- Joined
- Apr 4, 2017
- Location
- Denver, CO
https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1860/manufactures/1860c-05.pdf?# See pages clxxxix and cxc. There were few sewing machines in the US in 1850. But by 1860 businesses in the northern states were producing about 111,000 per year. Seems to me, if I want the price of cotton to be sustained, I would want a rapid proliferation of commercial sewing machines, and I would make sure every home had a home use machine and pattern book. The growth market for cotton by 1860 was the US. Sewing machines cut the cost of commercial and homemade clothing. The population was growing, and the standard of living was progressing. Repeat sales are the best kind of sales.
Similarly, maybe building a fast, steel rail railroad, double tracked, from Atlanta to Baltimore, would have done more for the south than a war to protect slavery. You know, like the north built between Chicago and New York. By 1877, PRR's entire New York-to-Chicago double-track main line was laid with steel rail. https://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-1CA But I suppose that's a Yankee way of looking at it. They have a really long growing season down south and there is a tremendous demand for produce in the northern cities.
Similarly, maybe building a fast, steel rail railroad, double tracked, from Atlanta to Baltimore, would have done more for the south than a war to protect slavery. You know, like the north built between Chicago and New York. By 1877, PRR's entire New York-to-Chicago double-track main line was laid with steel rail. https://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-1CA But I suppose that's a Yankee way of looking at it. They have a really long growing season down south and there is a tremendous demand for produce in the northern cities.
Forum Host
Bringing the