinq himself, had not better be sup
pressed.
—The Christian World says that Mr.
Froude, the English historian, is to
have a peerage.
—Among the manuscripts of the de
ceased German poet Scherenberg, an
epic poem has been found that turns
upon Franklin’s North Pole Expedi
tion. The friends of the poet intend
to put his work into print.
—We cordially indorse the follow
ing, in the Augusta Chronicle and Con
stitutionalist, concerning our genial and
richly gifted friend:
“Newspaper correspondents appro
priately unite in paying just compli
ments to Mr. Joel C. Harris, of Atlanta.
As an editor and author, few men have
more to be proud of than Mr. Harris;
a writer as pure as his heart is kind,
he has warm personal friends as well
as literary admirers. Mr. Harris does
not affect the aesthetic or diletante, and
he is the most natural of men, as his
writing embodies the simplest and
most engaging of styles.”
Sir William Harcourt, in a speech at
Glasgow, said that both the late and
present Governments were reluctant
to proceed at an early stage against
the Land League, because it was not
desirable to suppress what pretended
to be a constitutional agitation, especi
ally if connected with a real grievance,
but when such an agitation avowed
illegal ends, no Government would fail
to be supported in any and all meas
ures it might take for the safety of
society. The task, he said, was diffi
cult and painful, but the Government
having set its hands to the plow, they
might rely upon its not turning back.
The speech was received with pro
longed cheering.
Mr. Plunkett, Conservative member
of Parliament, and formerly Solicitor-
General of Ireland, addressed a meet
ing at Chelsea. He approved the recent
action of the Government in Ireland
and declared that partisans of sedition
must be shown that they would find
all loyal men of every party against
them, and that vigorous action in the
present crisis should not be abated
until every sign of resistance to law be
overpowered.
These declarations and those of Mr.
Chamberlain at Liverpool, made
almost simultaneously, attract much
attention, as they demonstrate the
practical agreement of various sections
of politicians on the present treatment
of the Irish question by the Govern
ment.
Rev. Wm. Fitzgerald, D. D., Catholic
Bishop of Ross, has issued a letter in
condemnation of the “no rent” mani
festo of the Land League, in which he
says that the manifesto has excited
dismay among the best friends of the
Irish people.
The Senate confirmed the nomina
tion by the President of Judge Folger,
for Secretary of the Treasury; James,
the present incumbent, as Postmaster-
General ; .Frank Hatton,as First Assist
ant Postmaster-General vice Tyner,
removed.
“With all its faults,” says Charles
Dudley Warner, “I believe the moral
tone of the newspaper is
higher, as a rule, than that of the com
munity in which it is published.”
That depends .
—lt is estimated that there will be
a deficiency of one million bales in the
cotton crop this season.
—
Groat destruction has been occa
sioned on the upper Mississippi by
floods.
CONFEDERATE BONDS.
“About two weeks ago,” says the
New York Sun, “a dispatch from Lon
don said that dealings in Confederate
bonds has been revived there, and that
a considerable amount of the bonds
has been purchased for the Amster
dam account at £2 10s. per SI,OOO
bond. Since then small transactions
in Confederate bonds have been made
in Wall street at prices ranging from
$2 to $4 per SI,OOO bond.
A dispatch from Chicago was pub
lished yesterday morning which stated
that R. J. Moses of 61 Wall street,
New York, had telegraphed to banks
in Memphis, Tenn., and other South
ern cities, requesting them to secure
for him as many Confederate bonds
as possible at $2 per SI,OOO bond. It
was also alleged in the dispatch that
the value of the bonds lay in the fact
that there was on deposit in England
$7,000,000 in gold which had been
placed there by the Confederate author
ities to purchase supplies, and that, as
the money has not been used, it was
applicable to these bonds.
Mr. Raphael J. Moses, Jr. is a lawyer.
He was found yesterday afternoon en
gaged upon a deskful of letters and
dispatches. He said he did not know
who wanted the bonds, or wherein
their value consisted. Having lived
in the South, and having connections
abroad, he had been requested by cer
tain London stock brokers to buy for
their principals a large amount of Con
federate bonds. He had attempted to
execute the commission by sending
the dispatches mentioned, and had re
ceived in reply a large number of the
bonds. He received yesterday bonds
of the par value of about half a million
of dollars. Mr. Moses said he had
not heard, before its publication yes
terday morning, of the story that $7,-
000,000 of gold had been deposited in
England during the war for Confeder
ate supplies.
