The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-01-18
LABOR IN THE SOUTH
A Discussion of the Conditions
That Govern 1t.
BY COMMISSIONER LACY
A Large Per Cent of Our Mill
Help Native Born.
A COMPARISON OF WAGES
The South Welcomes Good Men of All
Glasses and Calings But it Does
Not Want The Agitator or
Anarchist.
COMPARISON OF WAGES

NTldFCHlSl,
In discussing the subject of South
ern labor it should be remembered
that / see them through the eyes of
Southcrner and of one who not only
was born and reared in this section but
also of one who went into the shops
and served an apprenticeship as ma
chinist.
In North Carolina a very large per
cent. of the mill help are native North
Carolinians, and those who are not,
are from the north and not foreigners
Of these 1908 grown people working
in mills, not over 5 per cent. are from
outside the State; the 1852 children
are, of course, natives. These people
are for the most part OF the sturdy
Scotch-Irish stocks. This class of peo-
pie, while opposed to the late war, bill
lowed every hard fought field with
their bodies, and the same spirit that
made them so easily disciplined and
managed, and yet so loyal and true
when they were tried with fire,
will make them eventually the very
best opei atives in the world This
labor comes almost entirely from the
farms, and is conservative, aud not
spoiled by contact with anarchists or
in fact any kind of agitators. They
have the great advantage OF inheriting
sound, healthy bodies, not weakened
by dissipation, and while it is a fact
that they are slow, owing to climatic
influence and early training in farm
life, it should not be mistaken for lazi-
ness. They take a gait that long eX-
perience has taught them, they can
maintain. 1t is not always the whoop-
ing, bustling, showing-off man, that is
accomplishing the most, but the
steady, plodding safe one. That train
ing will quicken them and that grad
ually they will do as much, hour for
hour, as their more energetic brothers
at the north, there is no shadow of Il
doubt.
FORCE OF HABIT.
That man interests almost all traits
of his character there is no gainsay-
ing. We see this in animal life and
man is nothing but Christianized,
cultivated animal; the setter is the
very best illustration of this. Few
people know that on account of pa
triotic sentiments Scotchmen, when
would not use the Spanish or pointer
dog, and made their trainers under
take to teach the trick spaniel to
point" Now the habit and trait has
been taught and transmitted until the
setting spaniel is now as the .'setter"
the equal If not the superior of the
Splash pointer. With man it is the
same way; the children of the present
mill help will be decided improve
ments on those of to-day. and in a very
short time the South will not only
have as sliIlful operatives but by far
the most safe and conservative. These
people have their faults, but laWless
ness. and tendency to communism. or
the equally dangerous character, the
anarchists, are not among them. Re-
cruited from the rural districts where
days are long and wages low, they
feel that they have been advanced
when they get out Of the weather"
and have regular pay. It rests with
the mill men Of this section what their
future shall be. IT they educate their
help to feel that they are machines,
they will find that human machinery
is the most manageable of any kind
known to man. If, on the other hand,
they try TO make their help better men
and better citizens they will reap tiae
great reward in material way. AL
most all of the strikes and trouble of
the older manufacturing parts of the
world are due entirely to the short
siohtedness of mill owners and mana
gers. who wanted to get rich too fast
and paid no attention to the moral
or intellectual training Of those who
turned out to be exactly what should
have been expected by the way they
are treated The South is not
ONLY blessed with the very best
class that could be selected to make
help out of, but to a great extent the
owners and managers are real gentle
men i'm the truest sense of the word,
and while they desire wealth they do
not place it above everything; and IN
almost every case they understand
that "What they SOW that they will
reap": if they SOW the wind of grind
ing out the ambition of those who have
to take subordinate places, they will
certainly reap the whirlwind of strikes
and friction and unrest. The mill men
of the South have their opportunity
VIII they profit by the mistakes OF other
sections and try to elevate and build
up their section with men as well as
factories? If their whole treatment
and intercourse tends to bring out the
bad and vicious side of their people,
they should not hold up their hand in
holy horror and try to pose as martyrs
~ Iasy mn III ~