Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-11-27

St1AG even QlEGCN I'D new 1OFk.
And there are some unpleasant
symptoms that our business is not
increasing as fast as our population.
One of these symptoms, an unmis-
taxable one, has Of late been fire.
quently pointed out in this paper.
1t is the impossibility of finding
employment for our better class of
young men, who scatter off, and
their talent, enterprise and industry
goes to build up other cities.
1t does not seem, then, that to-
bacco is going to do more for US
than it has done, and if GAINESVILLE
is to continue growing it must add
something to its present occupations
besides; and the question il what
we are to turn our hands to. The
primary consideration in entertain
ing the question il, what occupation
is there, if any, for which we have
special local advantages, for in these
days of eager competition the one
question is what we can sell cheap
est. The competitor who can put
his product into the market one
tenth of cent cheaper than another
is the one who commands that mar
ket. For what productive labor,
then, have we special facilities ?
We are inclined to take another
look at tobacco before we turn our
attention to other resources. Grant
ing that we are not likely to in
crease the quantity handled in this
market, have we made that which
we do handle as conducive to the
business prosperity of the city as it
might be made? 1t certainly seems
to do as little for us as such a pro-
duct well could. A great deal of it
Just comes to us in bOgsheads, stays
for q short time in our warehouses,
and is forwarded to distant markets,
and we make nothing more of it.
A little, we believe, comes in bulk
and is packed in hogsheads here
before transportation, and some of
it is stripped here. Now this ware
housing, packing and stripping are
the least remunerative operations
which are practised on tobacco.
The profitable work on it is done
elsewhere. 1t is manufactured into
tobacco, cigars, and what not?
thousands of miles from here, and
comes back to US again in that
shape, where we buy it again at
largely increased prices, without
having realized any of the profits of
the labor expended on it. Could it
not be manufactured here?
The Georgia people asked them
selves the same question as to their
cotton. "We pick it from the
plant" they said, land gin it and
pack it in bales, and that's the last
we see of it. The really profitable
labor is done on it in New England
and Old England. There they spin
it and weave it, and it comes back
to us in the form of sheetings and
shirtings. Cannot we do that work
here and have the profit of that
labor ourselves, and at the same
time get our sheets and shirts
cheaper ?" They answered this
question in the affirmative and
went to work; they built factories
right on the cotton-fields, and the
cotton was not only ginned but
spun and woven on the spot, and
Georgia already stands high among
the manufacturing states. They
turned their industry to that which
came closest to hand, and worked
on their own indigenous prOduc-
tiOns, calculating rightly that they
could best compete with other COM
munities in working up that mate
rial which their own fields produced
in such abundance.
Now, cannot we do this with our
tobacco? Cannot we manufacture
the cigars and plug tobacco which
are used by our own citizens, from
the raw material which our own
citizens produce, instead of sending
it on IA journey of thousands of
miles to people who make the profit
upon it which we might make our
selves, and then sell it to us for
whatever they choose to ask?
This is one new department of
industry for our citizens to consider,
the most obvious one because the
materials on which it is exercised
are produced on the spot. But there
are several Others for which we
have special facilities, and which
will be the subject of future papers
i'm this journal. We can find plenty
Of ways for increasing the product
iveness of the south, provided men
will learn to look at home and study
there what are the chances for pro-
fl,,of;x.o xrrorly