The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1907-03-12

peESod OF great depression in PLANTING
interests. Then the same economic
law which during the period OF high
prices had forced capital and enter.
prTses late cotton production now act
Cd to drive them away from an un-
profitable industry. Accordingly. the
south promptly turned it's attention
s@ca more TO reviving its manufact-
airing Interests. Between 1850 and
1863 cotsoa again commanded good
prices, bat the industrial spirit having
been awakened to new life continued
70 expand and that decade witnessed
q remarkable advance in m%anufactur-
ing n railroad interests. This is
illustrated in the fact that between
1850 and 1860 the south built nearly
twice as many miles Of railroad as
the New England and middle states
combined, at a cost Of Owe 1920, 900,
600, nearly all of it local capital.
North Carolina increased it's mileage
from 24S miles in 1850 to 889 in 1860.
Other southern states did equally as
we'll During these Years mileage of
the south Increased by 319 per cent,
while ia the balance Of the country
the gain was only 234 per cent. In
proportion To population, the mileage
per capita in the south was as great
as in the entire country. During this
period the south nearly doubled the
sapital iaYeSted in IOundrieS and
machine SHOPS and in Woodworking
interests; in the building of steam
engines aad machinery the gain in
the country at large was 40 per cent,
while here it was over 200 Der cent.
stDttOn manufacturing was beginning
10 command the sOuth's attention, and
in that decade Georgia doubled it's
~ettOn mill capital, while other south
srR states likewise made marked pro-
sTess. The capital in flour and grist
AailiH Increased 500, coo, 900, Or nearly
ene-fOHrth of the gain in the entire
country. This was a much greater
pea ceRtage Of growth than in the
sountV ait large, not withstanding the
enormous emigration from the east
and Eu10pe TO the grain fields Of the
west. At that time the south had
aeas4v 5000 manufacturing enter
eriees with an aggregate capital of
over $175, 900, 900. 1t is true that most
OF these undertakings were compare
aiveiy small. but so were those of
New England in their early stages.
The south's were blOtted out of ex-
istence by the war; by the same war.
an enormous impetus was given 10 the |
manufacturing interests of New Eng
land and the north generally.
The cotton gin was the thought Of
a aOltherner, HOdgen Holmes, of
Georgia though perfected by a New
1t has not ceased to make |
history wherever cotton is grown or
goods are made or sold.
Cyrus II. Mccormick, a Virginian, |
reV~OlutiOIUized agriculture with his |
machine and made it posi-
Gle Cor this country to work a world
economic development by the in
production of wheat.
Matthew +. injury was, perhaps,
Che greatest scientist Of his day, and
practical applications of his sci
10 navigation and in m~eteorology
save been effective for progress in all
quarters OF the world.
Forty years before Mergenthaler.
James ID. B. DeBOw, a southern man,
etched the economies of the type
machine. And DeBOw shared
with Maury the ability to map out
commercial and transportation under
which have since been put
= execution or furthered by others.
Snothr bold dreamer of practical
waa Ambrose D. Mann, of
Virginia, with his plan for linking by
and by rail the markets Of
sTeat Britaia and the European con-
emit with the productive acres Of
mississippi valley by way of
hampton Roads, Virginia and Ken
acky. a plan which was left to a
I aatingtoa to make good.
From Savannah in 1917 Georgians
eat the first vessel to use steam in
transatlantic travel. and in an ad-
dining state, South Carolina, was the
abroad which ran the first locomo-
Two built entirely in this country.
Turning from the consideration Of
Ia0h IS Washington, Jefferson, Mar
hall and Calhoun in craftsmanship,
fDn the military leaders n state
uIiders TO careers like those Of Maury
Bdmund Rufhn and Robert l.. :
)abney, n finds in every southern
tate men OF the stamp Of James M ,
Of Virginia, A. D. Murphy, of i
NatW Carolina, James H. Thornwall. !
{ South Carolina, A. B. Meek. of 2
alabama, ID. S. Walker, of Florida, S
Eustis, of Louisiana, Crawford {
Iong, of Georgia. Marion Sims, of ,
buth Carolina, William Writ. of I
farylapd and Virginia, the LeContes, t
{ Georgia, all natives of the south. c
4 others born elsewhere but from :
aIIy life thoroughly identified with I