Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-03-21

Nartherti -, Southern Cotton Mills.
The New England cotton manufactu-
ers are appealing to the trunk
line railroads leading West for
a reduction of freight on their coarser
cotton goods, to enable them 10
compete with the Southern mills IN the
same lines Of goods in the markets OF the
Western cities. Their dOmestlcs are
Skinned as first-class freights, and they
complain that at present rates the! can
not compete in Louisville, Cincinnati ana
-. Louis with the Southern mills having
no freight TO pay on the raw material.
The margin Of difference, says the New
York Tines. is already wide enough 10
cause genuine alarm for the future Of the
cotton manufacturers of the New England
States. but what this margin will be when
the Southern manufacturer has learned
By experience 10 make fuller use Of his
advantages the Eastern mill-owners have
as Vet scarcely dared to inquire. Yet this
is a point, continues the Times,
which neither the railroads
nor the manufacturers can
afford 10 overlook, The relief
afforded by lower freights from New
England to the West must be temporary
in character. The Southern roads will
make corresponding reductions, and as
their rates are high, they can 90 further
in such a war than the trunk lines. But
the rapid extension of manufacturing in
the South, and the introduction OF i'm
proved methods, added to the advantages
already mentioned, must within short
time leave New England mills out Of the
race for those cOarser and heavier grades
Of cotton goods in which the value of the
material employed. rather than the labor
expended upon it, determines the selling
price Of the finished article,
The competition Of the Southern mills
is not yet formidable in the amount Of
product. The Northern states had, in the
census year, 59l cotton mills, running
10.094, $50 spindles and 2l4, 1862 looms, and
consuming 1.3S1. 59S bales of cotton; while
the Southern States had $50 mills, running
/ 5S3.696 spindles, and consuming 1Ss, IA
bales of cotton. The rate of yearly in
crease in consumption, as shown by Mr..
/ AtkinsOnis supplementary inquiry, and
by more recent unofficial reports, is con-
| siderably greater at the South than in the
/ Northern States.
! $50 long as the New England manufac-
turer must pay from 81 80 to 81 bale for
/ freight on his raw material, making his
| yearly freight bill on the same amount of
/ cotton from seven TO ten times that Of his
! Southern rival; so long as he must pay
/ also a considerably higher rate of wages,
/ and, on the average, higher price for the
power that drives his spindles and looms,
! he cannot reasonably hope 10 compete, on
similar grades Of goods, with the mills of
! Georgia and the CarOlihas. The adVan-
/ tages at present enjoyed by the Southern
manufacturers are, moreover, certain to
! be increased. Many of the Southern mills
/ are now equipped with old and worn out
machinery, and few Of them have well
/ trained ar competent operatives, Hut
] even under these imperfect conditions the
( profits of cotton manufacturing there are
! far greater than in New England, as is
I shown by the high dividends of some of
/ the leading Southern mills. But the New
/ England manufacturers nave neld OF
/ their own in which they may defy South
4 ern rivalry. On the finer yarns and plain
/ goods. on prints and fancy woven fabrics,
they will have little difficulty in maintain
/ ing their supremacy for a. long time to
| come. 1t would be wiser for them 10 az
knowledge defeat on the caarser grades Of
I goods in which the Southern manufactures
finds his chiefpFOat, instead Of attempting
! By scarcely legitimate means a hopeless
/ resistance, and 10 turn their attention 10
I branches Ofmanufacture in which climate,
a more skillful class of operatives, and
! far reader market give them an unques-
+ toned superiority"
/ This is good advice from the Times that
/ will not probably be needed by New Eng
/ land. but at best, like the relief sought in
/ the reduction CT freight on the trunk lines,
+ their resort TO and confinement OF opera
/ tons To the manufacture Of finer yarns
/ and fabrics must be only temporary in
( character. The energy and progress Of
/ the South. which has now so greatly en-
/ dangered their profits on the cOarser
/ goods, will soon advance into the field Of
/ the finer articles, The improved methods
/ and machinery will carry Southern manu-
/ facture up to the point already attained
/ by New England, and the advantages
+ enumerated will soon begin competition
/ in the higher lines. The truth is, the
/ mills are on their way to the cotton fields,
and the sooner the inevitable is recognized
/ the easier viii be the fall from the New
England summit.
n