Gen. Jas. B. Gordon

GEN. JAS. B. GORDON

Talks Entertainingly to the Argus Representative.

BUSINESS IN THE SOUTH

Some Reasons Why Cotton Manufacturers Prosper.

The Business Future Looks Bright.- Some Thoughts on the Negro Problem from the General's Point of View.

Gen. B. Gordon, of Georgia, arrived in the city Saturday, and was quartered at the Cook house. He spoke in the S.L.A. course at the M.E. church that night and in the Normal course at Ypsilanti Monday night. the general has been on this lecture tour about three weeks more ro fill his engagements, which are principally in Michigan, Illinois and Ohio. Gen. Gordon is a favorite with northern audiences and his lecture tonight will be devoted to the closing incidents of the civil war in which he was a distinguished participant on the southern side.

When seen by a representative of the Daily Argus this afternoon Gen. Gordon said he was willing to talk on anything but politics, but there he drew the line. He is talking now to bring the north and south together and make men love each other.

Speaking of business conditions in the south he said: Business in the south cannot be said to be good. When cotton is so low as it is now there is little margin of profit left for the planters and farmers and they are consequently complaining of hard times. The hard times of the past three years have not however been without their compensating benefits to the rural population. They have learned to get along with borrowing less money and they are also diversifying their productions by raising more corn and more meat. The general conditions in Georgia are fully as good in a material sense as those in any other part of the country. There is no suffering or distress, no beggary, no tramps and no strikes.

Cotton manufacturers are paying better there than in the north and have had an influence in keeping things moving. The manufacture of cotton is carried on to better advantage in the south. The cotton is carried right from the fields to the mills without storage or middle men. The south is a large consumer of cotton. The negroes themselves use much cotton goods especially of the coarser kinds which are the principal product of the southern mills. They are now sending cotton to China and it is only a question of time, in my opinion, when the bulk of the cotton manufactures of this country will be conducted in the south. 

When asked if the cost of labor had anything to do with the transfer of the cotton industry to the south, Gen. Gordon said: The labor cost of cotton produced in the south is cheaper because it does not cost the laborer so much to live in the generous southern climate. Food, clothing and shelter are all cheaper. Then, too, the cost of shipping the manufactured products to the southern consumer with the profits of the extra middle men thus required are saved and for these reasons many southern mills have been able to run and pay small dividends when northern mills have been closed. 

The prospects for the material growth of the south he considers to be most flattering indeed.

When asked about the progress of the negro, Gen. Gordon said: "So far as Georgia is concerned the condition of the negro is advancing, not as rapidly as I could wish, but still he is making progress. His educational advantages are equal in every respect to those of the whites. The legislature appropriates the same sum per capita fo the maintenance of colored college that it does to the state university although the whites pay 90 per cent of the taxes. I am a little disappointed in the effect of education upon the colored man. Too many of them want to leave the country and get into the town as soon as they get a little schooling. "Booker T. Washington has done a good work in habits of industry and training them to apply themselves. The general progress of the colored man in the south is good."

The people of Georgia were greatly enthused over the war with Spain. From the general's own family, one son was at Santiago another is now on his way to Cuba and his only grandson is in one of the Georgia regiments. Col. Williams, who died recently of yellow fever in Havana, was one of several nephews who are in the U.S. Volunteer service.