The news in this publi
cation is released for the
press on receipt.
the university of north CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published Weekly by the
University of North Caro
lina Press for the Univer
sity Extension Division.
JUNE 6, 1923
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
VOL. IX, NO. 29
Editorial Boardi E. C. Branson. S. H. Hobba. Jr., L. R. Wilson, E, W. Knight, D, D. Carroll. J. B.Bnllitt. H, W. Odum.
Entered as second-class matter November 14,1914, at the Postollice at Chapel Hill, N. C,, under the act of August 24. 1912
CAROLINA TEXTILES
CAROLINA WILL LEAD
This and the next issue of the News
Letter will be devoted to the textile de
velopment . of North Carolina. The
pace being set by the Tar Heel state in
installing new textile machinery, and
in building new textile factories, is the
talk of the textile world. Every day
come reports of new mills being organ
ized, additional equipment being in
stalled, capital stock being doubled and
trebled. Every day someone wonders
just how soon North Carolina will as
sume leadership in the textile industry
in the United States. A few years a-
go no one thought she would ever sup
plant Massachusetts. Today the opin
ion prevails that it is only a matter of
time until Massachusetts must assume
Second place—perhaps third or fourth,
as the two states to the south of us are
also showing a healthy development.
The North Pays Tribute
The belief that North Carolina is to
assume leadership in. the field of tex
tiles is not confined to this state. Many
northern mill men have expressed this
opinion, and right recently at that.
The President of the National Associa
tion of Cotton Manufacturers says,
“Our principal competition comes from
the Piedmont district of North and
South Carolina. There the climate is
good and bracing. The operatives are
pure-bred American stock, from the
mountains. Like our original New
Englanders, they have had hard work
to make a living, and appreciate oppor
tunity, Work is not only a necessity
but also a pleasure. These people are
of great native intelligence and quick
to learn. Mills have sprung up on every
hand. Every little town wants a mill
and offers free land, exemption from
taxation, and all sorts of encourage
ment to the man who knows how to
make cloth and will start a mill.
“The record is clear enough, the cot
ton industry is gradually slipping away.
In the past various factors have helped
us. Massachusetts had far more skilled
help and oversight. We had the finish
ing works where Southern goods must
be shipped to be bleached, dyed, or
printed. Now^ there is excellent skilled
help and supervision in the South.’'
Another mill man from New Hamp
shire says, “Success in southern mills,
especially in North and South Carolina,
has been due not to long hours of work,
and low pay, nor to the employment of
unintelligent workers, as the labor
unions would have the country believe,
but to efficient management. By ef
ficient management I mean 100 percent
efficiency.”
“Frankly we are up against it,” says
an official of the Fall River Cotton Man
ufacturers Association. “Conferences
are useless. We can operate only at a
loss, and if we are to remain in busi
ness there is but one thing we can do,
follow the general move to the South,
to the Carolines...To compete with
southern mills and New England labor
conditions is impossible; even the at
tempt is suicide.”
Commenting on the above the Char
lotte Observer says. It is a gloomy pic
ture painted by the Fall River textile
industry. The conditions there only
tend to strengthen the confident belief
existent for many months that the
South is to be the great textile center
of the nation; that the New England
industry will be transferred gradually
to the Carolinas and other Southern
States, where conditions for the man
ufacture of cotton are more favorable
in several respects.
It is not believed, however, that it is
practicable for New England manu
facturers to move their plants to the
South, or anywhere else. The cost
of dismantling and transporting and
setting up the plant would represent
ail expense that would be practically
prohibitive, according to good authori
ties on the subject; besides, the tearing
dowii and setting up of the machinery
in many cases would render it almost
useless, it is contended. What is going
to happen, in the opinion of those in
position to be best informed on the
question, is that there will be no more
mills erected in New England nor any
more extensions and additions to pres-
«nt plants, and that all new plants and
extensions to be established by New
England mill owners will be located in
the South, while the old mills will be
kept in New England and operated as
conditions will permit until they are
worn out or become obsolete, and then
they will not be replaced.
There is nothing more certain now in
the realm of future development than
that the textile industry in New Eng
land is on the decline while it is grow
ing by leaps and bounds in the South.
