USA > Georgia > Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. I > Part 25
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II
29,250
37,860
47
9,804
62,930
Thomas
6
35,200
26,000
69
19.392
57,000
Towns
I
5,000
10,000
2
480
1 1,000
Troup
30
182,850
222,595
173
70
41,316
344,950
Twiggs
I7
31,375
19,206
30
8.520
34,394
Union
2
5,300
2,000
8
2,040
10,000
Upson
41
316,915
220,257
174
96
48, 552.
330,782
Walker
IO
11,666
6,800
17
4,236
13,016
Walton.
51
78,645
143 757
146
40
9,060
40,200
Warren
12
52,900
34 231
79
20
18,336
82,296
Washington
8
48,200
11,225
33
8,040
28,400
Wayne
9
49,265
11,675
38
6,780
30,276
White
16
12,800
8.700
16
3,252
14,565
Whitfield.
12
85,500
46,278
83
27,264
126, 150
Wilkes
24
41.300
23,860
62
13,224
52,400
Wilkinson
18
37,240
35,406
75
I
18,000
84,666
Worth
4
950
709
2,640
4,100
Aggregate
1,800
10,890, 875
9,986,532
9,511
2,064
2,925, 148
16,925, 564
I
8,000
1,500
5
16,800
63,100
Morgan.
47,800
62,710
71
58,908
348,831
Oglethorpe.
24
75,750
147,136
50
41
40,068
229,632
Ware.
3
21, 500
25,500
1,440
6,000
Milton.
NOTE-No returns from twenty counties.
Employés.
I71
INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES.
Cotton .- When the manufacture of silk ceased to be profitable, or to give hope of profit, the colonists of Georgia turned their attention mainly to agriculture; but found it necessary and economical to make at home many things that they had been getting from England. The separation from the mother country greatly stimulated these small home industries, and the people of the state, making a virtue of necessity, began the manufacture of farming implements, nails, utensils of the home and office, clothing for the household, and iron from the ores of the northern hills. The census authorities say in their compilation of their last reports that all information upon cotton manufacture prior to 1840 is "meagre and not altogether trustworthy." Nevertheless it is fair to assume that the manufacture of cotton soon took the place occupied by silk in the old colonial days. The staple that has for a half century been the king and ruler of the destinies of the south, was brought to this country from Cyprus and Smyrna in 1621, at which time a few seeds were planted, as an experiment, in Virginia. It was twenty years after this first planting of cotton seed in Virginia that cotton began to be used in the manufacture of textile fabrics in England. The cotton used, however, was not from the American plantations, but imported from the Levant. The experiment did not promise well, as at the time of the revolution the cotton crop of the south consisted in a few thousand pounds raised in little garden patches for home use. It was not until 1784 that cotton was exportcd. In that year 1,200 pounds were shipped to England. For the same year the total consumption of cotton in England was 11,250,000 pounds. In 1894, the southern states exported to Eng- land 2,761,306 bales, or 1,365,130,388 pounds; the total crop of the south being 7,527,2II bales, or 3,478,422,352 pounds; and England's consumption being 4,100,000 bales, or 1,640,000,000 pounds.
The south itself consumes 839,000 bales; the United States, 2,830,000; and the entire world, 11,714,000. These figures show the tremendous growth of our cotton crop, and at the same time indicates the danger to which the south is- exposed. We now raise within 2,000,000 or 3,000,000 bales of the world's con- sumption. Adding to this crop the product of Egypt, India, China and Russian Asia, the world is raising more cotton than it consumes. This year's crop leaves. an excess of nearly 2,500,000 bales.
In 1800 the south produced 40,000,000 pounds of cotton. By 1820, the crop had grown to 160,000,000 pounds; by 1830, to 350,000,000 pounds; by 1840, to 790,000,000 pounds; by 1850, to 978,000,000 pounds, or 2,469,093 bales. In 1860, the total crop was 2,154,820,800 pounds, or 5,387,052 bales. Southern planters who got fabulous prices for cotton just after the war declared that the south would never raise another 5,000,000 crop. In 1867, the crop was only 2,230,000 bales. In 1870 it reached 3,011,996. In 1880 it got up to 5,755,359, or back to the figures of 1860, just twenty years after the golden era. The con- sumption of cotton and its manufacture has not either in this state or in the United States, kept pace with the crop. As early as 1640, nineteen years after the planting of the first cotton seed in Virginia, and a year before England herself began to manufacture cotton, Massachusetts offered bounties for the manu- facture of cotton goods. The first factory was established at Rowley, Mass., in 1743. In 1791, only 5,500,000 pounds were manufactured in the United States. At the beginning of this century, 1801, 9,000,000 pounds were consumed; in 1811, 17,000,000 pounds; in 1821, 50,000,000 pounds; in 1831, 77,500,000 pounds; in 1841, 97,500,000 pounds; in 1850, 245,250,000 pounds; in 1860, 422,704,975 pounds, or 1,094,762 bales of 400 pounds each; in 1870, 1,109,000 bales; in 1880, 2,118,000 bales; in 1890-91, 2,958,000; and in 1894, 2,830,000 bales. The south raised in 1894, 7,577,211 bales, and consumed 718,515 bales; Georgia raised
172
MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA.
