The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1871-11-02
AnSerso1 ynteaiger1fer. =.
The Wants of the South.

The Wants of the South.
We make the following extracts from COM
munication sent by the Hon. Frederick Watts,
Commissioner of Agriculture, directed to the
President of the National Agricultural Associ-
alton recently in session at Nashville, Tenn.
The letter is replete with sound common sense,
full of practical suggestions, and is calculated
to do vast amount of good by directing the
minds of Southern men to their necessities and
the proper manner of supplying them. we
trust our agricultural readers may ponder tne
article, gather its wisdom and use the means
indicated to place them on the hign foao VI
prosperity and success:
TRANQUILITY in the South, which it is the hope
efialf good men may not longer be delayed, an
opportunity will be afforded for capital to take
frssh courage; for labor to assume more settled
Conditions; and for emigrants from the North
erna States and from Europe to push into every
Southern State with the same sturdy enterprise
tbat now leads them into the shadows OF the
Rocky Mountains and upon the far-of line OF
the, Northern Pacific Railway. These are the
three great wants of the South to-day capital
that shall be active, labor that shall DO ludici-
.,usly employed, and population that shall pos
sess the waste places and make them vocal with
the, hum of busy industry. The time ID near
at hand when all these elements OF material a.
greatness may be possessed by the South II IL
will but lesrns lesson from the example OF
those communities and nations which has be-
ebme rich while it has become poor.
5aEndoubtedly, the first of the new methods
essential to the new life of the South is a dl-
yersifcation of industry The example OF Ter
many conclusively shows that the nation which
1;tiIizes all its forces and encourages the en-
ployment of every human faculty is the one
which takes deepest root and offers the greatest
resistance to storms, while the example of Per-
sia and Turkey and Portugal shows that ma
tions which engage in one pursuit to the COM
parative neglect Of all others do not have
lonrishing growth, and are not capable OF re-
sisting adyersity. The people OF the South
should so direct their future that success Will
not be contingent upon bountltui harvest
from a single CROP They should establish new
manufactures, and stimulate those already es-
tablished:l open new mines, and develop those
already opened; build railroads, and spread
wider the wings of foreign commerce; and,
most, important of all, divide their thousands OF
exhausted acres into small farms, and farm
them WE'LL
"TheSouth has abundant water-power, ex-
tensive coal fields and cheap labor. If it will
but put forth its hand it can successfully COM
pete with either New England or Old England
in the manufacture of so many articles to pro-
cure which it now sends its money abroad Es-
uecially can it manufacture coarser grades OF
cotton fabrics and shoes for its working classes.
Iii more than half of the States lying south OF
the Ohio may be found iron ore of the best
quality, and other valuable minerals The ex-
ample of Pennsylvania shows how prosperous
a'people may become who will manufacture
hon. Tennessee may become another Penn
sylvania, if it will, By employing its !aborinIg
population in manufacturing enterprises, the
South will not only retain within its own bor-
ders the money of which it is now depleted,
but it will have more to sell to other countries.
And the more it has to sell, the more miles OF
railroad will be built, the more certain and re-
milheratiye will be the home markets OF its
farmers, and the greater will be the ability of
all its people to possess themselves of comforts
and luxuries drawn FROM every quarter of the
globe. A--'----'- :,
tfBut the South needs most to diversity its
agriculture By devoting its capital and ener-
gies mainly7to the cultivation of cotton, it has
produced two disastrous results; its soil has
been exhausted, and it has been compelled to
rely upon the West for its bread and meat. 10
remedy the first error will REQUIRE time and the
exercise of the best brain of the South; but the
concentration. upon SHlail areas vi 1he SnoiIo
now bestowed upon large plantations will be a
necessary accompaniment of all remedial agen-
cies. The second error of looking, to the West
for the necessaries of life can easily be correc-
ted by growing all those food-producing crops
suited to the South. There are few States in
the South in which wheat and corn will not do
we'll; fewer yet in which some of the grasses
and the various edible roots will not grow.
Cattle and hogs may be raised with profit
where these conditions exist, and not the least
of the profit will be the fertilizing elements
which they will return to the soil if confined
toclose quarters. An improvement of the breeds
now in general use would increase the income
from these resources. The Soath also produces
many kinds of fruit and long list of the
choicest vegetables. Indeed, there is scarcely
limit to. It's food-producing capabilities. A
Southern journal has recently stated that, with
the-exception of coffee, there is not product
of the soil pertaining to the tropical or tenn
perate zuues, and which is Of real use to man
as food, which cannot be grown in the South. !"
&&ICoRREcr1oN.-In our issue Of the 18th,