Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-07-27
NORTHERN CAPITAL IN TIE

St.LOufs Republican

they have a great deal TO say about the
amount Of low middling cotton at IA
cents a pound that can be raised on
an acre Of their bottom lands, and Of
the amount of wheat that can.be pro-
duced on their uplands; they boast that
this cotton can be manufactured into
yarns and cloth by means of ample
water-pOwer in sight of the fields where
it is raised, far more cheaply than it
can be manufactured in New
England; they tell us-and they
prove the assertion-that pig iron can
be made at Birmingham, Alabama, at
Chattanooga, Tennessee, or at Rome,
Georgia, IS a ton cheaper than In Ohio
and Pennsylvania; they point with par
dOnable pride to the fact that the cot
ton mills at Augusta, Georgia, and
Graniteville, South Carolina, are work
ing steadily along, and making good
profits through the present. depression
of trade, while those of Massachusetts
and New Hampshire are running at
half time, and losing money at that;
and tley declare that the mildness Of
their climate, and the greater cheap
ness Of raw materials, labor and living
with them demonstrates the superior
manufacturing advantages Of their
region over the rigorous regions Of the
Northeast, where the laborer's family
have to live on a winter footing half
the year.
1t is impossible to deny these state.
ments, and, indeed, nobody attempts
to deny then; the world admits them.
Still, the capital which the fascinating
picture Is intended to invite, does not
come; Boston money clings TO the
granite ribs Of New England, and re-
fuses to migrate TO Georgia where Il
can earn ten to fifteen per cent. more
per annuIn; every foot of Massachu-
sets water power is barnessed to ma
chinery, while that of the Chatta-
h1Cchie and James runs to waste; and
the iron mongers of Pennsylvania con-
tInue to. buy ore at IS a ton and make
it into iron at S24 a ton, instead Of
going to Alabama where they can get
ore for 81 a ton and make it into iron
at Sl4 ton. The people Of the South
have tried again and again to under.
stand this mystery, without success,
and they seem to have settled down
into the belief that capital, labor and
trade in the North are too blind to
take advantage of the opportunities
that the South presents.
Bat the matter is not so difficult Of
comprehension, after all 1t is the peo-
pie Of the South, not the capitalists of
the North, who do not appreciate these
boosted advantages. If there are such
superior facilities for manufacturing IN
Georgia and Virginia, why don't the
Georgians and Virginians avail them
selves Of them2 If there are fortunes
to be madein cOttOn-spiIning IN Tennes-
see, why don't the Tennesseeans make
them instead of inviting somebody else
to come and get them? Its thepe5pleof
Alabama who ought to be making cheap
iron at Birmingham, and the people Of
Tennessee W: o ought to be making
cheap iron at Chattanooga and that VI
cinity.
The reply to this is that the people
Of the South have not the capital. Bat
why, then, do not the people Of the
South go TO work and make capital:
This incessant appeal 10 foreign capi-
tai TO come into the South is like the
prayer of the wagner to Hercules to
come and lift his wheels out Of the
mud. The strong gods answer was
that he helped those only who helped
themselves; if the WAGNER would put
his own shoulder to the wheel, Hercules
would supply all the power be lacked
This answer embOdies the whole phi
losophy of the Southern situation.
The South does not need capital as
much as it needs willing labor-and |
this it has, in abundance. Capital is
nothing but "a concrete form of labor,
now dead, and a very serviceable aud
efficient substitute for It Is living labor.
This, united with industry and eccno- |
my, in the midst of such favorable con- |
ditiOns as mild climate, cheap living. |
accessible materials and water-power, |
acCumulate5 capital, with surprising
rapidity. a m1n who earns 500 a /
year more than he spends, per annum.
makes that much capital every year; a
hundred men IN a community, doing
the same thing, make $4,000 capital |
in a single year; and thousand men.
working and saving at the same rate,
and investing their earnings, would il
seven years produce 81 COOK 00-a sum
large enough to start ten manufqctur-
ing establishments.
But it is said that the South has not |
enough Of either labor or capital. This |
is a mistake. 1t cannot be said that
there is a deficiency of labor IL a COM |
munity as long as there Is any cOnsId- |
cradle number Of idlers In it, and it is |
an undeniable fact that there are a |
great many idlers IN the South-mOre, !
in fact, than IN those regions from
which immigration is invited. There
are, prOportiOlately, more unemployed |
persons in Tennessee than IN Connect !
cut; Of the 425, 900 males and females |
over ten years Of age IN Connecticut, !
$4,000, or nearly half, are engaged in |
some occupation, 1914 Of them being
engaged in mechanical and manufac- |
turing vocatiOns, while Of the $4,000
males and females over ten years of |
age IN Tennessee, only 367, 600 are !
engaged IN occupation; and only |
$4,000 Of these are employed |
IN mechanical and manufacturing |
vacations. Of the 412,665 females
over ten years Of age in Virginia, only |
5000 are engaged in ocoupations-and |
nearly all these are colored females; |
while Of the 100000 females over ten
years Of age in Connecticut, l59, 400 |
have occupations.
Those figures largely explain the |
abundance Of capital IN the New |
England States, and the scarcity OF 1t |
in the South. If the South wants cap |
ital, it must work for it; it must earn
more than it spends, and invest the sur
plus year after year in manufactures.
If 5000 idle persons in Tennessee were !