1,125,000 bales, and consumes 176,303 bales. The increase for consumption in the south has been 55 per cent. since 1889. In an address delivered in Baltimore, Aug. 14, 1894, Mr. R. H. Edmonds made the following statement as to the general condition of cotton manufacturing in the south:
"There are about 15,000,000 cotton spindles in the United States. They represent an investment, including all classes of cotton manufactures, of over $400,000,000. Of this number the south has in round numbers one-sixth or 2,700,000 spindles, and the capital invested is about $97,000,000. The world has about 85,000,000 spindles. If the capital invested were in the same proportion as in this country the aggregate would be over $2,300,000,000, but the capital of European mills is less in proportion to the number of spindles than in this country. The south produces nearly 60 per cent. of the entire cotton crop of the world, and if it manufactured this it would need over twenty times as many spindles as it has, or about 50,000,000, and the capital needed would exceed $1,300,000,000. The total annual value of the product of these mills would be equal to the value of three full cotton crops. In the last eighteen years the cotton crops of the south have been sold for an aggregate of nearly $6,000,000,000. Before they reach the consumer their value has increased to $18,000,000,000 or $20,000,000,000. This enormous business, creating wealth wherever established, is the prize for which the south has now commenced to contend."
GROWTH OF COTTON MANUFACTURE IN GEORGIA SINCE 1860.
Year.
No. of
Establishments.
Looms.
Spindles.
Operatives.
Capital Invested.
Wages Paid.
Cotton Consumed.
Value of Product.
1860
33
2,011
85,186
2,813
$ 2. 126, 103
1870
34
1,887
85,602
2,846
3.433.265
$ 415,332 611,868
13,907,904a 10.921,176a
3.648,973
1880
44
4,493
198,656
6,215
6,537,657
1, 141.782
33-757.1992
6,513,490
1890
53
10,459
442,148
10,530 12.370d
25,000,000₡
2,622, 440C
145,8596 184,4030
12,035,629
1893 .
65
11,655
534,360
17.664,675
2.366.085
15,000,000d
2,371,207
Notes to table on cotton: (a) Number of pounds given for 1860, 1870 and 1880; (b) number of bales for 1890 and 1893; the number of pounds for 1890 were 69,139,410, and for 1893, 78,722,079; (c) operatives estimated on the basis of one to every 43.19 spindles; (d) estimated.
While the figures for 1893 cannot be given in regard to operatives, capital, wages, and value of product, yet a very close estimate is possible. For instance, the average number of spindles to the operative in Georgia is 43.19; this would give 12,370 operatives. Other estimates are based upon such averages, and the information gathered through correspondence with the mills of the state. A glance at the table will be sufficient to show that the rate of increase in the manufacture of cotton has been very marked and rapid. We should not go back to 1860 for comparison, because between 1860 and 1870 there is a gulf which comparative statistics cannot cross. We should begin the comparison at 1870. The figures for 1860 are given for their historic interest, and to give a basis of contrast between ante-bellum prosperity and the prosperity of the present day. Taking the figures for 1870, therefore, we see that in the manufacture of cotton
I73
INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES.
Georgia's increase has been nearly 500 per cent. in twenty-three years. A few more years of such growth will place her in the front rank in this industry. Everything points to an even more rapid advance. The mills, as has often been said, are coming to the cotton. New England and Great Britain cannot success- fully compete against the south in the manufacture of southern cotton. England has the advantage of a century's start ahead, and so has New England. But the natural conditions at the south cannot be met by artificial conditions. The south has 20,000,000 horse-power comparatively idle; she has cheaper labor than can be found elsewhere, and this labor is equal in industry and skill to any in the world; she has a climate in which work can be performed with comfort and safety all the year; and she lias the cotton at the doors of her mills. In middle Georgia there is a cotton mill driven by water power, situated by the side of a railroad, and within a field of cotton. The picture of this mill tells the whole story, and is itself a clear prophecy of the future of the cotton manufacture. It is claimed, however, that while the southern mills can control the markets of the world with regard to coarse goods they cannot do so with regard to fine goods. What is true in the one case is true in the other. The skill necessary will soon be forth- coming, and the day is not far distant when the southern states will manufacture their own cotton, and control the markets of the world in all varieties of cotton manufactures. To the $300,000,000 of the cotton crop will be added at least $800,000,000 invested in cotton manufacture, and the south will become one of the richest portions of the globe.
