Beaufort Republican. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1871-1873, 1873-10-09
Better Times Coming for the South.

llhSc SVhihhS IVA N-'~
The cotton statistics of the crop year
lust closed have been compiled with un-
usual care and completeness by Tile
Commercial and Financial Chronicle OF
this city. The crop of 1872 foots up g.
$50, 800 bales of the average weight of
AGA pounds each. This crop has been
surpassed only three times, viz: in 1870,
in 1859, and in 1856, leaving out the
wear 1861, of which we haven no statistics.
1t thus appears that of the four crops
known to have exceeded $500, 900 bales,
two have been made since the war;
Again, we find that the average crop OF
the six years 1855 to 1860, inclusive,
was $500, 900 bales, while the average OF
the three years 1870 to 1872, inclusive,
is 3, $50, 900 bales. The crops OF 1858 and
1854 we're each less than three million
bales. These figures, we submit, amply
demonstrate that free labor is quite as
effective as slave labor in the production
of cotton. As the capital of the south
iucrcases-and it certainly is increasing
rapidly-we shall probably have to record
a series of cotton crops far SURPRISING In
bulk those Of the ante-war period.
The cry of Mr.. Wells and the Free-tra,,
ders, thai the nations poverty appeared
from the fact that the people were con
suming fewer yards Of cotton cloth per
| head than in the years Gatore the war,
has hardly died away, and already the
statement has ceased to be true. ltnev,,,
er was an argument; for WY shouid
men be called poorer because they have
restricted their consumption of an artlt' 'c
which has doubled in price? The statis-
tics now show that in the three years
ending Sept. |. 1873, 3,506,00 bales OF
cotton were taken from the crops for
manufacture IN the United States. while
in the three years ending Sept. l, 1861,
the corresponding quantity was2 743,OOO
bales. The increase is 10000 bales, or
twenty-eight per cent, but the increase
in consumption is considerably larger
than this, owing to the loss of the great.
er part of the export trade which We had
succeeded in building up before the war.
A very gratifying feature in this increase
is the progress which the manufacture is
making in the southern states. The ed.
itors Of TIE Chronicle obtained from Mr..
Walker. the superintendent Of the CEN
sus, list of all the cotton manufacturers
in the south, us collected by the census
marshals in 1870, and sent inquiries to
each of them in order to obtain their con-
sumption iu 1878. The result is that it
was found that these southern manutac-
turers, who were reported by the census
to have used S3,0j6 bales, $4,000, 600
pounds of cotton in 1870, required, in
1873, ,l37, ,662 bales or GO, 5000 pounds,
being an increase i'll three years OF sixty
six l.er cent.
The information obtained by The
Chronicle is confirmed by the accounts OF
the progress Of this manufacture con-
tanned in our southern exchanges. From
them We learn that the mills at Colum.
bus, Ca, took 1928 bales in 1928,
against 5,l27 in lS1O-l. Three more
factories will be built there next year.
and the number of spindles and looms
at present $4,000 spiudles and 900 looms
will be more than doubled. The mills
at Augusta, Ga, for the last Xix years
have paid quarterly dividends, at the
rate of - per cent per annum, on their
capital, and have carried each year large
sums to the reserved fund. The Angus
ia company is now building a new mill,
which will add 1000 spihdles and 2Gi
looms to the $1,000 spindlcs and j22
looms already in operation. Its consump-
ton of cotton in the year ending June I,
1873, was 2,90l, LOG pounds, and the pro-
duct was 9,OS2,7l7 yards of cloth, weigh.
ing 2,525, GOA pounds. The number of
hands employed was SOB, and the aggre-
gate of wages paid during the year,
Sl64,720. The dividend was $l20,OO0,
being % per cent on $500, 900, and Sl4-
3l4 OF were carried to the reserved fund,
which now amounts to $30l, 7G4 66. 1t
will be seen that the financial condition
of this mill is strong one. Outside OF
New England, New York and Pennsyl-
vania are now the only states which
rank above Georgia in the manufacture
of cotton, while in pror ortion to her pop
ulation Georgia outranks both New York
and Pennsylvania.
The foregoing statistics show that the
influence of bad government in the
southern states has been ovcrstated. In
this country bad government maniiests
itself, sooner or later. in the shape Of op-
pressivc taxes, and the only southern
states which are oppressively taxed are
South Carolina aud Louisiana. A state
debt on which no interests paid can have
10 material effect on production, and of
this kind are the debts Of North Carolina,
Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina,
and, i'll great part, of Alabama, Florida
and Louisiana. What disposition the
southern states make of their debts Is Ho
concern of ours, so long as they do not
attempt to saddle them on the general
government. For a generation at least,
we of the state Of New York have main
tanned numerous bands Of thieves at AL
bany, along the canals and railroads, and
in all our chief cities, yet still we have
prospcred. We should PIT a stop to the
stealing, nevertheless, and so should the
people of the south, for W HON we wish as
large share of the blessings OF prosper
ity and honest government as we do tor
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