Money accumulating in bank at low rates of interest was often made the
basis of observations on the great gain from manufactures, and was pounced
upon as evidence of lack of sympathy with the spirit of the time, which
was grounded in the deepest needs of the people. In such cases the cotton
mill campaign and the gathering of capital as a matter of practical
concern usually overlap. An instance quoted in another place is typical:
"But with all its (North Carolina's) varied and splendid capabilities it
is idle to talk of home independence so long as we go to the North for
everything from a tooth pick to a President.... We may look in vain for
the dawn of an era of enterprise, progress and development, so long as
thousands and millions of money are deposited in our banks at four per
cent. interest when its judicious investment in manufactures would more
than quadruple that rate...."[188] Several months later the same
paper[189] instanced the success of Edward Richardson, of the firm of
Richardson & May, cotton factors of New Orleans, in running, in addition
to ten or twelve plantations producing 15,000 to 18,000 bales of cotton a
year, a nest of factories with 18,000 spindles, 400 looms and 800 hands in
the town of Cresson, which he built. He was said to be worth more than
$15,000,000--"all accumulated in the South, the poor South." The closing
remark is significant: "His ... accumulations are but the results of
forethought, enterprise and nerve. He has no heavy deposits in bank at
four per cent."
This same galling fact of bank deposits lying relatively idle when they
might be used to further the plans held so much at heart was lamented in
cases where it hindered the cotton mill campaign, or the taking of initial
steps toward realizing a desire for a mill; but it was made more galling
where a venture, properly launched, stood still because the moneyed people
held themselves aloof. In distinction to the position of Newberry, South
Carolina, where there were "numbers of people ready to aid in the
enterprise, convinced as they are that it will be a profitable investment,
but ... nobody to take the lead,"[190] was Chester another town in the
same State, of about the same size. In February of 1881, after the cotton
mill campaign had gotten a fair start, the Chester Bulletin commented:
"Just now there is a widespread and deep feeling amongst our people
throughout the State to foster the manufacturing interests of the country.
More than a year has elapsed since our people felt beat a pulse of
enthusiasm for the home industries. (Reference was here had to the
chartering by the Legislature of two mill corporations which attracted
almost no subscriptions.) There is money enough in the county to start the
hum of three thousand spindles. The large amount of personal deposits in
bank indicate too truly the lack of confidence in home industrial
enterprises."[191]