The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1897-01-05
The Wealth and Resources of our State.
THE ADVANCE THAT HAS BEEN
MADE SINCE 1890.
Governor Evans Sketches the Pro
8ress and Prosperity OF South Car.
oIina-Homes. Farms int Warm
Welcome for all Corners.
COLUMBIA, S. c., Dec. 81.


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COLUMBIA, s. c., Dec. 81.
Editor Manufacturers Record
It would be impossible for me to give
your readers In 2O0O words an idea OF
the material resources or the indus
trial and business progress and pros
poets OF South Carolina.
SO rapid has been her industrial pro.
gress for the past six years that a book
could be easily filed with the enume-
ration OF the mer and varied in
dustries. The results OF the war and
the severer results Of the financial
policy OF the national government have
not been without their effects upon our
people and the material development
Of our Industries. They have taught
ne to practice economy, live at home
and build up Jul own Industries.
South Carolina Is more favored in
her topography and climate than any
other State In the Union, and it is due
to these Influences, more than any
other, that her industries have pros
pered while those of her sister States
have lauguished. The State has been
divided by nature into three distinct
sections, with natural boundaries
l. The hill, or up country, as it lie
Familiarity known, begins at the Blue
Ridge mountains and continues to the
sand ridges extending across the State
from Aiken to Chesterfield counties.
This section abOunds in mineral de-
posits-irOn, gold and silver and lime
stone being found to the most profitable
extent. It's water-powers are sufficient
to TURN the wheels of the factories OF
the world. The streams come bound
ing from the mountains, and the fall is
30 great that dams are unnecessary in
some instances. The cost of mainte-
nance per horsepower is less than $50.
This section has gone Harvard natural
ly with more wonderful strides than
the rest Of the State, and it may be
truly designated as the manufacturing
section of the State. Cotton manufac-
turing is our principal industry, and
there is not a factory in the section
that has not paid dividends ranging
from 8 to 80 per cent. to It's stockhold-
ers, while the mills OF the East and
other States have been compelled to
shut down on account OF the great de-
preston In such products. The advan-
,tanges of this section are apparent.
The streams freeze, the laborers
can work In their shirt sleeves eleven
66urga Eay~~Mith perfect comfort all
the year round, 3 the cotton is
brought from the fields directly to the
mills. The cost Of living Is Shenper,
and I may say better than hat gained
by operatives in the East. Our opera
tives are all native patriotic citizens,
and q strike has never been known in
the STATE. In the last six years South
Carolina has increased the number Of
spindles from 300, 900 to 1900, 900, and
enjoys the honor of ranking first in tho
South in cotton manufacturing. Our
mills are engaged principally in man
~ufacturing the coarser grades of cotton
goods, but the mills nov being con-
structed are putting in machinery for
the manufacture Of the finer grades,
and it Is only q question of time when
this entire industry will be monopo-
lized by U section of the country, be-
cause we can do it cheaper, and the
average Yankee has very little senti-
ment when the question Of dollars and
cents ~intervenes.
There is a great field in this section
for b~leacheries; not a yard Of the i'm
mense product Of u mills Is bleachcd
in the State. This seems anomalous,
and is only explained from the fact
that cotton manufacturing has been so
profitable that our people have been
content to employ their capital in this
channel alone.
That such an enterprise would be
profitable goes without saying, If only
to supply the home market. We man
~ufacture our cloth, ship it to New York,
where it is b%leached, and then buy it
back again, thus paying freight two
ways, whereas q home bleachery would
save this expense and necessarily drive
the Eastern one out OF the mark ct.
This Ia our easy and good-natured way,
however, and we continue to pay tho
tax In order 10 let our Eastern brother
live. Our cotton mills + largely
owned by our own people, and it ia q
mistake to think that this rapidity Of
development is due to outside capital.
Most OF the mills ire built on what is
known as the installment plan, thus
enabling wage-earners and -labOrers to
become stockholders and interested in
the success OF the enterprise. Many
Of the small accounts in our savings
banks have been thus converted, and
In every case to the great advantage
of the investor. The conversion of our
electric power bids fair to further in
crease our manufactures within the
next year Or two. There Is nearing
completion in the city Of Columbia the
largest electric-power plant south Of
Niagara Falls, and I believe the only
cotton factory plant run entirely by
electrlc power In This country, and Is
owned largely by the same stockhold-
ers. In thirty days this 10, 900 horse
power station will be running mills in
this city. There Is another company
developing the immense power on the
Catawba river, and contracts have
already been entered into whereby tho
mills Of the enterprising city of Rock
Hill are to be run by electricity.
South Carolina will o 70 be an electric
State in more senses than one.
The iron mines in this section, al
though rich, are worked on a small
scale, but proftably. 1t will surprise
most Of your readers to know that
South Carolina produces more gold
than any State in the Union east OF the
Mississippi river. We are willing,
however, to abandon this enterprise
for free silver. Two gold mines are
successfully operated In this State.
The Piedmont section is we'll timbered
with oak, hickory, walnut and short
leaf pine, which lie sawed at the mills
and shipped to the Northern furniture
factories. A rich field Is offered hero
for such factories, there being but one
In this s%ection, and 1t Is operated upon
RSsma,.i scale.
Cotton is raised in this section, as
e1Tnll M tho MID 10 aAoki1u ,nl T.. -