The Progressive Farmer

SOUTHERN PROGRESS.

The progress in industrial development made by the South during the first quarter of the present year makes a very gratifying exhibit. It is detailed in the Manufacturers' Record, of Baltimore, and in commenting upon it that paper says:

The outlook for the manufacturing interests of the South was never more promising, and this is made especially noticeable by reason of the attention that is now being given to small diversified industries which must be at the foundation of permanent prosperity. These enterprises do not swell the aggregate investments of capital so rapidly as great furnace and coal companies, but they add vastly to the South's prosperity, and supplement the work of the furnaces and the coal mines enriching the whole South.

Basing calculations upon returns received directly by the Manufacturers Record, amply authenticated and verified, and in the case of incorporated companies, compared with the official reports of the State officers, we find that during the first three months of 1888 the amount of capital, including capital stock of incorporated companies, represented by the new manufacturing and mining enterprises organized or chartered at the South, aggregates about $38,688,000. It is of course true that with many of these companies the actual cash investment is not so large as the amount of their capital stock; but there are many small manufacturing enterprises, portable saw mills, small grist mills, ginneries and similar small industries, costing from a few hundred to a thousand dollars, that are not included in this list. The aggregate cost of these would be very considerable and partly, though not wholly, offset the too great capitalization of some incorporated companies.

In addition to these, every manufacturing enterprise is constantly adding here and there a new piece of machinery, which in the aggregate is very great; but we take no account of that, only including cases where a mill is greatly enlarged, remodeled, or other extensive improvements made.