The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-12-11

ly when the cotton mlll INDUSTRY, ~ pres
emf. is distinctly one in which the for
eign operative does not (as he now un-
derstands itl have to come into personal
contact with the negro.
Nor can one take the position at this
time of day that the South may be I'M
welcoming, in its present sparsely set
tied condition, to an influx of laborers
skilled or otherwise, of welI-ordered
lives. Either this must come about OF
Tire sparse population will still be one
of the Weaknesses of n country of royal
resources unexpected because of the
lack of adequate labor.
And yet, from the viewpoint of the
present New England conditions, as
emphasized ut FAN River, this infuX will
in all probability be bcset with complex
ities out Of which may grow the very
legislation and limitations which now
cmbarrass New England-unlcss the diff
ferent conditions here, as already noted,
cause the foreign operative to acquiesce
in the relations and wages now in force
between our employers and our en-
ployed.
If such happy results follow the com
ing of new help to multiplied Southern
mills, the outcome will indeed be lumin
Gus beyond conjecture now.
In any ease, without further coloring
the consideration of the subject with
any of the suggestiveness of the present
crisis. the cold fact still remains that the
South will, without any glad feeling at
New England's misfortune, he as much
is startled, perhaps, with satisfaction
It the possibilities of the picture drawn
~ tile FAN River treasurer.
Certainly, to the practical business
nan, as well as to those alive 10 eco
iomic or sociological changes. the
study of the cotton-mill outlook in the
outh must be of intense interest. Even
low we contemplate with a sort of
grateful glow that so many of the good
white people of the South are able to
set their bread and, shelter and wear
md to lay little byz-while each group |
at work represents a home cosy and re |
fined and gentle with the Christian !
graees. One nee,. only to go through |
many OF our North Carolina villages to !
get the force of this suggestion summed
up in his MIN. The meaning ofsit all
to civilization I'D the South, even ande,
present conditions, is vivid with promise
One element of it may yet play a Barge
part toward helping in the adjustment of
the negro problem, unless another thing
may happen-namely, the supplement-
ing of white labor in the cotton factory
by that of the negro. While this may
not be possible, it has never been proved
to be impossible, and white labor, as we
know, has little or no show in the great
tobacco manufacturing establishments
of the South.
Tentative efforts are making toward
the putting Of the negro into the cotton
factory. In our own State such plan
10 oi iOot III Sohtoiu, w uNSiO Nc-OpsA-
alton. In Atlanta, the other day, the
white operatives were thrown into fer
ment by the attempted introduction into
a big cotton factory there of negro help
Does this mean a drift toward the negro
because, in economics, the drift is, other
things being equal, toward the cheaper?
If the negro prove to be success as
a cotton-mill operative, thing not now
realized, the change of conditions may
be momentous.
But it is needless, no doubt, otherwise
than by way of speculation that, as
stated above, seems to flow naturally
out of the statement from New England,
either thus to be building up air-castles
or to be predicting calamity which may
never come to pass.
We should be content, perhaps, dis
carding all else, simply in the contem-
plation of the facts as set forth so IA
vorably to the South by the treasurer
IF Fall River.