Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-11-10

10 AAaSAaC 0aEaaA Ao0VAVAAAA@N VII
the south's Industrial POEentIslI-
ties-Impr0Vements Suggested In
the Methods Of Marketing and
Manu- featuring Cotton The
SOuth,s Railway Map TO be Yet
Constructed - Hts Great Import
anee.
The following is synopsis of the address by
Mr. Edward Atkinson, Of Massachusetts,, at
the Atlanta Southern Exposition, last Thurs
day:
Gentlemen of Atlanta, Friends Of the South,
FeElOIo Citizens Of the Nation:
Again you have asked me to speak to you
again feel that am among friends; again
am assured that no matter how greatly we
may differ on many points relating both to the
past or to the future we are all moved by the
same purpose we ali seek now the welfare of
our common country.
am almost appalled, at what see and by
what you have accomplished in less than
single year since the mention of this under
takng-ln less than six months since the first
practical measures were tsken-in one hundred
and eight days from the beginning of the work
10 the open ng day. l think that we who are
from the North may well return home and
ponder little OR what this means.
Facts are said to speak louder than words
Here are some loud facts on these grounds
the loudest / ever listened to. What do they
say touss 1 will tell you what they say to me;
tits this: The Industrial revolution which
had as yet conceived as family as did the full
scope of the work which you have accom-
pfshed, is not only entered upon, but very far
advanced.
This is now becoming apparent, and from
this exhibition your progress will be dated;
what you have already done must always be
marvel. Yet more remains to do; but you win
do it. While some of my friends here still
think me too much of a Northerner, my friends
at home still say am too much or South
erner. Does not that prove that am not too
much Of either, but that am a true citizen of
our common country? Therefore, may say
that when reviewed tho history of the few
years which have elapsed since you we're sub
jected, not only to revolution in your
whole method OF labor, but yet more
to a revolution in the very Fundamental
ideas respecting labor; when 1 think that
not only much that had been wealth to you,
even though fictitious. was destroyed, but that
almost all your real wealth was also destroyed;
when remember that you came back to fence
less and almost deserted fields, to work with
old tools or none; that your means OF commu
nication were torn up and destroyed; that you
were not only without capital but without
credit; when think again that it was unwise
then to restrict the suffrage mainly to black
citizens as it would now be to restrict it exclu
sively to whites; say, when think Of all these
things my mind is lost in wonder at the pro-
gress made by white as well as black in your
great Southern land.
have been assured that if you pass from
the top OF Roam mountains or of Mount Nit
chell, the highest mountain east of the Rocky
mountains, easterly 70 the sea- some two or
three huOdred miles, you will find all the fora
and fauna that exists between the st. Law
renee and the Gulf OF Mexico.
When-I suggested the addition Of the rail-
way exhibits. / said that il the railroad corpo-
rations, which have been built or are now pro-
jected in this middle or mountain section of
your land, among the mountains, on the
plateaus and through the Piedmont district OF
| the east and the blue grass section of the west
covering in my vision q section nearly as
| large as France and twice as large as Great
Britain-f these railroads would place here
| examples Of the products Of agriculture, of the
forest and of the mine, of that section, il
could not be equalled from any other equal
| area Of the worlds surface. The collection is
here and they have justified me.
Material prosperity is purely question Of
quantities. The only question is, how rapidly
| can you convert the forces of nature TO the
| service Of man? There are vast areas of land
there are vast mines Of minerals. Only one
/ seventh part even OF the available land OF the
/ nation is under the plow-less than that pro-
portion in your Southern section.
Is the land good? Are the mines rich? Is
is the testimony Of almost boundless capacity
| fer wealth and welfare. Are the people poor?
Do they call for capital9
The capital Of the richest State or nation
| now exceeds one. two or possibly three years
production Welfare is in the knowledge how
| 10 use the capital, not in its mere possession.
Unless the school house precedes or goes with
/ the capital it is almost worthless The school
house is here, the capital is here-the resources
are here, and all that yoa have now to do is to
/ go on and prosper. and with each step in your
| prosperity, you will add more power to advance
| yet further.
While it is true that there has never yet been
| in any exhibition so adequate display OF cot
ton machinery as there iH here, yet the subjects
of greatest interest to myself and nv com
paniOng have been the implements of husban-
dry and the machines for treating cotton and
cotton seed.
You have deprecated every crop of cotton
you have made at least 10 per cent by want of
care and attention in ginning, balm, pressing
aud caring for the cotton between the field and
factory. You can save half your labor and
add 10 per cent. to the value Of your crop if
you will use the new tools and mach - here
on exhibition, and heed the words WI a now
speak.
1 have not yet seen a smaller press for oil,
but there is not farm or plantation in the
South that is too far from oil mill not to
make it profitable to send the kernel Of the
seed, after the hull is removed, TO the mill, and
to have the meal sent back for feed. The oil
will more than pay the cost. If We could
mature cotton in tine North we would make it
for seed alone, even il we could not sell or use
the fbre.
Now let me call your attention to the funda-
mental principle on which your success IN
spinning and weaving cotton must stand or
fall
It is not question Of wages-no wages can
be measured in less money than the earning
OF these Indian women or these Chinese labor
ers. Goods are made at the lowest cost by
i those who earn the highest wages, wherever
modern machinery is applied to their fabrica-
ton. The wages in your Southern factories
are much lower than in ours at the North, but
you employ thirty more hands than we do to a
thousand spindles, with their proper compile
ment Of looms.
In some Of your best mills you work as eco
nomieally as we do, but isolated mills, scat
tered at far distances, are at a disadvantage
anywhere So far as you undertake cotton
manufacturing with view to anything more
than local demand, concentrate your mills
and let all the appliances and subsidiary en-
ployment grow up around them. have never
taken the ground that there were any climatic
difficulties in many parts of the South The
real difficulty is that the margin of profit is
very small on a very large capital, and unless
you can work, in the long run, on very small
margin. you cannot succeed These times
are no criterion; it is hard times" that test
ability and relative conditions. Let this
be borne in mind: The yarn of which
the coarse standard sheeting or drill
is made, No. ID, weighs hreequarters
of a grain to the yard. The yarn Of
which a summer lawn is made, No. so, weighs
one-quarter of grain to tie yard. Those are
manufacture All work above SOS is fancy
work Our range, therefore, is within the
limit Of half grain to the yard of yarn, Of
which cloth is woven. variation of frac
ton makes the profit or the loss. We must use
every precautiOn and save at every point or
else we fail. May say that the true prepare
ton in cotton manufacturing must be in know
ing how to save the fraction of q cent. We
must do this in New England or starve. We
have no alternative. You cannot spin cotton
when you do not know the difference between
a cent and nickel
L say to you once more. asI have said before
you have field for profit in which we cannot
share, in the preparation of cotton for the
spinner, which offers better opportunity for
profit on small investments of capital than
any other branch of cotton manufacturing that
you and can engage in.
have often tried to account for the attrac
ton which is presented by cotton growing and
cotton spinning. The dairy products of the
country are greater in value and far more i'm
portant to the welfare of the people than the
cotton CROP Our shoe factories In Massachu-
sets employ more persons, at higher wages
than our cotton factories. The general con
ditions Of life are better in towns where there
are no great factories than in towns that are
filed with them A small capital can be used
to-day to better advantage in making clothing
than in making cloth. What then is the secretf
think it is this: Good cotton and good cotton
cloth are as good as money anywhere-they
need no legal tender acts to make them pass
current. They are drafts at sight for tea, cot |
fee, sugar, for iron and steel; whatever we
want we can buy with cotton or cotton cloth. |
At the date Of the census we had Il, zoo, 900 |