St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-01-21
THE CoNQUERING SOUTH.

The South is demonstrating that
"peace has her victories no less re-
noWned than war;" and if thirty years
ago she failed in her efforts in mill
tary conquest of the North, that very
failure results now in her ability 10
make an industrial conquest a victory
that must have a peculiar qualification
because 1t strikes hardest at that ancient
enemy of the South. the New England
states. 1t was New England. with her
nsIstence upon protective tariff,
which laid the agricultural South trib-
utary to her, that precipitated the multi
fication incident Ill our history. In
connection with slavery as an melting
cause of the Rebellio II, was the sense
of injustice felt all over the South, that,
while they were dlsposing of their
staple product i'll free trade markets,
New England was compelling them to
purchase what they needed in raising
that cotton III restricted and protected
market.
Their efforts to establish a separate
government, happily for them and for
the Union. failed. The South has
demonstrated the superiority Of free
over slave labor, in the increase of the
cotton product of 100000 bales under
slavery to three times that amount
under freedom. With the restoration
of Industrial conditions in the South,
with the seif-reiiance brought by the
removal of the enervating dependence
upon slave labor, came in time the
development of Southern cotton manu>
features, the establishment along her
streams of cotton mills, and the in
vasion Of the fields of cotton products
of which New England had heretofore
held the practical monopoly. When
Southern cotton goods began to invade
Northern markets we heard much of
their Inferior quality. but in time they
gradually forced their way into general
consumption.
1t was impossible for New England
cotton manufacturers to meet COM
petition which was exempted from
freight charges upon its raw material.
Cotton could not be transported from
Southern fields to New England looms
and made into goods which could COM
pete in price with goods made in
Southern looms from cotton grown in
the vicinity. New England has strug-
gled hard against this, but her
manufacturers realize that they are en-
gagged in losing fight, and her manu-
facturers are making surrender to the
South. Some of the largest corporations
in Lowell have applied to the legisla-
ture of Massachusetts to so amend their
charters as to enable them to manufac-
ture in the South. Iron manufacturers
have long since interested themselves
in Southern plants, and within Il half a
dozen years the increase of spindleS IN
Southern mills has made their number
equal to one-slXth of the entire number
of spindles in the country.
But it is not alone in the field of cot
ton fabrics that the South has made her
Industrial conquest of the Northeast.
When she arose from the wreck and
ruin of the war and began to cast about
her for the development Of her re-
sources, it was discovered that in Ala
bama and Georgia there were facilities
for the production of iron unriyaled by
any section of the country. Coal and
iron ore aud limestone lay i'll close
juxtaposition, enabling the production
OF pig iron at less cost than was posi-
bic in any part of the United States. 1t
was not long before the effects of this
development of the iron industries of
the country were manifested by the ill.,
vasion by Southern pig iron of Pitts
burg markets, underSelling it at every
point, and meeting reductions of price
with still lower reductions. The price
of Pennsylvania pig iron fell before the
assault of its Southern foe from S23
ton to Sl2. The descent in the last four
or five years is most marked. Nc. l
anthracite was sold in 1890 for $3.50
tor, now sells for S1250; and gray forge
that then sold for SIS now sells for
about 50. There is a compensation of
benefits The South has reason 10 re.
joice that the North prevented its efforts
TO perpetuate the institution of slavery,
thus giving opportunity for the birth OF
this new industrial Development.
But the Sonth has not been alone in
its assault upon New England and its
industries, and within the last two or
three years Minnesota has taken hand
in the contest and administered its
blows. The development of our Besse-
mer ores in the north, the remarkable