New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1858-08-03
INAUGURATION or THE SOUTHERN
M. WORKS.

yoodly number OF the cltlzens Of MOpllel lnNlteo
gnes of the ocoasion and the celebration was, con
seouently, one Of the most pleasing and cordial
description.
Upon assembling, a pleasant hour or so was spent
in the inspection Of the elegant new factory, par
ticuIar description Of which has lately been pub
lished in these columns All the apparatus was in
operation, and the decomposition of rosin into oil,
pitch aud naphtha, witnessed by the visitors, and
explained by the officers in charge. Quite number
of gentlemen from New Orleans, who spent Friday
night at Point Clear, were unluckiy prevented from
being present by the grounding of the steamer
Crescent Though their absence was regretted those
who were present were abundantly capable numeri-
cay and in other respects, Of dschargng the duties
Of the occasion with proper eciat
long table had been spread in one of the factory
buildings, and covered with the choicest liquid and
solid comforts for the inner man, by Messrs Cham
berlain & Co., of the Battle House. At the proper
time the table was charged upon Col. L G. Seymour,
of New Orleans, taking the head, and Mr. Alderman
Moulton, of Mobile, the foot. The action was de-
cisive aud so far as we could discover displayed the
most perfect equality between the Mobans and
the Orleanians in their epicurean capacities. The
collation. having been properly disposed Of
/ Col Seymour as President of the Southern Oil
| Company rose in his place, and, in behalf of the
stockholders extended cordial welcome to the visi-
tors present. The object of the gathering, he said,
was to celebrate the initiation of an enterprise of
great public utility and of individual benefit. The
Company was now ready, he thought, to produce an
article essential to the nse Of the world and the
universal use OF oil and the perpetual necessity and
demand for it, formed very pleasing part Of
the Colonel's remarks.
The opening Of the factory had been delayed, he
said, by the modest calculations of the Company at
the outset They had started a factory on a small
and incomplete scale but subsequently finding that
the manufacture of rosn oil could not be looked upon
longer as experiment and that the success Of the
enterprise was certain, the original affair had been
torn down, and the present factory-planncd with
the aid of past experience, good judgment and re.
flection-hut in its place. The location of the fac
tory in Mobile was circumstance for which he could
offer many reasons, but one would suffice, This was,
that the patent right of the inventor of the rosin oil
manufacture prohibited the Company from operating
in Louisiana but the prohibition lacked a great
deal of cramping the Company, who were we'll salts
fed with the five States open to their operations
Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, Georgia and
Florida.
The Colonel next descanted upon the great merits
and multudinous uses OF oil 1t ranked next to bread
in its usefulness to man. and was far more important
as contribution to commerce, than either iron or
coal, The most ponderous machinery and the finest
cambria needle were alike indebted to oil for their
manufacture the pillow, the printing press were de-
pendent upon oil and, without oil, the great revou.
tionzer Of the world, steam, would be nothing.
The insgnifcance of rosin, by reason Of its great
abundance and cheapness, was touched upon, well
as its great importance to the world when introduced
in the shape of OIL and its advantage the ami
mai oils when brought into competition with them,
Whales were so largely on the decrease and the ex-
penses of the whale fishery were SO largely on the in
crease that within the last three or four years the
price of whale oil had advanced from two to three
hundred per cent. The hog crop depended more OF
less on the corn crop and could not be looked upon
as certain or regular source of OIL But with rosn
oil the case was different Its great source the pine
tree was gigantic and ineXhaustible
That good and pure lubricating oil could be made
from rosin, was fact proved by the testimony Of
practical men--such as engineers, master mechanics
aud others, who had doubted it at first but who had
upon giving it fair trial, pronounced it excellent
equal to the best animal oils and superior to them in
many respects 1t was demonstrated that oil could
be made from rosin, and that the oil so made was
first class lubrcatOr. The prejudice against it was
rapidly dying away. 1t was already in extensive use
by steamboats,, locomotives, printing presses, and
factories.
The Colonel then gave brief sketch of the rosin
oil enterprise from its beginning in this country and
accounted for the delay in bringing it to its present
perfection The inventor had broken himself in bis
endeayors to set his discovery into operation unaided
He had been compelled to take others into the bust
ness with him butin their hands itneyer got further
than becoming a subject for the dabbling of stock
iobbers. Resin oil had been manufactured for some
time in other parts Of the country; but it was such
an article that dealers only had used it, and not CON
sumers the dealers using it to aduerate more costly
oils.
The present factory of the Southern Oil Company,
the Colonel asserted, authortatiyely, was the only
one in the United States in which pure ubrcating
oil was manufactured out of rosin. In stating this,
he paid warm compliment to Mr. W. H. Peet, as
| the one man to whose enterprise sound Judgment,
good taste and unremittng industry the Southern Oil
Company indebted for their beautiful new fac
tory, and the success which crowned its operations.
This compliment of the Colouel's was heartily re-
sponded to by the assembage He invoked for The
Southern Oil Company the sympathy and patronage
Of all practical men, and concluded by offering the
following toast
ITO Southern enterprise general aud the Southern oil
Company in particular"
The speechaud the toast we're warmly applauded
and then Mr. Alderman MoaltOn followed with briei
and spirited speech. He paid high compliment ia
the new enterprise successfully inaugurated in
Mobile and was proud to hail it as an evidence that
the South was shaking off the shaekles Of fogyism.
Mr., Thomas gentleman at the very bottom ofthe
rosin oil husiness-he being an extensive proprietor
ofpine orchards in the upper part of Alabama-was
next called upon, He acknowledged the call grace.
fully, but apOIogiscd for his inability to make
speech. He said that if he could sing and could get
his voice mp to the proper pitch he would sing the
company @Old Rosin the Bow" or Down on Ola
Iu River + but not being able to sing, any more
than to make speech, he would offer toast to this
effect
May the oil ofts Company Eight the lamps Of Uncle SANS
thtrty-lwo wise yirelns.'
Mr. Overall, of the Mobile bar, made the final
speech of the occasion. He spoke eloquenty on the
subject of rosin oil and of the present enterprise of
the Southern Oil Company as one Of the most i'm.
portant movements ever started in this or any other
country. The wide field Of the Company operations.
the enormous quantities of oil required by commerce
and other things pertinent TO the new enterprise,
were treated in the most earnest aud energetic style
With Mr.. oyerall,s speech, the regular proceedings
OF the day concluded After that, the cordnlity of
the occasion became closer and warmer, and numer-
Gus good things were said on all sides OF the toasts
we give the two best we caught Mr. Gindrat editor
| of the Mobile Mercury offered =