Iron and coal.
--The weakness of France, compared with Great Britain, consists in its deficiency of iron and coal. But for this deficiency the mechanical development of France would have rivalled that of England, and besides being the most warlike power on the globe, France would also have been, like England, the wealthiest. There are few who appreciate the transcendent importance which iron has attained to in modern times. That nation which possesses the greatest resources for the manufacture of this material may be said to be the wealthiest and most powerful. That nation which possesses the largest quantities of the best iron ore, and the most convenient beds of coal suitable for its manufacture, can be safely pronounced the most powerful nation in proportion to population. We overestimate the importance and value of cotton when we give it superiority over iron and coal. Gold is a fourth-rate commodity in the staples of a country compared with these black minerals.The power of Great Britain rests upon her iron manufactures and coal beds. It was her early development of these incomparable resources which placed her so far in the van of nations, in respect to wealth and political control. She could not have subsidized all Europe for twenty years, and a great portion of Europe, from time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary, but for the control of capital and trade, and the resources of profit, which her manufactures gave her; and the basis of all her manufacturing and mechanical wealth is that grim substratum of iron and coal.
The power of the North rests this day upon its unparalleled resources in iron and coal. It required many years for the development of them, during which period that section remained secondary to England in manufactures and commerce. But latterly these interests have received a most rapid and prodigious development; and to-day the North is the admitted rival of Great Britain in all departments of national wealth and power dependent upon these resources. The danger of the South from the North at this moment consists solely in the superiority of the North over her in its resources of iron and coal.
It is needless in this enlightened age to trace and distinguish the modes in which iron has become the very sinews of national power and the token of national wealth. If you wish to find the greatest and most prosperous cities in the world, look for those which are most intimately connected with iron and coal. New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Richmond, are striking examples upon this Continent, London, and almost every city in England on the other.
The Southern States are in more danger of distress this hour from a deficiency in iron than in all other commodities whatever. And yet Virginia and portions of Tennessee and North Alabama are peculiarly proclitic of iron ore. Most of the forges in Virginia afford an abundance of the best iron, but are dependent exclusively upon wood for smelting it. A few years ago there were fifteen or twenty forges in full blast in the Commonwealth. But they could not be carried on with wood as fuel while the prices remained low; and of late years, since the depression of prices, all but four or five had ceased to operate. Probably no country in the world abounds so richly in iron ore as Virginia; but in a large portion of the State the non-contiguity of coal, and the necessity of employing wood alone, greatly interferes with mining and manufacturing the metal.
Yet there are two regions of country in the Southern States in which abundant supplies of the species of coal suitable for the manufacture of iron exist in positions accessible to beds of iron ore. The safety of the South requires early steps to be taken by the Confederate Government to bring the resources of those districts into requisition. One of the regions alluded to is the extreme Southwestern corner of Virginia, embracing the counties of Scott and Lee, and parts of Russell and Wise, where there are large beds of anthracite coal. The other portion stretches southwest of this some hundred or more miles, reaching into North Alabama.
Until the resources of the South in iron and coal are developed, we cannot pretend to be classed among the great powers of the earth. Richmond should look with great care into the subject; for her prospects as a first-class city depend absolutely upon their development. The Confederate Government should look after these interests, for the question of independence may soon become no other than the question of an abundant supply of iron and coal.
