The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1875-08-06
THE NEW SOUTH.
Her Future as the Centre Of Cotton
Manufacturing Industry


1t is true, as our New Oclean name
sake asserts, there Is new life in the
Southland already. New enterprise and
Industries have already sprung up. The
cotton manufacturing industry espec ia!-
ly is making very gratifying progress,
1t is a fact-th has called out consider
able comment that while some of the
largest cotton factories in New England
have been closed within few months
a number of establishments Of the sam.
kind have, comm4ncei operation in the
Southern States This fact has been
taken, aud rightly so, no doubt, as an
indication that the centre of this impOr-
tant industry will be transferred to the
Southern states at 90 distant day. Aud
there are other indications which point
to the same conclusion. The natural
home of this industry is in the cotton
belt, for there the business can be car
ried Oh at the minimum cost for trans
pOItatiOn of the raw material to the fdc~
to-, and of the finished prOdnct from the
ia, tory to the market, ard laily, if not
quite the minimum cost for buildings,
ground and powor And the present is
a favorable time for the industry to obs
tain firm fOo:hold IN its natural home,
| because the cost of the machinery is less
| than it was when most of the New Eng
! land factories were established.
There are large markets for cotton
! fabrics in Cuba, III Brazil, and in Mexi~
| CO. and to these markets the Southern
| States have the easiest access. At press
! ent they are supplied chiefly from New
and Old England. The cotton is grown
in the Southern States, shipped a thou
sand miles north or three thousand miles
across the Oce4n, converted into cloth,
and then shipped back past the southern
ports from which it came to the East
Indies, South America and Mexico. And
what is more, while those countries ex-
port most to US, they import least from
| Us. This is obvi usly an unnatural state
of things All that is needed to change
it Is a rational commercial system, aud
an intelligent spirit of enterprise in the
Southern States. With these the south
ern factories can supply the markets of
this hemisphere in competition with the
world.
As Eastern man uiactnring capitalists
see their supremacy Slipping way from
them in this branch of industry, they
will undoubtedly apply to Congress fol
more rejection. 1t is to be hoped tina
the Southern manufacturers will not bt
de!u3ei into the belief that their inter
ests require them to join in this move
ment. 1t is not the home market alone
that they should aim to control TheZ
should cherish a higher ambition thar
than that. They should strike at Brit
ish rather than at New England suprsm
acy in this branch Of industry. With
free trade they can succeed, because
free trade will relieve them from the
payment of contributions to 0 her il
dustries, and enable them to manufac
tnre cheaper than any one else 1t tn
Southern people have toe wisdom
pursue the right course in this matter
the day is not far distant when they vii
have the satisfaction of seeing BIRTHS
machinery and British skilled workme
trans erred to their own towns and cltlt
and of witnessing a new birth of indus
try, end an increase of population an
wealth such as the South has never ,ye
known Chicago Times.