Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1877-08-23
SfTistellaueuns &eadiug,
HOME MANUFACTURES.

M1sfellat1en11s 4ead119.
HOME MANUFACTURERS.
An Essay Read Before the Summer Meeting
Of the State Grange at Anderson, S. G., on
the 10th of August, 1877, by Mr.. G. Wan.
ner, of Ocsnee county, S. C.
I will call my essay stray thoughts and
matters of fact by an immigrant, on home
manufactures, and when done with the facts
I will give you some figures. Before l
90 on this errand, allow me to say, "Don't
expect speech from me-" Speech making
amt my business. Only the hope that my
matters of fact will be beneficial toward en-
listing home enterprise induces me to take
the stand.
HOME MANUFACTURE.
This great supporter of a country-are we
as whole doing anything in this State to-
ward introducing it among us? l am sorry
to say no. We never have tried we never
gave helping hand and a cheering word to-
wards introducing it here. Yes, there are a
few exceptions, among them; our editors, who
in their papers sometimes try to awake the
mind of the people, and some few mechanics
from the North who have immigrated here,
and who are working hard against the stream
in laying the foundation of home industry.
Maay amongst you will say,-A"1get get things
so cheap from the North that it would be no
use to try to compete with the North" This
shows how little confidence we have in our
selves, and how small an opinion we have of
the richness of our soil, which in every way is
30 avishly bestowed on US by Mother Nature.
am young in years, but have seen the
world, and in my fifteen years of travel, in
which I have rambled all over this great
Union, from east to west, from north to south,
over Mexico, South America, Australia, At
rica, China, and over the whole of the Euro
pean continent, | have never seen better, a
healthier, and for manufactures, more suit.
able country than the upper part of South
Carolina.
WATER POWER.
Find me a country where there is such an
abundance of natural water power large and
powerful enough to run all the factories in the
Northern States and what are we doing to-
wards using them? Nothing, my friends!
The waters will run down to the sea yet for
years until you get convinced that not farm:
ing alone, but home manufactures, too, will
help to make this State the banner State OF
the Union. My friends, shall the waters, ma
ture's great gift, still longer run idly without
paying US their tribute2 Is not our State
gifted with all the materials necessary to util-
ize these waters?
FORESTS AND TIMBERs.
See our forests! The pine trees are wait.
ing for the axmen to fell them, to be hauled
to the Saw MILL moulding aud planning ma
chimes, there to be turned into prepared lum-
ber, with which to build and furnish for US
comfortable houses and furniture. Now, in
stead of the luxury of comfortable home,
we live in log huts, and the soft side Of a
rough plank is our bed. There, too, are the
oak and hickory, also waiting to be cut and
manufacted into spokes, felloes, pick and ak
handles, wagons, &C., &c. The willows on
the creeks grow and die where idle hands
might be employed in basket work.
What are we doing with our cotton? We
sell it to the North or to England to be work.
ed into different cotton fabrics, and in the lat
ter shape it comes back to US again, and we,
as good people knowing no better, pay all
the freight, commissions, manufacturing cost
and other expenses with heavy interest, and
admire the wonders of the water powers of
the North, which, with the help of machine
ry, are made from the fruits of our soil and
with our money. How many people could
we not employ in such enterprises? Well,
my friends, the time is, hope, not far away,
when We will make our own prints and other
cotton fabrics, and give our Northern friends
a chance to buy from us.
How much wool yearly leaves our State,
bought from US at trihe2 We buy this
wool back again at enormous prices in the
shape of wooden goods, such as clothing,
Blankets hats, &c. Many ofyou wear to-day
a pound of wool in the shape of Hampton
or Tilden hat, the original cost of which was
thirty cents, and now perhaps cost you So.
Is it worth two three or four dollars to make
such hat? Iguess not.
How many hides are yearly shipped to Bal
timore and New York to be returned again in
leather or in the shape of boots and shoes ?
And what kind of an article do We get in ex'
change? Why, the most inferior in the
world Instead of boots and shoes of full
stock, we pet them of the worst kind of man.
ufacture, such as are made from split leather
with shoddy work. Why don't we tan our
own hides and make our own boots and shoesS
There is timber enough in the upper part of
South Carolina to run fifty large tanneries for
years, and how many have we got? Hardly
any The tanners of the North pay from $l2
to SIS for cord of bark and live by it. We
can get any amount of it, from So to s6 per
cord The tanners South are obliged to sell
their rough stock to Baltimore and Northern
markets, where it is finished, sold then 10
Northern shoe manufacturers, and our own
L IL. Inof