The Osceola times., 1877-05-26

dred thousand dollars or two hundred
thohsahd dollats-proved it by their
amazing fetdndity in dividends proved
it by building more and more OF them,
and by intending to build more Of them
still. Last year, and y,ar before last,
when the huge Fall river and Rhode
Island establishments, with their capitals
of from ole million dollars up to ten
million dollars, wefe idle, selling their
goods below cost in New Yofk, hands
starving and interest on debts crumbllng
the value of all their stocks away,
THE LITTLE TBREE-cENT ESTABLISH
nENTs,
down south we're busy as bees and merry
as crickets, turning out their 0snaburgs,
muslin and jeans under full presstire, and
reaping the rewards in dividends that
ranged up from ten to thirty per cent.
At this very moment, when the establish
tnehts Of the Sprsgues and Hoyts and
Laurences are dying Of dry-rot, these
iiatneless little tarn.weavers at the
south, In and arotind Augusta, and every
other riparian town, are not only coming
money, but educating the southern peo-
pie in the ways and means of a new in.
dustry which will populate all their
waste places. Mr.. Atkinson says' 1.-The
prev,iiing opinion in the south that
prosperity will of necessity ensue from
the establishment of numerous cotton
mills may not be well grounded, and it
may well be asked whether a section in
which capital is scarce, and the rate OF
interest, therefore, high, can afford in
vestments Of one hundred and fifty
thousand dollars in btisiness in which
only one hundred people would be en-
ployed, and not over thirty thousand
dollars year paid in wages" Pray, let
us ask Mr. Atkinson, what is the best
way to invest capital In and make inter
eat low How did New England begin
with small mills, or with large ones :?
The one hundred thousand dollars sugar
plantation in Louisiana pays only ten
thousand dollars wages, yet the south
has survived that. The one hundred
thousand dollars cotton plantation in
Georgia pays only six thousand dollars
wages-the south even survives that.
To our notion,
THE DETERMINATION or The SOUTH
to manufacture cotton, at first in a rude,
small way, and only proposing to supply
the local home market, thereby exclud-
ing New England goods from that market,
will be the best thing that ever happened
for that section. 1t will bring in capital
if safely conducted on business princi.
Piles. The factory, no matter how mean
or poor, will become the nucleus of the
village, and here, while the women mind
the spindles, the men can go afeld Ia
raise more cctton, or turn wagon makers,
iron.workers, smiths, timers, tool-makers,
shoemakers, wheelwrights, tailors; in
short, engage in all those little trades
which Mr.. Atkinson 80 kindly advises
should be the firstling efforts OF southern
industry. Let the south secure first Its
cotton factories and the local home mar
kets for their produces, and all these
trades and industries will be sure 10 grow
up sreedily around them. Then the fac.
tories themselves eau expand, develop
themselves, secufe more capital, and
compete with the factories of the north
and of England for the markets of the
world, with the advantage, never TO be
taken from them, of receiving on the
spot the products of their own felds,
upon whiclr no freights, charges or com.
missions have been paid. Will Mr.. At
kinson inform us, in his next paper, what
are the
FREIGHTs, COMMISSIONS AND CHARGES
paid by foreign mills on the five hundred
bales of cotton which one of these little
despised factories consumes In year, and
which it gets fresh out OF the field free OF
cost? Take il from the ginhouse TO the
depot or the boat; TO the receiving city,
the factor, the warehouse, the press, the
vessel, to New York or Liverpool, Fall
River or Manchester, and Assess all the
various charges and brokerages upon it.
A bale OF cotton weighs four hundred and
fifty pounds, which is the weight of seven
and and halt bushels of wheat. A
farmer in Baltimore county, ten miles
from town, has TO pay, in freight, COM
missions, etc, niDety-scven and half
cents before he can sell that weight of
wheat in the city. Consequently he can
afford to sell his wheat at discount Of
thirteen cents per .bushel from city
prices 10 the nearest mill. Let Mr.. At
kinson test cotton by similar standard,
and he will speedily discover that cotton
factories in The south, which begin by
controlling in a rude, homely way the
local home market, will end by contest
ing the supremacy of Massachusetts and
Lancashire in the markets OF the world.
--BaIt;more Erening BuiYsti~.