Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1901-03-06
Betlermenl Of Labor.


the relations of employers and EN-.
ployees. Most Of the legislation
sought has been in connection with
the employment of children in cot
ton mills. AS the Manufacturers
Record has repeatedly said, all right
thinking persons will rejoice when
children below certain age will not
be found in the mills. At the same
time the conditions of industry in
the South are such as to make i'm
possible such condition without dis
astrous consequences to the very
class sought to be advantaged. 1t is
not question of mill owners desir-
ing to employ the children, but one
resting with their parents and in
volving the possible loss of the
means of livelihood of whole fami-
lies who are passing from penury to
comfort. However we'll intentioned
the agitators for State interference
may be, they make grievous mis-
take in attempting to engraft upon
the South legislation which has been
of slow growth in other sections
where conditions are quite different.
Their policy is not unlike that of
seeking to cure chills and fever with
a remedy which has been found eff
caoious in cases of tophoid fever.
The remedy for existing evils, the
evils recognized by the cotton mill
owners who are doing all within
their power to mitigate them, must
be applied without regard to what
has been attempted elsewhere. The
Southern mill population and their
needs must be studied, and care must
be had lest by fool-hardy philanthro-
ply greater evils may be born from
the efforts to remedy existing ones.
No better preparation for study
of the situation could be had than
an article published in this weeks
issue of the Manufacturers Record.
1t is written by Mr.. Edward II. San
born, General Manager of the Ma
tional Association Of Manufacturers,
who, at the request of the Manufac-
turers' Record, has studied the situa-
ton on the ground in its many phases,
and who is thoroughly qualified by
his knowledge Of conditions in the
cotton mill industry, but in the South
and in the North, to give fair,
sound review of the situation. His
deductions rs to the South are as
follows
"1. Factory employees are almost
exclusively native born, and chiefly
of what arc commonly known as the
mountain people.
"2. The conditions under which
they live in factory villages show a
very marked Improvement over the
surroundings of the homes from
which they came. A comparison be-
tween the North and the South in
the items Of wages, hours Of labor
and the employment of child labor
is apparently to the disadvantage of
the South, but the trucr basis for
such comparison, namely, the con.
dition of Southern mill employees
prior to their engagement in the
mills as contrasted with the condi-
tions which prevailed in New Eng
land at similar stage of the devel-
opment of the industry in that sec
ton, is highly creditable to the
South.
go. The relation of the employer
to the employee is more patcrnal in
the South than elsewhere, cvidenc-
ing a genuine desire to provide for
the real welfare of the mill help.
VI. Recent factory construction in
the South embodies every recognized
requirement for the comfort, conven-
fence and sanitary welfare of the EN-.
ployees.
"5. The whole influence of the
cotton mill in the South has been
beneficial in the population as a
whole. 1t is distinctly a marked
civilizing agency, as it has given
comfortable living and an elcvating
influence to thousands Of families
who never before knew anything
better than cabin in the back
woods"
These deductions correspond with
those Of other earnest students Of
the cotton mill industry. They
should be kept to the front in every
genuine and disintercsted movement
for the further bcttermcnt of the
condition not only of mill operatives,
but Of other labor in the South. -
Manufacturers Record.