Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1848-06-28
SLAVE LABOR IN COTTON
FACTORIES.


tie Arcadia Couon Factory, which is
nov in >ucc-,siul optra,ian. Ii is work
ed entmeiv by Slave labor, runs twenty
fur looms and 'urns out 1900 yards ol
cotton per day. The protiem is here
solved of The adequacy Slave labor to
manufacturing purposes. The Gazette
remarks tina, the cost of the raw mete'la'
is the great element OF expense IN the
manufacturing Of coarse cotton goods
When cotton is worth 6 cents at PenSa-
cola, i, is worth y cents lad down al
Lowell. Here is difference, then, OF
Just one fifth, or twenty cents in the dol
lar. The Arcadia Factory will, when
completed, work up 1000 pounds per day
Here is a clear saving of S15 per day in
the raw material alone, enough probably
TO feed all the operatives engaged in the
work"
The South is growing wise. The
ruinous fluctuations in the price 0! cotton
in Europe, have opened the ey Of the
planters. They have become convinced
of the folly of depending wholly, upon
foreign demand for their great staple
Periods in every year find IIrm at The
mercy Of the manufacturers of England
France and Germany. When mast pres.
scd for funds they are least able to OBJ
laiu a far price for their only salcablc
commodity.
The heavy English dealers can gene
rally deprcss the marker at pleasure; and
the experience Of the past two years has
shown that they are perfectly willing to
exercise their POWER. Th" nuc;ua,ion:
within that peiod have resulted in direc'
loss TO the cotton planters Of more than
eieh, millions of dollars. These fncru.
ations operate, Of course, most oppres-
sively upon tha, large class who are com
PEELED 10 sell, al any price. Those who
are strong enough to hold on 10 their
crops fare bu, little better. There are
many millions of dollars worth Of Gotten
now in store in the Southern ports,
waiting for better prices. Much OF it
has been in store ever since the ingalh-
ering of the last crop. Even though
prices should improve a fraction b. foe
the mex, season, the loss of in,eresr will
probably swallo" up advance, and more
TOO.
The most eife c!ual remedy is an in
creased hnme market. In one small
port in Georgia, there is one million of
dollals worth Of cotton waiting an i'm,
provemen, in prices. II, instead Of
being :!!ns stored. acd depending upon
the. foTaigp demand for release, it had
been taken into factories six months
siice, it would long ago have broaghi inIo
ths State al least five millions of dollars!
II seems as; absurd for the South to
send her cotton TO Leeds or LoweIltobe
Manufactured, and then brought back to
be worn by the Planters themselves. as
il would for a farmer in Genesee 10 send
his wheat abroad to be Toured.
England has acquired her greatness
and wealth by manufacturing for the
world. Every dollar she pays for raw
metcrialis quadrupled by the home labor
expended upon 1.-THE Georgia planter
makes his two or three per cent. upon
his cotton, and the English manufacturer
his ten and twenty per cent upon The
commodities which he produces from il!
'Ths duty and policy of the Soulh upon
this subject is as clear as sunlight. The
cotton fluids are ovcts,ocked. The
supply of this great staple has increased
more ra piily than The demand for II. If
one tent, Of the iaborers employed in
the cotton fields we're transferred to cot
ton factories, the richest results would
follow.
Events are now trAnspirine which will
p'"babIy llavea tendency to still further
compel an examination Of this subject.
A general war in Europe would have ii
most ruinous eiircr upon the cotton
market. Prices would be inslanIaneously
depressed so low as TO produce general
bankruptcy among the planters Of The
South. Such ar''voulion may not come,
but the very fact that it is possible, sulli-
cien'ly illustrates the wisdom of those
localities at the South which have entered
upon the policy Of working up portion
Of the raw material which they produce.
II This policy should become gencral---as
we cannot doubt that it will in limc--rhe
Southern States would soon place them
selves in position Of independence far
above that whicI, they now occupy, and
which they must continue to occupy, so
long as they depend exclusively upon ii
foreign mariri.-Albany Eve. Journal.
From The Charleston Mercury.
We clipped the following, some days
since. fIom The N. Y. Post, and coincide
l.