The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-05-04
THE INDUSTRIAL SOUTH.
DESCRIBED BY MIR. ID. 4. ToMP-
KINs.

The south, Once an Industrial Sec
ton, Permitted Slavery to Usurp
the Place of Manufactures-Its sys-
tenn Destroyed by the War, Years
Were Required to Build Up New
system The Future Now Bril-
Iiant with Promisc-Ma nufR ctur-
ing Made Successful in the south
and Great Results Are Destined to
FoIfOw-The south's Great System
of Agriculture Wonder Which Is
Not Appreciated.
1.-THE Industrial Development of the
South, Past, Present and Future" is the
subject which best describes the address
delivered by Mr.. d. A. Tcmpkins of Char
lotte. ". c., at the Theater last night. No
more interesting and valuable address up
on Southern industrial conditions was ever
heard in Savannah. II was an address
which would have been enjoyed by every
intelligent man and woman in the city. AS
it was the audience did not exceed 200. 1t
was an audience for the most part, how
ever, of intelligent and solid business men,
who followed Mr.. Tomkins with close in
terest and approval 1t was good soil in
WiliSH " EOW SUCH SNNb anu tiC ANSui'1
may be more satisfactory than II the adj
dress had been made to a mixed audience
Mr.. Tompkins' manner of dealing with
his subject, especially in demonstrating
the industrial spirit of the old South and
his outlining of the evolution of the
Southern manufacturer of to-day from the
planters son of the ante-bellum period,
was especially enjoyed by the older pot-
ton of the audience.
Col j. H. Estill. chairman of the Indus
trial Committee. presided and opened the
meeting with few introductory remarks,
in which he explained the object of the
committee in inviting Mr.. Tompkins 10
Savannah The speaker was introduced
by Mr.. D. r. Lester, who prefaced his in
PRODUCTION with a review of the business
and Industrial situation now prevailing at
Savannah in comparison with other less
favored sections of the South, and dwelt
upon the wealth of raw material which
passes consi antly through the gates of
the city to be doubled and trebled in value
elsewhere and returned here to be sold
at large profits Statistics. Mr.. Lester con
tended show that Savannah has the raw
material, the labor and the capital in
abundant quantities, and that fuel for
power can be obtained here much cheap
er than at many of the interior towns The
only question is how to make intelligent
use CT these facilities and opportunities
Mr.. Lester introduced Mr.. Tompkins as
the man who would tell how this is to be
done.
Mr.. Tompkins expressed his thanks for
the honor conferred upon him and said
that 1t was evidence of an important
phase of southern development when the
where they took decided interest in Sc
curing the establishment of manufac-
lures. Mr. Tompkins then began a descrip-
ton Of Southern industrial conditions,
past and present, by describing in brief
his own experience and giving the results
of his investigations. When he left his
home In South Carolina after the war, he
said, it was with the idea that the peo-
pie of the South were not in sympathy
with the spirit of industrial development,
that they were disinclined 18th by temper
ament and training to this line of work,
and hence, as much as he revered the
South and her people, that but little of
his life work would be In this section. At
ter completing his education he became
Interested in studying the Industrial de-
velopment of the country. He was sur
prised to find that the best industries of
this country 100 years ago were in the
South. In the early history of the coun-
section. Remains of old blast furnaces are
TO be found to-day in North Carolina and
Virginia, where the ore was smelted and
cast and the product shipped TO New
England.
"As late as 1870" said Mr.. Tompkins
1.-THE manufactured products of Virginia.
the Cerolinas and Georgia exceeded those
of the whole of New England, with New
York thrown in. ! have to-day in my
possession the complete machinery of a
cotton mill which was built at Lincoln
ton, N. c., in the early part of the CEN
fury and its equipment will compare
favorably with the mills of to-day"
Previous to the war he declared. the
South surpassed the North in educational
interest. Statistics show that at that
time the South was spending So per cap
ita for education as against 81 per capita
for the North The records show that
just previous to the war the South, with
one-third the whitei population of the
North, had nearly as many students in
the colleges OF The country, and fully as
great a number of educational institu-
tions. He recalled these facts, he said,
because Of their bearing upon the ques-
tions he was about to discuss. Virginia
was then weather. than Massachusetts.
and the South generally was in a highly
prosperous condition. If, in the early part
of the century, the South surpassed the
North IN wealth, education ana mauufao-
torres, IL was important ne S0lu, 10 inquire
how we had fallen from that important
position. and what steps are necessary IN
order to regain il.
In studying this question, AIr. Tompkins
said, he was necessarily brought back 10
Savannah. II was here that was the
birthplace of the invention that changed
the entire Industrial condition o. the
South. He referred to the invention OF
the cotton gin by Whitney. This was the
first of three institutions which helped to
change the entire course of Southern
progress The second was the establish
ment OF system of agriculture which ul-
timately resulted in the production OF TO-
0o0000 bales Of cotton. The third institu-
ton was slavery. The Sou hern PEOPLE
the speaker said, hal done some things o
big that neither they no. anyone else
had ever given them the credit for il. If
New England had devised ond conducted
a system Of agriculture which produced
10,0200e0 bales OF cotton IN one year Il
would have been written about in hun
dreds OF books and the fame of it would
have been proclaimed TO the entire world.