The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-04-18

or the greatest openings TOT enectltS by the series of meetings.
 Rev. J. A. Rice. D. D.. pastor of the Court Street Methodist Church, where .hs sons ss9s Hssd hoSas Mason es as ssi ss friend. whom he has known for twen- ty years. having first met him h lsse in South Carolina, where both started The lever with which Dr. Watson told the members of the Mission Board they might expect to elevate the mill opera
 wes IS 70 pe d loyn1 m sne , ahsseS shs nSS S tries to assist in the work. The speak CT told of the conditions in one or two mills ine South Carolina which have fence of the mill managers themselves. Appropriations are annually made to maintain churches, club houses and and see that the results of such ansti- tutions contribute to the dividends in Trained workers Needed. The mill operators are always wait Ing and ready, according to pr. Watson. to receive trained men and women who are sent to the mill communities for mission work. They have never yet such work as improving. the sanitary, the social and the religious status of the operatives homes: There are gio- women to send into these places. com pared to ghettos of other climcs, the 1 best talent at their command.
 Dr. Watson last night based his ad- and experiences In South Carolina, there where many of the operatives may speak If the Governor and the se sad as tse are typical Americans, most of them. and all are white men. women and chil- dren. The negro labor was tried and | hax AAnr afu 1av, ,a6 a nc zl failure not only in South Carolina. but in all States. The wages arc not as low for the entire family by compari- are re on the net 6e 5Stafns Ss bass Gm of tho | family of five or six the average wage Is 7s 5-9 cents day.
 | Farming Versus Cotton Mills.
 The speaker made 8 computation of | the returns from farming and wages or the cotton mills. which showed the at traction to the latter from the former especially in the cases where the lease- hold system sd svar t,a ansre IS tbs mills. The families are rapidly mobil- | iEed in a limited space. Houses are built elbowing one another. Good san itation is an impossibility. Privacy, that essential of home life, is foreign | to the houses In which mill operatives live. They are pitiful collection of from the country where they are used to healthy atmosphere to crowded and lunsanitary areas. The changes in these | conditions work for the physical and
 Biazing the way for raising these l poor workmen and women out of the ruts of stifiing environment. few mill managers have proven that 1t Is a l the best means to help their employees. They have assisted In getting in the communities landscape gardeners who | try to teach the families of the opera tives how to cultivate their gardens and take pride fin their yards. Prizes are offered for the best and prettfest garden each year. Excellent results cording to Dr. Watson. and thct efforts are becoming stronger and more nu- merous every year.
 l Immortality in the Mills.
 l The speaker deplored the loose mor- als of the cotton mill operatives One of the saddest of these is the lack Of restraint on child marriages. The chill dren. ,worlfin gadJacent in the mills, | make believe they love each other and with or without the permission of thclr | parents. marry at ages of 13 and II years. Other. greater degradation than | this, the speaker declared. exists among the children, of which he did not care | nor needed to speak.
 Possibly the greatest single oppor- tunity to the women whom he address | ed. Dr. Watson pointed out as the teaching of the families judicious ex- penditure of the wages they earn. The operatives despie their ostracism from learn extravasance, and most of them spend their money freely. They buy food which is costly. but not cooked according to good hygienics. Continu- these lines should tend to improve the sanitary condition of the homes.
 The importance of going into this by Dr. Watson because we cannot fail
 to see and feel the exit of the old outh and the incoming of the new south: the r rapid = transition & In msteriai nate contributing to the South's awakening
 to the new era is the building of cotton mills. The history of progress in this
 summarized by Dr. Watson. The num-
 Der of spindles in the last ten years
 in the entire South has increased ten-
 fold.
 Opportunity for Church Work. On this account the necessity of the
 churches to implant Christianity of q
 practical kind in the material life of
 this country is increasing rapidly every
 year. In South Carolina there Is to.
 total white population of 557,000, and
 of this number 60,000 are white mill
 operatives. On basis of two and a
 women to the family. 1t is seen that i25,000 white people arc directly de-
 pendent upon the cotton mills for sup
 port It exhibits a ratio of about ten
 to one in the entire population of the
 State.
 pr. Watson closed his address with an appeal to the active members of the
 Society to begin institutional and edu-
 cationaI work among the mill people of
 the South.
 In the earlier part of his discourse he warned them against seeking too for Iejgn fields to the neglect of those un- der their noses He pictured the mill people problem as looming in propor. tions with each year. He assured them that after conversations with mill managers, he felt sure they could find no dificult tasks in getting sstarted on the good work. Already In some of the mill communities representatives Of Young Women's Christian Associations have done successful work. Likewise members of the Young Mems Christian Associations have accomplished some good.