The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1881-01-08
n COTTON FACTORY IN JACKSON

The recent political canvass has
more than ever demonstrated 10 the
people of the South that "politics Will
not pay,n that We have had too much
politics at the eXl .cnseOf our industrial
interests, and our people are at last
being awakened 10 The fact that while
other portions of the land have grown
very rich by manufacture, we have
been comparatively idle and gone on
from year 10 year wasting our ener-
gies upon politics and making cotton
for other people to make what money
there was in the great staple. The
stupendnus folly of having our cotton
taken thousands of miles over the
world and returned TO us, at enormous
prices, in fabrics which could he made
right here at home is at length being
appreciated, and we are glad to see
that throughout the South the estab-
iishment of cotton factories is being
discussed. In fact that not only are
new factories being constructed in
Georgia, South Carolina and North
Carolina, 10y Southern capitalists, but
that Northern mill owners are looking
out for locations 10 erect new mills in
the South, while Others go farther,
and propose to just transfer their
mills complete from the North TO our
Southern States. Col. Mcclure, The
distinguished editor of that great pa
per, the Philadelphia Times, and who
has just made a lengthy tour of obser-
walton in the South, in his letter TO
his paper from Atlanta, thus alludes to
the subject of cotton manufactures in
the South, lie says:
The manufacturers of the North must
soon 70 south with their cotton spindlcs
and looms. and those who 20 earliest will
reap the richest harvest. II is Il violation
of all the laws of trade to transport the
cotton ltO0milcs to AN inhospitablc climate,
where watcr-pOwer is unreliable third
of the year. and where it necessarily costs
more to sustain labor than where the cot
ton is grown. our struggling cotton fac
tories in Pennsylvania would be earning
from 10 To 80 per cent on the great water
powers of the Savannah or the Alabama,
where labor is cheap, where the climate is
the most genial to be found on the cOntin-
ent, and where the cotton lint can be fur
nishcd fresh from the lint. Instead of in
curing the expense of packing, Of trans
portation and of rc-scparating the lint, at
much cost to the fibre, the cotton should,
and soon will be spun directly from the
gin, by cheaper labor and turned into
better fabrics than can be furnished with
all the skill of the North. Those who say
that capital il not safe in the South either
know not what they say or mean to be I'M
truthful. In every southern State there
H. a supreme desire TO have the factory
everywhere that the raw material is fur
nished. and South Carolina eNempts every
factory from taxation for ten years. In
both the Carolinas, Georgia, Texas. Ar
kansas. Mississippi and Tennessee. there
are regular emigration bureaus, not only
inviting but urging white settlers, and
even Mississippi, has several of the largest
and most successful factories in the South.
The cotton crop of this year will be worth
S3OO, 900, 900. and when simply spun into
yarn il will he worth nearly 100000, 900.
more. Where in all the world is there 50
wide aud 50 tempting field for Legitimate
enterprise and large proiitsg ! believe
that half the whole cotton product will ba
spun in the South before another ten years.
anu inc succeeding utfaut VIII lufllSl
Southern factorie, for the entire crop.
Here is an acknowledgment, from
distinguished and well informed
Northern public man, of the great adj
van;agcs possessed 10y the South over
the North In the manufacture of cot
ton, aud he even invites his own
friends in Pennsylvania TO move their
cotton factories to the South, saying
also, that "those who go earliest will
reap the richest harvest"
There Is no intelligent man in the
South but knows that what Col. Me-
Glure has said is so; here in Mississippi
we know that the Mississippi Mills,
at Wesson, are Il great success and
meeting with such demand for their
excellent goods that they have had TO
put on a double force, and by the aid
Of the electric light they now run
night aud day, working between 500
and 1000 hands. We AL know that
where these Mills ar, located there
has been built up one of the most
fiourishing towns in Mississippi, and
that only a few years ago it was
piuey woods forest not worth any
thing, except for the timber upon it,
and that only had any value because
there was a railroad at hand.
We all know, or ought to know,
that so successful has been the first
cotton factory built at Natchez, two
years ago, that another is now being |
erected there by the enterprising citi-
Zens Of that enterprising city. 1t il
well known that the Mills at Meridian
and Enterprise are doing well, then
why cannot we have a cotton factory
built i'm Jackson?
We have admirable facilities here,
plenty Of water, cheap lands, cheap
labor, and at the junction of two i'm
portant railroads Ito be further added
to, by and by,) enabling us to COM
mand cheap fuel, and with the raw
to run several cotton factories |
right at our doors there is absolutely
to prevent cotton factory
rom doing well here in jackson.
Why then cannot our capitalists, our
lankeps, our business men, our citi-
,ens generally, join together and make
up the money and make a start? IL
s3OO,OO0 is more than can be ~ ID
hen let slO0, 900 he forthcoming. &
hat cannot he got make a begin ing
With n $4,000 or S50,OoO cotton factory,
{ will pay a good dividend and can
,e added TO as il progresses and capt.
al is put in it-but make n start,
make a start.
A cotton factory will do more for
Jackson than anything else. IL will
ring capital here, il will bring trade
Iere, il will bring more population
Iere, il will bring more manufactures
ere, il will bring prosperity here,
hen let our citizens take counsel to-
ether aud see how much can lie sub
ribbed. Let the subject Of building a
Dtton factory here he discussed. Do I
Of let the subject be talked Of and (