The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1890-08-07
JOHNSON CITY IN 1900.
EDITOR COMET:

ly Is not Impossible thAt the error
which your printer made, where, for
"lifty thousand" as I wrote it, the
worthy correspondent ought to say as
he SHOULD have written it, because the
printer followed copy and remarked
TO the editor that the estimate was too
large,-PRlNTER, his types read five
hundred thousand" " may be approx.
mated Where, for all reasons com.
bined, general manufacturing can be
done fifteen per cent. more cheaply
capital is sure to concentrate rapidly.
1t may be safely estimated that all
through the northern belt of the
Southern States all articles manufac-
tured from cotton, or of the woods and
metals combined, can be manufactured
at least ten per cent. more cheaply
than in the Northern and Northeast
ern States, for the simple reasons that
the raw materials arodght there, or
so close at hand, that che freight ex-
pense amounts to butlit!le; and that
the cost OF living and keeping cool in
the summer and warm in the winter
is so much less than in the higher lat
itudes.
In 1868 was shown through chair
factory at Nashville by the proprietor,
who had brought his machinery and
operatives from Albany, N. Y. He
showed me a walnut chair and said 4:
81 can pay the freight on this chair to
Albany and sell it for less money than
| used to be able to manufacture it
there, and realize ten per cent. better
profit" "How is that so?" | asked.
"For these reasons" he replied: "First,
get as good or better walnut here for
$40 per thousand than that | worked
in Albany at S75 per thousand. Sec
ond, my hands can do more work for
me here for less wages, and yet live
better. for the hours of daylight are
longer, the expenses of fuel ana cloth
ing are much less, and the cost OF pro-
visions much cheaper" Exactly for
these reasons, inside of the next ten
years along the northern belt OF the
Southern States, more than one-half,
perhaps as much as three-fourths of
the manufacturing of the Unitid
States will be done.
In Tennessee the largest part OF the
work will be concentrated, and in East
Tennessee the largest amount OF Ten
nessee's manufacturing will be per-
formed and Eyes, | will dare to write
it) along the Watauga front within
ten miles of where TIE COMET Office
is now located will be the largest part
of East Tennessee's manufacturing.
Why this will be so, is first that it is
not only the place where the very best
iron and coal and coke come together
on easy down.grades, and also the
same as to the best woods; but the
freight charges on these important
raw materials will be less than 10
Knoxville and Chattanooga and sec
ond, the alhtutude being from / 800
to 1000 feet above Knoxville and
Chattanooga, the air is purer, the wa
ter supply better and the immediate
surroundings for good and cheap liy.
ing as good or better than the best
that lower East Tennessee can com.
mand. Another good reason for East
Tennessee manufacturing OF all kinds
is, that it is most favorable centre
OF the branching highways to all the
markets Of the countrj; therefore, it
is destined to become central mark
ct for general articles OF manufacture.
Look at the map Of the United
States, and (excuso me, Messrs. Knox
vile and Chattanooga you will see
that this very peculiar Watauga coun
try comes nearer being THE place
from which it is an easy down-grade
to everywhere else than any other
place you can point to. IL has only
short up grade to the north and north
east 1t will not do to say or even sug.
gest that n place possessing so many
easy and valuable advantages as John
son City will be employed in bringing
together the iron ore, coal, coke anc
limestone for the sole general purpose
OF producing iron and steel as raw ma
terial for use in factories at othei
places No, it won't even do or sucl
raw material to be shipped to Knox
Vile or Chattanooga for that purpose
Why? Simply for this reason Th'
freight on one thousand dollars wortl
OF raw material, iron or steel, will b,
as great as the freight charges OF
about ten thousand dollars worth o
worked up articles ready to be place.
on sale in the hardware stores, and
sensible capitalist will say AS thi
raw material can be converted int
finished articles Of commerce righ
here as cheaply or cheaper than a
any other place, we will WORK IT U
BEFORE IT GOES, and let the large di
ference in freight expense give us, a
we may choose, superior profits, or
margin, that will enable us to under
sell our competitors at other and les
favored points" This is and will b
simply the business common sens
that will control the action of mani
featuring capitalists.