Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-01-10
Lessona Of the Atlanta ExpOsItiOn.

Lessons OF the Atlanta Exposition.
So far as we have seen, the press
throughout the country which has
touched at all upon the subject OF the
Cotton Exposition recently brought to
close in Atlanta, agrees upon the meal
culable benefits which must accrue
therefrom to the South. 1t has not only
opened the eyes of the country and the
South itself to the vast resources of the
Southern States, but it has enlightened
the Southern people, more than any other
agency could possibly have done, to the
true value of the great Southern staple
by showing them how the cotton crop
may be developed and its value enhanced
through the medium of improved ma
chinery.
Another and very valuable lesson
taught the South by the Exposition was
the important advantages this section
possesses for becoming the great manu-
featuring centre of the country. In a
recent article On this subject the Balti-
more Times takes the ground that "while
England has taxed her skill, her re
sources and her economies to the utmost
TO successfully compete with the United
States IN cotton manufactures, the spin
ners of the country have by no means
reached the limit of cheapness and
economy in that industry, and it claims
with reason that while the British mar
gin is exhausted, ours is of the broadest,
and when the time comes to manufacture
cotton where it is grown, and save in
every possible way upon every process
in the production, from the planting of
the seed to the final delivery of tle
manufactured fabric, no country can be
our rival, either in cheapness or quality
of goods That time is not far distant,
and when it arrives the United States
will surely win in the competition for
the markets of the world"
To give some idea also of the vastness
lof Il ese markets already, the Times pre-
ents the following figures based upon
creful study and research: "The United
Sites already consumes forty yards of
Cotton per capita per annum, Great Bri-
tain tWenty-seven yards, China twenty
yardi. Allowing twenty yards per capita
for the population of the world, this
would require an annual production of
over O,0OC0O0, 600 yards, or nearly six
times as much as Great Britain at pres
ent produces. 1t would consume 49,
0OO 1000 bales OF cotton, employ 200, OOO,-
600 spindles and provide work for 3, 000,-
600 operatives. Even here the limit is
not finally reached, for as people begin
to use cotton goods aeir per capita con
sumption steadily increases, and in effect
the quantity of cotton tsbrics annually
taken by any people is a pretty fair
| gauge of their civilization.
The knowledge of their strength and
importance as a cotton growing and cot
ton manufacturing centre, as thus brought
out by the Atlanta Exposition, is not by
any means the most important lesson
which our people can learn through that
medium. Protection is the great obsta-
Gle against which the South has to con-
tend to enable her successfully and
readily to take her proper position in the
manufacturing world. 1t is protection
which enables old England now to main.
tain her competition with this country
as aCOttOn manufacturer, since iuasmuch
as our goods are, by protection, shut out
from European ports, she is enabled to
find a market for her cotton products in
other countries. But it is against the
South especially that protection operates.
With the staple growing right at her
doors, AID with abundant facilities for
its manufacture within her lin
Its, yet she is made to play
secondary part to New England
thousands of miles distant from the
cotton felds-because that section,
through many years enjoyment OF The
advantages of protection, has been en-
abled to build and maintain ex
tensive factories, purchase the best
machinery and accumulate capt
tai which should be ours Abol-
ish protection, and that capital, attracted
by the superior advantages of the South,
will seek investments in this section, and
give Us the wealth and position to which
weare rightfuly entitled. In other words,
abolish protection, and neither old Eng
land nor New England will be able to
compete with the South in the manufac-
ture of the great Southern staple.