The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-02
Chronicles of The Cdnebrake
CHAPTER XII By JOHN WTTTIERSPOON DUBOSE

The most memorable convention of cot ton planters that ever assembled in the cotton states was the Southern Commer- ciai convention that met in a cotton warehouse, on Commerce street. Mont gomery, in May 1858. Mir. Calhoun ap- peared as a delegate from South Carolina and was chosen to preside He was a man of impressive hearing, had voice that was good among the voices of men and on this opportunity delivered an orig inal and instructive address. The con- vention assembled in the warehouse be- cause no chamber in the capital could hold the delegates, nor half the dele gates, so numerous was the attendance. Hundreds of citizens, laymen.--had come to look on.
 Now, as to the motif of this sign of commercial awakening of the south (the cotton states in particular, our school books say nothing and our statesmen slur over and omit the facts. Cotton tobacco, rice and sugar were all south ern products, all but tobacco exclusively southern. Cincinnati was ---the meat packer then. Chicago was a small town. There was no summer slaughtering. Cold storage was unknown and refriger- ator cars were not dreamed of Smoked bacon and pickled pork, in barrels, was the only meat of commerce unless we count limited supply of dried or pickled l beef The total output of the blast fur naces of the United States the year the convention met at Montgomery was l~s than half the capacity of the blast fur naces of Alabama alone today. There fore the rich export trade from the north ern states in steel and its various articles | of trade was then unknown. Exports of grain were comparatively insignificant. To illustrate the crudities of commerce in Alabama, I saw in a general store in the village of Dayton about the year 1858, bale of oznaburg. The merchant, Mir Sampel Rogers, told me he bought it in New York. It was manufactured at the Pratt mill in Autauga county. It had | gone down the Alabama, through Mobile, by sea to New York and back again. | The market for the Pratt mill was New York.
 | The report of the secretary of the treasury for the fiscal year closing June 30, 1859. gave the fisheries as the item | of highest value among exports, initiat- 1 ing in the free states, and that item of export stood at s4,402,974. The item of highest value among exports, initiating in the slave states, was cotton, of course, s101, 434923. The total of exports for that year, initiating in the free states, was B. 2S1 091, while the total initiating in the slave states was S1SS, ,693, ,496. Tobacco ranked next to cotton in value. There was no lumber accounted for. Exports here means across the ocean trade. The exports from the ports of New York, Philadelphia, Boston were large, con- sisting of commodities that initiated in the south.
 The exports from the port of New Or leans for two years, 1859, 1860, were al most double in value the exports from the port of New York, regardless of the source of origin. They were $20S, ,276. eos al the former. to s123,1 ,769 at the latter.
 For the year 1858 the export commerce of Mobile was more than s40,000,000. Now it is less than $20,000,0oO.
 Ballard Preston and Roger A. Pryor from Virginia, Robert Barnwell Rhett from South Carolina, Yancey and Hilliard from Alabama were at the convention with their peers from every southern state. The oratory that glowed from the wooden benches in the warehouse was heard around the world. The sequel was the Confederate Congress two years later
 Andrew Calhoun came again to Ala bama. He appeared before the secession lconvention as commissioner from South Carolina. South Carolina by ordinance of the convention of the people withdrew her