475 



For some years to come tlie cotton manufactures of the world cannot contrilmte to 

 the industry of these States more than two or three hundred millions of dollars per 

 annum ; while the total production, with the variety required to realize the hij^hest 

 capabilities of soil and climate, should command a thousand millions, and two thou- 

 sand mifrlit bo obtained within a period of ten years, if the whole population, with 

 recruits from other States and from Europe, should unite all their eiforts and their 

 industry for the accomplishment of so grand an object. The combined value of all 

 other products is even now materially larger than the value of cotton, but the propor- 

 tion should be increased until it shall stand at least five to one. The cheapest beef and 

 cheapest wool produced in the country are now the product of the grasses of the Gulf 

 States. 



The annual sales of animal products should soon be made to exceed greatly the value 

 of the cotton crop. The wine industry of France produces three hundred millions of 

 dollars annually, and supports a population of six millions. Then why should not your 

 sunny slopes, best suited to wine production of any section of the coutineut east of the 

 the Rocky Mountains, compete with the foreign vineyards, at least in our own markets? 



There is no reason why we should send abroad for a pound of sugar, though our 

 home production was last year l)ut ten per cent, of the consumption, when Louisiana 

 alone has suitable lands of sufficient area to supply the present wants of the country. 

 Your fruits, in wonderful variety, including those of the trojiics, the products of which 

 figure largely in our imports, should annually add millions of dollars to the wealth of 

 the country. Scores of new and useful plants should be added to the list of those already 

 in cultivation. I am yearly adding many through the Department of Agriculture, 

 among the most promising of which, the present season, are the Corchorus (or jute) 

 and the Cinchona, which yields the quinine. I shall continue these experinients of 

 acclimatization, hoping to render you material aid in your eftbrts in diversifying your 

 agricultural industry. In close connection with this idea of variety of production, per- 

 mit to me present my third item of counsel. 



MANUFACTUEK YOUR OAVN COTTON. 



If England, by the magic of labor, can make a dollar's worth of your cotton produce 

 two dollars, and if France, by still more delicate manipulation, can make it yield three, 

 why should not your people, with willing hands to work, and abundant water and fuel 

 for power, manufacture a large portion of your crops, at least into yarns and coarse fiib- 

 rics, and thus add to the annual value of your industries a hundred millions more ? 

 Thus you may save freight, storage, commissions, the profit of manufacture, and build 

 up local markets to consume more of the edible products of your agriculture. 



Here, in Augusta, you have furnished a notable illustration of the feasibility and 

 profit of nninufacturing, in an enterprise of magnificent proportions, two-thirds of the 

 capital of Avhich has come from its own net earnings. You have already other similar 

 works, and should establish them in every direction, enlarging them from their own 

 pi'ofits, until a large share of your cotton shall be manufactured within your own 

 borders. 



Manufacture is allied to agriculture, while commerce is an expensive non-productive 

 go-between. There are few interests of agriculture which do not involve maiuifacture. 

 In dairy farming, milk is sold with no aid of manufacture, except as it is " extended " by 

 aid of the i)ump, but cheese and butter are the products of manufacture, which last 

 year yielded the value of !|24(5,O00,O00. Flax and hemp can only reach the market 

 through certain processes of manufacture; wheat must be thrashed, corn shelled, hops 

 carefully kiln-dried; so with many other crops ; indeed, the farmer must necessarily be 

 a manufacturer. High farming is always and only found in connection with manufac- 

 turing skill in extending the raw products of agriculture ; and no purely agricultural 

 nation can expect to attain wealth, a high state of civilization, or great political power. 

 These are facts which should be carefully pondered and promptly acted upon. 



Why is not the South to-day the great manufacturing section of the country? It is 

 far better adapted to such an industry than any other section. The answer may be 

 found in a paragraph from a former official statement emanating from the Department 

 of Agriculture relating to this section : 



"The path of pi'ogress has been equally open to all ; laws supposed to favor a diver- 

 sified industry have been applicalde to all States alike; the best water-power and 

 cheapest coal are in States that make no extensive use of either; milder climates imd 

 superior facilities for cheap transportation have furnished advantages that have not 

 been transmuted into net profits ; and yet, such comnnmities, daily inflicting irrepa- 

 rable injury upon themselves by neglecting the gifts of God and spurning the labor of 

 man, are wont to deem themselves injured by the prosperity flowing from snxierior 

 industry and a practical political economy." 



As a clcKsiug suggestion, one in which the whole future prosperity of your States is 

 involved in an eminent degree, permit me to implore you, 



