Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-07-25
THE WANTS OF THE SOUTH.

from a correspondent in which the
pertinent questions are asked, "where are
we the people of the Southern States and
our interests drifting to- What is there in
the way to keep this from being one eff the
the best manufacturing countries on the
globe? Capital is all that is wanting to
make the South one of the greatest and
richest countries in the world"
We answered then that it was not the
want of capital, but want of confidence and
an unwillingness on the part of the people
of the South to accept their poverty and go
to work, and We are every Gay
more thoroughly convinced of the
truth of this fact. In this
State we raise most of the food which We
require for home consumption, but in 9TH
er States, in Louisiana for instance, nearly
all their supplies are brought from the
Northwestern States, and a failure in the
cotton crops reduces the people to the verge
Of ruin, for they are then without the
means of providing themselves with the
necessaries of life. No people under the
sun, who are compelled to get their sup
plies of food from abroad, can ever hope 10
prosper, and until the whole Southern
country learns to produce its own bread
stuffs in abundance, it will be left far be-
hind in the progressive march of improve
ment.
While want Of energy causes scarcity
of food in only portion Of the Southern
States, it draws after it train of evils whose
deadly effects are apparent everywhere. A
want of independence is the inevitable re-
suit of the want of energy, and the South
eTn people drag on in the old fashioned
manner, waiting for foreign capital to come
and build their railroads and manufactor-
les, just as the unfedged bird waits for the
coveted worm to drop in its hungry mouth.
There is no little truth in the old adage
that wherever there is a viii there is way,
and if the Southern people could once be
electrified with the stern determination 10
manufacture their own products, they would
soon find the ne 9essary means for that pur
pose.
The great impeachment to Southern en-
terprise is that our people have never been
satisfied to begin anything on small scale.
Heretofore every man wanted to own all
the land in the South, AID instead of using
his surplus capital in building railroads and
manufactures, he deemed it highly impor-
tant to increase the size of his plantation.
Carpet-bag taxation has corrected this evil,
but the same spirit still remains. They
think it is useless to begin railroad unless
they can build it all at once, and seem dis
posed to keep clear of manufactures unless
they can begin on as extensive and perfect
a scale as those of Lowell and Manchester.
There is scarcely county in the South
which cannot erect the necessary buildings
and machinery for manufacturing it own pro
ducts if its people would only be satisfied
to begin in small way and gradually in
crease their capacities. The profits of course
would be small at first, but what occupation
is there, except that of the plundering car
pet-bagger, in the South at this time which
yields large profit to those engaged in it +?
Why not be satisfied with small profits from
manufacturing establishments as well as
with small profits from the farm? These
initial establishments would be start in the
right direction, and we venture to say that
in few years, if put in operation, mark
ed improvement would be noted through
out the whole Southern country. VIII not
some of our enterpris!ng citizens try it?