The suburban citizen., 1901-06-08
COTTON TRADE-SCHOOLS
IMPORTANCE SINCE THE DEVELOP.
MENT OF MILLS IN THE SOUTH.

The development Of the cotton mill
in the Southern States has been so
rapid in the last ten years that whole
sections of the land have been COM
pletely changed in an agricultural and
Industrial sense The most important
effect Of this change has been the en-
plOyment Of Southern people in mills
who formerly made an uncertain and
inadequate living in tilling the soil.
In the Carolinas a measure Of prosper
ity has been obtained in the cotton mill
districts never before realized, and the
growth Of the new industry has with
out doubt been great benefit to the
sections in which the mills have been
established. The Southern movement
of the cotton mills is no longer an ex-
pertinent, but a demonstrated success,
and the cotton manufacturing of this
part Of ou: country promises to de-
velop indefinitely.
One Of the problems that confronted,
and is now confronting, Southern mill
men Is that Of the relative supply of
skilled labor. But there is the begin
ming Of a new era now which promises
to produce better skilled labor in the
South, and to make up for a deficiency
that has long been apparent to close
observers. If the South is to be a great
cotton manufacturing centre, trade and
textile schools and colleges are almost
essential. The remarkable construc-
tlon Of mills and spindles in the South
in the last few years has more than
ever emphasized the Importance Of
this. With more splndles the demand
for skilled labor grows more urgent.
Under past conditions the development
of the cotton manufacturing industry
of the South would be seriously handi-
capped, and no one realizes this more
than the mill men and public educa-
tors.
One of the noteworthy features of
the SOuth's industrial progress is the
establishment of trade and industrial
schools, and their future promises as
much for the South as the cotton mills
which first created a demand for them.
The mills hardly provided the neces-
saiy training and education that were
needed for the skilled worker in the
textile world, and the Southern trade
schools were founded to make up for
this deficiency. The trade schools Of
New England and OF Germany had
demonstrated the value and necessity
of such institutions for textile manu-
e aAV .fv,r Il l,n Co Of
South has awakened to the responsi-
billties which have come in the wake
OF her cotton mills argues well for her
future industrial career. The training
of workmen for textile mills, and Of
engineers for operating the machinery,
is a work that is now being proftably
done in several industrial schools Of
the South, and the curriculums Of these
institutions are liberal enough to prove
Of value to the practical and theoreti'
cal workers In the fields.
There are practically only two we'll
equipped cotton trade schools in the
South to-day, but they are the begin
ming Of a group of institutions that
have been planned (and must eventu-
ally spring up all over the cotton bel0
for the technical training Of students
in spinning, weaving carding and de-
signing. The oldest and first Of these
cotton trade-schools is connected with
the Georgia School of Technology, at
Atlanta, and it Is so complete in all
departments that it presents to the stu
dents the very latest and most i'm
proved features OF mill construction,
Cnd gives a thorough course in all de-
partments of cotton manufacture and
textile spinning and designing. This
school was first opened in the season
of 1S9S-90, and it is called THE A.
French Textile School," because of
the endowment Of Aaron French, of
Pittsburg, who made good the defci-
ency of funds necessary to secure the
$4,000 appropriation of the State on
the condition that a like sum should
be raised by the friends of the insti-
tuition. The school is pretty thorough
ly equipped for the work it has in
view, and it will give to the South in
a few years a crop Of earnest, edu-
Gated, skilled textile experts that
should greatly broaden the cotton
manufacturing industry OF that sec
tion.
The other textile.school of the South
IS the Clemson College Textile School,
which opened nearly two years ago,
at Clemson, South CAROLINA, for the
purpose Of supplying that State with
more experts in textile manufacture
ing. This school aims to supply a
general training for students wishing
to engage in manufacturing wool
silk, and linen products. In the Geor-
gia school the aim is simply to train
experts for cotton weaving and de-
signing. The equipment Of the South |
Carolina institution is also complete
enough to give the students a thor
ough practical mill and laboratory ex-
perience. The carding and spinning |
departments are as thorough as could |
be desired, and the dyeing and weav.
ing departments have no superior. |
Here the latest methods are taught |
according to the most approved sys-
TENS, and the students are brought |
into daily contact with the best work |