December, 1865

December, 1865

XLI. MATTERS IN SOUTHEASTERN GEORGIA.

THE destruction of railroads in this State was as complete as in South Carolina, but the energy of the people in repairing damages is much greater, and, therefore, communication between the different sections ever reached by the cars is much more readily made here than there.

I have travelled over most of the stage lines in the State; and while I can't say that either the vehicles or the animals are respectably good, I can fairly own that neither are quite so bad as those in Carolina. I must decline, however, to recommend any of the lines to the patronage of the travelling public, though I will add that the use of either will furnish many new sensations to travellers from civilized countries.

In many towns there are no hotels, chance travellers finding accommodations at so-called private boarding-houses. The almost invariable charge, whether at these houses or at regular hotels, is four dollars per day, -- three and a half being the rate in only two of the many towns I have visited. In the large cities, and in one or two of the large towns, I have found the table reasonably well supplied, that is, from a Southern stand-point; but elsewhere the standard is hardly up even to that of the Carolinas.

Western Georgia and Northern Georgia I found full of "runners" from Louisville and Cincinnati. They represented all branches of trade, and pretty generally reported that they were getting many orders. In this section I find more representatives of Eastern houses. I believe the delivery of goods already ordered will give a stock in the State sufficient for the coming year. Everybody seems to have a
[p. 366]
passion for keeping store, and hundreds of men are going into trade who should go into agriculture. If the coming season brings a "smash" in many towns, the prophecies of numerous business men will not be unfulfilled.

Business in the city has been very brisk all the fall, and many a merchant has had all he could do who moaned last spring for the "good old days." One of them said to me yesterday, "There's been more done in the last six months than I believed last winter would be done in two years." I have found no other place in the South where early faith in the recuperative energies of the people has met with such large reward as here. Many men seem inclined to believe that the promise will not be kept, and are prophesying a dull season next year. Others are more hopeful, and say that when the railroads connecting with Augusta, Macon, and Thomasville are repaired, the trade of the city will be fifty per cent greater than ever. This latter view seems to me the correct one; but it can hardly be appreciated by any one who is uninformed as to the numbers of Northern, and particularly Northwestern men moving into the upper and western sections of the State.

There are already many Northern men in business here, and I am told of many more who propose coming out during the winter. A considerable portion of these are men who were in the army, and not a few of them are ex-soldiers who did more or less duty in the city, and of course come here now with some social and business relations already formed. The feeling toward persons from the North is very far from being what is desirable, but several who have been here through the year say it is improving.

In the First Congressional District, Solomon Cohen, of this city, has been elected representative. He is, as his name indicates, of Hebrew descent, though a native of this country, I believe. He is a lawyer by profession, and stands among the leading members of the bar in his section. He
[p. 367]
was a delegate in the famous Charleston Democratic Convention, and was one of the few Southern men who refused to secede from that body. He was Buchanan's postmaster here, and an opponent of secession. State allegiance carried him into the post-office under the Rebel government, however, and he gave a son to the army thereof, who was killed shortly after going into service. He was a delegate in the late Convention, and was prominent in the action to secure an assumption of the Rebel war debt.

I record with pleasure that I have found two men who are eminently sound on the State-rights question. One of them has been a Rebel sergeant, and is now a railroad fireman. He stood by while three or four of us were carelessly chatting about the subject. "Dun know anything 'bout the matter myself, but old Uncle Sam says as how States ha'n't any right to kick out o' the traces, and that's enough for me." The other one of my couple is a planter, and he put this word into the conversation of a couple of his neighbors who were hair-splitting about reserved rights, &c.: "Well, I reckon it's one of the reserved rights of the Federal government to put down a rebellion, and I don't happen to know any man down to my section who proposes to dispute that right agen."

I also record with pleasure that I have found one man who is eminently sound on the negro labor question. He keeps a hotel, -- the most systematic and orderly house, with one exception, that I have found in the South. He has no help but that of negroes. I asked him how he got along so admirably with them, when so many persons complained that nothing could be done with them. "Why, I treat 'em just as I would white men; pay them fair wages every Saturday night, give 'em good beds and a good table, and make 'em toe the mark. They know me, and I don't have the least trouble with 'em."