North Carolina Newspapers

W. F. MARSHALL, Editor iW TrorUUr. DEVOTED TO THE PIOTECT VOL- XXJII. _ GASTONIA, X. CHILDREN IN THE MILLS. Interesting Interviews With So gertatendeata nod Other Mill Men il North end Sooth Caro line. Mill New-. Sept. 10th. Gastonia, N. C. is the county scat of Gaston county, has seven cotton mills, and takes pride in the fact that their county has more mills than any other county in the South, there being thirty two in all. My first call was at the Loray mills, where I met the president, George A. Gray. Informinghlm of the object of roy visit, wc pro ceeded to the mill, which is called locally ‘the new million dollar mill,’ and here 1 met the super intendent, Charles M. Dunn, to whom Mr. Gray remarked, "Show the gentleman through our mill; let nim see it all, give him full information,’' and turn ing to me said, "1 have an en gagement up town at my office, ana will be pleased to have yon call, and will gladly furnish yon with Any data you may seek.” Wc then proceeded through the mill, which is a new one, and only half the equipment is placed in the spinning room, where the immense vacant space was especially noticeable, aud Super intendent Duuu said: "It would do you good if yon could see at times our help at play here on the floor, playing leap frog and tag and other games. We now have 570 hands in the mill and, among this number, there are not more than eight children in this room uuder 11 years of age. Our president is the head of three other mills here besides this one. viz: The Gastonia, Avon, ana Ozark, aud he has laid down the rule, "under no circumstances to employ a child under 11 years of age.” Wc made & complete tour of the spinning room and the superintendent’s figures were correct. "You will find at our other mills, the Avon employing 300 hands, aud the Ozark 200 hands, whose superintendents are sons of our president, Mr. Gray, just the same condition.” AT THE MODENA COTTON Mil.US 1 met its treasurer, J. D. Moore, and his remarks were thoroughly interesting. " I have been iu the mill business in this district over thirty years, and therefore am aualificd to speak intelligently on le subject. At the outset I wish to put myself on record and en ter a protest to the sweeping charge that onr mill help is com posed of the crackers from the mountain districts. As far as this section is concerned it is hardly true. Conditions have caused some of the best connect ed families, those that can trace ancestry back to the revolution ary’ stock, to seek employment iu the mills. They are of our own kin, our own flesh and blood. I know of families working in the mills, related to men promi nent iu tne politics of our state, who have rented out their farms to tenants and moved to mill villages. Here at the Modena we have girls who have taken a course at our collegiate institutes and I predict that the day is not far] off when, with their native bom American talent our opera tives will surely place themselves in the front rank of textile work ers of the world. As for the child labor problem, nobody seek* the solution of it more eagerly than the mill man agers. I believe 1 am honest in saying that with a very few ex ceptions, isolated cases, where help is very scarce, and there fore the ehUd’s service is sought, few of our mills make a practice of using children of tender age. Instead of slavery it is becoming the era of emancipation. The farm has ceased to furnish the proper means of livelihood. The mill is giving our people the comforts of home, the opportu nity for education, and the pros pects of bettering their fortunes. I mean by this, a lad can make greater progress in a mill, if be has the ability, than in any in dustrial pursuit I know of. "The mill is A vaACTICAI. TKtnxa iNnomii AL SCHOOL. I know of dozen* of case* in North and South Carolina where men who commenced life a* doflers and sweepers at eight and ten years are uow presidents of large institutions self-made men. Here in Gastonia we have a striking example, George A. Gray, "ow the president of four of our mills, he began life in the mill as a sweeper, never at tended school a year at a time in his life, yet to-day is a good setibe, book-keeper, and aa yon no donbt are aware, a success ful business man. At 50 he is robust nod in tha prime of life, and is the hardest worker in our town. He can be seen any morning at 6, on his horac making the rounds of hi* mills. 