Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1897-09-08
NEGRO LABOR.

Test OF the Capacity of the Race as Cot. |
ton Operatives Being Made.
The substitution of negro labor for
white labor in a cotton mill in Charles
ton, S. c., has probably attracted more
attention and aroused more general
comment than any labor incident of
past years. This interest was caused
by more than one feature Of striking
Importance. In the first place, it is
looked upon as revolution In cotton
mill labor in the South; secondly, it'll
raises the question whether the project
will be successful, considering the gen.
orally accepted low order of the labor
employed; and, lastly, if successful,
will it result in the cheapening of the
mill product to the extent that goods
and yarns from southern mills will
more than ever come into successful
competition with the mill products of
the North?
The latter proposition appears to be
the one that has the strongest claim on
the southern manufacturers who have
already employed or are contemplate
ing the employment of negro labor in
their mills. 1t is the boast of the man
ufacturers of the United States that
IACy nave DCC1l CAdUlCu W pay ulSuGE
wages for labor and at the same time
compete with goods of foreign manu-
facture. because of the higher intelli-
gence OF the labor employed in this
| country. Based upon this theory, the
opponents of the employment of negro
labor in the cotton mills of the South
say it cannot prove remunerative. The
claim is that while the negro labor can
| be employed at less wages than white
labor the productive capacity of white
operatives is so far superior to that of
| the negro that this viii more than
counterbalance the difference in wages.
| Whether this theory will hold good re-
mains to be proved by experience.
The indications point to the conclu-
sion that the management of other
| South Carolina mills are watching the
experiment made in Charleston with
more than the usual interest, and If it
proved to be as successful as it is now
claimed negro labor will be introduced
into other cotton mills. The desidera-
tum appears to be cheapness of pro-
duction and thereby broadening of
the market for cotton goods of South
ern manufacture. Aside from these di-
rectly interested in cotton mills, the in,
PRODUCTION of negro labor into them is
a matter of much concern, not only TO
| the white laborers of the South, but
to those of he North as we'll.
1t means the throwing out of en-
ployment of large number of white
people who have devoted the best years
of their lives to work in the various. de-
partments of the cotton mills. :. II
means either this or the possible ,neces-
sity of accepting the wages paid to
negro laborers. The wages paid to
operatives in the cotton mills of the
South, it has been claimed and general
ly admitted, have never been as high
as the wages paid the operatives in the
mills of New England. While the
Southern operatives have received less
wages, it is claimed that this difference
Is more than counterbalanced by the
cost of living, which is much less in
the South than in the North. The New
England manufacturers claim that the
cost of operating these mills in the
South has been the strongest element
in competition that they have been
forced to meet
With still further reduction OF
wages of operatives in Southern mills
through the employment of negroes,
the apprehension is felt, if the new la
Dor proves satisfactory, that the con-
test for PROFITABLE production of cotton
goods in the East will be placed upon
a narrower margin. This being the
result, Eastern mill owners will be
forced to devote their mills to the pro-
duction of the finer classes of cotton
goods, in the production of which the
highest class of labor is needed and
which will bear higher wages Should
the experiment of the employment of
negro labor in the mills of the South
as now constituted prove successful
it may be that it will mean the trans
ference of the machinery for the pro-
duction of the finer cotton goods, and
in that event the Southern mills will
come into sharp competition with the
same class of mills in New England as
they have in the past in the manufac,
ture of the lower grades of goods. The
subject is one full of vast possibilities
and the result will be watched with
the keenest interest by the cotton man.
ufacuring world.-Mobile Register.