Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1859-02-23

| musical clnk of British gold? Having com.
paratiyely no cotton manufactures at the South
and being unable to furnish the raw material,
shall we persever in remaining so ohlivious to
selfintercst. as to draw slaves from our already
half alb, litionized border States, to make cotton
for England-,o fail even then in making suttl-
cheney for her, and yet oppose reviving the slave
trade, THAT she may revive it, under the specous
fo.m of pprcnticeship-raise her own raw ma.
terial and bid US defiance. We are doing oil
this now.
The cotton, manufactures of England are
firmly established. Her far reaching, never
ceasng policy is next to put her cotton culture
upon the same stable>basis. Hence her persis:
tant tilibustering for Colonies and her adoption
of an extensive apprentice system. The spaohe
having proven himself, but an Indifferent aP-
prentice she is taking the Africsn'and all Africa
in charge. At least France ays England are
dividing the whole contiueat between them.
! France is also preparing@to assert her ancient
claim to the large, fertile and genial Island OF
Madagascar, which is in the same latitude as the
neishboring Isles Of Bourborn and Mauritius,
aid has eight times as much territory US South
E,6&ua. The late tremendous success of
fSe1 in the Isle of Bourborn and of England
5;fHa island of Mauritius in producing sugar,
ee, ETC., with apprentices rs we'll as the uncon-
}9uerable purpose to grow their own cotton,
have helped to make them set their hearts upon
the continent of Africa and upon the Africans
themselves as laborers. France leads in trans.
porting apprentices from Africa to give England
public excuse for doing likewise. But Eng:
land puts the world to shame. even Cuba and
Brazil, at making apprentices of negroes IN At
RIGA. The two nations must understand each
other. They have each to repair bunder in
the West Indies. England calls it apprentice
ship instead Of slavery, simply to disguise her
purpose-to prevent our taking the alarm and
re.opening the slave trade ourselves. She will
| throw off the mask soon-is beginning to do 1t
now. The continent of Africa is to become her
cotton patch and all Africans her cotton laborers.
| She will fight to suppress the slave trade III
few years more if her cotton culture shall con.
tinue to flourish as it promises to do no.. The
idea is big one, but John Bulls ideas general
ly are empires. 1t is worthy Of him, but un-
worthy of us and of our fathers if We suffer
ourselves to be hoodwinked any longer.
But to return to the particular subject of
ney yro labor Mr.. Montgomery, in the same con-
nection from which the above extract was taken
continues,
"There are several cotton factories in Ten.
nessee operated entirely by slare labor there not
being o white man in the Mill but the superin-
teudaut, and according to letter lately received
from the superintendent Of one of these facto.
ries, it appears that the blacks do their work in
every respect as we'll as could be expected from
whites"
Many cotton factories at the South, other than
those of Tennessee, were operated entirely or
nearly so By negroes previous to the apprecia.
ton of slave labor above the wages Of white
labor. Ii Messrs. Gregg and Montgomery now
employ white labor instead of black, it is simply
because white labor is the cheaper because the
Graniteville Company cannot and would not if
they could command the money to buy slaves Mt
present prices, or to hire them at present rates
of negro hire, while they can get white opera
tives at so much lower wages. If any white
hands, in Southern factories cheat themselves
into the belief that they are retained in prefer
ence to negroes out of any stronger attachment
which capital has for them, than it entertains
for negro labor, they deserve to be pittied, as
they are about as self-deluded, as some Southern
planters arc, in thinking that they have mo-
nopoly Of raw cotton by some speciality of
'Southern soil, or climate. Capital has no SYM
pathy but for its own interest. 1t studies Arith
metic, not the Humanities, and we have to Cread
that most of the stock, holders in Southern fac.
tories, will oppose the renewal Of the slave trade,
and ~ Il 70 anti &C
tfhg inSidioms, OF unkind, but the white opera
tive who shall be so blind to his own interest,
will deserve to snuff the hot and greasy dust Of
factory from o'clock in the morning until
OF night, the remainder Of his days. Southern
manufacturers have solved the problem " which
is cheaper, white or slave labor" and would as
soon accept Mr.. Gregg's solution of it, as that
of any man on either side OF the Atlantic. He
has made good his title to stand near head in
matters of finance, having turned most men
down in that line. 1t will be much ado, if any
| Southern manufacturer consents to i revival OF
the slave trade for the forcible reason that it
would tend to make the white operatives iudc
pendent, and thereby raise the price Of white
factory labor. But negro operatives could be
put in their places at an early day. So let the
manufacturers he liberal to their own race and
not oppose revival.
That negro can readily perform the task Of
all operative in cotton factory is very reasona-
ble, Since much of the labor, not only i'll cotton
manufacturing, but in most other kinds OF man.
ufacturing nowadays is done by machinery,
which in numerous instances is endowed with Il
skill superior even to that of the white man, so
that nothing is left in cotton manufacturing but
manipulation about as difficult as that Of at.
tending to a common gin. Mr.. Gregg, in the
same paper from which have already quoted,
gives vther weighty reasons, besides the ease of
manipulating machinery and the cheapness Of
slaves (if the trade We're 'e.oponed) why negroes
should be preferred to whites for operatives.
"Frst-you are not under the necessity Of
elucutiny them, and have therefore their uniu,er.
rupted services, from the aye of eight years.
The second is that when you have your mill
filled with erprf hands, YOU are not subjected
to the change which is constantly taking place
with whites. The teaching of neto hands and
the constant change OF operatives are evils serl.
ously felt. In the Summer season, when it Is
desirable to ranble in the country, many eastern
| New England) factories have one third OF their
machinery standing idle for the want OF hands"
1t has frequently been stated by men expert il
the science vi values, that q pound of cotton
when manufactured into cloth is worth IfourfoM
as much as the raw material. Deduct halt the
value of the cloth for cost of material and for
wages of manufacture, and there woald be left
ttcicc the value of our whole cotton crop to fill
the Golfers of the ship.owner for transportation
and of the manufacturer for his small skill and
little capital in machinery. Mr. McDutie al
ways contended that Simmons, of Rhode Island,
Ia princely manufacturer) made more clear
profit by manufacturing four hundred bales of
cotton than he did by producing the same mum.
Der of bales on his plantation. Be that as it
may, We know that cotton manufacturing forms
the basis of old England's and of fNew England's
commercial greatness. That it gives employ.
ment to their ships and places the exchanges Of
| i Al. Il Al