In the early part of this century, and even before then, the South led the country in industrial progress. Iron making became an important industry in Virginia, in the Carolinas and in Georgia, and Richmond, Lynchburg and other cities were noted for the extent and variety of their manufactures. Washington’s father was extensively interested in iron making, and Thomas Jefferson employed a number of his slaves in the manufacture of nails. South Carolina was so imbued with the industrial spirit that, about the beginning of the Revolution, the State government offered liberal premiums to all who would establish iron works. By the census of 1810 the manufactured products of the Carolinas and Georgia exceeded in value and variety those of all New England combined. The South Carolina Railway, from Charleston to Hamburg, built by the people of South Carolina, was the leading engineering accomplishment of its day, not only in this country, but of the world. Greater than this, however, was the road projected by Robert Y. Hayne, of Charleston, to connect Charleston and Cincinnati, and thus make the former city the exporting and importing port for the great West. Unfortunately for the South Hayne was sent to the United States Senate, and the growing sectional bitterness, because of slavery, so completely absorbed his attention that his great railroad undertaking had to be abandoned. The stimulation given to the cultivation of cotton by the introduction of the gin and the extension of slavery, with the liberal profits in cotton cultivation, as prices ruled high for most of the time from 1800 on to 1840, caused a concentration of capital and energy in planting. But between 1840 and 1850 there were several years of low prices, and attention was once more directed to industrial pursuits. The decade ending with 1860 witnessed a very marked growth in Southern railroad and manufacturing interests, but there was no decline in the steady advance that was making the South one of the richest agricultural sections of the world. During this time railroad building was very actively pushed, and the South constructed 7562 miles of new road, against 4712 by the New England and Middle States combined. In 1850 the South had 2335 miles of railroad, and the New England and Middle States 4798 miles; by 1860 the South had increased its mileage to 9897 miles, a quadrupling of that of 1850, while the New England and Middle States had increased to 9510 miles, or a gain of only about 100 per cent. In 1850 the mileage of the two Northern sections exceeded that of the South by 2463 miles. The conditions were reversed by 1860, and the South then led by 387 miles. In the decade under review the South expended, according to official figures, over $220,000,000 in the extension of its railroads, the great bulk of this having been local capital. This activity was not confined to any one State, but covered the whole South, and every State made a rapid increase in its mileage.