The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1905-05-31
mILLIKsN's FIGHT ON LUCAS.
Comments on Both Sides by Carolina
Press.

The nRnJ IOI III ~
rens Mill is the outcome OF business o't-
ferences between Mr.. Lucas, the presi-
deni and Mr.. Milliken. a s~tockholder
and the selling agent, so 1T is CLAIMED,
Inv the friends of Mr.. Lucas, 1t peing
alleged that Mr.. Lucas sought to save
tbe stockholders money by having the
output of the mill sold at less than a
ner cent commission, as charged by Mr..
Milliken. On the other hand, the
friends of Mr.. Milliken claim that the
differences between Mr.. Milliken and
Mr.. Lucas are altogether personal for
it has been reported that Mr. Lucas ad-
dressed unpleasant remarks to Mr..
Milliken. -Sp~artanburg Journal.
There are always two sides to every
question" said a well known Spartan
burg business man yesterday, land
this Laurens Cotton Mill situation is no
exception to the rule. For the past
few days the papers have been filled
with one side only, that of Mr.. Lucas
and his supporters. Mr.. Milliken, out
side of IA brief interview sent out from
New York has had nothing to say, and
in my opinion, it is unfair, to say the
least of it, to condemn Mr.. Milliken
without having any further facts to 90
upon than those that have already been
presented. The public is prone to in
dulge in snap judgment. In this case
it would be well to suspend Judgment
until all of the facts are brought out.
For instance, Mr.. Lucas and his SUP
porters made much of the fact that the
Southern mills are paying 4 per cent
commission to their selling agent in
New York, while the New England
mills do not pay so much. Well, this
may be true, but there are certain con-
ditions obtaining in the world of trade
which are more favorable to the New
England than to the Southern mills,
and these conditions cannot be changed
in a day. The time will no doubt come
when these changes will come about.
but at present they exist, and the div
idends which our mills are paying show
that they are not an oppressive hard
ship. -Spartanburg Herald.
Mr.. Lucas may lose his present posi-.
ton as president of the Laurens Cotton
Mill, but the principle he has estab-
lished and his determination to protect
the interest of the smaller stockholders
will prove of the utmost Importance and
serve to impress upon those who have
their money invested in cotton mills
the necessity of having a man at the
helm who will protect the weak against
the s~trong-the interests of home in
vestors against the greed and avarice
of New England Shylocks. -Laurens-
vile Herald.
The man of the hour in South Caro-
lima is MIR. w. e. Lucas, President of
the Laurens Cotton Mills, who is wag-
ing a stubborn fight to determine
whether the cotton mills belong to the
stock holders in South Carolina OF to
their selling agents in New York.
While it still remains to be determined
by the courts, whether he will win out
in his fight with the Millikens, yet he
has started the ball for a movement to
secure the independence of the stock
holders of Southern cotton mills from
their selling agents. The winning of
this fight will mean no little in the in
dustrial development of this whole sec
ton. The South must make use of
every opportunity to assert it's non
dependence upon the North in financial
The plucky, determined and, for the
time, successful fight made by Presi-
dent Lucas of the Laurens Cotton Mills,
while teaching the greedy capitalist of
the North a wholesome lesson, will
prove of eve greater value by reason
of the moral to be found therein for
mill men and others all over the South.
-Summerville News.
AS between Lucas, a South Caro-
l%inian, who has in a few years put one
mill at the top of milling enterprises
and has two more on the road to sue
cess, and Milliken, a grasping selling
agent, who cares for the prosperity of
our mills only so far as they pour COM
missions into his tills in New York, we
don't think that the great majority of
Carolinians will take long to decide. 1t
now appears that Milliken hasn't even
the claim of having helped the mill in
it's infancy. He bought 300 shares only
after the mill had paid it's first divi-
dend. Even though he had nursed the
enterprise in its infancy, this gave him
no right to throttle it in it's adoles-
cence. We wish continued success to
Mr.. Lucas in his fight against pluto
cratic arrogance to save money for his
stockholders Sumter News
Cotton mills sell their goods, or at
least most of them through commission
houses. 1t appears that President Luz
cas- of the Laurens and other cotton
mills committed the heinous offence of
selling the products of the mills over
which he presided to a better advan-
tage than through the commission
houses. Whereupon Mr.. Milliken, of
New York, a commission house man,