Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1899-10-26
THE OPEN DOOR" POLICY.
THE INTEREST OF THE SOUTHERN STATES
IN THE TRADE ACROSS THE PACIFIC.
SOUTH CAROLINA MANUFACTURES
One.Third Of Her Cotton -Manufactu.
,J3 rers Wrlte TO Senator McLaurln.

The following correspondence be-
tween the cotton mill men and Scna-
tor McLaurin will attract great al
tention. The letter of the mill men
is az follows:
Hon. B. r. Tiliman, Hon. John L.
McLaurin, Hon. William Elliott,
Hon. Stanyarno Wilson, Hon. w.
j. Talbert, Hon. A. G. Latimer,
Hon. Thomas j. Strait, Hon. Jas.
Norton, Hon. J. VIM. Stokes:
Dear Sirs: We ask your consid-
Grafton of the following:
South Carolina is now the fore
most State in the South in the cot
ton manufacturing business, not only
in sp;ohles, looms and number Of
hands employed, but also in amount
of cotton consumed. She is nearly,
and before the expiration of twelve
months, will be next to Massachu-
sctts in number of spindles--the
second State in the Union in the
conversion of raw material into fin
ishcd products. The mills of the
State, on basis of 100000 bales
per year, consume about ONE third
of the entire cotton crop of tho
State, and if the present ratio in the
increase Of spindles continues, it will
not be many years before the re.
quirements of the mills will reach
the total cotton crop.
The business of cotton manufac-
turing is the paramount manufac-
turing interest of the State. Next
TO agriculture it is the principal en-
ployment of our people. 1t returns
wages directly to very large per-
centage OF our people, and indi-
rectly it is the support of many thou
sands more. A large number of the
mills in this State arc making goods
for the China or Eastern trade. If
by any chance this demand should
be cut off, the mills would he com
PEELED to shut down, or to get into
direct competitor with the other
mills which arc making goods for
home consumption. You can see at
once what tho Importance of the
China trade is to us; it is every
thing The prosperity of tho cot
ton mill business of South Carolina
depends, in our opinion, upon the
China trade. We believe that the
expansion of this trade is the hope
of the cotton mill industry in the
South.
According to the best Of our in
formation, the question of the con-
tinuance of this trade is question
of policy on the part of our govern
mcnt. Statistics show that 90 per
cent of all the cotton goods exported
from the United States to China
find distributing market at the
three Northern treaty ports of New
chwang, Chefoo and Tientsin. The
first named is the treaty port of the
great Province of Manchuria, al
ready recognized, in the railroad and
mining enterprises as an exclusive
sphere of Russian ENTERPRISE The
second is the treaty port of the
Province of Shantung, in which Ger
many claims exclusive privileges
similar to those conceded to Russia
in Manchura. The third is the
treaty port of the metropolitan Prov
incc of Chilli and is the maritime
gate Of Peking. All three are situa-
ted within comparatively narrow
area, but through them is done most
Of tho foreign trade Of North China.
1t only requires one step forward in
the extension of the authority Of
Russia and Germany to destroy the
terms of equality OH which the COM
mcrcial nations Of the world partici-
pate in the advantages of New
chwang and Chefoo, and the move
mont on Peking, which is generally
assumed to be part Of the policy OF
Russia, would necessarily threaten
the commercial interests which CEN
ter ut Ticntsin.
Up to this time VIC arc informed
that pressure brought by the gov
crnmcnts of Great Britain and the
United States has led Russia to de-
clare its purpose to admit the mer-
chandiso of other nations into Man
churia on terms Of equality with its
own, but it is impossible to say how
soon that policy may be changed. 1t
is alleged that in the importation of
railroad and other material Russia
entirely disregards tho imperial
Chinese customs of Ncwchwang, re-
garding the port as if it were already
in Russian possession and it may
be that Russia, for the protection of
it's own trade, may sec fit to carry