San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1882-11-23
baltimore Msnufseturers' Record.
.n.n a Al

uuaasSily attracting increased attention
s'e s%s business world. The natural
u uas S possessed by the south for
s.nnfactures of almost every kind are
',nsurpassed by any other part of this
uamntry. These things are making
themselves strongly felt. and their in
snsnce is rapidly spreading. The
n ,rsss of the country is gradually wax
nS m to the redistribution of indus
nos now in progress, and by which
.hs south is to take leading position
n The manufacturing world. In dis
aussing these points, and especially
those relating to the rapid increase of
sotton manufacturing in the south,
The Tertiie Record, of Philadelphia, the
acknowledged authority upon the tex
tile interests of the country, says:
STbe National Cotton Exchange re-
norts the quantity of cotton taken to
Southern mills for consumption during
the crop year ending August 91st last
at 1856, 594 bales, as compared with
0o5,811 bales the previous year-an
increase of 81, 1888 bales, or more than
~ per cent. the northern spinners
having taken 1918 bales only, as
compared with 1,713,626 bales last
vear-a decrease of two per cent.
This" the Record says, "shows rapid
cain in southern cotton-spinning and
a probable consumption there of q
much larger quantity hereafter. 1t is
evident that in redistribution of in
dustries now going on the south is to
become largely manufacturing, and
that the intense activity of the western
interior is to furnish a market for it's
products, at least equally with the
north. .,. n
1T is not an agreeable thing" says
the Record, "for northern men who
have money invested in mills and ma
chinery for the manufacture of low
grade cottons to contemplate the
movement of this industry toward the
south. But the fact that the south
en states are rapidly acquiring the
power to produce these goods is as in
disputable as the fact that southern
mills can make them more cheaply
than northern mills can. Statistics
respecting the development of cotton
manufacture in the south supply
abundant evidence in this direction,
and further proof may be found in the
circumstance that while southern
mills consumed only 225,311 bales in
1sS0-81, they consumed 296,594 bales
in 1882. This movement is &C.
curing at time when there is al
ready an over production of cottons of
the inferior grades; and however I'M
pleasant the truth may be, northern
manufacturers will find it much wiser
to accept the facts of the situation and
to adjust their operations in the future
to the new conditions"
In speaking of coarse yarns, the
Record says: "There is quite dis
tinct promise that the south, in fact,
will be able to supply the bulk of the
demand, and that the northern mills
which have hitherto supplied it will
be compelled to produce fabrics of a
higher grade or to go out of existence.
II u The tendency ism marked
degree in this direction, and the men
who will receive the largest profit are
those who will be first in the field.
Much invested capital will have to be
sunk, much good machinery cast
aside, and much acquired skill re-
garded as useless by those who accept
the situation; but there can be no
wisdom in hesitating to make the sac
nfce when to refuse to make it means
ruin at any rate. III 81
These words, coming as they do
from such source as the Textile Rec
ord, must have much weight. They
only, however, repeat what the Jour
nal Of Commerce and Manufacturers
Record has long claimed. We have
shown by actual figures again and
again that cotton could be manufac-
tured more cheaply in the south, where
produced, than in the north, and the
stern logic of events is proving the
correctness of our position on this
subject.
1t is not, however, in the manufac-
ture of cotton alone that the south is
moving to the front. There are other
industries destined to be of equal i'm
portance with cotton manufacturing
that are rapidly being developed in
theSouthern states. Mining is steadily
attracting increased attention, and
from all parts of the south come re-
ports of the great increase of this in
dustry. Coal, iron, copper, gold, sill
yer and other metals are all found in
n 49,