many from our competition in neutral markets may be offset in our yet more dangerous competition for men. The German already knows Texas; and, in the one block of sixty thousand square miles of land by which the State of Texas exceeds the area of the German Empire, we offer room and healthy conditions of life for millions of immigrants. And on that single square of land, if they come in sufficient numbers, they can raise as much cotton as is now raised in the whole South, that is to say, five million bales; and as much wheat as is now raised in the whole North, that is to say, four hundred million bushels,. -and yet subsist themselves besides on what is left of this little patch that will not be needed for these two crops. It will be obvious that even the least imaginative cannot but be moved by the influences that have been designated, and that versatility and readiness to adopt every labor-saving device will not only be promoted, but absolutely forced into action, when such vast areas are to be occupied, and when even the dullest boy is educated in the belief that he also is to be one of those who are to build up this nation to the full measure of its high calling. We may not dare to boast, in view of all we have passed through; but we know that slavery has been destroyed, and that the nation lives stronger, truer, and more vigorous, than ever before. We know that it has been reserved for a democratic republic to be the first among nations that, having issued government notes, and made them legal tender, has resumed payment in coin without repudiation or reduction of the promise. We know that we have paid a third of our great national debt already, and that the rest is now mainly held by our own citizens. We know that within the lives of men of middle age now living the nation will number one hundred millions, and that, in whatever else we may be found wanting, we cannot long be kept back in our career of material prosperity, which shall be shared with absolute certainty by every one who brings to the work health, integrity, and energy. If there is any force in this reasoning, our competition with other manufacturing countries, in supplying neutral markets with manufactured goods, will not be compassed by low rates of wages paid to our factory-operatives, or to the workingpeople engaged in our metal-works and other occupations, but first by obtaining and keeping such an advanced position in the application and use of improved tools and machinery as shall make high wages consistent with a low cost of production; secondly, by our ability to obtain the raw materials at as low or lower cost. Every employer knows that among employés. who are paid by the piece, it is the operative that gains the largest earnings whose production costs the least, because under the control of such operatives the machinery is most effectively guided during working-hours. As it is with single operatives, so it is with large masses, if well instructed, and working under the incentives to industry and frugality that have been named, their large product will earn for them ample wages, and yet result in low cost of labor to the employer. Such workmen never have any "blue Monday." The workman who in this country habitually becomes intoxicated is soon discharged; and his place is filled by one who respects himself, and values his place too much to risk his position in dissipation. Competition with England in supplying the markets of Asia, Africa, and South America with cotton goods, is now perhaps the best criterion by which to gauge our ability to compete in other branches of manufacture. It has been often assumed in England, that the increasing shipments of cotton goods from this country have been forced by necessity, and merely consisted of lots sold below cost as a means of obtaining ready money; but there is no ground whatever for this general assumption, even though some small shipments may have been made at first with this view. Our export of cotton fabrics amounts as yet to but seven or eight per cent of our production, and is but a trifle compared to that of Great Britain; but it is not made at a loss, and it constitutes a most important element in the returning prosperity of our cotton mills. The goods exported are mostly made by strong and prosperous corporations, paying regular dividends. They consist mainly of coarse sheetings and drills, and are sold by the manufacturers to merchants, who send them to China, Africa, and South America, in payment for tea, silk, ivory, sugar, gums, hides, and wool. They are not made by operatives who earn less than the recent or present rates of wages in England; but, in most departments of the mills, by those who earn as much or more. This competition had been fairly begun before the late war in this country, but it is now continued under better conditions. The mills of New England are now relatively much nearer the cotton fields than they were then, owing to through connections by rail. Prior to 1860 substantially all the cotton went to the seaports of the cotton States, and from there the cost of moving it to the North or to Liverpool varied but little; but at the present day a large and annually increasing portion of the cotton used in the North is bought in the interior markets, and carried in covered cars directly to the mills, where the bales are delivered clean, and much more free from damage and waste. than those which are carried down the Southern rivers on boats and barges, dumped upon the wharves, and then compressed to the utmost for shipment by sea. In proof that this advantage is an actual one, the following example may be cited: A contract has just been made in this city for the transport of a large quantity of cotton from Texas to Liverpool, at the rate of $1.10 per hundred