The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-01-23
COMING TO THE COTTON.
WHY THE NORTHERN MILLS ARE
MOVING SOUTH.
More Favorable Laws. Cheaper Labor and
Longer Hours than in the North--Many
Other Advantases--Thc Climate is
Milder.

Longer Hours than in the North--Nan,
Other Advantages--Thc Climate il
NIilder.
BosToN, Mass, Jan. 16.-The entire
manufacturing population of New
England, employer and employee. has
been startled the last week by the ap
pearance in the Massachusetts, Legis
latue of three of the largest manufac
turing corporations in Lowell asking
permission, under amended charters.
to do business in the. South. On all
hands have been pressed eager ques.
tons as 10 the significance of the
movement. Following the natural
sequence of ideas, many have mag
ined that. the whole textile operations
OF: the North: using cotton were to be
transferred to the. borders Of the sunny
helas,wherein the fibre is grown, and
that the industry was to be revolu-
tionized.
1t is hardly that, however. The in
dpstry is not to be,revolutionized. 1t
Iis.5simply toadvance. The movement
means change. but it means progress.
Cheap labor. long hours. wholly or
dtiite restricted by legislative control,
proximity to. the staple, are the inhu-
entail elements in the change. 1t is
bt ho.weans:a new thought. North
ern manufacturers have, for the last
half dozen years. been watching the
development of the cotton manufac-
turing -. Industry in the South.
From "a: few mills ii hast aiken trade. In
to- it have: been put relatively.unskill-
ed laborand cheap raw material. 1t
could turn out gray cotton in coarse
plumbers. coarse ginghams. drillinss
and similar fabrics, much cheaper
than Observation-Disclosures IN fact.
by SO much approximately as was
represented in railroad freight, higher
wages and Shorter hours.
It began to get control of Southern,
and in Lowell, where the movement
s.just now most in evidence, of the
export market. With even the frac-
ton Of a cent per yard the Northern
mills could not stand the competition.
Some Of them put their hands down
and abandoned the market. All of
them prosecuted with new energy a
tendency which has marked the con-
duct of: Northern mills for twenty
years, yiz;;:the preparations for making
finer: fabrics. In the mills Of Lowell,
Lawrence, Manchester, n. H.. New
Bedford, Fall River: :Chicopee, Lewis
ton and elsewhere today hardly a yard
Of the products of twenty years ago IS
nov made
CONDITIONS REVERSED.
; they have reversed the conditions:
:Eormefly, as in the South today, the
:prd ddHct represented about 40 per cent
laHor,.. 90 per cent. cotton. The per-
.ceritageof labor:in the product of the
Massachusetts Boot and Merrimac
mills snow upward Off per cent.
Nevertheless, there is money in the
eoarser goods, aud. idle Northern cap.
to tsr1 r1--,,s,22ly too eager to confidc itself
opsd these vast enterprises OIL T1e
bahks of: the Merrimac, of BuzZard S
and Narragansett bays.
= OF the Lowell corporations, the
Massachusetts, was the first to ask the
Legislature for an increase Of capital.
This company was incorporated IN
1889 and had in 1898 a paid up capl-
tai; Of sT;S00; 600 and aproperty worth
fhdci more: located at the junction of
the Concord and Merrimac rivers. For
MANY; Years previous to three years
agb.this' company enjoyed almost a
MONOPOLY, as far:as American manu-
fa6tutes were concerned, of the Chi
nanfaket, for.which the staple was
brown,cetton: =,
:: Seriously pressed by the Southern
mills tke~company went to the Legls,,
Flature ifi,the spring of 1898 and asked
for and obtained permission to IN
crease its capital stock to $4,000, 600.
:Rights for this stock We're eagerly tax
len: up: The avowed object was the es-
tabEshmcntof.a plant in the South to
take. , the 'company,s coarse work
[:Aleanwhile... the machinery IN the
>Lowelt.plant: was. changed for finer
work and fancy: material
The Boot Mills, incorporated IN
1885, with a present capital of 81, 200,
-U0O:* is next door to the Massachusetts,.
Its t65ffffiieerS have appeared profoundly
IMPRESSED bXThe. example of itsnelgh-
BOZ. rom 81 the start: The Boott;' also,
yudtff within 'a.few years, enjoyed a
Fsteandv ard pfffS65ffitable trade on staples
and MEDIUM; numbers, but, like their
aeis ishbor::- felt. the; force7of Southern
competition. At its! executive head
inSchpge of. the mills it had an excep-
:tionally able, man, one. familiar with
the works. from boyhood, and also en-,
|doyed with a keen Apprehension OF
/ the commercial possibilities OF It's pro
ducts, as well as "a thoroughly technl-
l;Sal skill in its manufacture. 1t was
largely by A. G. Cumnocks advice
rthat his company-the Boott-petl-
ffoned the present Massachusetts Leg
fsla1ure for permission to follow the
example of the Massachusetts corpora
ton.
Then followed the Merrimac Com
pany, with request to be allowed tc
increase the capital from 81, 5OO.CO tc
So. 100000. The latter capped the cll
max: of the almost dramatic effect OF
the movement: The Mcrrimac is the
oldest great cotton manufacturing
lcorporation in America. incorporated
| IN ISIS it:was the first to demonstrate
}sthe commercial practicablllty OF the
power loom. 1t Shaped the policy anc
faid the plan, thought out and WORKED
out a system of manufacturing operation
] in cotton that is to a greater or les:
extent in vogue in every cotton mil
! in America.
MANY ELEMENTS II THE PROBLEM.
In this problem there are many ele
ments. Primarily. for the establish
ment of any new industry whatever
superintendent. overseers. seconc
hands trustworthy and skllful ant
/ twho'a1e willingto go South, are neces
/ Esarv.- There is no superabundance o
them. Skilled operators are anothe.
{T.rtor Twenty wears ago IN the -Ncr