The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-07-07
labor PROBLEM IS
NATIONAL MATTER.
South and North on Equal Wage
Basis Third Of Machinery
Idle. .i 4 WA
An IMPORTANT STATEMENT
Southern Manufactures Expresses
Opinion That National Govern
ment Must Solve Problem.

g CHARLOTTE, n. c.. July GA we'll
known citizen of this city, who is the
president OF a number of cotton mills
in the South, ali of them Grating
directly under his management ard
supervision. with consuming power
of 500 bales OF cotton a day, and who
also has other vast outside interests,
few days ago discussed the great
scarcity Of labor with q representative
of the Journal OF Commerce OF New
York. He spoke Of the labor situation
as the most serious problem that now
confronts the manufacturers both in
the North and in the South, laying par
ticular emphasis on the problem OF
cotton mill help in the South. He said
I'VE are very apt to underestimate
the Importance thatS the scarcity OF
labor has In the cost OF all classes Of
merchandise produced in the Southern
mills. Not because If there were more
available help would any, reduction
in wages take place, thereby reduc-
ing the cost, but because Of the great
number Of spinning frames. looms and
knitting machines that are forced to
stand idle, and necessarily abnormal
profits have to be made on the ma
chinery that is running in order to
make the plant pay at all. a
IF the normal and usual dividends
from the cotton manufacturing business
are to be declared annually or semi
annually. as the case may be. 1t can
|plainly be seen that the capital in
vested In the machinery that is stand
ins idle must be made to gain at5least
the rate of interest from the abnormal
profits of the output that the running
machinary commands.
with enough help to run all of my
machinery in the different mills, l
could pay the same wages. sell the
production on a lower basis, and my
profits at the end Of the year would
be better than they have been for the
past two and half years.
LIT is not alone that this great scare
ity of labor Is confined to the South
4 err cotton mills--although I speak
i particularly Of the conditions there,
/ from the fact that they directly con-
Germ me-for only recently l had oc-
CASTOR to be on trip through the
i New England States, and found that
this labor problem confronts the East
ern manufacturers, but the situationis
,|sEot SO acute. Another interesting fact
4 i discovered while among the New
England manufacturers was that on
J similar classes of merchandise the ope-
! rotiyes in the Eastern mills and South
I ern mills are receiving the same amount
OF pay for a days wages
\ with yarns and manufactured pro-
ducts being quoted In many cases at
their highest since the Civil War, and
4 contracts being placed at these high
, quotations. many new mills are being
/ built In the South and the investors
j IN thesceI am afraid, are placing theil
money there because they think that
i or account of the high price that tbs
merchadise Is commanding there must
be big profits, failing to take into
consideration that between 20 and 81
per cent. of the machineryiin the Soutl
Is standing idle to- day, not for the lacl
o. a demand for goods, but because
1t Is absolutely impossible to secure
Z the required help to run this machinery
: IAN investigation Of exactly VIVA
of cotton mill nachiner!
! Is standing idle In the South on &C
: count OF the lack Of help would b,
y most profitable and interesting. No
Is the scarcity OF labor confined to tn
!. mills. for the cotton planter possibl,