The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1907-04-12
..C0TTON NORTH AND SOUTH

FOST sue a CdDlidG N~~ AA1C |
above heading tina we surrender space /!
for it's reproduction in our columns.
The Post makes no bones about The
prediction of the south becoming the
center of cotton manufacture. 1t is .
fully convinced that New England will
have to admit her defeat and yield to
the south's supremacy in the cotton
manufacturing industry; but it thinks
il will tax some time TO bring about
this changed relationship Of the two
sections.
There are two positions taken III the
Posts editorial to which we wish TO
call special attention. One is what it
says about the surprise and disgust OF
the Yankee at some OF the results Of
the war between the states, chief
| among which is the shifting Of the
| center of cotton manufacture from The
north to the south, and The Post init
| mates serious doubt of the zeal of the
| New Highlander in the cause of enamel
| patton if he had known that it was TO
| result in the changed conditions Of the
| two sections of the country IN this i'm
| portant industry. The other is the
| natural attitude toward the tariff, when
cotton goods are involved, OF the cot
! ton manufacturer, whether he be a
New England republican or a southern
democrat. The Post, by a few side re-
| marks. makes it clear that General
Hancock was right when he in1880, as
| democratic candidate for the pTesj-
| deucy, declared that he tariff was a
local issue.
The Posts editorial follows:
|. That the cotton manufacturing in
| dustry of the United states will event
! ua1ly be sOlidly conferred i'll the cot
ton producing section may be regard
. ed as q thing decreed BY natural n
| economic laws. New England will
be compelled to substitute other in
dustries for her great interests in cot
ton. The process of transfer from the
east to the south, which bega some
decades ago, and has not been halted
is bound to go on to a 1inlSn. But
that contamination will not arrive in
the immediate future. The Yankee is
not easily OuSted from any enterprise
in which he has secured L sOlld foot
ing. He has been both surprised and
| disguised at some of the results o. the
war of the early SOS. It did not occur
to him when he was lmportunlng
President Lincoln to put an n to
slavery that a free south would reach
out 8 long and strong arm n grasp
his great industry Of manufacturing
raw cotton into innun1erable varieties
of goods. Perhaps he might have been
just as Jealous for freeing the slaves
if he had forseen all that. but q
doubt on this point is not altogether
unreasonable At this time the cotton
interest Of the south "fourishes
abundantly, and %rejoiceth even with
iov and singing" All the mills are
crowded with work, and are paying
good dividends. New mills are going
up all the time. And the cotton pro-
ducerS are quite as satisfactorily sit
uated. The Chicago Tribune men
tons the cheering fact that, according
to present indications. this years cot
con crop will bring a return OF more
thar 500, 900, 900, an amount exceed
ing by $500, 900 900 the total gold pro-
duction of the world for 1906 The
larger art Of this money will come
from Europe. And further The Tri-
bune submits that when a compari-
son is made between the cotton crops
of the last six years and those Of the
six years preceding that period 1t IS
seer that there has been an increase
in aggregate value Of more than q
billion and a quarter dol'ars.
But Massachusetts, is still erecting
cotton mills. The Boston Herald of
the 30th ultimo says: Mr.. FOsS tes-
titles to his Astounding faith in the flu
upe of Boston by putting with asso-
ciates. from $4,000, 600 to- $4,000, 600
into a grou of cotton mills at East
Boston. He predicts, among other
things, that the product will fill some
of those balIasted spaces in outgoing
vessels. Success to the enterprisei"
Probably this Mr. Foss is identical with
the Mr.. Foss who, although a repub-
licaA, is one Of h strongest oppon-
ents of the standpatterS. and as inSiS-
tent a tariff revisionist as Governor
Guild. 1t is n 10 belieVahle that any
of the Massachusetts revisionists are in
favor of cutting down the cotton
schedule. They count, as we'll they
may. on the retention OF high duties
on all manufactures of this textile.
The graceful manner in which the
democratic tariff builders Of 1894 ac-
cepted the schedule prepared by the
ArkwrighL Club. n offered by Sena-
tor Aldrich. was just what will hap
pen when. if ever, there comes another
democratic revision Of tariff. Abolition
Of duties on manufactured cotton
would kill the cotton industry as
dead as Il door nail both north and
south. The southern democrats rea-
lie this as intelligently and feelingly
as the New England republicans. The
tariff being a local issue in the sense
that local interests dictate the sched-
ules by careful ~log-rolling combina-
tons. such as have been a factor in
national legislation ever since the
first congress-. there is no danger of
| opening our ports for tree cotton