The Portland daily press., 1886-06-29
SOUTHERN INDUSTRIES.
Confident Expectations Of LouIsI-
ana Newspaper.
New Orleans Times-DemOcrat.


There ara n number of good folks in the
South. and out of it, too, who appear to re-
gard the revival of industrial activity in the
section as something quite new ana VINO
imagine that we were always the agrlcuitu-
raj and patriarchal organization tnat the
opening Of the civil war found US, at least 70
great extent. The truth is that the people
of the Southern States, when colonies were
the pioneers in nearly all the leading lnous-
tries of the country. Silk was MADE IN ooush
Carolina almost generation before the new
olution, and the hopes Of our ancestors III
Virginia and the Carolinas seem to nave
been largely based on the future growth OF
the South as manufacturing region. Inc
search for the precious metals and iron was
as eager if not as thorough in coloniai
DAYS as it is now, and in the art OF iron max
ing the progress on our side Of the line was
greater in pre-revolutionary' days than III
any other part of the country.
The earliest information that iron existed
in America came from North Carolina WneIe
the expedition fitted out by Sir Walter Raj
eigh in 1858 discovered iron ore on recon
noissance up the Roanoke. As early as 1oOo
iron and iron ore were exported from tne
Virginia colony to England. For some time
before the rupture with the mother country
the iron industry of Maryland and Virginia
had grown to considerable Importance. one
enterprise in the former colony is eSpeciaiiy
worthy of attention, since among It's touno-
ers, and later its managers, we hnd tne
names of Augustine and Lawrence Wash
ington, father and brother to the hberator.
The blast furnace in which these gentlemen
was interested was erected by the frlnclpO
Company, on Principle Creek, in Cecil Coun-
bought land of Captain Augustine Washing
ton, at Accokeek, in Virginia, and there put
up another plant, and still another-ths
Kingsbury Furnace-in Baltimore county.
In 1851 the company owned and worked four
furnaces and two forges. 1t Is stated that
about one-half of the pig iron exported from
the colonies was produced by this company.
George Washington grew up in an atmos.
phere of pig iron. His boyhood was tull Oh
trips to the various furnaces in which his
family was interested. Like other boys
similarly circumstaneed, he used to stay up
late when by all laws and traditions he
should have been in bed, to see the midnight
east" He could probably tell by the color
No. foundry iron, OF only No. "A, or gray
forge - and to the end of his useful career
the price of pig iron was dear to his heart
as the memories of childhood Seriously
speaking, there can be little doubt that the
early connection of the general with iron
works and workers imbued him with that
hearty respect for industry, and the strong
belief in the advantages to the nation OF
progress In the mecnanlcal arIS anu INDUSTRIES
that characterized his opinions and express
sions throughout his life And to those early
associations may also he attributed his sound
views on the question Of protection to native
industries and native labor against the inJu--
rious competition of foreign countries, and
especially foreign pauper labor. Washing
ton, and other distinguished and patriotic
colonists before him, believed that the south
ern section of the American community
would become the leading industrial region
of the continent. They did not know, OF
course, of the many abnormal conditions
that for century were destined to divert
the centres Of American industry and manu-
facture from their proper positions Tley
only argued from the ;;:sis;;ilssJ' advantages
possessed by the South as they knew it over
other sections, and their conclusions, though
long in being realized, appear to be justified
at last The South, industrially dormant
almost since the birth of the nation, has at
length asserted its natural privilege, and to-
day promises to become what the early fa-
thers predicted, the great workshop OF
Auarioa