The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1872-10-10
The South-Its Development and True In
tereSt.

People wonder at the rapid development of
the material interests of some. portions. OF the
South and are ignorant Of or indisposed to at
tribute it TO- the real cause. While undoubt-
edly much of the immediate stimulating. force
that is producing these results is due to the IN
fusion of new energy and capital from abroad,
the main impulse was impaired during the late
war, when, with every port blockaded and all
outside help cut of, the Confederate authori-
ties were compelled to rely entirely upon the
development of the resources of the country.
It was under the pressure of this terrible ne
cessity that furnaces and foundries and rolling
mills were established in every region OF those
States, the products of which were ample in
quantity and quality to supply all demands
made upon them; that coal mines and quarrles
were opened that railroads were built; that
lead ore, was extracted and smelling works
erected; that factories produced all the sub
stantial fabrics of woolen and cotton that nj,
tire beds were cultivated at all the principal
cities, and caves were explored for the nitrif-
erous earths; that powder mills were construc-
ted; that sulphur was evoked with its accom-
panying products from the rich deposits of
pyrites that tanneries were enlarged and shoe
shops and leather works were erected every
where; that all the arts, that by their intimate
relations, with the necessities of the times were
in demand, fourished; that science was in re-
quest and found amplest opportunities for prac-
tical adaptations. 1t was under such circum-
stances that the Eagle Factory at Columbus,
Ga., originated the cotton blanket which has
since become staple article in the merchan-
disc of the country that the soft, smooth and
durable leans of North Carolina factories at
tanned a higher degree of excellence than ever
before, and suficed to clothe in becoming garb
the dignitaries of the land; that the celebrated
Tredegar works of Richmond, turned out
greater variety of every quality of iron fabrics
than ever before or since went forth from the
same factory and these are but scattered ex-
amples of what was the universal state of af-
fairs from the Potomac to the Rio Grande.
These all depended upon the duration of the
war and the consequent protection which the
blockade forced upon the Southern States-a
lesson in political economy of which that sec
ton will not be slow to avail itself In the al
tered condition of affairs. :.
The war closed suddenly. In one short month
in the Spring of 1865 the entire structure of
the Confederate government fell to pieces and
carried with it the destruction or paralysis OF
all these industries that had sprung into exist
ence and 1ourished upon its necessities. The
demand was over, the blockade was raised, the
former channels of trade began to flow, and the
resources of the people were gone. Stunned,
stripped, dispirited, these. Southern people,
whose intense energies had been so magnifi-
Gently displayed, and to whom the terrible epi-
sode of the war seems almost yet by its i'll
managed consequences sad reality, are but
beginning to awaken to the possibilities of the
grand future which opens before them, and are
Clearing away the debris of the storm which
swept with the besom of destruction across all
its fair borders. They are still far from re-
gaining the point of material development to
which they had attained, and from which the
sudden termination of the war turned them
back. And it is in our opinion more to the
compulsory education of the war now again
putting forth its fruits, that we owe the active
interest everywhere shown in the true develop
ment and upbuilding of the South by the South
ern people themselves; and this work, aided
and energized by Northern money and muscle,
and assisted by judicious national tariff poll
cy, will gather in force and grow in intensity
until the hill tops of the South glow with the
bright signal of a new born prosperity, and its
fertile valleys TEEN with the bounteons pro-
ducts of an enlightened industry, while the
crowding millions from every cline partake of
the rich blessings of its generous hospitality.