the transportation of cotton goes on from year to year, at the annual cost of $18,000. We will now go somewhat more into detail on this subject. north receives his cotton enhanced one cent per pound above the plantation price, which makes the gross amount of the additional cost, $18,000 per annum. This would of course be saved by the manufacture of the article on the spot of its growth, aud would go to increase the profits of the operation. The cotton from the planter, reaches the northern manufactory increased one cent per pound in its market value, by the expenses incurred in transitu. Allowing the planter's Were there room for a rational doubt on price to be six cents per pound, its cost to this subject, the reader might be justified in the manufacturer will be seven. The pound regarding it with some degree of skepticism. of cotton, less waste, will make two and But, when he reflects on the well-known eight-tenths yards of sheeting, No. 14, one fact, of the much more rapid increase of yard in width, worth, at the present low capital and wealth in the manufacturing prices, 74 cents per yard, or 21 cents per community, than in that of the cotton planpound. The raw material, however, is sub-ter, he will be constrained to acknowledge jected to a loss of ten per cent. in the pro- that the effect cannot be without a sufficient cess of manufacturing, so that the weight of cause. That cause he will seek for in vain, the manufactured article from 1,800,000 unless he find it in the greater profits of pounds of raw cotton, will turn off but about manufacturing, compared with those of 1,600,000 pounds of cloth. Thus-1,800,000 producing the raw material. pounds of cotton, at 7 cents, costs $126,000. To confirm this statement, we annex a The entire cost of manufacturing, is schedule, made up, not from estimates either $121,000, including labor, and interest on hypothetical or theoretical, but from authenthe capital; and making, with the cost of tic data of actually practical results, drawn cotton, $247,000. The quantity of the from a mill now in operation. These results manufactured article will be 1,600,000 have occurred during the past year, being pounds at 21 cents per pound, or 74 cents one of the worst known in the manufacturing pcr yard. This is worth, at that rate, annals of the United States. $336,000. From this sum, deduct the cost, Cotton-1,800,000 pounds, at 7 cents per pound.. as above, and you leave as a balance in Cost of power (steam). favor of the manufacturer, the sum of Carding. $89,000. This is the gross income for one Spinning. year; with the labor of 275 operatives, mostly boys and girls, and a capital of $250,000. From the above amount of $89,000, however, there are certain other expenses to be deducted, such as commissions, guarantees, &c., which will somewhat reduce it; but yet, the amount left will be much greater, taking all things into account, than the net proceeds to the planter from the raw material. To produce the cotton for the foregoing operation, as already noticed, the planter employs 600 able-bodied hands, and nearly one-half that number of horses and mules, and a capital of at least $730,000. The interest on this capital is $43,800 per annum, or $28,800 more than the interest on the manufacturing capital; and the labor is more than that employed in the manufactory, reckoning that of man and beast on the plantation, by three hundred per cent. Thus, the capital and labor necessary to the production of 1,800,000 pounds of cotton, would be sufficient to erect, furnish and operate three cotton mills, each of which would manufacture into cloth this entire quantity of cotton, and each of which would also return, in the shape of gross income, several thousand dollars more per annum, than is now realized from the entire amount of labor and capital employed to produce cotton for one of them! It must also be borne in mind, that the manufacturer at the $126,000 4,500 13,266 14,734 66 Dressing and Starch. 9,306 66 Weaving, including all expenses. 26,598 66 Repairs, wear and tear, machinists, &c. 17,002 66 General expenses, officers' salaries, 20,642 46 Interest on capital of $250,000.. 15,000 $237,048 Total...... As the gross profits to the manufacturer, subbefore named, on 1,800,000 pounds of cotton, ject to the deductions for commissions, &c., after having paid for the cotton, and the cost of manufacturing; while the planter who produced that cotton, receives but $108,000; being more, by only $18,888, than that received by the manufacturer. Yet, from that sum, viz., $108,000, the planter has to pay all the cost of production, together with all incidental expenses, besides the interest on his capital. Facts like these should fix the attention of the cotton planter, teach him his true interest, and stimulate him to become the manufacturer of the product of his field, instead of permitting others to reap the entire profit. Yet, he acts differently. The small profits derived from his cotton fields, after the deduction from the gross receipts, of a sum sufficient to cover the cost and the incidental | 195,173; in Massachusetts, 669,095; in expenses, are generally appropriated to the Rhode Island, 518,817; in Connecticut, extension of agricultural operations, and the 181,319-making, in all, 1,590,140 cotton production of more cotton-of which there is spindles in operation in