Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1873-10-16
9}(istcllaneous Readiug,
From the Anderson Intclligcnccr.
PROFITS OF COTTON MANUFACTURING.

The mere assertion that manufacturing cot
ton is paying investment does not carry con-
viction with it, and we propose to adduce facts
and figures, without comment, to show the
enormous profits realized by cotton mills
in the United States, as gathered from vari-
Gus sources We ask the reader to give care
full attention to these well-established facts,
which demonstrate that cotton mills in all parts
of the country have earned money and de-
clared large dividends.
The following official figures give the av:
erage annual dividends from 1862 to 1871 Of
certain Eastern mills, together with their
capital, and the highest market value oftheir
stock during the period named:
Chcopee mills, dividends, 26 1-2 per cent:
capital s430,000 value of stock 1925 on par
of sl0O. Merrimac mills, dividends, 10 IL
per cent. ;capital, s2,500,OO0. value of stock,
81, 700 on par of $1,000. Mddlesex mills,
dividends, % IL per cent. capital, s75O, 900,
value of stock, s4O0 on par Of 500. Nam
keag mills, dividends, 19 5S per cent. capital,
81 500, 900; value of stock, s167 on par Of
500. Pacific mills, dividends, 81 II per
cent. capital, s2,500,000, value Of stock, 81
24O on par of $1,000 Salisbury mills, di-
vidends. % 1-2 per cent. capital, S2OOO,O 900; /;
value of stock, $500 on par Of 500.
These Eastern mills have averaged about
twenty per cent for their stockholders. Now
as the Atlanta Constitution very forcibly
says, it costs not less than ten dollars bale
to transport the raw cotton to the New Eng
land mills, and bring it back in the shape
of merchantable goods. Add this cost to the
profit of Eastern mills, and we have the
twenty-five to thirty per cent that every we'll
conducted Southern mill is paying at this
time. Here are the figures:
The cotton mills at Augusta, Ga are pay
ing over 20 per cent; at Petersburg Va,
over 25 per cent at Columbus, Ga, where
there has been greater development since the
war than at any other point in the South,
over 20 per cent. the TaIlassee, (Ala.) Man.
ufacturing Company, 20 per cent. and
recent statement says that the cotton factory
at Macon, which is run by steam realizes
profit of $4,000 to $4,000 Oh capital stock
of 100000, which is from 80 to 40 per cent.
The shares of the Augusta Factory, at par
value of 500, are worth $500 per share; ;
Granteville, s155 per share; and the Langley
mills, (new) S115.
AS an evidence of the value of cotton fac
tories to town or city, the Montgomery Ad'
uertiser notes the fact that tract ofland near
Augusta, Ga, which could have been bought
for twenty dollars per acre four years ago,
sold a few weeks since for three hundred dol
lars per acre! The tract was adapted for the
location of a cotton factory, and it was bought
by English spinners, who said that they
could manufacture yarns here and ship them
to Europe for about the same outlay that the
raw cotton would cost there. Now, assum-
ing that this statement Of the English spin
ners be true, the South can, by converting
her raw cotton into yarns and shipping 1t
in that form to Europe, soon render cotton
raising in Asia and Africa the most unpro6t.
able business that men ever engaged in; and
instead of English capitalists endeavoring to
develop the cotton production of Eastern
countries, as they are now doing, they would
be compelled, if they wish to continue the
manufacture of raw cotton, to move their
machinery nearer the cotton fields of the South
or else purchase cotton yarns Of the Southern
people,
1t is estimated that the cotton crop OF the
South, in it's manufactured state, is worth at
least s45O,OO0,000 every year, and of this inl-
mense sum the Southern planters now receive