The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-13

But they disappeared in the store- room of the factory and when Bill came out some minutes later he emerged quite satisfied. The very next Sunday 1 when Bill rode over the hills to meet | ing, he wore a pair of all-wool pants which. if they did not At him, came quite as near fitting as anything could mold itself to his strange style Of arr | chitecture.
 You see," said Mr. Killebrew, i've | only make pants at our mill. The mill has a capacity of between 100 and 126 pairs day, when 1t Is running at its | full capacity.
 "All our wool Is gotten from South Georgia and South Alabama. In Ala bama we get wool from Elba, Geneva. | Dothan and as far west as Monroe | County. Wool right now is bringing | from 26 to 2S cents pound. This in- | cludes wool in thorough with all the bark, dirt and impurities that the sheep can manage to accumulate dur ing a year. There are not many sheep about here. not as many in fact, as there used to be. Much of the woods used in the old days for grazing has been turned into farms.
 '"rhe average sort of sheep, the sort we have in this country will produce about three pounds of wool each year. Out west they are raising imported sheep which are said to grow six and seven pounds of wood annually. Sheep are usually sheared in May. They are | frequently sheared twice a year, the second time in August. We have but little trouble in getting wool enough to run the mill. It is bought, as l have | said, for us by agents in the States of Alabama, Georgia and Florida Our l mill demands about 1000 pounds of | wool a week.
 Now as to the machinery of the mill. The mill was erected on It's present site in 1872. It was put up by my father | and myself, and since then it has been owned and controlled by us. It was I formerly operated by water power ex- | clusively, but since se many settlers and farmers have come in and cut down | the woods and forests. we can not de- pend entirely upon the branch to fur nish sufficient water. l have, there fore, had steam power put in the mill, and it is used during dry weather. At all other times, the power is furnished 1 by the big 1S-foot overshot wheel. The brick mill was put up in 1889. It rep | resents an investment of at leaast $25,- 900.
 Making woOlen Goods. 'How is the wool worked Into cloth? | l will tell you. The wool comes in here in raw state. full of impurities. It Is first thoroughly cleansed and secured | and the impurities are gotten out of it. To do this it is boiled and then rinsed. Having cleaned the wool from impuri- ties. 1t is placed in the dye pots and | dyed the color we need at that time. Next the wool is carded. Then it is run through the spinning and weaving machines to be turned out the finished | product. We have in the mill the finest sort of modern machinery.
 Av,Fvv 1n 10th
 wool jeans principally. but we found 1t advisable to put in machinery for cut ting out and making pants finished and ready for the market This work, the sewing and finishing of the output of the factory, is done by the women of the factory"
 Mir. Killebrew employs about 35 hands in his mill. Half of them are women. The workers In the mill come from the surrounding country. The parents of some of them were employed years ago in the mill.
 The best. the most cordial relations, exist between the unusual manufactur- CT and his help. The conditions might be described as a sort of democratic feudalism. in view of the paternal rela- tion the mill owner maintains with his employees, a relation that is character
 istic by confidence and esteem on both
 sides. The buying of the mill hands is
 done principally in the plain little store
 across the road from the mill. Here
 the mill owner waits in person upon his
 operatives and gives them valued ad-
 vice as to their purchases. He is paid
 in cash as the mill hands are paid. He
 has never had any sort of trouble with
 his labor.
 MT Killebrew finds a ready market
 for the output of his factory. The em-
 barrassment of the business Is that he
 can not fill the orders that come into
 the mill. He supplies his regular cus-
 toners, or he supplies them as nearly
 as he can. The other orders he hangs
 on a hook and figures out that he will
 get them and fill them some day. In
 the meanwhile. the bunch on the hook
 grows larger and larger. Sometimes
 one of them is pulled down looked over
 and the goods shipped out, but this
 does not happen often.
 Business of the NAH. The hook Is a rather interesting ob- ject. It contains the orders from the merchants this unusual manufacturer
 does not know. Sometimes the visitor
 to the mill is questioned about the
 merchants who want to buy the prod |, ucts of the mill for information as to
 their standing and antecedents. These
 orders are unsolicited even as the re-
 peated orders which come from his reg
 ular customers.
 If there is one thing that MT. Kllle-
 brew is devoted to more than to his business. it is the interest of educa-
 tion. We is recognized as a strong friends and ally of the common schools of the State. He is proud too, of tho fact that every child of his has been given thorough college course to
 graduation in some Southern college. MT. Killebrew belongs to a class of ' numerous Alabamians, men of integrity and respect in their communities. and who daily read both The Montgomery Advertiser and the Bible, and who are / admirers of both He has for the past r thirty years been a subscriber to The ! Advertiser and during all that time his business has prospered. The Gas Heater ls portable. ESH ean