The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-02-08

r supply Is opened soon shall have But ca
is cotton manufacturing with competition pa
le better than cotton planting without competi
y ton? Which production is more profitable
7? one with the least or one with the most com
1t petition? What are the facts? The who'll
;? world completes for Us as planters, but agains
p US as manufacturers. There is an understood
p of farms, but an oyerstock Of factories. 1t i
" by no means an extrayagant estimate tina
two-thirds of the present factories could spiI
and weave the crop.
o LABOR MoTTvEs-DEsIRE-FEAR
= Can general system of domestic factories
: founded on deficient labor, compete agains
: the general system of foreign factories, found
e ed on super6cient labor? Perhaps more hope
o full than thoughtful, some think that we have
e nothing to fear from outside competition, and
8 that abroad nothing entering into the cost Of q
manufactured article, is cheaper than it is here
D at home. Such thinkers overlook labor
{ Abroad wherever there is general system OIL
, factories, there is q systematic and general
d supply of labor. If not SO, the factories are
7 worked at the sacrifice of land-Tepair. Nor is
. this all The chief element of price is labor
, 1t at home is scarce and dear, but abroad,
, abundant and cheap. But home manufac-
. lures if developed, must be worked by either
! whites or blacks. Whites are not systematic,
} but free laborers. They cannot be systemati-
? cally procured; but if they could, the risk in
: theiremploymentis disastrously great. For the
three labor motives are fear of want, desire of
bettered condition, and duty civilly enforced.
: The desire of bettered condition is not syste-
matte, and therefore not reliable. Nor in our
climate where clothing and housing are for
comfort scarcely needed, and on our soil where
| DO
dred to thousand fold, where rice grows as
cheap as in India, millet as cheap as in Egypt,
the Irish potato as cheap as in Ireland, the
Chinese potato IS cheap as in China, where an
acre of sweet potatoes will feed nearly treble
the people who can be fed On an acre Of wheat,
where our field pea . fortune to any country,
httens man and beast, and betters the ground
on which it and corn crop may in one season
be grown; in such climate and on such
soil, the fear of want is not systematic labor
motive. Here three months work permits
nine months idleness There must, hence,
be surplus population, to make the fear of
want q systematic labor motive. The only
other motive is duty civilly enforced But in
the free labor system the duty to work cannot
| be civiliy enforced Hence, manufacturing by
free labor is, with US, ali impracticability.
FACTORIES WITH sUBTRAcFED LABOR, FAIL.
But if part of our warranted or negro
labor is subtracted from agriculture and ad-
ded to manufactures, our capitalists then cam
not compete against foreign capitalists employ
ing labor at prices iniquitously low from the
surplus Of population. The foreign toctories
now have an overpowering advantage: with
them labor is superfcient and cheap; but with
US, deficient and dear; and labor is the chief
element Of cost But if we decrease the crop
of the raw material, we increase within limits |
the price of the raw material. But If the |
price of the raw material is increased, then
the price of the manufactured material must |
either be decreased or rise beyond the con- |
sumers' ability, and so far, be unsold. In |
such cases foreign factories, with free labor, |
may decrease wages below the standard of |
comfort But our capitalists working hands |
whose labor obligations are worth from one |
thousand to two thousand dollars, could not
afford to decrease wages below the standard |
of comfort, for the standard of comfort is the |
standard of health. Nor is this all. As soon
as manufactures begin to compete against ag- |
riculture, the price of labor rises. Our man. |
ufactures would mike eur minus supply Of
agricultural labor q minimum, and the cost of
labor would be more inordinate than now.
The factories, therefore, cannot be systemati-
cally developed, because our States with labor
deficient and therefore dear, cannot in the
manufacture Of cotton and wool, compete
against States with labor supeKfcient, and
therefore cheap. A system OF factories found
ed on labor subtracted from farms will there
fore fail
ECONOMIC LAwS-DEvELoPMENT.
For general system of manufactures the
supply of labor must be general and syste-
matte. This is an organic law of economy.
The surplus Of agricultural labor is the fund
for manufacturing; only the labor superfcient
in agriculture is efficient in manufactures: tho
excess of agriculture is the access of manu-
lectures. Such is another economic statute
OF all productions, therefore, the branches are
in their development not accidental, but nor
NAL Each branch is essentially successive,
and the succession is according to law. In
the development Of States economy. there
IS first Land Preparation; then Land Monopo-
ly; then Land Exhaustion; then Migration |
and PREPARATION and Manufactures Such is
the general succession Indeed, the law for
science is the law for economy; progress is
always from the simple to the complex. But
in its very nature agriculture is but simple
kind of manufactures; they differ but in their
that is all. In manufactures, art
does more and nature less, but both are ope-
rative; in agriculture, nature does more and
art less, but both are operative. Progress,
therefore is to make nature more operative in
and art more operative in agri-
culture. Hence, until our agriculture is more
developed, our manufactures must be less de-
velOped, and in the nature of the case, the
simpler branches of production, certainly
profitable, are developed before the more COM
plex branches, doubtfully profitable.
|
PROFITS. |,
That general system of factories is more
profitable than general system of farms, is {
srror. In state of suffciency, the general I
profits of all industries are uniform. Capital
IS unit The special gains in one business
may be greater than in another, but the gen. :
sral losses will sooner or later counterbalance ,
The special gains. Skill, will, risk and labor,
are elements Of profit. But in fact, skill and 6
will are additional capital, and ought to be so !
reckoned, because each is . productive finc- .
ton. Thus talent is capital-brain is bullion. !
IT. for instance, ten thousand dollars with
skill pay fifteen per cent, and ten thousand
dollars without skill pay but ten per cent,
then skill is, in fact, capital Of five thousand
dollars, and the investment really is not ten,
but fifteen thousand dollors. In all enter t
priseS, therefore, everybody and everything Is
ought to be appraised; each man has q money |
value, and this ought to be marked in the {
schedule, for appreciation will secure gradua-
ton and emulation. Since, therefore, skill is
capital, and capital is unit, aRd tends to uni
ormity Of profits, general system of facto-
ries is not more profitable than general sys-
tenn Of farms, because in factories the general
skal, will, risk and labor are greater.
ACCIDENTAL FAcToRIEs--PERMIssIvEs SUCCESS
In the United States South there is not
general system of manufactures, because there
% not general and systematic labor supply.
Such factories as may be here are special and
accidental. Ina few places where the land is |
exhausted, and the alternatives are land repair {
migration or manufactures, some few patriot
capitalists have employed their labor to manu-
acture, and some few others may do 50. Such
may yield large dividend. Their
success, however is permissive. If their COM
petition was dreaded the foreign capitalists in
single season, could by underselng or tam
Dering, if the labor is white snap every spin |
lie from the Chesapeak to Matagorda Bay. 1t
sooner or later will be found that the best
economy is the best morality, and the best
morality is the best policy We cannot with
but the African labor supply develop even our
bat we can with the supply de- :
Velop our manufactures as well as our agricul !
ture. With the supply our crops will not re-
cede; our factories viii succeed, and our treas
ures will outshine the wealth Of Cresus and
Of Ind ST. HENRY.
ANOTHER BuRGLARY.-Some professional
gents entered the millinery establishment Of
the Misses Bigelow, on Tuesday night, unlock
;no the fr,nnf door hx the Aid of fnreene AZ |