Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1898-02-11

thdu III NCW iNukiduus DlOSJ VI Une
mills are located in small towns, where
land is plenty and cheap, and the mill
companies can usually obtain sites free
of cost from the land owners in the
vicinity which are large enough to
enable them them to build cottages for
their hands. These are plain and simple
but substantially built, the timber and
lumber and shingles are cheap, the labor
is mostly done by the owner or occupant,
andIin this way a cottage that will ac-
commodate a family of six can be
erected without any cost for the ground
and not more than 800 for the material.
Each family has its own garden, which
is worked by the women, and they raise
vegetables. chickens and eggs enough to
provide for the wants of the family and
furnish supply to trade for groceries
and provisions at the nearest store.
Very little meatEis eaten, except bacon.
Fuel can be had for almost nothing in
the neighboring woods, and the climate
Is such that little is needed. The fur
nishings of the houses are primitive, the
clothing of the people is of the cheapest
character, aud they have no demands
books, pictures, pianos, bonnets, gloves,
furs, fine shoes, jewelry and ribbons, for
which most of the wages of the opera.
tives in the northern mills Is spent The
love of display and the fashions and
millinery have not reached the simple
minded mill girls of the south, and,
while they have their romances and
their tragedies, their loves and warnings,
their jealousies and unhappiness, the
question of dress and other considera-
tions involving money are not involved.
The long cold winters, the crowded
tenements and other discomforts which
are inseparable from factory life in the
north are unknown south of Mason
and Dixon's line, but northern opera
tives would prefer to endure them rather
than accept the conditions which the
village girls in the south enjoy. AL.
though most of the superintendent of
the southern mills come originally from
the north, the experiment of importing
northern labor has not been successful
and employers do not encourage and
will not permit immigration if they can
prevent 1t. If the northern girl is in
troduced into southern factory she will
be very apt to breed discomfort and make
others unhappy as well as herself.
The majority of the mill companies in |
the south support schools at their own
expense, which are free to the children
of their employees, and this adds much to
their content. No child younger than
IA years is allowed to work in factory. |
Many of the mills encourage cooperation
by offering their stock for sale among |
their hands, and allowing them to pay
for shares in weekly and monthly in
stallments. This interest promotes con-
tentment and encourages them to devote
their best efforts to the enterprise.
There are other conditions which en-
able the southern mills to produce the
same lines of goods at much smaller ex-
pense than in the north. Fuel is cheaper
and not so much is required. The raw
cotton costs less because TRANSPORTATION
is cheaper, the distance from the fields
to the mills is not so great, and a good
deal of the expense of handling is
avoided. The mills of the south are
mostly free from taxation, and there are
no legal restrictions governing them.
the legislatures are beginning
to regulate hours of labor by law, the
operatives pay little attention TO them
and resent rather than encourage legs-
latve interference with their interests
while in New England the statute books
regulate every motion of a mill hand
from the time he awakens in the morn
ing until he drops to sleep at night.
Chicago Record.