The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1885-01-03
An Exposure or ExIng Cotton

An Exposure Of sking Cotton
N. O. Pieayune.
The most significant fact Of tn
Cotton Exposition now being held i
our city is that it is complete ex
posure Of the weakness Of the indus
trial king that has so long commanded
the allegiance Of the Southern States
It is certainly anything but CottoI
Exposition. The Southern States il
particular have almost ignored thu
heecy monarch, and the stranger ex
amining these displays would scarcely
imagine that the commonwealths from
which they come had been for genera
tions little more than vast cottor
field. They do not see, as many o
them doubtless expected, vast piles o.
cotton bales and great hampers tillec
with the fieecy staple. They look il
vain for cotton exhibits. They SCI
but little more of it in the Mississippi
display than in that of Dakota.
On the contrary, the Southern StateI
present to the visitors variety ol
products Of the field, the forest, the
mine, and the quarry that Is very at'
traetive. 1t is nearly all raw material,
it is true, but it impresses strongly
the fact that cotton is not king, and
that the attention Of the people of our
section is directed toward other in
dustries than that of cotton growing,
And the most skeptical must admit
that the showing of natural resources
and undeyeloped wealth is very re-
markable one, and one that augurs
well for the prosperity of the section.
OF course there is a vast deal of II
that is a repetition of an old story,
We did not require an exhibit here Of
the iron ore of Virginia and Tennes-
see to teach the world of their exist
ence and their value. The mineral
wealth of Virginia was known early
in her colonial days, ana within her
limits the first iron works on this side
the Atlantic We're established We
did not need to have the pigs Of iron
with their adjacent coal and limestone
from Birmingham to inform the world
of Alabama's great mineral wealth, be-
cause its fame has spread throughout
the world. Nor will it be anything
new to the furniture manufacturers and
builders of the West and North to see
so fine a display of lumber and woods.
They have been buying them for
several years, and know their value
better than we do. Their mill men
and timber speculators have already
bought up the bulk of our good tim
Der lands and are ready to utilize their
wealth, The phosphates of the Caro-
linas and the product of their turpen-
tine forests are not for the first time
introduced to the world in our show.
The pine timber and tropical fruits Of
Florida do not need special adVertiH7
ing. 1t is not in the fact that many
new things are presented, but in the
number Of exhibits Of these sources of
wealth which is auspioious, because it
indicates that our own people more
fully realize the necessity for diver
sification of industry and appreciate
the value OF the gifts which nature has
bestowed, This fact is not by any
means the outgrowth of the kEposi-
tion, but finds an opportunity in it for
expression in very positive form.
1t may be asked why, if the South
appreciates the value of these sources
of wealth, she does not at once utilize
them herself and enter upon the man
ufaeturing and mining industries on a
grand scale. The answer is that the
transition from her former pursuits is
necessarily slow process Her peo-
pie lack the education and training
and resultant adaptation to fit them
for competition with the North and
West. 1t is no easy task to convert
an agricultural and commercial people
into good factory hands, miners aud
artisans, Capital is timid about enter,
prises that are new in section, and
our capitalists know little or nothing
of the manufacturing business. Ex-
perts and competent managers arc
scarce. The young men who desire
to learn the industries have no oppor-
tunities at home,
But it is much that the inclinations
of the South are in the proper diree-
tion, and the progress if slow will be
tha more Anrahle Thu industrial
revolution must be accomplished by
forces working from within, and not
by outside pressure or outside assist
ance. When there is the will the way
will be found, and the pioneers will
have more competition from their
at least fol the next de-
cade, than they are likely to meet
from the invasion of Northern and
Western capital, though that will
come in time.
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