Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-02-12
Duties Of the Hour.

| ~ ceptC'h.iJ hpphchoio w Juot WIS POI
ticular time and place and to the very
gentlemen who inhabit it. And there is
now and then practical aud enter
prising man who is scapable Of directing
such process to the best advantage.
We may as we'll lay up our kid gloves,
and, if we have little money, put it in,
and 20 to work:
MEssRs. EDITORS: In my last commu,
nicaton proposed another with special
reference to the manufacture of furniture
in our city. Having accepted as axioms
the utility and necessity of manufacturing
enterprise in our salubrious climate, open
rivers, virgin forests and productive soil,
it would appear only necessary to advert
to supply and demand, so as to illustrate
not only the proprety, but almost abso-
lutte necessity to the prosperity of our
city and section. And whether our
moneyed men accept the suggestion or
not, the day is not distant when the man
ufacture and export from our city will be
counted by millions. And why2 Be-
cause, first, the superabundance of black
walnut timber within circle of fifty
miles from Memphis as center has no
parallel; and many persons are not
aware of the fact that some years before
the war, the export of walnut trees Ito
the city of Boston, Mass was quite an
item. 1t is none the less fact, and
there is to day proposition from some
of our most expert mechanics to put up
veneer saws in the bottom on the other
side the river, for the special purpose of
cutting those knees or nurls into vaneers
for export, throwing aside the body of the
| tree and it has been demonstrated fully
that such an enterprise will pay wsW
/ asserted that the lumber in its rough
state could be put on our wharf at from
So to $l2 per thousand feet. | am pre-
pared with competent men, who will
make the lumber at the mills for Sc per
thousand, transportation to be added.
Then if these things be so, we can have
no competitors in the raw material.
The only remaining questions are labor
and demand for the manufactured goods
OF the demand, it is greater than we can
hope to supply for some years to come,
amounting to millions in our own city.
Then if capital can be furnished, have
we or can we get the labor to perform
the work, is the question of the greatest
magnitude. assert we can, and more
than we can employ. First let it be
known that at Memphis there is to be
put in motion one, two or three furniture
factories, by men of means, not by mere
adventurers, and you will find more
operatives than you can employ. Labor
ing men, as q class, seek constant en-
ployment more than momentary high
wages. This idea is illustrated in the
Pittsburg iron-workers). Our mild,
healthy climate will always give US the
labor; and now more than before
the war, because to-day it is not
dishonorablc to aoork and further, the
advantages of our schools are equal to
those of most other cities and still
further, the extension of our corporate
limits puts vacant ground upon the
market, that is within the reach of hon.
est toll l don't propose to build those
factories on Main or Front streets, but to
locate them where the land will not cost
one thousand dollars per foot front; but
in a neighborhood where the operatives
can buy themselves homes near by, where
they may become identified with our
city. And let me assure you of one tact
If Memphis is ever to be city, it must
be made so by manufactures; and if you
would manufacture, tie the labor TO the
soil, identify every man in the interest
and progress of the place; put it in the
power of the workingman to have
home for his wife and dear little ones,
that they can call theirs, and you com
mand all their energies.
Now, Messrs. Editors, let these some
what hasty thoughts be put into practice;
let there be joint interested stock COM
pany gotten up, not too large, but ef-
fcient; let that company Of practical
men have an assurance that they
can command means at any time,
equal to one half their assets, if
need be, so that they will not be COM
PEELED to go on the street to raise means,
at five per cent. a month, to pay their
operatives, or meet their maturing LA
bilities in bank. Let your manufactu-
rers' paper have an equal share OF mon
eyed accommodation and you will find
fewer broken banks or protested bills.
And the capitalists Of your city for the last
twenty-five years, with all the bank fall
ures and money-pressures, can never
throw it back to mechanic or laborer, that |
"You did it; by literally aiding you, we
have failed. Aad, if one fourth the
means that has been lost or locked up
by the failures of spectators in our three
last bank suspensions had been en-
ployed in manufactures in Memphis, we
should have owed less money away from
home, and had less use for exchange.
I don't wish TO reflect upon the private