those five states, at already too much. He neglects the main that time. Since that period, the number chance, and delves on, from year to year, to has been increased twenty per cent. at least, build up European and New-England manu- and there can, therefore, not be a less numfacturing cities, towns and villages, and to ber now than about 2,000,000, nearly. The enhance their wealth, when he might as well manufacture of cotton was commenced in secure a due share of these benefits to him- Rhode Island about 1791, but its progress, self. for many years, was extremely slow. will assume the year 1810 as our starting point, at which time it had begun to put on the appearance of some importance. Thus, reckoning to the close of 1849, we have a range of forty years. If, say many persons at the South, we had the capital, so abundant at the North, we could then embark in the manufacturing business with some prospect of success; but our means are mostly in lands and slaves, and the money capital is deficient for the purpose. This objection, however plausible, is unsound. It rests on a mistaken view of the subject. What has created the large capital in the manufacturing states? A portion of it is, without doubt, the fruits of agriculture and commerce; but by far the greater part is, either directly or indirectly, the production of manufactures, not only of cotton, but of various other materials. The New-England states, for instance, named in a preceding page, though in a prosperous condition compared with former times, had, at the commencement of the cotton manufacturing era, scarcely money capital sufficient to prosecute their commercial and agricultural pursuits. But they did not hesitate on that account. A rich field for operations presented itself, and, money or no money, people determined to enter and cultivate it. Of course, a portion of capital had to be withdrawn from other pursuits, and some debts to be contracted; but this procedure was fully warranted by the prospect presented, and as fully justified by the result. New England might have hesitated to embark in manufacturing enterprises, on the plea of a deficiency of capital, and continued to this time to devote herself entirely to agriculture and commerce to augment that capital. And what would have been the result? She would not now, as all circumstances past and present go to show, possess onehalf the wealth she does, nor probably more than two-thirds of her present population. The truth is, the small means and the credit first embarked were increased; the whole was again enhanced by new operations, and so it has continued, till the amount of capital now invested in manufactures of various descriptions, and the wealth that has been created by them, are probably much greater than the entire value of the now manufacturing states was at the commencement of these operations. In the year 1839, according to the data appended to the United States census of 1840, there were in operation in Maine, 29,736 cotton spindles; in New Hampshire, We Again, assuming that, in 1810, there were 50,000 spindles in operation, then the medium or average number for forty years would be something over 900,000. Distribute these in 90 mills of 10,000 spindles each, and each mill creating wealth at the rate of $100,000 per annum, or, which is the same thing, adding that amount to the value of raw material, and which is nearly one-third less than the amount stated for the mill before alluded to, and we have $4,000,000 in forty years. Hence, the ninety mills would add, and probably have added, at least $360,000,000 of wealth, or capital, to the community, in forty years, by means of the combined operations of labor, skill, and materials, aided by capital and credit. It is true, there have been fluctuations in the business and occasional failures, as there are, and ever will be, in the most lucrative business ever known. But most persons who have entered into this have made money by it; and, at any rate, failures or no failures, the wealth created by it is in the community-the product of labor, skill, and materials-and if the foregoing estimates are within the limits of truth, and they are be lieved to be, then, by cotton manufactures alone, the above five states have added to the stock of wealth no less than $360,000,000! Permit us now to inquire; have the whole ten cotton-planting states done as much by the culture of their staple production, or any thing like it, in proportion to the labor, skill, materials, and capital, employed? Let the comparative estimates on the culture of cotton and its manufacture, in the foregoing pages, furnish the reply. Such, as has been stated, is the example set by New England, though commencing with a deficient capital even for her ordinary pursuits, with her system of credit to aid in the production of the most valuable returns from the labor, skill, and real capital, of the country. Can any reason, even a plausible one, be given why southern people should not do the same? Their means are more abundant than were those of New England at the commencement of the cotton-manufacturing business in this country. All that is wanted, is enterprise. There certainly could be no sufficient reason why a number of planters, having available property of the value of half a million of dollars, could not raise, on that