The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1881-03-19
COTTON FACTORIES.

The people of the South are build
ing more factories every year. The.
have increased in large ratio dur
ing the last ten years. Vicksburs
and Natchez are making preparation
to build new cotton factories-in fac
there seems to be new energy infused
among all the Southern people as t.
the great importance that will flow
from manufactures.
1t is stretching beyond the cotton
belt, and Louisville is making prepa
ration to start factory that will cost
100000. According to statistics, the
South, during the last ten years, has
doubled its manufacturing capital
while the North only added per cent.
to her capital. This shows that the
South, in proportion to her wealth and
population, is outstripping the North
in building up factories. The question
as to their paying better here than
in the North is so apparent that it
is no longer discussed. 1t is said
that the factory at Wesson pays from
is to 20 per cent, and can hardly sup
ply the demand for goods, while orders
for cotton plow-lines can't be filled fast
enough. This is most healthy out
look for the South. The plough, the
spindle and the loom should join
hands. The hum of cotton factories
should be heard near our snow-white
cotton fields. Then we will become a
great and prosperous people out
stripping the North in population and
wealth.
A Northern paper remarked a few
days ago that immigration instead of
moving Westward would soon turn
Southwark. The greatest capitalists
are now investing in railroads, which
will penetrate our richest and finest
territories. Capital and labor will fol-
low these great railroad lines, and
factories will next he built. Recupe-
rative powers are at work, and the
South is being aroused from her Rip
Van Wrinkle sleep to renewed energy
and action.
The Boston Herald has this to say
about new cotton mills i'm the South:
Boston representatives of the several
freight lines doing business with the
South and Southwest say that, al
though this Is generally the most quiet
season of the year, their business has
picked up most wonderfully. Not for
more than half dozen years have
there been so many shipments of goods
to the South during this period AS now.
One shipper alone has paid and con-
for the shipment of cotton ma
chinery upon which the freight alone |
exceeds $4,000, and there are others
who are doing almost as large bust
ness in that direction. Mills are be-
ing enlarged and new structures being
erected at Clifton, Piedmont, Rock
Hill and Columbia, S. c., Augusta,
ia, Charlotte, n. c., Natchez, Miss,
md Montgomery, Ala, besides other
points of less magnitude. This sud-
len stimulus to trade Is said to be the
vi ANOl
III and enterprise. The mills are gen
rally Superintendent by Eastern men
nd the operatives for the most part
belong to the class known as "poor
negroes being employed for
leavy outside work. While the labor
# Southern spinners is not equal in
,oint of skill to that utilized in North
I'm factories, the employers say that
heir men possess the advantage of
icing contented with their situations
md wages, not engaging in the forma-
ion of trade unions or strikes. The
Employers also claim that, while per-
laps the quality Of their manufactured
GODS may not be equal to those turn
d out at the North, they are able TO
uy cotton at first hands, saving sew
raj profits and freight charges, and
an supply the southern demand at
over rates than can be afforded else
there.