Des Arc weekly citizen., 1868-11-24
MANUFACTURES.

The neglect to appreciate the impor- tance of manufactures as . means of improvement and wealth has been the greatest error of the South, and is one of the prime causes of the prostration from which she is struggling 10 recov- CT. While in prosperity, with wealth flowing in abundaatly from the agri- cultural productions of her former sys- tenn of labor, the necessity for this in- dustrial resource was not felt; but now, under the new order of things brought about by the war, our people are be- coming every day more impressed with the importance of encouraging and fos- tering the industrial arts as the most direct road to independence and pros perity. 1t is useless to ponder and nope any longer over "what might have becn," and to resist the result of providcntial dispensation. Let us break away from the recollcctions and ties of the silent and shadowy past and concentrate our hopes and energies on the living issues of the present and the future. We have left to us & country more favored by nature than any on the globe, and it becomes our duty to seize hold immediately of every hand maid that can contribute to our pros- perity. All that can encourage indus try and enterprise and produce wealth and commercial greatness are at our finger ends, but how neglectful are we of the gifts SO lavishly bestowed by Providence. History gives no instance of country waxing great whose only dependence is agriculture. In agricul ture there is basis of trade, but it is precarious after all, and when the labor of the farmer comes to naught, all busi- ness depending on it must laHguish. It becomes us then to make the most of the means at our disposal.
 This language we find in an editorial of the Memphis Avalanche of the 21st, and because we deem it so full of truth and so applicable to every section of this Southern country we give place te it, hoping that it may find endorsers in this our own State. It is certainly useless at this late day, for us as peo- pie, to set down and weep over our past misfortunes, and not try and de- wise some means whereby our condi- tion may be bettered and our individu- ul lutCICet6 CDlluHCCd. IL lAdttCIS Dul little what our natural advantages are unless we try to improve them it mat ters not how much we may idly and foolishly wish for prosperity, it will never come until energy and enterprise bring it about. No time since the war has been SO favorable to change of the policy which has 30 long ruled Ar kansas as now. All false hopes for political interference are dead; all ex- citement consequent upon contest have abated, and the people in far better condition financially than they have been for years, are allowed time to think and given opportunity to look calmly at their own interests and the interests of the country of which they are part. Would it not be wise for us then at this opportune time to turn our attention to those things which make for us our prosperity3 Great ness as a people, greatness as Q State, will never come to us unsought. If we would make Arkansas what she deserves to be, if we would leave to our children what our advantages de- mand we should leave them, we must do more than till the soil, do more than measure tape. We must build rail- roads, encourage manufactures, and inaugurate system of general internal improvement that will develop our re- sources and make of benefit our hidden wealth. It is not our purpose in this article, to suggest one plan or scheme, by which this desirable end may be attained; but merely to excite, if pos sible, the will to do these things; for when as people we will to do plans will he abundant