The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1869-09-16
MISCELLANY.
MANUFACTURES AT THE SOUTH.

we'll invested with more importance
than that of industrial development in
the way of manufactures. We earnest
ly hope that our capitalists or monied
men will not, this fall, fail to turn their
attention to the advantage of this form
of investment. 1t has been clearly de
monstrated-evcn with mathematical
accuracy-that the South possesses ad
vsntages over the North in almost every
form Of manufactures. And this may
be depended upon, that unless our do.
mestic capital shall seek this channel,
foreign capital will.
We are told that in our State there
are many men, who have money, are
looking around for profitable invest
ment. Let US suggest to such-put
your money in factories and. manufac-
tories, and it will be well for them and
well for the country. A diversity of
pursuits is the life-blood of prosperity
brings into play all the energies of mind
and body, and leads to the development
of peoples entire recources.
AS to the advantages we enjoy here
at the South, We refer to the following
extract from Col. Palmer's paper, sub.
mitted to the late Agricultural Conyen-
ton:
l. An abundance Of unoccupied Wa
ter power in every Southern State.
2. A mild climate. Fire, for heating
purposes, Is only necessary for from one
to three months IN the year. Resinous
heart-pine wood can be procured at very
low rates. We pay for such wood de-
livered within one mile of our factory,
only one dollar per cord, and our total
expense for fuel for, say two and one
half months in the year, is but one-tenth
of one cent per pound, when charged
to the manufactures of those months,
while in the North it is about Cne cent
per pound on the manufactures of at
least FIVE months in the year.
8. Wages are, and must continue to
be, comparatively low. The mildness
of the climate, the abundance Of lumber |
and the cheapness oflaud, enables man
ufactures to provide their operatives
with inexpensive but comfortable hou-
scs and large garden plats. The coun-
try being an agricultural one, we must
soon be able to produce our provisions,
while the manufacturing districts of the
North must always depend upon the
distant West, and, to some extent, upon
the South for theirs.
4. Operatives. Northern men, ac.
ting as superintendents of Southern
mills, admit the superiority of our fac
tory hands, who are remarkably frugal |
and industrious, and who are easily |
controlled.
S. Freights are lower on yarns and
cloths than on lint cotton. There has
been time, within the last three years
when bale of cotton of $50 pounds,
worth, say, ninety dollars, paid freight
from Charleston to New York or Phila-
delphia, of $3.50 per bale, which would
be 2.77 per cent. on value; while that
cotton, made into bale of 400 pounds
of No. 20 yarn, worth, say sl36, paid
only sixty cents per bale, of 44.l00 per
cent on value-a difference in favor OF
yarns of two-third per cent. The South
ern manufacturer saves the freight on
baggiug, rope and other waste. This
waste can be manufactured into paper
at the South more cheaply than at the
North, and is, consequently, more val
liable here than there. Reclamation on
false packed or damaged cotton is easy
and direct, and we save the burdensome
Northern charges for s,orage, brokerage,
etc.
Ou the subject Of the practcability of
Southern men engaging in cotton facto-
ries, Col. Palmer says:
1t seems to me entirely practicable
for the planters of the cotton-growins
districts, all over the South, to combine
together, in joint stock associations, aud
erect cotton mills of sufficient capacity
to spin up their crops. No doubt, if this
suggestion were acted upon at once, and
all our cotton made into yarn, and
thrown upon the Northern market, the
supply would exceed the demand, and
loss, at first, would ensue. My propo-
sition is to ship direct to the continent