The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-05-04

per spindle 10 build cotton mill Is $3.50
| The plan would be to build building for
| this number Of spindles, but at hrst put
In only 5000 or 10000 spindles and $50 or
300 loomG which would cost about $4,000.
The possibilities OF cotton mill In
| Houston can be determined from the
| freight figures which are paid by New
England manufacturers from the cotton
markets and back again on the finished
| product. We are surrounded with not only
the cotton field, but the markets also and
our freight rates on finished goods to these
markets Is not one-third that Of the rates
from the New England mills.
There ia little risk In the business. Cot
ton is bought In small quantities. The
cloth liz sold before the cotton is bought.
| The cloth Is paid for In cash at ten days
from delivery. The money invested In the
operation OF the mill turns Itself over and
over without requiring a long line Of
credit The management Of cotton mill
| Is one purely OF good business Judgment
and not necessarily expert cotton knowl-
edge. The superintendent and the fore
men OF the various departments control
their own workmen. The manager stays
In his office and judges results by the daily
reports IL Is simply a question of how
much cotton is bought. what is made from
this cotton. what II costs and what II sells
for Expert cotton mill overseers are
easily obtained. They are graduates of the
| New England mills Their daily reports
tell the story of what they are doing, even
to the initiated good business man
can manage cotton mill as we'll as he can
manage anything else,
With motive power as cheap here as
anywhere else, with labor that Is edual or
superior to that Of other Stat<sI with the
cotton right at our door 1aud/n6 freight to
pay and with an uneduaYeG market In
which to sell the nnysfed >5rbd1ct. there Is
nothing to prevepNlE coyoh mill in Hous-
ton being an und6nbted success. The Tex
tile Excelsior contains the following;
"The Trenton Cotton mills Gastonia, N.
c.. held their annual meeting on April A..
| The reports showed that the net profits
| had been 3S 2-3 per cent for the last year,
Of which 80 per cent was forthwith de-
clared as a dividend, and the balance
passed to reserve fund This same COM
| pany astoniahed the whole country Just
one year ago by its phenomenal cash dvi-
! dend OF 20 per cent out of a years earn
ings of 70 per cent. II caused Intense dis
cussion in manufacturing circles from
Maine to Texas as to how it was done, why
practically all the profits were turned over
to stockholders, etc. The question arises
as to the advIsabllity OF retaining a com
Portable deficiency fund to Offset the wear
and tear of property and machinery. This
| is the policy OF the majority OF our South
/ ern mills that have been successful, and q
great many of them have done even more
/ by paying only a moderate regular divi-
| dend Of say s or 10 per cent and creating
In addition to the deficiency fund u surplus
| fund, which. when sufficiently large, has
been used In dozens of cases In our South
ern States to build large additions, often
doubling their capacity without calling on
| their stockholders for a cent. This Is in
tense conservatism. It has chiefly benz
Gifted the large holders of stock in fac
tories and those already well-to-do. and Is
a satisfactory business policy, when not
used to the detriment of minority stock
holders.
I'VE can commend, however, In all cases
the provision for n safe deficiency and
emergency fund That this is q good bust
ness principle none can properly deny
THAT other mills in the South have
made as large profits as the Trenton mills
we all know, and could enumerate them.
We're It our policy to do so, aud we can
safely state that considerably larger prof
its than SS "a per cent arc made by many
CT our mills year after year. Though this
does not disguise the fact that some have
made almost none Mt all, and few even
have lost heavily, the stock OF one new
South Carolina mill today being offered
fer % cents on the dollar The difference
is all in management"