The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-02-01
GEORGE T. SPINNEY.
Two Other Views OF the Strike.

The great strike of the operatives Of
the New England cotton mills has been
presented from several points Of view.
MI. Dingley has made his explanation
and apology, and the mill owners have
made theirs. The taunts that drew
out Mr. Dingley's somewhat involved
and very contradictory explanation had
for their point the failure Of his patent
cd elixir to prevent the sharp reduc-
ton Of the wages of operatives Had
not that elixir been prescribed with
such cocksureness in 1896, as an infalli-
bic fncreaser Of wages, the author Of
the Dingley bill and his assistants
would now be spared the humiliation
OF explaining its failure in this i'm
portant instance.
The situation is presented from two
other points of view; the Southern, by
the Atlanta Constitution. and the local
py a Fail River man, who has been in
close touch with the cotton Industry
for many years. The former SCOTS at
Dingley's excuse Of the longer hours
and lower wage competition. laughs ar
his suggestion Of constitutional
amendment giving congress power to
equalize hours Of labor over the entire
nation, and says that the essence Of
the whole matter is in the cheaper Iiv-
Ing to be had in the South The strike
is to secure wages that will enable
the operatives to live in a region
where the cost Of living Is about
double that in the South While there
have been wage reductions year after
year In New England mills, there have
been none in those of the South where
operatives, although working for
wages nominally lower, but really
higher, are comfortably we'll off and
are saving money" 1t admits that, In
"the process of the suns" there NAV
come labor unions into Southern mills
with their organized demands for short
er hours and higher wages, but it re-
CARDS the coming as a matter so far IN
the future that the grandchildren Of
the children Of today will hardly see
its beginning" How many years." II
asks, "has it taken Jacques Bonhomne
to GUST the native New Highlander
from his place at the loom?" And then
that period should be multiplied by
three at least, more probably by five.
70 bo
date can be named when a. similar
change will take place at Southern
Icons.
The boss" Of the New England mills
Will be long time in getting acl1nowl-
edgment in those Of the South. "Your
Anglo-SaXon, with Southern training ia
truly conservative in his ways and In
dependent in his notions. He doesn't
like to be bossed. and he is not amena-
bic to the treatment in vogue in New
England, where the individual Is lost in
the worker" The impression that II "a
negro labor that is doing the work in
Southern mills is erroneous. It Is the
native white there, just as it was the
native New England boys and girls be-
fore the war who ran the looms. before
Canadian French invaded and capt,Ir-
ed the mills. There was an attemnt
in a Georgia mill, a few months ago
to introduce colored weavers, but the
protest against it was so emphatic that
it was abandoned. The Constitution
denies that Southern competition has
as yet, seriously affected the industry
in New England, but it is confident
that the time is coming, though the
progress will be slow and gradual, when
the South will be the center of cotton
weaving that New England has been
The other point Of view the Fall Riy-
er mans, is that production is In ex-
cess of market consumption. Old mills
with old style machinery, have con-
tinued to operate in competition with
up-to-date mills. When prices fall, the
former cannot be operated save at a
loss. Even now a latter-day mill, the
Union, is making a handsome profit.