Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1895-01-17
NORTHERN COTTON MILLS.
MOVING TO ESTABLISH PLANTS IN
THE SOUTH.
Lowell, Mass, Engaged in the Enter
prise: Reasons Given for Making the
Change.


Lowell, Mass, Engaged in the Enter
prise: Reasons Given for Making the
Change.
With the announcement thai
the Merrimac, the largest cotton
manu- featuring company in Low
ell, Mass, in addition to Other
concerns which have been men.
toned, is to have a Southern
plant, the interest in that city in
the Southern movement is saio
to have reached a high pitch.
This makes three of the largest
establishments in that city tC
join the movement, and besides
the fact that the capitalists are
following it with curiosity, the
labor element is inclined TO be
anxious.
The elements in the problem
are thus set forth by Elliott
Clarke, treasurer, and Mr.. A. c.
Culnock, of the Boot mills. 1.-The
fact" said Mr.. Clark, "that we
can no longer manufacture plain
sheetings and drills at a profit in
the north. Against two dollars
per ton for coal in the South we
must pay 81 to 81. so. The eli
mate made down there is milder.
and it does not require so much
coal to heat the mills. The man.
ufactures there can buy their
cotton off the market wagon.
Here we must pay freight and
brokerage, giving them an ad
vantage of one cent per pound
on the raw cotton, which by it.
self is fair profit for a mill
making course yard goods The
labor, too, costs go per cent. OF
what it does here, and down there
the taxation is not quite one half
what it is in Lowell.
''These are some of the main
reasons why we cannot manufac-
tnre the sheeting and drilling in
the North in competition with
the South, With the Dwight and
Massachusetts, companies we are
compelled to seek a more favora-
be location for making these
goods
Speaking of the labor element,
Mr.. Culnock said: about fiye
years ago, the last time we com
pared our weavers wages with
those on similar work in the
South, found there were many
important things discriminating
against US. Our weavers worked
ten hours a day, or sixty hours a
week, and averaged about S1.15
a day in wages. In the South
they worked seventy-two hours
per week and got about so to 20
cents day. In other words, the
Southern manufacturer paid 5 to
6 cents per hour, we paid 10 to
II. 1 believe that they are now
running SO hours a week, against
our SO hours.
ITO offset these ineqhities we
have changed over about one
half of our plant to the produc-
ton of a finer class of goods
goods with fancy weaves-in
which the price of raw cotton
does not enter so much into the
cost of production that it con
trolls the price. These fine goods
sell higher, and therefore allows
US to pay living wages.
On the same subject Mr.
Clark said: 1.-The labor there
while cheap, is of a very fine
quality. All the female help il
the mills down there are farmers
daughters, who are glad to work
for small wages, which seen
large to them, as they are not sc
accustomed to money as we are
here. AS the negroes do no
work in the cotton mills dowr
there, the white people are quite
willing to take up that form o.
work. Those Southern girls are
strong, quick to learn, and gla6
to be in the way of earning some
money.
Mr.. Culnock added that ht
thought New England had seer
it's best days as manufacturing
centre. Lowell had waterpowel
and that is all, but the mills are
mostly run by steam power. Al
the additional machinery put in,
Mr.. Cullnock said, since the watel
power Vas exhausted, has had tx
be run by coal, which is brough-
here in sailing vessels from Penn
sylvania and Maryland, and with
the freight to Lowell, makes the
fuel very expensive. This with
the cheap cotton and cheap labor
in the South, turns the tide in
favor of the South on plair
goods.
Jos. S. Ludlow agent of the
Merrimac mills said to-day
I'VE have as yet no site selected
but we want to be in a position
to do that sort of thing if we
find we have to. We are at grea
disadvantage here in every de
e rartment. but especially in oul
print works, in consequence OF
the big cost of coal. Fall Rive
and New Bedford are growing
with steam mills, because they
get their coal for more then s
less a ton than we do. We arr
already manufacturing only tht
finer grades of cloth in our mills
here. Labor is cheaper in tht
South, because the supply il
greater, and the hours longer
while these is an immense ca
nacitv for the manufacturer q