The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-03-26
COTTON MILLING IN THE TWO
SECTIONS.

While some of the northern neWSpa
pers always are unjust to the south,
n even misrepresent often the actu-
al condition in the south, there are in
dividual nOrtherners VINO discern the
facts and from personal inspection as
certain the real advantages offered by
the south over the north ia cotton
manufacturing. The Messenger for
eight years has been harping upon
one string a good deal-to bring the
mills to the cotton. This Advantage has
been apparent to thousands OF south
ern millers, editors and others for a
decade or more. The New England spe-
c~ialists, like the pretender Atkinson, of
Boston, and most of the capitalists and
manufacturers nave disputed the claim
as to the south's advantages over New
England. But as time passes the south
is better understood by close observers
and there are men of the north who
now see clearly how the south can
better thrive than even New England
in cotton milling. Mr.. w. D. Pennell,
of Lewiston, Maine, is one of the New
~Englanders who has made a study Of
southern mills. He has done this
through the optics of a friend who has
been prospecting in the south. This
friend writes him instructively. We
have not seen the letter, but find some
extracts from it in an editorial in The
Charleston News and Courier, of which
We avail ourselves. The writer says he
has IA somewhat intimate knowledge
OF the mills in North Carolina, South
Carolina, and Georgia, gained by fire.
Quent trips to those states" and he
agrees, with other authorities, that the
whole cost of mill building lis much
less south than north" and that the
operatives are too we'll satisfied to
",o, ,~o ~ o~y In ~ nrtf0
tion," besides being opposed" to out
side agitation on their behalf, and he
thinks it will be many years before
wages in the south will be as high as
wages in the north for the same class
of work" One reason for this, he ex-
plains gravely, is that 1.-The peoples
wants are not as great as with us,
somewhat qualified by the further OBJ
servation that their "clothing, food
and fuel" the main essentials Of liv-
ing, cost less than with u.s." and that
many of the mills give tenements
rent free to their operatives" n
when rent is charged lit is generally
rs cents per room per month"
ter to have the mills near the cotton
fields than hundreds or a thousand
miles away from them. He writes:
II have referred to the tendency, Of
late. to isolate the mills so hat under
such conditions an ample supply Of
cotton is obtained. I have seen mill af-
ter mill in a field with acres and acres
of cotton growing around it. and under
such surroundings the conditions must
be exceedingly favorable. Not only do
the mills buy cotton for less when
there is a surplus raised in the vicini-
ty, but I am told they buy cotton one
grade better than their northern COM
p%etitors, which is, of course, eQuiva-
lent to an additional reduction in
price,"
He found another thing that was
probably an eye-Opener to him. He
~ascertained that while northern mills
either curtailed hours Of b or shut
down that the southern mills kept on
working on full time. He writes that
he could name mill after mill which
has run night and day, and 1 know Of
everal mills that have run this way
since they were first started" When it
comes to a question of price the south
ern mill can u at a profit when the
northern mill is running at a loss"
1t is not ~confinedto the big mills, this
constant production with. good profits.
The small mills held their own and did
we'll. He tells of one mill hat actually
through an entire year. He says that
in fact it is the small mills that are
making the most money. A very in
structive object lesson is given by him
in the following:
There is a mill in the south of 900
looms making the same class of goods
as the Amoskeag, in fact it copies the
AmoSkeag patterns, am makes its
price one-eighth Of a cent per yard less
than the Amoskeag price. In 1893, when
the Amoskeag ginghams were selling
for Az cents per yard, this great cor
poration of 10000 looms was obliged to
shut down because their product was
selling so much below cost, yet the
treasurer Of this little mill told me that
his mill ran all through the dull times.
selling their product at AS cents per
yard, one-eighth under the Amoskeag
as usual, and made money-not as
much as they would like-but sold ev-
cry yard Of goods at a profit"