GROWTH IN CAROLINA
The textile industry is developing
more rapidly in North Carolina than in
any other state in the Union. At a re
cent meeting of the Cotton Manufac
turers’ Association a leading speaker
asserted that four-fifths of the textile
machinery now being manufactured in
the United States is intended for in
stallation in Southern plants. The
bulk of this is being made for Carolina
mills. This state is installing more
textile machinery than all the rest of
the South combined according to re
ports of textile journals. Commenting
on the rapid installation of machinery
in North Carolina the Greensboro
News carries the following:
More new cotton spindles are in sight
for North Carolina for installation this
year, or as quickly as projected textile
plants can be built, than were in sight
for the entire South on January 1. Tex
tile leaders and machinery men in Char
lotte estimate that more than 800,000
new spindles will be installed by mills
under construction or projected in this
state, as compared with the estimate
of 807,720 for the entire South in the
annual statistical number of the
Southern Textile Bulletin in January.
The estimate for North Carolina at
that time was 683,760 spindles. The
estimate for South Carolina was 67,-
000. Today approximately 160,000 is
the estimate credited to South Caro
lina, and in addition to this equipment
a large expansion in weaving mills and
bleaching and' finishing plants. Al
abama, Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia,
and Texas are credited together with
approximately 226,000 spindles, making
an aggregate of close to 1,200,000 new
spindles in sight for the entire South.
Recent visitors to this section, in
cluding textile men, editors, economists,
and business men, have marveled at
the industrial development of this sec
tion, not only in textiles but in other
lines of industry. Two questions have
almost invariably been asked by these
visitors; “How do you develop men for
responsible positions in mills fast enough
to supply such positions in new mills
established?” and “Can you secure de
sirable, efficient labor for a continuance
of this program without resorting to
t^e importation of immigrant labor
from the east?”
Textile leaders and other business
men have been much interested in the
answers to these frequent questions.
Comparatively few people know how
extensive are the elforts being made
for the training of alert, ambitious
young textile workers for positions of
responsibility. The state of North
Carolina, through its board of voca
tional education, is conducting classes
in a large number of mill communities,
giving work especially adapted to the
needs of the industry. Many of the
mills are cooperating in this work.
Several hundred young men are enrolled
in these classes and numerous pro
motions to positions of large responsi
bility and greater remuneration have
resulted directly from work done in
these classes.
Another force which is developing
the efficiency and calibre of mill work
ers who have already started up the
ladder is the Southern Textile associa
tion, an organization of superinten
dents, overseers and other men from
the mills to which no mill official is
even allowed to belong. Some splendid
work has been done in the institutes,
experience meetings and conventions of
this body and a number of its members
have begun to “graduate” into the
ranks of mill executives.
Those who are familiar with the pro
gress of the textile industry are not un
easy regarding the supply of capable
men for responsible positions. The in
telligence, the industry and the spirit
KNOW NORTH CAROLINA
An Industrial Empire
That the textile industry in the
South, especially in the Carolinas,
great as it is already, has entered
well upon a period of unprecedented
expansion is indicated in a local news
article carried in The Sunday Ob
server, giving the estimate of Char
lotte textile machinery men and
leaders in the cotton manufacturing
industry. It is almost astounding
that the present estimate of - new
spindles to be installed in North Ca
rolina alone by mills under construc
tion or projected exceeds 800,000,
whereas last January 1 The South
ern Textile Bulletin, which is re
garded as an authority second to
none, estimated new spindleage then
in sight for the entire South at §07, -
000, in round figures. It is no less
remarkable that, whereas the^Tex-
tile Bulletin's estimate of new spin-
dleage in sight for South Carolina at
the beginning of the new year was
only 67,000, that state now has in
sight approximately 160,000 addition
al spindles.
It is no cause for wonder that re
cent visitors to the piedmont sec
tion of the Carolinas, including tex
tile men, editors, economists and
business men, have marveled at the
industrial development of this region.
And the end is not yet. A few
months from now present estimates
and forecasts may look small. More
and more the country at large is
learning that this is the ideal section
for textile manufacturing, while the
home people are coming more and
more into recognition and apprecia
tion of the same fact.
Not only is it an ideal region for
the textile industry, but also it is
highly favored as a section for the
manufacture of many products other
than textiles, as has been amply de
monstrated by experience.
