The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1850-09-03

Now that the problem has been solved, and the
result has proved successful, can any one tell US
why the Southern people cannot do the same The
present rapid advances in the business at the South
answer the question, and demonstrate the fact,
that, with the determination to set the spindle and
the loom in motion, the means are always at COM
mand.
But it is contended that there is want of 81 ill
and enterprise" To assert the swami Of enter
PRISE" is to beg the question, which future results
only can settle The want of skill is an objection
entirely without force. Many pretenders, like
pedlars Of Yankee notions, have doubtless de-
ceived, cheated, and feeced Southern men, by
constructing cotton mills for them, which, when
completed, were worth about as much as so many
wheelbanows; and many managers have treated
them about the same. So have New England
men, in many instances, suffered from similar i'm
positions. STILL skill is not scarce, and can be had in
sufficient abundance TO meet all demands, North
and South Does the South lack skill She can
more readily purchase il than New England could
fifty years ago, and as readily and cheaply as New
England can purchase it now; and as good as New
England can now Afford both for the construction
and management of mills. There is no difficulty
on this score, as every manufacturer and mill
builder, North and South well knows.
The want of proper labor, too, is made very
strong objection and, in connection with this, a
good deal is said about the intelligence and indus
try of the New England girls and their habits of
neatness, contrasted with the supposed ignorance,
Incidence, and slatternly habits of those of
the South. The inference is, that the Southern
girls cannot come into successful competition with
the girls of New England, because they are not
intelligent enough to learn to be good operatives,
and have not industry and perseverance, enough to
fellow up the business, nor clearly habits suffi-
GENTLY fixed TO induce them to keep themselves
and their apartments free from filth. How many
New England girls have ever been seen at the
North, who were Industrious enough to work
unless they were obliged tot How many, who
were more intelligent than Southern girls with
like opportunities to learn How many, whowere
more given to habits of neatness, under similar
circumstances, which are connected with the life
of the poer Southern girls =! The truth is, the poor
girls of the South have no employment to stimu.
late them to industry; and hence, lack the means
TO procure intelligence, and those incentives to ap
pear well, which are enjoyed in New England.
Cotton mills furnish all these; and, experience
has proved, it requires but time, with good
management, anu SOou ulsCiPunc, W IcHucI TIC
poor girls of the South in all respects, equslto those
in New England. 1t comes with an i'll grace from
Northern manufacturers to decry Southern girls as
bengunftfor cotton mill operatives for such reasons,
while the New England mills swarm with Irish
help, men, women and children, among the dirtiest
and most ignorant portion of all that call them
selves civilized. They are constantly crowdng out
American operatives; and the consequence is, that
Southern manufacturers may procure an abun-
dance Of help at the North, good and cheap as it
Is there. The experiment has been tried, however,
with Southern labor more than once, and with
success.
The Graniteville Mill, in South Carolina, which
has been cited as an example, we do not take as
a test Of what may be done at the South, either as
il respects the mill ITSELF its cost its mana cement
its quantity quality of products, nor its expendi-
lures. We have only to wait patiently for few
months, whenthe community may possibly discover
something in the form Of cotton mill Of higher
character, and altogether fairer specimen. Whoa
we have seen what can be done in the South, we
shall learn the true value Of the doubts suggested
by Massachusetts, writers.
These remarks are not speculative-they are
truths and they will be proved such by actual
practical results a thousand times more satisfac-
tory than all the evidences contained in the reports
of the Secretary of the Treasury, with the many
comments on the subject. Even now, coarse goods
can b. manufactured at the South al q cost per
yard, for labor not exceeding that paid in New
England; and the advantages in difference of ex-
pcndture noted above, will constitute protection
that will enable the South to defy all competition
These down east writers speak very feelingly of
Northern mill builders, who, to serve their own
interests as they insinuate, humbug the people of
the South. ltmight be well for them, also, to in
form the public whether or not there is any selfish
object to I've advanced by such remarks The Bos-
ton Adrotiso's correspondent Is evidently one Of
the same breed OF paintings hatched Of late,
TO warn the people Of the South to beware Of
the manufacturing business, lest an active
competition should spring up against the manu-
facturers ef New England, more TO be dreaded
by them than that Of our European competitors
Probably that writer himself may be in possession
of some nominal thousands Of manufacturing stock,
and is fearful that brisk competition at the South
may curtail the fair proportions Of his darling
shares and reduce them 10 the mere efhyies OF
their former selves. But be this as II may, his
warnings are useless. The competition m ist and
will come, and that quickly The manufacture OF
coarse goods will be transferred to the Southern
country and in time that Of the finer descriptions
will follow. The South Is destined to become the
seat OF the cotton manufactures Of the United
States, and all the efforts Of New England cannot
prevent It. There has been apathy in the South
on the subject in times past, and the spirit Of enter
prize has slumbcred But a change has taken
placc-the race Of Improvement has commesced.
The people Of the South are no longer TO be terri
fed by the cry Of wolf. so often set up and reie-
rated by their New England friends. The more
loudly and frequently that cry Is set up the more
will the Southern people be encouraged to proceed;
for they know it is entirely deceptive and intended
only to keep them out Of the fisd, to afford others
the opportunity to reap the harvest.
Such being the inevitable tendency Of things at
the South we repeat what we have often said,
that the Northern States have driven their Southern