They had learned wisdom by the mistakes of the pioneers, and they demanded the best machinery with all the latest devices.

Long credit was now freely offered by Northern manufacturers of machinery, and some of them even subscribed for stock--to be paid, of course, in machinery.
The Northern textile manufacturers also woke up.

They found that in coarse yarns the Southern mills were successfully competing with their products.

Some pessimistic representatives of the industry in the North prophesied that the Southern mills would soon control the market.

Some New England mills built branch mills in the South; some turned to the finer yarns; and some sought to throw obstacles in the way of their competitors.