The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-28
THE AUGUSTA MILL TROUBLE.


for some time, and il is possible that the
outcome of il may be the permanent clos
ing of the factories and the ultimate re-
moval of the machinery TO small towns
where factory operatives can live cheaper
than it is possible for them TO do In
city. A writer in Sundays Angus a
Chronicle who signs himself "Stockhoid-
err" objects to the mill managers paying
per cent. more for labor in Augusta 0he
basis of the proposed compromise than
is paid in the mills of South Carolina He
takes the ground that the Augusta mills
cannot compete with other mills if they
pay higher wages; that in order for the
Augusta mills to have an equal showing
in the markets, they must pay no higher
wages than their competitors.
one view of The matter which the
Chronicles correspondent does not touch
upon is this: that the operatives must re
ceive enough for their labor to supply
themselves with the necessaries of life
according to the cost of them in the To-
calities in which they reside. Now. it is
a wen known fact that many articles Of
food cost more in cites than in small
towns In The latter. farm products and
fuel are bought al first hands, These pro-
ducts are not marketed with any appreci-
abe expense in handling, hence the. pro
ducers can afford to sell them more
cheaply than they can be purchased in
cities. There are no middlemen's profits
ia In nj a
classes have the advantage of cheap ltv-
ms. In the matter of clothing. too the
small community offers opportunities for
economy which cannot he had in a city.
The resident OF the Village is not expect
ed to dress as finely as the resident of a
city. This is in accordance with custom,
or fashion, as one may be pleased to call
it; still il is a fact which tells upon the
light pOeketbook. There are certain luxu-
RES, such as tea, sugar and coffee, which
cos about the same in city and country
but as a general proposition it can be said
the cost of living in the city is very much
greater than in the country. 1t is neces-
sary, therefore, that those who dwell in
cities should have incomes greater than
would be actually needed by dwellers in
towns and villages And factory wages
are not such as to enable the operatives
to live with any degree of comfort in
cities. Under most favorable circum-
stances factory wages leave but a small
margin between existence and Starvation;
and when that small margin is reduced it
latter condition.
The real difficulty at Augusta seems to
lie with the city of Augusta itself When
it was a small place with limited demand
for food supplies, and its streets were
filled with wagons from The country laden
with farm products for sale, Augusta was
a good and cheap place for poor people TO
live in Then factories flourished The
head men and managers of the factories
received comparatively small pay, and
lived well; and the operatives received
small pay and lived comfortably But
times have changed. Augusta is now a
city; and with its growth many if not
quite all of its advantages for cheap liv-
ing have disappeared. While doubtless the
head men of the factories do not feel any
considerable difference in the cost of liv-
ing, because their pay has been increased,
the operatives keeuly feel the difference,
because their wages have not been in
creased in proportion TO the increased
cost of their living.
The same rule is working itself out in
Augusta that has made many of the
Northern factories Improbable, namely,
the growing of the small mill town into
the city, with a corresponding increase in
taxes and the cost of living.
Wen appointed mills or factories in
small towns where the operatives can
live cheaply on the surplus products of
the surrounding farming country mean
success; but in cities where the cost Of
living increases steadily with the growth
of population, intelligence and wealth,
low priced labor is unobtainable. 1t can
not maintain itself upon factory wages
The trouble at Augusta. therefore, may
be attributed to conditions over which
neither the mill men nor the operatives
have any control-conditons which govern
the cost of living. Cotton mills in large
cities cannot be successful for the very
cogent reason that men and women can
not live in cities on the wages they pay