The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-07-22
The Manufacturing Facilities O.
ouf South Carolina.

The Manufacturing Facilities OF
t"Ff South Carolina.
The following letter will be perused
with interest
CHARnEsToN, s. c., July 13, 1868.
10 Has krcel2ency Robert K. Scott,
Governor Of South Carolina.
SIR: 1 desire respectfully to ask
your attention to the subject of man
hfacturing in South Carolina, and to
state how this desirable object NAV
be promoted by appropriate legisla-
tion.
I assert. without the fear of sue
cessful contradiction, that history
does not afford an example of a peo-
pie confining their industry exclusive
~ to agriculture and thereby be-
coming truly wealthy and great. 1t
will hardly be denied, that South
Carolina, in the past, did not encou-
rage manufacturing within her
borders; the opinion prevailed that
to do SO would be to create an eIe
ment in the State inimical to the
then existing order of things; but
with the great changes which have
taken place, both in the condition
and views of the people of this State,
and the attention which has been
drawn to South Carolina as q fit
point for manufacturing from quar-
ters where both the full knowledge
of the subject and the means to carry
it on abounds, it is to be expected
that we may, ere long, have a diver
sity of industry which will greatly
promote the prosperity Of the State,
and it is to be hoped that both the
authorities and the people of South
Carolina will do all that they can to
foster such enterprises, and encou-
rage o full development of all her
material resources.
For the manufacture of all the
textile fabrics, we have in South
Carolina advantages over the manu-
featuring States of the North, which
are as great as they are little known,
and yet they are known and fully ap-
preciated by few persons fully com
petent to decide this important matter
A few of these advantages are as
follows:
l. Our numerous and accessible
water powers, our extensive forests of
timber, either of which will furnish
abundant and cheap motive power.
which may be depended upon the
entire year round.
2. Abundant and cheap labor of the
kind needed by the manufacturer,
and freely admitted by most compe-
tent judges to be not only much cheap
er, but much better, more intelligent,
teachable, and easier governed, than
the help used in Northern mills.
3. A genial climate, better suited
to the requirements of the manu-
facturer.
4. Cheaper raw material.
B. Not having to pay freights and
expenses on the waste, but only on
the finished goods.
There are many other collateral
advantages that the manufacturer in
South Carolina has over his more
Northern competitor, but I forbear
to urge this point of the subject. I
have lately had it freely admitted to
me by gentlemen extensively engaged
in manufacturing III New England,
and who have lately closely examined
the workings of the principal manu-
factures in South Carolina and
Georgia, that the Southern help is
both much cheaper and much better
than theirs; that they perform more
labor, and turn out more work per
week for less wages, than their help
does. know several capitalists and
manufacturers in the North who are
disposed to engage in manufacturing
enterprises 4 in South Carolina, as
soon as they become satisfied that
their Investments here will be pru-
dent and safe; but to induce know
ledge and capital to come amongst us
freely, it is necessary for us to give
them al the legislative advantages
which they have now at home. 1t
is, therefore, desirable that we should
have in South Carolina liberal