The Mississippi Creole. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1841-1851, 1850-04-27
The Manufacture of Cotton in the south
ern states.

.. .m. M ern States.
Hunts Merchants Magazine contains a Sc
ries Of very able papers on this subject, from
the pen Of G. T. James, Of Rhode Island.-
His object is to prove that the Southern States
ought to become the manufacturers as we'll as
producers Of cotton for the world. The cot
ton manufacture gives employment, in Great
Britain, to 10000 operators. 1t makes up
nearly One.half of the external trade of the
Kingdom. Of the 6OO,0OO,OOO pounds impor-
ted into Great Britain, the United States fur
nishes four-ffths. 1t is calculated that Great
Britain consumed in l847, $50, 600 900 pounds
of American cotton, for which the planter re-
Ccived about S29,O0O,000. The cost to the
manufacturer would be about ten millions
more. Assuming the average lield to be $50
pounds per acre, it would require 100000
acres, worth S25 per acre. The number Of
slaves employed would be l35,480, at $500
each. The fixed capital will be about $780,
100000. The cotton, at six cents per pound
Yields the $28,OOO,OOO,
The value of British cotton manufactures
for that year was $500, OOO, 1000; the capital in
vested in manufactures is only $3.50. 100000;
then deduct the cost Of the material from the
value Of the ma ufactured article, and there
is left as the profit for the manufacturer near
ly $l50,0OO,000. The manufact rer receives
FIVE t;rnes as much for converting the cotton
into cloth as the farmer for producing the raw
material, and both employ the sam amount Of
capital. The amt disproportlon exists be-
tween the profits Of the Southern planter and
the Northern manufacturer, The writer then
proceeds to demonstrate the greater advantages
possessed by the Southern planter. The mere
saving in the transportation would go largely
to the payment Of the manufacture.
Instead Of increasing the product, already
too great, the true Southern policy is to enter
largely into the manufacture, and TINS with
draw a portion Of the labor engaged in the
production and employ it in the more profit
BILE mode Of manufactures. 1t would, too, fur
nish employment to many poor white perso ms,
who now live on Strengthened means. There
are thousands Of the inhabitants Of the piny
woods who would be glad to work in manu-
factories. We have seen tue effect which the
mere change to sugar culture has effjCted il
the parishes, which contain %alluvial lands Dor
dered by the pine woods. The establishment
of one factory, with 10000 s%pindIes, in say
one Of the parishes in this State, will be thu
means Of adding to the comforts and increas
ing the intelligence of the population now
sparsely scattered through the pine woods
Indolent and ignorant these people now are
because they want the motive for exertion =.
Give them a market for their labor, where the,
may exchange flair days work or a fair day
pay, and this sluggishness would disappear;
is but the rust which corrodes even the tru
steel. .
But the South wants motive power. In tn
first place, there is not a piny woods regioI
which does not produce streams with s%utficien
, power for small factories. Who that has ira
e eled through the pine woods Of Louisiana. j
the summer months, does not recall with plea
Q ute the clear streams which so frequently COO
ed his thirst and refreshed his lapgdid and ex
: hausted irame4
d " What especially pleases and refreshes m
! in these forests, is the abundance Of waite
which 10 everywhere pouring itself forth.
: it because it gives us such4a feeling Of life
: because ID those lovely soli,udes it is u Q o.
thing which moves! Or is it that exci,'
in US a feeling Of wealth and exuterance a'
!, nature! Everything which grows and live
" needs the retreshment Of waite 7, and thirstil
longs after il, and 50 Mother Earth opens h