The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1907-10-01
EUROPEAN sP|AAERs VISIT Tn
SOUTHERN COTTON FIELDS
the Manufacturers eco of
September 26.l

Coal and iron, two essential factors
IN he worlds progress and nrosner-
lty' nave been very widely distri-
Duted over tho face of the earth. but
let Us imagine for a momer that
Great Britain had been so marvel
ouSiy favored by nature that practi-
cal1y all Of the iron and coal to he
found IN the world was in England
IL We can appreciate such a situation
we can form some conception of what
it would mean to Great Britain 20
have an absolute monopoly and domi-
nation of the entire iron and coal Of
the earth. The wealth which would
be justly hers would be SO vast as to be
beyond our comprehension. Great
Britain would then have a call, which
she would have a right to enforce,
tribute to an extent which, without
impOverishing other nations to their
destruction, would center in that coun
try a wealth sufficient to dominate
the commerce and finance of the en-
tire world. No one for a moment
would imagine that under such cir
cumStanceS Great Britain would under
take to sell it's coal and iron and
steel at the lowest basis Of profit.
On the contrary, it. would demand
for every branch OF the Industry, from
the miner who dug the ore AID the
coal, from the mechanic who made
the finer finished product, to the owner
Of the mine and the owner OF the
works, to the banker who financed
these enterprises, and to all in touch
With it. a very high rang Of profit.
No sensible man could object He
would recognize hat England held
that which all the world needed, AMI
he would realize that the world must
pay to England not a sshall profit.
but a great profit for the advantages
which nature had thus lavished upon
her.
Turning from the coal and iron
and from ESngland to the south-look
at the situation. The southern states
hold what may practically be called
a world monopoly on cotton, since
they produce nearly so per cent. of
Tie willy output. hoS SA'Sh
them this strategic advantage, and,
though England has vigorously strug-
gled for more than three-Quarters OF
a century to find some other place
in which to raise cotton to make her
spinners less dependent upon the o
ton states Of America, though Parlla-
ment has been actively moving In such
Hc--4 E~- +L-oo n,,or+nrc of u CON
fury, and though the government and
the cotton spinners Of England have
never abandoned this agitation, 1t IS
universally recognized that today the
south's domination of cotton produc-
ton is stronger than ever before. In
times past we might have feared that
sources of cotton production could be
found elsewhere, that other lands could
be made competitors of the south, but
the well-infOrmed cotton manufacture
er of Europe realizes just as fully
as the people of this country do that
for the next so years at least b
south'S supremacy in cotton growing
has no competition in sight. Coal and
iron are not more essential to the
worlds welfare than is cotton. 1t is
indeed, true, as has often been said,
that the consumption of cotton goods
is the measure of q nations civiliza-
ton. The opening UP Of Asia and
Africa and the isles of the sea to mod
ern civilization goes hand in hand
with the increase in the wearing or
clothes, and thus in the consumption