Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-10-29
A Lesson Learned.

1
| in an industrial conflict, there is no
| doubt. China and Japan have for ma
ny years been great consumers of AM
| erican cotton goods; in fact, many
mills have looked to this market for the
sale of their entire product. The imi-
| tative CAPACITIES of the japanese have
been drawn upon in providing that
country with a large number of cotton
| mills, nearly all of which are devoted
| to the manufacture of that grade of
| cloth in the making of which the Unit
| ed States has heretofore been an i'm.
portant factor
The New England mills for many
years furnished this class of goods but
of late years much of the industry has
| been transferred to Southern states,
and it is upon this class of trade that
| the remarkable prosperity of so many
| Southern mill towns was built. These
Southern mills now find that Japan is
making inroads upon their Chinese
market and they arc forced to raise
the standard or operate at "A loss. This
means that the Southern states are
manufacturing finer grade of cloth
than when they We're first opened, and
that many of the mills which were
| built and equipped especially for the
far Eastern trade are now being re-
equipped for the trade of the whole
world.
A few years ago Southern mills were
earning net profit of from 20 to 20
per cent. each year, and during that
very prosperous season the greater
number of the mill owners were wise
enough to lay aside Il fund to meet the
very conditions which have now arisen.
Thus they find themselves with suffl-
cient reserve on hand to make the nee
essary changes and improvements. and
set aside, many of the mills in the
South would soon be forced to the wall.
The observers of the migration of
cotton manufacturing from New Eng
land to the South predicted that with
in a few years the mills of the North
would be deserted. The experience has
been that the mills Of the North in
creased their efficiency so that they
We're able to compete with the mills of
IN III, ,l, l,o
came unnecessary for in seeking to
place the product the market was soon
extended so that the mills of both the
North and the South were required to
supply the demand. Many Northern
mills, however, shifted from the cours-
er to the finer grades of cloth.
About eight years ago the japanese
discovered that they too could manu-
facture cotton, and dispose of the pro-
duct most advantageously in China.
The mills were subsidized; that is, to
the extent that the government loaned
sites, free transportation and other ad
vantages were offered.
The special correspondent to the
New York Evening Post at Washing
ton goes further into the matter quot
ing a government officer who is in
touch with industrial progress of the
South Eastern section of the country,
saying:
1.-THE japanese who are no respec-
tiers of patents, bought one piece OF
each kind of machinery used in a
cotton MILL took it to Japan and re-
produced 1t. One of these machines,
which costs us a hundred dollars,
they manufacture for twenty-five
dollars. Where it costs US $3.50 a
spindle to equip our mills, it could
be done in Japan for six or seven
dollars. While we could not hire
children under the age of fourteen,
the japanese hired them at the age
of eight and ran their mills night
and day. With their subsidized
steamships they could land our raw
cotton in Japan as cheap as we
could shin it by railroad from New
Orleans to New England, and lay
their finished products down in the
ports of China for one-half cent
a yard cheaper than our actual cost
of production of the same article"
There is a political aspect to the sit
uation which should not be overlooked.
The Southern cotton manufacturer has
been taught the value of protection in
the rough school of experience. He sees
that his only hope is some check to the
export of raw cotton. There is no lon
ger any doubt in the minds of the pro-
gressive South business man that the
protection of his industry is his saliva"
ton if he is to compete in the markets
Of the world. He knows that whatever
measure of success is his has been due
not only to his natural advantages but
also to the protective tariff forced upon
him against his will. He sees that his
future is as utterly dependent on this
doctrine as has been his past. He has
seen the light