The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1901-01-10
OUR FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
The South to Raise Fifteen Million
Bales of Cotton and Manufacture
Five Million Bales In 1910.

Five Million Bales In 1910.
Progress made by the South in cot
ton manufacturing during the past ter
years is likely to be duplicated during
the next ten years if certain conditions
are met. The outlook in this direction
IS discussed at length in last weeks
issue OF the Manufacturers Record b,
DR.. Charles w. Dabncy, formerly as.
slstant Secretary OF Agriculture, now
president OF the University Of Tcnncs-
lee, and recognized as an authority in
matters affecting the industrial and
agricultural advance Of the South. In
his paper he contends that undue
weight should not be given natural re-
sources, but that the people who must
convert them into wealth must also be
considered. Among the natural re-
sources he reckons the soil and climate
OF the South, the best in the world for
the growing OF cotton its wat empower
from rivers running eastward, south
ward and westward from the Appnla-
chlan Mountains to be ,lscl directly
or through electric transmission: abun-
dant coal from ~ 900 square miles OF
workable fields, of which less than q
thousand square miles have been de-
Velopcd up to the present time, and an
equablc climate, in which are the de-
desired conditions for the most refined
kinds of cotton manufacturing. He
finds that to these natural resources
must be added an intelligent and rea-
sonnbly cheap labor, largely made up
| ff ~
says:
cit is well known that the white
people of the Piedmont section of The
South form an excellent manufacturing
population. They come from an iu-
telligcnt and kindly race, who lraru
rapidly to be skilIful mechanics. With
proper training they make as expert
artisans as can be found anywhere
There Is less opportunity for unions
among this domestic population; these
mills arc owned largely by local people
aud modified cooperation promises to
keep out the vicious walking delegate
and all his kind. The negro has not
been much used in the mill SO far, but
there Is little doubt bul that he will be
employ ed in particular mills or in those
lines of manufacturing which require
cheaper labor, with less ability to mink.
The negro ia by nature an initiative
creature and rapidly learns any process
that Is shown him. He is thus well
at apted to all those forms Of manufar-
turc that do not require originality or
forcthouyht.
The only thing that We need in the
South for an almost indefinite cxpan-
sion OF cotton manufacturing is more
capital and more technical experts
bolh in the business and IN the manu-
tac,uriag departments. The capital
will be forthcoming, as it always is, as
soon as the men alc found to take care
of 1t aud use 1t. The Southern people
are getting richer every year, and will
undoubtcdlyl invest their spare means in
cotton mills us fast as 1t Hccumulatcs
The great need of the South to-day is
men to organize and conduct The busl-
ness OF manufacturing, luL especially
men who know how TO build and Opcr-
ate the cotton mills themselves. The
movement Tor technical education, and
especially that for textile schools, is
going to supply these experts at an
early time. Our conclusion, then, is
that the only things we need in order
to operate many more cotton mills in
the South is more education for the
masses OF the people, from whom the
laborcrs will be drawn, and more tech.
nical training for the young men who
arc to build and operate the mills. All
these things are surely coming, and
they all bctokcn the prodigious develop.
ment OF cotton manufacturing during
the next ten years.
| "Ihc Southern States now produce
more than &c per cent. of all the cotton
consumed III tho world and mAnulac.
turc about per cent. of it, while the
Northern States manufacture about IL
per cent. With China and Africa both
opened to our trade, with the canal cut
between the Atlantic and Pacific, ! pro-
phesy that IN ten years The Southern
states will have trcbled the number OF
their spndles and will be manufac
turing at least 20 per cent. oi
the cotton of the world, which b,
that time will be at least 1000 ,OOC
bales. The South manufactured about
,3OO ,OOD bales last year this means
allowing FOR Improvement IN machin
cry, that she must prepare to manufac
turc 5000 900 bales, half her prcscm
crop, ny 1910, wien she Will be pro)
ably growing at least $4,000 900
When we consider her plst progrcs;
and her magnificent resources IN con
ncclion with the opening up of tn,
East, and the general advancement
OF civilization, we cannot expect an
less