pounds, - the proportion assigned to the land carriage being seventy cents; to transhipment in Boston and to the steamship, forty cents; the rate of marine insurance is three-eighths per cent; and the cost of handling in Liverpool, and transportation to Manchester, not less than a quarter of a cent per pound. Bargains may be made to bring cotton from the same point in Texas to the principal factory cities of New England, at the rate assigned to the land carriage, namely, seventy cents per hundred pounds. This cotton is brought from the interior towns of Texas to Boston, and cannot be carried to Liverpool by way of Galveston or New Orleans so cheaply, else it would not come this way. Assuming the bale to weigh five hundred pounds, at ten cents a pound, we have the following comparative cost: LOWELL. Cost of cotton in Texas, 500 pounds at 10 cents, including $50 00 3 50 Total. LANCASHIRE. $53 50 10 70 500 pounds at 10 cents, including all local charges Freight from Texas to Liverpool, at $1.10 per 100 pounds Total. Advantage of Lowell over Lancashire There may be changes in the rates, but it does not seem probable that the relation of the land to the ocean can be much changed; and it would therefore appear that the New England manufacturer will have a permanent advantage in the price of American cotton of any given grade, varying from six to eight per cent, as the price of cotton may vary from twelve to nine cents per pound; and this advantage may be equal to twentyfive to fifteen per cent in ability to pay wages, as the cost of labor varies from a quarter to a third in the total cost of coarse and medium goods, such as constitute the chief part of the demand of the world. It may be said that this proves too much, and that the cotton spinners of the Southern States will have the same relative advantage over New England. Let this be freely admitted: we are treating the question of the future supremacy of the UNITED STATES in the manufacture as well as the growth of cotton; and if the future changes in population, wealth, and condition of the different sections of this country, shall in the future cause the increase of spindles, especially in coarse fabrics, to be planted in the healthy hill country of Northern Georgia, Eastern Tennessee, and the Carolinas, it will simply be the greater evidence that natural laws are paramount. If Georgia has twice the advantage over Lancashire that New England now possesses, it will only be the fault of the people of Georgia if they do not reap the benefit of it. It has been stated that our present rates of wages in our cotton factories are higher than they were in 1860, and, with our increasing prosperity, they will tend to advance; but at the same time the cost of the labor in the finished fabric has been reduced by the greater productive power of the machinery. The fabrics upon which by far the largest part of the spindles and looms of the country are operated may be divided substantially into the following classes: 1st, The printing-cloth, twenty-eight inches wide and seven yards to the pound. The cost of mill labor in making this fabric, including the salaries, wages, or earnings of every one employed, is now less than one cent, or a halfpenny, a yard. 2d, The heavy sheeting, thirty-six inches wide, and the heavy drill, thirty inches wide, both weighing two and three-fourths to three yards to one pound. The cost of mill labor in making these fabrics is about one and one-fourth cents per yard. 3d, Shirtings and sheetings, thirty to thirty-six inches wide, Nos. 20 to 30 yarns, weighing three to four yards to a pound. The cost of mill labor in these goods is from one and a half to two cents per yard. 4th, The fine sheeting or shirting, thirty to forty inches wide, No. 30 to 40 yarn, weighing three to four yards to the pound. The cost of mill labor in these goods is from one and a half to three cents per yard. 5th, Fabrics of a similar kind to the above, from one to three yards wide. 6th, Heavy cotton duck, cotton grain-bags, cotton hose, and other special articles. 7th, Blue denims, stripes, tickings, brown denims and duck, and other heavy colored goods, substantial ginghams, cottonades, and other fancy woven fabrics of medium or heavy weight. These seven classes comprise more than ninety-five per cent of our cotton fabrics in weight; to them are to be added lawns, woven fabric of light weight for dresses, and spool-cotton. In respect of one-half of these fabrics, being those of the heavier grade, our proximity to the cotton field, computed at not less than half a cent per pound, oftener three-quarters, will enable the New England manufacturer to pay from twenty to thirty per cent higher wages, and yet to make the goods, other things being equal, at the same cost as his competitor in Lancashire. On a large portion of the other kinds, this advantage in the cost of cotton would be ten to twenty per cent. The natural advantages cannot work immediate results: the ways and means of a great commerce cannot be improvised in a year, hardly in a generation. Much depends on the wisdom of our legislators in framing the acts under which our taxes are collected, whether customs or excise, and yet more upon our adherence to a specie basis in our currency; but in the long-run the only reason why we shall not assume a constantly increasing share in the cotton manufacture of the world will be the free choice that our country offers for other occupation of a more profitable or more desirable kind. Reference has been made to the small proportion of fine spinning in the United States. Within the last few years great progress has been made in spinning and weaving fabrics of Nos. 60 to 100, such as lawns and fine dress-goods, and also in spinning fine yarn for spool-cotton. In the latter direction, yarns |