Textile Factories in the South:
Articles from Civil War Newspapers
Dry Goods, Chamberlin & Smith are now opening for the fall trade of 1860,
the most complete stock of dry goods...Louisiana, Alabama, Maryland, and
Virginia osnaburgs; brown domestics; linseys, kerseys; jeans; long cloths;
bleached domestics; bed ticks; Kentucky Jeans and Linseys; Tennessee Truck, for
Trousers; Indigo Blue Jeans, a very fine article manufactured in Baltimore for
planters suits. . . English and American Navy blankets; English blue gray
blankets; bed blankets . . . carpets; oil cloths; druggetts and rugs; window
curtains; damasks and shades; flannels, red and white, of all qualities; denims,
stripes, plaids and chambrays, apron checks and furniture plaids; table oil
cloths; brown and bleached canton flannels; English, French, and American
prints; Linen and cotton sheetings and pillow case goods ...
NATCHEZ
DAILY COURIER, January 3, 1861, p. 2,
c. 7
Meyer, Deutsch & co. . . . carpets... three-ply, ingrain, velvet, tapestry
and brussels, at prices ranging from 25 cents to $3 50 per yard. ... Plantation
Negro Clothing. Notice the Prices Kentucky jean coats--lined all through with good Lowell $3
00, Kentucky Jean pants 1 75; Kersey coats--lines all through with good Lowell 2
00; Kersey pants 1 00; Kentucky linsey joseys--lined 2 00; twill lowell pants
85; Kentucky linsey dresses 3 00. Twill
flannel drawers and shirts
ATLANTA
[GA] SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY,
March 18, 1861, p. 2, c. 2
The
Grant Factory
This is one of the several Cotton and woolen Manufactories in and near
Columbus. It is situated within the
corporate limits of the city immediately on the Chattahoochee river, and was
established about the year 1844, and originally known as the "Coweta
Manufacturing Company." The
proprietors now are Messrs. Daniel and John J. Grant, of this city.
The capital stock amounts to $60,000.
The disbursements per annum are as follows:
For labor, $12,000; sundry expenses, $5,000; for Cotton, $40,000; for
wool $10,000; making, in all, $65,000. The
Company manufacture, per annum, 800 bales of Osnaburgs, 480,000 yards; 300 bales
of yarn, 78,000 pounds; 200 bales of kerseys, 80,000 pounds; and 6,000 pounds of
rope, thread, &c., &c. The
total value of the productions amounts to $81,000, from which taking the
disbursements, $65,000, leaves $16,000.
The Company give employment to about 80 hands, male and female, the
preference to the latter, for the excellent reason that it is much easier for
males to shift for themselves; while by giving the preference in employment to
females, many indigent widows and families are, we may say, rescued from
absolute starvation. The operatives
appear to be contented and are paid according to their competency to earn wages.
Some can manage only one loom while others can easily manage from three
to four. Many poor families,
composed entirely of females, and dependent upon their manual labor, are thus
secured adequate means for their support, and with proper economy, may gradually
accumulate a competency.
The factory is located at the head of the Canal for bringing into
requisition the water power to the city Factories, and has superior advantages
on account of it. The articles
manufactured are Kerseys and plain white Osnaburgs exclusively; but we learn
that the Company intend, in the course of a few weeks, to commence the
manufacture of Stripes, being already engaged in the necessary preparations.
This improvement was demanded by the increase of their business and the
growing demand for that description of goods.
During our visit, we observed that the gentlemanly and efficient Clerk
and book keeper Mr. O'Keefe, was filling a large order for Osnaburgs for an
extensive mercantile establishment in Selma, Ala.
We are glad to learn that the success of the establishment warrants an
enlargement of its business, and take it as an earnest of the continued
prosperity which is destined to crown the manufacturing enterprises of this
"Lowell of the South."--Columbus Sun.
Lawrenceville, Ga.
SAVANNAH [GA]
REPUBLICAN, May 4, 1861, p. 1, c. 7
Belleville
Factory
Is now manufacturing Duck for Soldier's Tents and awnings, also, Georgia
Stripes and solid Colored Twills, for men and boys' wear.
Orders solicited.
George Schley,
Augusta Ga.
Georgia
Manufacture.
20 Bales Columbus
Fashions.
10 Bales Richmond Stripes.
30 do
Cotton Osnaburgs,
10 do
Heavy Brown Shirting.
Just received and for sale by
Nevitt, Lathrop & Rogers.
Georgia
Osnaburgs and Yarns.
25 Bales Thomaston
Factory Osnaburgs, a superior article.
50 bales Thomaston Yarns, for sale by
Crane & Graybill
SAVANNAH [GA]
REPUBLICAN, June 8, 1861, p. 1, c. 2
Eagle
Manufacturing Company of Co-
lumbus—A Noble Example.
The corporations of the South are covering themselves with glory.
Among the noblest examples of devotion to country yet presented to the
public, the action of the Eagle Manufacturing Company, of Columbus, in this
State, in coming to the support of the Confederacy, and the families of our
brave volunteers, is most honorable. We
subjoin some resolutions adopted by their Board at a meeting held on the 1st
instant:
Resolved, That in accordance with the spirit of the resolutions of
Congress, the Eagle Manufacturing Company, hereby tenders to the Government, in
exchange for Confederate Bonds, the sum of one thousand dollars per month, from
this date till the end of the war, and the Treasurer is hereby instructed to
notify the Secretary of the Treasury of this action, and to place the subscribed
amount of One Thousand dollars per month subject to his draft, at either
Savannah, Charleston, Augusta, or this city, as he may prefer.
Resolved, That this Company further appropriate the sum of One
Hundred dollars per month as a contribution in aid of the City Fund for the
support of the families of the Volunteers [illegible] and the Treasurer of this
Company is hereby instructed to notify his Honor the Mayor, of this city, that
this amount is subject to his check.
AUSTIN
STATE GAZETTE, July 6, 1861, p. 2, c.
2
Col. J. M. Croquet, writing to the Herald, from Houston, remarks that the
ladies of the city have an upper room of the building of the Telegraph office,
are provided with a lot of sewing machines, and they meet there in parties, and
make up uniforms for the different companies.
The uniforms are made of very common strong woollen goods from the
Penitentiary, each company in a particular color.
We are glad to learn that the Agent of the Penitentiary is manufacturing
suitable military dress goods. We
think it advisable for the Agent to employ all the labor that he can spare, in
the manufacture of such articles as may be required by volunteers in the field.
This course of policy we see is being pursued in several, if not all of
the other Southern States, and we are gratified to know that such is the case.
CHARLESTON
MERCURY, July 9, 1861, p. 1, c. 6
Southern
Manufactures.
The substance of the following article is at least two years old.
The account is highly satisfactory, and we publish it now with the view
to stimulate other parties to the proper degree of enterprise.
If, two years ago, we could effect such results in an obscure part of
Alabama, what might not now be done, with the Yankees driven out of the country.
The field is open to all comers. Scottsville
may well increase its capital, enlarge its machinery, multiply its operatives,
and others may wisely follow its example. The
first in the field, is the first reaper:
People who imagine that a single, isolated manufactory, here and there,
is the best that the South can produce, will be agreeable disappointed to hear
of an entire village in Alabama being devoted exclusively to manufactures.
It is called Scottsville, and is situated in the northwestern portion of
Bibb county, near the river Catawba, between Centreville and Tuscaloosa, and to
the southeast of the latter place some fifty or sixty miles.
Scottsville was originally known as the Tuscaloosa Manufacturing Company.
It was incorporated by the Alabama Legislature in 1837, with a capital
stock of $36,000, which sum was quickly subscribed by a number of capitalists in
Tuscaloosa.
In May, 1837, the mills got to work, making coarse cotton cloths, but for
some years they made no money. The company and the locality soon changed names and
management; the latter coming into the hands of Mr. Scott, as principal owner
and director, and the place itself took the name of Scottsville. He immediately went to work making improvements and additions
to the buildings and machinery, and the mill soon paid dividends.
The first $2200 realized in 1841, was expended in a family of negros to
work in the factory. This family
has so increased that the company values them at $10,000, and most of them are
now working in the factory, and are very useful.
The company have made several purchases of negros with the profits of the
factory, and negro labor is much employed by them.
The principal mill is a large brick building of three stories, with two
wings, filled with the best machinery and employing over one hundred hands, of
whom three fourths are females. A large over-shot wheel, driven by water, is the principal
motor of the machinery. There are
about 24,000 spindles and 50 looms at work.
Wool and cotton are both spun. The
consumption of cotton averages 35,000 pounds per month, and $1000 worth of y
yarns in the same time, together with a large quantity of linseys and a superior
article of cotton sewing thread.
In 1841 the sum of $40,000 capital stock had been paid in.
Every year since then a dividend of ten per cent. has been declared,
which has been laid out in buying negros, land, &c., adding to the buildings
and machinery in the village, until the capital stock has increased to $117,000,
of which $25,000 is in negros and about $16,000 in goods in the company's store.
The company owns 3,000 acres of land, and all the buildings on the place,
which consists of the factory, a large hotel, the store, blacksmith, carpenter,
wheelwright, and boot and shoe shops, a saw mill, grist mill, large flouring
mill, a church and a large number of cottages.
No liquor is permitted in the village, and the company will not sell an
inch of its land to any one. Its
stock has long been over par, and its dividend this year will be at least twelve
per cent.
AUGUSTA [GA] DAILY CHRONICLE & SENTINEL,
July 18, 1861, p. 3, c. 2
Superior Woollen Goods.--The Constitutionalist of yesterday has the
following notice of some samples of woollen goods which it would be well for our
dealers to examine:
We have several specimens of woollen goods, received from the Crenshaw
Woollen Mills, at Richmond, Va., which are of excellent quality.--They embrace a
variety of stuffs, for coats and pantalons, and are fine and durable.
Among them, also, is a piece of blanket which is very heavy and a
handsome article. Indeed, all of
the samples in our possession indicate a degree of perfection in woollen
manufactures which we did not suppose that we had reached here at the
South.--The evidence before us is exceedingly gratifying, and we hope that
arrangements will be made for the sale of these goods, not only in this city,
but throughout the South. They are
worthy of public encouragement.
AUGUSTA [GA] DAILY CHRONICLE & SENTINEL,
August 10, 1861, p. 2, c. 5
Stocking
Yarn.
Belleville Factory is manufacturing cotton Stocking Yarn for soldiers'
socks, unbleached, bleached or dyed. Also
wrapping twine and sewing thread. Address
au6tw-tw
George Schley, Augusta, Ga.
AUGUSTA [GA] DAILY CHRONICLE & SENTINEL,
September 5, 1861, p. 3, c. 1
Southern Made Thread.--We have been shown a sample of thread from Sea
Island cotton, manufactured at the Sweet Water factory in Campbell county, W. J.
Russell Agent. It is a strong,
smooth, well-twisted thread, just the thing for use on army work, and will make
a very good substitute for Coates' and other "contraband" made in the
domestic uses of that article. A
sample of this thread may be had in a few days at Gray & Turley's and may
now be seen at our office.
SAVANNAH [GA]
REPUBLICAN, September 16, 1861, p. 2, c. 3
Eatonton
Factory
For Sale.
The proprietors offer the above property for sale.—Private bids are
invited until the 1st Tuesday in January next, and if not sold by or
before that time, it will be sold at public outcry, at the Court House in
Eatonton on that day.
This property is situated on Little River, three miles from Eatonton,
Putnam county, Ga. It consists of
the Factory building and machinery, abundance of house rooms for operatives, one
of the best Merchant Mills in Georgia and Four Hundred and Fifty acres of Land.
The water-power is unsurpassed in the State, being abundant, and with a
fall of eighteen feet.
The Building is a wooden structure, strong and substantial, built upon a
granite wall. It is 40 by 80 feet
in dimensions, 3 ½ stories high, and well constructed and arranged for
manufacturing. The most of the
machinery is new and of the most approved style, and consists mainly of 1 Willen
[sic?], 2 Pickers, 21 Cards 3 Railway Heads, 2 Eight Quoiler Drawing Frames, 2
Twenty Stand Speeders, 11 Cap Frames for spinning Warp or Filling, and 3 for
spinning Filling, with a total of 1,754 Spindles, 4 double Reels, 3 dressing
Frames, 1 Spooling Frame, 2 Beamers, 36 Looms and one Wool Card.
The Machinery is driven by an overshot wheel of sufficient capacity to
drive with ease.
This property combines all the facilities for a successful Manufacturing
Establishment, and all this juncture in our National history offers unusual
advantages for a profitable investment of Capital.
Any person desiring further information about this property, will please
call in person to examine it, or address the undersigned at this place.
Stephen E. Marshall,
President of Eatonton Manufacturing Co.
Eatonton, Ga., July 25th, 1861.
CHARLESTON
MERCURY, September 19, 1861, p. 1, c.
1
Burning of a Cotton Factory.
Mobile, September 18.--The Dog River Cotton Factory accidentally took
fire to-day and was totally destroyed. Loss,
$100,000. Insurance, $42,000.
MOBILE
REGISTER AND ADVERTISER, September
20, 1861, p. 2, c. 1
The Burning of Dog River Factory.--We have learned from a reliable source
the particulars of the loss by fire of the Dog River Cotton Factory, on
Wednesday last. It appears that the
fire was purely accidental, having caught in the dressing room just over the
boilers, in such a place as to render its suppression difficult, under the most
favorable circumstances. When
discovered, the headway was too great to be stayed, and the work of destruction
proceeded with great rapidity, until the entire building, with its valuable
contents of stock and machinery, was in ruins.
A few sheds adjoining and a turning lathe of slight value, were all that
was saved of the factory establishment. No
blame or charge of negligence lies against any person for the destruction.
The establishment was valued at from $100,000 to $125,000, only $42,000
of which was covered by insurance. It
belonged exclusively to Col. Garland Goode and the estate of the late Wm. Jones,
Jr. The loss at this time is heavy to the owners, but even more
severe to the public and the operatives--some 250 to 300 in number--who are thus
in an instant thrown out of employment. Their
case appeals strongly to the sympathies of our citizens, and we hope will not be
overlooked.
The worst of it is, that the machinery cannot now be replaced, and the
work ceases at a time when the Factory was of particular service and value.
NATCHEZ
DAILY COURIER, September 26, 1861, p.
1, c. 1
Stocking Yarn. We learn from the
Augusta Constitutionalist that the Graniteville Factory has commenced the
manufacture of cotton yarn for the making of socks and stockings--the machinery
for the purpose having been recently imported from England.
The yarn is said, by those who know, to be of the best quality, and it
will be sold at reasonable prices.
MOBILE
DAILY REGISTER AND ADVERTISER, September 29, 1861, p. 2, c. 5
Hands
Wanted
at the
Eagle Factory,
Columbus, Geo.
The Proprietors of this
Factory want to hire, Forty or Fifty Hands,
Weavers,
Spinners, Carders, &c.
Hands engaging with
them will be guaranteed regular work and good wages. Homes furnished our hands without charge.
Address,
J. Rhodes Browne, Agent,
Columbus, Geo.
DALLAS HERALD, October 16, 1861, p. 1, c. 8
The Penitentiary.—Gov. Clark, we see, has determined to devote nearly
the whole product of the penitentiary to furnishing clothing for the Texas
troops. An excellent idea.
The wool crop of the State is very large, and it would be a good thing
could enough of it be had to enable the Penitentiary factory to make up a large
quantity of woolen goods at once for army uniforms and under clothing.
The Superintendent of the Penitentiary says it can turn out 1,000 yards
per day, of goods suited for winter clothing for soldiers.—News.
NATCHEZ
DAILY COURIER, October 19, 1861, p.
1, c. 1
The editor of the Savannah News has been shown a sample ball of sewing cotton
manufactured at the Sweet Water Factory, in Campbell county, Ga.
The cotton used in making the thread is of the finest kind, costing 23
cents per pound, and the thread is of a very superior quality, strong, even and
free from knots, and adapted for use on sewing machines.
The ladies will undoubtedly find it preferable to the cheating Yankee
spools with which they have heretofore been supplied, as a consequence of our
unnecessary dependence on the North.
CHARLESTON
MERCURY, November 4, 1861, p. 4, c. 3
The Little Rock Democrat says that the Van Buren Cotton Factory is in
full operation, and will be able to supply this year's demand in Arkansas for
cotton yarns.
ATHENS
[GA] SOUTHERN WATCHMAN, November 13,
1861, p. 3, c. 3-4
From the Atlanta Intelligencer.
Valuable
Information.
We are indebted to Mr. W. F. Herring, of the house of W. F. Herring &
Co., of this city, for the following valuable information, relative to the
manufacture of cotton goods in Georgia; the number, names, and locations of the
manufactories; and the supposed supply and demand for cotton goods the coming
year. . . . It will be a source of
gratification to every Georgian to learn that the Empire State leads in the
manufacture of most of the necessary articles, and particularly the fabrics for
clothing.
The writer has taken some pains to learn the amounts and kinds of cloths,
fabricated in the State of Georgia, and believes the figures, (which have been
very carefully collated,) will have a tendency to allay the excitement in the
market, at least, so far as cotton goods are concerned, *of which there must
soon be an ample supply*--unless the quantities used for tent cloths, knapsacks,
&c., should continue as great as heretofore, which cannot be expected.
The writer makes the above assertion, and on the supposition that we have
tents and accoutrements [sic], consuming cotton fabrics, for 350,000 men, which
have been made within the last twelve months, and that will not have to be
replaced with new ones under two years in the main; and that an addition of
150,000 more in the next twelve months, is as much as may be reasonably
calculated upon.
The aggregate weekly production of cotton goods in this State, may be set
down as follows:|
Shirtings and sheetings..........202,000 yards
Osnaburgs, stripes, drills, and Denims.........271,500 yards
The exhibit of woollen goods is almost as satisfactory.
The amount of kerseys and linseys manufactured in Georgia, per week being 23,000
yards
And of woollen jeans and cassimeres, being........22,900 yards
The above goods are made by the following Mills:
Athens Factory, Athens, Georgia, make shirtings, stripes, kerseys and cassimeres.
Princeton Factory, Athens, Georgia, make shirtings, stripes, kerseys and
cassimeres.
Eagle Mills, Columbus, Georgia, shirtings, stripes, osnaburgs, kerseys and
cassimeres.
Rock Factory, Warren county, Georgia, osnaburgs, kerseys and cassimeres.
Milledgeville Factory, Milledgeville, Ga., osnaburgs, and kerseys.
Trion Factory, Chattooga county, Georgia, osnaburgs, kerseys and cassimeres.
Ivy Mills, Roswell, Geo., cassimeres.
Seven Islands, Butts county, Georgia, osnaburgs and kerseys.
Richmond Factory, Augusta, Georgia, kerseys.
Columbus Factory, Columbus, Georgia, shirtings, osnaburgs, kerseys and
cassimeres.
Howell's Factory, Morgan county, Georgia, osnaburgs and kerseys.
Eatonton Factory, Eatonton, Georgia, osnaburgs and kerseys.
Cooper & Tooke's Factory, Houston county, Georgia, osnaburgs and kerseys.
Houston Factory, Houston county, Geo., osnaburgs and kerseys.
Taylor Factory, Taylor county, Georgia, osnaburgs and kerseys.
Augusta Factory, Augusta, Georgia, shirtings, sheetings and drills.
White's Factory, Athens Georgia, osnaburgs and ducks
Newton Factory, Newton county, Georgia, osnaburgs and kerseys.
Scull Shoals Factory, Green county, Ga., osnaburgs.
Curtright's Factory, Green county, Georgia, shirtings, osnaburgs and ducks.
Roswell Factory, Roswell, Georgia, shirtings, sheetings, osnaburgs and ducks.
Grant's Factory, Columbus, Georgia, osnaburgs and ducks.
Macon Factory, Macon, Georgia, sheetings, osnaburgs and ducks.
Troup Factory, Troup county, Georgia, osnaburgs and ducks.
Rogers' Factory, Thomaston, Georgia, osnaburgs and ducks.
Upton Factory, Upson county, Georgia, osnaburgs and ducks.
Flint River Factory, Upson county, Ga., osnaburgs and ducks.
Sweet Water Factory, Cobb county, Ga., osnaburgs and ducks.
Monton Factory, Sparta, Geo., shirtings, sheetings, osnaburgs and ducks.
Swinnett Factory, Lawrenceville, Geo., shirtings, sheetings and osnaburgs.
The above Factories, nearly all, make a surplus of cotton yarns, which are now
readily sold and are being woven upon hand looms in the country, and there are
several small Factories that only spin yarn in the State, not included in the
above list.
Let our friends in the other States take down the figures and get as
nearly as possible the production of their different Factories, and we will soon
find out whether there is any just ground for the fears about a scarcity of
goods. Georgia is certainly,
to-day, producing largely more than she is consuming of the above named goods.
CHARLESTON
MERCURY, December 2, 1861, p. 1, c. 2
Manufactories in the South.--They have thirty factories in the State of
Georgia engaged in making cotton and woolen goods, besides several smaller
factories that only spin yarn. The
following is a statement of the works of the factories for one week:
202,000 yards of shirtings; 271,500 yards of osnabergs, stripes, drills
and denims; 54,000 yards of kerseys and lindseys [sic], and 22,900 yards of
jeans and cassimeres.
ATLANTA
[GA] SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY,
December 13, 1861, p. 2, c. 4
For the "Southern Confederacy."
Prices
of Domestic Manufactures.
Messrs. Editors: It is
complained that the manufacturers of woolen and cotton fabrics are taking
advantage of the national calamity to reap rich harvests from the necessities of
the government and the people. This
may be the case in some instances, but then there are honorable exceptions that
should be noted.
There is a mistaken notion abroad, however, that goods cost manufacturers
no more now than before the war. This
is a great mistake. It should be
recollected that wool is selling at over one hundred per cent. higher than last
year. This is not the fault of manufacturers, as it is to their
interests to keep the price down. And
what can be said of dyestuffs, oils, and every description of findings, that
enter largely into the cost of both woolen and cotton goods?
These articles are only to be had at from four to eight hundred per cent.
above last years prices. The writer
has no interest in the manufacture of either woolen or cotton goods, but desires
that justice should be done, and blame should not be laid at the doors of those
who are blameless.
