The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1937-04-21

Those who have been employed in bust,
ness and industry never had anything at
stake except their wages and not in one
case in every thousand have they failed to
get their wages in full.
The owners of business and industry &C
copied all the responsibility for success OF
failure, took all the chances, and if they
failed shouldered all the losses, usually
seeing all of their capital wiped out.
And in not one case in thousand of
failure have the owners or managers of
industry or business done any hollering or
whining when the crash came. They took
the chance, and win or lose, accepted the
results with a showing of manhood and
courage that merited admiration and emu
lation by other groups of citizens.
The editor of this newspaper never
owned a share of cotton mill stock in his
life, but for large part of lifetime has
known intimately cotton mill owners, man.
agements aqd operatives. The story of the
development of the textile industry in the
South is an industrial epic, but Chat is
true of all other industrial developments
of important proportions) only the men
who put up the money and sustained the
losses know what it cost to bring the IN
dustry to a position of leadership in the
United States.
Wages in the southern textile industry
have seldom been high and for the greater
part of the history of the industry they
have. been too low to serve the best inter-
ests of the operatives; but not low because
of the desires of large majority Of mill
managements but because of the compul-
sion of conditions which management
could not fully control.
But whether wages were high or low,
the operatives received their wages and
mill owners accepted the losses incident to
competition, poor business, and the many
other adverse conditions with which the
industry has contended throughout its his
tory. If there were profits, they went to
the owners; but probably in majority OF
cases no adequate returns have been real
lied by owners of cotton mill stock over a
period of years.
Similar experiences have been the con-
crete results of investments in other lines
of industry and business - in the South
and throughout the country. A small num-
Der of industries and business enterprises
have flourished and grown great; but for
every notable success there have been
MANY failures and as the matter stands TO-
dav there are few hundred IN the entlre
country conspicuous for success and earn
inps while there are tens OF thousands
either losing money or simply mching
along.
In view of the unadulterated facts with
reference to the country's business ana III
distinguishing at matters with unclouded
vision and unprecedented minds from the
standpoint sought to be presented here
with, those among us who are working lor
salaries or wages probably should be
thankful that we are not the owners OF the
nations business and industry. At least,
we ought to take and maintain position
of understanding, reasonableness and 1alr-
ness in our views of and our relations to
the men upon whom is placed the heavy
burden of keeping the business and INDUS
try of the country going and earning money
to pay us and the other expenses OF opera
tons, not to mention some return for the
citizens who supply the capital which
makes all of this possible.