National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1879-07-17
MANUFACTURERS IN THE SOUTH.

The Charleston Ne,rs and Courier is dis
cussing the question of manufacturing cot
ton in the South, and in that it strikes the
keynote of the future prosperity and great
ness of that section. The South needs
manufactures, but it lacks the capital to
set them in motion; and how to secure that
capital is problem Mt which that people
have evidently been wrestling at the wrong
end ever since the close of the war. The
Nc,cs and Courier, in its present discussion
of the question, proceeds upon the hypo-
thesis that
If the cotton raised there was manufactured
in the Southern States the planters would be
saved more than S50,000,000 every year in
transportation. To the South, in general, the
gain by manufacturing is the whole difference
between the value of the raw cotton and the
value of tho manufactured article less the
amount paid, il any, to outside stockholders
and for working materials. The Southern
spinners have an advantage of 10 or Is per
cent. over New England and the manuiac-
| turers now in business report an entire free
dom from strikes aud other labor complica-
tions which affect the New England manu- fac
turers so disastrOusly. There Is certainly no
reason why the South should not look forward
| to the time when manufacturing capital will
largely seek employment in the cotton States,
where the raw material can be had at the
doors of the factories The cotton mills which
have been started in the South have been very
successful and tho number is increasing every
year. We repeat the watch-word first given,
ten years ago, In these columus-Bring the
mills to the cotton
We re-echo the remark of the NoCs and
Courier" Bring the mills to the cotton ~
| 10 ha n,IlX in xplli oh ha q,
become prosperous and independent. If
that section has the available capital with
which to erect mills and stock them with
machinery, it is the easiest thing in the
world to "bring the mills TO the cotton"
But after the mills aud machinery have
been secured, they would remain idle I'M
less artisans are available to operate them
and make them effective. The force neces-
sary to accomplish this end must be secured
either among the manufacturing districts
of the North or from Europe. TO secure
this force the policy of the South must he
radically changed. These artisans and
operatives, if from the North, have been
living where freedom of opinion, thought
and action have been assured to them as
citizens, and they would not consent TO
surrender these, as has been to great ex-
tent heretofore required in the South, under
n change of location. Northern capital
will not seek investment in the South in
property Of any kind requiring a residence
there until all the guarantees Of constitu-
tional citizenship are rendered as perfect
there as at the North In the abstract
the investment Of capital in the South is
rather attractive, but in the concrete these
attractions are dissipated by the tone and
temper of the Southern people toward those
who come among them and hold only the
relations of "carpet-baggers" in Southern
society. No man of wealth, education, and
refinement cares to isolate himself for the
poor privilege of accumulating money that
he cannot enjoy as the peer ofhis neighbors
who resided there before he changed his To-
cation. The South has stood in its owl
light, and tit is wise it will change position
and "live and let liye' under terms of mu
tual respect.