The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-08-23
THE REPUBLIC.

New England machine-shops. We have be-
fore us, in the July number Of The Plough, the
Loom, and the .4,lpu, letter from WILLIAM
). KING, esq, of Rhode Island in reply to in
quiries from gentlemen in the South and south
west, giving an account of the manufactures Of
Rhode Island in detail, the cost of building ma
chnery, sc. In this he states that
''The entire cost of new and reliable machinery
for cotton mill of 10 900 spndes with all the APP
pances Of landings, commensurate, &c. for No.
80 yarn, and including, also, looms, dressers,
pickers, and cans complete, is about ninety thou
sand dellars.'
This gives the rate nine dollars per spin
dle--the other two constituents of the neces-
sary capital amounting to twelve dollars per
spindle. Four-sevenhs Of the capital is al
ready in the South, substantially valueess; the
other three sevenths are TO be procured. We
have seen in the Southern papers, extracted
from the New York Dry Goods Reporter,
calculation that the extraordinary profits of the
cotton crop Of the past year, arising from It's
high price, and the diminished expense Of
Transporting the diminished quantity, amount to
thirty millions of dollars. De it more or less,
it has all gone into the hands of men who are
vitality Interested in keeping up the price Of
cotton, ard still further reducing the cost OF
transportation. Thirty millions Of dollars
would purchase 1888, 1873 spndles, with the
appurtenant looms, dressers, &C., &c.
This is larger number than all those now
existing in the United States, and their con-
-, IN Al. a. I
demand for Gotten, making it more than
200 900, instead of 100000 bales 1t is
easy to see that with this additional demand
the thirty millions of profits wonld be very soon
obtained by the cotton planters, if they have
not been already. Now, we do not intend to
say tnat ali this could be accomplished in sin
gle year, though it would need but the trial to
show that it is far easier than is imagined. The
capital of a people consists not in its MONEY OF
its bank notes; these are but the smallest part
of its wealth. II is in its machinery of produc-
ton, its land, and its labor. What these arc
equivalent to, in cash valuation, can never be
known till the demand is made upon them.
Whatever is drawn out for the purpose Of
bringing the consumer to the side of the pro
Queer, leaves the remainder more valuable than
it was before. The employment of labor, which
before stood unemployed, costs the community
nothing, whatever money wages it may bring,
for when employed it had to be fed and clothed.
Now, the known fixed determination of the
South to manufacture its own cotton would
bring the machinsts TO its soil, to construct
the machinery out of the iron of Southern
mines and the wood of Southern forests, and
to subsist on the products Of Southern fields.
These mines, and fields, and forests, and unem-
ployed labor, are potential capital they will be
spindes and looms whenever the South wills
that they shall be. Let it declare that will by
legislative provisions facilitating the combna-
ton of individuals for the purpose of mining
and smelling and forging the iron, and spin
ning and weaving the cotton, and by uniting
to restore tariff which shall secure them from
foreign competition, while engaged in the
effort and the thing 10 accomplished The
capital lies in the bosom of the earth, waiting
to be raised to the surface, and labor stands
waiting for the word to raise it.