If we can develop the spirit of co
operation between labor and capital,
between employer and employe,
that will unite the two factors in
maintained common harmony and
team work and appreciation of each
other, there is no reason why the
piedmont section of the Carolinas
should not develop into the greatest
insustrial empire in America. Why
not, with such favorable climatic
conditions, pure American labor,
electric power, and the exemplary
efficiency of management of which
Mr. Greene. ofthe Pacific Mills Com
pany, told the New England people
last week in his Lawrence, Massa
chusetts, address?—Charlotte Ob
server.
of the men in the ranks are sufficient
assurance of this. It is pointed out
that the men at the looms and the men
working in the mills have the same as
pirations, the same ideals, the same
honesty of purpose and are of the same
blood as the men who have already
climbed to the top and are reaping the
reward for their industry, their intelli
gently applied industry and their ca
pacity for getting things- done.
The matter of an adequate supply of
labor for the continued expansion of
the industry is giving no more concern
than that of supplying men for higher
positions. There is, it is pointed out, a
large reserve of native American labor
in the mountain counties of North Ca
rolina at present earning a small per
centage of what it could earn in cotton
mills or other industrial communities.
This labor can be secured>s rapidly as
there is a demand for it, and it is being
constantly drawn upon to a limited ex
tent as new mills are built.
Textile men and other observers have
every confidence that there is no dan
ger of a halting of the expansion of the
textile industry as a result of the short
age of labor, or that they will have to
resort to the importation of immigrant
labor. The people who turn from the
farm to the mill seldom go back. Al
though the industry in the South is
quite young, there has already developed
an industrial consciousness and the
natural normal increase in the popula
tion of textile communities, augmented
by the additions from the farms and
particularly from the rural districts of
the mountain counties, will supply
every labor demand that is likely to
develop, even if the rate of expansion
in the industry is still further accelera
ted.
HUMMING IN CAROLINA
In the matter of active spindles the
cotton growing states lead the Union
hands down. In March fifty-two per
cent of the entire spindle hours of the
United States was contributed by mills
in the South. The average spindle in
the cotton states ran 314 hours in
March last, while the average for all
other states was only 210 hours per
spindle. North Carolina spindles ave
raged 324 hours each, and they were
the most active in America. Georgia
was next with 323. hours per spindle,
while the average in South Carolina
was 317. These three neighboring
states led in the United States.
Massachusettes has more than twice
as many spindles as North Carolina but
the average spindle in this state runs 69
percent more hours per month than in
Massachusetts. The total of spindle-hours
in Massachusetts is not very much larg
er than in this state.
The following table shows the activ
ity of cotton mills in thq leading textile
states for March 1923. The figures
represent the number of hours the av
erage spindle ran during the month of
March.
Average hours
per spindle
North Carolina 324
Georgia 323
South Carolina 317
Alabama 291
New York 277
Tennessee 270
Virginia 260
Rhode Island 236
Maine 233
Connecticut 229
New Jersey 204
Massachusetts ... 197
New Hampshire 192
Pennsylvania 173
Cotton states 314
All other states 210
Massachusetts has 32.1 percent of all
the spindles in place in the Union, and
North Carolina has 14.7 percent. But
the spindles of this state did 1,764 mil
lion hours of work in March, which was
18.6 percent of the hours performed
by all spindles in the Union, while the
hours worked by spindles in Massachu
setts represented only 24.8 perc^t of
the total spindle-hours. The cotton
mills of this state are the most active
in America, perhaps in the world. Prac
tically all of our mills are running. In
many mills the spindles are humming
night and day, paying fair dividends on
the 250 million dollars of invested capi
tal, affording a living to nearly a hun
dred thousand contented employees,
and converting a million and a quarter
bales of raw cotton into yarn for the
world.
TEXTILE ACTIVITIES
We are recording below, grouped by
counties alphabetically, such expansion
and improvements in the textile mill
industry in North Carolina as we have
seen noted by the press since October
1922. Our main source has been the
Manufacturers Record. While this is
not a complete account of mill expan
sion, it does serve to indicate the rapid
growth of the textile industry in North
Carolina. This record will be continued
in the next issue of the News Let
ter.
Alamance. Burlington. — Stevens
Mfg. Co. will install additional looms.
R. F. Williams contemplates erect
ing and equipping a knitting mill; con
struction likely to begin soon.
Aurora Cotton Mill will complete
electrification of mill; power will be
purchased; will construct office and
storage bldg.; revamp dye plant.
