The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1872-09-22
rIanufacturlng at tho South.

The New York Shipping List makes o
highly encouraging statement of facts,
aud indulges in favorable comment, in
regard to Southern cotton manufactur
ing. The information comes to US from
several well-informeds sources that South
ern manufactures have been run at a
profit, at the very time that Northern
mills, with all their superior advantages
of skilled labor. abundant capital, and
wider and more complete business con-
nections, have barely paid expenses or
suffered loss. It is a noteworthy fact of
special interest to our own community.
chat mills in South Carolina aud Geor.
gia have paid large dividends to their
shareholders, besides accumulating sur
plus capital apd increasing their lands.
improving their buildings and adding
to their machinery. These are incon-
testibie facts. and show that our advan-
tages for manufacturing are equal to
those we have in producing cotton.
They are the same, in fact, 80 far as they
result from the mild climate, abundant
fruit and vegetable productions, cheap
living and labor, and low or moderately
priced lands. Here. mills are never
Impeded by the rigors of winter from
doing full work. Ice, as an obstacle, is
unknown. Fuel is cheap and plentiful.
The raw material is at hand, and no cost
of transportation hns to be incurred.
The manufactory and the cotton fields
are in pleasant and friendly proximity.
We should not any longer overlook or
disregard the special advantages and fa-
rilities with which Providence has blessed
as, and which have attracted the observa-
tion of strangers and tourists, and are
presented in such authoritative publica-
lions as the Shipping List. Indeed, there
lis evidence that the per oentage OF home
manufacture is steadily growing. Its
profits are attracting capital and intelli-
gence into this comparatively new field.
According to the annual crop statement,
which has just been made up, 10000
bales were consumed by Southern mills,
compared with $1,000 the year before,
and 80, 900 in 1868-'69. This shows an
increase in the cotton taken by Southern
mills in three years, from 81 to 10% per
cent. of the total consumption. While
che consumption of Northern mills has
increased 148.744 bales, or less than 16
per cent, since 1868-'69, the Southern
mills have increased their consumption
10000 bales. or 80 per cent. The in
crease in cotton consumption in the
United States for the last four years has,
therefore. been three times as rapid in
4he South as In the North. Our people
are upon the right track in manufactur-
ing as we'll as in making cotton. They
thereby reap double harvest, and enter
practically upon course of diversified
industry. which will ramify and continue
to spread, until we shall have those va
ried employments and those manifold
Industries whioh will bring population,
prosperity. comforts and beauty upon
our desolate land. We commend the
article from the Shipping List, which We
copy below, to the best attention OF our
readers:
"There are factories for making plain
goods at Augusta, Ga. and Graniteville
and Ssluda. s. O., and others at Colum-
bus and Alamance for making colored
goods. all these establishments were
operated profitably at time when the
depression of trade caused the working
of the Northern mills to result in loss.
They are now said to be doing better
than ever before. The constantly in
creasing demand for cotton fabrics all
over the,world creates an increasing de.
mand for cotton mills, and intelligent
men in the Southern States perceive the
Importance Of diverting share of the
additional manufacturing facilities to
their region, where fuel is abundant, the
climate mild and the raw material right
ct their doors. Ithas been demonstrated
that cotton yarns can be made at the
South. sent to the North. pay the usual
commission of selling, be sold at the
cost of Northern production. and yield
q handsome profit; and that certain
classes OF colored goods can be made
there and sold in the North at the coat of