The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1880-09-09
TALK WITH THE CAPITALISTS.

The other day meeting of capi-
talists in this city was held with the
understanding that if ten would
subscribe, each $4,000, company
would at once be organized to build
a cotton compress. a cotton seed oil
mill, and probably to do something
else not definitely laid down. Six
agreed 10 put in $4,000 each. and
therefore $4,000 is needed to make
the proposition of these men good.
Are there four others who will take
the stock required, and thus allow
the projectors of such enterprises to
carry them out: Suppose two or
three others put down their names
for the round $4,000 each. and that
ten or twenty thousand dollars are
! still needed, and no other person can
be found who will subscribe the re-
quisite stock. will these men refuse
to allow two or four men to come up
with 5000 each and make the pot !:
Is the proposition so definite as to
defeat itself, as did that one at Gal
weston, when it was proposed TO.
subscribe S1.000.OOO, to be taken by
100 men. in sums of $4,000 EACH
and in no other way: We as
sumo that such is not the
case, and assert that these
projectors of a scheme are in earn
est, and that. having secured sixty,
seventy or eighty thousand dollars
on the plan proposed, they would
then admit few five thousand-dol-
lar fellows out of determination to
inaugurate industries. The manu-
facture of cotton seed oil is an un-
dertaking that would pay very well
at Austin. 1t is reasonable to sup
pose that material to keep machinery
moving all the year could not be Sc
cured, but it would move long enough
to return profit, and it would keep
a nice little force of men and BOYS
employed, and yet not so many prob
ably as are at present employed in
theSTATESMAN establishment. An oil
mill, properly managed, would thus
pay a reasonable dividend upon in
vestments. A cotton compress would
cost somewhere between $4,000 and
100000, and it might attract to this
city for COMPRISING purposes, pro-
vided, the railroads would refuse to
carry cotton bales without being
compressed, thirty thousand bales
of cotton. Increased trade, in
consequence, would be worth
something to the place, and a legit-
innate profit of five cents bale
might be made upon compress work.
The compress would give employ
ment to twenty or twenty-five men
for few months, and then these
would be left to make livelihood
the best way possible until the be-
ginning of the next season. The
question is a very doubtful one
whether compress would pay three
per cent. on the investment, and the
industry established would be of
but little value to the public, MAIN
ly to shippers and probably to a
few transient spectators. 1t may
be asserted that the STATESMAN is
not at all informed about compress
sing, but since it is engaged in
pressing business it assumes there
upon. But it was another scheme
which we proposed TO discuss with
these capitalists. Suppose Austin
should establish, upon the bank of
the Colorado river, cotton factory,
costing originally 100000. The
anti-cotton factory capitalist will
say this would not pay, and yet cot
ton factories have paid in New Eng
land until their owners have been
returned vast wealth in profits. and
cities have been built up upon these
industries, until Lowell and
Fall River contain vast populations,
maintained alone upon these indus
tries. We compress bale of cotton
in the South, and make profit of
five cents upon it, that it may be
more conveniently shipped to the
New England mills or to Manches-
ter, whence it is returned us in the
shape of fabrics, whereby the bale
of cotton represents $3.50 to $500.
against $40 when it was rolled out
of the compress yard. Eastern cot
ton manufacturers admit the pros
perity of Southern mills, but they
discountenance them by asserting
that they are adapted only to the
production of the coarser fabrics.
There was time when this applied
to the New England mills, and they
have been improved as the owners
grew in wealth and as operatiyes.ac-
quired experience. At present the
manufacture OF. coarse cloths is so
profitable in the South that there is
no inducement to experiment in
finer goods, but it is not improbable
that the time will come when mus
Inns, prints and cambrics made in
the South, will successfully compete
with similar fabrics made in
Rhode Island and Massachusetts,.
The advantages which Georgia or
South Carolina cotton mill possesses
over one in New England are of no
trifling nature. The entire charges
ON bale of cotton shipped to Massa-
chnsetts from either of these states
are about eight dollars, the bale
which costs forty-three dollars at
Columbus. Georgia. costing fifty-one
dollars ut Fall River. This is a DIFF
ference of eighteen per cent. in IA
yor of the Georgia manufactures, in
the cost of the raw material alone,
and, in addition, the Georgia mills
have the advantage of cheaper labor,
more working hours. and smallerex
pense for fuel. AT Austin the Colo
RADIO river would supply as cheap
power as could be obtained any,
where in the South, and the cost of
.l a, ,..,x. ,.,afar;aI M v,s,ld ,,roha3,l l.e