The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1876-02-24
Northern Capital in the South


most need is capital The people
of those States are necessarily t,.li-
ing the world about their exhaust
less stores OF rudimentary wealth,
and of the marvellous facility with
which it can be worked up into
actual available wealth; aud they
declare that the mildness of their
climate, and the greater cheapness
of raw materials, labor and living
with them demonstrates the supe-
rior manufacturing advantages over
the rigorous regions of the north
east, where the laborer's family
have TO live on a winter footing
half the year.
It is impossible to deny these
statements, and, indeed, nobody at
temps to deny them; the world adj
mits them. Still, the capital which
the fascinating picture is intended
to invite, does not come. Boston
money clings to the granite ribs Of
New England, and refuses to mi
CRATE to Georgia where it can earn
ten to fifteen per cent. more per an
mum; every foot of Massachusetts
water-power is harnessed to ma
chinery, while that of the Chatta-
hooehie and James runs to waste;
and the iron -mongers of Pennsyl-
vania continue to buy ore at SIS a
tor, instead # going to Alabama
where they can get ore Tor 81 ton
and make it into iron at Sl4 ton.
The people of the South have tried
again and again to understand this
mystery, without success, and they
seem to have settled down into the
belief that capital, labor and trade
in the North are too blind to take
advantage of the opportunities that
the South presents.
But the matter is not so difficult
of comprehension, after all. 1t is
the people Of the South, not the
capitalists of the North, who do not
appreciate these boasted advan
tages. If there are such superior
facilities for manufacturing in
! Georgia ard Virginia, why don't
the Georgians and Virginians avail
themselves Of them2 If there are
fortunes to be made in cotton spin
ming in Tennessee, why don't ths
| Tennesseans make them instead Of
inviting somebody else to come and
get them? 1t is the people Of Ala
bama who ought to be making cheaI
iron at Birmingham, and the people
OF Tennessee who ought to be max
ing cheap iron at Chattanooga anC
that vicinity.
The reply to this is that the peo
pie of the South have not the capi
tai. But why then do not the peo-
pie of the South go to work anC
make capital2 This inccssant ap
peal to foreign capital to come int
the South is like the prayer
of the WAGNER TO Hercules t,
come and lift his wheels out of th'
mud The strong gods answe
was that he helped those who helpet
: themselves. If the WAGNER would
put his own shoulder tc the wheel
Hercules would supply all the pow
er he lacked. This answer embod
) les the whole philosophy Of th'
Southern situation.
The South does not need capita
{ as much as it needs willing labor
? and this it has, in abundance. CAP
5 ital is nothing but concrete forr
5 of labor, now dead, and a very ser
| viceable and efficient substitute 70
it is living labor. This, unite
] with industry and economy, in th
, midst of such favorable condition
= as mild climate, cheap living, acces
+ sible materials and water-powei
r accumulates capital, with surprisin
y rapidity. If the South wants cap
e tai, it must work for it; it mus
E earn more than it spends, and in
: vest the surplus year after year j
e manufactures. II 5000 idle pei
j. sons in Tennessee we're to engaq
o steadily and industriously in pr,
d duetive employment it would
S worth more 20 the State than th
i investment OF s5,o00,00O OF Bosto
e capital in it. Besides, there is mas
e ical sympathy in labor that attract
e its kind from all quarters.
r If the people Of Tennessee wel
5, to help themselves with ali the
It might and main, they would be SUI
= prised to find how many Other
r would come to help them; If all Il
d idle persons in the State were to g
IS 70 work, resolved to make their ow
y capital, thousands Of intelligent Il
Ie borers and millions OF yigilant eal
IF ital would flow IN upon them, eag'
t. TO seek employment and investmel
Is in the midst Of an industrious, ind
% pendent people, and to share in Il
% profits OF cheap manufacturing. b
D. as long as the people Of the Sont
1. ern States invite somebody else
X come and do the work they ther
e. selves viii not do, dig the ore viii,
nt they viii not dig. spin the eotts
ID which they wiz not spin and bui