The proprietors of the Ivy Woolen Mills, at Roswell, Ga., the Messrs. J.
R. & Thos. E. King, have done, and are doing, all that lies in their power
to furnish goods for our soldiers at a low price.
They have scarcely been making the usual manufacturing profits.
At the rate of five hundred yards per day, they have been furnishing an
excellent article of cadet gray for the army at eighty-five cents to one dollar
per yard, and in every instance where it was possible, directly
to the soldiers. Unfortunately,
however, in many instances they have been compelled to let speculators and
dealers have the goods, in order to get their wool and other materials.
Sweeping assertions denouncing all woolen manufacturers as speculators
upon the public necessity, are therefore improper, and a discouragement to the
worthy and honorable.
To my certain knowledge, the Messrs. Kings have been offered a large
advance on their regular prices, for their goods, by speculators, which they
have refused. Such instances of
patriotism and fidelity to our common cause should be favorably remembered by
the people of Georgia when happier times surround us, and should now be made an
exception to sweeping assertions of venality,
Maize.
DALLAS HERALD, December 18, 1861, p. 1, c. 3
Texas Wool.—A communication in the State Gazette estimates the number
of sheep now in Texas at 500,000, which is estimated will yield about one
million pounds of wool, one half of which is fine Marino, and the balance coarse
Mexican. The total product in all
the Confederate States is put down at about 12,000,000, just about half the
quantity produced by New York alone. Assuming
six pounds required for each person (the usual estimate) and it will require
about 90,000,000 to supply the Confederate States.
Hence we see that the demand must greatly exceed the production and of
course we have an ample market for the vast prospective increase of this great
staple product of our State. The
Richmond Enquirer says the machinery now at work in the manufacture of wool in
the Confederate States is more than sufficient for all the wool that can be
obtained.—Gal. News.
SAVANNAH [GA]
REPUBLICAN, January 1, 1862, p. 2, c. 1
There are thirty factories in Georgia engaged in making cotton and woolen
goods, besides several smaller factories that spin yarn only.
SAVANNAH [GA]
REPUBLICAN, January 1, 1862, p. 2, c. 3
Enamelled
Cloth Manufactory,
Macon, Georgia.
We are now successfully engaged in the above business, and in a few days
will have 1,000 yards ready, of a good quality, to be sold at wholesale.
Enclose stamp to us and get a sample.
Lovi & Burke.
DALLAS HERALD, January 8, 1862, p. 3, c. 1
A Laudable Enterprise.—Messrs. W. R. Moffett and W. T. Nance, are now
erecting in the town of Lancaster, in this county, a three story building, 36
feet square for Woolen and Cotton Manufactory.
The building is being put up with the design of adding to it, as the
business may demand.—For the present, they have only the machinery for carding
wool, and the carders will be set up and ready for work in time for the spring
clippings. During the summer other
machinery will be added as fast as it can be obtained, and ere many months have
rolled around we hope to see the Factory in full operation.
We have no doubt the enterprise will be attended with abundant success,
and we are at all times pleased to mention such indications of public spirit in
our midst.
AUGUSTA [GA] DAILY CHRONICLE & SENTINEL, February
25, 1862, p. 1, c. 1
Bellville Factory Burned.--We regret to learn that Bellville Factory,
Messrs. Geo. and Wm. Sculey, of this city, proprietors, was destroyed by fire
last (Tuesday) night, about nine o'clock. The
light was distinctly seen from the city. The
fire, as we are informed, originated by accident in the oil cloth department of
the building, and communicating to the turpentine, varnish and oil in use there,
obtained such speedy headway as to become unmanageable almost at once, and
admitted of but little time to save anything.
The Factory was insured to the extent of $20,000 (about one-fourth its
value)--$10,000 in the Virginia Marine and Fire Insurance Company, and $10,000
in the Southern Mutual. This is the
second time this Factory has been burned, having been destroyed about three
years ago. This time, the loss is
irreparable, it being impossible to replace the machinery; and the loss is a
public as well as a private calamity. It
is most serious to the proprietors, and not only deprives the Government of
manufactory much wanted, but throws out of employ a great number of industrious
poor, who were dependent on its successful operation.
SAVANNAH [GA]
REPUBLICAN, February 26, 1862, p. 1, c. 1
Destruction
of Schley's Mills.
Augusta, Feb. 25.—Schley's Cotton and Wool Factory, near Augusta, was
destroyed by fire last night. The
loss is very heavy and near two hundred people are turned out of employment.
CHARLESTON
MERCURY, March 20, 1862, p.1, c. 2
The Cotton Manufacturers of this State are making a rich harvest from the
necessities of the war. With the
raw material cheaper than it has been for many years, they have advanced the
price of the cloth most exorbitantly, charging 20 cents a yard for cloth which,
previous to the war, they sold at 10 cents a yard.
When peace again blesses us, we hope that these greedy fellows will be
remembered, and rewarded according to their desserts.--Raleigh Standard.
AUSTIN
STATE GAZETTE, March 22, 1862, p. 2,
c. 3
COTTON THREAD.--Wachovia Steam Mills, in Savannah, North Carolina, are
now spinning cotton thread. The article is scarce in the Confederacy, the North being our
whole dependence heretofore.
CHARLESTON
MERCURY, March 24, 1862, p. 2, c. 1
Praiseworthy Reduction in Prices.--The Georgia Factory and Athens Factory
have reduced the prices of yarns, osnaburgs, sheetings, &c.
They furthermore give preference to those dealers who conform to their
schedule of prices, rather than the speculator.
Soldiers' families are to be supplied at wholesale prices. This arrangement goes into effect on the first of April, and
continues until an agreement to change shall be made.
AUGUSTA [GA] DAILY CHRONICLE & SENTINEL, March
28, 1862, p. 1, c. 1
Domestic Cotton, Yarn, &c.--The Agents of the Athens and Georgia Factories
have advertised that after the first of April they will fill orders for goods at
the following prices:
For Yarns, wholesale, $150;
do. retail,
160;
For 7/8 Shirtings, 16 and 18c per yard;
Sheetings, 4.4, 18 and 20c per yard;
For 7/8 Osnaburgs, 8 oz., 16 and 18c per yard;
Duck for Tent cloth, 10 oz. goods 20 cts., 12 oz., 25 cents per yard.
NATCHEZ
DAILY COURIER, April 2, 1862, p. 1,
c. 4
Reduction in Prices. The Georgia
factory and Athens factory have reduced the prices of yarns, osnaburgs,
sheetings, etc. They furthermore
give preference to those dealers who conform to their schedule of prices, rather
than the speculator. Soldiers'
families are to be supplied at wholesale prices.
This arrangement goes into effect the first of April and continues until
an agreement to change shall be made.
ATHENS
[GA] SOUTHERN WATCHMAN, April 2,
1862, p. 2, c. 2
Georgia-Made
Bark Mills
Among the other
articles added to the list of manufactures of the Athens Foundry and machine
Works since the war began, we learn they are now making very superior Bark
Mills. With our increased demand
for leather, this is a very important matter, and we are pleased to learn that
those in operation have given perfect satisfaction.
They are put up in the latest and best style and can be furnished to any
extent demanded.
The same establishment, as we mentioned some time ago, are putting up
power-looms and other machinery for factories.
Their looms now running in the Athens factory perform their work just as
well as any looms can. Hurra [sic]
for home manufactures!
CHARLESTON
MERCURY, April 11, 1862, p. 1, c. 2
Patriotic.--J. Starke Simms, Esq., of Grindal's Shoals, Pacolet River,
So. Ca., has refused to allow any thing made in his factory to be sold for more
than it brought before the war. While
others have sold yarn at $2.00 to $2.25 per bunch, he has held it steadily at
$1.00.
COLUMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, April 15, 1862, p. 1, c. 8
The
Cotton Factories.
The Augusta Chronicle says:--The Augusta Factory has followed the
commendable example of the Athens and the Macon factories, and fixed the prices
of their cotton goods at rates below what could have been extorted from the
necessities of the people. It has
also provided that it will only sell to such merchants as will pledge themselves
not to charge at retail more than two cents per yard over the wholesale prices
they pay the Factory.
This is very well, but we must confess it would have come with a better
grace from the Cotton Factories had they done it before a storm of public
opinion was about to gather around them for their exorbitant profits.—Sav.
Rep.
COLUMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, April 22, 1862, p. 3, c. 6
The course of the Athens, Macon and Augusta factories in fixing the price
of their cotton goods at moderate rates, has met with universal commendation.
Mr. McCullough, near Gladden's Grove, Fairfield District, S. C., is
manufacturing and selling cotton yarn at $1 a bunch. This is a fair, even a liberal price, for the consumer to
pay, considering the price which he has to take for his cotton.—Charleston
Courier.
Would it not be well for the Georgia factories to imitate the patriotic
course of Mr. McCullough. Our
soldiers need socks. Our wives and
daughters are willing to knit them. The
factories throughout the country should, in a corresponding spirit of
liberality, aid this good work.
There is much deep and smothered indignation all over the land against
the greedy extortioner. Let the
Courts and Grand Juries make diligent inquiry in regard to the matter, and bring
guilty parties under inflections of the penal code, or the people, it is
believed, will take the remedy into their own hands and commit acts of
vengeance, which every good citizen should discourage and deplore.
The extortioners may be sure of one thing, that our soldiers will not be
permitted to fight their battles with bare backs and empty stomachs
whilst there are goods and provisions in the country.—Macon Mess.
DALLAS HERALD, May 10, 1862, p. 1, c. 3
Cotton Manufactures.
We have often had our attention called to the exorbitant prices demanded
for cotton fabrics and yarn, manufactured and spun in this and other Southern
States since the beginning of the war. With
the raw material more abundant and cheaper than it has been for years past,
cotton cloths and yarns have more than doubled in cost, not value, and
complaints loud and deep reach us from every quarter against these exactions of
the manufacturer. We ask why is
this? Will the manufacturer
explain, and, if he can, relieve us from the necessity of setting him down as an
extortioner, and denouncing him as such. We
should be pleased, however, to hear before we strike, though we doubt much
whether forbearance on our part, in this matter, may be justly esteemed a
virtue.
We are pleased, however, to see it announced that the "Georgia
Factory" and "Athens Factory" have reduced the prices of yarns,
osnaburgs, shirtings, &c., and that soldiers' families are to be supplied at
wholesale prices. The arrangement
will go into effect on the 1st proximo.
What the reduction will be, we are not advised, but trust that it will
meet the just expectations of the people. Live
and let live should be the governing rule in these trying times!
Drive the speculator and extortioner from his baneful pursuits, and the
South will the sooner achieve its independence.—Atlanta Intelligencer.
COLUMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, May 13, 1862, p. 3, c. 1
True Patriotism.—J. Starks Simms, Esq., of Grindal's Shoal, Pacolet
River, S.C. has refused to allow anything made in his factory to be sold for
more than it brought before the war. While
others have sold yarns at $2@2.25 per bunch, he has held it steadily at $1.
GALVESTON
WEEKLY NEWS, May 21, 1862, p. 1, c. 7
We are informed that there are now 209 convicts in the State Penitentiary, which
is now turning out near 6000 yards of osnaburg daily.
WASHINGTON
[ARK] TELEGRAPH, May 21, 1862
IMPORTANT MANUFACTORY.--The manufactory for cotton yarns in the neighboring
county of Pike is of such immense importance to our people just now, that it
might become an object of the enemy to destroy it....The prices charged are
moderate, being considerably below those charged by similar establishments in
Georgia and other parts of the South. This
is the only factory here accessible to our citizens.
People anxiously flock to purchase this necessary article from a hundred
miles distant, and that in such numbers as to render it impossible to supply the
demand.
SAVANNAH [GA]
REPUBLICAN, May 22, 1862, p. 1, c. 5
Roswell Factory.—The picking department was destroyed by fire on the 16th
inst., which will materially retard its operations for some time.—Macon
Messenger.
BELLVILLE [TX]
COUNTRYMAN, May 31, 1862, p. 1, c. 5
We are informed that there are now 209 convicts in the State
Penitentiary, which is now turning out near 6000 yards of Osnaburgs daily.
ATHENS
[GA] SOUTHERN WATCHMAN,
June 11, 1862, p. 3, c. 5
Cotton
Manufacturer's Notice.
After an experiment of
about three months, it is found to be impossible to fill all orders offered for
goods. We are therefore compelled
to change the mode of disposing of our productions--to discontinue retailing at
the Factory, and to make weekly sales by auction or otherwise, of which due
notice will be given so soon as the orders now on hand are filled up, and when
we get a quantity of goods worth offering.
John White, Ga. Factory.
John S. Linton, Athens.
June 11
Isaac Powell, High Shoals.
CHARLESTON
MERCURY, June 14, 1862, p. 1, c. 2
Soldiers'
Clothing for the Winter Campaign.
[From the Richmond Whig]
As we look for no relaxation of the blockade or cessation of the war,
until the Yankees shall be taught the impossibility of conquest, we ask the
attention of the Government to the important subject of clothing the soldiers
next winter. There is a great deal
of wool in the country, and a large crop of flax will, no doubt, be grown in
many parts of Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee; but cotton warp
constitutes the basis of all our textile fabrics.
How can the people obtain this indispensable article?
The coarse yarn spun by machinery is scarce and very costly; and though
we see the cotton burned in the face of the invader, raw cotton cannot be
obtained in many portions of the interior at any price.
There is a mechanical difficulty, also, which has impeded domestic
manufacture. Hand cards cannot be had at any price.
While our soldiers are in the field, there are at home thousands of
patriotic mothers and sisters, willing to toil in any way, and under any
disadvantage, for those who defend them. But,
in many cases, these patriotic women have neither material nor machinery to
manufacture the clothing and blankets their friends require.
We may anticipate a similar difficulty in regard to shoes and boots,
though there will be, we suppose, leather enough to produce a winter supply of
so indispensable an article.
Now, what can our Government do to provide for the winter wants of our
army? We answer, let it appoint
commissioners of manufactures within the sections of country prepared to conduct
the operations referred to, and assign to them as many skilled artizans,
detailed under authority of the Act of Congress, as may be necessary to give
effect to the object of army supply.
In the meantime the Government should purchase and distribute, at low
prices, quantities of raw cotton, and if possible wool, so as to employ the
industrious poor, who have the will to work, without the means to work.
These measures will cause domestic manufactures which still linger in
upper Virginia, Carolina, and Tennessee, to revive and furnish important aid to
the cause.
This plan, with the manufacture and distribution of hand cards, will meet
the emergency; for though the goods thus made may not be so good as we would
wish, they will be infinitely better than rags.
ATHNS
[GA] SOUTHERN WATCHMAN, June 18,
1862, p. 2, c. 1
Factory
Goods at Auction.
As our factories have resolved to sell their goods at auction hereafter,
the public can form some idea of the extent to which they will be *cheapened*,
by the following account of an auction sale of factory goods at Augusta the
other day:
Sale of Factory Goods.--At the sale of Augusta Factory Goods this
morning, the following prices were obtained:
7-8 Shirtings........................................28 1/4@28 5/8 cents.
4-4
Sheetings.......................................35 1/2@35 3/4
"
Drillings................................................36
1/8@36 1/4 "
Osnaburgs............................................39
@40 "
Auctioneer Griffin also sold at the same time a lot of Graniteville
Factory Goods, at the following rates:
7-8 Shirtings.......................................... @28
"
3-4 " .........................................22
1/8@22 1/2 "
4-4 " .........................................35
3/4@36
"
Drillings.................................................35 3/4@36 1/4
"
AUGUSTA [GA] DAILY CHRONICLE & SENTINEL, June
25, 1862, p. 1, c. 2
Fire at Newton Factory.--N. N. Edge, Esq., Agent of the Newton Factory,
writes us that at 7 o'clock on the evening of the 22d instant the alarm of fire
was given, when it was discovered that the cotton mill was burning; the north
end of the card room being in a blaze inside, and the whole building full of
heat and smoke. All was thought to
be lost, but through the promptness and self possession of the few men now
there, and the heroism of the women and girls, the fire was put out--doing but
little damage, except a day or two's lost time in rearranging.
How it originated is not known.--Confederacy.
COLUMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, August 5, 1862, p. 2, c. 3
Extortion
in Cotton Goods.
Since the adoption of the auction system for the sale of their fabrics by
the Augusta and other factories, the progress in the prices of such goods has
been steadily upward, until they have now attained figures astounding to
contemplate. The following are the
published prices obtained for Augusta Factory goods at the sale in that city on
Thursday last: 7/8 shirting 37 ½@38c.
per yard; 4-4 sheeting 42 ½@44 1/2c.; drilling and osnaburgs 30c. (the latter
to the Augusta Needle Women's Society.)
To a people deprived of other markets and compelled to have these goods,
and at the same time staggering beneath the load of other exactions and
monopolies, these prices are an incubus that threatens to suffocate them in
their hour of weakness. It is true
that the goods are sold at auction and in the face of open competition; but,
instead of being thus sold, as with goods in ordinary times, to persons who only
purchase because they can get them cheaper under the auctioneer's hammer, they
are put up in this way with a full knowledge that the necessities of the people,
excited by competition, will induce them to give more than the manufacturers can
venture to demand at private sale. The
goods are sold at auction, because a higher price can thus be exacted,
and not because a lower one than the current rates has to be accepted.
A crowd of greedy merchants attend the sales, all of whom have to
replenish their stocks at almost any price, well knowing that they cannot
purchase elsewhere, and that the necessities of the people generally will compel
them to buy the goods at whatever price. The
consequence is a spirited competition for the scant supply of goods offered, and
prices beyond figures that the manufacturers would feel safe in demanding at
private sale. These auctions,
viewed in this light, are more reprehensible than the "Peter Funk" or
mock auctions of the northern cities; because, while the latter decoy into their
meshes only the ignorant and unsuspecting few, stern necessity drives the great
mass of the people into the deadfalls baited with such necessaries of life and
comfort as cotton goods. And these
auctions regulate prices throughout the country.
If other manufacturers are not governed by them, the dealers whom they
supply are, and thus the consumer has to pay them, no matter where the goods
bought are manufactured.
These exactions by greedy monopolists are daily directing attention, with
increasing earnestness, to the question. What
remedy can be applied? The
Montgomery Advertiser suggests a remedy proposed by an old planter, who
asked the editor, "Why is it the Government seizes my mule at a lower price
than I was offered the day before for him, and, instead of seizing the goods of
provision speculators and manufacturing establishments, pays them exorbitant
prices for supplies?" The Advertiser
says that the manufacturers bought cotton at from 4 to 6 cents, and are now
selling osnaburgs at three or four times the prices when cotton cost them 10 or
15 cents. It blames the Government
for permitting extortion in provisions, manufactured goods, etc., to go on
unchecked so long, and suggests: "Let
the Government instruct its agents throughout the Confederacy that whenever more
than a fair and reasonable profit is demanded for the necessaries of life, the
articles shall be valued and bought for the public use."
We have reason to believe that the Government did contemplate such a
course of dealing with the manufacturers a short time since, and would have
taken charge of some of the factories had not the proprietors agreed to furnish
the Government with goods at about one half the prices now paid by the people.
We are reliably informed that a Government agent, with authority to take
possession of manufacturing establishments in case of intolerable extortion,
effected, about four weeks since, a contract with a cotton factory in this
State, for a very large amount of 4-4 sheeting at 20 cents per yard.
This is the description of goods that is now sold to the people, direct
from the factories and by the bale at 42c 44 1/2c.
If the factory can afford to sell these goods to the Government at 20
cents per yard, is it not guilty of extortion of the grossest kind in selling
them to the people at more than double that price?
We will not discuss the question whether the Government is discharging
its duty to the country in thus protecting only itself from extortion, and
leaving its people to the "tender mercies" of those whose model is a
compound of old Shylock and Benedict Arnold.
But we suggest to Gov. Brown whether the laws of Georgia are not violated
by so gross an extortion as this discrimination discloses, and whether, in view
of all the facts, he is not authorized to arrest such an imposition upon the
people as these auction sales of factory goods, and thenceforward see that the
act against monopoly and extortion is duly enforced.
MEMPHIS
DAILY APPEAL [GRENADA],
August 14, 1862, p. 1, c. 8
A Noble Example.--E. McGehee, proprietor of the Woodville Factory, we are
informed, has been and is still furnishing the quartermaster's department, for
the use of the army, with a good article of Lowels at twenty-five cents a yard,
and linseys at seventy-five cents a yard. He
refuses the current and exorbitant prices demanded by the haberdashers,
hucksters and Jew extortioners, and sells to the government to clothe its brave
and sometimes almost naked heroes at one-half the market price. What a noble example of disinterested and lofty
patriotism!--Mississippian.
COLUMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, August 19, 1862, p. 3, c. 1
Liberal and Patriotic.—We take pleasure in making public the
transaction referred to in the following receipt:
Richmond, July 25th, 1862.—Received of J. Rhodes Browne,
President of Eagle Manufacturing Company, Columbus, Ga., through the hands of
Major J. B. Ferguson, Jr., Five Hundred Dollars, to be appropriated to the use
of the sick and wounded soldiers at Richmond.
Mrs. G. W. Randolph.
We are assured that this Company, which has been largely engaged in
manufacturing cloth for the use of the army, has dealt with the Government on
terms more liberal and accommodating than any other establishment of the kind in
the country. We hear other
companies, and especially the Crenshaw Company in this city, spoken of as
evincing a much stronger disposition to feather their own nests, than to aid the
Government in protecting them and their property from the approach of the
robber. President Browne is laying up for his company treasure in the
grateful remembrance of the people, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and
thieves do not break through and steal.—Richmond Whig, 13th.
SAVANNAH [GA]
REPUBLICAN, August 29, 1862, p. 1, c. 3
Oiled Silk and Enameled Cloth.—Among the many things we did not expect
to see manufactured in Macon was a handsome and durable article of black
enamelled cloth. We are quite aware
that attempts to make this article are very numerous, and result in a coarsely
daubed cotton canvass, which softens in the sun and rubs off with every
abrasion; but the highly polished, soft and durable enamelled cloth, as good as
was ever imported, is made in this place by Mr. S. J. Gustin, in large
quantities. He is fabricating it
into various articles for the army, and it is needless to say the demand is
greater than the supply. So of
oiled silk! he produces as beautiful an article as was ever seen, and though
behind orders, has furnished the medical department of the army with ten
thousand yards, and they certify it is equal or superior to the foreign article.
