The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-23
4 SPLENDID SHOWING FOR THE
SOUTH

SOUTH.
South Carolina Is rapidly advancing TO
the front rank as a cotton manufacturing
state. In a dispatch in the Morning News
yesterday from Columbia, there were some
ffguses from official sources which show
that during the last year there were TWEEN
ty-six cotton mills chartered and commits
stoned in the ,etate with "a capital stock
of $3.50, 900. These figures also show that
I sixteen cotton mills increased their CAPT
tai stock several million dollars, so that
the additional capital put in cotton man
/ ufacturing during the year, was S9079,0o).
! The foregoing were not all Of the mills
that were established during the year
/ There were, as stated in the dispatch, a
| number Of cotton oil and Touring mills
| built
| The Secretary of State of South Caro-
/ lima undoubtedly felt both pride and pleas
ure in making these figures public. They
leave no room for doubt that the state
is advancing in wealth and prosperity rap
idly, and they are calculated to inspire
her people to make greater efforts for
their material Improvement
Other states of the South are also hav-
ing great growth in manufacturing. The
Manufacturers Record of Baltimore, in
commenting, in a recent issue, on the in
crease of the number of manufacturing
establishments in the South, and the
amount Of capital invested in them, said:
To-day the South has S1,OOOOO0,O 600 invest
ed in manufacturing, with an annual out
put valued at 81 so, 10000. and paying $780,
...ao 1,
100000 spindes, representing an invest
ment of S25,CO,OOO, already consume year
ly ], 400, 600 bales of cotton. 1t is producing
about 100000 tons of pig iron a year, 49,
Co., 900 tons of coal, from 10000 600 to H.
100000 bales of cotton, probably 10000 OO0,
900 feet of lumber, and 10000, 900 bushels of
grain, and its railroads, steadily improv-
ing and increasing in length, have already
a $1,000 mileage"
There may be some exaggera ton in this
statement. but it is doubtful IL there Is
very much. The truth Is, the improve
ment in manufacturing in the South is
much greater than 1t is generally under
stood to be. Even the Southern people,
with the exception of those who make a
study of Industrial statistics, do not seem
10 realize how great the South's manu-
featuring interests have become.
In reviewing the growth of manufacture
ing in the South since the war of seces-
sion, the thought that Is uppermost is,
what viii be accomplished in the same di-
rection in this section within the next
quarter Of a century? It seems reasona-
BILE to predict that most Of the cotton man
ufaoturing of the country wiz be done in
the Southern States. and that they will
not be so very far behind the states of the
North in the manufacture of iron and
steel, and products made from these
metals.
The Southern people are just waking
up to the fact that they have great ad-
vantages for manufacturing, and besides,
they are only beginning to have the cap
ital to put into manufacturing plants.
| The cotton factories which are being built
in the southern part of this state are the
product of home capital. Most of the
money that is being put in them was sub
| scribed in the towns in which they are
situated. The same thing is true, no
doubt, of the mills which have been con-
structed. and are in the course of con
struction in other parts OF this state, and
in other Southern states. And there Is
going TO be a steady Increase in the
amount of money in the South that will
be available for factory building. With
capital and unequaled natural advantages
for manufacturing, the South is bound to
become a. great manufacturing section of
| the country.