American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1869-02-13
Cotton Manufacture at the South.


a
From the B Jston Commercial Bulletn.1
The same conditi0ns-cheap labor |,
and cheap stock-that favor the eX
tenSive manufacture of woolens at |,
the West, encourage the establish |
ment of cotton mills at the South.
We are glad to learn that this fact
is receiving full recognition by intel
ligent men of the South. And mere
recognition is not all, for at several
points in the South cotton mills are
in operation, rolling up such profits
as Northern manufacturers have
long been strangers to. The case of
the Augusta (Ga.,) factory, about
whose last years business we recent
ly gave some figures, may well set
New England mill owners to think.
ing. ..
With the general advantages pos
sessed by the South as site of cot
ton manufacture, the majority of our
readersare Ofcourse perfectlyfamiIar.
They know that it is cheaper TO find
the raw material at the mill door
than to bring it thousands of miles
by rail or sea that the difference of
few cents in the daily wages of
operatives is very important differ.
ence, and, perhaps, that coarse cot
ton goods can be raised at least 20
per cent, cheaper at the South than
at the North. But there are one or
| two points on this subject about
which the majority arc probably less
enlightened. The actual loss to the
II aunfacturer in money and stock by
baliDg and the succeeding processes,
Is not less than fifteen, and perhaps
twenty per cent The waste itself is
| an item of no incons;derable value.
"A gain, cDtton is never in so go d a
oldition for manufacture as when
it leaves the gin. With these facts
understood, it is not difficult to see
why Southern mills are and have
been running at full capacity, while
! Northern mills are in many cases los
ling money, nor to believe that South
ern made goods can be brought to
Lowell and sold cheaper than the
products of Eer own mills.
The supply of labor for Southern
mills may, at the first glance, pre-
sent some difficulties, but these
would be merely temporary. The
whole fabric of society in that sec
ton has undergone change; labor
is to become a necessity there as well
as here, to all, or nearly all, the pop
ulation. There, just now, there are
thousands OF destitute women and
children, who would rejoice in the
opportunity of earning, not only a
living, but surplus by working in
cotton mills. Their living expenses
being considerably less than those OF
Northern operatives. their wages
would, of course, be less. The poor
whites of the South, directed by
skilled operatives from New Eng
land, would soon constitute work.
ing force ample in numbers and first
class IN efficiency. And they woult
not be the only class benefited by
the est Enlistment of cotton manu-
: features. The South, like the West
offers an inviting field to the indus
, trious aud prudent New England
operative, wherein he may turn hi,
intelligence, his acquired skill ant
3 his little capital toprolitable account
The only condition Of complete ant
magnificent success III the cOttoI
, manufacture at the South yet lack
l ing, it seems to us, is the discontinu
ance of political strife, and the re
establishment of social tranquility
and this desideratum, we believe, il
J not far distant.