The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-12-22
CN1' FC0MPEIE WITH US
ARKWRIGHT CLUBS REPORT A
REMARKABLE ONE.
A CONFESSION THAT is or VALUE
Though Made To Influence Legislation, The
Reports win Hasten the day When Most Of
the Cotton will be Manufactured
Alongside the Cotton Fields
Boston Herald.)


At meeting of the Arkwright club,
which was held at Young's hotel yester-
day. a report was presented upon the
conditions of Southern competition and
the best practicable mode of meeting it.
The report was unanimously adopted.
The club did not consider any resolu-
ton for carrying the policy proposed into
effect, further than to refer the matter
to special committee.
Following is the full text of the re-
port:
Your committee appointed to consider
the problems presented by Southern conf
petition in cotton manufacture beg leave
to report:
The conditions under which the MANN
facture is prosecuted at the north and at
the South are, we presume, fairly well
known by every member of the club,
Nevertheless, the more carefully the ssIt-
iect is studied, the wider seems the diff
ference between the conditions prevail
ing in the two sections of the country.
The chief difficulty your committee has
in expressing its opinion. upon the dit
ference. is in finding terms sufficiently
strong to set forth the hopelessness of a
prolonged competition between northern
and Southern manufacturers under the
conditions that now prevail.
It NAV be well at the outset to incor-
porate in this paper a report recently
made by two members of this club, after
visit to the South, and careful inYes-
tigation of the manufacture as there
prosecuted. These gentlemen report as
follows:
Our principal point of observation was
Mt Charlotte, n c.. which is the centre
of the manufacturing interests of the
Piedmont section. 1t has extensive sup
NV stores a good machine shop and sew
eral mill engineers offices, each with its
force of draughtsmen, ready at the short
est possible notice to furnish complete
plans for a modern cotton mill of the
most approved construction, and to Close
a contract for complete equipment Of
machinery.
During the last two years these par
ties have been crowded with work, but
lust at the present time business is rather
dull with them.
The Piedmont section is situated in q
high and rolling country, with a delight
full climate, well adapted to cotton man
ufacturing. In no mill visited did we
find the appliances for moistening the at
mosphere. with which they are all equip
ed, in use.
Up to within a recent period nearly al
the mills built in the South were ar-
ranged to make three and four-yard
sheetings: but within the last three OF
four years the tendency has been TO put
new mills on yarns as fine as No. 40.Int
southerner finds that, with the advan
tages he possesses he can make tiless
goods at a cost which viii allow him Il
underseH our mills, and still leave him a
margin Of profit which Is sufficient to
induce the Investment of capital.
And now what are their advantages
The southerner claims that there are
several: First, that cotton is convenient
ly>. near, and that freight on it can be
saved. Second, that water power is
abundant If you care to utilize il, and
that, coal is cheap IL you prefer TO run
by steam. Third, that labor Is abundant
and cheap, and not inclined to organize
against the employers Fourth, that
the enactment of restrictive labor laws
is not likely to trouble manufacturers
for many years.
In our opinion the cheap labor, long
hours and freedom from legislative in
reference are the chief advantages, and
the others are unimportant and Of doubt
full value.
fenance Of dams, the necessity Of locat-
ing mills to be run by water power in
low places where the light is shut out
and the additional cost of building foun.
dations, which sometimes have to be
started 20 or 25 feet below the surface
of the ground all contribute to make
the investment so large that the Interest
on 1t goes far toward offsetting the cos
Of steam power.
The cost of c0al varies in different 10
calities, from $1.G5 per ton for Tennes
see bituminous, at which one manufac
furer expects to contract for his coal fo
the coming year, to $40 for Pocahon
tas coal at another point. In some mills
wood is used for fuel, costing from 81. II
to $1.40 per cord, and two cords of woot
are generally considered equal in valu
to one ton of coal.
The saving of freight @n cotton q
mounts to but little, and is offset b.
freight on the goods which have to b
shipped north.
The advantages, however, which per
tain to labor are very great; the lon
hours run and the low prices paid, W
believe, make the cost of labor in tn
south about 40 per cent. less than In tn
north. The working day IN North Care
INA Is IL douIs' q per teut. iohSer lht
in Massachusetts, and the price paid pc
day for common labor in the mills
from so to IS cents.
So far as we could learn, there is n
disposition to organize labor unions. TIL
American operatives do not take kindl
to this imported idea, and the opportu
nifty afforded them to earn regular wage
is too highly priced to be trifed with
They are just a. anxious for the success
Of the mills as the owners, and there
In their attitude toward their employer
loyalty which Il in striking contras
to the antagonism which exists and
encouraged among northern operative