1 can cite many such inHtancea as well as that of boys who have gone through the various branch es of the mill, and are now super intendents of same, with salaries varying from $2,500 to $5,000 a year. Words could hardly describe the Fourth of July celebration we had here. There were over 10,000 people present, the opera tives from all the mills in the county participating; and the beautiful floats arranged by the mills, decorated with fabrics they made, and graced by handsome mill girls, dressed in goods that their fingers helped to make, produced a scene that was in spiring. The speeches made, the games and festivities enjoyed, the patriotism displayed, could not have been that of a people bound by a yoke of slavery' but the outburst of a happv and con tented people. We want nol are regulating the conditions as they exist in our own way. Ed ucation cau accomplish that re sult. Let our boys and girls lead a life of idleness and it open* the way to crime and vice.” At King's Mountain 1 met C. E. Neisler, superintendent of three mills, Kings Mountaiu Manufacturing Co., employing 100 hands, Uonuie Cotton Mill*, employing 125 hands, and Indian Creek Mills, near Lincolnton, employing 80 hands. He stated that not more than a dosen chil dren under twelve were employed in these mills. Calling at tbc office of the DILUNG COTTON MILLS the following information, after some hesitation, was furnished me by J. N. Williams, superin tendent of same, as well as the Enterprise and Cora Mills. "At the Dillitig we employ 350 hands, the Enterprise',100, and the Cora 100, with not more than 25 chil dren under 12 years of age in the three mills.” At Crowders Mountain I called ou W. W. Shealy, superinten dent of the Crowders Mountain Mills, employing 150 hands, and I.ula Manufacturing Co., with 100 hands, having 5 children un der 12 at both mills. At Bessemer City I called at the Southern Cotton Mills where C. M. Cook, superintendent, in formed me they employ 325 hands, with no children under 12 years of age. I believe that the information furnished at some of these points was misleading. These mills arc small, and I un derstand the help is scarce, as the mill people arc attracted to the larger mill villages, wliereso dal conditions, better cottages, advanced means of education, are more easily found. So that the management, in order to keep their plants completely in operation, are not over scrupu lous as to the age limit. Not having been given the opportu nity to make a personal inspec tion of the mills, this conclusion is derived from the conversation had with the Uvery man who drove me to the various points, aud who, being raised in the neighborhood, claimed to be posted ns to the conditions exis ting. __ Increase •! Capital Stock. Gather Ledger. The Gaffney Manufacturing Company bu increased its capi tal stock from $800,000 to $1, 000,000. The Gaffney Manufacturing Company was organised in 18M with a capital of $100,000. It »}as been paying a satisfactory dividend ever since it began operation, and at the same time has been steadily increasing its plant until now ft has one of the largest and best equipped plants in the State. It was the pioneer in manufacturing fine cotton goods in the South, and is now building a bleacbery which will include general finishing ma chinery, and when complete will enable the company to Since its products on the market i s finished condition and thus enable it to realize for itself the profits which have hitherto fallen in the coffers of the middle man. ___ Oigkt («•< (• Ba Tolerated. Crmrltt* m^nor Another editor hu ?° l^',rW,^wi‘ll.a Public con le“ion, The Journal toys ji^i^ P*r^*?1 wore profanity and vile language need on the street* of Near Bern than any other town in the State.” The paper then aaks if parents, preacher* and officers are doing their duty? Hardly a doubt bnt what the devil la doing bt* duty all right. We know a Drencher who aay* "people who take Uod . name In vain, aerv# the «evil for loea pay than by any other ain imaginable.” OAS MADE FBOH WOOD. Diacavary (hat Hay Bavelssiiaa* 1st Lllhliai Prablam—CiHzaa ol Raleigh la Bala al Oraal (a* vaster. N«w» «ud OtMfvti. A gas lighting plant that may revolutionize lighting and beat ing is iu. operation in Raleigh. It is a patented process plan and because of the brilliant light, the means of making it ana its extreme cheapness it has'a great future before it. So confident of this are the men who have investigated the matter that steps are being taken to form a company with large capital iu order to place Us ad vantages before the people, and fnmish to the householders a gas plant on their own premises. There was a demonstration of this plant the other day in the yard at the back of the resideoce of Dr. J. A. Sexton, on Fayette ville street, where there is located a tittle gns plant that supplies him with the best of .gas light. The demonstration showed the gas plant in operation, mak ing gas from wood. This is done oy the patented process of Dr. C. W. Bimnger. In a retort an onnful of wood was placed and from this the gas bolder was filled, this containing 300 cubic feet of gas. This was made in less than an hour. At night the gas was burned and it gave a brilliant light, the flame being high, large and clear, and iu a Welschback burner making the regulation white light. After the gas is formed iu the tctort it is passed through water and is then collected in the iron holder. In making the gas any kind of wood can be used, hick ory, oak and pine, or any other wood that is to be had. Chips and sawdust can also be used. A cord of wood, costing $2.00 or less will make anywhere from sixty to one buudred thousand cubic feet of gas and sometimes more. Many prominent gentlemen were present at the test yester day and it was calculated by these that a householder wita one of these plants could make enough gas to burn three or four jets each night for a mouth at a