The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-07-05

Pell CITY, july 4-tspeclal,1-ihe one
Hundred and twenty-ninth anniversary
of the birth of this nation was cele-
bratea here today by the good people of
ths community In a spirit of good fell
lowship, sportsmanship and patriotism.
The pell City of 1905 Is practically less
than three years of age, but the events
that have marked the last twelve hours
here demonstrate that the town is plenti-
full In pluck, patriotism and humanity.
In 1890 a lonely traveller, waking here
one morning to catch an early train for
Atlanta looked out of the window of
farm house where he had stopped over
night and saw three locomotives within
earshot steaming through the valley
This man was Mr.. Cogswell. To him
the country was beautiful, the air ex-
| hilerating and the native population
seemed to have in them the stuff that
great communities are made of. The
center Of three railway lines, it occurred
to him that the day could not be dis
tant when here in this valley would
spring up town that would grow with
the growth and develop with the de-
velopment of the state of Alabama. The
idea was translated into fact the mo-
ment 1t was conceived A few months
later the town was on paper and within
up and down the valley
All was well till the panic of 1893 when
Pell City went galley west like many
another new town in the south, and
values tumbed like a house built of
cards. For seven or eight years it re-
manned wreck. or at least in a MORT
bund condition.
Three years ago, however, the COM
munity was touched into life again.
| rising Phoenix-like from the ashes of
| financial disaster and taking once more
| a prominent place In the Developments
| progress and prosperity of the state. A
| man with a big brain and a big heart
| had fixed his attention on Pell city. He
| was South Carolinian with brains in
his head and touch of iron in his blood
the son of "a Connecticut Yankee who
| had come south before the war and
| fought four years with Lee in Vir-
! ginia. A sort of Puritan-C Cavalier, in
| herting the virtues of both north and
| south and the vices of neither, he recog-
nized that the great problem which in
peace confronted the people for whom
| his father had fought in war. how
| to adjust themselves to their changed
| industrial condition. In South Carolina
| he had been for fifteen years intimately
in touch with cotton mill men, and he
| made up his mind in 1902 that he would
build cotton mill at Pell City and run
| it himself. He went to Boston and got
| the money requisite for the enterprise
and before long the Pell City Manufac-
| turing company had erected a cotton
mill at Pell City whose two buildings
oayer respectively an area 25ox72O feet
| and 100x343 feet
| This mill is unexcelled by any other mill
| Of its kind in the union. 1t employees $50
operatives. Their wages are the highest
paid In the state of Alabama. Labor
! condition at Pell City are excellent--one
/ had almost said ideal The relations be-
happy as they possibly can be. Near the
! mill Is THE factory village"-a collection
of homes INTELLECTUALLY attractive and
sanitarily admirable. They were built
not merely to provide shelter" for the
| employees In the mill, but to furnish them
with homes in which families might rare
| their children In the love and fear OF
the Most High God. These houses vary in
size froo three to eight room, The
| streets and sidewalks in Factory VII
lagep are inviting. Pretty gardens, flow
| cred artistically, remind the passer by
| that the people who live in the houses
are hopeful, happy and contented. Every
house is supplied with electric lights and
| pure running water free of expense. Bath
rooms are abundant and all conveniences
| of the modern dwelling are to be found
| In the pretty cottages.
| In the winter coal Is IuFtlSIleu HI lllS
operatives at actual cost; in the summer
| Ice is. provided on the same basis. The
product of the mill-cotton goods useful
Nor garments-may be had at cost OF pro-
| dnction.
Resides these conveniences the employ
| ers have built a beautiful school house.
| with free tuition and free books, a hall
| for lectures and entertainments, pretty
| village park with pavilion for dancing, a
| bath house and one of the finest athletic
| fields with grand stand and Enclosure,
that is to be found in the south. They
| will soon erect library building.
4 The mill contains $4,000 spindes and 740
looms and produces $4,000 yards denims
a day The officers of the company are:
G. w Pratt, president; A. J, Draper,
! treasurer A. E. Ledyard secretary and
James r. Pearce, superintendent. Two
years ago these men, led by G. w. Pratt,
| formed Pell City, hamlet of dozen
scattered houses, Today 1t has popula-
ton of nearly 1000. In the cotton mill
alone there are $50 operatives.
The mill is the thing that has made the
town and G. w. Pratt Is the man who
has made the mill. He is literally "a
dynamo in breaches with the suavity
of a Chesterfield and the fortitude of a
Cromwell. He knows things. understands
the ways of this world and comprehends
the motives and purposes of the human
heart Among his $50 employees there is not
one who does not respect him or regard
MIN with feelings of affection. The oper-
atives work eleven hours a day-from
to with an hour off at noon for luncA.
and from 8 till noon on Saturdays. They
are paid l 4 rate for overtime. Children
under IL years of age are not permitted
to work in the mill Those from u to IA
are employed only as ..doffers'' and spend
half the day at play. All children from
Il to IA are required to leave the mill
and attend school four months in the
year The company will soon provide a
night school for all operative who may
wish to attend.
The social life of t4is community is I'M
precedented in this country. President
Pratt has unconsciorsly taken for his
MOTTO in his dealings with the opera
ti,es the words Of Burns:
Rank Is but the guinea's stamp;
A mans man for a. that"
He Is one of those men who find 1t
impossible to be servile to persons more
fortunate than themselves and equally
impossible to tread inconsiderately per-
sons less fortunate than themselves. The
upshot of it Is that his example Is felt
by all and that Pell City is democratic
in sympathy and aristoeratie IN taste.
That is high ideals are held up and snob-
bishness is tabooed,
The scene here today would have de-
lighted the strenuous one who lives IN
the White House. The day was strenuous
from daybreak till dusk. 1t was the
| Fourth of July-one of those holidays