The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1898-01-11

get from the public, which is not much
and makes up the rest. The public
school fund runs the schools for thre,
months In each year, sometimes no
more than two months. The mil
schools or subscription schools run fo
ten months as q rule. The compan,
has a so made generous provisions fo
school facilities here in Spartanburg
Capt. Montgomery gave the local Trus
tees lot of land and cheap house
and this has been improved and en-
larged. 1t is a branch of the graded
school OF the town and under the same
Principal aud management. In Spar
tanburg there Ia u special school ta>
independent OF the poll tax and the
constitutional tax.
There is no compulsory education
here, but the mill owners try to get the
children to go to tho schools, particul
arly, as Capt. Montgomery suggests
when we have an abundance of help
What is true OF the Spartan and
Pacolet Mills Is true also of Clifton
and Glendale, to my personal observa.
tion, and Capt Montgomery says that
all the other mills of any size have
schools, although they arr perhaps not
| so good as those at SparIauburg and
Pacolet Clifton has school for each
of its three mills, and it Is really q
picturesque sight to look down on the
rows Of white cottages, each with its
school house at the end. MIR. Conver Sc
and Mr.. Twichell, the President and
Treasurer Of the Clifton, and the Glen
dale Mills, have gone to much expense
and trouble in this matter of educating
the children Of their help. Both are
Massachusettes men who went South
before tho war.
MIR. Twichell told me that the rate of
wages in his mills remains about
the same as it has been for a good
many years, and he could not see that
the Southern mills had great advan-
tage over the Northern mills in this. 1t
Is true" he admitted, 1--WE have a little
advantage in point Of hours, but it is
only question Of timo when labor here
will have as few hours as in the
North"
"Do your mill hands take any special
interest in bringing this ahout?"
mo, they do not. or course, they
realize that for operatives shorter
hours means less pay, and they are not
agitating the question. They don't
seem to care much about shorter hours
When say that labor will have as few
hours here as in the North am judg-
ing from general observation. There
has been some agitation in the Legis-
lature. and there may be more. When
the bill for reducing hours was last up
the operatives petitioned the Legisla-
ture not to interfere. They had learn.
ed that shorter hours meant less paw.
1--WE get our help from various
places. Some Of our people come from
North Carolina. Then the help go
from one mill to another, and this ex-
change extends all over the State"
According to Capt. Montgomery,
out for one cause and another before
settling down as operators" it was
suggested.
Yes, fully so per cent" was the
reply. At least SO per cent. get tired
and go back to the farms. Then there
are some VINO are not desirable help.
AT Clifton we are getting hands from
the farming country way up in North
Carolina. Some families from that
country prove to be very good help,
and we are trying to get more from
that section. You go into another Sec
tion and you may get very poor opera
tives.
There is one point in which the
over us in the South. Up North you
can stop your mills tomorrow and start
up again next week without making
any serious trouble. il the business
doesn't pay, there is always this
remedy. Here we have to run the
mills right along without stopping,
whether it pays or not To shut up
would demoralize our force altogether,
the help would scatter, and we should
have hard work to get them together
again when wanted. Then we have
these people on our hands. We have
brought them here, in many instances
paying the cost of transporting their
families, and this is an item to be con-
have been here for 30 years. But the
help, as / have said, is more floating in
character than it used to be. They are
apt to take notion to move
"Whole families work in the mills.
This includes the children, You oant
keep the children out of the mills.
We have established schools, and they
run 10 months in the year. The pub
lie school fund pays for about half the
cost, and we supplement it with sub
scription of our own. The children 20
to school certain times in the year and
work certain times; but they don't
want to go to school all the time. They
flock into the mills of their own accord
They make very good help.
"We have better class Of help now
than we had 20 or 80 years ago. The
very best class OF farmers come in now
They can make great deal more here
In the mills than on the farm.
81 suppose we have in the Glendale
Mill 400 people. Half of these are
women; perhaps one-fourth may be
children. AT the Clifton Mills we en-
ploy about 1000 hands, and about the
same proportion holds"
These observatins of Mr.. Twichell
reflect the opinions of clear"headed,
clean-cut businesss man, who has won
his own way to success. There are
few things still to be said of the condi-
tons at Clifton and at Spartanburg
which may help to better under
standing Of the state of cotton manu-
featuring In this region.
The Grand Duke Paul, OF Russia
Is said to be at the head OF political