Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1883-01-13
THE NEW SOUTH
Nash vile American.

Nashville American.
: The difficulty in building up tn,
= new South is not in proving to thu
: people that manufacturing vii
, enrich US; but, the difficulty is In
; bringing individuals up to act
All lnen who have read any vel
and carefully prepared work on
, political economy-giving facts rs
we'll as theOry-must have been
struck with the evidence against
, the prosperity of all countries pure
ly agricultural, and the uncontia-
dicted testimony in favor of diver
sified pursuits. 1t is settled fact,
conceded in all works on social
science, that there can be no per-
manent prosperity and growth in a
country devoted exclusively to
agriculture. This we do not pro-
pose to debate unless the PROPOSE
tion shall be combatted from some
intelligent source. That farmers
can't prosper selling their products
to each other, is as much truth as
that two parallel lines will not
intersect and that farming COM
munity, unless stimulated by the
prospects of profits in business, will
! become seedy, and their farms
become red hills and brier patches,
| is ABOUT as certain as that neglec-
ted graveyard will become deso-
late place. While upon the other
hand, people engaged in manufac-
ing-by labor Transforming useless
/ things into what is valuable and
useful-will, as surely grow rich as
that the warmth of spring will push
out the buds on the trees.
A careful study of the question
shows no exception to this; but
whether such riches will be well
distributed depends on ether
things. The price paid for labor in
European countries is so low that
the increased wealth is not well
distributed. So far as the facts go
to settle anything in the United
States, nothing is better established
than that of farming and manufac-
turing-When, soil, climate and the
raw material will justify it-are
carried on in the same country,
they are, each to the other, as the
finest fertilizer is to the soil.
Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana
are the best Illustrations of this.
The South is better adapted to get
the benefit of these mutual helps
than any other portion of the Uni
ted States. We have the raw ma
terial for all kinds of manufacturing
and we have the soil to produce
supplies for laboring people engaged
in manufacturing. s -..st.-.
hn nf
of the United States. Now, how
lated to make the effort? Only in
one way-by keeping the facts
before the reading public. Our peO-
pie are not slower or more sluggish
than other people. No people any
where have changed suddenly, or
even rapidly, from an agricultural
to a manufacturing people. In the
very nature of things people long
accustomed to certain lines of busi-
ness or labor are slow to change.
Men who have the means to go to
manufacturing, are always cOnserv-
ative, and are slow to accept even
established facts, if they lead into
new fields. '
But i'm the South we are under
going u change. The signs are
visible everywhere, of healthy
and sound progress. In Southern
communities few men have
shown what can be done by going
bravely to work, and their success
has stimulated others, until, with |
out reaching point where we can |
claim to be manufacturing people, |
we are showing what can be done, |
and many of our people are weigh
ing the rguments--reading up and |
gathering the facts-aS they never |
did before.
We want to make suggestion |
for the consideration of farmers and |
hope they will take it into consider
alton. Every county in Middle
Tennessee has a number of farmers 4
who are doing Matchmaking some
spare money. AS IL general thing
these farmers do not wish to buy
more lands - before the war all
spare capital was put in lands and
slaves-and they must embark in
some new business.
Suppose the farmers of each cOun-
ty in Middle Tennessee would
unite, and each year put their spare
capital-any surplus they may have
into some manufacturing enter
prise, single decade would not
pass until signs of new life, of an
enhanced value in lands, of a great
ly increased percentage of prOduc-
ing and prosperous people, will be
visible on every hill and in every
valley. Twenty years will change
the entire face of things and like
the great States of Pennsylvania
and Ohio, we will be rich and
prosperous people-capable of fur
nishing our own capital for the
development of all our interets
instead of appealing to other people
TO help us.
AS in all other countries, manu-
featuring will prove success. Not
that every man embarking in it
will succeed, but larger proportion
of those who do will succeed than
in any other business. Prudence
in making the investment, and in
selecting an agent for the manage
ment of the combined capital, is all
that is needed to guarantee success
in manufacturing.
Our farmers are the people of all
others most interested in building
up these industries. Without them
the farmers must remain poor; with
them the farmers are rich.