The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1898-01-30
COTTON MILLS STRIKE.
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Wish the annihiaion Of the cotton
mill industries in New England staring
them in the face, the operatives Of
New Hampshire, Massachusetts and
elsewhere have taken a wrong time 10
set up strikes and disturbances. In Fall
River 1t is said to be almost a question
whether the mills will be kept open or
not. and instead of increasing the diff
culties Of their employers, it would be
the pant of wisdom, TO say nothing OF
consideration, for those at the looms to
adopt Brer Rabbits policy and lay low
for Il while. III New Bedford the issue
Is dared by a general strike, involving
5000 people, while similar strikes are
expected in othsr Massachusetts cities
ana In Maine. The fact is that the
changes III the South are menacing the
North. There was time when the in
f!uent!ai ones of our country below Ma
son and DiN2n's line affected ito regard
industries with something like con-
tempt. and our army was despsed as
crowd of Northern mudsilis and greasy
mechanics. We do nor remember what
kind OF things muGsills are supposed to
be, but there is no dourt that Il me-
chanic was expected not to be greasy
That time Is past forever The South
ern man whose father was planter
and had his work done for him by ne
groes whom he paid only in food and
clothes, and bought and sold and owned
like cattle, is now looking for invest
menAs in which he can get n return for
the product uf the old plantation. For
years he sent his cotton to England and
to the North. His dislike of shops and
M chaniSms forbade the establishment
OIL factories III his own region. He still
SHJoyed the peacc and comfort CT the
antc-Dellum days. and did not want the
sky fouled with chimney smoke; he did
not want to see an inr2ad of white work
lngmen. poor, dependent, whose pres
ence would involve changes in the So
cial conditions of his State.
Economic conditions. and not social
ones, quah.fy the lives of most of us.
Necessity stronger than desire. The
North has been extending itself far
ther and farther South; the differences
between the people of the two sections
nave been growing less, and now the
appearance of thc cotton mill in North
carolina and Georgia msnaces the SAM
institution in the North. Normally
lhere was never reason for these mills
IN massachusetts. because the cotton
was grown a Thousand miles away
from that State. j the South had own
ed irea and intelligent labor the mills
never would have been built in NIassa-
chuSetts. The South has Ghe cctton in
her fields 1t can be passed into her
mill doors without putting it on a train
| or boat. She has water power, wo.d
and coal, brick, clay, building sI.one of
all sorts. and her land is still so chem
fhat is easy to acquire all that is need
cd Hf 1t for factories. 1t is easier for
| operatives 10 live in the South TOO. than
1t Is in the North. Rents are cheanzr
because land is cheaper there is less
need or fuel to keep the houses warm
ana of thick ch5thing to keen the bodies
warm. Food Of all sorts is offered I'm
greater variety than i'm the North and
at lower prices In some ssasons. Thc
mills in the South are small, one does
not oh.en see one in which over n hun
dred hands are employed and comparcd
with the lmmsnse strutures of Lowell.
Lawrence, Fall River. Nashua and
| Utica are insignificant: but thew orp
forerunners of vast industry that enc
| DAY Will be developed in the cotton belt
and that will be followed by n trans
| lsf OF the sugar industry to the region
Where the sugar cane is grown. Econ
| oiny and sense distate the removal of
factories to the places that furnish the
| crude material. The emigration of orr
| thousands of mill workers to the South
| VIII be good thing for them, and n
| better for the South itself. And there
need he no fear that we shall lack worJ,
| in the North.
|