Georgia does about 25 per cent. of all the cotton manufacturing of the south. She will hold this proportion for years to come, and will probably increase it within the next few years. The prospect is that cotton manufacturing in this state will grow with tremendous rapidity, and will soon have an invested capital of upward of $100,000,000. From 1880 to 1890, the increase in value of the product of the cotton mills for the whole United States was 39.51 per cent. and for Georgia 85.52 per cent.
Wool .- The manufacture of wool is so closely related to that of cotton that it might be well included in the statistics and accounts of the latter industry. While the manufacture is still of considerable importance, it has not fulfilled the rich promise it gave of rapid development and growth. Its history goes back dimly to 1810, when it was entered into the census list of industries in Georgia as "woolen goods in families." But there is nothing authentic prior to 1840. At that time Georgia is credited with one woolen establishment with a capital of $2,000, and with a product value of $3,000. By 1850, there were three establish- ments, with capital of $68,000, and a product value of $88,750. In 1860, the industry showed a very great development. There were eleven establishments with a capital of $242,500 and a product of $464,420. In 1870, it reached its highest point of growth. The establishments numbered forty-six, the capital invested was $936,585, and the product $471,523. In 1880, there were thirty-two establishments, capital $180,733, and product $239,390. In 1890, there were only fourteen establishments, but the capital had risen to $298,539. The product still decreased in value and was reported as $173,245. The condition in 1894 remains probably as in 1890. The growth of the business in the west has somewhat over- shadowed the industry in the southern states, although a prominent operator in this state reports the outlook as encouraging, and predicts a substantial and satis- factory advance.
Cotton Seed Oil .- Within recent years a new industry of very great importance to the farmers of the south has sprung into existence. A few years ago the only revenue the farmer received from his cotton was from the sale of the lint. The
174
MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA.
seed, except what was needed for replanting and the little used for feeding stock, was almost a waste. It was not even understood and appreciated as a fertilizer. The seed is now utilized to the farthest degree, and has added a large and growing industry to the southern states, and many thousands of dollars to the scanty revenues of the cotton planters. It is estimated that there are in every bale of cotton thirty bushels of seed. Two bushels are needed to plant an acre, and as it requires three acres to produce a bale, six bushels out of these thirty must be saved for the next crop. This leaves twenty-four bushels of seed for every bale of cotton, which constitutes the raw material of the new industry. This year's crop of cotton was 7,427,21I bales. Multiplying this by twenty-four and we have 180,653,064 bushels of cotton seed. Twenty bushels of cotton seed weigh 720 pounds. There are, therefore, 5,419,591.920 pounds of cotton seed from a single crop that may be made into oil, meal and fertilizer. To the farmers who sell to the mills, this means at the usual price paid for seed, 15 cents a bushel, or $Io per ton-$30,000,000 a year. The average value of the cotton crop may be stated as about $300,000,000. The value of cotton seed is about one-tenth. In other words, the southern farmer has added to his income by 10 per cent. of what he was making from his cotton. The industry has a brilliant outlook, as the oil is being more and more extensively used in the manufacture of lard and the various substitutes for butter, and for mixing with olive oil.
In 1860, cotton seed oil is mentioned for the first time in our national census reports. At that time there were seven establishments, with a product valued at $741,000 for the whole country. In 1870, there were twenty-six establishments, with a product worth $2,205,610. Louisiana led with six establishments. New York, Rhode Island and Ohio together had seven. All the rest were in the south- ern states. Georgia had not one. In 1880, there were forty-five establishments, with a capital of $3,862,300, and a product valued at $7,690,921. With the excep- tion of one 'establishment each in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Ohio, and two in Missouri, all were in the south. Georgia was still without a report. In 1890, there were 119 establishments, with a product valued at $19,335,947. Georgia's share is reported as seventeen establishments, and a product valued at $1,670,196.
