The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-09-02
ing certain hours of the night a, the Trior

ing certain hours of the night a, the Trion
mills.
The writer who spoke of underwear
woven by tiny children at night" showed
complete ignorance of the product OF the
southern mills, which is largely confined
to coarse sheetings and drills for Oriental
countries, print cloths, fancy white goods
for shirt waists, gnghams and outing
flarnels. There are no fine muslin lawns
or cdmbrics-the material used for un.
derW col manufactured in thai se:iioE o.
the country.
In South Carolina leading mill presi-
dents stated that there might be some
small yarn or knitting mills running at
night-possibly half dozen of the 200
mills in that state-but not a single mill
man regarded night work as feasible or
profitable, nor was there one operating a
night shift. The picture so commonly
drawn by sensationalists showing the
necessity of dashing cold water in the
faces of the children, indicating that to be
the general condition is absolutely false.
The general testimony is to the effect that
night work is not profitable because it
produces too many seconds" that is.
second-grade quality of goods, and tho
proportion of output is less because OF
the drowsiness of the help. In one town
the destruction of a mill by fire threw
great many operatives into idleness. The
president OF another Ililll duOpleu llSHI
work for the purpose of giving those peo-
pie employment, but he did not make a
cent of profit.
Some of the points raised by mill men
against night work were: The machinery
gets tired-the particles crystalize and the
betting breaks; night work is nonproduc-
tive because there is so much bad work
which cannot be traced 20 the employees
at fault; the night snir. leaves the ma
chimes in bad condition for the day shift,
and vice versa because the operatives
take no interest In their machines when
Jointly used, and all of this creates fric-
ton among the employees. When DAY
shift only is run, each operative Is re-
sponsible for the condition of his ma
chine A further objection made by an
employer was: Might work Is awful
from the moral standpoint"
While night work may have prevailed
ten years ago-and 1t must be remembered
that the industry has been developed
largely within the last ten years--as tho
size of the mills has been increased night
work has been dropped The leading cot
ton manufacturer of Alabama stated that
some mills did night work because man
starting a new mill in a small way, with
only a hundred thousand dollars in the
plant found 1t difficult to make profits
and thought he would realize more out OF
the investment by running two shirts.
The quest for mills running at night was
continued up to the end of the investiga-
ton without success. 1t was always a
question of hearsay The scarcity OF
labor would render the securing of shifts
for night work impossible, even IL 1t were
desired.
With reference to the claim that the
children are "half-starved, deformed. ana
extremely emaciated," that their appeal
ing eyes gaze at you from out their pale.
tod Hfla memory OF
faces such as theirs cling in the mind
with lingering tenacity; faded masks OF
withered flesh" and that one presented
the appearance not of child. but or 4
gaunt man shrunk to diminutive size,
issue must be taken. 1t Is true that chill
dren with rosy cheeks are not to be found
in the mills, and that they are more or
less pale, but there were only two chill
dren in the eighteen mills visited who
could have been called thin, not in the
faces, but their arms were very slight.
The pale complexion. which all mill OPP
eratives have. cannot be attributed en-
tirely to work in the mills. but is due
largely to the lack of nourishing food.
Before leaving the farms, "side meat"
and corn bread-a mere mixture OF corn
meal and water baked-and as a luxury
now and then. molases. constituted the
chief articles of food. As farmers they
did well IL they had $40 in cash during tho
year for expenditures. Although their IN
comes increased. to them fabulously, upon
going into the mills, the mother as well
as the other members of the family who
could work, was so engaged. With no
one to care for the home, the family sub
sisted mostly upon cold canned foods.
Domestic science teachers are employed
by many of the mill men now to instruct
the people how to prepare properly the
food One employer said: "Our people
need more than anything else spue sys-
tenn for teaching them how to live"
One of the mill presidents in making an
effort to convince a radical that the people