Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-05-19
COTTON MANUFACTURES AT TIE

is claimed that yarns can be spun here
much cheaper than in England. Those
who have given the subject careful atten-
ton and study declare that yarns can be
made cheaper in the South by five cents
per pound than in the North, and that
yarns made in the South can be sold in |
Europe four and half cents cheaper per |
pound than yarns made in Europe of ex
ported American cotton. If this state
ment is correct it warrants the establish
ment of yarn factories in all parts of the |
South. a spinning mill that would en-
ploy 81 operators and consume SS7 bales
of cotton, yearly. would cost not
more than $4,000, and at North
ern prices the estimated profit
on the sales of its annual yarn
product would be ST, 900. These are
Southern estimates, and although some
what exaggerated, perhaps, as it is natu-
raj to suppose they would be, it cannot be
denied that the business can bemade large
ly profitable, even allowing liberal mar
gin for contingent expenses not in
cluded in the general estimates; and the
encouragement Offered is sufficient to war
rant the belief that cotton spinning will
soon become one of the most important
manufacturing industries of the South.
The demonstrated success of all the cot
ton factories now in operation in the
Southern States, has greatly encouraged
the small capitalists of the more prosper
Gus sections in their desire to engage in
such enterprises. In Georgia and Missis-
sippi the cotton mills are in prosperous
condition, and find a ready market
for all goods they can turn cut;
and the leading papers in those States urge
the formation of new companies and the
erection of more mills. s'Why should
not the South manufacture its own cotton
cropl" is the question constantly kept
before the people. lis not proposed that
the South should convert all its lint into
| yarn, but the manufacture of even q small
portion of it would be found largely
/ profitable The South has neither the
capital nor the trained manufacturing
skill of the New England States, and can
not compete with them in the manufacture
of cotton cloth; but neither very much
capital nor very much skill are needed for
the manufacture of yarns, or of the
coarser grades of cloth for which ready
home market may be found.
| A report was made to the agricultural
and immigration convention recently held
at Charleston, which embraces careful
estimates showing the comparative cost of
manufacturing cotton at the North and at
the South. These estimates, the report
states, show that yarns can be made at
the South, sent to the North, pay a com
mission of five per cent for selling, be sold
at the cost of Northern production, and
yield profit of ten cents per
pound. In April, 1869, the Saluda
factory of South Carolina to test the
value of their yarns in the English mar
ket, sent some packages of their No. 90
yarn to Manchester, where they sold for
16 pence per pound, equal at the then
price of gold, TO 43! cents in currency.
| The total cost of the yarns, including
| freight, commissions and other charges,
was 39t cents per pound, so that the
profit to the manufacturers was A cents
per pound, or about II per cent. That
Southern manufacturers should thus sue
cessfully compete with the British in
their own markets, says the st. Louis
Republican, while Northern manufac-
tuIers demand protection against British
competition, is a factwhich teaches its own
lessons. There are factories for making
plain goods at Augusta, Ca, and Granite
vile, S. c., and others at Columbus and
Alamance for making colored goods. All
these establishments were operated profit
ably at a time when the depression of
trade caused the working of the Northern
mills to result in loss. A Northern man
ufacturer, writing on the condition of his
interests to a friend, said:
"While have only met expenses in
the North in running twenty frames
about 5000 spindles-the returns have
from sixteen frames of the same mschin-
cry in Georgia for the last six months
have been $l5, 900 clear profit. Our COM
pany has determined to sell out their ma
| chinery. The South enjoys the
advantage of not less than twenty per
cent over the North in manufacturing. "
The writer of this letter is now manu-
featuring at the South. The constantly
increasing demand for cotton fabrics in
the world creates an increasing demand
| for cotton mills, and intelligent men in
the Southern States perceive the import
ance of diverting a share of the ad-
itional manufacturing facilities TO their
region, where labor is cheap, fuel
| abundant, the climate mild and
the raw material right at the
doors. Commissioner Wells showed, in
his last report, that even pig iron is made
cheaper in the South than in the North,
East or West; that while the cost of max
ing it is $27.9S at Pittsburg and $25 at
Carondelet, it is only $22. 80 at Nashville
and only $40 on the Nashville and Chat
tanooga railroad. These figures, together
with the result of the test made by the
Saluda factory, prove that fabrics of such
Southern materials as cotton, wool, wood
and iron can be made ten to twenty per
cent. cheaper in the Southern States than
in the North. All that the South needs is
capital and skilled labor, and these it will
surely have in time.
THE COTTON MOVEMENT.
The cotton movement is attracting