Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1901-04-17
COTTON EAA[gQ[FAG~ A4A
TWRlNQ i'm T>HlE g@Ql77EI,
The Marvellous Industrial Development Of the Last Ten Years
South Carolina Stands Third in United States
[Col James L. Orr, in "The Exposition."1

herself almost entirely to agrlcul-
tural pursuits, in consequence of her
rich soil, salubrious climate and
ownership of slaves. She prospered
under this system, and there was no
section in the Union which showed
greater wealth or higher state of
culture and civilization than she
boasted. After the war the disor-
ganization of labor made it necessary
for her to turn to other avenues and
after experiments in different lines,
by 1882, it was discovered that our
climate was particularly fitted for
cotton manufacturing, and the white
labor of South Carolina could be
taught to run machinery as we'll as
any in the country. There were
some mills running prior to the war
which were fairly successful, notably
Graniteville Manufacturing Com
pany, Batesville, Saluda Factory,
and some others, but they were very
small compared with the present
mills.
In 1873 the Piedmont Manufac-
turing Company was organized, and
by 1881 had demonstrated beyond
question that we had every pre-
requisite necessary for success. Cliff
ton, Pacolet and Pelzer all within a
radius of thirty miles from Pied
mont, we're started, thus giving an
impetus to the business, which has
gathered force year after year unit!
the climax was reached in 1900,
when seven million dollars was added
to the manufacturing capital of
South Carolina alone.
The advantages accruing to any
community having cotton mill are
so apparent that it is only necessary
to mention them; with cotton at
cents per pound, the community re-
OCtFSo Tco lOI cdCIl DdlC Ol COlCOH,
which must be distributed between
the landlord, the labor and the mer-
chants; whereas, if this cotton is
made into 4-yard goods and sold at
cents per yard, after deducting the
waste, we have $87 for the same bale
of cotton, which is distributed, not
only to the same parties who received
the proceeds of the raw cotton, but
the operatives, the farmer, the mcr-
chants and the stockholders come in
for $52 bale more. If all the cot
ton in South Carolina were manu-.
factured into 4-yard goods instead of
receiving twenty-eight million dollars
for the raw material, we would re-
ceive seventy million dollars. The
same rule applies to the whole South.
1t is the old story of community
which sells its product in the raw
state making less clear money than
the others which manufacture it and
sell it ready for the market.
The development in cotton manu-
featuring in the counties of Spartan
burg, Grecnville and Anderson has
been most marked and they do not
produce enough cotton by two hun
dred thousand bales to furnish the
spindles. While the South pro-
duces about G5 per cent of all the
cotton used in the world, she runs
only per cent Of the spindlcs of the
world Notwithstanding this fact,
the talk of driving the cotton mills
in the European countries and the
New England States out of the busi-
ness amounts to nothing, for they
have some advantages which it will
take several generations to acquire
Though New England is l,50C
miles from the center Of the cotton
States, she has such freight facilities
5oi't as TO cotton and goods, that
the South has practically no advant
age over her in this respect, for hcl
railroad frcights are so arranged tha
you can ship cotton from Texas tc
the interior New England mills at
cheaper rate than you can ship it tt
the Carolina mills, and there ar,
many points in the lower part of thi
State where the freight to Liver
pool, England, is little more than t,
the mills in the upper part of tn
State.
The cotton mills in the South hav,
bnilt up communities and paid tn,
stockholders good interest on thci
investments, but the greatest thinl
which they have accomplished ha
been the employment given to thou
sands OF whi'c people who had i,
depend upon 'fming on rented Ian,
for living. The wages which th
planter can lay for farm work ar
regulated largely by what he ca
hire negro labor for. The result ha