The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1875-11-17


that population which shall be employee
in its production.
1 The cotton crop Of the United States
of last year, amounted to about two hun
dred millions of dollars. A proportions
production for the next twenty year
would amount to four billions of dollar
i nearly twice the amount of our ma
tional debt All this can be saved t,
/ the people of the States where the cottoI
is produced, by judicious and an eco
nomical system of farming. There Il
another element of wealth heretofore
but scantily utilized-that of cotton seed
To illustrate its value we will assume
| that the cotton crop will annually
amount to four million of bales, and hall
| this number of tons of seed. Since
| fifteen hundred pounds Of seed cotton
make bale of lint-the residue being
seed-a ton of seed is equivalent to
sixty bushels, bushel being thirty-three
pounds; therefore, there must be one
hundred and twensy millions of bushels
of cotton seed annually produced. Each
bushel, as has been ascertained by chem
ical manipulation, yields one gallon of oil /,
but as no apparatus, upon any practical
scale, has been constructed to obtain the
oil in this way, certain mechanical means
are alone relied upon, and by this means
the average yield per bushel is only a
little over half gallon, or thirty-thFee
gallons to the ton. Thus you will per-
ceiye that the seed is capable of yielding
sixty-six millions of gallons of oil. Be
sides this, the cotton seed yields two other
valuable products-the oil cake and the
lint. There are seven hundred and
fifty pounds of cake, and twenty-five
pouads of Int, obtainable from each ton
of seed by the mechanical means now
in use. The cotton thus obtained aggre-
gates one hundred and twenty-five thou
sand bales. These three latter elements
of wealth, at present prices, can be made
to aggregate a grand total Of fiftY.two
millions of dollars per annum, now in
the main wasted or lost. In order that
we may understand the cotton power of
this State, we will give you, in round
numbers, the proceeds of her last years
crop, which amounted to about thirty
millions of dollars. Keep this and the
proceeds of each annual crop, as we can
do, among us for twenty years, without
interest, or increased production, and it
will then amount to six hundred millions
of dollars. Add, each year, interest at
the rate that we now pay for money, and
our wealth would in twenty years become
almost fabulous. This illustl ates our
present unwise and wasteful habits no
less than our great resources. Cot
ton has a market anywhere and every
where, and always commands money.
1t is not like tobacco and the cereals,
subject to damage and decay. In the
meantime our homes will be beautifed,
orchards will be planted, barn-houses
and other buildings erected, and houses
made more desirable, and their intrinsic
and market value greatly enhanced, and
a healthy prosperity established, with
high degree of social and moral improve
ments characterizing all classes of society.
With these manifold resources and adj
vantages, Mississippi can go forward in a
career of great prosperity, and upon
a basis sure and steadfasl, at the same
time securing to herself some of the bles-
sings of manufactures, the mechanic
arts and trade. Our climate, lands, varied
timber, pure water, railroads,
navigable streams and ocean communica-
tons with the outside world, as also the
SUCCESS which is now attending some of
our manufacturing enterprises, demon
strate that our conclusions are warranted
by the facts. Shall we then and in
view of these and the other great princi-
pies involved, and the grand and allur-
ing prospects spread out before US, show
ourselves unworthy of such possessions
by remaining idle, while the world is all
astir Shall we be Indifferent to the
onward march-of enterprise and improve
ment, which, like the waves of the ocean,
are moving in every direction, and pour
ing upon this globe a grand luminous
array of the triumphs of mind over matter
Mississippi is bounded on the South by
the Gulf of Mexico, on the West by the
river; the Tennessee river
touches her on the North, near which
the Tombigbee river rises, and flowing
trayerses her eastern border.
Numerous other navigable streams and
railroads are in the interior, four of which
roads pass through her entire borders,
North and South, East and West, con-
Meeting in several places with the Missis-
sippi river, and the Gulf of Mexico and
with the entire railroad systems of the
United States, which systems extend from
ocean to ocean and from the gulf to the
lakes, over which the products of the
are transported with marvellous
from farm to farm, from city to
city, from ocean TO ocean, exhibiting, to
the amazement of the world, an activity
in all of the industrial pursuits of life
with mans capabilities.
Our State is the eastern base of that vast
region of boundless resources resting upon
the gulf OF Mexico, and lying between the
Rocky and Allegheny mountains, known
as the great West, whose streams of water
form the Mississippi river and flows on,
passing through this State, into the
gulf of Mexico. The flow of these waters
are the induces of the natural direction of
travel, trade aud commerce, and are the
ever active elements of civilization and
lasting friendships. These roads, bearing
the same relation, artifcially, that the
river does naturally to the
physical geography of the country through
which they pass, must, therefore,
act in unison and as great tunnels con-
centrating the rich products of the
great West, upon our gulf shore, for
expectation to foreign markets; and as
those who sell must buy, they will be
exchanged for corresponding amount of
Mississippi also possesses
one of the finest harbors in the United
States. This fact appears from actual
surveys; but, by some strange neglect,
it has never been made available for
extensive shipping. These numerous
naturala and artificial advantages, enlarged
by the completion of the railroad from
Texas to the Pacific Ocean, the success
full improvement of the mouth of the
Mississippi river, the connection of Ship
Island with our present system of rail