Oiled silk is used for protecting wounds from the atmosphere, and
represented to be almost indispensable in the army hospitals.—[Telegraph.
WASHINGTON
[ARK] TELEGRAPH, September 3, 1862
The cotton and wool may be had here in abundance, and willing hands to
manufacture it into clothing, but the means are wanting.
The old stock of cotton cards is being worn out by use.--There are only
two or three manufactories of spun thread in the whole department. The supply from these is so inadequate as to be unworthy of
consideration in estimating for a full supply for our army in this department,
and the citizens at home.
BELLVILLE [TX]
COUNTRYMAN, September 6, 1862, p. 1, c. 1
We call attention to the letter of Gov. Lubbock relative to the
manufacture of cloth at Huntsville, and its distribution.
To get cloth at Huntsville seems to be hopeless.
We advise everybody to go to making it.
GALVESTON
WEEKLY NEWS, September 10, 1862, p.
1, c. 2
Penitentiary Goods.--While citing attention to the following letter from our
Governor, we would state that we have just seen a letter from an officer of the
Penitentiary in reply to an inquiry for goods, stating that the orders now on
hand cannot be filled in less than from five to seven months, and that the
actual consumer cannot therefore get any, and of course the retailer and
speculator need not apply, as they are the last to be supplied.
Executive Department,
Austin, August 9th, 1862.
General John S. Besser, F. A., State Penitentiary Huntsville.
Sir: I find it impossible for me to
give attention to the many communications received in regard to the disposition
of goods manufactured at the Penitentiary.
I regret that the capacity of the institution is not sufficient to supply
the wants of the entire community.
As I have repeatedly said to you, our Texas soldiers in the service of
the Confederacy and State must be first cared for.
They are continually exposed to the vicissitudes of climate, weather,
&c., and to make them efficient they must be provided with clothing.
After you have supplied their wants, then their families should be
relieved to the utmost of your ability. Next
in turn should be provided the actual consumer.
While our country is in its present condition not one yard of cloth
should be sold to retailers or speculators.
In regard to the details of supplying cloth, it must be arranged by you.
I cannot undertake to act upon the many cases presented to me.
The officers of the Penitentiary are expected to discharge their duties
promptly, faithfully, impartially, and efficiently, and they will be held to
strict accountability for any dereliction of duty.
You can publish this letter for the benefit of the public, and adopt such
rules under the supervision of the directory, as to the distribution of cloth,
as will best subserve the public interest.
Yours very respectfully,
F. R. Lubbock.
Note--All communication to, or orders upon, the State Penitentiary, will be
addressed to Gen. John S. Besser, the Financial agent of that institution.
ATLANTA
[GA] SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY, September
16, 1862, p. 2, c. 3
Yarns
to be Distributed to the Needy.
Office Roswell Manufacturing Co.,
}
Roswell, Ga., Sept. 13, 1862. }
Editors Southern Confederacy:
In view of the pressing want of Cotton Yarn in most sections of the
country, the Roswell Manufacturing Company propose a gratuitous distribution, in
October next, of one thousand bunches of Yarn to the needy poor of the counties
of Cobb, Milton, Cherokee, Paulding, Pickens, Bartow, Fulton, Forsyth, DeKalb,
and Floyd. This will give to each
county one hundred bunches.
It is desired the Judges of the Inferior Court of each county should
interest themselves in the appointment of a Committee, whose pleasure,
doubtless, it will be, judiciously to dispose of the Yarn, and as the amount is
limited, not more than one bunch could be spared to each family.
The Yarn will be delivered to the order of the Judges of the Inferior
Court, any week day during the month of October; and this early notice is given
that those living remote from the court House may have an opportunity to make
timely application. If it were
possible, the list of counties would be cheerfully increased, but other sections
have mills near them, upon whose liberality they can doubtless depend for
supply.
Geo. H. Camp,
Agent Roswell Manufacturing Company.
SAVANNAH [GA]
REPUBLICAN, September 20, 1862, p. 1, c. 5
The Roswell (Cobb co. Factory)
proposes to distribute gratuitously one thousand bunches of yarn to the poor of
ten of the counties adjoining, during the month of October.
GALVESTON
WEEKLY NEWS, September 24, 1862, p.
1, c. 4
Augusta Factory Goods sold for the following prices at the sale this morning:
1-8 shirting, 41@42 cents; 4 4 sheeting, 45 1/4@ 45 3/4 cents.
Graniteville "Domestics sold as follows:
7 8 shirting, 42 1/2 cents; 3/4 shirting, 30 cents; 4-4 sheeting, 45 1/2@46
cents.
Hopewell Factors, 7 oz. Osnaburgs, sold for 45 1/2 cents.
Osnaburgs (8 ox.) manufactured by Gibbs & co., Columbia, sold for 49 1/4
cents.--Augusta Sentinel.
MOBILE REGISTER AND ADVERTISER, September 29, 1862, p. 2, c. 4
Roswell Factory.
Geo. H. Camp, Agent of the Roswell Manufacturing Company, proposes to
make a donation of one thousand bunches of factory yarn to the needy families of
ten counties, mentioned in his letter, which we publish to-day. As a citizen of one of the fortunate counties, we feel
thankful of course. But this is not
what we want. Reduce your prices
greatly, Mr. Camp! otherwise it
will be truly said of your donation—
"With one hand he put
A penny in the urn of poverty,
And with the other took a shilling out."
--Rome (Ga.) Southerner.
Yes, let prices be reduced. When
a mill uses four thousand or more pounds of cotton per day, on which a profit of
eighty cents per pound is made—with yarn at one dollar per pound—and the
public thus extorted upon, there is precious little merit in donating five
thousand pounds to ten counties. The
cost of the yarn is not one third of one day's profit.
We are the friend of the manufacturing interest.
On that subject we come nearer being of one idea than in any other.
We have desired that the introduction of manufactories should be
encouraged, and if they had been, the competition now would have kept prices
down; but we confess to some misgivings when we see persons asking exorbitant
prices for their goods because they know the people are compelled to have them,
and are obliged, therefore, to give what is asked.
We hear of one manufacturer who is now positively refusing to sell at
all, because he expects that yarn will be even higher than it is. May the Lord have mercy on his soul.—[Atlanta Commonwealth.
COLUMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, September 30, 1862, p. 1, c. 6
The Roswell (Cobb co.) Factory proposes to distribute gratuitously one
thousand bunches of yarn to the poor of ten of the counties adjoining, during
the month of October.
CHARLESTON
MERCURY, October 11, 1862, p. 2, c. 1
The Graniteville Factory--Liberality.--Mr. Wm. Gregg, President of the
Graniteville Factory Company, has recently given $7000 to the working people and
poor of Graniteville and vicinity. The Company has uniformed one military company from Edgefield
District complete; it has contributed $3000 towards equipping another; and Mr.
William Gregg, Jr., has given Miss Buie 150 yards of shirting for the soldiers.
MEMPHIS
DAILY APPEAL [GRENADA],
October 15, 1862, p. 2, c. 8
M'Allister's Advertisements.
J. C. McAllister,
Jackson, Missippi, [sic]
Has just received
5000 yds. English Ginghams,
4500 yds. " Poplins,
1500 yds. " Plaids,
1900 yds. Georgia Stripes,
50 gross Pearl Buttons.
Also--A large lot Cotton yarns all Nos., and fifty Slaes.
Come soon as they will go off like hot Buckwheat Cakes.
Osnaburgs, Sheetings, Shirtings and Drillings!
75 bales just received and for sale by J. C. McAllister, Jackson Miss.
J. C. McAllister,
Jackson, Miss.,
Has just received a good supply Grey cloths for Uniforms.
Crenshaw's best Grey,
English Tweeds Grey,
Cowpen Factory Grey,
Salem, N. C. Factory Grey.
J. C. McAllister.
COLUMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, October 21, 1862, p. 2,
c. 3
Letter
from "J. T. S."
Montgomery, Ala., Oct. 16, 1862.
Dear Enquirer: . . .
At an appointed hour, in your city, on Monday last, the heretofore long
sealed doors of the Eagle Manufacturing Company were thrown open, and the
families of the soldiers permitted to supply themselves with cloths at prices
almost nothing in comparison to those charged by the sharks of Columbus.
The opportunity was a glad one to the poor, and they very numerously
availed themselves of it. Every one bought just what their wants required, but the
speculators were ruled out. I went
down with the rest, and laid in my humble supply for my wife and little ones and
servants. I found there that best
of men, J. Rhodes Browne, the Prince of Southern manufacturers, up to his eyes
in personal attention of the work and dealing out with uniform politeness the
great desideratums of the hour. Much
credit is due him for the perfection to which he has brought the cotton and wool
manufacturing in Columbus, and much credit is his share for having furnished so
great an amount of good cloth to clothe and tent our army in the field.
Me he prosper as he deserves! I
offer him my thanks for the cloth which he presented me, to have made into a
genuine Confederate suit, to shield me from a cold Virginia winter.
My memory from comfort will often revert to his appropriate give when
snow does most abound.
ATHENS
[GA] SOUTHERN BANNER, October 22,
1862, p. 3, c. 1
Athens
Factory.
The Agent of this Factory determined a week or so ago to sell thread at
$3 per bunch for a given time, and adopt the miller's rule, "first come,
first served." The hour for
selling was from 8 to 9 o'clock each morning.
Hundreds of people would assemble at the office each morning long before
the appointed time. So great was
the pressure that many females fainted, and we are told that the scene was
occasionally enlivened by rough and tumble fights. Persons frequently put their money on the end of a pole in
order to reach it to the Agent. To
some the scene was ludicrous; to others it was sad.
Saturday was the last day for selling in this manner.
COLUMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, October 28, 1862, p. 2, c. 5
Athens Factory.—The Agent of this Factory determined a week or so ago
to sell thread at $3 per bunch for a given time, and adopt the miller's rule,
"first come, first served." The
hour for selling was from 8 to 9 o'clock each morning.
Hundreds of people would assemble at the office each morning long before
the appointed time. So great was
the pressure that many females fainted, and we are told that the scene was
occasionally enlivened by rough and tumble fights. Persons frequently put their money on the end of a pole in
order to reach it to the Agent. To
some this scene was ludicrous; to others it was sad.
Saturday was the last day for selling in this manner.—Athens Banner.
ATHENS
[GA] SOUTHERN BANNER, October 29,
1862, p. 3, c. 7
Wanted.
At the Georgia Factory,
a good practical Spinner, competent to run either Ring or Flyer Frames.
Personal application preferred. Apply
to
J. Garwood, Superintendent.
SAVANNAH [GA]
REPUBLICAN, October 30, 1862, p. 1, c. 2-3
The
Factories—Gov. Brown—The Bar-
tow Petitioners—Dorcases, &c.
Mr. Editor: There are some
facts about certain Factories which can be states, for the information of some
persons in this State, who are disposed to abuse this branch of industry,
because the war has given it a wonderful degree of prosperity.
Let it be remembered that most capitalists, who, in the former days of
Yankee rule, ventured to invest in cotton manufacturing, lost one half or more
of their investment. Now, there is
an opportunity, it would seem fair to have them double what remains, especially
as the machinery is rapidly wearing out under the present impossibility of
suitable repairs and the heavy pressure of work forced upon them by the demands
of government and the necessities of the community.
But another fact is, the Factories are not to be blamed for the high
price of their goods, for if there were fewer or none, the price would, like all
foreign commodities cut off by the blockade, have become almost fabulous.
The fact is, these factories, established by enterprising Southern men
years ago, have saved the country from Yankee domination, for without them the
Southern Confederacy would by this time have been forced into subjection, or
like the ancients, been "clothed in sheep skins and goat skins, being
destitute, afflicted, tormented."
Kind and gentle ladies, do not abuse the friends who have rescued you
from such a savage condition. Do
not become ungrateful for small favors because they cannot grant you all you
desire. They have others besides
yourselves to serve.
Again, it is a fact that some of the factories of Georgia tried to keep
down the price of yarns, &c. A
circular, issued about a year since, is proof before the country.
But all in vain. Like an
inflated balloon, the thing would go up, and up, notwithstanding all efforts to
keep it down. And manufacturers
discovered that merchants and speculators were receiving the profits without the
labor, capital or risk of their business. It
was their duty, and they took steps to take what was due.
They put their goods up at auction, and they brought them the market
value, no more, no less. If the
factories continued to sell their yarn at a dollar a bunch, the state of things
would have been the same, but the profit would have gone to Jew and Gentile, who
had done nothing to earn it but speculate!
There is a law of trade, inflexible as gravitation, which caused and will
sustain the present and even higher prices for goods, viz:
"Where the demand exceeds the supply, the price rises
proportionately." The
factories might give away their goods, and yet this would be true;
hundreds would need what the few might have presented to them, and each would
become a competitor with the other, till the highest bidder would secure the
needed article.
During the last summer the writer was spending a short time near a large
manufacturing establishment in Georgia, which, for months, had been retailing a
large part of its production to families applying at the mills, for half
the market [illegible] repeatedly occurred when [illegible] bunches of yarn,
re-sold [illegible] full market price before they left the place!
Was that factory and its liberal managers to be blamed for this?
It is very hard that the poor women, "whose husbands and sons are in
the army, and need clothes," cannot get the yarn; but the factories are not
to be blamed. It is the war and the blockade, developing the practical
results of the theory of free trade. When
a country, like the South, has given no attention to manufacturing, and depended
entirely upon a foreign supply of manufactured goods, and suddenly, as by this
terrible war, has had all commerce cut off, it must suffer, and can never be
independent and prosperous until its necessary supplies are raised and
manufactured in its own territory. Instead,
therefore, of blaming the factories for what they cannot prevent, let all our
capitalists build more of all kinds of manufacturing establishments, and
speedily secure Southern independence of England and France, as well as the
North! It does seem as if this is
the only legitimate remedy—increase the supply.
Let some encouragement be given by government, that capitalists who
venture upon manufacturing will not be ruined when the war is over by free
trade with England, Yankee-land, and all the other lands, and millions of
idle capital will go at once into machine shops and manufactories of all kinds;
while, the wants of the country being supplied, the price will become the same
as formerly.
But the gentle ladies of Bartow seem to think another plan better.
They petition Gov. Joseph E. Brown "to seize and work the factories
of the State." For whom, the
owners or themselves? Good ladies,
it is written, "Thou shalt not covet."
If the factories were like some farmers, "withholding corn in the
time of need," for higher prices, the same book says, "let the people
curse them." On the contrary,
they, the factories, are pressing their goods into the market as fast as they
can be produced; selling some at half price, giving away hundreds and thousands
of bunches, and yet utterly unable, with all the zeal and skill of private
interest and experienced knowledge of their business, to satisfy the demand.
If Gov. Brown should work the factories for the ladies of Bartow, he
could hardly reach the wants and answer the cries of the distressed Dorcases of
Liberty. The supply furnished at the hands of the manufacturing
Governor would be seized by the eager populace at the very doors of the factory.
The right of petition is constitutional, but the fair petitioners had
just as much ground for asking Gov. Brown to become farmer, and seize and work
the farms of Bartow county, because farmers are selling corn at more than
three times its usual price, flour about ten times its customary
rates, and bacon in much the same ratio!
Cannot these good ladies see some reason for the high prices they are
asking, from the manufacturing operatives, for food?
They look at their corn cribs, flour bins, and pig pens, and say such
prices by the farmers are not "extortion," because the demand
exceeds the supply. Sugar cost
the merchant four cents, yet he has been selling it at twelve times the
cost, and gives the same reason, "the demand exceeds the supply."
Oh! Gov. Brown will work the factories, increase the
supply, cheapen the yarn, fill the looms of all the women in Georgia, and our
brave boys will then have plenty of clothing.
Most heartily does every manufacturer wish the ladies all they desire,
and our noble soldiers all they so richly merit from their fellow citizens,
whose homes and property they have so courageously defended.
But the good ladies (God bless them for their good works,) are mistaken
in the means for the accomplishment of the desired object.
The manufacturers, stimulated by high prices, cannot now meet their heavy
contracts with the Confederate government, at low rates, and at the same
time meet the popular demand for goods. The
fact that the government is now, and has been for a long time, making such heavy
claims upon all cotton and woolen manufactories is one great reason for the
present prices. But even if another
party could produce more than the owners and agents of Georgia manufactories,
experience proves Gov. Brown is not the man "to work the machine." Gov. Brown went into the banking business, and now we have
neither gold nor silver, or even "a quarter of a cent!"
He undertook the management of military affairs, and came near involving
Georgia with the Confederacy; and now, as commander-in-chief, has brought the
tax payers of our commonwealth of Georgia an extra war debt of a million
or more dollars! Hurrah, for Gov.
Brown! He turned merchant and
speculated in salt when it was $15 a bag, and now, behold!
it can scarcely be had for $150! Hurrah,
for Gov. Brown!
Should the Governor follow the advice of his feminine counsellors, and
try his skill in manufacturing, reasoning from past experience and analogy, he
would soon have yarn, now selling at 47, scarce at $70!
Hurrah, for Gov. Brown!
Ladies and gentlemen, let the Governor mind his own business, and the
manufacturers theirs, for, by proof of word and deeds, they have shown
themselves as patriotic as he, or any other class of Georgia's sons.
K. B. C.
CHARLESTON
MERCURY, October 30, 1862, p. 2, c. 1
The
Wants of Our Soldiers.
To the Editor of the Mercury: The
representation of the condition and necessities of our Army in Northern
Virginia, contained in the correspondence of the Savannah Republican, lately
copied into your paper, must create a profound and painful sensation throughout
the country. It is not to be
supposed that they are exaggerated, for the writer, as an eye witness, speaks of
what he knows. Three remarks are
induced thereby.
1. It is almost impossible
for private enterprise to supply the want, for the simple reason that the
necessary material for clothing and shoes can, in many places, not be procured
at all, and, in all others, can only be had at such prices as absolutely
preclude their purchase, except by the wealthy, who constitute, of course, very
much the smaller number of those interested.
The materials, as fast as manufactured or brought into the country, have
been taken up by the Government, or by speculators who are co-operating with the
public enemy, and accomplishing even more than himself towards the end he seeks.
Having occasion recently for so much grey cloth as would make a suit for
a private in the service, and being unable to obtain any nearer home, search was
made, through a friend, in your city, and the only chance of success proved to
be, in purchasing at seven dollars per yard, a
whole piece of thirty yards, of a very coarse article, worth ordinarily,
perhaps, one dollar. Raw wool
cannot be had, else the cloth could be woven in our hand looms. The only course that remains is to take to pieces such
blankets as have not already been given to the army, and from the wool thus
obtained, mixed with cotton, manufacture the needed cloth. But this resource must soon be exhausted. . . .
3. But is it really true
that the Government is not able to supply these necessities?
A gentleman, careful in his statements, who recently visited Richmond,
reported, on his return, that there was in the government warehouses of that
city the largest abundance of winter clothing, a good suit of which, for a
private, would be furnished at the cost of fourteen dollars; that at one point
on the way several large stores were entirely filled with blankets belonging to
the War Department; and that at a recent sale of imported goods over $40,000
worth of flax thread had been purchased for government use, in the manufacture
of clothing for the army. The
woolen manufactories, the tan yards, the shoe factories throughout the country
refuse to furnish anything towards the supply of the private necessities of
families or plantations, on the ground that they are in the employment of the
Government, and under contracts enforced by stern obligations, which exhaust
their utmost capacities for production.
C.
COLUMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, November 4, 1862, p. 2, c. 8
Cotton
Yarns—Roswell Factory.
We would call the attention of all such as are buying this article in
Macon to ten dollars a bunch, to the following letter from Geo. H. Camp, the
agent of the Roswell Factory, and then give their opinion of such Factories and
dealers as have extorted these prices.—Macon Mess.
We are retailing yarn here in large quantities each day at $3 per bunch,
when a moments reference to your Atlanta exchange, will demonstrate the fact
that we supply your county not only, but residents in nearly every county in
Upper Georgia, with yarn at but little over one-third the market price, which is
now eight dollars. This concession
in price from the market price is the result of no pressure, aside from the
wants of the country, and as our desire is solely to benefit the country no
unjust comments will cause us to waver from the plan we have adopted to place
yarn in the hands of the needy at a price they can afford to pay.
SAVANNAH [GA]
REPUBLICAN, November 8, 1862, p. 1, c. 4
Factory Burned.—The Houston Factory owned by Messrs. Tooke &
Cooper, was burned down yesterday morning.
The wool, cotton, and what little they had manufactured, was
saved.—[Macon Telegraph.
MEMPHIS
DAILY APPEAL [GRENADA],
November 12, 1862, p. 2, c. 2
The cotton factory at Van Buren, Arkansas, was accidentally destroyed by fire a
short time ago.
MEMPHIS
DAILY APPEAL [GRENADA], November 13,
1862, p. 2, c. 2
Factory Burned.--We learn from the Macon Telegraph that the Houston Factory,
owned by Messrs. Tooke & Cooper, was burned on the 6th.
The wool, cotton, and what little they had manufactured, was saved.
GALVESTON
WEEKLY NEWS, November 19, 1862, p. 2,
c. 1
We would inform the editor of the Marshall Republican that he was
misinformed, when told that we have "any quantity" of State
Penitentiary jeans in Houston. The
editor also says: "These
jeans, which the citizens are entitled to at 60 cents a yard, are sold at $3 00. The editor was certainly also misinformed in this.
We know of none to be had in this market, nor have we ever heard of any
selling at $3 00 a yard. All that
the Penitentiary now makes is for the troops this side of the Mississippi, and
when they are supplied, the families of Texas soldiers are next to be supplied.
CHARLESTON
MERCURY, November 19, 1862, p. 1, c.
1-2
Vernonsville, November 14.
. . . Yarn is also in very great demand, as I am told by those who go to the
factories to purchase it, that they sometimes find from two to three hundred
people there waiting for the hour of sale to arrive.
It is selling now at three dollars per bunch, of five pounds.
This great demand for factory yarn is caused, in a great measure, by the
want of cotton cards. Here was
exhibited a great deficiency of common sense or foresight in those who conduct
affairs, in not having imported at the proper time a full supply of cards for
our women. Had this been done, it
would greatly have curtailed the enormous and unconscionable price not demanded
by the cormorant proprietors of any of the cotton factories.
