Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-04-03

OF III tne naDit OF living. 4 have eknOWl
al the same class of persons to seek an,
N obtain responsible public position
d through the sympathy of commu
nifty, when at the same time tina
3 community would have saved
n money by donating TO them the
/ amount Of their salary. and ther
e1 pay some well-quaIified person tC
s take charge of the office. Now, il
I we undertake to have our manu-.
r factures managed by persons not
qualified for the position, because oil
e their popularity or high social
. standing, or because they are out OF
| employment and have nothing else
t to do, ETC., ETC., then we shall have
: no guaranty of their being a paying
investment for stockholders. But
) if we will adopt the right principle
J at the beginning with view to the
} wants of trade, etc., and keep
} strictly within the bounds of that
f right principle until our enterprises
are in good running order, and then
place at their head the right men as
directors and business managers,
they win pay, and pay well, not
only 6 and per cent, but from
these amounts up to Is, 20 and Is
per cent.
Since the war manufacturing
establishments of various kinds
have sprung up in different portions
of the South, and so far as have
learned by reading regularly many
different newspapers from various
sections, they are all in a prosperous
condition; and from statistics said
to be reliable, Ilearn that some of the
factories of Georgia and South Caro-
lima have lately made dividends of
over 25 per cent. per annurn.
The large cotton factory at Nash
vile, although it labors under many
disadvantages (among others, hav-
ing its entire material, fuel and |
everything else, including its pro-
ducts, to wagon over a mile), is in
very prosperous condition, with its
stock considerably above par.
When Pittsburg and other North
ern cities can take iron in its virgin
state from our doors and return it |
to us in the shape of manufactured |
articles, with good profit retained |
to the manufacturer after paying for |
transportation both ways, there is
no good reason why it would not !
pay to manufacture it here.
If the New England States can
take cotton, hides, etc., from all |
portions of the South and return the |
same in the shape of necessary fam
lily supplies, after reserving enough
from their proceeds to pay freight |
1000 miles, more or less, make for
tunes for their manufacturers and I
two or three sets of middle men, it
does seem that we here might make
an honest living by it.
Even England takes our cotton,
pays ocean and land freight of over
four thousand miles, and returns it
to us the same distance in the shape
of spool thread and various other
articles, after making good profits
for herself and various agents.
That the New England States
have derived the main portion of
their wealth from manufactures,
and that these manufactures have
derived the principal portion of the
same from the South and Southern
products, are facts well known. Ey-
cry day great railroad trains are
passing northward laden with the
products of the South, and every
day the same trains are returning
these products to our people for re-
demption at ten, twenty and fifty
times the amount they received for
them. The entire profits derived
from our tobacco, wheat and other
farm products must be used to pay
this difference and add wealth to
foreign manufacturers, their agents
and the railroads, when the same
under proper system of manufac
turing enterprises would be retained
here at home.
Just so long as we depend solely
upon agriculture under the present
system of labor, when the prices
that we get for our produce and the
many crop failures are considered,
and then expend the entire profits
of this agriculture for foreign pro-
duets that could be equally as well
made at home, we will, as a COM
munity, never become rich; nor
will that great business boom so
much talked of ever come to stay
with us. When I see this business
boom lowering over all manufact-
uring districts, and the princely
mansions, with their luxurious sur
roundings, of factory owners; when
I see the increased growth and gen
eral prosperity of manufacturing
cities and the hustle of active busi-
ness life that seems to pervade their
every thoroughfare, and then return
to some of our inland Southern
cities, whose sole dependence for
wealth and active business life must
be based upon agricultural products
alone, where towering gsmOke-stacks
of furnaces are unseen and the hum
of machinery unheard, and note the
seeming lack of thrift and general
prosperity on every side, the listless
quietude that pervades all classes,
and the crowds of idlers congregated
on all street-corners, / am compelled
to feel fully convinced in my own
mind that manufacturing enter
prises, properly organized and con-
Quoted in accordance with good
business principles, do pay and aoiU
pay both the community and the
stockholders.
Before closing this article / desire
to state one fact well known by all
intelligent persons, but not gen.