property, the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand, to prosecute a business, the profits of which would be almost certain to return one hundred per cent. on the outlay, in the short space of two or three years at farthest. Especially might they do this when known, as known it is by practical experience, that that business would probably enhance the value of the property in possession fifty to one hundred per cent. Southern planters, considered men of wealth, find little or no difficulty in extending their credit, to any desirable amount, in the purchase of land or slaves, or both. It would be quite as easy for them to do so, if necessary, to erect manufactories, and their credit and funds would, in such case, be applied to an object much more productive. in case of refusal or neglect to apply the remedy. Let your attachment to your own interest and the interests of the community, united with love for your species, combine to stimulate you to enter, with resolution, this field of enterprise, and to cultivate it with the full determination not to be outdone. You must succeed. The writer knows, from personal acquaintance and observation, that poor southern persons, male and female, are glad to avail themselves of individual efforts to procure a comfortable livelihood in any employment deemed respectable for white persons. They make applications to cotton mills, where such persons are wanted, in numbers much beyond the demand for labor; and when admitted there, they soon assume the industrious habits and decency in dress and manners of the operatives in northern factories. A demand for labor in such establishments is all that is necessary to raise this class from want and beggary, and, too frequently, moral degradation, to a state of comfort, comparative independence, and moral and social respectability. Besides this, thousands of such would naturally come together as residents in manufacturing villages, where with very little trouble and expense, they But it is not only the benefit to be derived might receive a common-school education, in a direct manner to the individual manufac- instead of growing up in profound ignorance. turer, that holds out a strong inducement to I would, therefore, appeal to the planter of the South to go largely into the business-the South, as well as to every other capitalist. nor yet, alone, the prospect of enriching a community as a body. Motives of philanthropy and humanity enter into the calculation, and these should not be disregarded. This is a subject on which, though it demands attention, we would speak with delicacy. It is not to be disguised, nor can it be successfully controverted, that a degree and extent of poverty and destitution exist in the southern states, among a certain class of people, almost unknown in the manufacturing districts of the North. The poor white man will endure the evils of pinching poverty, rather than engage in servile labor under the existing state of things, even were employment offered him, which is not general. The white female is not wanted at service, and if she were, she would, however humble in the scale of society, consider such service as a degree of degradation to which she could not condescend; and she has, therefore, no resource, but to suffer the pangs of want and wretchedness. Boys and girls, by thousands, destitute both of employment and the means of education, grow up to ignorance and poverty, and, too many of them, to vice and crime. This picture is no exaggeration; it is strictly true in all its details. The writer has no disposition to reproach the wealthy for the existence of such a state of things. He is well aware that it is the result of circumstances which have to them been unavoidable. But he cannot resist the conviction that, when a fitting opportunity presents itself to the wealthy men of the South to obviate those evils, at least in a degree, and that even in a way to benefit themselves, they can hardly be held guiltless In a political point of view, the extensive prosecution of the manufacturing business at the South is of vast moment. That the political ascendency of the South, in the councils of the nation, has been neutralized, events plainly show. That it will be greatly overbalanced is a fact as certain as that the increase of population in the North, East and West, shall exceed that of the South. A reference to the official tables, to be sure, will show that, during the last thirty or forty years, the increase in the cotton-growing states exceeds, in some measure, the ratio of that in the five manufacturing states which we have named; and they show an almost unprecedented increase in the new states of Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi and Louisiana. But, as respects the point alluded to, these tables are altogether deceptive. The creation of several new states has, to be sure, increased the number of southern votes in the United States Senate, by adding ten or twelve to the number, but then, there are, to_offset against these, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin, to say nothing of Maine, Ohio, Illinois, and others which will soon follow, so that the balance of power, even in the Senate, will be against the South. The rapid increase of population in the four cotton-growing states named, changes not the relative position of affairs, as to the popular representation