Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1866-04-19
The South Must Become a Manufacturer.


II the time ever cOmes-as we hope it will
before many years shall elapse-when South
ern labor shall be recognized and Southern
agriculture shall reach that high pOirt Of de-
velOpment Of which it is capable-when the
Southern staples Of corn, wheat, rice, sugar,
tobacco, and those numerous other products
to which our soil is adapted, shall be produced
in the abundance so easily attainable under an
adequate labor system and iudiciOus man
agement-a new occupation, scarcely less pro-
ftable than agriculture, will be opened to us
manufactures.
Hitherto our planters and farmers have been
in the habit ofinvesting the profits of agricul-
ture in negroes and lands. The abolition OF
slavery has rendered the former mode Of in
vestment of capital impossible, and that rem
ders further investment in land undesirable.
How will, how should, the profits of agricul-
ture be investedl Obviously in manuiactu-
ring facilities.
1t is to the interest Of every people to make
all they can out OF the raw material they pro-
duce. We, of course, do not mean that the
farmer shall himself turn manufacturer. One
pursuit is enough for one man. We simply
mean that when the producer has performed
his function, and got the raw material ready
for market, it would be desirable for the manu-
facturer to be at hand to purchase it, and work
it mp on the spot, in the various fine fabrics
suited to the markets Of the world. The per-
lection of an Industrial Commonwealth is, that
il shall make all that can be made out of its
crude productions. Why sell these products
to a New Yorker or an EngliShman, to be
shipped 10 the North, or to Europe, and there
manufactured, and to be returned in those fine
and costly fabrics that are in almost universal
use. When thus returned and purchased by
the original producer, he has to pay, as a part
of the price, the cost of transportation to and
from the point of manufacture. With manu-
featuring establishments ON our soil, and at our
doors, this important element of cost will be
saved, not only to him but his neighbors, his
whole community and section, and all the i'm
mense manufacturing profits will go to swell
the Golfers Of that community and section, and
to build up private fortunes. The industrial
system of that country that makes cotton, for
instance, and sells that product to a foreign
manufacturer, and then buys his fabrics at a
high price, is immature and imperfect. Ii in
wolves an unnecessary sacrifice of gains that
should be reaped by itself. There is but one
Southern staple out of which the South has
made what it ought to maSe-tobacco. That
has not only been made, but it has been manu-
featured IN its various forms at the South-but
only, to any considerable extent, for chewing
and smoking purposes.
manufacturing should, asst ought 10, become
leading business at the South, it win dupli
cate and re-duphcate its wealth, population
and influence. To suppose that this would di-
minish exports is to suppose an absurdity.-
The condensation of value, which is gained by
reducing the bulk of the raw material into
the more portable forms of marketable fabrics
for instance, of COMPRISING hOgshead OF
tobacco leaves into compact and convenient
boxes Of chewing tobacco or Of reducing bale
Of cotton to cotton cloth; or a bushel of wheat
to its proper measure of hour-iS a great point
gained in international. commerce, besides the
profits realized and retained at home by the
performance ofevery function necessary to put
the raw material in these shapes. This con-
densation Of values increases exports, for il
enables us to send abroad what would other
wise be too bulky for transportation. The
smaller the bulk the less the cost of transpOr.
tatiOn, and much Of production has been, and
will continue to be, lost to the commerce o.
the world by reason of its not being put il
portable shape at the point of production.
The great exporting nation is England
Whyi Not because it is the great producing
nation, but because it draws the raw materia
from all parts the world, manufactures it in
to fabrics and then sells it at high profits to the
producers. Its exports are its manufactures
and they are made out of the productions o
other and less shrewd and enterprising nations
1t has been appropriately sale that "EnglanC
purchases our skins and pays rs back with tn,
tails" If England raised the raw material
which she manufactures into all the yariou
fabrics, her profits would be so much IN,
greater. That is precisely what the Soutl
should do, and doubtless win do in process o
time. The South raises these products, sh,
ought to manufacture them; supply her owl
Donulation on cheap terms with all the needle,
sbries. and throw the surplus into all tn,
markets Of the world. The home consumption
would be inconsiderable compared with tina
without her borders. -... .......
The manufacturing advantages possessed b!
the South are not exceeded by those OF an!
mart of the world. The extent Of them va
not fully cOmprehended until recently Law