The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-01-14

matter with the cool sagacity for which he
is noted, has come to the conclusion that
large sums OF money are to be made by
operating cotton mills at the South.
There is &c doubt that work upon the
canal will be soon begun, and it remains to
consider what should be the Immediate and
ultimate results to what is to be the cotton
capital of the State. With the beginning
Of work upon the canal, employment will
be given to large number Of laborers, in
making brick or quawying stone, and in
working upon the canal itself. This demand
for labor will last until this part of the
work is done, when it will be turned to the
construction of the mills and buildings, and
OF cottages for the operatives, if desired,
and. finally, to the spinning Of the cotton.
This will give livelihood to large num-
ber of women and children; for it must not
be forgotten that every 81, 900 spent in cot
ton machinery, will give work to two opera
tives and support two others. The first
mills put up should run 10000 or $4,000
spindlcs, which would support at least $500
persons. But the one mill will set the ex-
ample to others. There will be n second,
and II third, aud fourth so that before
long, there should be running in the neigh
borhood of Columbia, spindlcs enough to
give employment to several thousand per-
sons. Aud the successful operation Of the
mills would encourage bobbiu- makers, ma
chinists and artiZans of every kind to settle
near them, while all the wages paid the
operators and the greater part of the money
paid for labor, would be spent with the
merchants and store-keepers of the city
Some gloomy prophet might, of course,
object that all streams running down from
the mountains are subject to freshcts, which
would endnnger milling But we know that
this is bnt q minor difficulty, and not to be
compared for n moment with the freezing
weather which, during the winter, locks up
the mills of the North and compels them to
pass month after month without turning q
wheel. And if Columbia is in doubt as to
her good fortune, and has not the faith
which we have in her future, let her think
of Augusta ME and What mills have done
for that now wealthy city. Some years
ago, the city of Augusta, uppreciating the
value of mills and factories, as u means of
increasing trade and population, bought
tract of land with water power, ut n cost Of
$3.50, 900, and presented it to Senator
Sprague, as q site for cotton mills. Three
years has given to Augusta mills, running
40, 600 spindles, and in less than ten years,
there may be 10000 The city is growing
in population every. day, real estate has
doubled and trebled in value, and the citi-
zens know that the best investment they
ever made, was when they gave away
quarter of million of dollars for the en-
of manufactures.
We do not say that Columbia is the only
place in the State which will have mills and
There are many other favorable
situations for enterprise OF the kind, and we
hope to see q cotton mill, large or small, in
every County of the State But Columbia
should be the central point, the manufac-
turing centre of the State, and if her citi-
zens go manfully to work, let politics alone,
and do all that in them lies to add to the
success of the plans that arc now on foot,
Columbia will soon take position as thriv-
ing and prosperous city, and will set
blessed example of wealth and good fortune
to her less fortunate and less practical
neighbors.