Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-07-27

England manufacturers are making ear
nest appeals to the railroads to reduce
the freight upon their materials and theil
prOQucts, but whatever favors the rail
road companies may be disposed to show
them, the cost of carrying the goods five
hundred miles each way must remain
great enough to make all the difference
! between large profit and none at all
In 1871 there were but 45, ,000, 900 pounds
OF cotton used in the mills of the South
and In 1880 there were 115, ,000, 900 pounds.
Inc rate OF increase in some of the States
was even greater. Georgia manufactured
but lO,OO0,0O0 pounds in 1870. while i'm
1880 her mills consumed 33, 00O. 900 pounds
The consumption in the manufactures OF
south Carolina rose during the decade
from 2,0O0,000 pounds to IL, 100000.
The expenses of living at the South is
less, and as consequence labor is
cheaper. In 1881 the average yearly wages
In the Northern manufactures were $3.50
and in the Southern only 1856. 1t is quite
possible that at the present time labor in
the South is, man for man, not as efficient
as 1t is in the North, but it is rapidIv be-
coming so. A widely disseminated and
at the same time utterly baseIess delusion
exists that the climate of the Southern
section renders continued active exer-
ton impossible. Now it is doubtless
true that there are certain linn
tied areas in the coast region of the more
southerly States that are too hot and moist
for the health of the white man: but
throughout by far the greater part of the
South man can work quite as hard as he
can anywhere else. Large parts of Vir-
ginia and West Virginia have mean an
nual temperature as low as that of BOs-
ton and Detroit, and lower than that of
such manufacturing centres as Pittsburg
and Philadelphia. The cost of running
machinery is not likely tOsbe any greater
in Virginia or Carolina than in Penn
sylvania or Massachusetts. The natu-
raj water power of many parts
of the South can scarcely be eXcelled
in any section of the country, and fuel is
at hand for the production of steam poW-
er In yet more lavish supply. That the
mountain region of the South was rich
in coal and iron has long been known.
but it has only been within very short
time that any considerable efforts have
been made to develop its wealth. The re-
suits that have been obtained have been
astonishing. In 1870 not a ton of coal
was mined in Georgia; in 1880, the census
reports that 154, 900 tons were produced.
In 1890, Alabama dug only II 900 tons: in
1oS,her production had risen to 49,, 900 tons.
In Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, Ken
lucky, Tennessee and West Virginia the
coal output rose from 900, 900 tons in 1870
to 100000 tons in 1880.
There were in 1870 but 5000 tons of
iron ore mined in the States of Alabama,
Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and West
Virginia, and in 1880 there were 575. 900
tons, an increase of more than twelve
hundred per cent. Great as these gains
were, there is every reason to believe that
they have been far exceeded in the three
years that have elapsed since the census
was taken, and still greater progress may
be expected in the future. The ore is
more easily to be come at. labor is
cheaper, and ton of pig-irOn can be pro-
duced in Virginia Or Alabama for twelve
dollars where in Pennsylvania it would
cost eighteen. So long as this inequality
continues the movement of the iron in
dustry must be towards the South.
Already much Northern capital is invest
ed in Southern iron and coal
fields; in some instances the land
has doubtless been purchased with a
view to prevent its immediate develop
ment, but all such maneuvres must, from
their very nature, be productive of tenn
porary results merely. For the present t
little beyond the smelling of ore into pigs
is done at the South. The superior cheap
ness OF its production enables the maker
to bear the cost of transporting it to the
North, but, sooner or later, the
latter will be necessarily moved nearer
to the source of their raw ma
terial, and all the many branches of iron
working be actively carried on in the
Southern States.
In any review of the resources of the
South account must be taken of her rela-
lively large forest area. The rapid de-
structiOn of the timber trees of the North
and West is yearly making the remaining
forests of the country more valuable, and
within very few years the larger part of
these Will be in the south.
transportation facilities, hitherto and
still insufficient, are rapidly increasing.
Every year new railroads are piercing
into before unopened tracts of Southern
territory. The Southern Pacific and the
Texas Pacific place the South upon the
line of transcOntinental movements. The
Mexican railways now in course of con-
structi0n will find their nearest cOnnec-
tiOns in the various Southern lines, and
will lrry to the South the first fruits of
awakening enterprise in the housekeeping
land beyond the Rio Grande. The rail-
road now being built down the Peninsula
of Florida will have its terminus less than
a days sail from the Island of Cuba. and
all the many valuable productions of the
West India Islands will find their most
convenient markets in our Southern
States.
In the South the world is about to find
new competitor in the strife for the prizes
of agriculture, manufacture and trade,
and the Louisville Exposition will give
the public an opportunity to estimate her
chances of success in such a contest.