ART. IV. THE AGRICULTURAL PROSPECTS OF SOUTHCAROLINA; HER RESOURCES AND HER TRUE POLICY. 1. Anniversary Oration of the State Agricultural Society of South-Carolina. By General JAMES H. HAMMOND. Read before the Society, on the 25th November, 1841, at their annual meeting, in the hall of the House of Representatives.

2. Address by R. W. ROPER, Esq.; delivered in Columbia, South-Carolina, before the State Agricultural Society, on the Anniversary, November 28, 1844.

3. Essays on Domestic Industry: or, An Inquiry into the Expediency of Establishing Cotton Manufactures in South-Carolina. Originally published in the Charleston Courier, and now re-published at the request of several gentlemen of Charleston. By WILLIAM GREGG. Charleston Burges & James, Publishers. 1845.

At no period of our history, from the year 1781, has a greater gloom been cast over the agricultural prospects of South-Carolina, than at the present time. The exceedingly low price to which her great staple has been reduced, and the loss of all reasonable hope of its commanding hereafter, at least in our day, such prices as will remunerate for the labor of cultivating it upon our average lands, have driven many of her citizens to the necessity of quitting their accustomed paths, and of devising new plans for their future prosperity. If there ever was a time when the wisdom, patriotism and energy of Carolina's sons were required to uphold her, it is now; and if they be but true to their own interest, and her high destiny, better days will yet await her than it has ever been her lot to enjoy.

It is not our intention to enter into a critical analysis of the several productions, whose titles we have placed at the head of this article; but we wish to give a brief view of the agricultural prospects of South-Carolina, her resources, and her true policy, and shall therefore notice only such portions of them as will serve our present purpose.

The prosperity of South-Carolina has been so intimately connected with the production of cotton, that any thing pertaining to her policy must necessarily involve the consideration of its culture; we are, therefore, naturally led to take a glance at the growth of cotton in this State, and to inquire

what are the prospects in relation to this important production of her agricultural industry.

For fifty years, South-Carolina held an enviable position among the planting States of the Union. She was the first to embark in the culture of cotton, which has brought immense benefit to herself and sisters of the confederacy,which has largely contributed to the prosperity of our common country, and to placing her in the highest rank among the nations of the earth. If we look back to the history of the growth of cotton, since its introduction in 1787, to the present time, we shall see, that, for the first twenty years, South-Carolina produced one-half of all grown in the United States. In 1821, she produced one-fourth; and in 1833, she produced 73,000,000 lbs., out of 437,750,000, the whole crop of that year. Since then, there has been a regular decline in the quantity grown in this State. At the present time, South-Carolina grows only 61,710,274 lbs. The causes that have occasioned this falling off in the quantity of her staple, are very obvious,-are still in active operation,-and, unless her policy be changed, will soon draw away the most valuable part of her population. The period has arrived when we shall be compelled to abandon the culture of cotton in South-Carolina,-if not altogether, at least in a great measure; for prices have already gone below the lowest point at which we can profitably grow it in this State, except upon our very best lands, or those that are manured very highly, and the prospects ahead do not seem to promise any change for the better; or, at least, such a change as would warrant us in making so large an appropriation of our labor to its production, as we have hitherto done.

The following calculation will show the condition to which the cotton growing States are reduced, and what they may expect for the future:-The crop of 1842 was 2,390,000 bales; that of 1843 was 2,035,000 bales; the crop of 1844 is thought by many to exceed that of 1843,-it may be estimated, we think, at 2,000,000. The stock on hand is nearly a million of bales. 2,000,000, therefore, coming in on this large amount, will give an increased stock on hand. Now, it must be remembered, that under favorable seasons and no disasters, we can grow over two and a half millions of bales; many estimate our capabilities at 2,700,000 bales; and others as high as 3,000,000. If, then, the next crop of cotton should be a full one, to be added to the surplus of

over a million of bales that must remain on hand when the next crop comes in, we must then witness a supply for two years to be on hand. What prospects for the cotton planter ! Even if these prospects should not be realized, and prices should rise, we do not see that there is any chance for cotton rising to such a price, as would justify the Carolina planters in making it the principal part of their crop. Gen. Hammond has demonstrated, in his Address before us, that cotton cannot be profitably grown here at 8 cents, much less at 6 cents, the average price at which it is now selling. The average amount of cotton made to the hand in South-Carolina, he estimates at not more than 1200 lbs., and the average expenses of each hand at not less than $35. If, then, cotton commands 10 cts. nett, on the plantation,-to do which, he says, it will have to bring in the sea-ports 11 or 12, according to the distance of transportation, the clear profits for each hand, including the rent of land, will be $85; and at 8 cents nett, on the plantation, the clear profit, rent included, will be only $61.

