The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-12-15
Looking to the South.

north, colonel u. II. Dyer OF Augusta,
Ga, found, according to the Chronicle,
tha the eyes of the whole north and
cas- are centered upon the south, and
that northern and eastern capitalists
see plainly the great orwar moves
tina the south is making and can still
make. He said:
Everywhere is talked the cotton
mill advantages that are being de-
veloped in the south, and the people
who nave the money are ready 10 put
it out in this way. Cotton mills are
being built everywhere. A gentleman
! pointed out to me from the car win
| dow today as we passed the big mill
in Columbia, the money for which Mr..
w. B. Smith Whaley has gotten from
northern capitalists. In this will alone
and it is but one among the many new
enterprises of the kind that are COM
/ ing to the south, there will be 107, 900
spindies. The mill business is being
more extensively played than any 9TH
er business now, and it is easy to see
why it is so. The capitalists recognize
the fact that the south has yet to be
developed, and the chances for a good
home cotton market are a big thing in
the way of bringing the mills to the
AGL AT 4tt Ao1NOAA 40 DAS
on this line one could talk on and on.
The least that can be said is that we
are right now in an era of unprece-
denied prosperity"
The interest in the cotton mill in
dustry is based not upon the prospects
of the home market lone. The recent
action by the Southern Cotton Spin
ners' Association, looking to an extern
sion of the foreign rlarkets for cotton
goods, has likewise attracted atten-
ton to the south. For example, the
Dry Goods Economist, commenting
upon the resolutions at Charlotte,
which it characteriZes as a remarkably
strong bid for the export trade by
southern cotton manufacturers, who
are already getting a good share Of it,
but feel they ought to have more"
says:
THE resolutions show to what an
extent the southern cotton manufac-
turing industry a grown within re-
cent years, rendering hardly necessary
the statement included in the preamble
that the number Of spindles in the
south in 1900 will be 5,000,0 900 against
/, 800, 900 in 1890. The southern mill can
not fail to become a great factor in
the export trade of the United States.
1t is quite on the cards that the north
ern manufacturer may v to learn
from his competitor in Dixie how best
to reach the foreign consumer"
In some quarters objections have
been raised to the purposes of the
Charlotte meeting, but they are being
met nationally by leading papers north
and south. The New York Tribune
says:
1--WE sell to China some $40, 900, 900
worth of cotton manufactures every
year. The trade is increasing. The
possession of the Philippines and the
greatly increased attention which by
reason of our new interests we shall
give to the affairs and the m
of the Far East will tend powerfully
to augment our export trade to the
Pacific shores of Asia and it's outlying
islands, including our own. The south
has extraordinary facilities for the
manufacture of cotton goods. New
mills are going UP all the time, and
the growth of the business is rapid.
The new hope of the south lies in its
manufactures That is the road that
leads surely to her industrial upbuild-
ing, to wealth and power. The south
has favored the construction Of the
Nicaraguan canal. Democratic plat
!, forms have demanded that it be butt
But the building OF an isthmian cana.
is a project intended chiefly to increase
r u trade in the Pacific. How can 6
r sane man or a sane party advocate &
: canal connecting the two oceans anC
, at the same time denounce the policy
which would make use of our posses
SiOnS on the other side of the world tt
promote our trade and extend our rela-
lions with the countries of Asia? Tht
two are ~inseparable parts Of the SAM
$ wise policy of development, Of expan
I sion, of national nrOgress."
This is supplemented by the follow
e ing from The Richmond (Va.) Times:
S Imperialism or nc imperialism, on.
trade must be protected, and u Chi
s nese trade is of too much consequence,
t to this nation for it to allow any Othe1
f nation to forcibly oust US of one dol
e lars worth of it. That is what tn
people Of the cotton states demand,
we may infer from the action Of tn
e cotton spinners of the south and re
e cent editorial articles in leading
southern newspapers"
S AS a matter of fact, the question i
S hardly me of party or sectional poll
r tics. In the first place, no nationa
e party organization has formulated an.
e utterance on the subject Of imperial
e ISM" expansion er other question
e arising from the war against Spain
There is a difference of opinion anon,
members of Zach of the great natiOna
parties as to the best method of Solv
ing h problems thus forced upon tn
country, but the progressive, thinking
S men Of all parties are determined tina
the problems shall be solved in a wa,
. nOSI conductive 10 the OeVelOpHleHI U
r American commerce, n SeQue
e to the healthy growth of American in
,dustry. II may be that this solution
e will involve the breaking up Of tn
Il alignment of old parties. No section
will be more benefited by such a re
suit than the south. If the new poll
t cies Of the country shall permit tn
( south to return to it's former health.
: political state, where divisions on ma
e tiOnal issues We're possible withou
h menacing civilization. the south ma.
S reasonably be expected to be foun'
C vigorously supporting them--Manufac
tuners Record
S THE COTTON CROP REPORT.