The evening times., 1897-12-25

| which he reviewed the manufacturing iii
uation from mill mans standpoint. H
also announced to the employees that l.
would give $500 toward the establish
ment Of fund foI benevolent purposes.
A copy OF the circular was given to ever.
In addition, each received per ccnt O
the money earned by the mill from IL n
| to December.
The circular follows:
| Office Of the Bourne Mills,
FAN River, Mass, Dec. "a ,1s97.
To the Employees Of the Bourne Mills:
| 1t gives me pleasure to announce tina
the directors have unanimously voted e
offer you n share. OF the profits ino;he
| year, and have declared a dividend IF !
per cent upon the wages Of those smpiore
who are entitled to share in the profits %
| the last six months. This is the seven. eentl
| consecutive semi annual dividend EpOn
wages.
Employees Savings Account This &C
count, Which has been closed 4 year and {
half, will be reopened on January l, 1898
to any enlplove who may desire to save al
interest a part of either wages OF divideuds
Interest at = per cent per ann I'm will be
paid upon any sum from cents Up TO S1Ot
that remains twelve fun Calendar months,
reckoning fIom the first day of any month
in the year. Small sums are prefer ii, for
which reason no larger sum than $40 will
be accepted at one time, although any
emplt ,e may continue such amount, or less
from eel to week, OF from time to time,
until the account Is S1O0. If any one de
sires t. do SO an order may be given 10
transfer any sum not less than cents OF
more tlian SO from the pay roll to the
savings account, and such order may re-
main ill., force until the siI. Of S10o has
been saved in this way. Suita BILE blanks
will be provided.
More tuan .i0ur million Gotten spin lies
are reported in the Southern States Fail
River las less than three million spin =
dies. As ar American citizen ] J. ust
congratulate the people Of the south. \
successful cotton factory is blessing
to a community: The spread II fac
tories in any part of our country means
advancement in civilization and com
fort among the people. / cannot l,e-
lie,e that so,abern competition off .rs
contrary. ,hc dtstri.nltion Of wages ana rg
the people there will tend To bis her
standards of living and eventually ce-
ate demand fer TIE fabrics which North
ern mills viii Continue To supply.
Temporarily the Southern manufacturer
has II slow Of advantages. Under norm ii
conditions Of business activity the North
ern mnLufacturer can offset IL. The
South has proxinityof cotton, free water
power, cheap fuel, low taxes or no taxes.
long hoursnfiabur, low wag yes old fashioned
laws. rev machinery in many cases, night
work and submissive employees. The North
has prox;mity OF capital, good credit econ
olnics of power, and fuel, public con
venienres and pro. ectiun, experience
siillfui employees, advanced laGs, Gun
centration, invigorating atmosphere and
stimulating environment, proximity OF
markets, and intelligent workmen, who
have learned to know and protect their
rights.
The Southern comp petition has come
to stay. II is foolish To ignore or be-
little it. The Northern mills are hard
pressed in the race, but it would be
weak To 20 back ward; the only way To
win is to keep ah head
To meet the market conditions, the
cost of production must be reduced in some
way. Its not Impossible to do this under
even higher wages. Low wages do not
always insure cheap production. Skill ln.
attention are eften more successful. In
yention OF new methods is what we need.
and every enIploye who thinks can help
I'm this dir ection. You can do il Small
inventions are most profitable.
Let me illustrate. II al our mill was
running upon .X,'' maximum product
isnow 1: o.000 week. Thcpayrollamounis
cents a pound for labor. Suppose there were
profit of / cent a pound, that would
be $500 week. Suppose we could invent
a way of producing f4O 900 pounds a wee,
with the same pay roll; the Cost at once
would d;op To 1-2 cents pound for labor,
and :he profits run mp to 81 400 4 week
or more.
Then let us illustrate the diff er snce be-
tween skillf ui attention on tine part OF ell-
ployes arc low wages. The wage fund"
to borrow an old economic term, of the
Bourne Mills is 81 600 week. Ten years
ago. before profit sharing, tn, pay rolls con
tanned about 800 names, at an average of
Sc vetk L: now there are about 400na,ues.
averaging about $3.50 a week. l link
that everyone will admit that the 400
do not have to work as hard as the 500
used to. Suppose by skill and attel ion
300 ell ployes could successf ully do this
work. tie average would then be SID a
week. This is not absolutely impossible in
the future
A large committee of able and consier-
tious meh has, been engaged for no lshs
In the tedious study Of the unpleasant
problem how to recover Il profitable busi-
ness for our mills.G Stock holders have been
patient for two years, but have lately he
come uneasy. Something had to be done at
once. The prosperity of our mills affects
all hards-owners, oper atives, merch lnts,
and citizens Of every grade and
condition. The committee has reported a
new schedule as the only practicable solu.
ton for trial, not because like 1t, bu. /
do not see what else to do at present.
The managers have tried the storing up Of
large stocks of cloth in hopes OF a better
ter market. only 10 be disappointed. An
expensive and long curtaiImsnt resulted
no better: andfmmediate lower cost .v.s
the final remedy In the Judgment OF the
most intelligent managers.
1t should ever be remembered, to the
honor OF the manufacturers OF FAN River,
that, without legislation. they once vol.
unfairly reduced the hours OF labor from i
sixty-six lOurs q week to sixty. Befora
that time Fall River was only a village.
and that advanced step, marking the
Inettlc of~the men managing our mills,
was followed by such growth that Fau
River became within thirty years the
spondlc city OF Cont inent. and the recog-
nized tattleer ound OF industrial prog
ress. Let us not forget that ou.y few
years ago, in 1865, mills were running
Ihirteet hours day in Massachusetts.
The south by and. by Will weary of