GEOEGIA. 



319 



GEORGIA. The Legislature met on the 

 8th of January, and remained in session until 

 February 17tb, during which time 321 acts 

 and 15 resolutions were passed. The prin- 

 cipal acts were one " to repeal the usury 

 laws, and to fix the rate of interest in cases 

 where the contracting parties make the con- 

 tract in writing in reference thereto ; " an- 

 other providing a public school fund for the 

 State; an act reapportioning the representa- 

 tives among the different counties ; and an 

 act " authorizing the issue of bonds for the 

 payment of past-due interest, for the redemp- 

 tion of past-due bonds, and for such bonds as 

 may fall due within the next three years." 



By this act the Governor is directed to issue 

 bonds of the State to the amount of $2,100,- 

 000, and bearing eight per cent, interest, with 

 semi-annual coupons attached, payable in the 

 city of N"ew York, on the 1st day of April 

 and the 1st day of October in each year; 

 $100,000 of these bonds are to be made 

 payable on the 1st day of April, 1874, and 

 the same amount on that day in each suc- 

 ceeding year until the whole amount is paid. 

 The Governor is directed to increase the per- 

 centage on the taxes to be collected in the 

 year 1874, and in every succeeding year until 

 the whole of the bonds issued under this act 

 shall be paid, so that the taxes to bo collected 

 in these years shall exceed the amount other- 

 wise authorized to be collected by the sum of 

 $100,000; and the faith of the State is pledged 

 that the money thns raised shall be applied to 

 the redemption of these bonds. The leading 

 appropriations were as follows, viz. : Con- 

 tingent fund, $20,000 ; Atlanta University, 

 colored, $8,000; Academy of the Blind, $11,- 

 000; Deaf and Dumb Institution, $13,500; 

 interest on the public debt, $(iOO,000; State 

 public buildings, $20,000 ; State Lunatic 

 Asylum, $105,000; estate of Linton Stephens, 

 $5,250; claims of proclamation printers, $27,- 

 689.15 ; Rnssel Sage, $375,000. 



General John B. Gordon was chosen United 

 States Senator. Towards the close of the 

 year some discussion was had upon the ques- 

 tion of calling a Constitutional Convention, 

 but the general sentiment of the people seemed 

 to bo adverse to the scheme, owing to the 

 expense it would entail, though the propriety 

 of some changes in the organic law was ad- 

 mitted. The subject of cheap transportation 

 between the cotton States and the grain-grow- 

 ing region of the West attracted much atten- 

 tion in the State in the early part of the year. 

 The States of Georgia, South Carolina, Ala- 

 bama, and Florida, had in 1870 an aggregate 

 population of 3,074,455. They produced 57,-' 

 2 15, 500 bushels of grain, while the annual 

 consumption is 104,521,470, leaving a deficit 

 of 47,305,870 bnshols. Owing to the cost of 

 transportation and the consequent high price 

 of grain, more than 5,000,000 acres of land in 

 these States are forced into the production of 

 cereals, while, if planted in cotton, they would 



add 2,500,000 hales to the foreign exports, in- 

 creasing the value of those exports to about 

 $100,000,000 annually. To remedy these diffi- 

 culties, the most favored plan was the con- 

 struction of the Atlantic and Great Western 

 Canal. To discuss this project, a convention 

 was called by Governor Smith to meet at 

 Atlanta on May 20th, to which the Governors 

 of the various States of the South, West, and 

 Northwest, and delegates from various muni- 

 cipalities, and from the farmers' granges, were 

 invited. It met at the appointed time, was 

 attended by over 150 delegates, and after two 

 days' deliberation adopted a memorial to Con- 

 gress, the concluding portion of which, ex- 

 plaining the plan, and setting forth its ad- 

 vantages, was as follows : 



A glance at the map will be sufficient to show 

 that, from the great lakes to the Mississippi Kiver, 

 there is a vast expanse of country, divided by the 

 Appalachian chain, which separates the waters of the 

 Atlantic from those which flow into the Gulf of Mex- 

 ico. The Ohio and the James Rivers have their 

 sources among the mountains of this chain, and, 

 farther south-also the Tennessee, the Coosa, and the 

 Ocmulgee. Present surveys have demonstrated 

 that it is feasible to connect by canal the Ohio with 

 the James River, and the Tennessee with the Ocmul- 

 gee: and thus, so to speak, turn the Mississippi into 

 the Atlantic at Norfolk and at the. Southeastern At- 

 lantic ports. The merits of the James River and tho 

 Kanawha Canal have been fully discussed, and wo 

 will not pause here to repeat the many reasons which 

 have been offered in favor of this great work. Wo 

 crave your attention, however, for a moment, while 

 we point out some of the advantages which would 

 flow from the construction of the Atlantic and Great 

 Western Canal-eonnecting the Mississippi, through 

 the Tennessee River, with the Southeastern Atlantic 

 ports. 



The Tennessee enters the Ohio a short distance 

 above the confluence of the latter with the Missis- 

 sippi. From this point the general direction of tho 

 Tennessee is southeast, to its great bend at Gunters- 

 ville, in the State of Alabama. At that point the 

 Coosa and the Tennessee approach each other there 

 being only a narrow neck of land between them. 

 Across this isthmus a canal thirty miles long would 

 connect these two rivers, and open navigation to 

 Rome, Georgia. From Eome the route follows the 

 Etownh to its nearest point of approach to the Oc- 

 mulgee River, and down the latter to the city of Ma- 

 con, and thence to the sea. Nature has already sup- 

 plied the greater portion of this route, and it remains 

 for us to complete the work which she has so well 

 begun. The route has been surveyed by distin- 

 guished engineers of the War Department, and has 

 been pronounced by them eminently feasible. 



It offers the following advantages : 



1. Cheap transportation. According to the official 

 reports the cost of transporting a ton of grain 

 from St. Louis to the Southeastern Atlantic ports, 

 by this route, would be $4.88. It costs, by rail, 

 $14.40. The saving upon each ton would be $9.52 

 amounting in the aggregate to about $14,000,000 per 

 annum, upon grain alone, to be divided between the 

 producer and the consumer. 



2. This route would be open the entire year, 

 never rendered impracticable by ice in winter, nor 

 by drought in summer. 



8. It would greatly increase the coasting-trade, 

 furnishing employment during the winter months 

 (when the Niagara Ship-Canal shall be opened) to 

 the steamers and other vessels engaged during sum- 

 mer upon the lake?. 



4. The route passes through immense forests of 



