COTTON 313 



There were objections to the class of people it 

 would attract; to the unwholesome influence of 

 cotton factory life. It was argued that the South 

 could better and more profitably develop the side 

 of production, and leave the manufacturing to other 

 places and to other people. It would mean more 

 wholesome living, freer, purer life combined with 

 individual independence and National safety. No 

 doubt there was some ground for these arguments. 

 The laborer was needed in the fields and could be 

 ill-spared for the factory and its incidental duties. 

 Production was to be developed; it was the basis 

 on which the factory must be built; why cripple it, 

 to engage in another industry, neither so desirable 

 nor so profitable? 



As a consequence of this unfavorable sentiment, 

 comparatively few mills were erected, although 

 some of those in the South were of considerable 

 size and importance. In South Carolina, for in- 

 stance, a factory was erected as early as 1846 which 

 "contained 8400 spindles and 300 looms" not 

 a large one for our day, but one of no little note at 

 the time it was built. And in North Carolina in 

 1844 "it was estimated that 25 mills represented 

 a capital of $1,050,000, operated 50,000 spindles, 

 employed from 1200 to 1500 hands, and consumed 

 15,000 bales of cotton." But for the development 

 of slavery, Southern cotton manufacturing would 

 doubtless have overcome all objections of its growth 

 and have reached its present important position 

 a great many years ago. 



RISE OF SOUTHERN COTTON FACTORIES 



As it is, War and Reconstruction demoralized 

 everything, and the great development in Southern 



