The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-16
COTTON MILL INDUSTRY
 OF ALABAMA NEEDS LABOR
This State Ranks Fourth Among s6uth- ern states In Manufacture Of Staple
 Bat Buslnen. Is Languishing Because Of Lack of Persons To Do The Work.
BY H. H. STEWART. JR.

How does Alabama rank as a cotton manufacturing State? This question is frequently asked The average citi- zen knows that Alabama Is great as a producer of coal, iron, cotton, lum- her. cement. Of the wonder of her agrt- culture in general. However, outside of the comparatively few interested, little is said of Alabama as a producer of cotton cloths.
 Taking into consideration the facfli- ties at hand. this State has not as vet attained the position to which she is entitled as a manufacturer of cot ion goods That she is destined to att tain her proper rank Is certain. How soon. depends on several conditions. We are singularly endowed in the way of location. We have climate. nearness fo the coal field, waterways and abun- dance of cotton growing in our front ward. planted, picked and ginned right at the doors of the factory. Competi- tive freight rates are ours. and or sus. Then what are the unfavorable con dftions, or rather the unfavorable con dition. for the difficulty is practically covered by one point, viz; scarcity of labor.
 The surplus of population which was prnnounced7 up to 1900. has been changed and now in place of a surplus we have a shortage. This shortage IS not caused by decrease in popula- tton. but by an unprecedented growth of industries. The same conditions prevail largely over the South.
 While here and there in the South a mill is being enlarged, and few constructed. Alabama has reached a point where there can be no increase of consequence in cotton mill building. until we have solved the problem or supplying adequate labor.
 A faAf
 The cotton mills of Alabama last year consumed 23s,ss5 bales of cotton. which was about 17.25 per cent of the crop she produced. This consumption would have been 50,OO0 bales more ex~ cent for the lack of labor to spin It. In other words of the 767,276 cotton spindles in Alabama, at least 20 per cent stood idle for the want of labor to operate them.
 Alabama is not the only Southern State suffering from this Scarcity. From Virginia to the gulf and south west the call for labor is the same. Nor is it confined to one line of in dustry.
 Texas is calling loud, Louisiana wants sixty thousand, Alabama needs no less than sixty thousand. The ne- eroes are leaving the farm for the large cities, frequently outside of the South. High priced cotton has at fracted cotton mill families back to the farms Still there is not sufficient labor to cultivate the cotton the lands will grow.
 On the other hand, the mills have increased their scale of wages, but this has failed to induce sufhcient number of workers to the mills.
 This shortage of labor, and it alone, is responsible for the suspension of cotton mill building in Alabama. The suspension is to last only until ade- duate steps are taken to remedy the trouble. What course is to be pursued must be answered by the brains, energy and willingness of the citizens of this State.
 Alabama's rank as a textile State, as conopared with other Southern States. is fourth. South Carolina leads with GOO spindles, North Carolina has 2. 465, ,000, Georgia 1,7T0,697, Alabama has 767,276. while in the other South ern States combined there are 1,1s7,Ol4' Ynaking. a total of Southern spindles amounting to 9,470,647, and which for the twelve months ending August 31, consumed 2,39S, 4O4 bales of cotton out of a total of 4,s52.362 bales consumed in the United States; or within 55,544 bales of as much as Northern spinners consumed.
 The South practically has monopoly on the prOQucLlOn or the WoAlu SOt ion. It can with a sufficient increase in population. manufacture into cloth all of it's cotton.
 The Worlds SpiBdles.
 The spindles of the world are distri- buted as follows, according to Latham, Alexander and Company:
 z,nrone. .. $500. 900 United States. .. .. 24'lSl,zOt East Indies. 9,ZO0,OVV Japan. ss-ss l'4oo'pVV China OI1'VoO Canada. ttO'VVV Mexico. ol9'VVU China. oz0'VUV Others. Q. l,45o,OOo \ Total of the world. ..119,006.207
 zhe growth of the cotton mill indus
 sn Alabama was gradual up to the
 1S99-1901. when 1t took on de- ~i life; during which period mills rre like mushrooms over the State. me building of the mills was not rtound for the lack of capital or for Inc want of evidence of the profits of inc business. but on account of the nne cause, scarcity of labor to operate