The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1889-11-28
Rouse the Sleepers.

hVuhO thV bAOOpVAoe
The following article from the Man
Record is published not be.
cause we think it applicable to
johnson City but more to encourage
our people in the course they have
been pursuing The secret OF success
in Johnson City is that every citizen
has the utmost confidence in its fu
ture and home capital back most Of
manufactures. We ME progressing
because we are developing our natu.
ral resources.
Although the South's industrial
growth has passed from the domain Of
possibility to the realm of impressive
actually, there are manJ timid pos
sesors OF capital without her borders
who confound business-like develop.
ments with speculative ventures and
hesitate to take advantage Of Southern
opportunities for profit The best
corrective of timidity is confidence in
her industrial future swells, the greater
will be the ratio OF increase in her
material prosperity.
To the growth of this confidence
every Southern community can more
or less contribute. The inexorable
logic OF profitable production com
mands that, provided labor be obtain
able, the factory be placed at the source
Of supply. The cotton and homework
ing industries are bowing to the de-
cree, but it applies as forcibly to other
branches Of manufacturing, of which
the North has hitherto enjoyed prac.
ticsl monopoly. The fierce competi.
tion Of to-day is curtailing liberty of
selection, and old seats OF industry are
abandoned for other fields. The new
towns and cities of the South may be
trusted to boom themselves. 1t is the
oldest communities, many OF them
more or less decayed, that need to
awaken to the demands of the times
and catch step with the march of pro
gress. The example OF Charlottesville
Wilmington, Nashville, Little Rock
and dozens more that might be namet
many Of which decade ago were SUM
in drowsy repose, sanction the awak
ening Of almost any Southern commu
nifty with the semblance Of future q
industrial activity.
Combine home capital and put it in
to home enterprises. This is the key
note of progress. Confidence beget
, confidence, and practical faitl
in home ventures commands assis
tance from outside. Combine saving
grert or small invite skill from abroa
and interest it by making its possesso
J, a partner in ventures set on foot, an
9 a beginning is made, and "the bepir
!. ming is half the work" Tannerie,
shoe factories, sash, door and hin
= factories, lumber mills, furniture iat
/ tories; in short, all industries fc
d which the South's widely diversifie
Is natural resources afford a prodigf
4 supply, are within the reach of towr
that are now asleep or content with tn
performances OF past generations
'e residents. As for labor, employ VIII,
n is available and the demand Will il
N crease the supply,
= But in setting on foot new enterpri
~ es OF whatever character the mistak
Is must not be made of attempting
l. carry on such without sufficient final
er cial backing. One cannot successful
:, ly run $4,000 business on $1OOl
u capital. Machinery and appliance
ct too, should be the best available TT
ty hest is the cheapest the world owe
and much of the South's industri
rv supremacy will depend upon the mo
! erness OF its machinery. What esp
I' du corps Or its morale ls to an arm
ie- confidence in its future is to a COZ
re- mupity let the south's sleepy tow
is awake and profit by the opportuniti
49, which lie at their very doors in MAJ
"s instances, and the oldest OF the Sout
nd ern commonwealths will be dotted
in the near future with hives of indust
ed, as thickly rs Pennsylvania and Mas
- chusetts.
The foregoing could be eIahorat
ta so as to indicate where particu
er. lines Of industry might be promisir
be ly undertaken, but it needs only V
on orous presentation of local possib
ties at the hands of the local press
i"' swell the tide of Southern progr
lge into flood OF prosperity rivalling
gs. golden streams Of tabled Pactolns.