The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1901-08-14
Col. OrrS Views on Relations of Employ
ers and Employees.

ed as advocating every advantage
for the mental and moral training Of
the operatives which schools and
churches can afford, and at the same
time, opposing interference by legis-
lation in the relations Of employers
and employees. He suggested that
those in control Of the mills should
determine to eliminate as best they
may young children from work in the
mills. but he contcndcd for voluntary
action in this direction, instead Of
compulsory, under the dictation of
dcmagogy, aimed at one institution
alone. lie said
] lavc no expectation Of driving
4ld Eng!an.! or Ne" !:ag!aad on. &C
the business, for they have skill, ex
pcricncc, brains and money, and their
prosperity might almost say their
existence, depends upon this branch
Of industry, and they will continue to
make both goods and money. But
do insist that We shall be allowed to
work out our own destiny in our own
way, without the Interference Of dem
agogucs, would be philanthropists and
scntimcntalists
Referring to the proposition which
sleeps in Congress for an amendment
to the Constitution regulating hours
Of labor, he said:
People engaged on farms, saw-mills,
gins, railroads, stores and in all other
vocations are permitted to work as
long or short hours as they wish; why
should we be singled out for regula-
tion and legislative control? The
law can prescribe the hours, but not
the price; both should be regulated by
contract and that all-controlling law
of supply and demand.
Massachusetts has fifty-cight hours,
her neighbors sixty and other States
aixty-six. In the unfortunate condi-
tion of the fox whose tail was cut off
IN the trap, she is trying, by an
amendment to tho United States Con-
stitution, giving Congress the right to
regulate labor, 20 cut the balance Of
our tails off, since, like the other fox,
she has failed to impress upon us and
our legislatures how much more beau
tiful we would be if our tails were
gone. That reminds me of the negro
saying: "When fox turns preacher,
the goose better not 60 to night meet
ing"
Should the resolution get Che neces-
sary vote in both branches of Congress
it will have to receive the endorse
ment Of three-fourths of the State
legislatures, and l shall be very much
deceived and disappointed if at least
one-third the States have not sense
enough to save their brushes.
Several Of my friends in New Eng
land have told me that one Of the
principal reasons which induced them
and their friends to invest money in
the cotton mills in the South instead
of at home was the fact that our
States were entirely free from labor
laws, and that they felt that the off,
GERS selected by the stockholders
would run the mills without the him
drance Of walking delegates" or the
interference of the legislators. Let
them not be disappointed il us, for
they are helping us build up out waste
places, and when the fruition of our
hopes and aspirations shall have been
accomplished We will gladly share
with them our prosperity.
In connection with this subject
should be considered letter to the
Raleigh Post from Mr.. John p. Leach,
DR., oflllendcrson, N. G. He attend
ed for two years the Lowell Textile
School and has spent some time in the
cotton mills Of Massachusetts, and
North Carolina, and he traces the
comparative absence of labor troubles
among Southern mill operatives to the
fact that they are of the same stock
as the employers, understanding one
another better, and have more cordial
relations than those in Northern
mills, where many nations arc repre-
sentcd among the workers. He does
not drcry organization of operatives in
each mill to provide for the settle.
ment on friendly basis of disputes,
but he doubts that mill employees are
ever benefited by strike, however
free they may be to quit work as they
please. He said:
The mills of the North are feeling
the strong competition of the new and
well-equipped Southern mills, and it
is but natural that they should stand
side hu side with tho mill o.rna. a.. 4