Birmingham age-herald., 1894-11-24
INDUSTRIAL NOTES.

The Southern farmers should diversity their crops more and their voting less. !
 MT. D. A. Tompkins, owner of a cotton mill at Charlotte, N. C., objects to prop osition from his fellow owners that their stocks shall be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, so that they may be used as collateral in borrowing money. Mir. Tompkins contends that the South should be developed by Southern men and money, as the West was developed by home enter prise. But he forgets that much of the capital used in the West came from the East. And this is true of the South. There is great deal of Northern capital in- vestedin manufacturing in the South, and we want as much more as we can get.
 
 farmer came to town yesterday with a 'possum, calf and two beef cattle to sell. He obtained more for them than he would have got for bale of cotton, and they cost him nothing to raise. The 'possum got fat on persimmons and only cost him an hours time after supper, which would otherwise have been devoted to reading the evening Republican paper of this city,
  away. The calf cost him nothing, for it was raised by it's mother. The cattle got fat in his neighbors' fields. If he had grown a bale of cotton it would have cost him S10 more than it brought. Then he took no risk of drouth, worms and early frost as he would if he had raised bale of cotton. The only risk he took was in being run over by the electric cars in the city and 4l.- t1 be avoided by keeping his eyes skinned.
 
 The Textile World of Boston contributes new idss .o. sissunxrdh lt4e pg westas It contends .hat since cotton seed and it's products have developed such wonderful commercial value that cotton should be shipped to New England in the seed. This combats the theory that cotton mills should be located in the South. It thinks that seed cotton can be hauled to New England apd ginned as profitably as in any other place and that this ginning process can be so carried on at the mill tbat the lint cot. ton can be delivered by machinery, with out baling, directly from the gins to the cotton mill. The same power which op- crates the gins can deliver the seed to the oil mill, which should be located close to the ginnery. A plant thus operated would save the cost of baling, bagging, ties, twine, marking, weighing, sampling, chasing, handling, storing, compressing, expressage on samples, brokerage and commissions. This economical plan sug- gested for New England should be adopted in the South and the saving of freight ef- fected.
 
 The Birmingham district is now making more pig iron than ever before in it's hfs- tory. The output is now 2000 tons day. This does not mean that all the furnaces are in blast, for only fifteen out of the twenty-five are in blast, but it means that these fifteen make as much iron as did the twenty five some three years ago. The Tennessee con- pany has ten furnaces in blast out of it's seventeen, and it's daily output is greater than when all were in blast. All it's stock on hand, accumulated during the depres- sion, has been sold, and it has orders for several months ahead. It may be reasoned that if one furnace makes twice the iron 1t formerly did that the profit is twice as great, but this reasoning Is not altogether correct. Of course the clear profit to tbe furnace is greater now than formerly, but not twice as great. Iron now sells for S7 ton, whereas it sold two or three years ago for SIP and S15 a ton. The saving to the furnaces now is in labor more than in ma- terial. Ore and lime rock cost less, but not great deal less. But the same amount of labor is required about furnace, whether it turns out 100 or 200 tons day.