The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-06-04
THE MORGAN INTERESTS

l The inference has been drawn that this new departure from old methods reflects what is sometimes called the Morgan in I terests. That undoubtedly is a superb cial view to take. J. P. Morgan & Co. are of influence in the Guarantee Trust; l tf ey also have close associations with tho Liberty bank. Henry P. Davison. now with J. P. Morgan and Co., was formerly l in some executive authority in the Lib- | erty bank.
 I But the Guarantee Trust company and 1 the Liberty National bank are not de- | pendent for their prestige on J. P. Morgan X Co., although it is true in a sense that a certain family relation is estab-
 lished between these institutions and J. P. | Morgan Co.,, as there also is between J.. | F. Morgan Co. and the Bankers Trust
 company and one or two others.
 l One of the unforeseen results of the Flu l rcpean war is the opening of opportunity
 for very great textile expansion in the United States. In this expansion the south will probably be pre-eminent The cotton goods which are manufactured in New England and northern New York are mostly of a different quality from those which the newly established and now prosperous cotton mills of the south are making. It is probably the cheaper form of cotton cloth and cotton goods which will be demanded by other countries. es- pecially by China and by South Am ' ica and the opening of the Panama canal, as we'll as the establishment of cotton mills in the south, which have been able to take advantage of cheap power and to secure ample labor, will result in >the textile manufacturers of the south finding it pos sble to meet the demands for the-kind Io- cotton goods which they manufacture. At the convention at Atlantic City much emphasis was placed by the speakers upon the opportunities which have now f@,- textile trade. The cotton manufacturers are confident that Congress should fix tariff rate high enough to protect the American textile manufacturers from goods which are manufactured by labor W hich is very much cheaper in other countries than in the United States. It las been learned that if the American standard of high wages be maintained, production can, be increased, actual cost of manufacture reduced so as more than to make good the high wages which are paid. WHAT WESTINGHOUSE SAID Ten or 12 years ago, George Westing- house in an address to the Southern Busi-
 ness congress. which met at Atlanta, as- serted that the south has abundance of
 water power which could be easily and
 cheaply converted into electric energy
 that could be carried economically over
 wires for a long distance, from an cleo
 tric generating plant and at comparative
 ly low cost. furnishing ample power to
 operate southern industrial plants as well
 as energy for the operation of trolley lines
 and ultimately the railroads.
 MT. Westinghouse lived long enough to
 learn with pleasure of the development ot
 a hydro-electric plant in North Caro-
 lima of which southern textile industrial
 leaders took such advantagkI that a
 chain of cotton mills stretching through
 .&l. s~.<- C.-
 established and with most satisfactory
 results. In New England where cotton
 manufacturing was first established in
 the United States. advantage was taken
 Of the excellent water powers which were
 found in all of the New England states
 except Vermont. The first cotton mill to be erected and operated in this coun-
 try was built by Samuel Slater in Rhode
 Island, he having chosen site there
 where excellent water power could be obtained. And so the Lowells took ad vantage of the water power in the Merri- | mac river and established great textile 1 manufacturing industry there. Manches- ter. N. H.. represents water power. But at tt at time it was necessary to build mills | adjacent to the water power. Now in | the south the plant which converts water | power into electric energy may be estab l lished many miles distant from the fac 1 tories. Furthermore in the south the short | n2ul or raw cOtlOn rom the He uS IN | the mills is an important economic factor l anc the labor question. which at one time | seemed to be father difficult to answer, l appears now to have worked out satisfac- | torily.
 Therefore the southern textile manufac- | turing industry has become ure of the | great industries of the United States and 1 yet it does not seriously compete with | the textile industry of New England | probably because of the difference in the | quality of the goods There is room | enough for all of the textile industries of the United States, north and south. so greatly to expand as to meet the expected demand in foreign markets for American e ods Apparently the manufacturers be ,ieve, however. that Congress should ad just the tariff rates so as to protect the industry. and now some of the ables tanking leaders, acting through two yer, DC werful banking institutions are about to establish textile banking nstitu l ton whose purpose is to facilitate the ex- rort trade which the American textile in | dustry should be able to establish and greatly. to increase