29,471,648 7
Georgia 300,000,000 2-1/2 135,659,530 5
Louisiana 200,000,000 6 209,361,402 6
Mississippi 116,288,810 2-1/2 129,308,345 3-1/2
Tennessee 252,289,873 2 223,211,345 1
Texas 500,000,000 3 304,470,736 5
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Total 1,710,498,798 4-1/2 1,215,662,128 5
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This shows that in eight Southern and Southwestern States
there has been an increase of nearly half a billion
dollars--$494,836,668--in the value of taxable property
during the short period of four years, while the rate of
taxation has been actually reduced. At the same time liberal
appropriations have been made for schools, public
improvements, and other useful purposes. "Nor is this
marvelous advance in valuation," says the _Times-Democrat_,
"the result of any inflation in value, but the natural
sequence of grand crops, new industries developed, new
manufactories, mines, and lumber mills established."

The extension of railroads has been hardly less
astonishing. In the eight States above enumerated there were
in 1879 11,604 miles of railroad. There are now 17,891
miles, showing an increase in four years of 6,287 miles. The
agricultural progress made is shown by the fact that the
value of raw products raised in these States, including all
crops, lumber, cattle, and wool, has advanced from
$398,000,000 in 1879 to $567,000,000 in 1883, or an increase
of $169,000,000. During this period the mineral output of
Alabama alone has increased from $4,000,000 to $19,000,000,
and the lumber product of Arkansas from $1,790,000 to
$8,000,000.

The trade of New Orleans is a barometer of Southern
industry and commerce. The value of domestic produce in that
city in 1881-82 was $159,000,000; in 1882-83 it was
$200,000,000. The value of exports of domestic produce to
foreign countries in the former year amounted to
$68,000,000; in the latter it reached $95,000,000.

These figures tell a remarkable story of recent progress in
the Southern States. Always rich in natural resources, the
South has long been poor through