Resumption of Mill Building Expected Here. . . Prospective Increase in Power Presages Development. . . This Section Leads. . . Greatest Development in America Expected in Piedmont Section
Such a period of development in the textile industry in this section as has never been seen is predicted by industrial leaders as a result of the prospect of a large quantity of new power through the two new developments, which were announced a few days ago by the Southern Power Company.
Those who are most familiar with the textile industry declare that the resumption of the Southern Power Company construction program comes at a most auspicious time. Existing cotton mills are getting upon their feet again following the long period of depression and the future looks brighter than it has for many months. On account of the easier situation in the money market, and, with labor and material costs more nearly normal than they have been for the past few years, an immediate resumption of the development of the textile industry is looked for.
It is freely predicted that the greatest development of the textile industry in America will hereafter be centered in the Piedmont section of the Carolinas. In fact the greatest development section of North Carolina.
For instance, 72 per cent of the spindles installed in the South during the past three years have been in (the) Piedmont Carolinas and more than 50 per cent in Piedmont North Carolina. Since 1907 the South, as a whole, has added 5,600,000 spindles as against an increase of 2,750,000 in the North, an increase for the South of approximately 40 per cent as compared with an increase of 14 per cent for New England.
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Cotton mill men say that the industry’s rapid development in this section as compared with the development in New England is very easily explained. In addition to the availability of the cheap and convenient electric power this section has a distinct advantage in climatic conditions and particularly in the personnel of cotton mill workers and living conditions in cotton mill communities.
The workers in Southern cotton mills are native Americans [not immigrants], with American ideals and characteristics. They are individualistic and ambitious. Many of the leading men in the industry today began their career on the bottom rung and cotton mill workers today know that the opportunity for advancement is probably greater now than it has ever been because the rate of development constantly demands efficiently trained executives.
Whereas the cotton mill owner in the South has advantages over his New England brother in climate, availability of cheap power and personnel of workers, the operatives in Southern mills have a vast advantage over their fellow workers in the North in that they have vastly better and cheaper living conditions and enjoy a relationship with their employers which is not common in the North, say those who are predicting a revival in this industry. Southern cotton mills practically without exception provide their employes with comfortable cottages with sufficient ground space for gardens, poultry yards, etc. They purchase fuel in wholesale quantities and distribute (it) among their employes at cost. A large proportion of them provide schools, playgrounds, Y.M.C.A. or community houses and maintain nurses or other community workers. The workers pay for their comfortable homes a nominal rental, averaging not more than 25 cents per week per room, something practically unheard of in Northern mill centers.
While labor troubles have been frequent in Northern textile centers for years the South has been singularly free of such disturbances except during the last two or three years, and such troubles as have occurred during this time have been the result of shrewd efforts upon the part of professional agitators from the outside, who, in some instances, have been able to disrupt the cordial relations existing between mill executives and operatives and bring about strikes. These strikes have, almost without exception, resulted in disaster for the workers and there has been a decided reaction among mill workers against the activities of labor agitators from other sections who are not acquainted with Southern workers and Southern working conditions. So, in spite of labor troubles in some places, mill industry in the South will continue to be marked by a feeling of sympathy and interest between owners and workers and by an absence of labor troubles.
All indications point to an immediate resumption in cotton mill construction and in the development of the industry generally. The announcement a few days ago of a tremendous addition to be built by the Loray Mills at Gastonia is pointed out as an indication of the trend in the industry, and it is expected that the next few weeks will see many other similar announcements.
From the front page of The Charlotte News, Sunday, Nov. 20, 1921
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