Nevertheless, the women of our country are doing the best they can to
obviate the many difficulties in their way, and, with cheerfulness, forego the
comforts and conveniences they enjoyed before the war.--There is a loom and
spinning wheel in every house and cabin, and there is great activity in making
domestic cloth of all kinds; and there is a great deal made, and much of it of
excellent quality. After supplying
the wants of their families at home and their sons and brothers in the army,
with good thick jeans and linseys, many sell the remainder at the villages to
purchase more yarn to make more cloth--and so they go on.
I have never before known as much cloth of different kinds to be made in
the country. Good jeans have been
selling at four, and linseys at three dollars per yard.
God bless our precious mothers, wives, and sisters!
Always susceptible of happy influences, how could the present glorious
struggle for home, liberty and honor, fail to give new spirit and vigor to their
patriotic and devoted affections? They
say they want peace--and would gladly embrace it; but never, no, never in a
Union with Yankeedom--they want a separation, total and everlasting.
. . . W.
MEMPHIS
DAILY APPEAL [GRENADA], November 19,
1862, p. 2, c. 3
The same journal [Pine Bluff Southron] had seen a letter from the clerk
of the cotton mill at Van Buren, recently burned, which stated that their
proprietors intended rebuilding it as soon as possible.
The loss by the fire was about $40,000.
He states that nearly all the wool was saved, and will be delivered to
owners upon call. The factory had
just got fairly into operation, having put a double set of hands to work, which
enabled them to turn out fifty pounds spun yarn per hour.
DALLAS HERALD, November 22, 1862, p. 1, c. 5
The only factory in the Confederate States that is not charging from
seven to ten prices for goods is the Star State Mills, at the Huntsville
Penitentiary. We can but think the
necessities of the State as well as good policy demand an increase of the rates
of goods there.
COLUMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, November 25, 1862, p. 1, c. 5
From
the Mobile Tribune.
Extortion Gorged.
Mr. Editor: In the news
columns of the Advertiser & Register, of this morning, appeared the
following card of a Georgia Cotton Factory Agent, under the title of "A
Patriotic Card.":
To
Manufacturers.—Sometime since, we had a meeting to advance the prices of
fabrics. Now the time has arrived
when it is equally important to hold another meeting to put prices down.
The families of our brother soldiers require that we should do our duty
to them. A plan can be adopted by
which the consumers can have the goods at factory prices.
And unless we wish to continue the suffering of our women and children,
we should take prompt action. We
can keep the goods from falling into the hands of speculators.
I, therefore, propose a convention of representatives, from all the
cotton manufactories of Georgia, to assemble in the city of Atlanta, on Monday,
17th of November next, to take this matter into consideration.
E. Steadman.
Agent Gwinnett Manufactur'g Company.
Having grown heart-sick at the extortion practised upon the people
heretofore, this Agent now proposes to the manufacturers to take some action to
prevent the continuance of "the sufferings of our women and children."
Content with the enormous profits already accumulated by the
manufacturers, "some time since," "to advance the prices of
fabrics"—and, perhaps, with the fear of their liability to conscription,
if henceforward they attempt to realize over 75 per cent. profit on their
goods—they now, very patriotically, propose to reduce their prices to a lawful
standard. On their part, this may
be a very judicious and charitable proposition—but let it not be
heralded to the country as the impulse of patriotism.
Like vampyres, gorged with blood until they can contain no more, they
seem especially concerned lest somebody else should now take their places in
extorting from "consumers," and propose to set their victims free
under the specious plea of patriotism.
We have no desire to censure their conduct in the past, if they have the
approval of their own consciences, nor have we the least shadow of
sympathy for monopolizers and extortioners in the mercantile classes; but we are
decidedly opposed to calling that patriotic which is simply a necessity
on their part—all of whom doubtless would rather make "cotton
fabrics" at the very small profit of 75 per cent. than enlist in the
ranks of our ragged soldiery.
Truth.
GALVESTON
WEEKLY NEWS, November 26, 1862, p. 2,
c. 3
The Fort Smith Bulletin says the Van Buren cotton factory was
accidentally destroyed by fire recently. Look
to the incendiaries.
COLUMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, December 2, 1862, p. 2, c. 1
Praiseworthy
Conduct of North Carolina Manufacturers.
We published, a short time since, the proceedings of a meeting of
Manufacturers, at Augusta, which resolved that cotton could not be manufactured
at less than 50 cents per pound, and that it was inexpedient to bargain with the
Government at any fixed prices for cotton fabrics for more than a month at a
time. This resolution is regarded as a rejection of the terms held
out by the Exemption act of Congress, offering exemption from conscription to
employees of factories at which a profit of not exceeding 75 per cent. upon the
cost of production is charged.
This convention adjourned to meet again at Columbia, S. C., at a time to
be announced by the President. It
was not fully attended, and we believe that no delegate from any factory of this
city was present.
We have not yet observed any movement, either towards the appointment or
instruction of delegates to the proposed meeting in Columbia, or any formal
acceptance by the other manufacturing establishments of the policy, indicated by
the meeting at Augusta. But we
note, with pleasure, that several of the Cotton Manufacturing Associations of
North Carolina have resolved to repudiate the policy announced by the convention
at Augusta, and to reduce their prices to the proffered profit of 75 per cent.
They have moreover called a meeting of the manufacturing establishments
of North Carolina, at Greensboro, on the 3d of December, to consult as to the
best means of giving the desired effect to the provisions of the Exemption act,
by securing to the consumers the goods at reasonable prices.
The Rockfish Manufacturing Company, of that State, took the lead in this
movement by the passage of the following resolution:
"Resolved, That the Rockfish Company accepts and will abide by the
terms prescribed by the Exemption Act of the Confederate Congress, and will so
regulate the prices of its manufactured goods as to bring the profits within the
per cent. upon the cost of manufacture prescribed by the said act."
The Fayetteville Observer of the 24th announces that another
of our Fayetteville companies (the Beaver Creek) has resolved to abide by the
terms of the Exemption law, and to reduce its prices accordingly.
These are movements in the right direction, and we hope that we shall
soon have occasion to report many more of the same sort.
GALVESTON
WEEKLY NEWS, December 3, 1862, p. 2,
c. 2
Clinton, La., Nov. 20--The principal part of the machinery, brought to
this place from the Baton Rouge Penitentiary, was destroyed by fire this morning
at 3 o'clock. It is believed to be
the work of an incendiary. The
machinery cannot be replaced; all the spindle frames, some looms and carding
machines were burnt.
GALVESTON
WEEKLY NEWS, December 3, 1862, p. 2,
c. 3
Wants
of the Texas Troops.
LaGrange, Nov. 24th, 1862.
Eds. News:--A citizen of this county has just returned from our army in
Arkansas, and the news that he brings is bad enough, not that our army has been
whipped, but that our army is naked and shoeless, and from the fact that they
are without clothing and in a colder climate than our own, there is much
sickness and many deaths. Texas will lose more men this winter for want of good warm
clothing than she has lost in every battle since this war commenced.--The cry is
coming from every part of the State, clothing for the army! but the people have
not got it, and notwithstanding the abundance of cotton and wool, they cannot
supply it for the want of cotton cards.--Now, sirs, the question is, who is to
blame? I answer emphatically Gov.
Lubbock. The penitentiary, which
belongs to the people of Texas and over which the Governor has complete control
as long as he is Governor, makes annually 1,500,000 yards of cloth, running
ordinary time, which, if all appropriated in the right way, would amply clothe
fifty thousand men. But, sirs, what
are the facts? We have not got
fifty thousand men in the field, and probably not fifteen thousand are clothes
from that institution, the balance must either go naked and die of cold, or
their friends must furnish them.-- . . . Fayette.
MOBILE
REGISTER AND ADVERTISER, December 3, 1862, p. 2, c. 3
The Eagle Mills, Columbus, Ga.—Are now manufacturing, for the
Government, daily, two thousand yards of heavy grey tweeds, besides large
quantities of cotton duck and oil cloth.—The tweeds is sold at $2 00 a yard,
and furnishes two regiments a week with warm clothing.
The duck goes to the tent maker, and the oil cloth is used for knapsacks,
&c.
In addition to the above, a quantity of stripes, osnaburgs, sheeting and
knitting yarn, worth over $1,500 per day is manufactured, and retailed from the office on the morning after the production, at
about one half the price which elsewhere such goods bring.
The stripes is selling at 50 cents, the osnaburgs at 40, and the sheeting
at 35 cents. Before the war this
Company steadily refused to retail from its office, but has recently adopted
this plan, so that its goods, now so indispensable to the country, may pass at
fir prices directly to the consumer. The
Government, it will be observed, gets about three-fourths the entire production
of the mills, and at about one-half the price which similar goods bring
elsewhere at auction.—[Atlanta Intelligencer.
COLUMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, December 9, 1862, p. 1, c. 3
From
the Atlanta Intelligencer, 30th.
The Eagle Mills, Columbus, Ga.
Are now manufacturing, for the Government, daily, two thousand yards of
heavy grey tweeds, besides large quantities of cotton duck and oil cloth.
The tweeds is sold at $2.00 a yard, and furnishes two regiments a week
with warm clothing. The duck goes
to the tent maker, and the oil cloth is used for knapsacks, &c.
In addition to the above, a quantity of stripes, osnaburgs, sheeting and
knitting yarn, worth over $1,500 per day, is manufactured, and retailed
from the office on the morning after the production, at about one half the price
which elsewhere such goods bring. The
stripes is selling at 50 cents, the osnaburgs at 40, and the sheeting at 35
cents. Before the war this Company
steadily refused to retail from its office, but has recently adopted this plan,
so that its goods, now so indispensable to the country, may pass at fair prices
directly to the consumer. The
Government, it will be observed, gets about three-fourths the entire production
of the mills, and at about one-half the price which similar goods bring
elsewhere at auction.
The example of this noble corporation stands out in bold relief in these
times of almost universal speculation and avarice; and were a similar course
adopted by all our factories, the war would not fall with such crushing weight
upon the poorer classes of society. No
sincere patriot could have believed, when we went into this life and death
struggle for our liberties, that the Southern people would prey upon each
other!
It is proper to say that this article is written by one who is in no way
interested in the Company alluded to, or has ever been benefited by the liberal
course which it has, with provident patriotism, seen fit to pursue, and that it
is quite without the knowledge of any of its managers.
Atlanta, November 1862.
COLUMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, December 16, 1862, p. 2, c. 6
Special
Correspondence of the Augusta Chronicle & Sentinel.
The Columbus Factories.
Milledgeville, Ga., Dec. 4, 1862.
It is refreshing, in these days of extortion, to find individuals or
corporations who are content with reasonable profits, and who refuse to lend
themselves to the devices of monopoly and extortion which prevail in most of our
markets.
The factories of Columbus—I allude especially to the Eagle and Howard
mills and the Columbus Factory—afford noble examples of public spirited
enterprise, which will entitle their names to grateful remembrance when those
who are taking advantage of the necessities of the people are remembered, as
they deserve to be, among the tories of the second revolution.
The Eagle and Howard mills have from the beginning of the war had heavy
contracts with the Government, and all last year, with wool at 45 cents a pound,
kept their woolen jeans at $1 per yard, furnishing 700 to 800 yards per week at
that price. Before the war, with
wool at 25 cents, the price of their jeans was 55 cents.
Now, with wool at $2.75 per lb., they continue to furnish the Government
at $2. Thus, while wool has
advanced eleven prices, or 1100 per cent., their goods have advanced only five
prices, or 500 per cent.; and they have, I learn, advanced the wages of their
hands from 100 to 300 per cent. They
have exchanged large quantities of goods at old prices for provisions at the
same rate, which they have furnished to their operatives at cost.
For nearly a year they have furnished the Government with 1200 to 1300
yards of 10 oz. duck, per day, at 22 cents, while the market rate was 40 to 45
cents; and are now making the same goods at 45 cents, while the market value of
even 7 oz. goods is 50 per cent. above that price.
Four fifths of their goods are under contract for the Government, the
balance are retailed out among consumers in small quantities, favoring as far as
possible the families of soldiers. They
sell stripes at 50 cents, for which the market price is $1.20 cents; osnaburgs
and sheetings at 40 cents, for which the market rates are 65 to 75 cents. Cotton yarns they have never sold at over $2.50 per bunch.
They have never allowed their goods to be sold at auction, or to
merchants or speculators, save in exchange for wool not to be had in any other
way, and they are daily refusing from all quarters offers of 65 to 100 per cent.
over present rates.
The record of the Columbus Factory is equally clean.
They have been making tent cloths at 18 to 25 cents per yard, for over a
year. Their woolen looms made
Kerseys at 75 cts, to $1.25 last year, and this year, owing to the price of
wool, they have charged $1.60, until recently they have been obliged to stop for
want of wool, save on work for farmers, whose wool they work up at 25 cents per
yard. At their tannery, they have
furnished shoes at $3.50, as long as they had leather, and now they make them at
75 cts. to those furnishing the leather. They
have furnished soldiers' wives with thread at $2.50 per bunch.
I make this statement without the knowledge of the factory owners, on
authority perfectly reliable, and commend their example to manufacturers
throughout the Confederacy.
--------
Our Milledgeville correspondent, a few days since, in speaking of the
Eagle Mills Manufacturing Company of Columbus, Ga., stated that their mills
furnished from seven to nine hundred yards of woolen jeans to the Government per
week; this was an error; the mills furnish the Government with from seven to
nine thousand yards per week—or at the rate of from twelve to fifteen hundred
yards per day. Quite a difference
in the amount. The proprietors of
the Eagle Mills are deserving of great praise for their patriotic
liberality—Chronicle & Sentinel.
Dec. 13.
ATHENS
[GA] SOUTHERN BANNER, December 17,
1862, p. 1, c. 7
The Cotton Factories.
The Graniteville Factory has reduced its rates to a reasonable scale, as
will be seen in their advertisement.
The North Carolina Factories met in Convention on Monday, the 3d instant,
in Greensboro'--eighteen establishments being represented--and adopted the
following resolutions:
Resolved, That we will sell all the products of our several mills at a
profit not exceeding 75 per cent; and further that we give the orders of the
State the preference.
Resolved, That we will use our best endeavors to discourage speculation
in factory fabrics, and to secure this end we will sell in quantities to such
agents, as will prevent them reaching the hands of speculators.
Resolved, That we believe the following prices are in conformity at
present with the Exemption Act, to wit: 4-4
sheeting, 35c. per yard; cotton yarn, No. 5's to 7's, at $3 25 per bunch, of 5
pounds; No. 8's to 10's, at $3 50; No. 11's to 12's, at $3 75.
Resolved, That C. W. Garrett, Assistant Quartermaster at Raleigh, be
requested to publish once a month the list of prices he pays each factory for
their goods.
ATLANTA
[GA] SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY, December
30, 1862, p. 3, c. 6
Our
Markets, &c.
. . . But little cotton
goods or yarns in the market. The
unwarranted interference of private rights by the Legislature has caused the
cotton factories to put their entire force under the control of the Confederate
government. This is a just reward
for Gov. Brown and his followers, who are all the time harping on violating the
Constitution, but violate the dearest right of man whenever it suits them, by
seizing private property without just compensation. Our Legislature is keeping many valuable and almost
indispensable articles from being brought to our market. . .
BELLVILLE [TX]
COUNTRYMAN, January 10, 1863, p. 1, c. 1
The True Issue says that Fayette county has received from the State
Penitentiary, 86 bolts of Lowels for the destitute families of soldiers.
ATHENS
[GA] SOUTHERN BANNER, January 14,
1863, p. 1, c. 1
Wanted! 10,000 dogwood poles at the
Bobbin Mill near Athens. We will
pay five cents each for the above amount of good Dogwood Poles.
E. J. McCall & No.
Dec. 31.
MEMPHIS
DAILY APPEAL [JACKSON], January 17,
1863, p. 1, c. 5-6
The
Resources of the South.
Egypt, Illinois, November 24.
To the Editor of the Chicago Times:
In the Atlantic Monthly, for October, I find an article, under the above
caption, which was evidently written by one laboring under a desire to speak
correctly on the subject he undertakes to discuss, and to make deductions
therefrom calculated to enlighten public sentiment; but as both his statements
and deductions are full of errors, and calculated to mislead the country, I will
undertake, with all due respect, to correct the one and expose the other . . .
As to the supply of dry goods, implements of husbandry, etc., it must be
confessed that the advances made toward supplying their own wants are matters of
astonishment, and worthy of grave consideration at our hands.
At Augusta a large cotton factory is in full operation, employing several
hundred hands, nearly all females, and turning out a large amount of heavy
cotton fabrics. These are sold at
auction on regular days, once in every week, and are thus supplied to buyers all
over the Confederacy. The fabric manufactured is very superior, and is sold
exclusively for cash, and generally sells at forty to forty-five cents per yard.
Yet the writer of the Atlantic asserts that domestics could not be had at
one dollar per yard. But I very much doubt if he has ever heard of the above
establishment, although he undertakes to write on the "Resources of the
South."
There are several other cotton mills in Georgia, Alabama, and North
Carolina, all of which are being pressed to their utmost capacity in producing
fabrics. Besides these, several new
companies are now forming to build other mills, as capital thus employed yields
a large per. cen., and the inducements to men of means are great. . . . Shoes
and boots are scarce, and their army is greatly in want of these, as well as
blankets. In other clothing
notwithstanding the statements made about rags and nakedness, I think there is
no great lack. The portions of the
army which I have seen have generally been well clothed, with good, stout,
though homely, woolen cloth. In the
manufacture of shoes, government has taken great pains to stimulate exertion.
The hides from the army beeves are carefully gathered up by agents
appointed for this purpose, and are delivered to tanners, who are required to
tan them, and deliver the leather all back to government, compensation being
allowed for their labor. . . .In the manufacture of minor articles, such as
percussion caps, lucifer matches, etc., considerable progress has been made, and
the latter article I purchased in Mobile--where they were manufactured--at ten
cents per box although they were selling but a few months since at fifty to
seventy-five cents per box. I found
manufactories of soap and candles at many places, while carding machines,
spinning jennies, and looms were getting to be much in use. . . . Old School
Democrat.
COLUMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, January 20, 1863, p. 2, c. 2
The Natchitoches Union announces that a cotton factory was about
to be established in Natchitoches parish. The
company had been fully organized.
MEMPHIS
DAILY APPEAL [JACKSON],
January 24, 1863, p. 2, c. 6
Wanted. 10 or Twelve Families of
Boys and Girls, from ten to sixteen years old, at the Pearl River Mills.
Ja24-10t
J. & V. Gesen, Jackson, Miss.
CHARLESTON
MERCURY, January 27, 1863, p. 2, c. 1
Woolen Factory Burned.--On Monday, the 12th instant, the large Wool
Carding Factory, located near Lincolnton, N. C., accidentally took fire and was
entirely consumed, together with all the machinery, much of which was entirely
new. The property was owned by Col.
L. D. Childs, one of the proprietors of the Saluda Factory, near Columbia, who
lost by a similar cause some weeks since, an extensive cotton factory situated
at the same place. There was no
insurance.
MEMPHIS
DAILY APPEAL [JACKSON],
February 2, 1863, p. 1, c. 6
. . . The woolen mill at this place is daily turning out a fine supply of goods
for the use of the army. Our troops
indeed are rapidly being provided with all that is necessary for their comfort.
Captain A. S. Camp, of Gen. Cheatham's division, has of course been
actively engaged in supplying the wants of his command.
He is never absent or negligent where the brave Tennesseans' wants are to
be supplied.--Shelbyville Banner.
COLUMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, February 3, 1863, p. 3, c. 1
Woolen Factory Burnt.—On Monday, the 12th instant, the large
Wool Carding Factory, located near Lincolnton, N. C., accidentally took fire and
was entirely consumed, together with all the machinery, much of which was
entirely new. The property was
owned by Col. L. D. Childs, one of the proprietors of the Saluda Factory, near
Columbia, S. C., who lost by a similar cause, some weeks since, an extensive
cotton factory situated at the same place.
There was no insurance, and it is, consequently, a total loss.
WASHINGTON
[ARK] TELEGRAPH, February 4, 1863
One bale spun thread will be given in exchange for every ten pounds washed wool
delivered to me at Washington. The
balance will be paid in cash.
Geo. Taylor.
COLUMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, February 10, 1863, p. 2, c. 2
The Athens (Ga.) Factory, we learn, has been selling yarn at three
dollars per bundle at the factory all the time, limiting the quantity to a
family in such a way as not to allow one family to get more than another.
In the same way the Macon Factory has been selling its shirting, allowing
one piece to a family, the head of which was to register his or her name, so
that no advantage may be gained. The
cloth is furnished to one or more agents in the city who pay twenty-five cents
per yard for it and sell it to the families at an advance of ten per cent.
By this generous and enlightened policy, much good has been done; by its
adoption on a larger and more extended scale by all the Manufacturers in the
State, a much greater amount of good may be done.—Sou. Cultivator.
DALLAS HERALD, February 25, 1863, p. 2, c. 4
Spun Thread.
The undersigned have a fine lot cotton yarn for sale at our factory near
Lancaster.
Nance & Moffett.
Feb. 25, 1863—13:3t
NATCHEZ
DAILY COURIER, March 14, 1863, p. 1,
c. 1
A
Thoughtful Captain and a Valuable Cargo.
Our Charleston papers give us an account of the steamer T. D. Wagner,
Capt. W. C. Hammer, who arrived there a few days ago from Liverpool, via Nassau,
bringing over from England cotton cardings, or cotton rolls all ready to spin,
sufficient for all the cotton manufactories in North and South Carolina,
Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee to resume their spinning and the manufacture of
fabrics. This is a fact which has
not been make known.
MEMPHIS
DAILY APPEAL [JACKSON], March 28,
1863, p. 2, c. 5
The cost of manufacturing a five pound bunch of spun cotton.--A gentleman
who for many years was engaged in manufacturing cotton yarn and cloth in this
State, has furnished us with the following estimate of the cost:
When cotton was selling at eight cents per pound, the cost of
manufacturing a five pound bunch of cotton thread, including the raw material,
was about seventy cents, and including labor, wearing of machinery, etc.
Then, the usual selling price was ninety cents a bunch paying a profit of
about thirty per cent. nett to the manufacturer.
