Birmingham age-herald., 1895-01-12
STILL THEY COME. More Cotton Manufaotories Will
 Be Built South. CHEAP LABOR AND FUEL And Less Freight Give the South Advantages That
 Cannot Be Overcome.
CHEAP LABOR AND FUEL

nounced that the Merrimac, the largest cos-
 ton manufacturing company in this city, In addi ton to other concerns which have
 been mentioned, is to have Q southern
 plant. This makes three of the largest
 establishments In the city to join the move-
 ment and makes ihe fact certainty. The
 labor element is inclined to be anxious. The elements in the problem are thus set forth by Mir. Elliott Clark, treasurer, and
 MT. c. A. Cullnock Of the Boot mills: "rhe fact is, said Mir. Clark, tthat we can no longer manufac .ure plain sbeetings
 and drills at profit in the north. Against 8 50 per ton for coal in the south, we must pay A 10 s4 50. Tue climate there is mlider. | Up here we must pay freight and broker
 age, giving them an advantage of cent | per pound on the raw cotton, which by it. | self Is fair profit for mill making coarse | yarn goods. The labor, too, costs 50 per | cent moro here than 1t does down there. "rhese are some of the main reasons | why we cannot manufacture the shooting | and dri ing in the north in competition with the south. Along with the Dwight
 and Manassas companies We are compelled | to seek a more favorable location Tor | making these goods.
 | "We have valuable trade markets on
 these drillings and sheetings, and 1t would
 be a pity for us to abandon that l Kind or WOrk. we can make Jus Soouo, l say, for about Az cents yard,
 and in the market we can get say 4 R cents per yard. In the south, with it's superior natural advantages, we could produce sim | liar goods for about cents per yard, yield l ing an excellent profit"
 | Speaking of the labor element MT. Gull
 mock said: "About five years ago, the last | time we compared our weavers' wages Wltn
 those on similar work in the south, found
 there were many important things discrim. I ntrof tnr
 ten hours day, or sixty hours week, | and averaged about S1.15 day in wages. | In the south they worked seventy two hours per week and got about 6o or 70
 cents day. In other words the southern l man ufacturer paid cents an hour, while
 we paid 10 10 Il. believe that they are | now running sixty nine hours week,
 against our sixty-eight hours. To offset
 these things we have changed about | one- half of our plant here to produce
 finer class of goods--eoods with
 fancy weayes, in which the price oi raw | cotton does not enter 80 much into the
 cost of production that 1t controls the
 prices. These fine goods sell higher ana
 On the same subject MT. Clark said: ''The
 labor, while cheap, is of very fine class. | All the female help in the mills down there are farmers' daughters, who are glad to
 work for small wages, which seem large to | them, as they are not so accustomed to
 money as we are here. The negroes do
 not work in the cottun mills down there.
 The people are quite willing to take up | that form of work.
 "The southern girls are strong, quick to | learn and glad to he in the way Of earning | some money.
 tReports of production from good soutL | ern mills show that the machinery as A
 rule is run little faster than in the north | and the goods are of excellent quality,
 which are the best proofs of efficiency Of | labor in the south.'
 MT, Clark was inclined to qualify confi 1 dent convictions of immediate mills build- ing by the Boot company and said with
 reference to the petition now before the l legislature: i've ask the legislature to
 give us the right to do business outside
 this state, so that If we should feel dis l posed at any future time to make a change l we should be in condition to do so. | We are doing business under a special
 charter. Were we organized under the | general laws we could do business any
 where. We think now that it may be ex- | pedient to change our scene for the making | of plain export goods-the kind of goods | the trade marks of which are of such value | and " which we make at almost a loss and which we can make at a great profit in the l south.'
 MT. Cullnock added that New England
 had seen it's best days as manufacturing 1 center. Lowell has water power and that l was all. The mills are mostly run by
 steam, however. The additional machin- l cry put in, MT. Cuiinock said, since tne
 water power was exhausted has had to
 be run by coal, which is
 brought here iu sailing. vessels
 from Pennsylvania 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 plain grounds. Joseph s. Ludlow, agent of the Merrimac | mills. said today: "We have as yet 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 great disadvantage In every | department, but especially in our print | work, having the big cost of coal.
 "Fall river and New Bedford are grow l ing with steam mills, because they get | their coal for less than we do. We are manufacturing the fner grades of cloth in | our mills here. Labor is cheaper in the | south, because the supply is greater and and the hours louger, while there is an immense capacity for the manufacture of coarse goods.
 WORK OF THE STORM.