in the lower house of Congress-or, at most, changes it in no material degree. Those states have all been settled by persons of other southern states; and scarce a family can be found in them, except here and there a trader in the country, or those in the commercial towns, but such as are emigrants from the Carolinas or other states of the South, or their descendants. Had therefore those states never been settled, the popular representative strength of the South would have been but little less than at present. But how is it with the four manufacturing states named? By the tables their increase of population is less, than that of the South, in proportion. But, if the real increase be the object in view, a large portion of it must be sought for in Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and the southern trading ports. But we take only the four states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, for the comparison. The first of these states, Ohio, was originally settled almost exclusively by people from New-England; and the present American-born citizens, now resident within her borders, are mostly New-England people or their descendants. Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, also received a large portion of their original settlers from the same source, together with, probably, a large number of the offshoots of New-England families in Ohio, or elsewhere in the western country. Let us see how the case now stands. The eight following cotton-growing states, viz., North and South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana, contained (Mississippi in 1816), in 1810, a population of 1,637,093, including slaves. In the year 1840, the population of the same states amounted to 4,374,362-being an increase of 2,737,269-equal to a fraction less than one hundred and seventy-three per cent. At the former period, the six New-England States, after large drafts on their population to settle the new regions of the West, contained a population of 1,471,973. In 1840, with a tide of emigration still flowing westward, the population had increased to 2,245,822-being an increase of 762,849-equal to about fifty-two per cent. In 1810, the population of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, together, was 272,080, which, added to that of New-England, made up an aggregate of 1,744,063. In 1840, those four northwestern states, had a population, in the aggregate, of 2,894,783, which, added to the population of the New-England States at the same period, makes up the aggregate of 5,129,605; and the increase on the ten states being an aggregate increase in those states of 3,385,542-equal to one hundred and eighty-three per cent. on the population of 1810, and in the ratio of ten per cent. over that of the cotton-growing states. We have not sufficient data to enable us to include Arkansas, Florida and Texas, in this calculation, and therefore offset them against Iowa, Wisconsin, and other settlements made by northern people. From the foregoing statements it appears very evident, that the relative political strength of the South must continually decline; or rather, that that of the North will increase in the greatest ratio, until the South shall adopt some method besides that of agriculture to remedy the difficulty. But the case presents itself in a still stronger light, when we reflect, that at least thirty-three and one-third per cent. of the increase in southern population takes place with the slaves, and only two-fifths of which go to increase the representative power. The writer will hazard the assertion, that this state of things will never find a remedy, so long as the South persists in her present impolitic course of purchasing from abroad every manufactured article which she requires, from a penny jews-harp or a yard of shirting, to a steamengine. We have already shown exclusively, that to manufacture cotton is far more profitable than to produce it for sale. So is the manufacture of almost every other article. Of course, the business can afford better prices for labor and skill; and hence, where manufactures are found, there also these seek employment; and thus is population increased over and above the increase by natural causes. We can further illustrate this fact by reference to the manufacturing states themselves. In 1820, the state of Massachusetts contained 523,287 inhabitants. Manufactures had received a severe shock by the termination of the war with Great Britain, in 1814, though, at the above period, they had partially recovered from its effect. Little or no onward progress had, however, been made in the business, and cotton mills were few in number, and those of small capacity. During the succeeding period of ten years, the manufacturing business was commenced at Lowell, and some other places in the state, and made rapid advances, though it met with one severe revulsion in 1828 and 29. During these ten years up to 1830, the population of the state had risen to 610,408an increase of 86,121-equal to about sixteen and one-half per cent. But, as the business continued to increase, notwithstanding the disastrous crisis of 1836 and 37, the popu lation of 1840 was 737,699-an increase of 127,291, or nearly twenty-one per cent. From the year 1820 to 1830, the population of Rhode Island increased fourteen per cent.; but from 1830 to '40, the