Suppose the raw cotton is at this time worth sixteen cents a pound, (most
of the manufacturers had already laid in more than six months supply at half
that price) and the cost of manufacturing to be double former expenses, (which
is not true); but at double rates for material, labor, etc. the nett cost of
producing five pounds of yarn will not exceed $1.40 at the outside.
Add seventy five per cent to this which is allowed by the conscription
law ( $1.05, a very large profit on one bunch of yarn) and the selling price
will be $2.45 per bunch.
The same rule will apply to cotton cloths, and restrain the
manufacturer's price to a trifle less than twenty-five cents per yard.--Iredell
Express.
NATCHEZ
DAILY COURIER, March 31, 1863, p.
1, c. 5
Wanted, a weaver that understands weaving twilled cloth.
Apply at this office. mar31.
MOBILE
REGISTER AND ADVERTISER, April 15, 1863, p. 2, c. 2
The Cotton Factories.—The Milton (N.C.) Chronicle says: "We have a rod in pickle for a cotton factory in our
mind's eye, the owner of which had his son detailed out of the army as an
operative, and which factory evades the 75 per cent. law by bartering yarns for
sugar, bacon, corn, wheat, flour, spirits of turpentine and cotton, while his
'operative' son buys yarns of his father and sells them at the tallest prices
possible. Uncle Jesse Holmes has
been peeping into things over there in Alamance, and as soon as he can put his
hands on a copy of the conscript oath prescribed for cotton factory 'exempts,' a
small earthquake will probably jar the factory of some one in Alamance county.
GALVESTON WEEKLY
NEWS, April 22, 1863, p. 2, c. 6
A
Card.
I take this opportunity to say to those planters with whom I have
conferred on the subject of establishing a cotton and woolen factory, some of
whom subscribed conditionally to the stock of the proposed Texas Manufacturing
Company before I obtained a charter incorporating the same, which was granted at
the last regular session of the Texas Legislature, that I have made arrangements
for all the machinery for a cotton and woolen mill of any size or capacity
desired, and if those planters who were in favor of establishing said
manufactory, or any other responsible individual, or set of men in the State
wish to establish a large or small cotton and woolen factory in Texas, and will
furnish me the cotton at once to pay for the machinery, I will furnish it at
such place and on such terms as may be agreed on, and I will turn over to them
the said charter at what it is worth, and I will take stock if parties desire me
to do so, and do all in my power to aid in establishing such an institution as
the planters in this State need.
I beg leave to say, however, that I am not in favor of the South becoming
a manufacturing people to a great extent, especially of the finer fabrics, but I
am in favour of Texas and all the Confederate States becoming more self-reliant,
and manufacturing plantation goods and producing in our glorious Confederacy
every necessary of life we require.
With the sword in one hand and the plow and spindle in the other, and God
on our side, we will gain our independence, and by economy, industry and
temperance, and the productions of our soil, the Confederate States of America
may become one of the wealthiest, the most independent and powerful nations on
the globe—for if God be for us, who can be against us.
Any communications addressed to me at Brenham between this and the first
day of May will receive attention.
Harris Hoyt.
SAVANNAH [GA]
REPUBLICAN, April 30, 1863, p. 2, c. 1
A Worthy Deed.—The Augusta Manufacturing Company, through their
President, Wm. E. Jackson, Esq., have generously allowed ten bales of sheetings
and shirtings of their manufacture to be taken to Lake City, Fla., to be sold to
the families of sick and disabled soldiers, and families of soldiers in the
service, at a small advance on cost. It
will enable very many families, whose means are limited, to obtain the goods at
less than half the rates charged by merchants.
Such acts of kindness should not pass unnoticed in these days of high
prices, and this is recorded with the hope that the example may be followed by
many who are able to come to the relief of the needy in this time of trial.
COLUMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, May 5, 1863, p. 1, c. 3
The
Raid on McMinnville.
We have conversed with a gentleman just from McMinnville.
He represents the outrages of the enemy in that quarter as surpassing any
yet perpetrated in Middle Tennessee. His
account is substantially as follows:
The enemy appeared on the Northwest side of the town at noon on
Monday.—Tidings of his approach had been brought in an hour or two before,
allowing the stray cavalrymen, convalescent soldiers and others a chance of
escape. There was a company of
Provost guardsmen present, who made a stand against the first advance for the
purpose of giving our wagons, et cetera, a fair start.
After a brisk skirmish of half an hour, overpowering numbers forced this
handful of men to disperse. Some
escaped and others were captured. There
being no further obstacle the Federals proceeded at once to the public square.
They were mostly mounted infantry, estimated at between six and ten
thousand in number.
Their first business was the destruction of the large Cotton Factory,
near the railroad bridge. It is one
of the most extensive, and has been also one of the most useful in the South.
It was completely destroyed. They
then burnt the depot buildings, and adjoining houses, and the bridges across the
Barren Fork. . . –Chatta. Rebel, 26th.
MOBILE
REGISTER AND ADVERTISER, May 7, 1863, p. 2, c. 2
The factory at Bankston has suspended operations, and the place is being
fortified. Col. Wesson has
despatched a messenger asking for troops to defend and protect the
factory.—[Greensboro (Miss.) Motive, 25th.
COLMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, May 12, 1863, p. 2, c. 2
Cotton
Yarns for Soldiers' Families.
Mr. E. Steadman calls upon all the cotton yarn spinners of the State to
meet in convention at Atlanta on the 15th inst., to arrange a united
effort on the part of the factories to supply the destitute families of soldiers
with yarns.
Col. Ira R. Foster,
Quartermaster of the State, whose duty it has been made by the Legislature to
procure supplies of yarn for soldiers' families, approves this call, and urges
that the work be commenced as generally and as soon as possible.
GALVESTON WEEKLY
NEWS, May 13, 1863, p. 2, c. 3
The Item gives the following as the correct form for an application to
obtain Penitentiary goods:
The State of Texas, county of ________
Before me the undersigned authority, this day personally came Mrs.
________ of the same county, who made oath that the goods sought to be bought of
the Texas Penitentiary, are for immediate use in her own family, consisting of
_____ whites and ________ blacks, excluding male members in the army; and are
not for barter, sale, exchange or speculation; and that she is the wife of a
soldier in the Confederate States' army, and that this is her [first or second]
application.
I ________ Chief Justice of ________ county, certify that the above
application was subscribed and sworn to before me, and that the facts set forth
in the same are true [being verified by the oath of one credible witness.]
In testimony of which witness [L. S.] my hand and seal of the County
Court, the ____ day of ________ 1863.
____________________ Chief Justice.
BELLVILLE [TX]
COUNTRYMAN, May 16, 1863, p. 1, c. 1
Cloth.—Judge Catlin, who has just returned from Huntsville, informs us
that no cloth will be furnished to soldiers' families in Austin county, till the
1st of July or after; and none will be granted on second applications
until all first applications have received their share; and further, that none
but soldiers' families can get cloth at all, these soldiers must be in the army, and not teamsters, &c.
ATLANTA
[GA] SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY, May 17,
1863, p. 1, c. 5
[Communicated]
Cotton Spinner's Convention.
In conformity with a request published some time since, a meeting of the
Cotton Spinners of the State was held in Atlanta, Ga., on the 15th of May.
There were present, John White, Georgia Factory; Isaac Powell, High
Shoals Factory; Hugh MacLean, Aguadon Mill; Thomas Leslie, Troup Factory; and E.
Steadman, Gwinnet Manufacturing Company. On
motion, John White was elected Chairman, and E. Steadman, Secretary.
After consultation, the meeting agreed upon the following
(Circular)
To the Cotton Spinners of Georgia.
In pursuance of a call made upon the Cotton Spinners of Georgia, to
assemble in Convention in the city of Atlanta, for the purpose of taking into
consideration the best means of supplying the great destitution in Cotton Yarns,
now being felt all over our State, the undersigned duly assembled.
After a deliberate examination of all the facts laid before us, to-wit:
the great scarcity of Cotton Yarns; the limited means of soldiers' wives
and families; the probably continuance of this unholy war; and the apparent
suffering that must continue to accrue to the families of our noble defenders on
account of the scarcity of Yarns; and the almost impossibility of procuring
cotton Cards, we have determined to act upon the following plan, and earnestly
request Cotton Spinners all over the State, heartily to co-operate with us.
We hereby pledge ourselves to furnish to Gen. Ira R. Foster,
Quartermaster General of the State of Georgia, one eighth of our production of Cotton Yarns, weekly, at one
half the current prices at the time they are furnished.--These Yarns to be
issued to the Inferior Courts of each county, and by them to be distributed to
the destitute of their counties, as provided for by a resolution of the late
Legislature. These Yarns to be delivered by us at the nearest depot of
transportation.
This plan cannot fail to commend itself to every patriot of the Empire
State. Thousands of our fellow
citizens, clad in the armor of war, are on distant fields battling for our
rights and cheerfully risking their lives in defense of us, our homes and our
altars. Their families are
consigned to our care. They are in
great need of Yarns with which to weave them necessary clothing.
Cotton Cards cannot be procured. Their
only hope is in the factories of their State.
To them they appeal, and to them they surely will not appeal in vain.
John White,
Georgia Factory.
Isaac Powell,
High Shoals Factory.
Hugh Maclean,
Aguadon Mill.
Thos. Leslie,
Troup Factory.
E. Steadman,
Gwinnett Manufacturing Company.
----
Quartermaster Gen'l's Office,
}
Atlanta May 15, 1863. }
The above circular is sent forth with the earnest hope, that every cotton
spinner in Georgia will cheerfully and promptly respond to its appeal and act
upon its plan.
I know of no act by which proprietors of factories can more surely nerve
the arms of our brave soldiers, than by furnishing thread, by which the loved
ones at home can be comfortably clad and protected from the rigors of a coming
winter. A failure to respond will
result in much suffering among the families of those who have sacrificed their
all for our defense and our comfort. Let
it be remembered that without the aid of factories, thread cannot be obtained,
and the destitute poor cannot be clad. Let
the families of our soldiers be fed and clothed, and they will more cheerfully
and patiently bear the toil and suffering of the camp, and more gallantly meet
the assaults of the enemy. Let them
be neglected, and dissatisfaction on the part of many, and desertion in some
will inevitably follow. How much
then depends upon the action of our cotton spinners in this matter!
In behalf of the destitute families of our gallant soldiers we appeal to
the cotton spinners of Georgia, we appeal with confidence that they will not
disappoint us, but will nobly and patriotically come to our aid in this our time
of need.
The yarns so obtained will be furnished gratuitously
to the destitute of our State.
Ira R. Foster,
Quartermaster General,
State of Georgia.
SAVANNAH [GA]
REPUBLICAN, May 19, 1863, p. 1, c. 1
Brandon, Miss., May 16.—Five gentlemen who rode to Jackson to-day, and
traversed the place while there, report that the city was evacuated by the enemy
about two o'clock. They are
supposed to number about 40,000, and they retreated in the direction of
Vicksburg. Firing was heard by the party in that direction, and they
suppose Pemberton was in their rear.
Before leaving Jackson, the enemy burnt the Confederate House, the
railroad depots, Green & Phillip's factories, Storm's foundry, Lenoir's hat
factory, together with a block of buildings on State street, including the
Medical Purveyor's and other government offices.
Both bridges over Pearl river were destroyed, together with several miles
of railroad track.
It is reported in Mobile that some of this burning was done by the
Confederates before they retired. The
Confederate House was burned by the proprietors.
GALVESTON WEEKLY
NEWS, May 20, 1863, p. 2, c. 1
The San Antonio Herald says the Government has undertaken to establish a
Tannery, and cotton and wool Factory in that city on a tract of 75 acres
purchased of the city and some two miles above the city.
These public works are under the Superintendence of Maj. T. A. Washington
Quartermaster. The building for the
Tannery is already in a state of forwardness, and is 90 feet by 275, and the
vats are sufficient to contain 5000 hides at a time.
The cost of leather to the Government made in this Tannery is estimated
at 50 cents per pound which is a saving of 500 per cent on present prices.
The cotton and woolen Factory is being built of stone and to be worked
with water power.
SAVANNAH [GA]
REPUBLICAN, May 20, 1863, p. 1, c. 1
The Late Fire at Richmond.—The large fire at Richmond on Friday last,
and of which telegraphic announcement was made in these columns, is thus alluded
to by the Richmond Dispatch:
"The large fire of Friday morning, which destroyed the Crenshaw
Woolen Manufacturing Mill and part of the Tredegar Iron Works, was the most
serious that has occurred in the South since the war.
But it is gratifying to know that, though the woolen mill cannot now be
restored, there is no irreparable injury done to the iron works.
The delay that may occur in the completion of some unfinished work for
the Government will be of no consequence. It
is probable, indeed, that nothing that is now needed will be delayed at all.
The works have been of so much public service that this assurance is
quite gratifying. The Crenshaw
Mills furnished [illegible] to the Government; but, of course, means will be
taken to get it from other sources. The
fire happens at a period of the year that gives ample time before the next
inclement season for the Government to make all necessary arrangements for this
purpose."
ATHENS
[GA] SOUTHERN BANNER, May 20, 1863,
p. 3, c. 3
Cotton
Spinner's Convention.
In conformity with a request published some time since, a meeting of the
cotton spinners of the State was held in Atlanta, Georgia, on the 15th of May.
There were present: John White,
Georgia Factory; Hugh McLean, Aguadon Factory; Thomas Leslie, Troup Factory; and
E. Steadman, Gwinnett Manufacturing company. ... for the purpose of taking into
consideration the best means of supplying the great destitution in cotton Yarns,
now being felt, all over our State ... The
great scarcity of Cotton Yarns--the limited means of soldiers wives and
families--the probably continuance of this unholy war, and the apparent
suffering that must continue to accrue to the families of our noble defenders on
account of the scarcity of y yarns, and the almost impossibility of procuring
Cotton Cards ... Let it be remembered, that without the aid of Factories, thread
cannot be obtained, and the destitute poor cannot be clad.
Let the families of our soldiers be fed and clothed, and they will more
cheerfully and patiently bear the toil and suffering of camp, and more gallantly
meet the assaults of the enemy. Let
them be neglected, and dissatisfaction and desertion will inevitably follow. ...
SAVANNAH [GA]
REPUBLICAN, May 25, 1863, p. 2, c. 2
[From
the Brandon, Miss., Republican]
The Yankee Occupation of the City of Jackson—
Terrible Destruction of Property.
In order to ascertain the amount of damage done by the Yankees during
their forty-eight hours occupation of the city of Jackson, we went over and took
a careful survey of the place yesterday morning, and give below the result of
our observations. We could not get
a complete list of the property burned and otherwise destroyed owing to great
confusion in the city. The
following buildings were burned:
Green's Cotton Factory, together with all the machinery, 300 bales of
cotton, and all the buildings connected with the factory, Phillips' factory, and
all the small buildings connected therewith, J. A. Stevens' foundry, Bailey's
cotton shed, containing a large quantity of tar, lime, cement, &c., Catholic
Church and parsonage, Mrs. Bakewell's house, and contents; Confederate House,
together with furniture &c., Railroad depot, and all the buildings
immediately west and south of the same; State penitentiary, with all the
machinery; flouring mill, near Phillips' factory, all the houses on State
street, from Shaw's store to
Graves' corner, including Green's Banking House; Ambrozier's grocery, Allen
& Legon's store, and Grave's large brick building, with a number of small
intervening houses; all the houses on the south side of Pearl street from State
street to the Mississippi Baptist office, including the Confederate
Quartermaster's office; a number of sheds or were houses, near the old old depot
of the Southern Railroad, containing an immense quantity of cotton, sugar,
molasses, &c., and a number of old cars, belonging to both railroads, all
the houses in front of the City Hall, and Market house, except Mrs. Sanders'
boarding house and one or two small shops, Lemley's hat factory, Robinson's
warehouse, General Freeman's dwelling house, all the buildings belonging to the
fair grounds, rope factory and salt petre works; the railroad and city bridges
across Pearl river, and all the bridges and trestle work on the Southern Railroad for several miles; all shops where government work
was being carried on. All the
stores in the city were pillaged, their contents either carried off or thrown
into the street and burned. The
Mississippian office was broken open, the type thrown in the street and the
presses and furniture broken up. The
Post Office was rifles of its contents. The
Governor's mansion was broken open and pianos and furniture destroyed.
The Episcopal church was entered and the whole interior effaced.
Nearly all the private residences were entered and trunks broken open,
fine dresses torn to pieces, and all jewelry, silver ware and provisions taken.
Dr. Knapp's office was broken open, his dental instruments carried off
and his furniture destroyed. Capt.
L. Jullian's book store and bindery was destroyed.
J. W. Gray & Co's drug store was partially destroyed.
Jo. Morgridge was an extensive sufferer by the depredations of the
vandals.
E. Vorden's loss in sugar, molasses, &c., is estimated at $200,000.
D. W. Busick lost heavily in his tobacco commission store.
Allen & Ligon lost all their books, paper, money and merchandize.
Dr. S. C. Farrar lost his horses and mules.
J. M. Rawlins lost his carriage and carriage horses.
Almost every horse, mile, cow, and hog in the city was taken.
Watches and breastpins were forcibly taken from gentlemen on the street.
Negroes, from 300 to 500 were taken from the city and adjacent country,
and as an inducement for them to go they were promised commissions in the Yankee
army, and about 100 of them were armed before they left the city.
Intelligent gentlemen estimate the total loss of property in the city at
five millions of dollars.
On Friday morning a squadron of cavalry came over to Rankin and tore up
the railroad about 4 miles, and a few rails at other places to within two miles
of Brandon. They ransacked the private dwellings for arms and ammunition,
taking away a few negroes, horses and mules.
Among the chief sufferers in the raid were Mrs. S. M. Hamilton, 14
negroes; Austin Neely, 14 negroes; A. J. Neely, 6 negroes; A. P. Miller, 4
negroes; G. W. Rains, 2 negroes; Gen. P. Henry, 1 negro and 3 horses, &c.
It is asserted and believed that in the retreat between Jackson and
Clinton, many houses were burned and nearly all the horses, mules and cattle
driven away.
We could learn no particulars of the fight at Raymond, except that our
loss was about 200 and that of the enemy from four to five hundred.
It is reported that we whipped the one my [sic?] very badly at Edwards'
Depot on Friday, and that we captured his immense wagon train. We have no doubt of the truth of the report.
We can get nothing reliable as to the position of the two armies, but we
think it quite likely Grant's army will be totally destroyed before the end of
this week.
CHARLESTON
MERCURY, June 5, 1863, p. 1, c. 5
The
Productive Power of the South.
. . . We have plenty of arms, and can make our own powder, and the
production of iron is rapidly increasing. Then
what indispensable article do we lack to render us entirely independent!
It is that of clothing; and, singular to say, very little attention has
been paid by our public authorities to increased production, now almost
indispensable to our safety. Our
old stock of clothing is fast wearing out, the production is not half equal to
the demand, and it has become a positive and pressing necessity to increase our
means of supply. If this war is to
continue, we will need new factories, and the old ones must be extended; the
hand of industry must be induced to take hold of the spinning
wheel and hand loom in every
hamlet and hovel in the country. The
question with us is, not how cheap we can be supplied, but how we are to get
cloth at all. It will be safe to
assume that we will have to rely mainly on home production, which leads to the
inquiry--how we are to increase the means of supply? It will certainly not be done by legislative restrictions on
prices; high rates must be looked to as a moving cause.
That our safety should depend on high prices--yea, extortionate
rate--is an uncomfortable reflection, but that is an ordeal we are doomed to
pass through, and the difficulty ought to be willingly met and overcome by every
lover of his country. Prices must
go up to a point that will remunerate the hand-loom and spindle, or we will be
without a sufficient supply.
Capitalists will not engage in new manufacturing enterprises unless they
have a prospect of great gain; and prices must be unrestricted by legal
enactments, or our factories will be suffered to wear out and burn up without an
effort to renew them; and as for new establishments being reared, that is out of
the question with the present state of public sentiment, in and out of Congress
and our State legislature.
If half the amount that has been expended in importing calicoes,
brandies, wines, cheese, fancy soaps, and the thousands of jim cracks of Yankee
manufacture that load the ships coming through the blockade, had been expended
in machinery for the manufacture of every needed article, we would now be in a
situation to carry on the war within
ourselves, and to put the Yankee at defiance; but, unfortunately for us, public
opinion has sanctioned the idea that he who exchanges our last golden dollar and
imports Yankee ten cent calico and sells it for three dollars a yard, is a
benefactor to his country, while the ingenious producer at home is branded with
infamy and indicted for extortion for selling a similar article made at home for
a dollar and a half.
Our experience in the salt production affords a valuable lesson on the
stimulating effects of high prices. The
unrestricted high price of salt stimulated the production of that article and
saved our country. But for the high
price of salt last summer, the salt kettle would have been idle, and meat could
not have been saved; and so it will be with cloth.
If prices be kept down by legal restrictions, the hand spindle and loom
will be restrained and discouraged, and will not be put in operation as a matter
of profit; or who will purchase high priced cards to spin and weave for a
livelihood, while there is no better prospect than that of competing with
factories at 40 and 50 cents a yard? You
may traverse the country from one end to the other to find persons who can earn
their bread at such prices.
Twelve to fifteen thousand pairs of cards industriously worked will
produce as much cloth as a factory of eight thousand spindles and three hundred
looms; but so long as factory cloth is sold for forty and fifty cents a yard,
the twelve to fifteen thousand pairs of hand-cards will not be industriously
worked. They are now being made and
coming into the country by tens of thousands, and they must be set to work in
order to save us. . . .
ATHENS
[GA] SOUTHERN BANNER, June 8, 1863,
p. 3, c. 6
Wool
for Thread.
We will give one bunch
of cotton yarn for four lbs. of Wool. This
arrangement will continue until due notice is given in this paper.
June 3.
John S. Linton, Agent.
SAVANNAH [GA]
REPUBLICAN, June 9, 1863, p. 1, c. 2
Tullahoma, June 2d.
