New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-12-23
COTTON SPINNING ~ MASSACHUSETTS,.

The Fall River cotton manufacturers state n
great deal Of truth In their answer TO the pro-
posal Of the workers. The mills had an
nounced reduction OF wages on January 3
from IL 10 10 cents The men replied that
lower wages were not remedy for an over
loaded market, and proposed running part time
for a while. The manufacturers answered that
mills running part time could not make profit
while competitors in other States delighted 10
increase production as much as Massachusetts
mills diminished IT, and that the laws Of Massa
chusetts enacted In the interest OF labor re-
stricted the running OF the mills 10 hfiy-clght
hours, while In neighborlng States mills ran
sixty hours, and In Southern States from sixty
six TO seventy-two hours n week. and In some
cases day and night, with cheaper labor and
lower taxes. The Massachusetts laws they
say. have In fact driven capital 10 invest in
Southern mills. and thus have built up there
competition from which Massachusetts laborers
are now suffering.
The workers rdcule this statement and
claim that their labor Is worth so much more
than labor at the South as 10 make UP for the
difference In wages and hours. But the differ
ence in hours machinery is permitted to run is
definite one In production from the same ma
chimes and the labor Of tending those machines
is not Of such a character that n wide difference
can exist between the efficiency Of French
Canadians and other immigrants largely en-
ployed in Massachusetts and OF the native In
habtants OF Southern States In forms OF
labor requiring the highest skill and intelligence
hours count less than brains. but in tending
spinning machinery the hands can to only a
slight extent make up by superior knowledge
or training for hours of enforced idleness
throughout the factories. The law was enacted
as necessary to the wcll.being Of the State but
1t obviously raises up in other States n compe-
tltion which, the manufacturers now urge, must
cut down the number OF hands employed in
cotton spinning in Massachusetts or else their
wages
This answer does not cover the whole story
but presents considerations which merit the
profound attention Of wage-earners I'm Massa-
chusetts Evidently the restrictions which rem
der capital less profitable in one locality or
State than in others must operate to build nm
a competition which in the end proves costly
to the wage-earners also. The Fall River mills
have paid this year little over half the amount
paid in dividends last year, and about 40 per
cent Of the amount paid in 1893, and eleven Of
the Fall River mills have paid no dividends
this year. while Just across the line in Rhode
Island, the Bourne Mil has paid IL per cent
n month, though included in the Fall River list
and doing business In the Fall River market
being subject as 10 labor to Rhode Island laws
The issue closely resembles that raised by the
engineers strike In England for regulations
there have already turned away much OF the
work from English establishments to others
across the narrow channel and the demand for
eight hours wolk at present pay would only
Increase the advantage Of foreign connections
The cotton manufacturers do not tell the whole
story, and might plead that their present en-
barrassment and loss Of dividends are I'm soma
measure due to mistaken efforts to keep hands
employed, even when the demand for goods
was not sufficient to take the quantity pro
duced. Doubtless some OF them were Influenced
by considerations Of humanity, and by desire
to avoid prolonged suffering among their en-
ployes. though others appear to have believed
that the market would presently demand all
the goods they were accumuatng From any
point Of view It was 4 mistake Of Judgment.
even as respects the interests Of the workers.
to pile up enormous stocks of goods made from
cotton costing ~ to cents; but those who
were Influenced to that course by consideration
Tor employees do not seem to receive consIdera.