The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1875-08-12
THE NEW SOUTH.

Her Future as The Centre Of Cotton MdHfdctur-
ing Industry
1t is true, as our New Orleans name
sake asserts, there is new life in the
southland already. New enterprises
and industries have already sprung up.
The cotton manufacturing industry cs-
pecially IS making very gratifying pro-
gTess. It is a fact that has called out
considerable comment that while some
of the largest cotton factories in New
England have been closed within few
months, a number of establishments of
the same kind have commenced opera
ton IN the southern states. This fact
has been taken, and rightly so, no
doubt, as an indication that the centre
of this important industry will be trans.
ferred to the southern states at no distant
day. And there are other indications
which point to the same conclusion.
The natural home of this industry is in
the cotton belt, for there the business
can be carried on at the minimum cost
| for transportation of the raw material
| to the factory, and of the finished pro-
! duct from the factory to market, and at
nearly if not quite the minimum cost
| for the buildings, ground and power.
! And the present is a favorable time for
| the industry to obtain a firm foothold
IN its natural home, because the cost of
machinery is much less than 1t was when
most of the New England factories were
| ESTABLISHED.
There are large markets for cotton
! fabrics in Cuba, in Brazil and in
| Mexico, and to these markets the
southern states have the easiest access.
| At present they are supplied chiefly
| from New and Old England. The cot
| ton is grown in the southern states,
! shipped a thousand miles north, or
| three thousand miles across the ocean,
| converted into cloth, and then shipped
back past the southern ports from which
it came to the East Indies, South Amer
! lea and Mexico. And what is more,
while those countries export most to US,
! they import least from us, This is
! obviously an unnatural state of things.
| All that Is needed to change it is q
rational commercial system, and an in
telligent spirit of enterprise in the
! southern states, With these the south
ern factories can supply the markets of
this hemisphere in competition with the
world.
As the eastern manufacturing capital
! lists see their supremacy slipping away
| from them in this branch of industry.
they VIII undoubtedly apply to congress
| for more protection. It is to be hoped
| that the southern manufacturers will
not be deluded into the belief that their
interests require them to Join in this
movement. 1t is not the home market
alone that they should aim to control.
They should cherish a higher ambition
than that. They should strike at BIRTHS h
rather than Mt New England supremacy
in this branch of industry. With free
! trade they can succeed, because free
trade Will relieve them from the pay
ment of contributions to other indus
tries, and enable them to manufacture
cheaper than anyone else. If the south
ern people have the wisdom TO pursue
the right policy in this matter, the day
is not far distant when they will have
the satisfaction of seeing British ma
chinery and British skilled workmen
transferred to their own towns and cities,
and of witnessing a new birth OF indus
try, and an increase of population and
wealth such as the south has never vet
| known -CHicd0O Times