. . . While Roddy had taken his entire force, except Hannon, to pursue the
invaders, numbering about 2,000 mounted infantry and a battery of light
artillery, on the south bank, the force on the north side, numbering 800 mounted
men and two mountain howitzers, learning of the success of their diversion on
the opposite side of the river, advanced rapidly and were met by Hannon's
regiment beyond Florence, but pushed them so vigorously that the latter were
compelled to retire to Florence and beyond, while the Vandals, much to their
delight, entered the place, commenced their work of destruction, and fully
accomplished the object of their expedition, burning two large and very valuable
cotton factories, upon which the people of the Tennessee valley were dependent
for their supplies, and from which large quantities of cloth were procured by
the army. These factories were the
property of Martin, Weakley & co., and in their loss the Confederacy suffers
severely. The Vandals then
proceeded to burn the Masonic Hall, hotel, livery stable, blacksmith shop, and
such other buildings as might have proved useful to the Confederates; and having
been in the town for two or three hours, accomplished their mission, got drunk,
abused the inhabitants, and were finally driven out by Hannon in a brisk little
fight, in which the latter suffered the loss of Captain Locke and Major Jenks,
captured, and but few were killed, wounded or captured on either side.
The Vandals fell back, pursued by Hannon, who despatched couriers to
Roddy to endeavor to intercept the party, and a force from Columbia was sent out
for the same purpose. It was
reported on Saturday that Roddy had cut them off from their boats and was
driving them back towards Florence, but this proved untrue.
Our forces which went in pursuit have not yet returned, nor have they
been reliably heard from. In the
engagement between the enemy and Hannon we were very fortunate in not losing a
battery of artillery which had been sent without escort to the aid of the
latter. It got in between the two forces, and was driving directly to
the Yankees, unaware of their presence, when it met them on the march.
The officer in command of the battery proved to have good sense and
presence of mind, and coolly directing one piece to go into battery and fire on
the enemy, he put the rest of the artillery upon the retreat while the Yankees
were getting into line of battle, and then withdrew his other piece without
loss, and ran back in safety to Athens.
The result of the whole affair was that Roddy was completely outwitted
and deceived, and that the vandals accomplished everything they desired, and up
to the latest advices had escaped unchastised. . . N.
MOBILE
REGISTER AND ADVERTISER, June 9, 1863, p. 2, c. 2
Tullahoma, June 2, 1863,
. . . [Florence, AL] while the vandals much to their delight entered the place,
commenced their work of destruction, and fully accomplished the object of their
expedition, burning two large and very valuable cotton factories upon which the
people of the Tennessee valley were dependent for their supplies, and from which
large quantities of cloth were procured by the army.
These factories were the property of Martin, Weakley & Co., and in
their loss the Confederacy suffers severely.
The vandals then proceeded to burn the Masonic Hall, hotel, livery
stable, blacksmith shop, and such other buildings as might have proved useful to
the Confederates, and having been in the town for two or three hours,
accomplished their mission, got drunk, abused the inhabitants, and finally, were
driven out by Hannon in a brisk little fight, in which the latter suffered the
loss of Capt. Locke and Major Jenks captured, and but few were killed, wounded,
or captured on either side. . . .
MEMPHIS
DAILY APPEAL [ATLANTA],
June 12, 1863, p. 2, c. 8
Wool Jeans. A few bales home made
and Factory Jeans, which we are prepared to make into Uniforms for privates or
officers on reasonable terms.
W. F. Herring & Co.,
Atlanta, Ga.
Flax Thread. Black, white, and
drab, on spools for machine and hand sewing of superior quality.
For sale by
W. F. Herring & Co.,
Atlanta, Ga.
Hickory Stripes. A few bales to
arrive and for sale by W. F. Herring
& Co.,
Atlanta, Ga.
MEMPHIS
DAILY APPEAL [ATLANTA],
June 13, 1863, p. 2, c. 1
The Huntsville Advocate says that
during the recent Federal raid into Florence, Ala., they burnt the three cotton
factories of Martin, Weakley & Co., which worked up 4000 bales per year; the
woolen factories of Darby, Benham & Co., and of James Martin & Son--five
factories. In Florence, they burnt
the Masonic hall, one unoccupied tavern, two blacksmith, one coach and one
carpenter's shops, three unoccupied houses, one small residence, etc.
They broke open every store in the place, took what they could carry off,
robbed citizens of money, watches, jewelry, horses, etc., took off some negroes,
desolated and burned Mrs. James Jackson's place, etc.
They also burned several mills and tan yards in the county.
This is a fearful inventory the memory of which should be cherished, for
a proper application of the principle of lex
talionis.
SAVANNAH [GA]
REPUBLICAN, June 15, 1863, p. 2, c. 3
Shirtings,
Osnaburgs,
and Yarns,
From the Curtright
Manufacturing Company, Greene county, Georgia, for sale by
Cohen & Hertz.
COLUMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, June 16, 1863, p. 1, c. 5
The
Raid into Florence.
The Federal cavalry, under Col. Cornyn, entered Florence on last
Thursday. The force was about 1,000
strong. The stores, &c., were
broken open and robbed. Martin,
Weakly & Co's three large cotton factories were burnt.
They worked up about 4,000 bales of cotton per annum, and the loss is a
heavy one to the owners and the country. There
was a skirmish in or near the town, one man was killed and a few wounded on our
side. An old man named Bob White
was killed at the factories. The
enemy soon retired. Five prisoners, left drunk in the town, were brought up here
on Monday.
We learn, that the Federals, in large force, advanced up to Bear Creek,
on the Tuscumbia side—Roddy's forces opposed them there.
In the meanwhile they sent a portion of their cavalry over to the
Florence side to burn the Factories, while nearly all our forces were
confronting them at Bear Creek. In
this way, they seem to have deceived our officers and accomplished their design
to a partial extent—that of burning and destroying our factories, machinery,
&c.
A deserter from the Yankees at Florence states their force to have been
2,000, with 8 mounted howitzers. That
they crossed the river near Pittsburg Landing on gunboats, &c.
There were five regiments, the 7th Kansas, 10th
Missouri, 9th Illinois, &c.—Huntsville Adv., 3d.
COLUMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, June 16, 1863, p. 3 c. 5
Latest
from Florence.
A friend who left Florence on Tuesday evening, brings the latest news
from Roddy's command. It had
returned from the pursuit of the Yankees, under the brutal Cornyn, having
followed them to Hamburg, where, under the protection of gunboats, they got
aboard transports and crossed the Tennessee.
Hannon's regiment was in advance and had a skirmish near Hamburg, without
loss. It was impossible to charge
the enemy at the river, when embarking, on account of the nature of the ground,
the thick woods and bushes preventing it, except by a road which, for a
considerable distance, exposed them to a direct fire from the gunboats. Cornyn's force is variously estimated at 800 to 2000.
Roddy's command, consisting of his own, Hannon's and Biffle's regiments,
were much too scattered in squads, foraging, on detail service, &c., to be
concentrated in time, for successful fighting pursuit.
The Vandals burnt the Masonic Hall, and every machine, blacksmith and
carpenter shop in Florence, and set fire to a drug store, which, if consumed,
would have communicated fire to and destroyed nearly all the business part of
the town. A Federal soldier demanded of the incendiary, who applied the
torch, what he meant by it, which caused a quarrel between them, that was
terminated by a Federal Lieutenant stepping up and shooting dead the soldier who
interfered to prevent the Vandal act. Martin,
Weakley & Co.'s three factories were burnt likewise.
Almost every private vehicle was carried off or destroyed, under the
pretext that they were sometimes used for ambulances.
Horses and mules were taken, and negroes who flocked to the Yankees were
mounted on them and taken off. Individuals
were robbed of money, jewelry, &c., &c., and all the usual savage
depredations were committed. Cornyn
promised to return again when the wheat fields were ripe for
harvest.—Huntsville Confederate, 5th.
MOBILE
REGISTER AND ADVERTISER, June 16, 1863, p. 2, c. 3
Chattanooga, June 11, 1863
. . . [Florence] The Yankees only
remained in town three hours, and then took their departure in the direction of
Waterloo, recrossing the river at Hamburgh.
In the country around Florence, they also committed sundry serious
depredations. They burned the wool
factory of Darby, Benhem & Co., and of Martin & Sons, and the three
large cotton factories of Martin, Weakley & Co., making not only a private
and individual loss, but a national loss of many thousands of dollars.
Since last fall these factories had turned out over one million yards of
jeans and osnaburgs.
DALLAS HERALD, June 17, 1863, p. 2, c. 3
For the Dallas Herald.
Cloth for Soldier's Wives.
Is it possible to make the women and those interested in their welfare
understand how to make their application to the penitentiary, for cloth, under
the act of the Legislature—it seems difficult, and they are much troubled
about it, but I will try to explain.
When people have a rule prescribed, what is the reason they will not
pursue it. The act of the
Legislature under which cloth is obtained contains this provision—"Unless
the Chief Justice of the County in which the applicant shall reside shall verify
in his official capacity to the truth of the facts stated in said
application." Now when the law
requires this, why do people waste their time attempting to accomplish their
object without a strict and full compliance with it.
The Chief Justice of this County will do all in his power to accommodate
those who desire to make an application, except to certify to that which he does
not know to be law. He cannot make
such a certificate as mere form, he must know the facts, and in order to know
them he must *have the proof, and that proof must be on the oath of the party
before him with the testimony of at least one credible witness.
Now this course—the one the law provides—will insure success, and why
not pursue it. The Chief Justice
will attend at any point in any precinct, where the people will meet and notify
him, to take their proof and make the necessary certificates.
The people can appoint their meetings by sufficient notice, that all may
attend, and those who are too indolent or careless to be there at the time may
suffer the inconvenience of going to the County seat, for I can tell them that
they will only get cloth by pursuing the law.
But the people now have liked the straight and narrow way; and as Col.
Beseer [?] the Financial Agent of the penitentiary, is something of a judge of
human nature and very accommodating, he has suggested that communities or
neighborhoods might make the proof before any one authorized to administer oaths
with a seal of office—see Dallas Herald May 20th.
This can only refer to a Notary Public as they are the only officers
having a seal who do not reside at the county seat; but the clerk of the county
court may discharge the duty. When
this course is pursued, it is necessary and indispensable that an attorney in
fact be appointed by a regular power of attorney duly acknowledged before a
notary public for the purpose of making the proof before the Chief Justice and
getting his certificate. To those
who like this devious and difficult course let them get a Notary Public or Clerk
of the county Court; and before that officer make the proof prescribed by the
Agent of the Penitentiary; appoint an attorney by a power acknowledged before
that officer and certified under his seal, and send him to the Chief Justice to
get his certificate. The proof or
acknowledgement made before a Justice of the Peace is not provided for, and I
must suppose will not do.
J. M. C.
BELLVILLE [TX]
COUNTRYMAN, June 20, 1863, p. 1, c. 4
Judge Catlin has shown us a letter from Gen. Besser, stating that cloth
will be furnished to soldiers' families hereafter, at eight cents per yard.
We are sorry to see the State pitch into the business of speculating off
the poor soldiers' families. So it
is. Is not this a pretty piece of
business? The legislature passes a
law appropriating money to help the soldiers' families, and as soon as they
adjourn, the Governor, Gen. Besser and some others try to get the money away
from the families by charging more than four times the former prices for
clothing. Verily, the State has
fallen into small hands, who seem to be trying to do a small business.
COLUMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, June 23, 1863, p. 1, c. 6
What They Did.—During the recent Yankee raid into Florence they burnt
the three Cotton Factories of Martin, Weakley & Co., which worked up 4,000
bales per year; the Woolen Factories of Darby, Benham & Co., and of James
Martin & Son—5 factories. In
Florence they burnt the Masonic Hall, one unoccupied tavern, two blacksmith, one
coach and one carpenter's shops, three unoccupied houses, one small residence,
&c. They broke open every store in the place, took what they
could carry off, robbed citizens of money, watches, jewelry, horses, &c.,
took off some negroes, desolated and burnt Mrs. James Jackson's place, &c.
They were only in Florence about three hours, and got off with but a
trifling loss. Their success in
this raid will stimulate to other raids into our region.
P.S.—We also learn that the Yankees burnt several Mills and Tan Yards
in the county. Their force was only
about 700 in Florence.—Huntsville Adv., 10th.
GALVESTON WEEKLY
NEWS, June 24, 1863, p. 1, c. 2
Manufactures.
Previous to our separation from the Northern States, it was a constant
and favorite theme with us that the South could and ought to manufacture her own
cotton, at least so much of it as was necessary for our own consumption, instead
of being tributary to Northern manufacturers.
We were the producers of the raw material, and it was frequently
demonstrated that we could manufacture it, at least into yarns, as cheap as
could the people of the Northern States; and we distinctly remember that a Mr.
Henry, we believe of Mobile, proposed to erect machinery on plantations at a
comparatively small cost, which would convert all the cotton raised on the
plantations into yarns with the same force necessary for the culture of the raw
material, and that by the youngest and most inefficient for other purposes, of
the force. We have never heard how the plan finally succeeded, but we
learned that an experimental machine had been put up on Mr. Herger's plantation
which was highly successful.
At the outset of our struggle with the North, the question of free trade
was, unhappily, the principal one which occupied the attention of candidates for
Congress in some of the Congressional districts, and this premature discussion
was conducted with considerable asperity.
At that time our people had but little thought of the extent and
devastation of the war then about to be forced upon us, and consequently made no
preparation to provide themselves with the necessary machinery to avert the want
of manufactured goods, which is now upon us.
We too confidently believed that the necessities of England, and perhaps
France, would compel them to interfere in our quarrel in order that their looms
and spindles might be furnished with our staple; and splendid visions loomed up
before us of a magnificent free trade with England and the continent, by which
we would be the growers of the great staple for them, and they would furnish us
with the manufactured article at a small advance upon the cost of the raw
material. Our people have ever condemned the idea of being
manufacturers; the theory of free trade, so popular in the South, has so
indoctrinated the entire country, that the people have verily believed
manufacturing was a degradation, and the prevalent idea that we ought to
establish the policy of buying our manufactured articles in Europe, and sell to
those who would give strong predominance among us, that no thought was
entertained for our future position. The
inconveniences that we have labored under for the past two years, may, however,
change this popular fallacy, and as a necessity, we may be compelled to enquire
into the importance of establishing manufactories, at least sufficient to supply
the demand for home consumption. It
is not, however, generally thought that the States, embracing the larger portion
of the Confederacy, will ever find it advisable to become what is termed a
manufacturing country. We are
mostly an agricultural people, and have had, heretofore, under Yankee rule,
neither commerce nor manufactures; but our future, it is reasonable to suppose,
will place us in a different attitude. It
cannot be expected that, as a nation, we will continue to be simply an
agricultural or a pastoral people, and although the nature of our country and
the habits of our people seem to preclude the idea of manufacturing to compete
with Europe, still there is a positive necessity that we should inaugurate such
a system of manufactures as will place us in a position independent of other
countries in any future emergency like the present.
We are not disposed now to discuss the value of free trade to this
nation, or the importance of tariffs for revenue.
Tariffs for protection are forbidden by our constitution, and if it were
no so, the system of misrule and odious exactions practiced by the old
government under the theory of protecting home industry, has been so perverted
to individual advantage and local aggrandizement, that it is extremely doubtful
whether any state of things could exist which would commend such a system to our
people. But as we before intimated,
any discussion of these subjects now, would be premature and unprofitable, and
of comparatively little interest to our readers.
This war cannot last always. However
severe it may be and however protracted, it must come to an end; and however
crushing its effects may be to us as a people—however our country may be
desolated, and however our energies may for a while be paralyzed by the severity
of the collision, yet there must be an end, and when the end comes, our
recuperative powers are such that the war, with all its horrible effects, will
soon be numbered with things that are past and its remembrance will be blunted
amid the strife of commerce and the busy hum of the various branches of industry
which will occupy the attentions of our people.
A new nation will have come into existence which has astonished the world
by the prowess of its arms, and we confidently believe, will equally astonish it
by the rapidity with which it will take its place beside the foremost nations of
the earth in rank and power.
It is not premature, then, to consider the importance of manufactures as
one of the means to make us a great people.
It may not be that we could, for a long series of years, rival the looms
of Europe in many of their important finer fabrics, nor is it desirable,
probably, that we should ever, but it is important that we should become and
that speedily, almost the sole manufacturers of yarns from our own great staple. This, we believe, will be a political as well as a commercial
necessity. Probably two thousand
millions of dollars have heretofore been invested in the States of the
Confederacy in the production of the new material; a comparatively small per
cent of that sum will furnish us with the necessary machinery which the value of
the raw material will be annually doubled in foreign markets by its conversion
into yarns, while the labor necessary will not be much beyond that already
employed in its culture. Thus,
manufacturers must of necessity enter largely into our system of political
economy, and we know of no State in the Confederacy better adapted to
manufacturing purposes than our own State of Texas.
The war has, as a natural consequence, produced its enormous evils, but
no country has ever freed itself from oppression without a corresponding amount
of suffering. It must have happened
at some period. The want of
congeniality of opinion, the conflicting interests, and the dissimilarity of
thoughts and habits of the people composing the Federal union, must at some time
have brought about the conflict. This
has been inevitable to the astute statesman since the difficulties of 1819 and
20, and far better would it have been for us had the contest not be opposed at
that time by infatuated compromisers, but, as the disaster must have eventually
fallen upon us, better that it should have come now than be delayed until the
North, by her increased power should be able to fasten upon us more tightly her
insufferable dominion. This
generation will suffer almost incalculable evils, but we think we were better
prepared for it than any future generation, upon whom it would have fallen with
more terrible force. But we
believe, that as every evil has its corresponding good, for which opinion we
have high authority, good will be the natural consequence of the evils we now
endure. To Texas particularly will
benefits arise from this war more lasting than the injury inflicted. Her resources will be developed, and her self-sustaining
capacity be understood by her own people. They
will hereafter be more self-reliant; wisdom will be gathered from the past, and
although the lesson may be severe it will be salutary.
Already, in a very large portion of the State, her citizens are clothed
from their own wheels and looms, and an impetus is given to domestic
manufactures which will lead to important results.
Except in cities where folly and fashion are found hand in hand, the
people of Texas will, if the war lasts a year longer, learn to ignore calicoes
and muslins and inaugurate the much more serviceable fashion of spinning and
weaving the clothing necessary for their own households, while fancy foreign
dressing will be left exclusively to city dames.
Besides this, her vast mineral resources will be brought prominently into
notice, and we may expect to see, in a very short time, the tall chimneys of the
forge amid her iron hills, and smelting furnaces and rolling mills will take
their places in locations now considered as desert wastes.
Our iron is inexhaustible, and we have all the means of working it, and
we confidently predict that the time is not far distant when se shall rival
Tennessee in that branch of home industry.
We hope our whole people will give this matter sincere reflection, and
pursue a proper course of industry and economy, and a determination for the
future to be self reliant, and as far as possible independent of the fabrics of
other nations, without one thought of their interests or prejudices.
ATHENS
[GA] SOUTHERN BANNER, July 13, 1863,
p. 2, c. 2
Donation
to Soldiers' Families.
We inadvertently failed to notice last week that the Athens Manufacturing
Company had presented to the families of each of the soldiers who receive their
pay in Athens, through Mr. F. W.
Lucas, one bunch of spun yarn, one hundred and thirty-seven bunches in all.
Bro. Lancaster of the Ranger seems to coincide with us in reference to
the speculating the State is practicing on the Soldiers' families.
He calls on other editors to express themselves on the subject.
This call will probably be heeded by the country papers, but alas, the
Houston papers are mum. Their
reference for those in authority will not permit them to say a word.
For two years that the war has been raging, osnaburgs have been sold to
any one who could get in the first application at 18 cents a yard.
But all at once it is determined to sell only to soldiers' families, and
immediately the price is raised to 80 cents per yard.
None others can obtain cloth now. The
treatment the soldiers' families of this county have received from Gen. Besser
must some day be made known.
MOBILE
REGISTER AND ADVERTISER, August 1, 1863, p. 1, c. 6
Tuscaloosa, July 24th, 1863
. . . There are black spots in the State where Confederate money will not
purchase the necessaries of life--_____ county is one point.
This county has chosen to establish a currency heretofore unknown—the thread
currency. I will attempt to
describe its operation. The cotton
factory at Tuscaloosa is the treasury and issuer of these thread notes.
About 50 bundles of cotton thread are here manufactured daily, and every
other day a sale and distribution takes place, when 50 bundles or so are sold
out to the greedy customers. The
distribution is now going on at that brick building where the Yankee prisoners
were confined, and where you now view such a melange
of carriages, horsemen and pedestrians. . . .
COLUMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, August 4, 1863, p. 4, c. 6
Wool
Wanted.
The Eagle Manufacturing Co.,
Columbus, Ga.,
Having large
contracts with the Confederate Government for the manufacture of Woolen Goods,
are prepared to pay a fair price for Wool.
Mr. Eugene A. Smith is our travelling agent.
He has appointed agents in all the principal localities in the State. They are prepared when called upon to show the authority upon
which they act.
As the goods we manufacture are for the Government and Soldiers
exclusively, it is hoped that persons having WOOL, WILL SELL directly to our
agents, rather than to other parties for speculation.
May 29, 1863.
ATHENS
[GA] SOUTHERN BANNER, August 12,
1863, p. 3, c. 5
Cotton
for Yarns.
The Athens Manufacturing Co. will purchase cotton and pay a part in
yarn.--Would prefer to purchase in lots of from 1 to 5 bales, in order that all
may have an opportunity of supplying themselves with yarn.
R. L. Bloomfield Agent A. M. co.
August 12.
BELLVILLE [TX]
COUNTRYMAN, August 22, 1863, p. 1, c. 2
The cloth for those families who had sent up their applications to the
penitentiary, arrived about ten days ago, and all that has not been delivered,
is at the County Clerk's office yet. It
is proper to state that the price of the cloth is in part reduced from what was
first stated. Families without slaves get their cloth at fifty cents per
yard, while those who have slaves pay eighty cents.
To the above price is added five cents per yard for transportation, a
charge which is very reasonable. Those
who have not made application to the penitentiary, had better do so at once.
Wonder if the State Troops now in service are entitled to cloth?
We presume they are.
DALLAS HERALD, September 10, 1864, p. 1, c. 1
We are requested to give notice that the Cloth from the Penitentiary, for
the indigent families of soldiers, has arrived, and can be had by calling on
Geog. W. Baird, Esq., in Dallas—price $3.
