The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1891-1893, 1892-05-15

i"C'oIies 10 nlty-1our hours per week
has brought out some interesting testi-
mony.
The cotton manufacturers of the
State oppose the bill, and declare that
they are straining every nerve TO
complete with the southern mills. To
reduce the hours of labor would max
competition with the South impossible
One OF the manufacturers testified be-.
fore the legislative committee that the
nature of the work and the necessities
OF the times demanded the very cheap.
est class oflabor.
}. Howard Nichols, of the Dwight
manufacturing company, at Chicopee.
SAID that competition. partly from
Southern mills, sis so intense that a
small fraction of cent on a yard is
the difference between success and fail.
ure", to Massachusetts mill. and be
adds: "For myself confess the out
look is not che ering, and | would not
invest nor advise a friend to put one
dollar into any new cotton factory in
Massachusetts. Our men of
greatest wealth are not putting their
money into mills in Massachusetts.
They can find more profitable employ
ment elsewhere for their capital, and
they see the danger which threatens
them here
Mr.. \. T. Borden, of Fall River.
testified: The southern States have
to-day almost, if not quite, as many
cotton spindles as the cities Of Lowell
and Lawrence combined, and the build
ing OF factories in those States is in
creasing all the time. And when il is
considered that the hours of labor in
the southern mills are from sixty-six
hours weekly in Georgia to sixty-nine
and seventy-two hours weekly in other
localities in the South; that labor is
very much cheaper there than in
Massachusetts; that the facilities for
transportation of finished goods are
very much more advantageous there
than here; that there is comparatively
no cost for the transportation of raw
cotton to the mills, and that even now
the finished product of these southern
mills is being offered over the counters
OF New York, Boston and other lead.
ing markets, in direct competition
with goods made in Massachusetts, to
say nothing of expectation, it will be
seen that the situation is becoming
somewhat SERIOUS, to say the least.
Elliot c. Clark, of the Booth mills
at Lowell said:
| simply want to give you few
cold facts in regard to southern com
petition. 1t seems to me that the
whole danger to our Massachusetts in
dustries is from the South; that has
been brought to my attention, espe-
cially within the last few years, by the
fact that southern mills are taking
away my work from me. / am losing
my contracts great deal in that way.
1t is also the same in regard to the
trade in China, because the southern
States get ahead of me. have look
ed into the subject carefully, compar-
ing goods, prices, etc, with those of
South Carolina mills, to learn where
and how | was being beaten. There
are several good mills down there.
The Pacolet is good mill; so are the
Clifton ard the Piedmont. ! looked
at their goods and found they were
just as good as mine They beat me
actually in speed. In the cost per
pound of thirteen to twenty-five yarn
| found they beat me out of my boots:
we are not in it with them. Ny cot
ton was costing me 1912 cents per
pound and theirs 9.l5 cents The diff
ference in the price of cotton was
pretty near the profit. They are Just
as good weavers, just as good spinners
so those who have leen there tell
me. This is the sort Of competition
We are meeting with.
Other witnesses followed in the same
line, and admitted that their business
was in danger of being transferred al
together to the South in order to be
in sight of the cotton fields So great
is the competition that the northern
mills are forced to increase speed, re-
duce wages and introduce new me-
chanical appliances, and even with
these changes dividends are decrea sing
The Massachusetts manufacturers
unanimously said to the committee,
st will be impossible for Us to con
tinue any longer in competitor with
southern mills, and this industry upon
which so much of the prosperity Of New
England rests Will leave it if law is
passed reducing the hours of labor"
With these facts before US the thing
to do is to 90 ahead with our cotton
mills, and build new ones. Our new
England competitors are already on
the run, begging the law to interfere
in their behalf. We must press the
advantage already gained and control
the manufacture as well as the produc-
tiOn of our great staple. This is the
surest way to build up the Industrial
interests of the South, and we shall be
short sighted indeed if We do not profit
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