Mr. Moses advertises this morning
for Confederate bonds, which must be
coupon, and have attached all the cou
pons since January, 1865.
All the rebellious elements in Ireland
are in a ferment, caused by the arrest
of their leaders, and the evident deter
mination of the Goverment to enforce
the laws of the land and to defend the.
dignity and peace of the realm. Os
the manifesto issued by the Irish Land
League, the London Morning Post says:
“We consider the manifesto a direct
incentive to civil war.”
. The wording of the League manifes
to is exceedingly violent. It reminds
the people that their ancestors, though
without leaders, had abolished the
payment of tithes, and declare that it
is as lawful to refuse to pay rents as ft is
to receive them. It says: “Against the
passive resistance of an entire popula
tion the military power has no weapons,
and it is no more possible to evict than
to imprison a whole nation. The funds
of the League will be poured out un
stintedly for the evicted and exiled. Oui
brethren in America may be relied on
to contribute as many millions as they
have already contributed thousands.
One more heroic effort will destroy the
accursed system of landlordism.”
For the quarter ending June 30,
1881, which was the first quarter of the
administration of Postmaster-General
James, the expenditures of the Post
Office department were $9,974,060.02.
Os this amount $304,583.24 was paid
to railroad companies, on account of
and chargeable to previous months,
leaving the net expenditures for the
quarter $9,669,466.78. The receipts
were $9,589,587.37. This shows a de
ficiency of $79,879.41 for the quarter.
The expenditures during the corres
ponding quarter of the previous year,
were $9,101,863.20, the receipts SB,-
515,165.13 and the deficiency $586,-
698.07.
It thus appears that the deficiency
in the last quarter of the fiscal year
ending June 30, 1881, was $506,818.-
66 less than the deficiency in the last
quaiter of the previous fiscal year.
The trial of Guiteau, the assassin, is
fixed for November 7th. His counsel
is engaged in an effort to gather testi
mony as to the alleged insanity of the
murderer.
Ex-Governor Franklin J. Moses, of
South Carolina, is under arrest in New
York, on the charge of receiving
money under false pretences.
The Apache Indians in Arizona are
committing horrible outrages. Other
roving bands have joined the inair
gents.
Secretary Blaine will retire from the
Cabinet December Ist.
GEORGIA NEWS.
—Street cars in Rome is to be its next new
thing.
—The sugar-cane crop of Randolph county
is a good one.
—The sweet potato crop of Sumter county
will be a short one.
—The rice crop in Southern Georgia is said
to be very good.
—Good cotton crop in Dooly county—corn
crop an average one.
—A large crop of small grain has been
sown in Greene county.
—targe crops of oats and wheat will be
planted in Houston county.
—Rome is to have a telephone exchange
with twenty-five subscribers.
—Newton county is saving the largest hay
crop ever made in the county.
—Judge J. J. McKendree, one of the oldest
citizens of Columbus, is dead.
Warren county crops are considerably
above the aver.ige over the State.
—Calhoun county is making fine oom
crops, and two-thirds of a cotton crop.
—The cotton crop of Forsyth county is
turning out better than was expected.
—The rice planters of the Altamaha have
harvested a fine crop in excellent condition.
When the Atlanta Exposition is ended
the building is to be made a cotton factory.
—From one-eighth of an acre, J. R. Win
ter, of Meriwether, has gathered ten bushels
of rice.
—The Chattahoochee river is lower than it
has been for years, and is filled with sand
bars.
—lt is estimated that fully four hundred
Northern visitors will spend the winter in
Thomasville.
—The Early County News says thereseems
to be a certainty that the cars will run into
Blakely by the sth of November.
—Hon. Henry B. Tompkins has been
appointed Judge Fleming’s successor on the
Superior Court bench of the Savannah Cir
cuit.
—Augusta is to have a new steamboat, to
ply between that city and Savannah. She
will be able to carry 800 to 900 bales of cotton
a load.
—Fifty freight cars are being built for the
Georgia railroad on the newly patented
Raoul truck. Each car will carry 40 000
pounds.
—Atlanta is to have two new daily papers
—morning and evening. Mr. B. F. Sawyer
is to take charge of the afternoon, and Mr.
E F. Hoge the morning, paper.
