Charlotte Observer
“I believe it is just a question of a short time until conditions will be better and we will once more be running our plants at full capacity,” declared E.C. Dwelle, secretary-treasurer of the Chadwick-Hoskins Company, operators of a large chain of textile mills, in concluding an address before the Rotary Club, of which he is a member, at the weekly luncheon Tuesday.
Mr. Dwelle was one of the three Rotary speakers on a special program for the day dealing with the textile industry, the others being David Clark, editor of The Southern Textile Bulletin, and Harry Boyd, general superintendent of the Hoskins mill. The program dealing with the textile industry was the dominant feature of the meeting.
An optimistic note as to the future of the cotton industry in the south was sounded by David Clark, speaking on this topic. He expressed the belief that buyers of cotton goods will be faced with a shortage soon because of the continued curtailment of production on the part of the mills. The curtailment, he pointed out, has already amounted to 279,000 pounds of goods in the last 10 months. He pleaded that the mill men and the public get away from the idea that 30 cents is a high price for cotton, declaring that the farmers cannot produce the staple profitably at a lower price.
Discussing the relations between the textile situation in New England and in the South, Mr. Clark pointed out that the newspapers form textile centers in the North are constantly painting gloomy pictures of the present and future of the industry in New England and pointing out that the industry is going to leave that section and come south, claiming that the New England industry is being ruined by southern competition is child labor and longer hours of work down here. Mr. Clark entered a positive and equivocal denial to the charge that child labor and longer hours constitute the advantages in the south. He declared, and quoted statistics to show that it is the difference in the economic situation in the south as compared to that in New England that enables the southern mills to compete successfully with the northern mills. He pointed out the difference in climate, which makes living in New England far more expensive than in the south, became a great deal more must be spent for fuel in the north and much heavier and more expensive clothing is required. In New England the operatives have to buy their vegetables, but in the south they can grow their vegetables in their own gardens. Moreover, the native labor of the south is far more steady and is more efficient as a class than that of the north, which is composed largely of foreigners and contains a much larger proportion of what is known as “floating population” than is found in southern mill communities.
Mr. Body (probably typo. . .was Boyd in first reference) discussed in a very illuminating manner the “development of young men in the textile industry,” telling what is being done to educate the young men through vocational schools supported jointly by the mill companies and federal and state governments, and through correspondence schools. He paid a tribute to the manner in which the young men apply themselves to their studies.
Mr. Dwelle Speaks
Mr. Dwelle referred to a statement made by him last August as to the conditions in the textile industry at that time and declared that the conditions existing there are the same today in a large measure, “except in most ways they are more aggravated,” adding that “this has been the longest period of depression I can remember in the textile business during the past 25 years.”
He declared the industry is suffering more from over-production than from any other cause, expressed gratification that curtailment is spreading and the hope that it will continue until the trade can absorb what is being made and what stocks are already on hand. While many people, he said, seem to think that the policy of “hand to mouth” buying that has been followed for months past will continue, he declared he did not think so. He did not believe that the high price of cotton had much to do with it. Matter of style changes is one of the serious things for manufacturers to realize, he said, and another is to consider the reduction in the purchasing power of the ultimate consumer on account of financial obligations for automobiles.
Mentioning the question of foreign competition, Mr. Dwelle said that in spite of the tariff large quantities of cotton goods of various kinds are being brought in from abroad and that American wages and living conditions are so much higher than they are in foreign countries that the foreign mills can undersell American mills.
“In spite of all these trying conditions,” said Mr. Dwelle, in conclusion, “I have faith in the men behind the southern textile industry and I believe it is just a question of a short time until conditions will be better and we will once more be running our plants at full capacity.
“We are confidently looking for better conditions this fall, particularly after the size of the cotton crop is determined and the elections are behind us.”
From the front page of the Concord Daily Tribune, Wednesday, June 18, 1924
“Hand to mouth” buying is called just-in-time buying today.
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