Southern Manufacturers; Southern Porcelain still operating

Southern Manufactures.

There is a factory on the South Caro­lina side of the Savannah river, not far from Augusta, Georgia, where a compa­ny of enterprising Southern gentlemen are manufacturing a beautiful article of table ware. This is one among the ma­ny industrial enterprises set on foot in the South during the war. The rigid blockade of all our ports rendered it very difficult to import many articles of prime necessity. Indeed it is a historical fact, that during the four years of the war, the supply of crockery ware was very nearly exhausted in the Confederacy. — Many families were reduced to the di­rest shifts to spread their table, long be­fore the war closed. Such was the de­mand for bowls, pitchers, cups and sau­cers and plates, that whenever those articles were offered at public sale, in many parts of the country, they brought the most extravagant prices. It was because of this great demand that the Southern Porcelain Company, of Augusta, Ga., was organized. Before the war closed, we remember to have seen some of the "Augusta ware," as it was called, in the stores in different portions of the South. In the Louisville Weekly Cour­ier of the 5th inst., We see an invitation to the merchants of that city, to call at the editorial room of the Courier and ex­amine “Some beautiful specimens of ta­ble ware, made at the "Kaolian Pottery in South Carolina, near Augusta."

We are happy to learn from the Courier that this factory is still in operation and capable of sending out such an article of table ware, as in the opinion of so able a paper, is worthy the examination of the intelligent merchants of Louisville.

And now the question arises why not factories of this character be established throughout the country for the manufac­ture of all articles of table ware, and do away with the necessity of sending abroad the large sums of money which are annu­ally expended to supply domestic necessi­ties of this kind?

The changed system of labor in the South renders it more important than ever that capital should seek nearer channels of investment. Under the old regime our people labored to make more cotton, to add to the number of their slaves. Under the new order of things there are no slaves to buy, and capital must be invested in such schemes as will develop the resources of the country, and add to its material wealth, or be unem­ployed.

The attempt to make cotton with the "reconstructed" negro — so called — is at best but an experiment — an experiment, too; that comparatively few   will be willing to risk upon a large scale after another year or so. The system of plant­ing in the South must, of necessity; un­dergo a very decided and radical change in a very little while. Then large South­ern plantations, covering, often times, thousands of acres, must be divided and subdivided and re-subdivided, and sold or leased in small tracts to small farmers, or they will be turned out soon to be­come old sedge fields and unproductive wastes. In this way, while no such crops as were made in the days of yore; when Cuffy was happy upon the old plantation, will ever be produced again, still as much of the staple may be grown as can be manufactured in this country.

And as the policy of the Government seems to be to build up, by high, dis­criminating, tariffs the manufacturing, at the expense of every other industrial interests, the sooner Southern capital, is turned into the favored channel the bet­ter will it be for the Southern people.

We therefore hail with decided pleas­ure and gratification every scheme which promises to lead Southern capital into new channels.

We hope to see the Southern people, ere long, bringing into requisition more of that magnificent water power with which nature has so abundantly supplied them, and earnestly trust the time is not distant when the twirl of the spindle and loom shall be heard all over the land. Success then to Porcelain and Cotton factories and everything else that will add to the material wealth, social pros­perity and industrial independence of the Sunny South!