Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-12-27
CALICO MADE AT A LOSS.
Il. Recent Strike the Primary Cause
II the Hard Times No Reduc-
ton Contemplated.
|Tss Relief General That the Worst is
n,s-Whisky the Cause of the suf.
enng Of the Operatives.


xsw York, Dee. 26.-The Herald
,his morning prints n letter from Fall
river. M sss., showing the real oondi-
,Ion Of the mills in that city and the
,rtlook for the owners aud operators.
4 saws; "rhe real condition Of trade
here il not such as TO warrant anyone
b.lieying the sensational reports which
.nuear in the newspapers outside Of
,be city. These articles are frequently
rr,tten soley in the interests OF the
mill owners and operatives and thus
sreat Injustice Is done both classes.r
nThe Herald representative carefully
and imparlially. tppktd the field over
sonyersed with mil officials, business
men and operatives and reached the
nIlowing conclusion In reference 10
ihe situation: Eorty-Odd mills are
mining, affording employment to all
The operatives, ut the wages paid since
The strike year ago. No
srike is contemplated. No
hrther reduction has been suggested.
The operatives here are an Intelligent
elsss and can see from the market re-
rorts that the print cloths are being
manufactured ut an actual loss of S-l6
cent per yard to the mill owners. With
one or two exceptions he mill corpora
lions pay no dividend January
and those that do pay
from surplus of former
years. These facts cause unusual
iriendliness between the operatives
and the owners. The mill officials
sssert that the worst Is over The up
efatives viii have steady work Many
of them own shares in the mills Of the
CITY. The mill stocks have heretofore
been paying Investment. Many in
yestOrs were carried away with the
large dividends in the past Every
body desired to speculate, hence
the fever was contagious, aud
today finds the inhabitants OF
TIE spindle city, saddled with un
gOductive property IL is reasonable
pbelieve the assertions Of the mill Of
aeials that the worst Is over They
point to the fact that the holders OF
stock are unwilling to sell at market
price. During the year there were
only few transactions, and the bro
kers had hard work to keep theil
heads above water. Weekly sales
are held, but they are
poorly attended. The brokers
predict a rise very soon aud seem tc
see a silver lining IN the cloud. They
know that there i no local remedy.tol
E the present depression, as Fall River
does not control the print cloth mar
ket, Notwithstanding she produce
lao 900 pieces OF forty ii I'VE yards eacl
week The atore-keeptrs have not re
covered from the effects OF the lss
strike and the subsequent running on
short time which took about 500 OOl
X from circulation. They treat tue ope
ratives we'll aud give them weekly
semi weekly and monthly credit Will,
many of them, especially the house
E furnishers, have inauguraied an econ
Ga omioal loan system which does not in
clude the extorlion usual in suol
branches of business. In many place
most Of the suffering among the opera
hives comes from the saloons which in
fest the city.
"Inquiry at the savings bank, post
office and AT the emigra iOm agencies
revealed some interesting facts. Tn
postoilice officials state that the opera
lives, despite the dull times aud tn
losses incurred by the last strike, hav
generously remembered their relative
and friends In the old country durlnl
the year, and that the amount fol
Warded through the foreign money
order department was only 25 per cent
less than last year,
1.-THE lending emigrant agent state
that during the year he has sold be
tween $50 600 and 100000 worth {
drafts, and as far as he can estimat
half this sum was sent by the opers
tlves. The amount forwarded 70
Chriatmas was considerably large
i than in 1882 and 1883.
"These facts speak tor themselvei
A new mill is now being built whic
will soon put 40 900 more spindles int
operation. Fall Riy r to-day
making $500 feet Of print goods pr
hour, besides sheetings, shirtings an
goods for conversion. Although maj
ufacturine 10000 pieces Of prlr
cloth per week It should be stated thi
only two weeks production aecuml
lales. This fact, together with II
Stiffness of the market, is the rease
the manufacturers give for hoPeiu
ness of the future