Elmira Cotton Mills erecting 2-story
addition to plant in West Burlington;
saw tooth roof; install additionalmchy.;
erect addition to dye plant; erect 26
dwellings for operatives.
Anson. Wadesboro. — Cotton mill
planned for near future and $600,000
subscribed by 200 citizens through
Wadesboro Chamber of Commerce,
project to be financed and managed by
local interests. Project program in
cludes construction of mill village of
100 to 126 houses, construction work to
be completed by spring of 1924.
Wade Mfg. Co. increased capital to
$760,000; has site of 342 acres and will
erect brick mill for mfre. of nap goods;
to cost about $200,000; will install 400
looms and 7,600 spindles; will open
mchy. bids about Apr. 1; install hydro
electric plant; 600 H. P. electric drive;
will construct 100 to 126 operatives’
homes, bungalow type.
Bladen. Bladenboro Cotton Mills,
Inc., are erecting Mill No. 3, with ca
pacity of 6,000 lbs. fine yarn daily; cost
$400,000; will install 16,000 spindles.
Buncombe. Asheville. — Asheville
Knitting Mills incorporated, wiHi cap
ital stock of $60,000.
N. C. Handwoven Mfg. Co., capital
$25,000, incorporated; will establish
plant for weaving woolens and mfg.
cloth into clothing; will install 30 looms,
dyeing dept., etc.
Asheville Cotton Mills will expend
$5,000 in improvements to plant.
Oak Lane Knitting Mills of German
town, Pa., contemplate construction of
knitting mill.
Burke. Morganton. — Earle Textile
Co. incorporated, capital $600,000.
The Burke Mills, Inc., incorporated;
capital $60,000.
Cabarrus. Concord.—Gibson Mfg. Co.
plan to erect large addition consisting
of a finishing plant; will install 190
looms, equipped with individual motors;
capital increased to $2,000,000.
Kerr Bleaching and Finishing Works
will construct warehouse and singeing
room.
Norcott Mills Co. (knitting yarns)
will build 3-story addition to plant and
install 6,000 twister spindles and addi
tional combing and mercerizing mchy.;
capital increased to $400,000.
White Parks Mill Co. will double ca
pacity of plant; will erect 2-story plant,
$16,000 cost; will install 2,000 spindles;
electric power plant; 110 H. F.; cost of
mchy. $60,000.
Brown Mfg, Co. let contract for $26, -
000 reinforced concrete addition to dye-
house; will install mchy.
Hobarton Mfg. Co. incorporated,
capital stock $400,000; will install 100
looms for weaving colored goods novel
ties ; also dyeing plant.
Concord Knitting Co. incorporated,
capital $100,000; will establish knitting
mill for production ladies' silk hose, ca
pacity to be 300 doz. prs. per day; 100
knitting machines will be installed and
126 operatives employed; mchy. to be
electrically driven. ,
Kannapolis:—Cabarrus Cotton Mills
have increased capital from $3,000,000
to $4,000,000.
Cannon Mfg. Co. let contract for
construction of filtering plant, and will
also construct number of dwellings.
Cannon Mfg. Co. will increase cap
ital stock from $3,600,000 to $10,600,-
000, reduce par value of stock from $100
to $10 per share, and declare stock div
idend of 200 percent payable Dec. 4;
each holder $100-share of stock entitled
to 30 shares at $10 par value. The
company operates 13 mills at various
southern points and produces 35,000
dozen towels daily.
Caldwell. Granite Falls. —Southern
Mfg. Co. will construct cotton and cord
factory.
Granite Falls Mfg. Co. increased capi
tal from $400,000 to $1,200,000.
Hudson.—Caldwell Cotton Mill Co.
chartered; capital stock, $600,000.
Lenoir.—Nelson Cotton Mills let con
tract to construct cotton mill together
with warehouse, reservoir, and 16 cot
tages; total cost of bldgs. $126,000.
Whitnel.— Nelson Cotton Mfg. Co.
will construct yarn mill.
Catawba. Hickory.—Ivey Mill Co. in
creased capital from $226,000 to $1,000,-
000.
Brookford Mills Co. will install addi
tional equipment.
Maiden.—Providence Mill acquired
by John P. Yount of Newton.
Maiden Mill sold to J. Smith Camp
bell.
Newton.—Ridgeview Hosiery Mill
Co. increased capital from $100,000 to
$260,000.
(Continued next week.)