New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-03-20

1870 shows that there were %, 637 males
employed in manufactures in Louisiana.
There were 1910 females above fifteen and
1924 children employed in like manner.
These men were chiefly employed in the
manufacture of sugar from the syrup.
There was little other manufactures in the
parishes. The parish of St. Mary re-
ports no manufactures which could posi-
bly, have been carried on by women
or children. Without going further
into figures we may assume that
there is a great deal of unemployed
labor in the State, and especially in the
parish referred to, which may be utilized
by providing suitable and respectable
mechanical employment for women and
youth. We consider it conceded ques-
ton that any mechanical industry i'm
proves the intelligence and promotes the
personal comfort of the people employed.
No community in the Southern States
which has adopted these industries but
has improved in the respects stated. But
if there be prejudice on the part of some
to resort to mechanical employment, there
is class Of operatives in the South pc
culiarly adapted to at least one pursuit,
the manufacture Of cotton into yarns and
cloths. The colored people are almost
universally obliged to labor for living.
Tho <v:r1o oh 10
dertake field or homework. The first is
liable to exposure; the second is unre-
mitted servitude. If, therefore, these
women and girls can be furnished
with work in the mills, which
affords them shelter and limits their labor
to eight or ten hours, it will afford them
the same compensation as field or house.
work, and leave them time for return to
their own habitations, with a portion of
the twenty-four hours which is their own.
Can there be any doubt of their capacity
for attending spindles or looms? 1t is
well known that colored girl will pick
more cotton than man, from the greater
nimbleness of the fingers. 1t is also
known that in many of the Southern
States the negro women and girls spun,
knitted and wove great deal of the do.
nestle clothing for the families.
There must be, of course, skilled labor
to direct these mechanical pursuits, and
this must be imported or instructed.
N1ov, ,hou %lo I
chemical knowledge possessed by those
engaged in the manufacture of sugar, we
find class prepared to graduate in cot
ton mill. There can be no question of
the entire capacity of the Teche country
to manufacture many articles, and espe-
cially cotton. All the necessary elements |
have been shown to co-exist, and it is
only necessary to combine them. This |
can be done by correspondence with the |
factors at the East. There must be men
who are perfectly skilled in the business
We can see no reason why people who |
can manufacture sugar can not manufac-
ture cotton. Nor is there any impede
meut 10 the auOptlOn OF mecnanlcaI In
dustries by any population of average
and enterprise. The parish
OF st. Mary contains population Of
%, 900 or %, 700, of whom more than half
are white. Upon this population there
would be of females over fifteen. perhaps
one-tenth, or from 5000 to 5000. Of these
there must be great many who there, as
elsewhere in the South, are charge upon
those who can labor in the field There
as elsewhere there must be enough to
answer for respectable employment to Or
ganize one or more cotton factories and
other industries upon which the pros
perity of community so much depends.