The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-04-23
Curtis Guild, Jr., on the
 Textile Industry.
Declares That the Increase in Spin dies in the South Results from
 Cheap Labor and Low Taxa
 tion, Not from Climate or Proximity to Crop.

Boston. April 22-In an address of wel- come today to the delegates of the an- nuaI meeting of the New England Cot ton Manufacturers Association, Lieuten- ant Governor Curtis Guild, Jr., reviewed the general condition of cotton manufac- turing in New England and made com parisons between the industry in that section and in the South.
 He declared that in spite of competition, New England held the sceptre of cotton manufactures in this country was called attention to the facts which, he said. in~ dicates one grave cause of unrest m this particular industry. He quoted ngures showing the increases in the number ot 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 figures showing that the South in comparison with New Eng land pays five-eighths as many opera tives a little over a third as much wages for operating about a third as many spindles, and said:
 Not proximity to the cotton fields, not climate. but cheap labor, long hours. to- gether with utter absence of excitement. of extreme moderation of taxation, ex- plain the growth of the South.
 oy lut OA AthO BOOuC AVi coarse goods in our factories, Massachu- setts 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 sindles in some of our Northern States. Massa- chusetts, with the shortest time limit and the oldest age limit of any State in the Union, has to face the competition of States that limit neither age nor time. The solution of the problem is not in ad- mitting little children in the Massachu- setts mills, nor in lengthening the hours of Ms ssachusetts, but here and now to begin a crusade that the demands of hu- manity, enforced by law in Massachu. setts, shall be enforced by law in all the | States.
 Let us not drag Massachusetts down | to the level of Alabama; let us lift Ala bama to the level of MassAehtisetts. fet us have uniformity of factory laws throughout the United States. It is idle for Massachusetts to stand alone in wise restrictions when Alabama and South Carolina compete with the toll of infant fingers against the labor of men and wo- men," dote After President Fishs address. nllrn. ber of papers dealing with the technical | and economic side of the cotton manu. featuring business were read. The first of this were by Henry G. Kittredge oI | Boston on The Supply of Cotton fol Fine Spinning" He said there was nC immediate cause for alarm, that there would be shortage in the supply of Ions staple cotton for the current demands ol manufacturers, but should the demand increase as it had within the last decade or so the situation might be alarming1S changed. and the difficulty of securing 3 supply keenly realized
 The consumption of cotton for fine spin. ming was confined almost wholly to that raised along the South Atlantic seacoast