Capital

Many people are hoarding up what means they have against a rainy day. Is this wise? Would it not be better to invest a portion of the capital now held by our wealthy men, in factories of different kinds, and produce ourselves the articles for which we have been so long dependent upon the North? Soap, candles, leather, edge-[illegible], farming utensils, shoe making, saddlery, woolen and cotton goods, cards, buttons, pins, needles, iron-ware, cutlery and earthen-war of all kinds, are all in demand, and their manufacture will doubtless pay, if properly managed, even after the war closes. Why is it that our wealthy men do not embark in every species of manufacture demanded by the times? The neglect to employ their capital in the production of necessary articles, weakens the Confederacy and renders it less able to carry on the war. Such a policy endangers every interest in the land and my conquer us. If so, what will stocks and promises to pay be worth? Let the people reflect.

– Published in The North Carolina Weekly Standard, Raleigh, North Carolina, Wednesday, April 16, 1862, p. 1