New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1855-07-20
'DKvTLorMErT OF SOUTHERN INDUSTRY,


by Hon. James L Orr, on the subject OF tne
development Of Southern Industry The az
dress is quite lengthy, occupying not less man
twenty two pages Of the Review, but Its scholar
shin, truth and suggestiveness entltie IL 70
general perusal and careful consideration. 1t
lunches upon subject that came prominently
before the late Southern Commercial Conven-
tion. as we'll as before other previous Conyen-
tons that has been largely discussed in the
newspapers and magazines of the day, and
awakened very considerable interest mong the
rejecting portion Of the community IN every
Southern State. e
4 The dependence of the South upon the North
for almost every manufactured article, is Alto
gether disproportioned to the necessity OF the
case, and ought to be ended. There should be.
some degree Of fair reciprocity in the business
of the two extreme portions Of the Union. In
stead thereof, there is such disparity as may
well attract the attention Of all thinking men.
We go abroad for nearly every article we eat
or use. Weimport from Massachusetts, Ohio,
| New York and Connecticut oil of our machinery,
our domestic utensils, our cloths, our fashions,
and a great deal Of our provisions Our steam
| boats are builtat Cincinnati, and our steam
Iships at New York; our mills and machinery
come from Boston; our cottons, our linens, our
ploughs, our hats, our printing! paper, the very
pavement on which we ride and walk are brought
| from the same places. We send to the North
for our horses and mules, for our shoes and
woollen goods for our books, for our carriages
indeed for almost every thing we want. They
purchase from us the raw material at low prices,
and send it back in manufactured state at
most extravagant cost.
This state of affairs cannot continue forever.
The vis ineytiae that has been SO long and
Justly charged against Southern character must
dive way to d new impulse, and we must manu-
facture as we'll as produce. There is no reason
Why mills should not multiply around as well as
in the Northern States; why the fabrics we use
should not be made from the material we raise
as we'll at home as abroad land the charges Of
transportation and creation be saved to us. The
experiments already made in this and other
slayeholding States show that success and profit
attend every judioous undertaking and encour-
age us to fresh efforts. Shipbuilding and the
building Of steamboats, might just as well be
carried on ut PascagouIa, Charleston and Sa-
vannah as at Bath, Kittery, Boston or New
York. In this city we could find plenty Of
labor, Of capital and Of demand to support as
extensive machine shops az can be found at
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati or Louisville. We might
make our own printing and writing paper, as is
done in Georgia and Carolina. We might pub
lish our own books, educate our own children,
and in thousand ways rid ourselves OF the
painful servitude we are under to Northern
merchants and capitalists The cotton and
cane crops are certainties however, so far al
Il immediate sales and ready money are concerned
and being very productive, our planters prefer
to invest and re-invest their property in ths
production Of these articles rather than expenc
the slightest time or make the slightest outlay
towards rendering themselves more self-depen
| dent and independent than they now are. Tht
great blinds their eyes to the less, and they
l work on through their whole lives well CON
tented if each closing year finds them in better
pecuniary position than the new at its com,
mencement. They ignore DR.. Franklin's wiss
suggestion that g a penny saved is worth two
pence earned !" they will not gaze at o horizon
which lies beyond that Of their fathers, and SC
continually grow more and more dependent
upon others for the common necessaries of life.
It's undoubtedly true that different regions
are naturally adapted to different occupations
and pursuits; that they are marked out for
some special department of industry in which
manufacturing; the great West for producing
corn and wheat, and the South for the produce
ton Of corn, cotton, cane and rice. we'll reg
ulated system Of exchange might make it profit
able for each section to turn its best energies
to that occupation for which it has the greatest
| facilities No system, nor no state of affairs,
| however, will warrant an entire heediesspess Of
every thing beyond the particular branch of in
l dustry which should be most prominent. Tht
Yankees must do something beyond making cot
| ton cloth and brogans, and the West something
besides raising wheat and fat beeves. They de
50. The New Englanders are almost entirely
self subsistent, and the Western people could
without great difficulty, be thrown upon theil
own resources tomorrow. How is it with us
The famine Of the past winter is the most suita
BILE reply. We are dependent for almost ever,
article on States lying above us; dependent TO
our clothing, our tools and our food depsnden
for necessaries as we'll as Injuries; dependen
for the bread We eat and the clothes we wear
There Is, to be sure, q partial dependence 70
cotton and sugar upon us, on the part of thos
we SO largely patronize, but our own inertnes
is not thereby excused The money we expsn
to build up cities and villages abroad, had bette
DO expended at home and tho profits be retaine
in our own pockets. Every great manufactul
ia the nucleus Of q village, which may in tin
y grow to be town or city, giving aid to all bus
4 ness within its reach, increasing the value
land and Of produce, and making plenty mol
Q plentiful. Our planters should raise their ON
Q corn, their own cattle, their own pork, and o,
r citizens should endeayor to create here tho
!, manufactures for which they are now compel,
9 to go abroad e iss
Thesubiect is q very broad one, but it is We
n worthy of careful examination, and must ult
9 mately come up in q decisive shape Why n
n do something at once?
Il LOUISIANA. 1.-The Ouaehita Register of Il
q 18th says:
q The weather. for the past week has been 9
4 eessiyely warm and dry, the crops, howevs