New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-09-22
more neOs, worth the attention Of intelligent
readers, than any other paper in New-York.

The cotton statistics Of the crop year juss
closed have been compiled with unusual caro-
and completeness by The Commercial and
Financial Chronicle of this city. The crop OF
1872 foots up S,93O.5OO bales of the average
weight of 484 pounds each This crop has
been surpassed only three times, viz: in 1870.
in 1859, and in 1885, leaving out the year 1851,
of which we have no statistics. 1t thus appears
that of the four crops known TO have
exceeded 100000 bales, two have boon
made since the war. Again. we find
that the average crop of the six years 1866 to
1860, inclusive, was 3,SOO,OOO bales, while tho
average of the three years 1870 to 1872, in
elusive, is $4,000 bales. The crops of 1853
and 1854 were each less than three million
bales. These figures we submit amply dem
onstrate that free labor is quite as effective
as slave labor in the production of cotton.
As the capital of the South increases-and it
certainly is increasing rapidly-we shall prob
ably have to record series of cotton crops
far surprising in bulk those of the ante-war
period.
The cry of Mr.. Wells and the Free-Traders,
that the nations poverty appeared from tho
fact that the people were consuming fewer
yards of cotton cloth per head than in the
years before the war, has hardly died away.
and already the statement has ceased to DO
true. 1t never was an argument; for why
should men be called poorer because they
have restricted their consumption OF an
article which has doubled in price1 The sta
tistics now show that in the three years
ended Sept. 1, 1878, 100000 bales Of cotton
were taken from the crops for manufacture in
81, Il Ahn
ended September I, 1861, the corresponding
quantity was 2,743,0OO bales. The increase is
100000 bales, or tyenty-eight per cent, but
the increase in consumption is considerably
larger than this, owing to the loss of tho
greater part of the export trade which wo
had succeeded in building up before the
war. A very gratifying feature in this in
crease is the progress which the manu-
facture is making in the Southern States.
The editors of The Chronicle obtained from
Mr.. Walker, the Superintendent of the Census,
a list of all the cotton manufacturers in tho
South, as collected by the census marshals in
1870 and sent inquiries to each OF them IN
order to obtain their consumption in 1873.
| The result is that it was found that these
! Southern manufacturers, who were reported by
the census to have used S3056 bales, or 36,jOOOO0
| pounds of cotton in 1870, required, in 1873,
1862 bales, or 6O5OO,00O pounds, being an
increase in three years of sixty-six per cent.
The information obtained by The Chronicle
is confirmed by the accounts of the progress
| of this manufacture contained in our South
| ern exchanges From them we learn that the
mills at Columbus, Ga, took 742S bales in
1928, against 5,127 in 1901. Three moro
factories will be built there next year, and the
number of spindles and looms-at present
81, 900 spindles and 900 lOoms-wil be moro
than doubled. The mills at Augusta, Ca, for
the last six years have paid quarterly
dividends, at the rate of 20 per cent
Der annum, on their capital, and
have carried each year large sums to tho
reserved fund. The Augusta Company Is now
building new mill, which will add 1909
spindles and 264 looms to the 10000 spindles
and 522 looms already in operation. Its con-
sumption of cotton in the year ended Juno 7,
1873, was 2,9O1,107 pounds, and the product
was 9,0S2, III yards of cloth, weighing 2,j22,G4
pounds. The number Of hands employed was
sos, and the aggregate of wages paid during
the year, $164,720 The dividend was
| S12O,OOO being 20 per cent on 100000, and
S19314 OF were carried to the reserved fund.
which now amounts to S3O7,76i So. 1t will be
seen that the financial condition of this mill is
q strong one Outside of New-England, New
York and Pennsylvania are now the only
States which rank above Georgia in the manu-
facture of cotton, while in proportion to her
population Georgia Outranks both New-York
and Pennsylvania.
The foregoing statistics show that the
influence of bad government in the Southern
States has been oyerstated. In this country
bad government manifests itself, sooner or
later in the shape of oppressive taxes, and
the only Southern States which are Oppres-
siyely taxed are South Carolina and Louisiana.
A State debt on which no interest is paid can
have no material effect on production. and
of this kind are the debts of North
Carolina Arkansas, Mississippi, South Caro-
lima, and, in great part, of Ala
bama, Florida, and Louisiana. What dispo-
stion the Southern States make of their debts
is no concern of ours, so long as they do not
attempt to saddle them on the General Gov
eminent. For a generation at least, we of
the State of New-YOrk have maintained nu-
merous bands of thieves at Albany, along tho
canals and railroads, and in all our chief
cities, yet still we have prospered. We should
put stop to the stealing, nevertheless, and
so should the people of the South, for whom
we wish as large share of the blessings of
prosperity and honest government rs we do
for ourselves.
We have not mentioned, we believe, the spitefui
and plucky old lady who died the other day in Os-
vogo She was a widow and left particular orders