Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 12.djvu/345

Rh In 1880 the South produced 397,301 tons of pig iron; in 1895, 1,900,000 tons. In 1880 the South produced 6,048,000 tons of coal; in 1895, 30,000,000 tons. In 1880 there were 40 cottonseed-oil mills, with a capital of $3,500,000; in 1896 there were 300 mills, with a capital of $30,000,000. This is almost entirely a new industry, cottonseed furnishing both oil and the cake used as fertilizer and cattle feed.

The facts given are sufficient to show that the South is forging ahead in all manufacturing industries. She is establishing woolen mills, manufacturing establishments of all kinds, to work her crude materials into finished articles of commerce, into furniture, tools, building material, etc. She is using marble, granite, copper, clay, terra cotta and other minerals, and diversifying her industries in every way, producing what she needs rather than importing it. Before the war her agricultural resources paid so well, in fact so much better than her other industries, that she mainly confined herself to them. Now she is diversifying her agriculture on still more varied and scientific principles, keeping up in her great local advantages in this industry, and at the same time rapidly increasing her industries in every other line, providing employment for her people and all who cast their lot with her. In diversifying her agriculture, she has met with the success which always follows such a course. Her great cotton yield has been brought about by better selection of seed, in better handling of the staple, and in better fertilizing of the soil. While this is true, proportionally large crops of other kinds are planted and raised sugar, corn, oats, wheat, tobacco, sorghum, rice and potatoes. She raises every crop raised at the North and West, and many others besides, which cannot be raised in those sections.

She is raising her own food and not buying nearly to the extent she did immediately following the war. Then she bought grain and meat almost exclusively, and con-