Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1883-02-28
Goals OF Fire.


antic Linen company in illustration Of some
of his claims and made some statements con-
corning that corporation and Its business
which he subsequently admitted were made
upon incorrect information aud were errone-
GUS. To the corrections made by the mana
ger Of the company the professor gave no
heed, having learned, as he said, to econo-
mize his equanimity by never reading re-
port Of anything he said" Tbereupon the
president Of the company, Colonel Barrows,
invited Professor Sumner and the older
classes Of Yale students 10 visit the Willim.
antic mills and learn by observation what
was the real condition Of the employees, and
of the company,-learn that among the
former women were not employed at starva-
tion wages and that the latter had not paid
ninety-fve per cent dividends during the
last year. Several carloads OF students &C.
cepted the invitation, but the prudent pro-
lessor, still further to economic his equan-
unity" sent his regrets. We venture to say
that the young men in the inspection of the
works, the machinery and the process Of man.
ufacture, in the observation OF the condition
of the employees and their exhibition Of skill
and Of intelligent workmanship received a
lesson in the science and practice of political
economy that will be living remembrance
long after the lucubrations of their college
instructor have been forgotten. The Willim-
autio company commenced the making of
coarse linen goods in 1854, with capital of
s25O,O00. Its early operations were not
financially profitable. In 1865 its capital
was increased to million dollars, its works
largely extended and its goods are now in
every household in the country. The plant
of the company is worth five million dollars,
its annual production is half that sum, and
itgives employment to sixteen hundred we'll.
paid, happy and intelligent laborers. The
president and manager served his apprentice
ship at the Lowell machine works, where the
first work he did was wheeling iron and
cleaning castings at forty.two cents day.
Under his direction the great corporation
exercises psternsl care over its employees.
From buying their fuel and the necessaries
of life of the local tradesmen at high retail
prices, these things are purchased by the
company in the best qualities, in immense
quantities, at the lowest wholesale rates and
furnished TO the operatives at slight ad-
vance from cost. Reading rooms, Libraries,
comfortable and healthful domiciles, with
many other provisions for the comfort, the
mental, moral and physical advancement Of
the employees and their families, have grown
with the growth and prosperity Of the COM
pany. Sixty hours are a weeks work, and
the wages Of the girls are from SO to $3.50
week. Men earn from $40 to Sl5 week,
and the average is 1880 week. "The
students learned all these facts" says the
lengthy report of this novel way of answer
ing free traders arguments, land many
more, for they were diligent inquirers, es.
pecially in the packing and spooling rooms,
where the prettiest girls seemed to be gath
cred. There every girl had a student beside
her seeking information, and it was hard to
get the young men away as the afternoon
wore on to evening" The students had the
free run of the mills, the ingenious ma
chinery engrossing the attention of the
scientific class while the senior and law
students seemed most interested in talking
with employees in the various departments,
learning the wages paid to them, the labor
expected of them, their mode of life and the
remarkable efforts made by the manager
and president to ameliorate their condition.
Colonel Barrows freely furnished all infor-
nation desired, and expressed his readiness
to answer any hard questions respecting
free trade and protection. After halliday
at school in which the difference between
the ine-spun theories of impracticabe col.
lege professors and the positive knowledge
of the hard.handed, clear-headed man of af-
fairs was strikingly exemplifed, the stu.
dents departed, and bearing on his coat lapel,
as a souvenir of the occasion, pasteboard
box containing spool of thread, the whole
swung by knot Of blue silk ribbon and
bearing the legend, with the compliments
of the tariff built fraud" in evident allu.
sion to some of the free trade professors
Colonel Barrows has sowed
rebellion in Professor Summers camp-if it
it did not exist there before.