The day book. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1857-1867, 1866-06-25
southern cotton Manufa ctnres.

southern COtLOn MaHuldCLuEcs.
While some of the Southern papers are ad-
vocating the establishment of manufacturers
for its prominent staple, it is not lnapProptl-
ate to call attention again to the able PaPe. ~
DeBow's Review, upon the subject OF cot|ou
manufactures This was prepared some yeal9
600 during the prevalence OF slavery, ana
vas written by General James, Oh hhooe
Island Its facts and figures, so lar as the ar
gnment is involved, are not altered oy Tue
etered condition of the South, but may De
used with equal force in urging now tne es-
enlistment within her own borders OF Oue
ootton manufacture, which she has hltnef'o
Obondoped TO the enterprise and skill OF otners,
and which has proved one of those mines o.
wealth from which they have derived thelr
commercial power and greatness. . a o
To supply cotton mill of 1000 splndles,
GOV 800 900 pounds per annunn, would re-
,,,;re the product of ten of the best planta-
tions in the country, which, with their slaves
and fixtures, would be worth $73o, OO0-the
nroducts would amount to $108,0OO, deduct
The cost of operating-$ 1928 ,000-and there
ore left to the planters $4,000. The mill to
roonnfacture this cotton will cost, complete,
colo 900. and require working capital OF
eAo 600 making the entire capital invested,
S25O,OO0. - tf. .,p
To manufacture the above amount of cot
ION into sheetings of one yard wide, and Of
No IA. will cost, including the cost of the
cation steam power, transportation, insur-
s snce labor, and in fact, every item of ex-
nsnse a little short of $232000. Add to
this $4,000 for interest on the capital, and
rou have the entire cost of the manufacture
of the 100000 pounds of cotton. 1t will
make 4,5OO,0O0 yards of cloth, worth 1887
800. leaving balance of about 100000.
Thus, by the labor of 275 operatives, mostly
women girls and boys, there will be created
actual wealth to the amount of $106, 000from
100000 pounds of cotton, besides the
amount paid to the operatives for labor.
The paper before us may be regarded as a
co-worker with those Southern contemporaries,
who are waking up the Southern people to
the importance of this subject, and we per-
haps could not better contribute in brief
article to place the matter in more convin-
cling aspect, than that in which it has been
presented by the writer to whom we have
already referred. tl5=glss1 .5aaa
He says. Would Northern climate ad-
NIT of the culture of cotton, and had Yam
kee, in either of the New England States, a
cotton plantation, with all the requireme is
for the prosecution of the business, the mo-
ment he found he could make more money
by the manufacture of that article, than by
its production, it would be farewell to cotton
growing, and the next thing you would hear
ON his premises, in the way of business, would
be the clatter OF the loom and the hum of the
spindle. Yankee folks are said to be full of
notions, and such notions constitute the great
secret of their prosperity If Southern plan
tiers would act on a similar principle, they
would much benefit themselves.
To produce that same ctoton, worth in
market $l080 required the labor of not
less than 900 able bodied hands, besides one
half that number Of horses and mules The
capital employed to produce this result is
$7S8,00O, while the manufacturers capital is
only $250,00 II therefore the planter could
by any means remove these plantations into
one of the New England States, with all their
slaves, fixtures, &c., and they should continue
to produce cotton as abundantly as on the
Mississippi and Tombigbee, though now nom
inally worth toward million of dollars, the
owner of the cotton mill, which cost but
$250,000 would not exchange it for them,
aud would evidently be loser by the bar
gain if he should, providing he had to work
it, This will at once appear obvious, when
the net income of the planter is reduced to
$4,000 by the payment of $4,000 to over
ssers, &C., an income less than the net pro-
duct of the cotton mill, by $4,000. This
statement requires no labored argument to
confirm it; Every species of property de-
signed for the creation of wealth is valuable
in the ratio of its productiveness, without re-
spect to its actual cost. If a planter owns
cotton lands, with slaves, and fixtures. which
cost 100000, and yield net profit Of $780,
0oo per annum- the cotton mill at his side;
The capital of which is but $3.50, 900, yielding
net profit of 100000, is intrinsically
worth more to its possessor than the planters
cotton lands and slaves AsiDN otf