The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1905-12-13
THE MILLlKEN SIDE.
MIR. Dial Reviews the Cotton Mill Con-

MIR. Dial Reviews the Cotton Mill Con.
troversy.
The ADVERTISER, at all times desir-
Gus of being absolutely fair on all ques-
tions of moment and of public concern,
today reproduces Mr.. N. b. Dial's let
ter below in full from The News and
Courier:
To the Editor of The News and Cou-
rier: There has been so much said in
the newspapers recently in regard to
the aurens Mills and the LLucas-Milli-
ken litigation, and 1 have been asked
so many times to explain the true in
wardness of the matter, and the atti-
tude of the home people in regard to
the controversy, until l now ask space
in your valued paper to give the true
history of this enterprise and this lit
igation as l understand it.
l will state in the beginning that I
have long hesitated to appear in the
press because / dislike publicity and
notoriety particularly of this kind
put oiNSS oiii pdl SiSop oSISliSlDiJ
friends of the present management of
the mill have seen proper to bring a
suit in the Court of Common Pleas for
Laurens County against me and others,
and since the newspapers have given
the charges contained in said suit pub
due myself and the persons who side
with Mr.. Milliken to give our reasons
for the position taken by us heretofore.
L will also state that what l have to
say is done of my own volition as a
citizen and taxpayer of South Carolina,
who desires to see fair treatment ac-
corded each and every person, whether
he be a resident, a nonresident, alien
or what not. | am not writing as at
torney for Mr.. Milliken, nor with a
view of having any influence whatever
upon the various suits which are now
pending, nor am | writing as a cham
pion or spokesman of Mr.. Milliken,
since he and his colleagues are amply
able to take care of and defend them
selves in the newspapers OF the Courts
without my aid. In fact l spoke to Mr..
Milliken shortly after the litigation
had commenced, and when there vas
sc much being said in the newspapers
of the State about the case, and when
he had been placed in so many false
lights by the correspondents of these
papers, suggesting that he make a pub
lie statement of his side of the contro-
1rorc,, and hoNn ~ ,>,Ll;,Lal liz, ~o~l,
was that he was not seeking notoriety
and that he had been sued, and his de.
fence would be made before the Courts,
and that eventually the public would
understand his entire actions in the
premises Shat he had not sought lit.
igation nor publicity, but the same hac
been forced upon him by the plaintiff
in the case.
HOW II MILLS WERE BUILT.
To go back a little. About 1895 the
town of Laurens was at a standstill-
u surrounding towns were building
mills, and making strides of progress
generally. Our houses were vacant,
no demands for our lands, and in gen
eral we were simply doing no good
About that time we were casting
around to try to get some n to build
a cotton mill, and we were willing to
make every effort our limited means
would allow to get into the line of adj
vancement and prosperity. About that
time Mr.. Lucas came down from Spar
tanburg, and stated that he and his
friends would raise SIS, 600 to build a
cotton mill, provided an equal amount
was raised locally. After various eff
forts the home people subscribed this
amount, or very nearly all of it, and
building operations were started. Soon
after this, upon Mr.. Lucas's return
from the North, where he had placed
orders for machinery, he called the To-
cal people together and stated the
Northern people were willing to double
their subscriptions, provided the same
was done at home. My recollection is
that no stockholders meeting was held,
but the directors consented to this, and
stated they thought this could be ac-
complished. But as a matter of fact,
SHS 'NSSSooty wac ilOI CitlIcly
raised, nor all of the subscriptions paid.
The management went on, however,
and about doubled the capacity of the
plant, and went largely in debt. 1t is
not relevant to this issue now as to
why these subscriptions were not all
paid, but the ~defaulting parties claim
they had good reasons for Withholding
them-that bad faith had been exer-
cised, etc. AS a matter of fact in my
opinion both sides were to blame at the
time. But it was necessary for this
mill to secure additional capital, since
it had unwisely followed the example
of a great many others in the State in
building perhaps double the capacity of
the amount of capital which had been
subscribed. Therefore it was necessary
to raise additional funds, hence the di-
rectors were called upon to sign notes
to the extent of at least $50, 900, and
yet this was not sufficient to put the
enterprise upon its feet, and the stock
holders were called upon to aid, and
several stockholders, some Of whom
were not directors, loaned our credit to
1t to the extent of $4,000. The mill
LII 49, 1s1I