MOBILE
REGISTER AND ADVERTISER, September 16, 1863, p. 1, c. 6
We have just heard that the Yankee vandals have burnt the Trion Cotton
Factory, five miles above Summerville, owned by Marsh & Algood, together
with 2,700 bales of cotton. This
was done by Yankee cavalry, supposed to be 3,000 strong.—[Atlanta
Intelligencer.
ATHENS
[GA] SOUTHERN BANNER, September 23,
1863, p. 3, c. 3
Notice!
The Athens
Manufacturing company will only exchange Goods for wool, until further notice.
Persons living in the first ward of the Town, can purchase Thread and
Cloth on and after the first day of October, until further notice at Hutcheson
& Hampton's.
R. L. Bloomfield, Agent, A. M. Co.
Sept. 23.
ATLANTA
[GA] DAILY INTELLIGENCER, September
25, 1863, p. 2, c. 5
To
Cotton Spinners!
The undersigned wishes to employ a number one Superintendent of a Cotton
Factory; also two good Machinists to do repairs.
An extra price will be paid for a competent Superintendent, and the
highest wages for Machinists. Address
or apply to:
E. Steadman,
Sept. 5
BELLVILLE [TX] COUNTRYMAN, September 26, 1863, p. 1, c. 3
A Huntsville Item.
This, our Item does not concern the printing establishment at Huntsville.
No. We are not acquainted
with the proprietor, editor, nor even the "devil" of that respectable
establishment.
Our Item is simply a warning to the good people of Texas, who are probably
preparing for a pilgrimage to Huntsville in search of cloth.
From the financial agency we received the following in answer to our
interrogation: "Mexican wool
we cannot work. Our cards are too
fine. The other quality, free from
burrs, we may probably exchange some of our cotton goods for your own family
use—one yard of plain Osnaburg for one pound of wool—for the balance we will
give you 80 cts., if of good quality, on delivery here."
According to the above, having the affirmation
of a probability, we rigged up a team
and loaded our wagon with wool of good quality to procure a suit of clothes for
our family all round. After various
adventures and hardships "by flood and field," we arrived, early one
morning at the penitentiary building—learned that the office hours of the
financial agent are from 9 A.M. to 3 P.M. so made use of the permission to go
through the factory, where cotton and wool is manufactured into thousands of
yards of cloth.
We will not pretend to speak of the factory as it would fill a volume if
we had the ability to write on the subject.
Of course we were convinced that we were, according to the financial
agent's letter, entitled to our share of the cloth.
But at 9 o'clock we were informed by Gen. Besser that he had not given us
a positive promise and that we would
have to retire without a yard of cloth, if it were a thousand miles.
Our affidavits were not taken into consideration, our wool not looked at,
and we remained in astonishment and silence for a while in the office.
There were applicants from 50 to 280 miles with their loads of wool to be
disappointed as wee were. Among the
many applicants who had pilgrimaged to the factory for relief were soldiers'
wives, and soldiers' mothers who had from three to five sons in the army. They had bought wool for $1,00 to $1,50 per pound, having
information that the factory would exchange cloth for it.
The ladies were sarcastically told to go home and attend to their
spinning wheels and looms. A disabled soldier, using crutches, had come 150 miles to
present the claims of needy soldiers' families and the agent admitted that he
was entitled to a certain share of cloth—but there was an insignificant lack
of form in the application, and therefore the invalid soldier had to return
without accomplishing anything for himself or his friends.
In our humble opinion there is something foul in Denmark.
We saw that there was plenty of cloth on hand, and were informed that
near 5000 yds are daily made. The
wool is needed for the fabrics, and had to be hauled away to the original sheep
range, if people would not take half price
in currency.
What does it mean? The day
we were at the agency everybody was heard with a refusal to exchange.
The claims presented were found "not valid"—the affidavits
"not correct." Fault finding seemed to be the order of the day.
However one young man received in exchange a lot of lard for cloth—from
which it appeared the agent needed greasing
more than anything else.
The office hours of the financial agent are from 9 to 3. The office hours of the farmer and wagoner are from daylight
till dark night. The soldiers'
office hours are only 24 per day. Now
if the "minister of the sanctum" of our pilgrimage had an idea of a
wearisome journey such as ours, he would inform the applicant positively
and not probably.
It should be positively known what articles will be accepted for
exchange, and the time should be specified, so that the people of the State not
be misled by their State factory. Our
county papers will give the people the proper information, the agent will give
notice as he ought to do in the Huntsville Item.
M.
COLUMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, October 13, 1863, p. 2, c. 8
The Eagle Company.—It has been our privilege on several occasions to
record and receive liberal tokens and proofs of the considerate generosity of
the Eagle Manufacturing Company of Columbus, Ga.
We are, therefore, not at all surprised at the following additional
instance:
Office Eagle Manuf'g Company,
}
Columbus, Ga., Sept. 29, 1863.
}
Editors Courier:--We send by express to-day, 100 pair of drawers and 100
shirts for the use of the sick and wounded soldiers of your city and vicinity.
We had a large number prepared and also provisions, &c., but such
pressing need exists among the soldiers of the Army of Tennessee, that we feel
lit best to divert all we have ready to that point, except the articles sent you
as above. We shall, however, be
ready at all times to assist the needy, the sick and the wounded, according as
the case demands, and at any point from Virginia to Texas.
J. Rhodes Browne, Agent.
We shall take pleasure in applying this acceptable and liberal donation
when it reaches us.—Chas. Courier.
ATHENS
[GA] SOUTHERN BANNER, October 28,
1863, p. 3, c. 3
Factory
Yarn
Will be exchanged for
desirable family supplies.
I.M. Kenney.
Oct. 15.
COLUMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, November 4, 1863, p. 3, c. 6
Where does it come from?—There is not a factory within a day's travel
of this or any other city, where a person can get more than an occasional bunch
of thread, while nearly every retail dealer in the city has his shelves piled up
with it. Hence the query, where
does it come from? The only way in
which we can solve it is, that these dealers pay the factory prices, with the
promise to say nothing bout it—and this enables the manufacturer to evade the
law, which allows him hands to carry on his establishment, on condition that he
does not charge over 75 per cent. profit. We
do not know that this is the case, but suspicion strongly points to the
culpability of these parties in this matter.
The Upson Factory allows every head of a family, in that and the
adjoining counties, two bunches every two months—which greatly aids the people
in that vicinity to get along in these hard times tolerably well.
If other manufacturing companies would do the same thing, there would be
much suffering, to say nothing of complaints, obviated.
If retail dealers can get thread to sell, why cannot others get it to
weave into cloth for their own use? The
per cent., we apprehend, is not enough—and the fear that some one will peach,
prevents a more liberal policy on the part of manufacturers.
ATHENS
[GA] SOUTHERN BANNER, November 4,
1863, p. 2, c. 6
"Munificent
Donation."
The most munificent donation which we have yet had the pleasure of
recording." says the Augusta Chronicle, has been made in this city.
W. E. Jackson, Esq., President Augusta Factory, yesterday sent a check to
Mayor May for forty thousand dollars, to be applied in aid of soldiers' families
and the poor of Augusta. This
princely gift is in keeping with the past reputation of the Augusta Factory for
liberality and patriotism. They
furnish weekly a large amount of cotton goods to the Purveying Association to be
sold at low rates to the needy' they employ a large number of operatives who are
daily made the recipients of their kindness and generosity; and in thousands of
other ways, unheard of by the public at large, their charities are dispensed. Long may they wave!"
We submit though, that while it must be conceded that this company is
making a most excellent use of its profits, the large amount which it is able to
give away affords incontestable proof that it has demanded extortionate prices
from the public for its fabrics. Would
it not be better for all concerned that it should give less in charity and do
more in the price of goods towards putting down the fell spirit of extortion
that is ruining the country?
MEMPHIS
DAILY APPEAL [ATLANTA], November 7,
1863, p. 1, c. 8
The woolen factory, near Shelby, Cleaveland county, N. C., was destroyed by fire
Wednesday night of last week. Origin
of the fire accidental. All the
woolen cloth manufactured was sold to the Government.
ATLANTA
[GA] DAILY INTELLIGENCER, November
14, 1863, p. 1, c. 1
Where Does it Come From?--There is not a factory within a day's travel of
this or any other city where a person can get more than an occasional bunch of
thread, while nearly every retail dealer in the city has his shelves piled up
with it. Hence the query, where
does it come from? The only way in
which we can solve it is that these dealers pay the factory prices, with the
promise to say nothing about it; and this enables the manufacturer to evade the
law, which allows him hands to carry on his establishment on condition that he
does not charge over 75 per cen. profit. We
do not know that this is the case, but suspicion strongly points to the
culpability of these parties in the matter.
The Upson Factory allows every head of a family in that and the adjoining
counties two bunches every 2 months, which greatly aids the people in that
vicinity to get along in these hard times tolerably well.
If other manufacturing companies would do the same thing there would be
much suffering, to say nothing of complaints, obviated.
If retail dealers can get thread to sell, why cannot others get it to
weave into cloth for their own use? The
per cent., we apprehend, is not enough; and the fear that some will *peach*
[sic?] prevents a more liberal policy on the part of manufacturers.--Col. Enq.
ATHENS
[GA] SOUTHERN BANNER, November 18,
1863, p. 3, c. 5
Notice
to Ministers.
All ministers residing
in Oglethorpe, Madison, Hart, Franklin, Banks, Jackson, Hall, Lumpkin, Habersham,
Rabun, Union and White counties, can purchase a limited supply of cloth and
yarns at Hutcheson & Hampton's. A
certificate from any minister in the town of Athens, or Clerk of the Inferior
Court, setting forth that the applicant is an ordained Minister, and whose only
means of support is preaching the gospel, will be taken as evidence.
The number of their family will be required, white and black.
R. L. Bloomfield,
Nov. 18.
Agent A. M. Co.
GALVESTON WEEKLY
NEWS, November 18, 1863, p. 1, c. 2
The Military Board.—This Board appears to have rendered valuable
service to the country, but has met with acts of bad faith on the part of some
of its agents. We trust the report will fully expose them to the public.
Since the adjournment of the last Legislature, the Board has distributed
12,000 pairs of cotton and wool cards, at a cost to the people of $10 per pair
for the former and $4 for the latter, while the ruling price in the market has
been for the former from $25 to $40, the saving to the people on this article
alone having been over one million of dollars. . . .
The Penitentiary.—The Governor gives the following statistics from the
report of the Financial Agent:
Cotton goods manufactured from December 1st, 1861, to August
31st, 1863, including 24,702.2 yards from late agent, 2,258,660.2
yards; woolens including 1841.3 yards, from late agent 293,298.1 yards.
The total amount of sales within the same period was 2,308,710.3 yards
cottons and 287,241 yards woolens leaving a balance unsold of 28,912.0 yards
cottons and 6,789.1 yards woolens. Of
these sales, the army received 1,276,920.3 yards cottons, and 257,751.3 yards
woolens, making largely over one half the cottons, and all the woolens less
33,70[illegible].3 yards.
The Lunatic Asylum received 2253.0 yards cottons and 602 yards woolens.
The balance, 1,021,543.0 yards cottons, and 28,860.2 yards woolens, were
absorbed by the penitentiary, Factory, clothing of convicts and employees,
general supplies for the Institution, and families of soldiers and citizens.
The gross earnings of the Institution for the same period, have been
$1,174,439.07
The amount expended has been
468,653.40
Special deposit with State Treasurer
653,000.00
With a cash balance on hand Sept. 1st, 1863, of
52,785.67
On Oct. 15th, 1863, there was deposited with the State
Treasurer the further sum of $147,000.00, making the whole sum paid into the
Treasury, $800,000.
The Governor very justly remarks that the above results prove the able
management of the Institution, and show clearly its vast importance to the
country.
He regrets to have to allude to a transaction by the Financial Agent, in
purchasing cotton with his own money, and subsequently turning the same over to
the State, and charging the State the advanced price between the time of its
purchase and its use by the Penitentiary. He
says he has no doubt that the Financial Agent believed he had a right to do so,
but the Governor is fully convinced that he had no such right, and he deeply
regrets he should have made so palpable a mistake.
The Governor, however, says the Agent agreed at once to accept from the
State the cost of the cotton, leaving it with the Legislature to determine
whether he should have any more.—The Governor regrets this the more because
the Agent has proved himself a most efficient and able officer.
The Governor says he acceded to the request of Gen. Magruder and allowed
some prisoners to be placed in the Penitentiary as a safe place of confinement,
in March last, but subsequently he became satisfied that the Institution would
be endangered by them, and caused them to be removed.
For the same reason he again declined to comply with a request from Gen.
Magruder to place the prisoners captured at Sabine Pass in the Penitentiary.
ATHENS
[GA] SOUTHERN BANNER, November 25,
1863, p. 3, c. 5
The Athens Manufacturing Co. will exchange for Bacon, Lard, Tallow, Wool and Oak
Wood.
Nov. 18.
R. L. Bloomfield.
COLUMBUS
[GA] ENQUIRER, December 8, 1863, p. 1, c. 6
A New Cotton Mill.—The public will be gratified to learn, says the
Lynchburg Republican, that a cotton factory is completed and is now turning out
yarns near this city. The
enterprise is due to Messrs. Nowlin & Murrelli, and that it will be a
complete success no one can doubt. They
have gone quietly to work, and the first intimation the public have of it is in
the shape of yarns spun almost at their doors.
They deserve great credit for their enterprise and energy in getting it
up.
ATHENS
[GA] SOUTHERN BANNER, December 9,
1863, p. 3, c. 5
Notice.
The Athens
Manufacturing Co. having taken twenty-five thousand pair of pants to dye for the
Government, they will not be able to dye any more yarns or garments for our
customers.
R. L. Bloomfield, Agent.
Dec. 9.
SAVANNAH [GA]
REPUBLICAN, December 15, 1863, p. 2, c. 2
The Eagle Manufacturing Company of Columbus, Georgia, have given $10,000
towards the fund for the enlargement and continuance of the Southern Christian
Advocate, now published in Augusta, Ga., as the organ of the Methodist Episcopal
Conference of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.
CHARLESTON
MERCURY, December 15, 1863, p. 1, c.
4
Message of the Governor of Texas.--. . . The penitentiary of Texas is
doing good service to the public. From
December 1st, 1861, to August 31, 1863, it manufactured 2,258,660 yards of
cotton goods and 293,298 yards of woolens.--There was at the latter date 28,962
of cotton and 6,789 of woolens unsold. Of
the whole amount disposed of the army received 1,276,920 of cottons, and 257,751
of woolens. The gross earnings of
the institution for the time mentioned were $1,174,439, and the expenses
$468,653. . . .
GALVESTON WEEKLY
NEWS, February 3, 1864, p. 2, c. 7
State
Penitentiary.
We are indebted to Gen. Besser, late Financial Agent of the State
Penitentiary, for the report showing the condition of that institution.
It will be seen that Gen. Besser has paid nearly one million of dollars
into the State Treasury during the past two years.
Merchandise
Account.
Merchandise made
from December 1st, 1861, to December 18, ;1863, including amount
transferred by M. C. Rogers, late agent, to John S. Besser, Financial Agent,
Texas Penitentiary.
Goods.
Amount.
Sales
Bal on h'nd
Osnaburgs
2,259 38l4½
2,256,426¼
2,948¼
Cotton Jeans
409,047
408,182¾
864¼
Wh. Kerseys
242,022
241,780¾
190¼
White Plains.
78,103
77,912¼
190¾
Sheep Gray
49, 39½
47, 55¾
183¼
Total Goods
2,993,496
" Sales
2,989,057¾
" Balance
on hand
4,438¼
For which said balance I hold my successors receipt, less 30½ yards of
Osnaburgs stolen by a portion of the 2d Regiment Cavalry State Troops.
How disposed of
Cotton Goods
Woolen Goods.
Army purposes
1,419,364½
292,963½
Supplies
350,105½
2,026
Employees
8,214½
1,710½
Penitentiary uses
1,433½
10½
Factory uses
15,512¾
681½
Clothing uses
6,700½
1,819½
Citizens
..............
224
Lunatic Asylum
3,553
852
Old accounts
24,114
2,590¼
Citizens and soldiers' families to
238,847
21,570¾
Oct. 1, 1862
Soldiers' families since Oct. 1, 1862
599,763¼
........
________
________
Total
2,664,699
324,448¾
Cash
Account
Cash received and
disbursed by John S. Besser, Financial Agent, Texas Penitentiary, from December
1st, 1861, to December 8th, 1863:
Received from M. C. Rogers, late agent
36.80
"
App. for Transportation Convicts 3,549.90
"
Appr. for Contingent
Expenses
112.50
"
Gen. sources, sales &c. $1,550,603.06
________
Total
$1,554,603.06
Disbursed for
sundries on Expense ac't
584,318.06
"
amount paid my successor
1,822.30
"
"
deposited in Treasury
968,462.70
________
Total
$1,554,603.06
Of the above amount deposited in the State Treasury on account of
Penitentiary, $537,060.95 has been paid in since the 22d day of June last; the
balance, $431,401.75 having been deposited between the months of September,
1862, and June, 1863, the proceeds, previously, having been applied to the
extinguishing of the outstanding liabilities.
Balance Sheet.
Dr.
From Ledger balances
$3,090.28
"
Bills payable
17,295.52
"
Amount from State Treasury
3,662.40
"
Balance down
1,096,122.02
__________
Total
$1,120,170.22
Cr.
By Ledger balances
$25,500.99
"
Bills receivable
1,422.94
"
Amounts in suit
3,560.54
"
Merchandise, &c., for sale
5,275.32
"
Factory supplies on hand
106,039.36
"
Provisions on hand
4,830.00
"
Clothing on hand
2,601.07
"
Penitentiary supplies
655.00
"
Cash to successor
1,822.30
"
Cash deposited
968,462.70
________
Total
$1,120,170.22
GALVESTON WEEKLY
NEWS, February 10, 1864, p. 2, c. 1
We refer our readers to the announcement of the extensive cotton and
wollen [sic] factory which Mr. Lockett says he is about to establish, and will
have in operation by September next. Considering
the extraordinary difficulties attending an enterprise on so large a scale, at
such a time as this, many of our readers may naturally be a little incredulous
at the very brief time required for its completion.
But Mr. Lockett assures us there will be no mistake about it, and as he
has the appearance of a man of energy and business capacity, the public may find
his performance equal to his promise. One
thing is certain, the enterprise will be of incalculable benefit to the army, to
our State and to the people generally, and should meet with the most liberal
encouragement. We hear of some
other similar enterprises now in progress in our State and may have occasion to
speak of them.
GALVESTON WEEKLY
NEWS, February 10, 1864, p. 2, c. 3
The
Cotton and Wool Factory.
Houston, Feb. 4, 1864.
Editor News.—I have received numerous letters from various parties,
enquiring more particularly about the enterprise in which I am engaged, will you
permit me, sir, to answer them all through your paper for the information of the
public, as well as those making the enquiries.
On the 23d of Oct. last, I was ordered by Col. R. R. Lawther, to report
to Maj. Gen. Price, with a recommendation that I be assigned to duty in some
manufactory established in the State of Texas.
I was sent by Gen. Price to Lt. Gen. E. Kirby Smith, with Col. Lawther's
recommendation endorsed. I reported
to Gen. Smith and was ordered by him to inspect certain factories in Northern
Texas which I did, and reported by the 26th of November. I then drew up a plan and presented it to the clothing bureau
for establishing a factory which would supply the wants of the army and people
of the Department. This plan was
approved by the Clothing Bureau and by Gen. Smith and I am now engaged in
putting it in operation, having obtained from the State of Texas a charter for
this purpose. I have nearly the
minimum ($1,000,000) amount of stock taken.
The shares are $1,000 each, to be paid in Confederate money or cotton at
its market value.
The plan is not a speculation. It
originated in the army, and was devised by those who have been in active service
from the very first, and who expect to the very last, let it be long or short.
It has the entire support and hearty approval both of the military and
civil authorities of both the Confederate and State governments.
Its first and great object is to supply the soldiers with clothes and
blankets.—Second, the benefit of the people at large, and pay those who
invest, a good per cent. on their investment, both now and after the war.
He who gives his time and money, will be doing his country as good
services as he that carries the musket, but we do not intend to take men from
the field, but as far as possible employ negro labor and old men.
A few energetic, active business men are absolutely necessary.
No more will be taken. It is
a private company acting under a special charter.—The State gives 320 acres of
land for every $1,000 expended in buildings and machinery, provided it is in
operation by March, 1865. I expect
it to be in full operation by September next.
The company is partially organized; a portion of the stock has already
been paid in. The directors of the
company will be elected on Tuesday, the 17th inst., at Navasota. Those wishing to take stock can do so by applying to me, or
Henry Sampson, Esq., at Houston, and paying 10 per cent. down, or giving their
legal obligation to deliver the required amount of cotton, on demand of the
Directors, or by attending the meeting of stockholders and paying the 10 per
cent. required.
Thos. F. Lockett.
CHARLESTON
MERCURY, March 18, 1864, p. 2, c. 5
Barter!
Barter!
The Graniteville Manufacturing Company will barter cloth for produce on
the following terms:
One yard 4-4 sheetings, drills or osnaburgs for one pound of lard or
bacon,
Two and a quarter yards 4-4 sheetings, drills or osnaburgs for one bushel
of corn, peas, or one hundred pounds of fodder, put up in bales.
Forty yards 4-4 sheetings, drills or osnaburgs for one barrel of
superfine flour.
Three yards 4-4 sheetings, drills or osnaburgs for one gallon of sorghum
syrup.
If 7/8 or 3/4 shirting be desired, the same weight, but a greater number
of yards of cloth will be given.
The produce must be delivered at Graniteville.
An Express Receipt, specifying the full value, with freight prepaid, will
be considered delivery. Packages
and letters must have owners name on them, and addressed to "Graniteville
Company," at Graniteville.
February 26.
MOBILE REGISTER AND
ADVERTISER, March 19, 1864, p. 1, c. 5
The Augusta cotton factory employs eight hundred hands, and manufactures
twenty thousand yards of cloth a day. The
company sells cloth to the Government and soldiers' families at one-third the
market price.
