The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1897-08-12
Observation-Disclosures LABOR


EAtsE htMENI q q NEGRO IABOH
Te.t ~ ~. r..,,--o....v 8, =.
Cotton Operative. Beinx Maae.
The substitution Of negro labor for
white labor in q 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 inn
portance. In the first place. it is looked
upon as revolution in cotton mill IL
Dor in the south; secondly, it raises
the question whether the project win
be successful, considering the gener-
sally-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 compe-
tition with the mill products of tho
north?
The latter proposition appears to be
the one that has the strongest claim on
the southern manufacturers who have
already employed or are contemplating
the employment of negro labor in their
mills. It is the boast of the manufacture
ers of the United States that they have
been enabled to pay higher wages for
labor and at the same time compete
with goods OF foreign manufacture, be-
cause of the higher intelligence OF the
labor employed in this country. Based
hi 4 ho re Qf hEa
employment of negro labor in the cot
ton 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 will more than counterbalance
the difference in wages. Whether this
theory will hold good remains 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 usual interest, and if it
should prove to be as successful as it is
duced in other cotton mills. The de-
sideratum appears to be cheapness of
production, and thereby broadening
of the market for cotton goods of south
ern manufacture. Aside from those 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 the north as we'll. -.
It means the throwing out of employ
ment of a large number of white people
who have devoted the best years of their
life to work in the various departments
of the cotton mills. 1t means either this
OF the possible necessity 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 generally admitted, have never
been as high as the wages paid the OPP
eraSives in the mills of New England.
While the southern operatives have re-
ceived less wages, it is claimed that this
difference is more than counterbal-
anced by the cost of living, which is
much less in the south than in the
north. The New England manufacture
ners claim that the cost of operating
these mills in the south has been the
strongest element in competition that
they have have been forced to meet.
/ With a still further reduction in
wages of operatives in southern mills,