Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1866-03-14
Manufactures in the South.

gia and South Carolina both did something, be-
fore the war, aad even during it, in the way OF
coarse cotton cloths; but the
quantity Of cotton used in this as compared with
the product CT these Statos, was ridiculously
small. Within the las. twentyycars, large amounts
of money have been raised, and tremendous efforts
made to establish factories at or near Charleston
and Columbia. The buildings werc erected, and
operatives even imported from New England;
but ut neither of these places could tho export
,ncnt be made anything approaching q succeaa
And Sherman's sarmy swept away the last ToStise
of the SaludasCotton Factory, in its march acrOfs
South Carolina. The most important success in
the manufactureo OF cotton in South Carolina, has;
as is well known, baen achieved at StGranitoville
our own District
In the great planting ststes Of the Gulf, there
never was any manufacturing worthy of mention.
Every body in the South knows the astonishing
story OF the planter near the Savannah River,
who hauled hiscotton by team from his plantation
to tho river, down which it wsssssnt to Savannah
on q boat, from which place, in time, it wasse
by steamship to New York, whence it was traus-
ported by railroad to some town in tho interior
Of New England, whom it WAS manufactured into
cloth; after which it was returned NY railroad to-
New York, shipped back again to-Sayannah, car
riod up the river, and then hauled by team to the
plantation from whence itoriginally came, where
it was finally uset. as ahirting for the negroes.
So far as the machinery required for manufao-
turing was concerned, the South could haYo pro-
curod it with equal abundance and facility with
any other part of the country. So far as Water-.
power was required, noarly cvory Southern State
furnished it in superabundance. Capital also, on
more than one occasion in the past, exhibited its
willingness to migrate to the South to tho full e1
tent it conld be employed in tho manufacturing
line. The one thing wanting to makoa success
out Of manufacturing was The proper kind labor.
Negro slave labor was unadapted to the processes
and operations of manufacturng-as it still is;
aad the working classes among tho whites Of the
South never would engage steadily in labors Of
this kind. 1t was found, so far as tried, that
Northern operativod-or even Germans and other.
foreigners--could not be induced to come in any
found that they could not be retained. We were
it is no use to disguise tho fact now-tenaciouS,
as people, of our peculiar institution and We
looked upon all strangers cominsin into our country
with suspicion and distrust. We suspected them
OF raIicslism and abolitionsm, and held. them
under surveillance which rendered their time
among us anything but pleasant. And we were
rich people and naughty people; too rich to
feel the want of enterprise which our very wealth
engendored, and too naughty toywant among US
ether laborers than our slarea. i was mainly In
consequence Of the impossibility Of obtaining in
t.lligent and skilled labor, that tho Slave States,
each and all, always failed in thOir attempts to
establish manufacturing upon respectable footing.
It looks now as if this condition OF affairs would
in short timo bo changed. We hear from almost
every Southern State of tho large influx Of North
ern people, Of Germans, Of Swcdea, OF Poles, rs
settlers. And certainly if our people have duo
and laudable aspiration for the wealth, prosperity
aud national standing of the South, they will not
only receive these strangers with perfect courtesy
and treat them always with perfect fairness, but
also strongly encourage their coming among us,
Izr-,---Al-i-. Izr
prObubly snesr at US for thus openly advising
that Northern men be received among US with
pecfsct courte,yj but all such must remember that
the past is irrec!Rimaby behind us, and the future
unavoidsbly before US.
These strangers bring with thOm into the
South the ingenuity, tho skill, tho industrious
habits, and the general Intelligence of well-rais
and regularly educated Workmen and operatives.
Thus the South will very speedily have large
population, accustomed to all the operations of all
branches Of manufacturing. Thus, and through
this means, will assurcdly be established here
those lines of industry, which have heretofore
Away, failed because of tho deficiency Of proper
labor. The development in this direction, so de-
vSutly to bo wished, has already begun and the
true policy of the Southern people is to give all
and overy encouragement to honest white labor;
lst it como from their own midst or from abroad
BY so doing NE build up our country again, and
advance our interest in every way.