Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-06-16
RAYORARIE SIGNS.

| one oil the most IdVOTADie 5lguh OL tue
prosperity of the South is to be found in the
fact, that she this year takes the lead in the
construction of railroads. This may be attrib-
uted 10 the fact that the Northern States
have heretofore built all the railroads nee
essary 10 accommodate the travel and general
commerce of the Northern people; but
whatever the reasons may be, ii
is another significant fact as 10 the
future of this section. Since the LIST of
January, 1882, the South has been engaged
in the construction of 1902 miles Of rail-
road, while all the Northern States and Ter
ritories have been at work on only
2O99 miles. In Commenting on this
indication of the future prosperity of the
South, the St. Louis Republican says: at will
be observed that with much less than one
third the population, and not one-sixth the
territory, the old slave States have more
than one-third the railroad constructed the
present year. In connection with the
growth of population, as shown by the last
census, and increase of manufacturing
enterprises, the facts are useful as indi-
eating the vitality of the southern portion
II.
eign element, in extent 100000 souls,
poured into the North in the last eighteen
months were eliminated, the comparison
would be even more striking. Railroads are
at once the sign and the cause of general ac-
tivity and growth, and the facts shown
above must therefore be regarded as having
an Importance beyond their mere face value
The extraordinary progress of the South in
the construction of railways is full
of significance aG to our future, which,
taken in connection with the advance
made in the cultivation of cotton and the
increase of its manu- scture, shows
that we are on the march TO a pros
perity which the most sanguine Southern
dreamer never expected TO see realized. Just
think that the South is ahead of any other
section of the Union in constructing rail
roadsI And again it seems to be a fgment
oil the Imagination to read that since 1870
the capacity of Southern cotton mills has in
creased from 1000 to more than 1900
looms, and from 100000 to 100000 spin
dies. Within the same period the consump-
ton of cotton has more than doubled
1t was AZ, 900, eco pounds in 1870, and in 1880
it had increased to more than 100,000,00O
pounds. The census returns show that
during the past decade the South has made
more rapid strides in cotton manufactures
than either the country at large or New Eng
land, the great center OF industry in Amer
lea. The progress that il has made, and
promises to make, suggests the very impor
tant inquiry, whether the South has not at
last set out upon that course which In time
must lead to the achievement Of one of the
great possibilities that nature has put within
the South should be sent raw to English
mills aud returned manufactured to South
ern markets, is as abnormal and unnatural
as that water should run up hill. The su-
premscy which England and the Eastern
States hold in the manufacture of cotton
will sooner or later be transferred to the
South, whvrv-it- properly belongs Such
result is inevitable. The consumption OF
cotton by Southern mills is steadily and
rapidly increasing, and will continue 10 SO
increase until the entire crop is manufac-
tured in the South. The supremacy in the
manufacture of cotton is passing from
Old England to New England, and next it |
will shift from the latter to the Southern |
States. No mind can comprehend the future |
greatness and prosperity of the South. The |
shibboleth of the Southern people is "push" |
on the railroads and the cotton-mills.