The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1905-09-29

the mills were built the adjoining
lands have been enhanced and COM
mand good prices.
AS to the cotton mill manage
ment we copy the following editor
ial from the News and Courier of
the 23rd inst, all of which We fully
endorse:
QUESTIONS As TO COTTON MILL MAN
AGEMENT.
The question is sometimes asked,
Why is it, in view of the splendid
prosperity the textile industry In
the South has enjoyed upon the
whole during the last twenty years,
that SO many mills are not now
prosperous, as is indicated by their
shares being quoted at figures below
par value?
A number of reasons might he
given, but perhaps the best and
chief is that the industry is yet in
it's youth. 1t should be remember
cd that the mills of the South have
been built and managed, as rule,
not by spinncrs, but by lawyers,
doctors, bankers and other men
from every calling who have learned
the manufacturing business after
their entrance into it. That in the
establishment of the industry nu-
mcrous mistakes should occur, to-
gether with individual failures, was
to be expected, and the marvel is
that these have been comparably
few.
Numbers of men to whom the
manufacture of cloth was wholly
unknown have demonstrated re-
| markablc facility in learnig it, and
though the community of master
spinncrs in this part of the country
is still only about quarter of a
century old, it has contributed to
the business numbers of men who
rank with the most expert in Amer
lea and Europe. If the men who
have been attracted to cotton man
ufacturing had not as rule possess
cd uncommon clevcrness and energy
it is likely that the beginnings of
the industry in the South would
have been attended with a much
larger number of failures than has
been the actual case.
However, the period has arrived
when those who control the industry
should halt and examine, so that if
there be any radical defects in the
conduct of the mills generally, they
may be corrected. For example,
we have heard it suggested fire.
quently of late that the combination
in e5 qps sa ai tbeo of qcfa IF B Rrfs j
advisable. 1t is held that fiscal and
administrative functions have nc
necessary connection, and that
there is danger of clothing one man
with so much power that the inter
csts of the shareholders are not
properly safcguarded. In disburs-
ing the funds of a corporation, the
argument is not necessarily confined
to cotton mills, it is said that the
treasurer and president should be
two men, and, the signature of both
being required for the expenditure
of company funds, they would be
checks upon each other. Undoubt-
edly the power of a mill president
and treasurer is extraordinary in
South Carolina. In Massachusetts
we are informed, not only are these
offices not combined, but no large
pccuniary transactions are permitted
by the corporation unless with the
express consent in writing i'm the
form of resolution of the directory
The habit of one mill president
becoming the head of a number OF
manufacturing companies is another
thing sometimes criticised. A third
policy that has been unfavorably
commented upon is the under capi-
talization of the new mills, that is
to say, the building of half million
dollar plant upon a quarter of a
| million dollar capital, the remain
/ der being borrowed money.
Much is to be said in favor of all
these policies as we'll as against
i them. Perhaps there are no inflex-
iblc principles that apply. Each
case is to be judged and ordered by
its own environment and upon its
, own merits. We only go 50 far
now as to say that the industry has
reached that stage of development
to permit careful and comprehen-
/ sivc study upon the broadest lines
OF all that enters into it's conduct.
Twenty-Five years hence the mills in
the South will be managed by men