The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-09-30
TRUST IS AFTER
SOUTHERN MILLS
Has Been Sounding the Mill
Men Here.
1T is VERY BENEVOLENT
MERELY WANTS TO HELP THE
SOUTH ALONG, YOU KNOW.
SHY ABOUT MAKING SQUARE OFFERS
Though il is Reputed to Have all Sorts Of
Money. Yarn and Print Cloth Mills
What the Trust Wants Most
Particularly.


And now trust is after Southern
cotton mills.
have been approached in the matter, or
rather they have been sounded, but no
definite proposition has been made and,
it was stated yesterday, no options have
been given on any of the local mills. A
gentleman who keeps abreast of cotton
mill movements said that he felt sure
have received 'feelers" from one or the
other of the syndicates that are in the
project.
The answers of the cotton mill Off
Gals here to the proposition of the syn
dictate were that the mills are owned
by stock companies and that any propo-
sition will have to be submitted to the
stockholders for action. The last heard
from the syndicate was the letters of a
month or more ago. The Caraleigh mill
company was approached by Branch 4
Co., who are said to be backed by ample
millions; the Raleigh yarn mills We're
approached by Violet Atwood & Go.
All are. of course, members OF the same
syndicate.
Il think the company is after the
yarn mills and print cloth mills of the
South especially" said mill man yes
terday. while / have no doubt that
all the mills in this State have been
approached just as we have | think the
syndicate is after the big mills OF
South Carolina just now. OF course
it will come down to straight PROPOSE
tons in this State by and by if it sees
that enough options can be had to JUS
tify the attempt to buy up Southern
mills
But this is not to be trust, is it?''
was asked.
"Oh, no; it is not trust to start
out with Of course. You need not
sell il you don't want to You know;
but by and by it will be choice be
tween sell ont and freeze out if the
concern can get hold of the bulk of the
mills
Another mill man who does not live
here said yesterday that il the trust got
the mills OF this State 1t would have
to pay at least 20 per cent more than
they were worth.
IF the trust wants to pay me 20
per cent more for my mill than it is
WORTH he continued, 1T can have the
mill and welcome / will rake what it
pays me and build another and so be
the gamer by the transaction.
In general however the mill owners
do not seem to look upon the proposition
with very great favor. Nearly all the
mills are doing we'll as 1t Is, which in
deed is the reason why the trust wants
them, and the owners understand that
il the mills now in being are bought
up it will not be so funny to start up
and run an independent mill. IL the
scheme did not mean the throttling OF
the cotton mill industry of the South
the trust would, Of course, build mills
instead of buying them at more than
they are worth. The trust is not on
a jaunt for it's health.
The plan of the trust is not to form
combination between present mill
owners, merging them all in one concern
and issuing stock of this concern in
payment for the mills. 1t proposes to
buy the stock and pay cash for it. Hit
or miss in the attempt to get all the
mills the trust can not go very far
wrong because the mills are paying
handsomely and are not engaged in
throat-cutting as is the case in so many
of the other lines of industry where
combinations are formed.
BY way of patriotic inducement the
syndicate sets forth what the 100000
600 or so of capital to be sent South
for the purchase of the mills will en-
able the section to do. 1t Is to laugh.
Here is a truly benevolent trust-gen-
timely Rockefellerian. This pious trust
sees that the South holds the future of
cotton milling, not only Of the United
States but of the world, in its hands.
That's a good thing. Trusts know good
things and like them. AS FOR the South
If this concern gets hold of it's cot
ton mills it means that it's industrial
progress will take halt Tor twenty
years.
Assistant Commissioner of Labor Stat
tistics Faison said yesterday that the
reports to his bureau show that the total
number of spindles I'm the State will APP
proximate 100000. This lis an increasa
Of 33 1-3 per cent since 1896. The re-
ports from all THE cotton mills have mol
been received and letters are now being
sent out to those that are behind with
their reports
A remarkable feature of the reports IS
the showing that the number of child
rem working in cotton mills has fallen
off 30 per cent since 1896 whereas the
number of men so employed has increas
ed 100 per cent and the number of wo-
men 30 per cent. The figures for the
two years are as follows:
Men. Women. Children.
1896 -. 6.S22 10,567 6,046
1899 -. .13,915 1887 $40
This great reduction is largely due to
the humane action Of mill owners who
have excluded children who are too
young from the mills.
THE estimated capitalization of the
mills of the State is, Mr. F'aison sad.
$40, 702, 400. The number of separate
mills in the State is about 200.