Southern Manufactures [pp. 792]

SOUTHERN MANUFACTURES.
SOUTIHERN MANUFACTURES.
Georgia has earned the soubriquet of the "Empire State of
the South." And well does she wear the honor. She was
the first southern State that undertook the establishment of
manufactures. It was at a time when cotton was extremely
low, and a large majority of the planters of the south pursued
the suicidal policy of raising more of the staple as a remedy
for the existing evil, thus increasing the difficulty they were
endeavoring to surmount. It was true that a few Georgia
planters conceived the idea of directing a portion of the capital
employed in the growth, and apply it to the manufacture of
cotton; and they reasoned correctly, when they thought it
would thus be more profitably employed. They commenced
building manufactories for themselves, and finding it a good
thing, have continued to increase until the State can now boast
of over half a hundred cotton factories in the full tide of success.
To give an idea of the extraordinary degree of success they
have attained, we give the following statement of the condition
of the Macon Manufacturing Company: During the last six
months its clear profits have been at the rate of seventeen per
cent. per annumn on the amount of the stock. It has declared
a dividend of ten per cent., and has accumulated during the
last sixteen months, over the dividends, a reserve fund of
thirty-seven thousand dollars. As flourishing as this exhibit
shows the'Macon company to be, it is said that many other
companies in the State can make an equal showing.
In view of these facts it seems to us most strange that cotton
manufactories, so far as the south is concerned, are confined
almost exclusively to the State of Georgia. Are there not
men of energy, enterprise and capital in Tennessee and Mis sissippi, who would like to embark in such a profitable under taking? Next to Georgia, we believe that Tennessee can
boast of more factories than any other southern State, and yet
there is plenty of room for more. The city of Memphis pre sents greater advantages for becoming a manufacturing city
than any other in the entire southwest. She has every facility
close at home and cheap, except coal, and the recent discovery
of a coal mine, about one hundred miles above the city, will
obviate the difficulties now experienced on that score, so soon
as the aid of machinery can be brought to bear in evolving
the black treasure now snugly buried beneath the earth.
Is it not reasonable to suppose, then, that it will not be long
before much of the capital employed in other channels, and
some not now employed at all, will find a manufacturing field
in which to operate? Surely the immense advantages which
will result from its being so employed must be apparent to all.
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