COTTON MANUFACTURE IN THE WEST.

A correspondent of the Louisville Commercial Review strongly advocates the establishment of cotton manufactures in the Southwest. The editors of the Review indorse the writer as one of the most cultivated men in that part of the Union. The reasons of the correspondent of the Review are certainly plausible. He says:

A few days since an extensive cotton planter of Louisiana gave me an estimate of the surplus cash capital in his parish, which could be easily directed into any channel, and a large part of which was lying idle. The amount exceeded $500,000! He, however, had made a very satisfactory arrangement by which, in purchase of time-bills at New Orleans on the East, and selling exchange at Louisville, he expected to receive about 9 or 10 per cent per annum.

There, in a single parish, are the ready means to put in operation enough machinery to work up every year 12,000 bales of cotton. The same gentleman was complaining that the English and Yankee spinners of his staple, who made their bread and grew rich on the products of slave labor, were doing all in their power to fojure the cotton planter, and were constantly crying out against the enormous sin of slave ownership.

Strange, and passing strange it is, that these cotton planters do not see, and feel, and understand that their political independence and safety depends on their bringing the spindles and looms nearer the cotton fields. They have now, beyond all question, enough idle capital to put up and operate sufficient machinery for the manufacture of a very large portion of their crop. Suppose they were to appropriate $25,000,000 a year-less than one-fourth of the proceeds of a single crop-to the establishment of cotton-mills on the Lower Ohio coal fields, or on the waterfalls of the Tennessee, in how few years would they monopolize the goods as well as the material! Great Britain has, since 1788, expended millions upon millions of pounds sterling to introduce and extend the culture of cotton in districts under its control. Is not the control of the manufacture as important to the producer as the control of the material is to the manufacturer? Here is a coast of 200 miles on either side of the Ohio River below Louisville, and almost within sight of the cotton fields, where coal for heat and power can be had at prices far below the English cost; where subsistence is abundant and the means of transit easy; to which labor of any character can be attracted without extra cost or difficulty.

There is, besides, the immense water power of the muscle shoals of the Tennessee, equal to that on the Connecticut and Merrimac combined, not less than that used in Lancashire, England, and to which cotton in the boll can be carted. These positions are in the very center of a vast and increasing market for coarse yarns, cordage, and goods. Experience has shown that the manufacture can be carried on there as advantageously as anywhere, and a large saving can be made in the avoidance of carriage and middle men. No one doubts but that the manufacture would pay large profits, if carried on largely; that capital and skilled labor would come from abroad, and in quantities to supply every demand. All that is needed is a fair beginning-not only a single mill, but a series of mills working in combination, and enough to attract all the helps and auxiliaries required.

THE MANUFACTURE OF COAL OILS.

The Breckenridge Coal Company have offered to supply the Lighthouse Board with 95,000 gallons of oil as a supply for the coming year. They offer to sell it for a lower price than the best sperm, and that it shall have as excellent proper ties. The Board, never having used such oil for illumination, very prudently If the result proves ordered a test of its qualities before making the contract. satisfactory, the contract will, no doubt, be made. The supply of all kinds of oil

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does not seem to be sufficient for the increased demand, as the price has been steadily advancing during the past ten years.

The New York Journal of Commerce, in an article upon this subject, has the following notice of the works at Cloverport, in Kentucky. These works are under the most excellent management, and are destined to constitute a very important item in the sum of Western prosperity :

At Cloverport, Kentucky, on the Ohio River, are extensive new works, run. ning 12 retorts night and day, consuming from 8 to 10 tons of coal every 24 hours, and producing 750 gallons of crude oil. Re-distilled, this quantity yields 600 gallons of refined oils, viz. :-125 gallons of benzole, 75 of naptha, 225 of lubricating oil, and 175 of oil for illuminating purposes.

Benzole readily sells at $1 50 per gallon; lubricating, at $1 25; naptha and burning, at 80 cents. Preparations are making at Cloverport for the manufacture of a beautiful semi-transparent candle from the substance called "paraffine,” resembling spermaceti, and which is formed in pearly crystals in the dark oils of the last distillations after they have cooled. The paraffine, as remarked by Prof. Silliman, Jr., does not exist ready formed in the original crude product, but is a result of the high temperature employed in the process of distillation, by which the elements are newly arranged. It derives its name from the unalterable nature of the substance, under the most powerful chemical agents.

The residum from the last distillation makes the first quality of asphaltum, used for smearing vaults, &c., now imported and sold at $30 per ton. The company above mentioned will add 18 more retorts on the 1st of November next, increasing the capacity of the works about two-thirds.

COTTON-SEED OIL.

