The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1901-03-06

recently visited Pelzer the deposits i
this bank amounted to $l07 600. Thi
would mean an average of about 81
each for the 2S00 names on the pay
roll. AS it is very doubtful if l pc
cent. of these operatives ever sue
cecded IN laying by such n sum O
money prior to thcir employment il
the mills, this is one of the mosi strik
ing evidences Of the advancement ,ha
has come to this class of people throlgl
the establishment of cotton mills il
the South.
The moral and religious welfare O
the operatives is not forgotten, as thcl,
are three churches, Baptist, Methods
and Presbyterian, in the town. This
factory settlement is an eXcecdingl,
interesting study from many points O
view. The conditions which il pre
sents may be found elsewhere in the
South in varying degrees, but possibl,
more thought has been given to the
welfare of the operatives in Pclzel
than elsewhere, as Capt. Ellison A
Smyth, president os the Pclzer Manu-,
featuring Co.. has devoted great dea
Oh attention TO these things, and has
Always been an enthusiastic advocate
Oh the improvement of the conditions
Oh NE In factory towns. The influence
or his advanced views and his personal
devotion TO the interests of the people
who work in his mills are manifest ON
every hand
Inc study OF the conditions in Pei
Zel and the numerous other Southern
factory villages where the same prin-
cclples have been applied in varying
degree Will abundantly substantiate
the claim that the influence of the
southern cotton mil and life III the
factory villages have been in every
way beneficial to the laboring classes.
lhe employment of people who have
always lived apart by themselves in
remote country regions, and who never
before have met any of the conditions
OF village life, has brought many pecu-
mar and often serious problems with
which employers have had to deal, but
there seems to have been an honest
ana very earnest cndeavor to solve all
these problems, and to make factory
HE beneficial to the employees, not
alone from purely material stand
point, but also with regard to their
moral and intellectual welfare.
III Is not uncommon to find that the
corporation through its executive of
lccr maintains strict censorship and
promptly excludes from the town limits
any man or woman of questionable
morals who may be discovered The
summary action that is often taken i'm
such cases if quite surprising TO those
who are familiar only with factory con-
ditions in the larger and older centcrs
of the North.
1t is OF interest to note that the help
employed in the cotton mills of the
South is almost exclusively native-bom
American. 1t Is a rare thing to find
any foreigners in any of the mills, and
the few who are employed are mainly
stragglers who have wandered South
ward from Northern mill centcrs. In
tins respect the cotton n-manufacturinp
industry OF the South is in about the
same position as that occupied by the
industry in New England two genera
tons Or more ago, when the daughters
OF farmers and respectable town
families thought ii no dlscrcdit to seek
employment in lhc mills. Since those
'NJ %'S" IuSSCtl through
several changes. First came the
French Canadian help, which quickly
supplantcd the local labor and took
complete possession of most of the
mills. These, in turn, have been dis.
placed by great variety of nationali-
ties. In recent years there has been a
continuous exodus of the French
Canadians from the New ENGLAND
villages, returning to their homes across
the line, and in their places will now
be found great variety of European
natlonalilics, even including P0rtu.
guese, Greeks and Armenians. As
there is practically no European immi-
grafton into the South, and as the
supply OF native-born labor seems ade.
quate to last for an indefinite number
OF years, there seems little prospect of
any Invasion of the Southern mills by
foreign-born help.