The development in this state since 1890 has been marvelous. There are now twenty-five establishments, which crushed this year 200,000 tons of seed. The product of a ton is as follows: Forty gallons of oil at 40 cents, $16; 700 pounds of meal at $20 a ton, $7; 25 pounds of lint at 3 cents, 75 cents; 900 pounds of hulls at $3 a ton, $1.25. Total, $25.10. This gives the following result: Eight million gallons of oil, $3,200,000; 5,000,000 pounds of lint. $150,000; 180,000,000 pounds of hulls, $270,000; 140,000,000 pounds of meal, $1,400,000. Total, $5,020,000.
If this estimate, which is furnished by thoroughly informed men engaged in this industry, may be relied on, the manufacture of cotton seed oil and its attendant industries has increased 300 per cent. in four years. The "crush" of the present year in Georgia was about one-third of the seed produced.
Iron .- In the history of manufacturing in Georgia, the iron industries follow close upon the manufacture of cotton. As early as 1810, we find the census report mentioning blomaries, forges and naileries. It is more than probable the colonists had found it both necessary and economical to make nails and farming imple- ments, but there is no record of the industry, which was confined, perhaps, to the plantation, each supplying itself with such tools and iron implements as were necessary. In 1810, however, it is recorded that there was a nailery in Chatham county, a forge in Elbert, and a "blomary" in Warren. A blomary is "the first forge in an iron works through which the metal passes after having been melted
175
INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES.
from the ore, and in which it is made into blooms." As the iron ores of Georgia were all in the upper part of the state, they could not be got at until after the Indians had vacated portions of the mountainous region. It was not until 1838 that the Cherokees abandoned their claims to the territory. The iron industry, therefore, labored under many disadvantages in its early history.
The Sequee blomary forge was built in 1830, three miles south of Clarkesville, Habersham Co., but was abandoned in 1835. In the same county Hodge's forge was established, probably about the same date, if not earlier. Blomary forges were built in Cass county (now Bartow) in 1838, 1841 and 1846. In Union county one was built in 1839 and one in Murray county in 1843. Blomaries were also built in Dade and Walker about the same date. The first furnace built in the state was the one at Sequee, 1832, abandoned about five years later. Others were built in Cass and Walker counties about the same period. Rising Fawn furnace, in Dade county, has the distinction of being the first furnace in the United States to use the White- well hot-blast stove. The first blowing in iron was on June 18, 1875.
The iron industry has been re-established in this state within the last twenty-five years, and gives promise of a much greater development. The following table shows the industry since 1870. The census report for 1860 does not give figures:
Number of
Year.
Establishments.
Capital.
Product.
1870.
7 $ 228,060
$903,068
1880
14 1,135,900 990,850
1890. 5
471,757
This table, compiled from the census, would indicate a decided decrease in the iron production, but such is not the case. In 1892 Georgia produced 9,950 tons of pig iron. In 1893 she produced 39,675 tons. This advance is remarkable because only three states showed an increase in iron production in 1893-Colorado, Mary- land and Georgia. The percentage of increase in Colorado was .40, in Maryland .52, and in Georgia within a fraction of 300. It may be well to call attention here to the great increase in industries using iron and steel as material in manufacture. The manufacture of agricultural implements increased from a product of $601,935 in 1880 to $793,825 in 1890; foundry and machine-shop products from $1,299,49I in 1880 to $2,272,653 in 1890.
Marble and Granite .- The marble and stone industries are of recent develop- ment. The census report for 1870 gives a record of marble and stone work (not specified) as two establishments, with a capital of $60,000, and a product of $25,000, while "monuments and tombstones" are recorded as having seven establishments, a capital of $62,300 and a product of $104,800. Paving material is not given at all. In 1860 none of these industries is mentioned.
The report of the United States census for 1880 gives the condition of the paving-stone industry for Georgia as two establishments, with a capital of $7,500, and a product of $13,100. By 1890 it had grown to five establishments, with a product of $513,648. In 1881, less than twenty carloads of paving stone, building and monumental stone were shipped out of Georgia. For the last three years, that is, for 1891, 1892 and 1893, the average has been from 8,000 to 10,000 carloads, and a product of upward of $1,000,000 a year. In 1893 Georgia did as large a business in this one industry as the entire country did ten years before. By the census report of 1880 the entire granite product of the United States was $5,188,998. By 1890 the industry 'had almost trebled its product. In 1880 Georgia ranked twelfth among the states in stone-producing industries. In 1890 she had advanced to fifth
176
MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA.
rank in paving material, and sixth in building stone. In the cities of Baltimore, Cincinnati, Columbus, O., Dayton, Louisville, Chattanooga, Nashville, Memphis, Montgomery, Birmingham, New Orleans, Savannah, Augusta and Atlanta there are 1,845,000 square yards of granite paving-equal to 130 miles of roadway- furnished by the quarries of Stone Mountain and Lithonia in this state.