The Baltimore American states facts in regard to the extracting of oil from cotton-seed, apparently founded on actual experiment, which seem to warrant the conclusion that the quantity of oil obtainable from a given quantity of seed is too small to make it an object to withdraw the latter from its ordinary use as mannre, especially if the expense of transporting the raw material to a distance is to be added to the cost of manufacture. The same judgment is pronounced upon the adaptation of this material to the profitable production of gas, which was suggested in Silliman's Journal some years ago. The American disposes of this project as follows:

The theory was as beautiful as the light, but defective from the fact that cotton-seed was too bulky to bear transportation to points where gas was needed; the expenses on it prevented it from entering into competition with coal and rosin. The same difficulty, we imagine, will be found in converting the seed into oil at distant points. It will be found to furnish no equivalent, after the transportation is paid, for the loss of its efficiency as a fertilizer-the only really profitable use ever yet made of cotton-seed.

If small establishments for the manufacture of cotton-seed oil were so located in the South as to be convenient to the seed, and also readily accessible to market, capital prudently invested and carefully managed might obtain some reasonable reward.

BLACK BAND IRON ORE.

A correspondent of the Philadelphia Ledger, describes recent discoveries of the above famous ore at McKean County, Pennsylvania :-

Black Band iron ore is found in Scotland, and has obtained celebrity for the peculiar quality of the metal it produces. It makes iron which is much more fluid when molten than any other, and therefore it makes castings much finer, and with less weight of metal.

The closest search has been made for it in America, but up to the month of October, 1856, it had not been found of such an extent and quality as to be worthy of remark.

But in October, 1856, Professors Owen, of Indiana, and Newham, of Lackawanna, while examining the new bituminous coal in McKean County, Pennsylvania, discovered the regular seam of this most valuable mineral, forming the roof of a five-foot vein of cannel-coal, and giving undoubted evidence that it covers a great portion of that coal field. They suspected that some of the slates of the coal veins might be saturated with iron, because in no part of our State is limestone of other varieties so plentiful as in McKean County. The vein is five feet thick, and one bench of it (18 inches in thickness) yields, by analysis, 434 per

cent of iron.

MERCANTILE MISCELLANIES.

CREDIT SYSTEM-SOME OF ITS EVILS.

Let the giving of credit and the contracting of debt be considered either as a positive good or merely as the least of two evils, there can be little hesitancy in admitting that they often work beneficially for both creditor and debtor. But it is also certain that there are instances, now and then occurring, in which debts have obviously been too readily and recklessly contracted, and credit given with too much facility-instances which have led to the perpetration of the meanest frauds, and the foulest murders, as in the case of Prof. Webster. If more caution was exercised in this matter on both sides, and the evils ever liable to happen were more frequently and attentively considered, the condition of every neighborhood could be, to some extent, ameliorated, and the minds of thousands saved from the most corroding of cares and the most irritating of annoyances.

Foremost among these may be ranked the unneighborly, bitter, and resentful feelings which not unfrequently spring up between debtor and creditor. The debtor, finding difficulty in meeting the demand against him, commences his downward career by dreading and shunning the sight of one he owes. This seldom fails to result in hatred, as soon, at least, as measures are resorted to to hasten or compel a settlement. Too frequently, as all may have seen, after avoiding his creditor, and experiencing much vexation and perplexity, the debtor gives free scope to his revengeful feelings; forgets the justice of the debt in the unpleasantness of his situation, and schemes and labors much more how to evade than how to cancel the just claim against him. Too often his ill-feelings lead him not only to study evasion, but even injury and revenge, rather than payment.

On the other hand, the creditor being disappointed in his expectations, put to a great amount of trouble, and in danger of losing what is his due, becomes equally irritated. The worst part of his nature is drawn out. He loses patience and self-control, and pursues his claims, not with calmness and justice, but under the excitement of passion. He indulges in the most rigorous and uncompromising measures the law will allow-friends and good neighbors are changed to enemies; and those, whose peace and happiness were much dependent on their actual good will and good offices, are provoked to harm rather than help each other to the utmost of their power.

Even when such difficulties are not carried to these extremities, there are minor

evils scarcely less important to the peace and comfort of both parties concerned. They become subject to fears and anxieties which tend to destroy much of the comfort and happiness of life, and which, while they sometimes stir up men to make uncommon efforts, are quite as likely to discourage or overwhelm them with despair. The dread of unwelcome and urgent calls for payment, of losses and sacrifices both of property and reputation, are far from being favorable either to composure or concentration of mind. A dark cloud rests upon and oppressss the faculties and energies, and care consumes many of the finer feelings of the heart. If such considerations, together with the fact that the payment of debts almost always proves more difficult than was anticipated at the time of contracting them, were duly weighed, debts would be contracted less frequently and less foolishly than they too often are. Temptations to incur them, especially those for luxury and show, would have less power. Custom or fashion would less frequently prevail in making men extend their expenditures beyond their means. There would be fewer in the future who would close their worldly career, as multitudes have in the past, in want, disgrace, and degradation.

