24 self-acting mule-spindle frames, seven hundred and fifty-six spindles each, all complete........ 40 hand cop-reels................................................ 1 ten-pound bundling press......... Approximate cost of accessories, as bins, card, clothing, strapping, banding, etc........... Cost of packing and delivery on ship-board, 10 per cent......... 4,388 8 0 140 0 0 20 0 0 700 0 0 £11,439 18 0 1,143 2 0 £12,583 0 0 Estimate cost of delivery at Mobile, duties and freight included-say custom house value one pound sterling at $4 84, and estimating gold for currency at 50 per cent. premium. Estimate Cost in Currency. ..............£ Cost of machinery on ship-board is................................ 12,583 400 12,983 £12,983 reduced to currency is, in gold, $4 84 to £1.......... Add fifty per cent., premium for currency.. 62,837 72 31,418 80 $94,256 58 35 per cent. duty on $55,176 00 is, in gold.............................. 19,311 60 9,655 80 Cost on wharf at Mobile............... Estimate from Mobile to Tallassee. 400 tons, $22 per ton......... $ 123,223 98 8,800 00 machinery and starting the same.... Estimate cost for shafting, hangers, pulleys, belting, and putting up the Total cost of machinery in running order, in mill............................................... lots and buildings for 200 operatives, say.. Estimate as per accompanying total cost of machinery in mill put up complete and in running order....... 150,000 00 Estimate for cash capital to work on ..................................... 50,000 00 Total capital requisite......... ..$300,000 00 Of the $150,000 00 new capital proposed for subscription, it would require to be paid in 15 per cent. when machinery is ordered to be made ..$22,500 00 45 per cent. about 60 days after, when machinery is ready for shipment $67,500 00 40 per cent. to be paid about 60 days after, on arrival of machinery in Mobile......... 60,000 00 $150,000 00 Present owners have already advanced, in water power, house and land, 100,000 00 On getting ready to work present stock, holders to pay the balance...... 50,000 00 According to accompanying estimates shows: $300,000 00 1st. That $300,000 capital will purchase everything, and put in complete running order, leaving $50,000 cash capital to work on-say machinery for 18,144 spindles, made to spin No. 30 yarn warp. 2d. One month's fair work for said machinery will produce 69,000 pounds of yarn. 3d. The profit on the yarn produced is 14c. per pound over all cost and charges. 4th. Twelve months' work, at that rate, will yield a net profit of $115,920, equal to 38 60-100 per cent. per annum profit on capital proposed. Mr. Micou says: "In closing these estimates, I here state that they are not made by guess, but from actual data. Instance-cost of machinery from actual offers to make same; freight from estimates made in England of actual measurement, currency reduced according to existing value of gold; water power, wheel, mill, building and operative houses, from what I believe would be a reasonable valuation, they being already built, and I knowing cost; cost of manufacturing yarn by a number of hands, and actual wages to be paid; and I have tried to make my estimates full, and rather over than under the right mark, it being my constant care not to deceive myself. Knowing so well how little reliance is to be placed on rough estimates, I have, in order to satisfy myself fully, gone into the minutest detail. "For the examination of any American cotton spinner, using the best machinery, I annex an estimate of the cost of American machinery to produce the same amount of yarn as the foregoing estimate. Being aware that the American spindle will do more work to the spindle than the mule king spindle, I have allowed each spindle to do eighteen per cent. more work, and have, therefore, calculated for 15,860 spindles to do the same work as 18,154 English spindles. I would further state that the foregoing estimate is only an approximate one, not having in reach all the material wanted to make a correct estimate. The price of the machinery, however, is the actual present price in Massachusetts, of the best makers. Any error in this estimate can be only in the amount of machinery required to do the work, too many or too few cards, pickers or reels, being estimated. I give it only as an approximate estimate, to show how much more expensive American machinery is than English machinery. I also estimate that it would take three times the number of hands to run the American machinery, and it would cost twice as much to do the same work. 6 36-inch 3-beater pickers, each $1,150......... To card double, which would be absolutely necessary in fine work of the top-flat card, it would take 120 56-inch cards, each $250.............. 120 railway troughs, each card $15................................... 