Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1902-04-19

at the basis or the Whole question:.
LET us look at the matter a little
more in detail.
As to the South.
South Carolina Is now the second
cotton manufacturing state in the Un-
ion. The development Of its cotton
mill industry has been without parallel
in any other part Of the United States.
In 1890 there were "a establishments in
South Carolina devoted to this indus
try, representing capital Of $11, Ill.,
$685. employing SOL wage earners, and
turning out products valued at $9.S00,-
1893. In 1900 the number of establish
ments had increased to 80, the amount
Of capital to $39,25S,946. the number of
wage earners to 3O,2O1, and the value
of products to s29, ,723,919. While for the
whole Of the United States the average
increase, for the decade, Of capital
employed in cotton manufactures was
80 per cent. that of South Carolina
was 252 per cent. While the average
increase in the number Of wage earn
ers was 33 1-3 per cent, that Of South
Carolina was 274 per cent. While the
average increase in the value of pro
ducts was rs 2-3 per cent, that of South
Carolina was 203 per cent. The manu-
facture of cotton goods Is now the most
important industry Of South Carolina,
since it gives employment to 62.7 per
cent. Of the wage earners employed in
the state and turns out sos per cent.
of the total value Of the manufactures
produced in the state. The develop
ment of this industry, which was tenn
porarily arrested by the Chinese trOu-
bles a year ago, has been vigorously
resumed, and bids fair to proceed at
such a pace that South Carolina,
which has already passed Rhode Is
land, will in the next ten years take
the place Of Massachusetts as the fore
most cotton manufacturing state in
the Union.
This brilliant prospect can be
blighted-the prosperity of the South
Carolina mills and tine gaining Of a
livelihood by an army Of $4,000 workers
can be interrupted in only one way,
and that is by shutting down Of the
export demand for American cotton.
That demand amounted in the first
two months Of the present calendar
year to more than $6,OOO,OOO, and it is
being maintained at a rate without ex-
ample in the commercial history Of
the country, so that for the current
fiscal year our exports Of manufac-
tured cottons will probably exceed in
value s30,0O0,00O, or fully s6,00O,0O0
more than in 1900, the most prosperous
Of any Of the preceding years. OF this
export demand 60 per cent. is represent
ed by our sales to China. and it Is on
the continuance and increase Of these
sales that the prosperity Of the cotton
industry, not only Of South Carolina,
but Of the whole United States, abso-
lutely depends.
Testimony Given.
"That this fact is keenly appreciated
in business circles in the north as we'll
as in the south was strikingly demon
strated at the recent hearings before
the committee on immigration, on
which occasions there were present
representatives of the cotton manu-
featuring interests Of both sections,
and of many other commercial and
business interests as well-men from
the north like Messrs. Charles S. Ham,
lin, Of the Boston Merchants associa-
tion and Chamber Of Commerce; Theo-
philus Parsons, president Of the Ark
wright club Of cotton manufacturers;
P. Y. DeNormandie. Of the Laconia and
Pepperell Mills, of Maine; Clarence
Cary, of the American China Develop
ment company, which Is now building
a railroad in China: John Foord, Silas
D. Webb, and other prominent business
men; while from the south there were
D. A. Tompkins, in behalf of the
North Carolina cotton mill owners, and
from South Carolina, large and influ-
entail delegation, including Messrs.
Ellison A. Smythe, Of the Pelzer and
Belton mills; w. A. Courtenay, Of the
Courtenay Manufacturing company:
John B. Cleveland, Of the Whitney
Manufacturing company; ]. H. Mont
gomery, of the Pacolet and Spartan
mills; John c. Cary, of the Lockhart
mills, and T. I. Hickman, of the. Gran
iteville mills, representing, probably, at
least one-half of the entire cotton mill
interests of the state.
"All Of these representative business
men bore witness that they were op-
posed to coolie immigration, and did
not wish any legislation that would
make exclusion less stringent; but that
they objected to the proposed new leg
islation because, while it was not
needed for the purposes of exclusion,
1t would necessarily subject reputable
merchants and other business men to
much personal inconvenience and an
noyance, and would give them and
their government good cause for TAX
ing offense, so that the natural effect
would be to greatly injure our trade
relations with China and to retard If
not stop altogether the progress Of that
trade.
Chinese Would Boycott.
The assertion is often made on the
opposite side of the question that Chi
ma will continue to trade with us just
the same no matter how we treat her.
This assertion Is as discourteous to
China as it Is untrue to the principles
Of human nature and to the recorded