increase was but about ten per cent. The cause of the difference between the ratios of increase in the last ten years named, in the two states, as far as manufactures were concerned, was owing to | the fact, that the water power in Rhode Island had become so far exhausted as to admit of but little extension of the business; while at Lowell, and many other situations in Massachusetts, the manufacturers were, as they still are, extending it on every hand. Besides, Massachusetts is a much larger and better field for agricultural pursuits than Rhode Island; and manufactories having so strong and direct a tendency to enhance the value of agricultural products in their vicinity, this alone helps very much to swell the mass of population. In fact, every interest in the state is promoted. Manufactories increase the demand for agricultural products, and every branch of mechanical industry; and both of which will, therefore, bear remunerating prices. They create a great deal of business for mechanical men and traders of all descriptions. They encourage, foster, and in a great measure pay for, public improvements. They increase the wealth of a community more rapidly than any other branch of business. And, though last not least, they prevent, in a great degree, the evils of extreme indigence and pauperism, by furnishing to all the means of supplying themselves with the comforts of life, through the medium of their own industrial efforts. Most certainly all these benefits are worthy of a trial, by the people of the South, to secure them. The South produces the raw material for the cotton mill in abundance. She has but to say the word, and labor and skill will as readily offer themselves to convert it into cloth on the spot, as ships do to transport it to NewEngland or to Europe. In the very nature of things, the South ought to become the greatest seat of cotton manufactures in the world. CHARLESTON-HISTORY OF, ETC.-The city of Charleston is one of the most ancient in the Union. Its foundations were laid in 1672, and it very soon attracted an additional population, from the planters of Barbadoes and the chivalrous French Huguenots. "On the spot," says Bancroft, "where opulence now crowds the wharves of the most prosperous mart on our southern seaboard, among ancient groves that swept down to the river's banks, and were covered with yellow jasmine, which burdened the vernal zephyrs with its perfumes, the city was begun. Two centuries nearly have passed away since then. Momentous have been the events and changes of this period. In colonial dependence, in Revolutionary conflicts, in republican advancement, it has mattered little for Charleston. Ever unchanged and unchanging; generous, hospi * In 1677 it was called Oyster Point Town; in 1680, New-Charlestown; in 1682, New-Charleston. -Mills. It was chartered in 1783. table, and refined; intelligent, patriotic, and enthusiastic; devoted to liberty, and appreciating its advantages on her seat, by the side of the Ashley and the Cooper, the Pinckneys and the Rutledges, the Middletons, Lowndes, and Laurenses, and Elliots-men whose like we shall not soon look upon again-lived, labored, and died. Peace to their sacred manes. Tho location of Charleston is on a peninsula, washed by the waters of two beautiful streams. The harbor is spacious and secure, and defended by three fortifications—one the famed Moultrie of Revolutionary glory. The bar has some obstructions, but four channels with different degrees of depth; the ship channel being the greatest, and affording seventeen feet at high water and ten at low. In 1731, we have it on the authority of an old historian, "there were 600 houses in Charleston, five handsome churches, and that out of the city were to be found courtly, stately buildings, noble castles," &c. had a population, in 1820, of 24,780, includThe city was incorporated in 1783, and ing suburbs, 37,471-very little, if any short of its present population. Its imports in 1723, were £120,000 ster ling. From 1720 to 1729, there were 264,488 barrels rice exported; from 1730 to 1739, the rice exported reached 429,425 barrels. For the year 1728, the export was 26,478 barrels. For 1733 we have the following exports; 36,584 barrels rice, 2,802 barrels pitch, 848 barrels turpentine, 8 chests skins, 60 tons lignum vitæ, 20 tons brazilletto wood, 27 tons sassafras. In 1744, two hundred and thirty vessels were laden at the port of Charleston. The exports for 1748 were 55,000 barrels rice, 39,308 bushels corn, 296,000 oranges, 6,107 bushels peas, 700 bushels potatoes, 1,700 barrels beef, 150 hogs, 3,114 barrels pork, 10,000 barrels tar, turpentine, &c., 134,118 pounds indigo, 200 pounds beaver skins, 141 calf skins, 720 hogsheads deer skins, 1,700 pounds wax, and a large quantity of lumber, amounting in all to £161,365 sterling. In 1754, the exports reached £240,000 sterling. In 1799 they were $10,554,842; in 1801, $14,304,045. In 1821 the imports amounted to $3,000,000, and the exports to $8,690,539. In 1824 the imports amounted to $2,030,916, and the exports to $7,143,831. The last consisted of $5,605,948 cotton, 1,114,297 rice; 208,570 other domestic articles; $215,016 foreign articles. From the commencement of the Federal Government up to 1825, the revenue collected amounted to $22,337,381. Exports in 1834 66 $11,119,565 11,224,298 1835 66 1836. 13,482,756 |