cost of fifteen cents a month. The plants can be arranged for simply one home, for a block, or for an entire city. The plant at Dr. Sexton’s can be used to make gas for the homes on two blocks in Raleigh. A hotel or a business house using this pro cess would find it a bonanza. The coat of each plant depends of course on ita size, and the owner* have given out no figures but by others it is estimated that the plants will cost from $200 upwards, this is of course not in cluding the equipping of the houses with gas pipes or burners. This gas can also be used for heating and cooking purposes. It is capable of being developed into great heat, aud its extreme cheapness will cause this to be a feature where a plant is put in. The cost of the wood is a baga telle, or is less than nothing, for after a $2.00 cord of wood Is used in the retort there is a residue of charcoal and Ur that will sell for twice the cost of the wood. Dr. C. W. Bilfinger, the paten tee, is a German, who sometime ago came to North Carolina from the North. He is an eminent physician and chemist and for sometime lived at Washington, N. C., where he fir?t put in operation his gas plant, bat not the improved one he has now patented. At one time it was said that Washington was lighted by bis process. Then he could make only about twenty-five thousand cubic feet for every cord of wood used. It is not necessary to run the plant every day but once a month, or even for a longer time will be suffi cient. The promise of this new pro cess has unlimited possibilities, as demonstrated yesterday; and •* shown at Fuquay Springs, where a larger plant is used, making gaa Jets just as brilliant as that made from coal. That the establishment of a great plant made from the manufac ture of the necessary apparatus for introducing this throughout the world would be a paying In vestment for Raleigh capitalists cannot be donbted. It will mean that in the city and la the conn try each home con have a bril liant light always ready for the match, and ready to heat and to be uaed in cooking when it ia wanted. Sam Lindsay, 24 years of age, committed suicide at his broth* •r’a home is Rndaville, using a pistol. Death was instantane* ous. ___________ • n* nuaa «V sw mi m ptm« - • -e^hhbhbhsxS5S53^55K3E9C5EEB53^3S MIES' HElOEt CONSUMMATED Th« Capital Ip now S2S.MMM Slxty Nr Caul, at tba Spinning Wearing Mills af tbs Soath Consolidated—Control U Can* ••rod in a Holding Corporation —Tba Largest and Most taper* tnnt MUle In tha Soath in the Enterprise. Clarion* Ukwrm. MU. Philadelphia, Sept. 26.—The Record to-morrow will aay: The project to coiuwlidate 80 per cent J^e spinning and weaving mtlla in the South under control of a holding corporation has finally material Lied and the an nouncement it made by one of the manager* of the enterprise that the Fries plan baa been adopted by enough Southern mills to guarantee the success of the proposition. The cashcapi* tal involved in the enterprise now amounts to $25,000,000. This will be increased as fast as additional mills come into the combination. Nearly all the largest and most important of modern spinning and weaving mills in the South arc interested in the project and those that have not already signed options will do so as soon as the stockholders of the sever al companies can be brought to gether to ratify agreements al ready move by accredited repre sentatives. Philadelphian* directly con cerned iu the enterprise confirm the well authenticated reports received from the South as to the adoptiou of the Pries plan, bat they decline to give out a list of the mills actually acquired. They stated that the control of the proponed holding corpora tion would be vested in represen tative mill men of the Sooth. The executive officers of the holding company will also be Southern mill men. The direc tory of the new company will in clude several Philadelphia men who are prominently identified with the cotton trade, as well as a number of cotton men actively engaged in the trade in New York. Boston and the New Eng land markets. The financial in stitutions directly concerned in the enterprise will also have rep resentatives on the board of di rectors. The mill owners them selves, however, will control the holding corporation nnder the operatioh of the Pries plan, which gives them a majority voice in the directory as well as the bonds aud preferred stock iasued^by the holding corporation All the men directly iu charge of the mills will be representative mill people of the South. HAD IT BIGHT. U Wit Billie NcOOl that Bril Bills Carried. V«WII« RKgaim. itlk. The old gentleman who gives Tot Gazkttic its interesting in formation seems to be somewhat doubtful about the identity of the man that Mr. Bolin carried on his shoulders from a deer hunt; bnt we are now able to state positively that onr firat statement was correct. The gentleman in qnestion was the late Win. McGill, father of Messrs. J. L. and L. R. McGill, of the Bethany neighborhood. Our authority this time is Mr. Lowry Bolin, a nephew of the late Brit Bolin. He lives two miles east of Yorkville and is 82 years of age. The reporter saw him In Yorkville on last Thurs day and