The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1883-09-06
MANUFACTURES VS.. AGRICULTURE

The Abbeville Press and Buuncr, re.
plying to an editorial of the Chronicle
and C6,,fitntionaki'!, which urged the
view that the South must become man.
ufacturing rs we'll as an agricultural
people, or take q back scut in the Union.
SAYS:
If we mistake not South Carolina mudo
no pretense to manufacturing before the
war, and yct tho people of no State in the
Union were richer Tho wealth of a
State or a nation Is only the accumulated
wealth OF ita individual ctizens. we
contend that an Industrious farmer cnn
make moro money on the farm than he
can earn In factory. We also contend
that the possession or control of any bus
mess has tendency to develop u better
and more :alf'reliant citizenship, .har,
does the surrendering OF all Individuals
ty, thnt man may become, so to speak,
inere segment or part of q great ma
chine, which furnishes the money Army
officers, soldiers, and other government
employees, are incapacitated for making
q living mt the ordinary pursuits Of life.
SO factory hands learn nothing but that
business, and tho girls learn nothing of
the womnnly duties of woman. She be-
comes mere machine to do ono nerticu.
lar thing, and the surroundings nre not
as desirable, as those Of the farmer who
chooses to strive by honest toll and econ
omy to have home Of his own, wherein
his children may be reared, as thoy cam
lot be, II they wero in crowded factories
1t seems to us that tho mree assertion
that we must now go back on our past
record and quit our sparsely settled
farms to congregste Mt factories in cr,.c.
to become wealthy, falls to the ground
when our friend is reminded that tho
North does not grow cotton. Let the
North manufacture 1t. They have the
capital. Let us grow the cotton. We
have the soil and the climate, which they
have not. The South will not be ready
for manufactures until we hayo more
money and more people than can be prof
itably employed on our farms. 1t will
never do for an agricultural people to
abandon the farms and their manhood to
become tho servants Of the cotton mills.
This line of argument by the Press and
Banner appears to US fallacious. To
begin with, the fact that the South made
money rapidly before the war under a
certain aystem, does not prove that she
would not have made more money under
that system if she had combined manu-.
featuring with it. On the contrary, we
think her prosperity would have been
greatly enhanced by such ccmbin alton.
In the next place, the Press and Banner
must realize the fact that there have
been very great changes wrought in the
South as the result of the civil war. Be.
fore the war the South had slavery, and
all the surplus earnings of our people
were put into negroes and lands. These
were safe and profitable Investments
particularly the negro. Now, we have
nothing but land, and as there is no in.
crease in the quantity Of land, it ia only
aquestion of time when land will not be
o profitable investment, for it is, all over
the prosperous sections Of the South,
reaching value at which it ceases to
pay a good interest on the investment;
and, besides, the quantity of land not
increasing it. will not be long until it
will be difficult to purchase lands at all
In the older States. The Southern peo-
pie, therefore, evidently have soon to
find something to take the place of the
negro as safe and profitable investment
10 which to place their surplus earnings.
What this is 10 be is the important
financial question of the present day.
Our people must, If they would prosper,
diversify their agriculture, and in doing
this turn their attention to considera-
BILE extent to stock raising, Horses,
mules, cattle, sheep and hogs can be
raised in the South with profit, and
doubtless money could be made for sev.
sral years to como from investing the
surplus income of the South in stock.
L would not, however, give a permanent
Of the income, nor near 30
profitable an Investment as .nanufac-
tnfcs. Let us look at . feu figures 70
10 prove this. Say o certain section