Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-12-15
TEE MAN WHO ToILs;
Or,
Ten Points ON a Topic of Interest
BY THE BLUFF Taller.
1x-MAxurAoruRns.


What ia needed on the Bluff is not the
small talk of small men (heaven knows
we have enough of that, nor the an
nouucements Of place seekers (they are
IS numerous ss apple-blooms in ApriD,
but the establishment of factories, ma
terials for the supply of which are around
US in abundance. We have the pleasure
of inhabiting the widest cotton belt in
the world, and the qualification CT know
ing we can raise the longest and finest
staples; we boast of our great rivers
coursing through every section of this
verdant valley, affording water-power for
all kinds of mills; we scarcely ever stop
talking of our silver, copper, iron and
lead mines, hid beneath the surface Of the
soil, awaiting the picksx and shovel and
shaft to find them, and the forge and cru
chile and rolling-mill to convert their ores
into serviceable shape; we continually
blow about our long beds of coal, lying
close to swift streams, awaiting the skill
of the miner to place it at the peoples
doors; We tell everybody how we are
blessed with forests of pine and oak
and walnut awaiting the ak of
the woodsmsn, the saw OF the mill, and
the chisel and plane of the artisan to
turn them into ssleable articles; and yet
we are all IS poor as church mice, aud
prefer babblipg abouth nothing rather
than induce the capitalist TO encourage
the man who tolls, and shower down gifts
upon us, and change this mighty garden
OF weeds into beautiful nursery of pro-
ductive industry. The gates to pros
perity are wide open, but nobody cares
fig about going forth to work, it being
more fashionable to neglect labor and
preach politics; the best quality Of cot
ton is ginued at our doors, but instead of
going into q spinning house here it is
packed into bales and shipped to either
New or Old Eugllnd, whence it returns
in the shape of cloths, muslins, lawns,
shirtings, sheetiugs, aud the low grades
of domestics, all of which should be man
ufactured 10 our midst. No bright ca
reer can be opened for any city unless
through the means of manufactures. Look
1t wealthy England, with her men who toll
in every department ofindustrial art-her
skilled spinners at their myriad looms
her artifcers il copper aud brass and
iron--her builders Of ships and boats and
barges--toiiera in all trades, aud nobody
idle; and then think of her vast posses
sions and powerful influence, exercising
authority in every part of the globe,
making all nations acknowledge her
vigor, her skill, her industry aud her
genius. No land filled with Asiatics or
Africans can be either prosperous or
happy, the intelligence aud the toll of
the Saxon, the Celtic and the Teutonic
races are necessary TO produce greatness
and grandeur. a planter, so be gets q
GOOD price for his cotton, may care very
little who lives or dies, or whether city
thriyes or decays; q commission mer-
chant. so he obtains fair proft'by vend-
ing articles manufactured elsewhere, may
never bother his head as to how a toiler
Gets along. nor care a sardine whether |
there is either q forge or 4 factory |
within a thousand miles of him; but
such apathy and sel6shness : such
wan. Of feeling for other members Of the
human familY-result in nothing but
woes, aud keep the Angel of Wrath for
ever lowering above our heads; while
with manufactures come peace ond
plenty, industry and wealth, activity and