The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1895-03-08
1T Is BUGBEAR
MOVEMENT OF MILLS SOUTH.
WARD DEPRECATED.
Ex-senator Howard Speaks for the
Massachusetts, Spinners.

mlttee on mercantile affairs continued
its investigation into the causes Of re-
moval to other states of textile corpo-
rations. The committee heard a diff |
ferent story CT the condition of manu-
facturers and employees in Massachu-
sets from that given at the previous
session Of the inquiry. The COMPETE
ton of the south was stamped as a
bugbear by ex-senator Robert How
ard, of Fall River, who appeared as
the representative of the Fall River
Cotton Mill Spinners' Association. Mr..
Howard said in brief:
81 have noticed during the past few
months that the comparatively few
manufacturers who are contemplating
the building of mills in the south have
spared no pains to obtain the widest
publicity for their views on the So
called southern movement The bug
bear of southern competition has been
running in the ears of the people
throughout the length and breadth Of
the New England states, and Massa-
chusetts particularly. 1t seems to me
that those who are doing the most
talking possess more of a theoretical
than practical knowledge of cotton
manufacturing. The majority of the
manufacturers of Massachusetts, de-
pend more for success upon skilled
operatives and climatic conditions in
the line Of goods they are engaged in
than proximity to the cotton fields.
"Short hours ara not driving the
cotton trade away from Massachusetts,,
for no state in the country has made
such wonderful progress in cotton
manufacture as this state since 1874,
when the hours of labor were reduced
to ten hours daily. Carroll D. Wright
SAYS that Massachusetts made a gain
in spindles between 1870 and 1880 Of
l ,517, 236, and 80, TAI looms.
eff the cotton trade is leaving Mas
sachusetts, as some persons wish to
impress upon the committee, how can
you account for the great increase in
spindles and looms? In 1880 there
were 4, 236,084 spindles in the state.
The latest returns show 7,160, 480, or
an increase of 1884, 396 in the past
fourteen years. Fall River, at the
passage of the ten-hour law, in 1874,
had in its factories 1858, sos, and it
has now about 2,7O0,O0O. New Eng
land has 20 per cent of the spindles of
the country.
"The south today has 33 mills strip
ped for sale in receivers hands. 1t
would be difficult to find three idle
cotton mills in Massachusetts,.
GAS fast as skilled laborers get to
the south you will hear the petition
for just such labor legislation as the
people of Massachusetts have sought
during the past few years. There are
but few using that bugbear of South
ern competition. It has been stated
that raw cotton is taken by southern
railroads as fifth-class freight, while
northern railroads take it as only second
or third-class freight. This statement
is erroneous, since cotton is not only
shipped from the south to Massachu-
sets, and presumably to all New Eng
land as fifth class, but it can be re-
shipped from one point to another in
New England in carload lots as fifth
class freight. Something has also been
said about coal. The two states which
are recognized as the most progressive
in the sonth are the Carolinas. Invest
igation has shown that the Carolinas
are as far from the coal fields as the
manufacturers of Massachusetts, and,
what is more, the facilities for its
transportation are greater here, since
we are not dependent merely on the
steam railroads, but we have the sea-
board.
'Now, the mills in - so-called
Piedmont district in the south are
situated in cotton belt in which is
raised cotton suitable only for coarse
goods and yarns, and unfit for the
product of the average Massachusetts,
mills. ! think statictics show that
Massachusetts, has, in reality, little
to fear from the competition of the
south"
81 believe that every step that is
taken in the interests of the employe
to Tighten his burden will return some
thing to the manufacturer and
the state. Massachusetts, manu-
facturers have always in the
past, and will be in the future, com
petent, owing to the skill and intelli.
gence Of their own against all Compel.
itors. In proof of this, since the
passage of the ten-hour law we have
seen great factories built, large fort
unes made and rich families multiplied
I believe that today Massachusetts, il
raising a class of mechanics who are
destined to become asourceo of strength
to and the prop and mainstaY of on