The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-04-20


the wind blows, and some fine morning We
NAV Ill wake up and discover that we have
q Prince of Wales on our hands.
LET Us ENCOURAGE HOME INDUS
TRY.
The twenty or more thousands of owners
of real estate in New Orleans would not, in
our opinion. object to exempting from State
and city tax all grounds and buildings needed
for manufacturing purposes, under such re-
strictions and with such reservations as
might be deemed necessary.
New Orleans is and must be essentially
commercial city, but there is no reason why
she should remain exclusively commercial
Statistics show tina. the larger American
cities sustain from one-half to three-fourths
of their population by the products OF me-
chanical trades and manufactures.
There is no good reason why New Orleans
should be an exception. She has popula-
ton of 100000 or more, of whom great
number now idle for the want Of chance to
work, would at once engage at fair wages ID
any work that might be offered. Commerce
will not employ the fifty thousand adult
males of New Orleans The business and
work now, or at any time, done in this city
has not occupied that number, or even two
thirds of that number of our male population
Of the working ages, say from fifteen to sew
enty.
What the city needs is work for all her in
habitants, and work to attract more. There
should be no impeachment or discouragement
to the establishment Of manufactures, and
therefore it is our opinion, concurred in by a
great many citizens, that no tax or license
State or municipal, should be assessed upon
property used exclusively for manufacturing
purposes. bill for this object would be
brief and simple. providing merely that from
and after the year 1875, and for the
period of five years thereafter, the necessary
grounds on which or buildings in which any
manufacturing establishments may De carried
on within the limits of the city Of New Or
leans, and which shall at all times be used
exclusively for that purpose, shall, together
with machinery, raw materials and products,
be exempt from any State or municipal tax or
license.
If the effect Of such an act would be to give
employment to no more than five thousand OF
our people now idle, and to attract and add to
capital now invested no more than q million
of dollars in the course of the next year, the
benefit would more than compensate all
holders of real estate and other taxable
property. The benefit would be felt
in every other vocation, while the
import of materials and the export
Of articles made here would be large item in
our commerce. If we follow bale Of cotton
from the ground on which it grew until it re-
turns in q manufactured state to its original
producers, after passing through hundred
hands, after travelling from five to eight thou
sand miles, and after paying long bill OF
freight. insurance, commissions and dozen
profits to as many handlers, we must be i'm
pressed with the enormous saving which must
result if our cotton fabrics used for clothing
in the South (being seven-eighths Of all en-
ployed), could be made at home with home
capital and by home labor.
If our Southern country is to be limited to
agriculture and OR Southern cities to COM
merce, we can not be prosperous, progressive
or independent. The war made home pro-
duction a temporary necessity, and that ne
cessity developed, under the most unfavorable
conditions, wonderful degree Of ingenuity
and resource. After imported tools and
clothes were worn out our farmers and their
families learned to make substitutes which,
though necessarily rude and imperfect, were
made to answer their purposes. They showed
what the South could do from necessity in
spite of thousand obstacles, and they
showed what can be done now with those OBJ
stacles removed.
The cream OF the industry Of the Southern
people goes to fatten Northern and foreign
mill owners. Until we learn to make at home
what we need, we shall know nothing q
prosperity or independence. Until we have
mills of our own, in which white as well q!
colored families can find work, we need moi
expect to entice large accessions to our popu
lation, or to enjoy many Of the countless ad
vantages OF country Of varied industries.
George Ellis has received quite . number
of interesting novelties in the way Of illus
trated papers, both American and foreign
He has also most Of the magazines for May, q:
we'll as q varied stock of new books, to all Q
which We call the attention Of every one who
can spare the time to drop in at No. Ole
Levee, opposite the Post. Office.
After the Franco-German war the Grand
Duke of Coburg- Gotha said to Bismarck that
the decoration Of the Iron Cross had been dis
tributed too freely. ''Well, said the Prince
Il it has been given on one hand to brave fel
lows who earned it in battle, and, Of course
, Justly given; on the other hand it has beer
given out Of pure courtesy, as to your High