The day book. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1857-1867, 1866-04-07
SOUTHERN MANUFACTURES.

we Will venture 10 say, tnat on Ine Wnoie
face of the earth, there is not another nation of
eight or ten millions of people who do so lit
tie manufacturing as those of the Southern
States. We mean the comparison to be
drawn only with the civilized nations of the
earth. And why is this simply because, be-
lieving ourselves an agricultural people, we
early absorbed the bait thrown out to us by
our kind neighbors of the North, that can
agricultural people could Or should never be-
come manufacturing people" This gener-
Gus principle has been one Of the drawbacks
to the prosperity of the South. The manu-
featuring interests of the North have spared
no pains or exertions to make it living and
vital principle in the Southern mind. They
have been successful in their efforts to instill
it, and we now see the result. We have pur-
sued agriculture, and neglected manufacture
ing, until our people have been rendered poor.
We raised corn and cotton to buy negroes, to
raise more corn and cotton-only to supply
ourselves with Northern manufactures, build
Northern railroads and invest our surplus in
Northern stocks. This bubble has BURST
our slaves are gone our land is comparative
ly without railroads-we have no manufac-
tures-we have no merchants with means
sufficient to come to our rescue in this our
hour of need. Where has the hard earnings
of the Southern people gone? Why this very
day, the wealthy manufacturers of the North
and East are revelling in the wealth wrung
from the people Of the South; and we have
got nothing left us but the debris of the sla-
very system, which was fastened upon us by
the forefathers of these very Northern and
Eastern manufacturers.
Who is to blame for all this, but the South
ern politcians-men who presumed to lead
the people of the South, and were themselves
led by the nose by their cute neighbors of the
North-nsn who gave ear to the insdious
whisperings of the interested Puritan, that ian
agricultural people could never succeed az a
manufacturing people" and succeeded in in
sitting into the minds of their constituents this
outrageous doctrine, that eventually ensaved
them. But censure for the past is not our OBJ
ject. Let us determine resolutely for the flu
ture.
AS to the principle Of an agricultural people
never prospering in manufacturing pursuits,
we have only to Pc int to England to disprove
this in toto. Where, on the whole habitabIe
globe, is there 10 be found better class of ag-
rculturalists than in that country, and where
more prosperous manufacturing people? But
even this does not so to prove that the same
men who have pursued agriculture have also
pursued manufacturing. The agriculturalist
operated in the country and the manufacturer
in the city The one produced bread for the
other, who made clothing, &C., to pay him for
it, They worked together in harmony, with
no conflict in their pursuits, and that is what
we should have done, and what we ought to
do now, if we would be free ard independent.
There are eight millions of people in the
South, and they consume probably from two
to four hundred millions of dollars worth of
manufactures year, This is rough cacu-
lation, it may be less, but we think it is more.
Now, suppose we retained all of the money
cost of these manufactured articles in the
South each ysar, how long, suppose you, we
should suffer financially from the effects Of
the WARP Why. it is enough to put us in tip
top plight in one year, notwithstanding all of
our paper currency has been swept into moth
ing by the war, together with our money
value invested in the peculiar institution"
with it.
Retain IN our midst four hundred millions OF
dollars year, and we would be the wealthiest
people on the face Of the globe in a year or
two. We could then afford to have net work
of railroads all over the country, made from
material from our own soil. There would be
plenty Of work for every man, woman and
child, white OR black, in the whole country,
at frst-rate wages And as for merchant
princes, and brown stone fronts, you would
not be able to count the number.
Talk of your direct lines to Europe why,
with this state Of affairs, we could make
Europe-force her-to build her direct lines
to US. For have not we got the very commo-
dities that she wants-that she must have
and if we are independent of her, will she not
be forced to seek us for her own benefit.
If we of the South would be free ana in
dependent, we must strike the blow, and
strike it where the DAY Book has always adj
vocated its being struck-in behalf of South
srn manufactures. If we have not learned
this lesson, it is because the war has been too
short and too mild on us.
DIscoNTINUED.-The National and South
ern Express Companies have discontinued
sending freight over the Southside railroad,