Now let us turn attention to our competitors, the Gulf States. The average production per hand, Gen. Hammond estimates at 2,000 lbs. The expenses per hand $40. At 10 cts. nett, the Gulf planter will clear $160, while at the same prices here, we would make only 85; and at 8 cts. he would make $120, while we would make only $61. It is clear, therefore, that while the Gulf pianter would be realizing a handsome interest on his investment, the same prices would be ruinous to us. Indeed, the estimate of 2,000 lbs. per hand, Gen. H. thinks, is considerably below the amount that is produced in some of those States, from 2,500 to 3,000 lbs. being considered the mark; so that at these rates of production, and even 6 cts. a lb. nett, they will make a profit of 110 to $140 per hand. We have also the declaration of gentlemen from those States, in their speeches in Congress, that if government restrictions were taken off, cotton could be produced there for 3 cents a pound. There is no hope, then, for South-Carolina, in competition.

But it is the opinion of some, that the rapid increase of the consumption of cotton will, ere long, give a new stimulus to prices, and that the Carolina cotton planter will then be able to realize high profits on his labor. It is also thought that the depression in prices is produced by causes that are accidental and temporary. It is not very probable that these

expectations will be realized, and as to the causes of low prices, Gen. Hammond remarks:

"I very much fear that the present depression of the cotton market is neither accidental nor temporary, but the result of natural causes, and likely to be permanent." *

It is true that the enterprise and activity of manufacturers have hitherto caused the consumption of cotton to exceed our most sanguine expectations, but the causes which have produced this activity have gone their round, and consump tion will not increase in the same ratio that it has done. All the markets now accessible to cotton goods, are kept not only stocked, but glutted. In the mean time, production is going on with giant strides, and the smallest advance in the markets instantly checks consumption; clearly showing,

* On this point, there seems to be a discrepancy in the opinions expressed by Gen. Hammond, in the Address before us, and those in his last Message as Chief Magistrate of South-Carolina. In the opening of his Message he uses the following language: "The price of cotton throughout the world is, and must for our time, in all probability, continue to be, regulated by the price in Liverpool. Its value in that market depends upon the condition of the cotton manufacturers in England; and the tariff laws of other countries, which check the foreign demand for English cotton goods, must necessarily lower the price of the raw material in Liverpool, while it rises nowhere else; but, on the contrary, falls every where with the fall in that great mart, through which passes two-thirds of the crop of the whole world. No matter, then, where cotton manufactures flourish, unless they flourish in England, cotton cannot bear a fair price; and every attempt to build them up artificially elsewhere, is at the immediate cost of the cotton grower. Did they naturally spring up under a system of universal free trade, and in wholesome competition with England, they would indicate an actual increase of consumption, and prove highly beneficial to us. But tariff laws, though they may alter the channels of trade, and in doing so produce, as they invariably do, much mischief, have no power to increase consumption. On the contrary, by increasing the manufacturers' prices where they are in force, they necessarily diminish it, and thereby depreciate the raw material. Such laws may take from one and bestow upon another, to the injury of the whole, but they cannot create wealth. How long the present state of things will continue, and in what it will terminate, cannot be foreseen; but the fact appears to be clearly established, for the first time in the history of the world, that by the skill of political jugglery, trade, commerce and manufactures may be made to flourish, and a sound currency exist, while agriculture, the acknowledged mother of them all, and particularly that branch of agriculture which furnishes them with their life-blood, is sunk to the lowest point of depression."

By the above, it seems that Governor Hammond refers us to the tariff for the causes of the depression in the price of cotton. But he has already told us in his "Oration," that the depression of the cotton market is "the result of natural causes;" or, in other words, we presume, that the low price of cotton is not caused by the tariff, but by over-production. VOL. VIIL-No. 15.

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says Gen. H., that the demand for cotton manufactures has approached a point beyond which it cannot advance, but with the slow march of time.

That the consumption of cotton will increase in every given series of years, there can be but little doubt. The machinery in England, France, and other parts of Europe, as well as in the United States, is sufficient to manufacture the raw material. The companies who own them have ample means to extend their operations. They have waterpower, steam-power, and money-power. There can be sufficient shipping to carry these goods to every nation of the globe. Cotton clothing, from its superior excellencies, is preferrable and preferred, for many uses, to the clothing made from many other staples. The Austrian and German prefer it to their flax; the Russian to his hemp; and in every civilized country where commerce has penetrated, cotton goods are becoming an extensive article of clothing. It has found its way into the palace to ornament the heads of the rich, and is at the same time an ornament and comfort to the poor. It is to clothe the vast population of Europe, the myriads in Asia, the hordes in Africa, and the rapidly increasing population of our own country. But, as Gen. Hammond very correctly remarks:

"All this must be the work of time. Popular prejudices must be broken down; the policy and the agriculture of nations now devoted to growing rival commodities must be revolutionized, and manufactures must spring up and gain the ascendancy, where poverty and ignorance and despotism now flourish. Years, perhaps centuries, must elapse, before all this can be accomplished; and peace and commerce must, for all the time, hold the world subject to their benignant influence."

It is admitted, also, that, on data presented by the present condition of the world, the United States have no competitors likely to be in their way, as much or more than they have been that the West-Indies, Brazil, Egypt, and the British East-Indies, will never be able to compete with the United States; but even if those countries were to abandon the culture of cotton altogether, the lands of the Gulf States and Texas alone would be able to supply the progressive demands of the world in all time to come. To many this will be a startling declaration. If there are any who doubt the future supply from this source, perhaps the lucid calculation made by Gen. Hammond, will convince them. Ac