Year: 1860




The late "s.rikeu among the manufacturing
operatives Of the North, however disastrous to
those Immediately engaged in it, has had at least
one happy effect. 1t has turned the attention Of
the Southern people to the subject Of home manu-
factures and excited spirit Of inquiry in relation
to such matters, which promises the best results.


This strike has occurred mainly among the jcur-
neymen shoemakers. The development is made
that these operatives have been receiving for their
labor the insignificant sum Of six dollars per week
six dollars only for hard, continuous work from
Monday morning to Saturday evening. With this
sum the operative must pay his rent, and feed,
clothe and educate his family. Manifestly, there
must be a constant struggle on his part to keep
the wolf from his door and the remorseless land
lord from turning his family unceremoniousy into
the street. No wonder he rebels, and seeks to ac-
complish by combination with others that which
the cupidity Of his employer has denied to his
patient appeal and his evident necessities.


The question, however, forcibly presents itself
to the Southern mind why it is, if the manufacture
of shoes is profitable in the North, it may not be
still more profitable in the South? The calculation
of cost is easily made The material, evidently, is
cheaper here than with them. Leather, whether
imported or not, may be had as cheaply in the
South as elsewhere. The only other condition of
cost is the labor employed in the manufacture. As
suming, what is well-known fact, that the price
of labor is dependent upon the cost of living, and
the South presents, in every aspect Of the case,
advantage over the North. In the South, house
rents are lower-an important item. FUELS greatly
cheaper-and the mildness Of our climate does not
require the use of half as much. Provisions of all
sorts, it is well known, can be had in the South at
less cost than in the cities and towns of the North
The cost of living, which regulates the cost of
labor, places us at an advantage in every single
respect.


This practical view of the matter has been taken
by many persons in the South since the late " ire
pressible conflict between capital and labor in
the Northern States. Accordingly, shoe manufac-
tories, on large scale, have been recently pro-
jected in Virginia, in Georgia, and perhaps in other
portions of the South. In a very few months we
shall see them in active and successful operation
And the planters of the South instead of spending
millions of money annually for Northern-made
shoes for their negroes, will have an opportunity
Of encouraging home industry, and Of retaining in
their midst the large sums which have heretofore
gone to enrich the Northern manufacturer. There
is nothing, too, which will bring those people to
their senses, in regard to their interference with
the institutions Of the South sooner than the pur-
suance of this policy. Fanaticism can never be
put down by reason or argument. But it may be
starved out and famine is perhaps the very best
instrument with which it can be destroyed The
North, unlike the South, has no resources of agri.
culture to fall back upon. It must manufacture,
or it must starve.


We have enumerated, however, only one single
branch of manufacturing industry. Why not all
the others? Obviously, the manufacture of cotton
goods of every description can be pursued in tile
South with profit. The experience of factory in
Georgia which, in few years. has doubled its oap-
ital besides paying an annual dividend Of fourteen
per cent, demonstrates this beyond all question or
cavil Where all the elements of cost-material.
labor, climate, the burdens of Government, easy
transportation, and propinquity to market-are in
our favor, it would seem that we are almost guilty
of criminal neglect of the gifts of Providence in
failing to avail ourselves of our advantages. But
new era in the material prosperity of the South
is just dawning, and bright and glorious is her
promise of the future, if she can only secure
equality and justice from the Federal Govern
ment.