MOBILE
REGISTER AND ADVERTISER, March 29, 1864, p. 1, c. 7
We learn that a new cotton factory will soon be in operation in Russell
county. The machinery, which was
brought from Mississippi, is now being put up, ample capital having been
promptly furnished for the purpose.—[Montgomery Advertiser.
ATHENS
[GA] SOUTHERN BANNER, March 30, 1864,
p. 3, c. 4
Dogwood Poles Wanted!! We will pay
18c per pole for dogwood poles 8 to 10 feet long, 3 to 4 inches thick at the
large end--or we will give a bunch of thread for 200 poles, delivered at the
Bobbin Mills.
March 30.
E. J. McCall & Co.
ATHENS
[GA] SOUTHERN BANNER, April 6, 1864,
p. 3, c. 6
Notice.
Athens Factory, April 4, 1864.
All persons living in the town of Athens can purchase one-half a bunch of yarn
or seven and a half yards of cloth, at T. H. Wilson & Bro's. New Currency
and small bills only, taken in payment.
R. L. Bloomfield.
April 6.
Agent A. M. Co.
Factory Thread and Salt.--To be exchanged for Flour, Bacon, Lard, Tallow, Wheat,
Corn &c.
April 6.
I. M. Kenney.
CHARLESTON
MERCURY, April 14, 1864, p. 2, c. 1
The Augusta Manufacturing Company.--During the nine months ending
November, 1863, this company sold to the Government nearly four million and a
quarter yards of their goods at an average of fifty cents a yard.
The Sentinel says: If the
same goods had been sold at the current market price, averaging $1 50 per yard,
they would have produced $6, 300, 576.
MEMPHIS
DAILY APPEAL [ATLANTA], April 18,
1864, p. 2, c. 2
Augusta
Manufacturing Company.
In company with our associates of the press, we were highly gratified by
a visit to the immense establishment of this company, while in attendance upon
the editorial convention in Augusta. The
delegates were politely shown over the busy work rooms by President Wm. E.
Jackson, and superintendent Gogin, and otherwise treated in such a manner as to
make the occasion one of the most pleasant episodes of the trip to Augusta.
The kindnesses of the officials names will ever be gratefully remembered.
By the great improvements introduced since the present management assumed
control of the affairs of the company--about five years ago--the manufacturing
capacities of the works have been greatly increased, and the production of a No.
I article of sheetings, shirtings, and threads secured.
With these increased facilities the productive capacity of the works has
reached an average of 20,000 yards per day.
Seven hundred and fifty hands are employed, principally girls, whose
wages amount to $46,000 per month. They
run 150,000 spindles, 462 looms, and consume fifteen bales of cotton daily.
The goods manufactured are not thrown upon the market, but are sold to
the Confederate and State authorities, benevolent institutions and associations,
counties, and indigent persons, at what is called government prices; and in this
way the sales from January 1st to November 14, 1863, 4,200,384 yards were
disposed of at an average of fifty cents per yard.
If the same goods had been sold at the current prices, averaging say $150
[sic?] per yard, they would have paid into the treasury of the company several
millions dollars additional profit. Of
the amount sold in the time specified, the Confederate government purchased
3,132,997 yards.
Augusta has within her limits many elements of future prosperity, but
there are none more promising than the company noticed.
That the efforts of the gentlemen upon whom the active management is
devolved may be fostered by their neighbors, and in the end rewarded with the
highest measure of success, is greatly to be desired. The South must build up many such enterprises, and the
efforts of the pioneer in the work, The Augusta Manufacturing Company, should be
emulated. We can be independent of
the "lords of the loom" in the New England States.
AUSTIN
STATE GAZETTE, April 20, 1864, p. 1,
c. 2
Galveston, April 18, 1864.
Mr. D. Richardson--Dear sir: As you
have seen fit to notice the way the poor of Galveston have been treated by the
Agent of the Penitentiary, in your editorial correspondence from this place,
under date of April 8th, I wish to ask if you can give an explanation why it is
that the cloth promised last year by Mr. Besser, the late Agent of the
Penitentiary, and also by Mr. Hendricks the present Agent, will not be sent to
us. Last year, plain osnaburg was promised to soldiers' families
at fifty cents a yard, 90 days after their application should be put on file;
those who have slaves pay 80 cents, and those who could not wait three months
could be served out of turn by paying 80 cents a yard.
Now, from the 27th September to December last, I sent sixty-three
certificates, made out by Judge Cole, stating each application to be for a
soldier's family, and its first application, for cloth.
Three certificates, paying 80c a yard, were filed last December and the
cloth sent me by Mr. Besser, leaving sixty certificates for sixty families,
containing two hundred and sixty seven members.
I remitted to Mr. J. S. Besser $747 40, and to Mr. Hendricks $178 60,
making a total sum of $926. Mr.
Hendricks has written but one letter to me dated 16th Dec. last, in which he
says, "we are now working on your orders of 25th September."
Up to this day, the cloth promised and paid for has not come, although I
have written some four letters to Mr. Hendricks, urging him to push the cloth
forward, as the destitution of those soldiers' wives and children was great and
urgent; yet to none of these business letters, written in behalf of those 60
families containing 267 members, have I received any reply. The heads of some of these families have been in the army for
two years past. What little funds
they left has been exhausted, and yet the managers of the Penitentiary seem to
have no legal excuses whatever to detain those goods.
I claim some 1,852 yards of plain osnaburg, paid for in '63; and you who
live at the capitol of the State are expected to be familiar with polite men and
public property. The Agent of that
Institution ought to be a man of business capacity. If he is unfit to discharge the duties of that office, and to
give satisfaction, I presume it is in the Governor's power to remove him.
All my letters to Mr. Besser were promptly answered, and had he been
detained a few weeks longer in the office, no doubt all the cloth applied for
and paid for would have been sent forward, and these soldiers' families would
not have suffered from cold and nakedness.
They have a just cause to be dissatisfied, and they do complain of a
great injustice done them by that agent. We
claim the cloth under the laws existing last year, and I do not conceive how the
managers can be so dishonest or ignorant as to suppose the new arrangement made
among themselves can in any way repudiate a previous contract, which I have
fulfilled by depositing with the Agent the Judge's certificates with the money,
all of which have been filed in that agency and receipted for.
What are we to do? Mr.
Hendricks is mute; he will not answer business letters, written in the name of
60 soldiers' families and 267 children. Can
you suggest the course to pursue in such a case?
Will the Governor take the matter in hand?
If so, I can have over 300 names to a petition to him and in support of
any claims. Very truly yours,
N. D. Labadie.
MOBILE
REGISTER AND ADVERTISER, April 26, 1864, p. 1, c. 6
The Eagle Manufacturing Company of Columbus, Ga., still continues its
good deeds and charitable works. It
employs several hundred operatives, and supplies them with bacon at fifty cents,
lard at fifty cents, meal at $1 50, flour at fifteen cents, chickens at fifty
cents, and other articles at similar prices.
The free school which the Company established sometime since, and which
we have before made mention of, is still carried on by them at their own
expense. There are at present over
three hundred children in attendance, being fitted to become honorable and
useful members of society.
The example of the Eagle Company is a praiseworthy one and is worthy of a
wide imitation—[Chronicle and Sentinel.
ATLANTA
[GA] DAILY INTELLIGENCER, May 11,
1864, p. 2, c. 5
Hickory Stripes--3,700 yards Hickory Stripes for sale by P. P. Pease, Com.
Merchant.
AUSTIN STATE GAZETTE, May
11, 1864, p. 1, c. 4
Speaking of the Penitentiary, the Huntsville Item says:
"It makes 1 300 000 yards of cloth per annum; of this 200,000 go in the way
of barter, 300 000 to soldiers' families, leaving only 800,000 for the army;
thus it would be impossible to furnish 100 000 yards monthly as it would have
none for the army. Yet we hope the
legislature will try to pass an act appropriating 500,000 yards to the families
of soldiers for the coming 12 months, or 200,000 more than the present
appropriations--the families paying for it.
This would come nearer the policy that charity begins at home."
The
Item also says, the amount of cloth, turned out at the Penitentiary, will
average two yards to each member of a family.
This, if properly and promptly distributed, with doubtless relieve a
large amount of distress which we have heard spoken of throughout the country,
It will probably be made the business of the legislature to investigate
the management of this establishment, and see that its benefits are impartially
appropriated.
MOBILE
REGISTER AND ADVERTISER, May 17, 1864, p. 2, c. 2
[From an Occasional Correspondent.]
Columbus, Miss., May 14, 1864
. . . Since I wrote you have received the statement which I promised you from
the indefatigable Quartermaster here, Major W. J. Anderson, formerly of your
city.
During the past seventeen months he has furnished the army with 51,000
jackets, 50,000 pairs pants, 7,191 coats, 1,859 overcoats, 27,440 shirts, 15,278
pairs drawers, 20,415 hats and caps, 51,277 pairs boots and shoes, 23,220 pounds
cooking utensils, 3,000 tents, 3,700 blankets; and within this period he was
frequently out of material, and on several occasions operations were necessarily
stopped for one to three weeks.
A large portion of the material for jackets, pants and coats was
furnished by the Choctaw factory, from which he is now receiving monthly about
18,000 yards of jeans and linsey. Most
of the shirting goods was woven by ladies in the country for Sherman &
Ramsay of this place, who were under contract to furnish the goods. . . .
MEMPHIS
DAILY APPEAL [ATLANTA],
June 2, 1864, p. 1, c. 2
Lawrenceville Factory Burned.--We learn that the large cotton factory at
Lawrenceville, Gwinnett county, was burned on Monday last; supposed to have been
caused by the friction of the machinery. By
this accident, a heavy loss has been entailed upon the company, and some two
hundred and fifty employees have been thrown out of work.
Factories in want of hands ought to employ these men.
CHARLESTON
MERCURY, June 6, 1864, p. 1, c. 6
Little steps towards Southern independence.--The following list of
manufactories of general utility, not heretofore made in the South, is copied
from exchanges within the past few days, says the Charlotte Bulletin.
It shows that our people are really making some progress towards the
independence that we have heard talked of so much.
We have not included the cotton and woollen mills dotted here and there
in all the States, or the iron establishments, or the Government works for
making arms, powder, etc. . . .
ATHENS
[GA] SOUTHERN BANNER, June 8, 1864,
p. 3, c. 5
Factory at Lawrenceville Georgia Burnt.--We regret to learn that the
extensive Factory at Lawrenceville was burned on Monday last.
The fire is supposed to have been caused by the friction of the
machinery. By this misfortune a
heavy loss is entailed upon the Company, the immediate community and indeed the
public generally.
We wish to call particular attention to the card of E. Steadman, Agent,
in today's paper, in reference to the employees and operatives thus suddenly
thrown out of employment, and are requested by Mr. Steadman to ask the papers of
the State to give circulation to his card.--Atlanta Intelligencer.
ATHENS
[GA] SOUTHERN WATCHMAN, June 8, 1864,
p. 2, c. 2
Lawrenceville
Factory Burnt.
We regret to learn that the very extensive cotton factory at
Lawrenceville was consumed by fire on Monday of last week.
It was caused, we learn, by friction in the picking room.
It is not only a great loss to the stockholders, but also to the
community at large.
CHARLESTON
MERCURY, June 8, 1864, p. 2, c. 1
Cotton Factory Burned.--We learn that the Cotton Factory at
Lawrenceville, Ga., was destroyed by fire on Monday night, 30th May--the work of
incendiaries.
WASHINGTON
[ARK] TELEGRAPH, June 15, 1864
WANTED
TO HIRE,
1,000 NEGRO WOMEN!
At the manufacturing quartermaster's department, Gilmer, Upshur county,
Texas. I want 1,000 Negro Women to
spin and weave Cloth for the army. Twenty
Dollars per month and rations will be paid.
J.
D. Thomas, Major
& Manufacturing Q.M.D.A.
Gilmer, Texas, June
1st, 1864.
ATHENS
[GA] SOUTHERN WATCHMAN, July 6, 1864,
p. 2, c. 2
Destruction of Roswell.--We learn from a reliable source that all the factories
at Roswell were burned on Thursday. The
enemy seemed to pay no attention to the protection demanded by the foreign
citizen owners, and their own promise to protect the property.
Thus has been lost to our Confederacy a valuable property, estimated at
the least calculation, at five millions of dollars valuation.
It cannot be replaced until the war is over, and is simply
irreparable.--Atlanta Intelligencer.
ATHENS
[GA] SOUTHERN WATCHMAN, July 6, 1864,
p. 2, c. 3
The Yankees will keep the cotton and Woollen Mills [at Roswell] in operation. .
. . --Atlanta Intelligencer.
BELLVILLE [TX]
COUNTRYMAN, July 26, 1864, p. 2, c, 1
A Manufacturing Town.—Danville, Virginia is becoming quite a manufacturing
town. The Register says:--". .
. We may add, that we have now in Danville, established since the commencement
of the wear, two large woolen mills, two factories for making cotton cards, a
match factory, and a knitting establishment.
But there is plenty of water-power yet unemployed."
CHARLESTON
MERCURY, August 24, 1864, p. 1, c. 3
More War Upon Women.--General Sherman, finding at Roswell, in Georgia,
four hundred factory girls, employed in a large cotton factory at that point,
ordered the whole of the unfortunate creatures "to be sent north of the
Ohio." General Sherman has
shown on two or three occasions that ability as a military commander is quite
compatible with something not far removed from imbecility in respect to civil
matters.--He writes stupendously foolish general orders on things political, and
is evidently incapable of administering a village on practical principles.--But
it is hardly conceivable that an officer wearing a United States commission of
Major General should have so far forgotten the commonest dictates of decency and
humanity (Christianity apart) as to drive four hundred penniless girls hundreds
of miles away from their homes and friends, to seek their livelihood amid a
strange and hostile people. We
repeat our most earnest hope that further information may redeem the name of
General Sherman and our own from the frightful disgrace which this story, as it
now comes to us, must else inflict upon one and the other.--N. Y. Commercial
Advertiser.
AUSTIN
STATE GAZETTE, November 30, 1864, p.
2, c. 2
The Huntsville Item says penitentiary woolens or jeans are sold at $2 a yard,
and lowels at 60 to 70 cents. This
is as high as the same material can be bought at here in the stores.
BELLVILLE [TX]
COUNTRYMAN, December 13, 1864, p. 1, c. 3
We learn the penitentiary directors are now selling some cloth for
specie, or have instructed its sale, as supplies can no longer be obtained for
material—every dealer being glutted. But
the price seems to us enormous--$2 a yard for woolens or jeans, and 60 to 70c
for lowells. This is certainly
oppressive on poor people, while rich ones won't mind it.
We cannot think his excellency the governor will approve such a steep
tariff. From $6 new issue to $2
specie, is a "tremendous leap."
Huntsville Item.
GALVESTON WEEKLY
NEWS, December 28, 1864, p. 2, c. 1
Col. Andrews has returned from a trip to Huntsville, in behalf of the
poor of Galveston. He informs us
that he scarcely met a man who did not give something, in response to his
application, though it was not in his power to call on many.
He had an interview with the Directors of the Penitentiary, and was shown
through that establishment. He
speaks in the highest terms of the excellent system under which everything is
conducted, and of the good order apparent throughout.
He received every attention and civility from the Directors and Financial
Agent, who showed a disposition to do all they could to relieve the poor of
Galveston. For the purpose of
facilitating the distribution of the six hundred thousand yards of Penitentiary
cloth appropriated to soldiers' families by the late Legislature, the law
required the State to be divided into six districts, as nearly equal as
possible. The Financial Agent and
Directors were directed to district the State and to determine by lot the time
for each district to draw its share of the cloth.
The districting took place at Huntsville last Saturday.
The counties between the Trinity and Sabine, as high up as Houston
county, constitute the First District.
The counties above Houston county between the same rivers to the State
line constitute the 2d District. Col.
A. does not know exactly the counties constituting the 3d, 4th and 5th
Districts, but says the 6th District is composed of the extreme
Western counties. Galveston is in
the 4th District. After
the counties were districted the drawing took place, to determine the order in
which they are to be supplied with their respective quotas of the cloth.
The several Districts will receive the cloth in the following order:
1st District is the first to draw cloth; 6th
District is second to draw cloth; 4th District is the third to draw
cloth; 2d District is the fourth to draw cloth; 5th District is the
fifth to draw cloth; 3rd District is the sixth to draw cloth.
GALVESTON WEEKLY
NEWS, January 11, 1865, p. 2, c. 1
Penitentiary
Cloth Given to the Several Counties of the State.
From a circular just issued by the financial agent of the Penitentiary,
we find the State has been laid off into six districts, for convenience of
appropriating the quota of cloth to the respective counties, as follows:
1st District.—Chambers, Liberty, Jefferson, Orange, Hardin,
Newton, Jasper, Tyler, Polk, Trinity, Angelina, San
Augustine, Sabine, Houston, Anderson, Cherokee, Nacogdoches, Shelby,
Henderson.
2nd District.—Atascosa, Bandera, Bexar, Blanco, Bosque,
Brown, Stephens, Burnett, Cameron, Clay, Comal, Comanche, El Paso, Erath,
Gillespie, Hamilton, Hildalgo, Jack, Kendall, Kerr, Lampasas, Live Oak, Llano,
Mason, Medina, Montague, McCulloch, McMullen, Nueces, Palo Pinto, Parker, San
Saba, Starr, Uvalde, Webb, Wise, Wilson, Young, Zapata
3rd District.—Limestone, McClellan, Falls, Milan, Robertson,
Madison, Leon, Brazos, Burleson,
Washington, Grimes, Walker, Montgomery, Harris, Austin, Galveston
4th District.—Smith Rusk, Panola, Harrison, Upshur, Wood,
Van Zandt, Marion, Davis, Titus, Hopkins, Bowie, Red River, Lamar
5th District.—Fayette, Lavaca, Colorado, Fort
Bend, Wharton, Jackson, Victoria, Calhoun, Matagorda, Brazoria, San
Patricio, Rufugio, Goliad, Bee, Karnes, DeWitt, Gonzales, Guadalupe, Caldwell,
Bastrop, Hays, Travis, Williamson, Bell, Coryell
6th District.—Fannin, Grayson, Cooke, Denton, Collin, Hunt,
Kaufman, Dallas, Tarrant, Johnson, Ellis, Navarro, Hill, Freestone
The agent says, "adopting, under advice of the Comptroller, as a
basis, the indigent lists heretofore furnished to the Comptroller's office by
the Chief Justices of the several counties, I have divided the State into six
districts, and will proceed to furnish said cloth as follows:
1st District, 20th February, 1865.
4th District, 20th May, 1865
2nd
"
20th March, "
5th
"
20th June, "
3rd
"
20th April, "
6th
"
20th July, "
"I would respectfully call your attention [that of the various
county chief justices] to the duties imposed on the several county courts by
this act, in connexion with procuring these goods from the Penitentiary, and
particularly to the 4th section of said act, which makes it the duty
of "the county courts to procure promptly from the Financial Agent of the
Penitentiary the quantity and quality of cloth and thread to which they are
entitled, and to provide transportation for the same to their respective county
seats. This is the more important,
as the Penitentiary has but limited storage room for goods.
Under regulations heretofore adopted at this office, many of the counties
made application for cloth, and paid for it on delivery; while others failed to
do so, or to indicate in any way their desire for the cloth, and consequently
received none. An act approved
November 15th, 1864, requires the financial agent to set aside for
these counties the amount of cloth to which they would have been entitled had
they made application as did the others. The
price to be paid by these counties in C. S.
Treasury notes, new issue, is the same paid by the counties already supplied—osnaburgs
$2.80, cotton jeans $3 per yard. State
treasury warrants will be received in payment at their relative value.
This distribution will be made out of the first cloth manufactured after
the several counties are furnished under the act first referred to in this
circular. Chief justices, however,
if they wish their counties to receive the benefit of this act, are required to
give notice to this office to that effect, within 90 days from the 15th
November last. I shall attempt to
execute faithfully the provisions of the law on this subject; but cannot forbear
saying that in my opinion these goods should have been furnished to the army.
Our destitute and suffering soldiery certainly have claims paramount to
all others."
We also gather from the circular that the factory will be in running trim
about the 15th inst., and of course the resurrection of Huntsville
will be a simultaneous event.—Item.
DALLAS HERALD, January 26, 1865, p. 2, c. 4
From Brownsville.—We take the following items from the Ranchero of Jan. 7th:
. . . Useful Information.—The machinery for a cotton factory arrived in Texas
this week. We are informed that the
spindles will be humming a cheerful tune at no distant day.
The exact point where the factory is to be established, we will not
state.—We leave that for the future research of some Loyal League savan.
GALVESTON WEEKLY
NEWS, February 1, 1865, p. 2, c. 2
We have received from the President of the Bastrop Manufacturing Company
a sample of the thread which is now being spun by its machinery.
This thread is remarkably even, smooth and strong.
This we understand is the first thread spun, but when the establishment
is in full operation, it is expected to produce a superior article.
Mr. S. S. Munger is the president of the company.
AUSTIN
STATE GAZETTE, February 1, 1865, p.
2, c. 1
Bastrop Manufacturing Company.--We have before us a sample of the first thread
made in this State, from the Bastrop Manufacturing Co., which has been handed to
us by the Governor. It is, for
ordinary use, (and for the first made in this factory, a good article--rather
coarse, but very elastic; and when all the machinery which is on the ground is
put up, and in perfect working order, we have no doubt it will produce as good
an article of thread as the wants of the country demand.
From a letter, under date of the 26th ult., to the Governor, who has been
the prime leader in getting nearly all the machinery now in operation out and on
its way from the Rio Grande, for this and other branches of mechanical industry,
we copy the following extract of a letter from the President of the Bastrop
Manufacturing Co., S. S. Munger, Esq.
"I expect to be able, after we get everything smooth and in perfect
order, to turn out 500 lbs of thread per day, which will be enough to warp from
2,500 to 3,000 yards of cloth. I
think we can do this easily. The
cold weather this week has retarded us very much, though we are connecting pipes
to heat by steam, and then we will defy the norther blasts."
With the limited means at the disposal of the Executive--no rule to guide
him, except his judgment as to the common wants of our people--and the
interference of our military commanders in undoing that which had done for the
best interests of the State, we must in candor say, that he is entitled to the
gratitude of our people for the deep interest he has taken in forwarding the
introduction of necessary machinery into the State. We hope it is only the beginning of the end.