No. 4.] FARMERS' CONGRESS. 417 



every ship in the Savannah River. Along the banks of the 

 river on either side were pointed out to the visiting delegates 

 extensive rice plantations, some of which included thousands 

 of acres and had at times yielded their proprietors a large 

 percentage of interest on their investment. These rice 

 plantations gave employment to a large number of men and 

 necessitated the ownership of hundreds of mules sometimes 

 on an individual plantation. From the low, flat and appar- 

 ently wet land it seemed almost certain that aside from 

 the mere earning capacity of a plantation there could be but 

 little attractive interest in rice culture. I inferred from the 

 general tone of remarks with regard to this industry that it 

 was on the wane, and that nothing but protection by the 

 general government would be successful in reviving it. 



On our return to Savannah a banquet was served on the 

 steamer, at which Mayor McDonough presided, and many 

 of the guests and city ofHcers made brief speeches. During 

 the trip we had great opportunity to view the work of jetty 

 construction and dredging in the harbor. After leaving the 

 wharf, three wing dams, designed to contract the water 

 ways, with a view of deepening the channel, were a feature 

 of universal interest. A low spur dam at the lower end of 

 Fig Island and a training wall constructed to straio-hten the 

 channel had proved a perfect success, the training wall being 

 six thousand feet long on the port side going down stream. 

 If the river was of great consequence to the city before with 

 its crooked channel and long bars, the improvement in con- 

 ditions can hardly be estimated. 



It is impossi])le in the brief space allotted me to give more 

 in detail of the work of the Congress, the beauties of the 

 city, the general enterprise of the people of Georgia, of the 

 deep interest they took in the sessions of the Congress, and 

 the universal hospitality extended. I can only add that 

 everywhere, on all public occasions, no opportunity was lost 

 in showing the high estimation in which the old Bay State 

 and its capital city of Boston were held by the people of 

 Georgia and its great seaport city of Savannah. That such 

 gatherings of people from remote States will have a tendency 

 to promote good fellowship, secure more harmonious busi- 

 ness relations and extend that brotherly feeling upon which 



