Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-04-28

Diversity of Industries In the South.
Much mention has recently been made
of the establishment of cotton factories
st various locations in the South, and
we see that some of our Northern ex-
changes are expressing much surprise at
the progress made in this direction. The
Philadelphia Record, for instance, men
tons a partial list of mills of compare
lively recent origin in the South, as
follows;
''The Slbley Mills at Augusta, Ca,
witt a capital of 81 100000; the Langley
Mills. near the same place, which last
year manufactured 1914, $40 yards Of
cloth; the mills at ASHORE, n. c., with
Z. 900 spindles, and the factory at Ora
ham. n. c.. at Montgomery, Ala, 5000
spindles, and new mill with a capacity
of 1, 500 bales; the Clifton Manufactur-
ing Company, South Carolina; the Yves
son Mills, Mississippi; the old Triton
cotton factory at Rome, Ga; mills at
Louisville, KY; six large cotton mills
about Petersburg, Va, having $4,000
spindles, and that of Messrs. Lehman,
Abraham & Co., at New Orleans, now
running 600 spindles. A North
ern company with $15.0OO,0O0 stock
has organized to build a mon
ster cotton mill at Athens, Ga;
the immense buildings of the Atlanta
Cotton Exposition have been bought by
a company that will fill them with looms
and spindles; large mill is being erected
at Charlottesville and another at Weldon,
n. c.: factories at Charleston, S. c., and
Troy, n. c.; a mill at Augusta, Ga, to
cost s., 900 600; another at Orangeburg,
S. c., and the large factory of the
Maginnis Brothers at New Orleans,
which, when it is finished, will have
capacity of thirty thousand spindles, re-
quiring from twenty-five to thirty thou
sand bales of cotton annually"
There are many other mills not in
cluded in this summary, but these are
sufficient to indicate the formidable
rivalry New England is to have in the
manufacture Of cotton fabrics, especially
when, as will be seen, several well
known and flourishing mills, such as the
Augusta and Enterprise Mills of
Augusta, the Eagle and PheniX of
| Columbus, and the Graniteville of South
Carolina, and various others have
escaped the notice of our contemporary.
This is indeed a gratifying exhibit, and
is a precursor of the wealth surely in
store for our hitherto disregarded-
because poor-section. Our Philadel-
phia contemporary gives good counsel,
| too. when it advises the Southern
manufacturer to turn his atten-
ton to other matters besides cotton
alone. 1t holds that the advantages to
be derived from a diversity Of industries
are as great as those to be derived from
a diversity of crops, and the substantial
prosperity of the South can no more rest
upon cotton factories alone than it can
upon only the cotton crop. 1t admits,
however, that the Southern people
are already alive to the import
ance of this fact, and extensive and
profitable as the cotton industry has
become it by no means comprises the
entire manufacturing enterprise Of the
South. Numerous manufactures OF diff
ferent kinds are springing up all over
the Southern States. Some of them are
of simple character, and require no spe-
cial skill and little capital, but the arti-
cles produced are require and if not
made at home must be Tu chased else
where. Thus, in Georgia within the
last three months three axe-handle fac
tories have been established, and a bent
wood factory is projected near Char
lotte. Va, at which will be manufac-
tured plough handles, fellOes, arm chairs,
etc. The material required is found at
home, and these enterprises and others OF
similar nature, though springing, may
hap, from small beginnings, are bound
to prove profitable.
The Southern people are every day
having their eyes more fully opened to
the great advantage of diversity OF in
dustries as we'll as of crops, and we have
no doubt that in few years supplies of
manufactured articles needed in this
section, as well as provisions, will be
produced largely at home. 1t is earnest
ly to be hoped so, for in that way alone
will the South become truly independent
and prosperous. Corn, fodder, oats,
wheat and varied manufactures will pay
the Southern people far better than poll
tics, and indeed will be the only means
of insuring to the South her ante bellum
supremacy in the Union.