The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1881-11-10
Cotton Manufacturing in the South.
Washington Post.l

Washington Post.
Among thinking men in the South there
Is almost a unanimous opinion that here
after, TO very large extent, the mill must
90 to the cotton, and not cotton to the mill.
1t all the cotton raised in the Southern
States could be manufactured at home. an
annual saving OF which is now lost to the
South, not far from 500, 1000, 600 could be
made. This wastage, according to CAREFUL
~ prepared estimates, is distributed through
the following items: bagging and ties, 81 ::
ginning and baling, 50 /; storage and insur-
ance' IS cents commission and brokerage
81; freight to New England, So; waste
from various incidental causes 50 aggra-
eating $I4.90 on each bale. At this rate.
the cotton crop of last year, excluding what
was manufactured South, was taxed over
81, 600, 600.
But the actual tax was more since three
fourths of the cotton raised goes to Eng
land, increasing the cost by one or two cents
a pound, which raises the tax to over $780,
900, 600, or 40 per cent. of its marketable
value. This amount saved annually would
soon pay for the mills needed to manufae-
tuTe al the cotton raised, and there is wa
ter power enough to run them all.
What are the prospects? In 1860, Of
the cotton manufacturing in the country.
only FIVE and half per cent. was done in
the South, and the returns for 1880 show
the same per cent. While the capacity of
the Southern mills had doubled, it only
kept pace with the increase in the whole
country. But in these twenty years much
has been learned, which will tend to largely
increase the number of cotton mills; so
that during the present decade the proba-
bilities are that the manufacture of cotton
throughout the South will reach an average
of twenty, or even twenty-five, per cent. of
the whole in the United States. This is
not wild speculation. The influences are
now at work that will make this probability
fact.
In Georgia and the two Carolinas there
are natural streams, with ample fall for
manufacturing purposes, and on many of
them granite foundations for mills are to be
had. These water courses never freeze over,
nor do they dry up. The canal in Augusta.
Ga, owned by the city, is nine miles long,
one hundred and fifty feet wipe, by eleven
deep. 1t will readily supply $4,000 horse
power the year round, which is 1900 more
than the Merrimack Yields at Lowell, Mass. :;
the cost being but S. so per horse power
for year, which is about one-half the cost
much cheaper than at the North The
Atlantic mill, run by steam, is making
twenty per cent. on its capital. Materials
for the erection of mills is also cheaper by
one-half than in the North.
Besides these natural advantages, the cost
of labor is much less in the South than in
New England, since the cost of living is
only about one-half. To the objection that
there must be a scarcity of laborers of sufi-
Gent ingenuity to meet the demand raised
by those who are Ignorant OF the charges
that have been going on during the last two
years, it can be said that as formerly in
New England, there will be found enough
laborers among the native white population
to supply all demands. Negroes are not
employed in the factories. The whites there
are yet brought into competition with them,
but are engaged in an employment that re-
quires more skill than the eolored men pos
sess. Indeed, the Operatives in Southern
factories are, as class, superior to those in
Northern mills, and will, with the growth of
experience, become vastly more skilltull.
The State of Georgia has exempted from
taxation for ten years from the date of COM
pletion all cotton factories-an example
that will be followed by many other States.
The day of Southern manufacturing has
certainly dawned. The people also are
awake Thehum of the spindle and the
rattle of the loom have begun; Fand there
are millions in it."