The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1906-06-19
coNcEssIoNTO MILL WORKERS
A Virginia Psper's View Of Step
Recently Taken by Carolina
81. Mills.
Richmond News-Leader.

linas have formed an organization
and the first act of the newly Great
ed body was to provide for reduction
Of the hours of labor from &C hours
week to 60. There is no reduction
Of wages and the time will be cut
gradually, two hours year for four
years. Eleven hours average day
seems severe work to those accus-
toned the eight and nine hour sys-
tenn. In the cotton mills the rule
really has been eleven and half
for five days and eight and a. half
on Saturday, bringing the total to
the G6 hours per week, permitted by
law. The workers, however, have
made little protest. The truth is
practically all of them are from the
farms, where the accepted rule of
work is from sun to sun.
Labor organizations never have
gained substantial foothold in the
Carolina mills. One reason for this
is that the mill villages are owned
by the companies and being private
property under the Immediate con-
troll of company officers, labor or
ganizations are forbidden to work in
them and labor organizations are not
allowed to exist. Aside from that
the villagers are in stones throw
Of farms and whenever a mill worker
becomes dissatisfied he or she can
find tract of land or employment
at farm labor within mile or two.
There is no need to strike because
everybody can quit and go at some
thing else within a day. 1t is a fact,
however, that whatever may be the
permanent effect Of cotton mill en-
ployment on the race, the immediate
comfort and pleasure Of the life Of
the workers is very much improved
when he leaves the farm and goes to
the mill. The hours are long and the
work is confining, but work under
shelter in warmed and ventilated
buildings is easier after all than fol-
lowing a plow under July sun or
picking cotton i'll the nipping winds
of November. The mill village house
is not a palace, but in most instances
it is much more comfortable than a
log cabin. Man is a social animal
and constant contact with people is
delight after the solitary life of
the momtainccr or the comparative
solitude Of the low country tenant
farmer or farm laborer whose near
! est neighbors are half mile or so
away. Church every Sunday, a
school every day, stores just across
the street, doctors within call and all
| the amusemcntS and companionslip
of village society makes Il welcome
change from the isolation of the
farm. Therefore, the mill worker
does not worry himself over the pros
pcct that five or six generations of
selentary life will result in the
| physical stunting and moral decad-
ence Of his descendants. He prefers
the mill to the farm because it is
more comfortable and attractive and
offers him more cash every month
than he has been accustomed to hand
le in the whole course Of a year and
puts him on satisfactory basis of
knowledge from day to day how he
stands with the world.
The reduction of hours is brought
about, doubtless, partly by the hon
est desire of the mill owners to i'm
prove the condition of their people
and partly by the chronic scarcity Of
labor. Competition among the own
ers for desirable working people has
become so eager that the bidding in
the way of higher wages and shorter
hours threatens to demoralize the
conditions and cause general confu-
sion and irregularity. Therefore, the
mills have come together and made
their concessions uniform and by
agreement. In addition to shorten
ing the hours the mill owners adopt
ed resolutions urging the legislature
to enact compulsory education law
and to fix the age limit for working
in mills at IL years.
Indications are that without labor
organization or agitation, or even de-
finite demand, the mill people in the
Carolinas presently will have gained
all that the most aggressive forces of
organized labor require. The pro-
cess Of improvement is slow, but is
the inevitable result Of natural caus-