The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1889-05-20
COMING OUR WAY.
The Growth Of tho Southern Cotton Mil
Industry.

The Growth Of tho Southern Cotton Mil
Industry.
From the Chattanooga Tndesman.
1t has been given out that a large cotton
plant located in a Northern State will soon
be removed TO Florence, Ala No better
place could be selected for q cotton mill
than the fine old town OF Florence, that is
Just now taking on fresh life. The trans
poriaton facilities are now good aud will
soon be greatly enlarged. The location is
healthy; there are excellent educational
facilities; the population is thrifty
and intelligent. II this removal
shall prove a tact, II will be the first OF its
kind and the experiment OF tnnsplanting
great factory from North 10 South will
be watched with close interest by the bust
ness community and students Of industrial
history and economies. The Trddcsmdn
hopes the scheme will be tried and for It's
complete success; but on this latter head
we have some doubts arising IRON the
teachings OF like experiments IN the past,
In cases Of other industries, and also out oil
the very nature Of things. We need not
go into details on these points, Tor they
have been pretty generally thought out by
our most intelligent readers.
We believe with many conservative
students OF the situation, that the great
field for the manufacture oil all lines oil
heavier cotton fabrics will be located in
the South, side by side with the cotton
fields before many wears. The southern
mills now mako very large per cent. Of
the brown goods produced In the country.
Their textiles have an established repula'
ton Of excellence. They export ut least
one-third OF all they make and have u
monopoly OF some lines, especially heavy
shceting, in the Northwestern section Of
the Union. Nearly all this has been
built up since 1865, within twenty years,
and the bulk Of the capital invested In
the industry has been found In the South,
I'm some instances the mills being founded
by planters, the WcssOn, of Mississippi,
being an example. Extensions and new
mills have been created with the profits
of the older mills. The growth has been
steady, profitable, healthy. There are no
moro prosperous mills in the world than
some OF those In Georgia, South Carolina,
Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee.
The great mills at Columbus, Ga,
and those at Augusta, are among
tho monuments 10 Southern enterprise,
intelligence, adapuNtnths anu thll III
manipulating aud financing. 1heprogrcss
OF this industry since 1889 has been phcn-
omenal, and the steady development Of lis
foreign trade has completely exploded the
postulaio of free traders that our mills can
not export At profit under a protective
regime. Yet in spite Of the fact that IA,
Souib- bns doubled her cotton mill an,
amount huci, aud greatly diversified III,
thing thahc Trgd,0mdH secs no sign tha
- sSvf 81 the Northern cotton mill'
- 10 the South Is either possible ordrsinlllc
Commanding industries must grow. They
arr neither made nor ttansplanicd. We
cannot develop the resources OF the South
by turning tho work over 10 outsiders,
even u We could induce the outsiders Il
come with mills, working forces aud CAPT
tai all complete which we cannot III,
cotton mills Of New and Old England vii
stay where they are, Tor they are cnor
mously profitable aud wall continue e
prosper, no matter how many are built u
The south. Our mills must depend ON In
creased consumption for the growth q
their markets, not on the decay OF the In
dustry elsewhere.