6 railway heads, drawing each $350........... $6,900 30,000 1,800 2,100 10 slubber frames (64-spindles each, makes 640 spindles), $26 per spindle 15 fly frames (128 spindles each, makes 1,920 spindles), $16 per spindle 120 ring spinning frames (128 spindles each, makes 15,360 spindles), $6 per spindle........... 16,640 30,720 92,160 40 cop-reels, estimated to cost per reel $200................. Card and roller grinders ....... ........... 8,000 500 $188,820 Estimate for card clothing, bobbins, and other furnishings.......... 11,180 $200,000 6 per cent. internal revenue tax, say..... 12,000 10 per cent. on cost for boxing and strapping, and placing on shipboard 21,000 7,000 Cost to wharf at Mobile............ $240,000 English machinery, estimated to cost at the wharf in Mobile............ 123,200 Advantage in favor of English machinery......... $116,800 The Tallassee Factory is situated at the Falls of the Tallapoosa. It commands an unlimited water power. But, great as are its advantages, as set out by Mr. Micou from actual experience, they are no greater than those of hundreds of other localities in the heart of Alabama, and just as convenient to the cotton lands. The profits of manufacturing, even in New England, are shown by the enormous dividends some of the New England manufacturers earned in 1867. The companies alluded to are mostly engaged in the production of cotton, woolen and worsted goods, upon a large scale, as will be seen by the capital invested, which reaches a total of fifty millions of dollars: Most of these factories made two dividends per annum, some more, and the average shows a very handsome business of more than 40 per cent. profit, notwithstanding that both seasons were considered unfavorable to these manufacturing interests. The previous years for some time make a still better showing. Senator Sprague, of Rhode Island, one of the largest manufacturers in New England, at a dinner given him by the citizens of Charleston, in December, 1868, said: "It would surprise the people of the South, and still more the people of the North, to know, what is a fact, that the best cotton factory of its size and kind in America, is to be found in Augusta, Georgia, and that in looking at the subject in a manufacturer's point of view, taking the productions per hand and per spindle, and comparing them with the work of other mills running on the same class of goods, he found that these Southern goods were equal to any of the kind seen in the Northern markets. Senator Sprague went on to say that "You," meaning the Southern people, "can do what we," meaning the people of New England," can not do. With your great advantages you can compete with England for her Indian yarn trade. You ought to spin a large part of your crop and ship it in that state, instead of shipping the raw material." The New York Times, of January 16, 1869, remarks that the real estate operations of Senator Sprague, in the neighborhood of Columbia, coupled as they are with an alleged intention to establish manufactories there, may be expected to strengthen the upward tendency of Southern lands. "There can be no doubt," says the editor, "that the facilities for the prosecution of manufacturing industry presented by the South are vastly superior to those of any other portion of the Union, and it seems probable that they will soon be turned to account. Mr. Sprague is not the only Northern capitalist who comprehends the worth of the hitherto neglected resources of States which seem designed by nature to verify the combination of the plow, the loom, and the anvil." THE MINERAL REGION OF ALABAMA. Situation and extent-The Warrior coal fields-The Cahaba coal fields— The Tennessee coal flelds-Railroad conveniences-Value of mineral land—Limestone—Marble-Granite-Gold-Copper—Peculiar value of the coal-Peculiar value of the iron, etc. THIS section occupies the northeast corner of the State, and extends in a southwest direction about 160 miles into the State. On its eastern side, and in its middle part, it measures north and south 90 miles, and on its western side it is 70 miles wide, north and south. The southeast corner of this mineral region is occupied by the rocks of the metamorphic formation. Gold and copper have been found in them; not, however, in abundance. White marble of remarkable brilliancy, some of it equal to Carara marble, occurs abundantly, and has been successfully worked. Soapstone, flagstones, graphite or plumbago, and granite of very good quality have, likewise, been obtained in this region. The silurian and carboniferous formation possess the remainder of this mineral region. There are three distinct coal fields in the carboniferous formation in Alabama-viz: the Warrior, Cahaba, and Tennessee fields. The Warrior coal field covers that section of the State drained by the Black Warrior River and its tributaries, and also extends to the northeast corner of the State, between Lookout Mountain and the |