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The meetiug- was called to order by Gen. W. H. Jackson, of Tennes- 

 see 5 opening prayer was offered by Eev. David Wills, of Atlanta; 

 speeches of welcome were made by the mayor, Samnel B. Spencer, in 

 behalf of the city, and by Gen. A. H. Colquitt in behalf of the Georgia 

 Agricultural Society ; and a response was made by the secretary, 0. W. 

 Greene. In the afternoon a paper from Mr. Lawton, of South Carolina, 

 was read as a partial report of the committee on transportation, favor- 

 ing a line of narrow-gauge railroads from the Mississippi Valley to Sa- 

 vannah. A communication was presented from Prof. C. G. Forshey and 

 Hon. P. H. Herbert, of Louisiana, relative to the proposed Fort Saint 

 Philip Canal. 



On Thursday, the 14th, a resolution was passed pledging aid to the 

 sufferers by the disastrous overflow of the Mississippi ; another for a 

 committee to memorialize Congress for the passage of a bill for ,the 

 further endowment and support of colleges for the advancement ot 

 practical industrial education. The committee consists of Messrs. 

 Bishop, of Arkansas ; Beverly, of Virginia ; Colquitt, of Georgia; Aiken, 

 of South Carolina ; and Winter, of Alabama. 



By invitation, the Direct-Trade Convention occupied seats in the hall 

 during the delivery of addresses of the morning, and Governor Smith 

 and the State officers were also present. General Jackson then pro- 

 ceeded to deliver his annual address as president, which was received 

 with much favor. This was followed by an attempt to deduce from 

 agricultural statistics certain practical lessons of vital importance to 

 the agriculture of different sections of the country, by the statistician 

 of this Department. The matter of both of these efforts was strongly 

 indorsed by subsequent action of the congress. 



A paper from Prof. C. V. Riley, on the use of paris-green as a remedy 

 for the cotton caterpillar, was read. 



On the third day a paper from Hon. 0. W. Flagg was presented on 

 cheap transportation and the power of the National Government over 

 inter-State commerce. 



The committee on transportation, consisting of Messrs. Peyton of Vir- 

 ginia, Dodge of the District of Columbia, Colquitt of Georgia, West of 

 Illinois, and Maxwell of Tennessee, made the foUowiug report: 



Whereas it is evident that cheap transportation of the commodities of a country is a 

 necessity of agricultural prosperity and national development ; that the agriculture of 

 tlie interior of our country is now paralyzed for want of facilities for transportation of 

 its products to the seaboard; that while we recognize the value of railroads, and tlie 

 necessity of further railway extension, we deem the cost of transporting the crude pro- 

 ducts of the field, the forest, and the mine so disproportionate to the cost of water-car- 

 riage as to render imperative the duty of Congress to improve the navigation of the 

 rivers of the interior, and connect them with the ocean by artificial water-ways, thus 

 giving to the Mississippi Valley continuous lines of water transit to the seaboard ; and 

 that the railway system has engendered monopoly and unjust discrimination, the evils 

 of which can only be obviated by completion of water-lines under Government con- 

 trol : Therefore, 



Be it resolved hy the National Agricultural Congress, That it is the duty of the National 

 Government, which has so long and so liberally fostered foreign commerce, to enter at 

 once upon the work of constructing a system of water-ways adequate to the present and 

 prospective wants of inland transportation, and continue it by annual installments of 

 aid to full completion, until unrestricted channels of trade shall be opened, not only 

 through the entire length of the Mississippi, but connecting that great river with the 

 Atlantic Ocean, by way of the lakes, by the Ohio, Kanawha, and James, and by the 

 Tennessee and Savannah Rivers. 



Resolved, That this convention consider appropriations by Congress for such a system 

 ■wise national investments, which will at no distant day repay the Government by in- 

 creased revenue created by enhanced production and developed wealth, of the country. 



The chairman, Col. H. E. Peyton, sustained the report in a speech re- 

 plete with striking fact and telling argument. The discussion was gen- 

 eral, resulting in the adoption of the report by a large majority. 

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