The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-16

Negro Labor in Cotton Mills.
The question OF labor for new cotton
mills in the south is receiving attention
from mill men and capitalists. The doubt
has been expressed that there viii be
enough native white labor to supply the
.denand for mill operatives that Will
spring up within a few years if the pres
! ent rate OF progress i'm mill building shall
! be maintained. and there appears little
doubt that it will be. II the native white
labor should prove inadequate TO the de-
mand. then il would be a matter of util-
izing the colored labor or importing white
labor
/ Colorcd labor in cotton factories is an
unknown quantity Notwithstanding the
/ eolored people Of the north are intellect
ually in advance of those of the south.
generally speaking. there has never yet
| been an effort TO utilize colored labor in
4 the cotton factories Of the north. How
ever stringent the demand Tor factory
| operatives. in times Of strikes. or large
orders. or other emergencies requiring
extra efforts for the securing Of labor.
the northern manufacturers OF textile
fabrics have never seriously considered
the negro as mill hand. They have
never siveh him a chance. considering
his inciiiciency a foregone conclusion. II
is well known that the average negro
lahorer is unreliable where there is tedf-
Gus and confning work to be done:
that he invariably prefers to work three
| days Of the week and loaf four, and that
he lacks the quick judgment that is requi-
site in handling delicate machinery run
ming at high rate of speed. The north
ern manufacturers have held these facts
in view, and never attempted to educate
the negro. 10y practice, out Of these char
acteristics.
a few week ago 1t was announced that
a company had been formed for the pur-
pose Of building a cotton mill at Annis-
ton, Ala. in which only colored labor
would be employed. The work is to be
done by negroes from the engine room
to the top floor. The Chattanooga Trades
man quotes a prominent manufactures
of that city as saying he would be willing
to invest $4,000 in such a mill, for the
| purpose of experimenting with colored
help in a cotton mill. to demonstrate
whether it would be possible for the south
to furnish the labor for her cotton mills
or whether 1t would be necessary, in case
the number of mills increased largely.
to import labor. At present there is alb
solqtely no criterion by which to Judge
of the black races labor in the textile
g,1r
merce doubts if a negro of pure blood
was ever employed on a machine in a
cotton factory. Negroes do not natur-
ally take to that class of work, and there
is no data to show whether or not they
can be educated to perfect efficiency and
| reliability in cotton mill work.
The Tradesman, by the way, does not
believe that experiments in one mill will
solve the problem of colored labor in the
| cotton mills. 1t recalls the fact that 1t
took the negro ten years to prove that
| he could be employed prohtably on the
work of grading railroads and blasting
in quarries; and cotton mill work re-
quires much more mental exertion and
steadiness Of habit than either of these.
Up to this time the native white help
has been found sufficient for the southern
cotton mills 1t is likely that that class
of help, with the skilled workers that must
| necessarily be brought from the north
for some time yet viii be equal to the
7 demand for several years. Nevertheless,
1t is well enough to be informed as to the
capacity Of the black race for cotton fac
tory work, and the experiment of the
Alabama mill will be watched with a
! considerable degree of interest