The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1895-06-13
Mr.. DARLING TELLS WHAT EE
THINKS OF THE SOUTH.
A Great Future.

Mr.. Francis w. Darling, Chairman
Of the Legislative Committee that re
Gently visited the South, writes the
following to the Charlotte Observer:
4 short time ago | visited the South
as member of a legislative committee
of Massachusetts, to investigate the
conditions existing there for the devel-
Opment Of the cotton industry. 1t was
impossible to entirely dissCciate from
such consideration, the same and diff
ferent conditions as they bore upon
other kinds Of industry So, too, in
the East, where my observation has
been less restricted by the limitations
of time and opportunity, the study OF
one industrial problem has necessarily
broadened into consideration of many
Since my return / have taken great
interest in the results of the more com
prehensive examinations of others into
the industrial condition. of the South.
It is a source of great satisfaction to
me that the convictions at which | ar
rived are, in the main, the same as
held and expressed by these others who
have had greater opportunities for care
| full observation than I.
All industries spring from common
origin all are the result of mans con
slant effort to better his condition and
all must to some extent use the imple-
ments of capital, Drawn and brain. If
an industry seem not to depend upon
the use Of all these implements an
illusion exists. Directly or Indirectly
in the multiform ramifcations of every
business, the adaptation of these to the
prevailing natural conditions which
man does not control, is the essential
of success
SO sensitive is success in this com
petitive age that it can not be obtained
permanently, if at all, where the finest
adjustments of conditions do not pre-
vail. No fat OF government, no bril-
liant exercise of pluck, no sophistry or
deceit can command success in the
long run against the competition of bet
ter existing conditions otherwhere.
This has been frequently and expen-
sivelv evidenced in the phenomenal
growth of "bOOmed" localities and en-
terprises and the swift retribution
which the inexOrable laws of trade and
the hard logic of conditions have caus.
ed to follow. The true study of indus
trial conditions is the basis of wise con-
cluslOns. and that enterprise which
ignores or runs counter to them Is fore
doomed to failure. The ideal indus
trial situation would be one which
fashioned the implements referred to
into perfect harmony with these con-
ditions. But the industrial ideal Is as
tar removed from consummation as any
other ideal.
Viewing the South from this stand
point, wherein does she lack and where
IN is she we'll equipped? | shall en-
deavor to tell you what | think of the
industrial future of the South, and, at
the same time, / want to ask If you
really fully appreciate the industrial
present of the South? We sometimes
fail to see through excessive nearness.
Away back in the early part Of the
present century, the South bade tar to
he the great manufacturing centre Of
the country but slavery made of 1t an
agricultural centre instead. As a re-
cent writer has said, slavery exerted the
effect of humbling the artisan beneath
the planter and the professional man
in the general estimation" 1t was not
until the civil war, however, that the
South largely confined its agricultural
pursuits to the growing of cotton.
The causes of this we're economic and
not permanent The whole bent OF
the Southern mind, however, was
toward agriculture and, under the do
mlnion OF slavery, the South must have
remained an agricultural community
In 1860 the South was practically
without manufactures. From that time
TIL 1880 little was accomplished IN this
line. This was largely owing to the
devastating results of the war. Her
Growth. therefore, during the past fit