—Captain Tutwiler, ot the Atlanta exten
sion of the Macon and Brunswick railroad,
reports that there are now 5,000 hands at
work between Macon and Atlanta.
—There are four Pickens county women
at the Exjrdsition, engaged by the Williman
tic Thread Company, in carding, spinning
and weaving in the old primitive method.
They attract as much attention as any other
feature.
—Mr. H. H. Sanford, Superintendent of
the South Georgia display in the Atlanta
Exposition, strongly appeals to the people of
his section to send up articles for exhibition.
He fears they will be ashamed of the Georgia
exhibit when it is too late to make amends.
—Mr. H. C. Tanner’s damage suit against
the Air-Line railroad came to an eud in
Fulton Superior Court. The jury returneda
verdict for Mr. Tanner for the sum of $9,000.
It will be remembered that in the first trial
the verdict was for $17,000.
-Mr. George I. Seney, of New York, has
sent Miss Rutherford, of Athens, his check
for SIO,OOO, donated by him for the purpose
of erecting the chapel of the Lucy Cobb In
stitute. The full amount Athens was to
raise has been secured.
—George B. Loring, Commissioner of Ag
riculture at Washington, D. C., has issued
circulars to all agricultural societies known
to him in the South, requesting them to send
delegates to a Convention of Cotton Growers
to be held at Atlanta, Ga., on Wednesday,
November 2d.
—One of the most enterprising and suc
cessful planters of Thomas county informs
us that the farmers of that county are doing
remarkably well considering the adverse
circumstances of the crop year. He says
they are marketing their cotton and paying
their debts without incurring new obliga
tions.
—The annual meeting of the stockholders
of the Northeastern railway was held at
Athens. The President reported that the
work on the extension to Clarkesville was
nearly completed, that the iron had been
shipped, and that the road would be in runs
ning order to that point by the first of Janua
ry. The increase in earnings was $15,638.45,
and in expenses $11,113.65.
—Col. T. I. Smith, Master of the State
Grange of Georgia, died at Leesburg, Florida.
He had recently purchased a large orange
grove in Sumter county, Florida. He has
been Master of the State Grange of Georgia
from the time it was first organized, and the
Patrons of Husbandry have sustained the
loss of their leading member. Col. Smith
was widely known and highly esteemedd.
—Cartersville Free Press: “We are happy
to announce that the whistle has blown, the
ponderous engine has been set a going, and
the music of the looms has begun to sing out
that the Empire Woolen Mills, located about
four miles from town, have started out under
the most auspicious circumstances. This
drives another spike in the list of Bartow
county enterprises, and in one that our
county may justly feel proud of. The mana
gers, Messrs. Jones, Morris & Earnshaw, are
gentlemen of long experience in regard to
handling wool,”
—Mr. H. I. Kimball, in an interview with
a reporter of the Atlanta Constitution, said:
“We have just about completed the survey
of the Atlanta and Gainesville canal.
“ What is the result of the survey ?” “It
has demonstrated that the canal is perfectly
feasible, and that it can be dug at very much
less cost than we had dared to hope. The
survey has been made at a cost of but little
more than one thousand dollars in the most
thorough and accurate manner, and it shows
that we can build a canal that will give
Atlanta all the water she needs for the city
and ten thousand horse-power between here
and the Chattahoochee at a cost of less than
two millions and a-halt dollars." “Can the
money be raised to build it?” “There is
not the slightest doubt of it. It can be
demonstrated in the plainest manner that
the income from the rent of water-power
and from water for the city would pay a
handsome dividend on the money invested.
As the city grew larger, and manufactories
were added, it would become an exceedingly
valuable property. I think the money can
be raised in very short order, and as soon as
the affairs of the Exposition are off my
shoulders, I shall go to work at it in earneet,
and there is no reason why we should not
have commenced digging before the first of
next June.” “ You feel sure that it will be
started that soon ?” “ I do. I have already
had correspondence with leading capitalists
in New York, and I know that everything is
ripe for the project. We ought to be able to
start in six months from to'day, but whether
we start in six or twelve months, you may
rest assured of one thing—l promised the
people of Atlanta, in an address at the Gor
don banquet several months ago, that I
would take hold of the canal and never rest
until I had the water of the Chattahoochee
flowing into and through Atlanta. I have
never yet failed to consummate any enter
prise that I gave my promise to, and I don’t
think I ever had an easier job than building
the Atlanta canal. You need not be aftaia
that I will not do it.”