The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1905-05-31
Passion or Business.

that gentleman and MIR. W..
E. Lucas were altogether personal"
MI. Milliken said the same thing in
effect in an interview in the Charleston
News and Courier.
Therefore, inevitably it follows that
Mr.. Milliken's proposition is to GUST Mr..
Lucas from Laurens Mills on account of
personal disagreement and not on ac-
count of any disagreement as to the
management of the mill. That is the
attitude of Mr.. Milliken as declared by
himself.
There is in this nothing illegal but
there is much that is dangerous.
If mill stocks are to be bought and
sold for the punishment of enemies,
then they are a worthless investment.
If such a policyis persisted in generally
by capitalists decentralization of the
industry will follow. There is no con-
fidence to be placed in industries whose
managers have daggers at each others
Threats. Everybody knows dissen-
sion is the shortest road to ruin.
Already in this Laurens Mill trouble,
serious dissatisfaction of the help has
been manifested. Had Mr.. Lucas been
kicked out, it is said that the operatives
would have resented the injustice to him
by quitting work. If a strike had oc-
Cured in Laurens Mills he would have
been hurt more by it than any other
single man for the reason that in pro-
portion to his means he is perhaps the
In ronSt cfnnE-hn1lnr p,t LN o@,,1l ,NS
have stopped it.
1t seems that outside stockholders
unfamiliar with local conditions would
be careful about taking so radical a
step as buying a mill presidents job
from under him, unless they are able to
justify it before the public. One has a
legal right to buy the control of a mill
and dictate its policy, but it is a fact
that the exercise of a legal right may
sometimes cause confusion and anarchy.
Capital is proverbially timid. But
capital may be indiscreet. The South
Carolina mills have been singularly
free from the dangers of labor agita-
ton. 1t would be strange if an agita-
ton should be caused by capitalists
which would upset the peace of the tex
tile industry in the South. But recent
events prove that might not be impos-
sible.
Let us hope that the mill difficulties
here in Laurens may be settled without
the further indulgence of passion.
We are sure that no one in this COM
munity is the personal enemy of Mr.. S..
M. Milliken. He would be welcomed
here to-day as he has always been well
coined. Nevertheless, the people of
Laurens, city and county, will not con-
sent for the Laurens Cotton Mills to be
used as a weapon to punish Mr.. Milf
ken's fancied enemies. The people of
South Carolina are with the people of
Laurens in this. Of course if Mr.. Mil
liken will sell his stock or buy all the
other stock, that would relieve the stu
alton. AS long as one single minority
stakeholder, with one single share, in
terested in the conduct of the mill on
the most economical basis, the people of
South Carolina will sustain him in the
fight for two per cent commissions
About Mr.. Ogden.
The News and Courier prints the fol-
lowing as coming from a notable
author and writer of New York"
eff you had heard Mr.. Ogden intro
duce a negro to a Northern audience or
seen him put his arms about this negro
and walk through his strore hugging
him before his hundreds of clerks, YOU
might have said something even more
interesting about his fitness to be a
teacher of the South. The South has a
mission to teach the North and the
world on the negro question. Mr.. Og-
den is a negro worshipper pure and
simple. His interest in the poor white
man is merely a means to an end. |
am not quite ready for an attack on
this attempt to pauperize the educa-
est of negro equality, but | intend to
do it before long. Ogden's introduc-
ton of BookerT. Washington in Cooper
Union last year was the most loathsome
and disgusting worship of a negro /
ever witnessed on this earth. Every
tim this negro comes to New York
Ogden puts his arms around him
and leads him through his store, exhib-
ting his worship to the five hundred
C'iS VI bii' viz idSS "IIoI liz Gil
ploys. It's enough to make a dog sick
when / think of such a man daring to
teach the South, and see how many
gudgeous cape and bite at ,he go d
bait"
This is strong talk. In the North ere
many men who are not opposed to So
cial companionship with negroes and
who are no yet wicked men. At the
same time, il is unfortunate that a man
who is at the head of ar educational
movement in the South should be a
person of such feeling and sympathy as
is described above. If the description
be accurate, "a negro worshipper pure
and simple" Mr.. Ogden can be only an
obstacle to the Conference for Educa-
ton; though il is also true that the lat
ter is not dependent for vitality on Mr..
Ogden or any individual. 1t would be
well to know Mr.. Ogden's private views
about social equality with the negroes.
There should be a plain understanding.
When The News and Courier speaks
of a notable author and writer" it
must mean a man of position-it must
mean what it says. Az the same time.