The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1902-07-16
I'm THE PIEDMONT SECTION.
Are Cotton Mills in a Com.
munity Of Real Benefit to
Farmers?

o Are Cotton Mills in Com
munity OF Real Benefit T.
f Farmers?
Mr.. Il. Larry CAN'T, of Inman,
Q c., writes as follows on this interest
f ing subject to the Atlanta Journal:
! have received several letters from
my old friends in Georgia asking me /
. the building of cotton mill In com
munity was really beneficial to neigh
boring farmers. L must reply TO thi
question with two directly opposing
answers "Yes," No."
Here are the benefits that land own
ers and All agricultural class derive
from the establishment of cotton
factory in their midst: The prices OF
surrounding land, for an area Of some
three or four miles, is considerably in
creased, its value being certainly
doubled, and in some instance thrib.
bled and quadrupled. This is attri-
butable to the fact that mill popula-
tion are non-producers of agricultural
products and the farmer finds ready
market for not only every stick of wood
he cuts, but all manner of vegetables
and surplus crops, much of which
would otherwise go to waste. Again,
those mills furnish remunerative en-
plOyment to the families of many far
mers. know In Spartanburg County
of number of land owners who be-
came involved in debt and being un-
able to pay out with their cotton money
Il nH fnr kI,n,,
family to cotton mill and were thus
able to save enough money to lift the
mortgages.
And just here let me state that " hile
in some States and sections cotton mill
people are looked down upon," it is
not 80 in this Piedmont section of
South Carolina. Many highly respect
ed and prominent families work in cot.
ton mills, and they hold their heads as
high as any one. Taken as class,
the cotton mill operatives of this sec
Lion in department, dress, morality
and general bearing and character will
rank with the best agricultural or viii
lage communities.
an agricultural community has also its
drawbacks to land owner, but these
do not overbalancc their benefits. In
The first place, cotton mill naturally
creates scarcity of labor on the farm
and tends to advance the wages of field
hands.
Again, laborers within hearing of IA
factory whistle during the long sum-
mer days, insist on regulating their
work hours by the mill operatives,
| which Is q serious loss to farmers at
the busiest season of the year. 1t is
| also mistake about these mills pay
ing farmers better price for their
cotton. On the other hand, / notice
that the markets of Athens, Eiberton
and other interior Georgia towns are
several points higher than our mills
pay for cotton delivered at their ware
| houses.
But all things considered, il is un-
deniably beneficial to any agricultural
community to have a cotton mill estab-
llshed IN its midst. / know of more
than one farmer in this county, living
near mill, who, on Christmas, make
il rule to invest every spare dollar
they save from the sale of cotton, and
start the new year with empty purses.
They then sell, during the year enough
wood, vegetables, and other products
from their farms to pay all expense for
making the next crop.
Spartanburg is one Of the most pro-
gresslye counties in the South. Our
farmers produce about SO 900 bales of
cotton year and our local mills con-
sumo more than three times that num-
Der. We have now in this county about
80 cotton mills, and new ones are being
constantly built. presume that four
fifths or more of the capital invested
comes from the North. With the ex-
ceptiOn of one or two small factories,
every mill built in our county has
proven success, and profitable in.
vestment. The result is that when
new enterprise is projected, there is
no trouble to raise all the outside
money necessary to start it up.
Without intending any reflection
upon my agricultural friends in Geor-
gla, must assert that, as a general
thing, the farmers of this and other
upper counties in South Carolina are
somewhat leading them in progress
and enterprise. This is attributable
to the fact that the land. holdings in
Georgia are generally too large, and
your people must depend mainly on
the negro for labor. In Spartanburg
County can drive you for miles and
miles over certain roads and where
you find one man owning over one
hundred acres will show you three or
four whose land holdings range from
40 TO 80 acres.
In comparison with middle Georgia,
there are very few negroes in this
county north of the Southern railway.
Those small farms are owned and
worked exclusively by white people,
and il would surprise Georgian 10
see how nicely man supports his
family from forty or fifty acre farm.
IL is rare thing to see field thrown
out, and washes and gullies are disap.
pearing every year. Land is growing
too valuable to let IL go to waste, and
In any desirable community farm,
with even the crudest improvements
readily sells for from $l5 to $50 per
acre. If there is an acre of land
around Inman that can. be bought. as
low rs ten dollars, do notknow where
1t is. The land here too is naturally
thin, similar to the soil In Gwinnett
Hall and other Piedmont Georgia coun
ties.
II And another noticeable fact is tha
land owners here are generally clear