The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1882-08-03
RICH CAROLTNIANS.
wuosE POSSESSIONS RUN UP INTO
THE MILLIONS.
I've Notable Names in the History OF North
Carolina Prcsrcss-Thc Cotton Factories
Along Haw Rivera Surviving Millionaire
or the Reconstruction Period, etc.

Correspondence Of the Atlantis constitutional
MoREHEAD CRY, July 29.-There are TIVE
family histories In this State that may b.
written out with profit TO the southern
people.
Forty wears ago Edwin Holt and Franz
Fries were poor young fellows Just start
ing In life. II Is tradition that Fries'l
father declined to stand his security for tn,
purchase OF q negro, and Holt was proba
bly, as poor. They both turned aside from
the professions and from mercantile bust
ness, and determined to devote their lives
10 manufacturing. Mr.. Holt is now wortl
million, and his family owns nine cotton
mills, worth over a million and a hall
Frank Fries IL dead, but his brother, who
was his partner for many years, and his
three sons, under the firm-name OF +. Il ii
Fries, arc worth nearly million, and owi
Eve cotton and woollen-mills at Salem ant
Winston.
The fortunes OF these men have grown
steadily. Year after year beyond contln
gency tbay have grown richer, and have
added to their spindles and looms. Mr.
Fries has used steam-power altogether, ant
has amassed great fortune without having
one foot of watcr-power. The sons, edli
Gated for practical work as their father was
continue in the business and enlarge il
steadily.
The Hollis do not use steam at all, but
depend on water-power. Most OF their
mills are on Haw river. From the modest
beginning made by the elder Holt there are
now nine mills, all running and all being
enlarged constantly. Every son and every
son-in law owns one mill or more.
had a pleasant talk with Thomas NJ
Holt, the most prominent member OF the
family at present. He went to college for O
wear or two, and then went into a shop and
mill and learned the business to which he
was to devote his life. He started with his
present mill at Haw river, which then had
52S spindles. Out OF its earnings he ha;
added to il, until he now has 1926, 900 cash
invested in buildings and machinery, and
is Just now finishing a large addition. He
is himself worth much over half million,
every dollar Of which was made by cotton
manufacture. / asked him to-day:
"If you were a young fellow just start
ing life would you adopt the same course
OF life you have followed!"
"Certainly. Nothing pays so well and
so surely as the spinning and weaving OF
cotton when it is properly looked after.
1t is assured wealth and independence to
any man OF intelligence who will attempt
il near the cotton-field. To show you my
faith in it, my son is now working in a fac
tory i'm Cbicapee, Mass, and has lust fin
ished his study OF the card-room. lie will
soon be competent to take charge OF a mill,
and then be will have one"
ado you consider the growth of cotton
spinning i'm the South assured?"
Beyond question. Ii is only question
OF capital and education. New mills are
springiDg up on all sides of lis and all
through the South. Our most remarkable
progress, however, is in the quality Of our
goods. We are now making the grade Of
goods that New England few years ago
was supposed to have the monopoly Of.
dyed with my own hands the first piece of
colored cottons ever wove in the South.
Now it is being made in many southern
mills"
"The South has the advantage in cost OF
manufacturer
81 can demonstrate to any man that
there is a clear and indisputable advantage
OF II to 2 cents q pound IN favor of the
South over New England. In this day of
competition and of swift transportation
this difference must tell at last. We are in
the dawn of the greatest industrial devel-
opment any section ever saw"
.Does the manufacture OF other articles
in your State keep pace with the spinning
OF cottOn?"
"Hardly. think. We have small facto-
ries devoted to special industries building
here and there, but our people are still de-
pendent on the North for many things.
For example, we have the best OF walnut
forests i'm western North Carolina. Our
people have sold the trees in the rough, and
tie buyers shipped them north, made them
into furniture, and reshipped it to us.
Even when the price went up, so that one
walnut tree sold for $40, they did not seem
to understand that there was money in
working them up. Near my factory there
Is abundance Of timber suitable for shuttles
This is sawed out and sent in bulk to the
North, where it is made into shuttles and
sent back to me. We are:mproving, how
ever. and this will all come right in time
One of the special industries OF which
Colonel Holt spoke can be seen at Green's
boro'. On the route of the track as yor
leave the town are three buildings. One il
q small wooden shanty. Just beside ii is
huge brick building-as large as a cotton
factory. On the hill behind these is an ele
CANT residence, with tasteful and luXrlrlan
owns q spoke-factOry. He started a few
years ago poor man. The shanty is th,
building he began in. The mill-like look
ing brick structure is his new factory. TIL,
house on the hill is his home. He canno
supply the demand for spokes, and ship
part OF his product to India. He has SAT-
margin Of protit-gets his timber chea,
near his doors, has low-priced and reliable
labor, and Is rich and independent.
Another curious industry is to be ioun(
at Newberne. 1t is the making OF wooder
plates and trays, such as are used for but
ter, flour, &c. The timber used for thi
purpose Is cut out OF the adjoining swamps
A huge log is rounded by circular plan,
and then put In machine Of great accu
racy and swiftness that peels off layer,
often OF the thickness OF vcneering. Thes,
thin strips are cut into square pieces b,
machinery and laid up to dry. AS soon a,
they are dried they are steamed, and Will,
pliable are put into morhds that give then
the shape Of plates. The factory is now
making 100000 plates per day, and has con
tracted its entire product ut figures Of prof
for year to come.
noticed at Goldsboro' cotton-seed-oi
mill being put up, and another at New
berne. There is probably nothing i,
which the south Is making such progress
as In the handling Of cotton-seed. / beliey,
that the number OF oil mills In the cotto,
states viii be doubled in the past year ane
TINS, and more than twice as much seet
worked up.
TALK WITH GOVERNOR JARVIS.
In conversation with Governor Jarvis
whose family Is here for the summer, h,
Next to Georgia, which we are taught
70 believe leads us all, am sure that North
Saroilna Is the most prosperous southern
olate' our people have accumulated n
great deal OF money In the mast rear a, q