Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1866-12-13

miles to reach the factory, there were mills
at hand to manufacture it, is it not obvious
that the manufacturer could afford to pay
to the grower higher price than could be
paid by distant manufacturers ? And the
measure of this difference of price is the
intervening expense between the two mills
The buyer of cotton in Wilmington or
Charleston for an English mill, must de-
duct the long list of expenses of freight IN
s,uance, ,rare1ousing, d''ayo9e, 'chd?Jaye, de-,
from the price he can afford to give, while he
whose mill isin the vicinity of the cotton field
can offer to the grower just so much more
as these expenses amount to. These views
are so obvious, that it had long ago excited
the surprise of the sagacious that the
South should have been SO blind to her
best interests as to continue in this state OF
pecuniary and consequently of political de-
pendence No country is better, and few
so we'll, calculated to maintain extensive
manufactures both of cotton and wool
her climate giving her a monopoly i'll the
United States of the production of
the first, and ID fair rivalry with
all other countries in the last. But it is not
only in the nearness of the raw material to
the mill, that the South has the advantage
OF the North. We all know that the rigors
of Northern winter bind. in chains of ice,
the machinery driven by water, and that
such suspension must constitute a heavy
drawback in profits OF capital SO invested
Whereas no such consequence ever occurs,
in the genial climate of the South. The
reasons assigned in former years for declin-
ing to invest in manufactures have, III Il
great degree, ceased with the extinction of
slavery. We remember to have read, years
ago, sundry able articles in Northern jour
nails to show "that country sustaining
manufactures would always increase in
wealth, whereas an exclusively agricultural
country would grow poorer and poor
er" England was cited in proof OF
this truth in Europe, and the New
England States in America, especial
" contrasted with the great agricultural
regions of the South and West wbeth
er this was true then or not whether
Yankee thrift had verified it at that time,
certainly Yankee theft has abundantly es-
tablished it by this time, without the aid of
political economy. We propose in some
subsequent articles to discuss this question
as one of the most important to the future
destinies of the South. We cannot give
our assent to this l0aC, as it is called, of po-
litcal economy that agricultural coun-
tries are always weak and poor, as contras-
ted with manufacturing nations,' without
sundry qualifications and notifications.
But with such qualifications, we strongly in
we will content ourselves with saying, that
the South can no longer remain wholly ag-
ricultural it must divide its labor and
capital between these great sources Of ma
tionalwealth and strength -thatif this course
would have been wiser and better for us
before our late disasters, it is much more so
now.
Any country is badly governed which
does not turn its products to the best pos
sible account, as he is a bad farmer who
carries his produce to distant market and
reduces thereby his legitimate profits
That country is unwisely managed which
imports more than it exports, as he is bad
manager who buys yearly more than he
sells; and this, we think, can be shown in
respect to the whole South, which has al
ways bought more than it sold. The enor-
nous crops of cotton-the millions of bales
and hundreds of millions Of dollars they
brought, are all Uns0ry, since we find, for
half century past, the South was yearly
increasing it's debt, notwithstanding its i'll
creased production, while tie manufacture
ing States were yearly increasing in wealth.
Southern State to be found that is not in
debted to Northern or European capitalists?
What railroad or other great work of inter
nal improvement in the South has ever
been built with Southern money? We
either 60 North or else to Europe to Dor
row the means for improving our farms,
for building the very roads to get our pro-
duce to market, and the crop is thus mort
gagged from the time it is put into
the ground, till it is sold, and
hence it has been we'll said, that our
wealthiest planters were but the overseers
for English or Northern capitalists. It
may be replied, "true, but without sub
stantial wealth we never could have Dor
rowed these enormous sums" Our reply
is, that is the pery Thing we complain of
here is the solid and enduring source of
wealth in the finest land and climate in the
world but we have not had the wisdom SO
to cultivate it, and above all to husband the
aoeolM it yields as to keep it dmo"g as; in
short, to be the real O,cneys of it. Let us
erect manufactures of all the articles of
prime necessity, and our annual balance
sheet will present different face. The
few public spirited capitalists in the South,
who have invested in manufactures have
been amply rewarded. 1.-The harvest truly
is plenteous, but the laborers are few"
TREPoRTED EXPRESSLY FOR THE JOURNAL.
NORTH CAROLINA LEGISLATURE.
SENATE.