The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-23
Lieut. -GOV of Mass, Explains Rapid Growth of Cotton
 Spinning in South
HINTS THAT CHILD LABOR
 LAW MUST BE ENFORCED
Wants Uniformity of Laws In Massa. chusetts and Alabama and the Entire South-Presents Inter
 esting Industrial Facts.

Boston. April 22.-In an address of well come today to the delegates to the an- nual meeting of the New England Cot ton Manufacturers association Lieuten- ant Governor Curtis Guild, Jr., review ed the general condition of cotton man. ufacturing in New England and made comparisons between the industry in that section and in the south. He declared that in spite of competition New Eng land held the seeptre of cotton manufac- turers in this country and called atten- ton to the fact. which he says indicates one of the grave causes of unrest in this particular industry. He quoted figures showing the increase in the number of active cotton spindles in the country from 1890 to 1900 and said it was idle to deny the fact that the rate of increase in the south was much swifter than in New England He gave further figures show ing that the south in comparison with New England pays five-elghths as many | operatives little over a third as much wages for operating about third as many splndles. and said; Not proximity to the cotton fields, not climate, but | utter absence of excitement and extreme moderation of taxation explain the growth l of the south. o
 Day Must Soon Come. 2
 By the substitution of fine goods for coarse goods in our factories, Massa- l chusetts has managed to put off the delay of settlement. even to show an increase, but ultimately the day of settlement must come and we must face and deal with conditions that have reduced the spindles In some of our northern states Massa- | chusetts with the shortest time limit, 1 and o1d-age limit of and state in the l union, has to face the competition of states that limit neither age nor time. The solution of the problem is not in admitting little children in the Massa- l chusetts mills, nor in lengthenng the hours of work in Massachusetts, but here and now to begin crusade that the de- mands of humanity enforced by law in Massa chusetts shall be enforced by law in all the states
 | Let us not drag Massachusetts down to the level of Alabama; let us lift Ala 1 bama to the level of Massachusetts; let us have uniformity of factory laws throughout the United States. It is idle 1 for Massachusetts to stand alone wise restrictions when Alabama and South 1 Carolina compete with the toll of infant fingers and the labor of men and wom- | en-"
 Number of Papers Read.
 After President Fish's address num- Der of papers dealing with the technical and economic side of the cotton manu- l featuring business were read. The first of these were by Henry c. Klttredge of Boston on "The Supply of Cotton for Fine Spinning" He said there was no immediate cause for alarm, that there would be a shortage in the supply of l long staple cotton for the current de- mands of manufacturers, but should the demand Increase as it had within the ] last decade or so the situation might be alarmingly changed and the difficulty of 1 securing a supply keenly realized.
 The consumption of cotton for fine ] spinning was confined almost wholly to that raised along the south Atlantic sea coast and In the valley of the Mississippi river of the United States, and in the valley of the Nile, Egypt. What Was grown elsewhere as on the islands of the Pacific and in South America was either too small in amount to be taken | account of. or was not suitable for fine spinning.
 To meet a possible deficiency in pro- duction of Sea Island or Egyptian cot | ton, the most promising region was
 
 river but how much this could be de- pended on was a mooted question. and if there or anywhere else the cultlva- ton had to be forced or carried on at an unusual expense, the cost ot the pro- duct would prevent or discourage It's growth. It was well known that excel- lent cotton could be raised on the bot tom lands of many of the rivers of our southern states, but how far it could be extended at cost that would induce its cultivation and be acceptable to the demands of manufacture was uncertain.
 A Commercial Problem.
 It was a commercial problem. he said. whether 1t paid to raise cotton exceeding 1 19s to 1A-inch staple with an average diameter of fibre exceeding one-fifteenth- hundredth to one-eighteenth-hundred of an inch. The time might come when it would. At the best no doubt, the supply of these extra and extra-fne grades would always be limited and as yet they | had not been produced anywhere other than on the islands of South Carolina. It possibly would be long time before much of these high grades would be want ed. The sea islands of South Carolina. are, and perhaps for ever, will be the nursery of the sea island or long staple cotton cultivation. Without an occasion& al renewal of seed from them the growth of long staple cotton elsewhere declined. whether 1t be in the interior of Georgia and Florida or in the valley of the Nile. Other papers were on Current Theories of Dyeing" by J. w. Gryves of Winston Salem, N. C.; on Gray Goods for White Lawn Work" by Daniel Moore Bates. Wilmington. Del; and Continued Devel- opment of the Northern Loom, by Gen. William F. Draper Hopedale.
 The report of the committeee on fire ta. .ax-