Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1875-11-20
SOUTHERN MANUFACTURES.

Some of the reasons why the South |
should, to the extent of its ability, go
into tie business of manufacturing are
too obvious TO have escaped the obser- |
walton of any intelligent man. Fer
the manufacturer of cotton the in-
ducements are as strong as. can be Eeld
out tocapital and enterprise. Cheap
and perennial water-power can be had
in thousand localities. obviating the
heavy expense of machinery and the
fuelto put itin motion by stern. Labor
is cheaper than in the North, coal is
abundant, aud easy of access TO points
where steam may be Indispensable for
driving machinery. and the genial CHI
mate saves all the cost Of heating APP
Iaratus during the winter months,
which in the bleak North adds so ma
tcrialiy to the cost Of fabrics as we'll
as Of living. The cost of the raw ma
terial, purchased from the producer
direct, is diminished by the amount of
the profits paid to middlemen and the
price of freight for long distances. 2
To addition to these savings, the
Southern manufacturers would find their
account in buying cotton 10 the seed,
running itthrough gins of their own,
and carding and spinning the lint in its
most favorable condition TO be worked
to the best advantage With machine
cry Of their own. they could press out
theoil and makethe cake from the seed,
both of which they could sell for fair
prices to the parties from whom they
bought the cotton. In this way the
manufacturers would become instru-
mental in extending the culture Of
cotton, by lessening the expenses of the
planter, who would be spared the cost
of gin house, of cotton press, bagging
and rope, as well as the fearful risk
from accidental and intentional burn
ing. This policy would have another
happy effect, by placing the poor man,
with his few acres, upon an equal foot
inc-their means considered-with the
large planter, and both might be slim
ulated, not to extend the area in cot
TN, but to produce the greatest quanti-
ty and the best quality per acre. This
sort of rivalry will be not only pub
lie benefaction, but the quickest and
surest road to individual and general
prosperity.
But, invaluable as would be the
home manufacture ofcotton-the staple
of the South and the need of the
world-there are other manufactures,
scarcely less essential, as the means of
building up that commercial independ-
ence, in the absence of which the
South has no rights which the North
will respect. The dominant sectional
faction, whilst obsequious TO wealth
and power, is aggressive and oppressive
to the weakness of poverty. There
fore it should be the policy of the
South to create everything it needs,
frcm a locomotive to a horn button.
Its wealth and political power will be
in proportion to the success of this
policy, aud in proportion to its COM
mercial independence will be the secu-
rity of the rights guaranteed by the
Constitution and the inyiolability of
the organic law, from which States
and individuals derive their highest
privileges. Every factory that may be
erected, no matter how humble its
scale or object, will be a step in the
right direction and can be made a sue
cess-provided the community around
it can be Impressed with the import
ance, in pecuniary and political point
of view, of a liberal or exclusive pa
tronage Of home institutions. But
here lies the rub! Our people are so
deeply impressed with the false idea
that nothing is worth having which is
not made north of the Ohio, that even
articles of superior quality made at
their very doors are rejected, and the
services of middleman are called
into requisition for the procurement Of
an inferior foreign article. And they
strangely forget that, though the price
of the latter article may be nominally
little less, the price of freight and the
profit of the middleman added to the
loss of the currency from circulation,
make the bargain AS hard as it is unwise
There are mechanics in Southern
towns who can do as good work as is
done elsewhere aud as cheaply, if lib
orally encouraged, and if certain of
such patronage, would combine and
erect factories with suitable machinery
for the extensive manufacture of the
diversified articles which they have
been trained, singly, to manufacture.
Another obstacle to Southern manu-
features is the mistaken pride which
withholds capital from small enter
prises, upon the false assumption that
such small beginnings can have no
larger endings, and that a factory
worthy of the name must be full grown
at its birth. They who reason thus
forget that there is wisdom in small
beginnings, wherever skill and expert
ence, for great enterprises, have to be
acquired by degrees. Failures are rare
where small factories have been jude
iously enlarged INTO mammoth estab-
lishments-the reverse is the danger
Gus policy.
The latest election figures from
Pennsylvania show that the Democrat
lie candidate for Governor had 10000
majority in the rural districts, and
would have been elected by that num-
Der but Tor the bogus votes manufac-
tured in Philadelphia. 1t was a hap
ryidea to make that city, the headquart-
ers ofthe radical ballotf orgers and stuff
ers, scene of the centennial celebration