What industries were developed in the New South?
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Digital History>Topics>Historiography Why was the turn of the century South the poorest part of the United States? Show
Digital History TOPIC ID 106 Before the Civil War the South was one of the richest regions in the world, standing just behind Britain and the Northern states. More than half of the richest one percent of Americans were Southerners. Per capita income in the South-including slaves-was higher than that in India in 1960. Yet by the late nineteenth century, the South had come to symbolize rural poverty. By the 1930s, President Franklin Roosevelt considered the South America's economic problem number 1. From the 1870s to 1930, per capita income in the region stood at only 55 to 60 percent of the national average. The South lagged far behind the rest of the nation in industrialization and urbanization. It seems likely that the South's economic backwardness and poverty contributed to such forms of anti-black racial violence as lynching. Why would it take almost a century following the Civil War for the South to achieve economic equality with other parts of the country? Was it due to a lack of skilled labor, a highly educated workforce, and a shortage of capital? Was it because Southerners were committed to agriculture and were reluctant to industrialize? Was it related to the South's racial conflicts? Or was it because northern corporations treated the South like an economic colony, a source of raw materials and cheap labor? To be sure, some industries did emerge in the South. Investors in Richmond, Va., helped organize the Southern Railroad, one of the nation's largest rail lines. Steel makers in Birmingham, Ala., created a steel industry second only to Pittsburgh's. Cigarettes, liquor, textiles, and Coca-Cola were other industries that developed in the South. During the late 19th century, promoters of the "New South" aggressively sought northern investment in the region. And the South's economy was growing. It grew rapidly after 1869, sometimes more rapidly than the rest of the United States. The South was better off economically than any European nation other than England. But while wealthy by world-wide standards and seemingly growing rapidly, the South was still far behind the most advanced sectors of the United States. But when all this is added up, the South still trailed the North and West significantly. Rural poverty was greater, and the South was heavily dependent on the sale of farm crops and raw materials (such as lumber and iron) whose prices were falling. The region failed to develop the growth industries of the era, such as electrical equipment, chemicals, meat processing, and machine tools. The industries that did develop tended to be low-value added industries, manufacturing rough textiles, turpentine, liquor, and tobacco products. Meanwhile, southern agriculture was much less mechanized than its northern or western counterparts and depended heavily on low-paid farm labor and sharecroppers. Capital was in short supply. Demand for manufactured goods was low, in part because the South's urban markets were small. Trained managers and skilled workers were scarce. But equally important, the South apparently had fewer entrepreneurs than in other regions-which was partly a legacy of slavery. The South's elite was less interested in business investment than its northern counterparts. The South's merchants and landowners had no tradition of industrial innovation or of applying science-based technologies to production. They had a strong stake in preserving the economic status quo. As landowners, they benefited from the low wages and limited mobility of black and white workers. Trapped in a system of sharecropping, debt, and tenant farming, African Americans were denied the opportunity to migrate out of the rural South and to participate in the industrial economy. For the most part, the industries that emerged in the South tended to be small-scale, local projects. Investors developed a small textile factory or a small saw mill, or one-room furniture factories. Southerners were far less likely than Notherners to develop large-scale business enterprises. The primary interest of southern investors was to maximize the value of land. Much of their energies were devoted to local land speculation and town building, rather than to investment in industry. Their goal was increase land values, attract settlers, or raise the level of commerce in a particular town. In the North, in contrast, investment was increasingly made in large-scale enterprises: in industries that produced for national and international markets and in train, telephone, and power systems that were regional or national in scale. The economy of New South Wales benefits greatly from its mix of diversified industries. Traditional manufacturing, mining and agribusiness sectors have provided a firm foundation for diversification into high-growth areas such as aquaculture, biotechnology, ICT and viticulture. NSW is renowned for its world-class professional services offerings, highlighting the state's strength in knowledge-based businesses and 90% of international banks operating in Australia are headquartered in Sydney, and the city is home to more than 60% of Australia's regional ICT headquarters and operations centres.
Page link: https://www.business.nsw.gov.au/industry-sectors/industry-opportunities What was the main industry of the New South?There were three main areas of industrial advancement in the South—cotton milling, iron production and manufacturing, and the tobacco industry. But first it was necessary to rebuild the transportation and communication systems that had been destroyed during the Civil War.
What industrialization was in the New South?With the industrialization of the South came economic change, migration, immigration and population growth. Light industries would move offshore, but has been replaced to a degree by auto manufacturing, tourism, and energy production, among others.
What industries did the South have?In 1860, the South was still predominantly agricultural, highly dependent upon the sale of staples to a world market. By 1815, cotton was the most valuable export in the United States; by 1840, it was worth more than all other exports combined.
What was the New South economy?Despite the industrialization of some segments of the Southern economy—a change promoted by Southern leaders who called for a “New South”—agriculture based on sharecropping and tenant farming continued to be the primary economic activity in the South.
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