SELF-SUPPORT, THE ROAD TO FAME AND Fortune.

Arches of brick or stone are always built upon a form or arch of wood, which is supported by shors or posts. On this form, or "turned," as it is called in masonry, and when the keystone or central course of brick is laid, so as to bring the two sides of the arch, the form or pattern, in such cases, may be taken out, and the arch will be self-supporting. It is usual, however, to build above the arch to a considerable distance before the support of the wooden arch is taken from under it.

On one occasion, however, a builder had got too much weight on the center arch, and that center being supported by the wooden arch, and the masonry having shrunk so that the feet of the arch did not rest very firmly on their foundation, they began to spread out. On seeing this, the workmen became alarmed and started to run, expecting a crash; but the master-builder, wiser than the rest in respect to the principles of the arch, seized a sledge hammer and knocked out the wooden support, which had sustained the arch, and which was now destroying it, and this allowed the whole pressure to come down equally on every part of the arch, when it instantly became fixed and self-supporting, and the more burden was put upon it the stronger it became.

Does any young man detect in this a moral, applicable to his own character, and the training to which he has been subjected? Has he been reared in luxury and ease, and sheltered and protected by his parents and friends? Does he lean on his friends, and feel inclined to avoid responsibility, and live under the guidance of others, and be secured from danger in his course? If so, let him knock out the supports, and let the arch settle down upon its own bearings, and thus become self-supporting.

Nearly every man of note, who stands self-poised, independent, and influential in community, was early thrown upon his own resources. The youthful Cass, with his entire property tied in a cotton handkerchief, and hung over his shoulder on a rough stick, crossed the Alleghanies, and buried himself in the Western wilderness. Daniel Webster worked his way to fame and the courts of kings “with

but two red cents," as he said in a letter to his brother, and being among strangers and unknown. Henry Clay was the poor "mill boy of the slashes," and became the peer of the ablest statesmen and greatest orator of his age. Jackson was a poor orphan boy, and by dint of unconquerable energy and self-reliance made himself master of a significant position, and swayed for years the destiny of his age and nation. Napoleon was a poor soldier, and carved out for himself a name, and taught the whole of Europe to fear him. Roger Sherman was a shoemaker, but feeling the spirit of greatness struggling for distinction, he took the hint and boldly signed the Declaration of Independence.

But why enumerate? Everywhere in the different walks of life we find those most effective and influential who were early thrown upon their own powers, and thus were called into the rough experience of life, and became trained to bear storms and hardships, and to accomplish great deeds.

The sons of the wealthy are sometimes called in early life to brave dangers, to engage in large business, and manly enterprises, like Washington, and thus develop high and noble aspirations and energies; but in the main, the sons of the rich are too apt to become like hot-house plants, by over-much care and brooding, and thus they are smothered, weakened, and spoiled.

The old eagle drives her young out of the nest to try their wings, and thus qualify them to cleave the air, and rise above the storm.

Let the support be knocked out, so that every one shall be brought to test his own powers, and then will manly vigor, self-reliance, planning talent, and executive energy be developed, for the success of individuals and the good of society.

"MERCANTILE MORALITY."

The Belfast (Ireland) Mercantile Journal and Statistical Register, one of the best conducted commercial papers in the United Kingdom, as we have more than once before taken occasion to say, thus alludes to a lecture on Mercantile Morality, delivered in Belfast by the Rev. Dr. Cooke, of that city:

"This question was handled with his usual commanding ability, but we confess we would have been better satisfied had it been taken up in a more comprehensive manner. Mercantile morality was considered rather as it should be than as it is, and, therefore, in our mind, much of its effectiveness was lost. We all know, or, at any rate, have a very good idea, of what strict moral conduct should be, but many, we hope, very many people are ignorant of the numerous vicious practices which are still attendant upon the pursuits of the commercial trader in his varied walk through life. Their name is legion, and here, therefore, would have been a branch of the subject which, in the hands of a master-mind, would have struck powerfully upon the consciences of a commercial audience.

"We have frequently taken opportunities of extracting excellent articles on the same question from the pages of HUNT'S (American) Merchants' Magazine, and had intended to continue them regularly, but have too often been obliged to make room for more pressing matter; we do not, however, overlook them, as we conceive one of our chief duties to be that of endeavoring to elevate our national moral and commercial character, by every means in our power.

"We trust that the Rev. Dr. Cooke will be requested to resume the subject at no distant period; indeed, it is quite comprehensive enough to occupy a full course of lectures, and we are inclined to think, that an eloquent mercantile layman, who could bring both practical experience and knowledge to his aid, would be even a more profitable lecturer than an ecclesiastic, who, from his vocation, must, of necessity, be deficient in these essentials."