Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-10-09
G. HARRIS.
The Great StapIe of the SoutI,.

The Great Staple of the South.
From Lloyd's Steamboat and Railroad Guide
The gigantic proportions which the cotton
crop of the South has assumed during the
few past years, lead the rejecting mind to
look into the future, and speculate upon the
possibility of meeting the coming demand
by an adequate supply. A vast and wonder
fully increasing demand is inevitable; new
markets are being constantly opened up,
while the old ones are asking an almost fab
ulous amount to meet their growing necessi-
ties and wide-spreading commerce. The wants
of Russia alone. increasing as they have by
such rapid strides, will soon use up all the
surplus and leave US far, very far behind in
meeting the supply. The wise and concilia-
ting rule OF the present Emperor of Russia
has given great impulse to trade and to
private speculation, and already five hundred
cotton factories are in operation in Russia,
| running four hundred thousand spindles, and
employing considerably over one hundred
thousand operatives. These factories produce
over 40, 900 000 lbs. of yarn, and cotton goods
10 proportion. The market for this merchan-
disc will, inevitably, soon embrace 60. 100000
of Russian subjects, and to meet its wants. a
vast proportionate increase must take place
both in the cotton factories and, necessarily,
in the cotton staple.
The increased demand for the English mar
ket alone, year by year for the two past years,
is extraordinary, beyond all precedent. The
figures are indeed startling. to wit: in 1856
81. ,429 900 bales; in 1850, 2,019, O0o;
and in 1S59-60, at the same ratio of increase,
100000 bales.
Within certain limit there can be no doubt
that the supply will always equal the demand
Take, for instance, the increase in the cotton
crops each twenty years since 1900. The cot
ton gin at that date had been invented but
few years, and the crop of cotton amounted
to only 40, 600 bales. IN 1920 the number of
bales produced reached nearly half million.
In 1910 the crop yielded over two million of
bales, while in 1860 it is estimated at four
million stI hundred thousand bales, valued at
100 hundred and tsosnty-three million dollars! A
glance at the above figures will convey some
idea of the enormous resources of the South,
| and of the gro'ving gold Jfslds more rich and
reliable than all the placers of California and
Australia, with their gold dust and their
| nuggets.
But with all these vast resources Of mate
rial wealth in cotton and other great staples,
| the South is but partially developed. At
| home millions of acres lie uncultiVated-use-
| less, wasted land, with all its latent capaci-
| ties for producing limitless wealth. left all
| inert, awaiting only the magic touch of '.la-
| bor'' to spring into active and teeming life.
| But labor is forbidden, for the laborer cannot
ue Hdu. Inc NOtIh mas put snackteS upon tue
free action OF the South, and has said, so
| far shalt thou go. and no farther;' what you
| have you may keep-for the present; but the
| labor that you need shall be declared contra
band, and you shall pay for ships of war to
| rivet your prescription, and you shall pay to
send back from your shores the very help you
| stand so much in need of, while your millions
| of wasted acres lie Idle and profitless, under
| the ban of the dictum of the North Such
@fa 10 90 -
| tyranny so oppressive, so blind, so willful,
| must bring forth its remedy, and when that
| time shall come, the South shall assert that
| position which is its right, which il deserves
| and which it can maintain-the great Trade
| arbiter of the world.
| Labor in the South, by restrictive policy.
| is dear out of all comparison with labor in
| other portions of the Union, and the result is
| ruinous to its best and most vital interests
| 1t is an insolent assumption for one portion
of vast confederacy to presume to attempt
| to interfere with the domestic Institutions OF
another independent portion-institutions
guaranteed by the same constitution which
binds them all together. As well might we
+, foroid the North receiving the hordes of g-
| norant Irish who swell the ranks of her white
| serfs, and become the willing tools of corrupt
and villainous politicians.
The South is universally Conservative the
North assuredly aggressive. The South has
interests to preserve, and her aim and deter
mination is to maintain them intact at every
risk and whatever the consequences. The
South is eminentlY loyal to the Cenfederacy,
but it cannot consent to the preservation of
the Union at the cost of her personal honor
| and the sacrifice of her independence.
The South has been culpably indolent in
manufacturing point of view; the spirit of
| trade has not eaten into the souls of her high
spirited and noble sons. She has been con-
tent to produce, aud has lett the mechanical
drudgery to the traders of the North, and by
this she has built up the insolent, domineer-
| ing power of the North, and given her, to
vast degree, the vantage ground. But the
recuperative powers OF the South are ineaicu-
liable, and in every point she can be self-sus-
teining If she is only true to herself. Energy
and unanimity of action is imperative. The
price of labor must be reduced, and vast
| increase of laborers must be had. The resump-
ton of the slave-trade, now coyertiy limited
at. will shortly be spoken of openly and be-
| fore long acted upon in defiance OF cempro-
misses and treaties, and then the South will
cease to be an appendage to the North-and
not till then.