The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1871-12-14
American Cotton Manufactures.

American Cotton Manufactures.
The Importance of the great success which has
attended the manufacture of Cotton fabrics In
this country, has, we fear, not been fully appre-
c;ated, That success has been so marked as to
emancipate our people from dependence upon
| ENGLAND for most of the Cotton fabrics which
we consume. Moreover, not only does the sue
cess Of Cotton manufactures here deprive Brit
ish industry of this lucrative trade on this side
the Atlantic. which it once enjoyed, but 1t
threatens it with a formidable rivalry in mar
kets hitherto even more exclusively its own
than was the market here. Before the war,
when we were practically free from taxation,
we competed with Manchester in supplying the
China. India and other markets with certain
kinds of Cotton cloths, and there is no reason
why, with reduced taxes and return 10 specie
payments, We should not do it again. England
has the important advantage OF cheaper iaoo.
and capital, but this advantage is partially on
set by an abundance of raw material ana an 40
abundance of motive power, at our doors. 1t
is q slow and difficult thing to move skilled la
bor. but to commercial people it is the easiest
thing possible to move the material Hence,
in getting the two necessities together, Cotton
has gone too largely from our side to the LABOR
on the other side, the only advantage from this
movement being the lucrative employment OF
American shipping. But this trade was prac-
tically DESTROYED by the civil war, and it is not
probable that it will ever be fully restored.-
There is possibility, however, of turning the
tables upon the Lancashire cotton manutactu-
rers. The English laborers, by whom Cotton
is wrought into woven fabrics, are living IN
country which gives fewer comforts OF life and
a smaller share in the general physical and IN
tellectual inheritance Of humanity. This IS be-
ginning to be understood by the laborers them
Selves, and, judging from the dissatisfaction
which exists among them, it may be safely as,
sumed that the influx of the skilled labor OF
England to our shores will be far greater IN the
future than it has been in the past. With the
drain of her excess in the supply OF loom worK-
ers, we shall have gained strong point IN IN
yor of our renewed competition in this impor-
tant field of industry. Indeed, we believe the
period is not very remote, when England will
no longer have the advantage of cheap labor
We shall then be able to contest with her for
the supremacy in branch of industry that has
done SO much to make her great in the modern
world.
The spread of Cotton manufacturing indus
tries at the South is one of the most gratifying
indications of the times. The establishment OF
Cotton mills all over the South would add an
immense valuation to the raw material. This
would be retained in the country, and distribu-
ted amonr operatives and laborers of all classes,
who are required in and about manufactures.
These would in turn distribute it in purchases,
and thus create widespread prosperity. The
condition of the South as respects the employ
ment of capital and labor, is to be on an en-
tirely different basis in the future. In the days
of slavery, capital was invested in large plan
tations and in slaves to carry them on. There
was little money to spare for the erection OF
manufactures, and if there had been, there was
an insurmountablc obstacle in the way OF en-
tering largely into manufacturing. 1t was the
conflict between slave labor and free labor
Slave labor was unskillcd, and, under slavery,
was incapable of attaining any high degree of
excellence; free labor would not work, and so
the South was confined mainly to the produc-
ton of the raw material. Now, however, the
conditions are changed the old plantation sys-
tenn has passed away, and free labor maps out
a new order of things. There will be, more or
less, division of plantations. There will be
more productive system of cotton culture more
bountiful crops, and larger cash returns for
them. It is not too much to say that the accu-
mulated capital will be literally invested in
manufacturing enterprises, chief of which will
be Cotton mills. A tide of immigration South
ward and the natural increase of population
will furnish an abundance Of labor, not only
for the plantations, but for the mills. Now the
arts of reproduction are in rudimentary state ;
but with that spirit of enterprise which ac,
companies free labor, higher degrees of skill
will be gradually introduced, and there will
come a time when the finest fabrics will be pro-
duced in the midst of the plantations where
the cotton is grown. The true interest of the
South lies in the encouragement of manufac-
lures that she may retain within her own hands
the profits upon the production of the raw mate
rial and upon the manufactured goods, and that
she may also save the freights that are now lost
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