While the marble industry dates from 1840, when F. T. Simmons opened a small quarry in Longswamp valley, near Tate, no extensive product was made until some years after the war. In 1850 two mills were erected on Longswamp creek, and the output was very largely increased. But it was not until 1885 that quarrying was conducted on an extensive scale. A company was organized in 1884, with a capital of $1,500,000, for the purpose of quarrying marble. Another large company was organized in 1885. Since that date the business has grown very rapidly. In 1886 a third large company was organized. Georgia produced $261,666 worth of marble in 1893, and now ranks next to Vermont in the amount of product. Marble is found in Fannin, Pickens and Gilmer counties, though Pickens is the only one now actively producing. The work of dressing marble constitutes an auxiliary industry which has a capital of about $200,000 and is an important and thriving business.
Fertilizers .- A number of industries have sprung up within recent years or have assumed large proportions. Among them is the manufacture of fertilizers. In 1870, when this industry makes its first appearance in the census statistics, there were six establishments, with a capital of $51,500, and a product of $163,950. In 1880 there were three establishments, with a capital of $240,000, and a product of $246,500. In 1890 the business showed an increase of 2,000 per cent. for the decade. There were forty-four establishments having a product of $5,026,034. It is estimated by the manufacturers that 225,000 tons were produced in the state during the past season. The state chemist inspected about 315,000 tons, and the amount consumed by the state was about 325,000 tons. The state uses probably 100,000 more tons than is manufactured in it.
Crackers and Candy .- Another industry of recent and rapid development is the manufacture of crackers and candy. Ten years ago the candy and cracker industries employed $150,000 capital, and had a product of $400,000. This year the capital employed is $400,000 and the product about $1,000,000.
Patent Medicines .- The manufacture of patent medicines has become a very important industry in the state. In 1880 there were twelve establishments and a product of $138,500. By 1890 there were fourteen establishments and a product of $837,495. The product is now very greatly in excess of these figures, as may be inferred from the development of one of these manufactories. In 1880 the retail value of the product of this single preparation was only $1,843. In 1889 it was $13,894; in 1890, $56,672; in 1891, $126,918; in 1892, $226,404; in 1893, $309,932, and in 1894, $367,993. Atlanta has the reputation of doing the largest business in patent medicines of any city in the south, and as much as all others south of Louisville combined. One firm in 1890 did a business of $500,000.
Industries have not yet grouped themselves in certain places as they have in other states. Georgia has no Lowell or Pittsburg. But the process has begun. Cotton manufacturing is mostly confined to Augusta and to Columbus, where water power is very cheap, convenient and exhaustless. Savannah is the largest naval-store market in the world, and Brunswick is following her development rapidly. Atlanta is remarkable for diversified industries. Only Lowell and Law- rence, Mass., outrank her in the proportion of population engaged in manufac- turing pursuits. She had more than 840 manufacturing establishments in 1885, the variety extending to fifty-two different industries.
177
INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES.
The following table gives the conditions of manufactures in the state for 1880 , and 1890, with aggregates for 1860 and 1870.
Lumber and naval stores are treated in another article following this.
COMPARATIVE TABLE OF MANUFACTURES-1860 TO 1890.
Industries .!
Year.
No. of Establish-
ments.
No. of
Employés.
Wages Paid.
Cost of Material.
Value of Product.
Agricultural Implements.
1890
II
467
$174,811
$425,985
$793,825
1880
20
274
77,585
. 337,846
601,935
Brick and Tile
1890
61
2,080
473,872
253,922
1,201,542
1880
76
1,228
188,883
115,747
409,025
Cotton Compressing
1890
9
514
127,147
59, 135
401,303
Cotton Ginning
1 890
281
1,236
88,903
23,613
227,782
1880
1890
53
10,530
2,366,085
7,832,230
12,035,629
1880
44
6,241
1,141,782
4,039,673
6,513,490
1890
44
1,428
484,589
3,098,883
5,026,034
1880
3
67
22,877
203,000
246,500
Flouring and Grist Mill Products .. .
1890
719
1,394
301,342
4,356,700
5,190,31I
Foundry and Machine Shop Products.
1890
52
1,743
842,449
753,299
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