The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1875-11-07
Southwark the Course o, Empire Takes it. Way.

Anew Yorker writing to the World on the
development of the resources of the South,
Gays:
All that the South wants to compete success.
fully with New England in the production OF
Production off certain amount Of skilled labor
among the present operatives. When we re-
member the wonderful changes which of late
years have marked the course of tradei in con-
nection with the supply of cotton goods, 1t
seems reasonably certain that much Northern
capital will find its way South, to profit by the
great advantages which must accrue from the
manufacturing of cotton on IL very spot
where 1t grows. Some fifty years Lgo most of
the coarse CO ton goods used in this country
were manufactured in the East Indies and
shipped to US from Calcutta aud Bombay.
Now we send those same fabrics, the coarser
kinds, from New England to the East, being
enabled in some lines of goods to compete with
the British manufacturer. Who shall say that
before twenty-five years have passed away
most of our cotton mills will not be found in
the South beside the cotton-felds, enjoying
virtually a monopoly of the manufacture ofeot-
ton in this countryi We trust long before
| that time to see onr cotton goods compete sue
| cessfully with those of England in the world
If we would content ourselves with the same.
rewards as the operative and the manufactu-
rer in England do we should not need to fear
the British manufacturer even now in large
line of goods.
The South has IN the Haxall Touring mills
the largest establishment OF the kind in the
| country. with one exception-those as Mime
apolis, Mimi, which have grinding capacity
| of 1000 barrels day. The Richmond -four
is widely known and esteemed all over the
| world, particularly in South American mar
| kets, where it commands q higher price than
| any other brand. There is one branch of
agricultural manufacturing iudustry-the pro-
ductiou of cheeBe-which has scarcely yet
| been touched in the South. A Significant fact
connected with this matter is that New York,
| the greatest cheese producing State, had in
1870 nOt OI5 31I head Of cattle vat of fhaaa
I,350,G61 were mich COWS; while Texas,
with 3,494 0S3 head, had but 42s,045 milch
cows. The vast herds of cows on the plains
of Texas and Mississippi Valley States arc
never MIXED, but permitted to run with the
calves. This caunot last much longer. and we
may ask what are the possib arising out
of this immense quantity of cattle, when capt.
tai is employed 10 utilize it in butter and
cheese. We might go at considerable
length in enumeratipg quasi agricultural
manufacturing industries yet to be opened up
and developed at the South. Financial panics
affect the southern section of the Union in a
comparatively slight degree, Is ever the
case in agricultural communities. Broken
down merchants, speculRtors and professional
men abandon the cities, go South and West,
till the soil and gain their livelihood by the
sweat OF their brows; many of them become
successful farmers and planters. Each financial
crssh, SO far from retarding the growth of the
South, almost marks q new era In it's develop
ment. While the merchant, speculAtOr aud
stock obber fail or go in bankruptcy, the
way, raises his crops, purchases what he re-
quires-and pays for it. The bulk of the OK.
ports from America come from the Southern
aud. Mississippi Valley States. Should
wealthy o section of the country be 30 bare of
industrI al and manufac turing ntCrestsf The
South should manufacture aC least 81 acient to
supply their own wants of cotton, wool,
cheese, butter, carriages, wagons, agricultural
machinery and implements. They have evory
thing to gain aud nothing to lose by placing
themselves a new basis as far as commerce
F,os FxuI ~, As.a
sippi Valley coDtains two millions square miles
of territory, and is larger than the whole of
Europe excepting Russia.
Its population is equal to that of England
and Wales, about 90 600 600 The commerce
of the Mississippi River is already three times
as large the whole foreign commerce of the
country. The navigable waters flowing into
the river aggregate 10000 miles. There are
men still living who remember the time when
nearly the whole of this vast country was an
uuinhabited wilderness. What, then, must be
its future' Such wonderful growth only
be accounted tor by the fact that the inhabi-
tants of this part Of our country have found q
climate suited TO the wants of any people
soil the richest on the face Of the earth ; 80
cial, political, educational and religious adj |
vantages that meet the requirements of the
age A country like this, almost an empire |
in itself, should be tributary to no foreign
people tor all those manufactures which are of
daily consumption in every civilized communi- |
ty, aud the raw materials of which form the |
staple products of her soil The South has in |
her rivers, which furnish water power, in her |
cotton fields, which furnish both raw material |
und cspacity-in the daily wants of %, 600 900
of poop e which furnish home market-ail |
the elements necessary for n foundation on
wbicn - buiid up vast national mauufsctu-
ring interest, the profits of which will go far J
tn make the people of the South the wealtbesC
community on the face of the globe.
10 $50 the capital invested in all mechani-
cal and manufacturing pursuits was 81, 1S 2o=,-
769 while the returns from it were 81 232, 325,- /
442 On the other hand. the capital of 3d. |
262 sos SCI invested in farms yielded return !
of 50 AZ, 535 65S only. Probably the last figures
are anderrsted. We suspect that these Western !