asked him about the circumstance. "Why, of course, I remember Uncle Brit Bolin,” the old man said. "I have been deer hunting with him many a time. I was not there: bnt f have beard of him carrying Bil lie McGill. Billie McGill told me about it himself and once showed me the route over which they went back home. It was about two miles." Notwith standing his advanced age, Mr. Lowry Bolin Instill remarkably active in both body and mind. He planted a one-mule cotton wop list spring, and before he got through with his plowing be lost him mnle. "I could not get another mule for 50 cents a day," he said, "and because I did not think I could pay any more, I went to work and dug it out with a hoe. 1 am calculating that I will have five bales of cotton." A leaarfcabie Casa. waaw Cktoslel*. The little colored girl, three yean old, that waa recently shot through the head, la able to walk about again. Tnia contradict* the idea that shooting through the bnin always kin*. Tbit child was shot through the bead and the brain oosed out at each aide. It waa thought for aeveral days that the child would surely die, but it it about well now. CONTENTED MILL rEOFLE. HMilky ial liny aai Caa lay Aaytkiag Praai i Hal *1 Pm. aata ta a Cfarcaa—AfltaiaM Nat VmM. I«w«n Cm Cfaarlocu MU) Xm. The article in lest week’s issue of the Mill News relative to child labor and the tree situa tion of the Southern cotton mill laborer, is a worthy piece of newspaper work, and the editor ial comments in the tame issue are to the point and in keeping with the high ground always UlT”.b>r IS" ***** “«*> subjects. These ankles, actua ted by nothing, less than a fair impulse and a desire to do Jus tice to all parties, are worthy of the careful attention of the Southern cotton mill hands, and the result will be exposure of the Northern critics who have no moral object in view and who do not take the pains to investi gate the situation, and if they aid their hearts would be so black that the truth would not be given. Such articles as yon arc publishing will show the peo ple that the Southern cotton wiH people, as a rule, are the most contented act of people in the country. Keep the vik agitators and dirty newspaper liars sway from these peaceful homes and there will be no strife. Only a few years ago if a man could not curse os though he had slept the night before with bis feet packed in ice he was not a successful overseer or superintendent, hot such is no longer the esse. ^P*li Mr. Editor, I want yon to visit the Lowell Cotton Mill or any other mill In old Gaaton county and let me prove to yon that the children go to school, all who can and want to. We haven’t the "pale-faced girl working at the age of eight and ten years from ten to fourteen {*°*7 P«r day;" on the other hand the people are robust and healthy, happy and contented, They get the money for their work and can boy anything from a pint of peannta to a circas. So we want the search-light of the Mill News to keep after the contemptible agiuoon who don't know anything of the effects of compulsory school laws or any thing else. When yon visit this mill, the McAdcn mills, and others in this community yon will find some of the best-paid, best-behaved, most contented, church-going, school attending people; and if yon are nght good-looking yourself I can show you more pretty, red-faced girls to the square acre of i*»i« domain than you can find in any other line of work in the State. If I don't I will set you up to all you can drink (nothing stronger than the sparkling water that flows from the foot of Spencer Mountain) and all the cow peas and sweet taters that yon can masticate. Telephone Ckiafi la Shalby. SMtaSUl. There *u s big change in telephone circles in Shelby this week. The Gastonia Telephone Co., which is a part of the Bell system, has purchased the Shel by Telephone Company frtfm Messrs. A. W. and Chat. h. Eskridge, the accommodating proprietors. The change wifl be made on October 1st. The present management has given entire satisfaction sad the people of the town are anxious iW rftr Chat. L. Eskridge shall be retained as manager of this ex change when the system changes hands. He is capable and cour teous and his experience emi nently fits him for the place. lfaw KaHglaoa Paper. WlbnfuiM Mmmu IM. Tlie Rev. J. A. Smith, of Pair Bluff, and the Rev. J. I* Vipper man, of Wilmington, have begun the publication here of The Christian Soldier, which will be the organ od the Eastern Baptist chnrch. It is weekly and the subscription price Is $1 a year. R< >Val Baking Powder Safeguards the food against aksm* ' Um %$Mtm pmr4m Ml AtpoM " ' ;-v FOR THE LADIES. 0UR STOW • nwdrfty of "Bpecialriaa for Ladfaa.” V Here we keep them—the latest, the moot fashionable, the best, end therefore the amt satisfactory to onr customer*. On autumn display of baaattal things for women to wear tor passes even our own beat record in elegance, quality, sad qnastity. W* invito you to inspect our offerings, «*»-SArr.f that yon win find the very selection you want. SOME OP OUR SPECIALTIES. °*weft ** *•* fashioaable Millinery, Fnrs, Ladies Costa, Dress Goods, Waiatings, Trimmine. and att the latest designs of AppOqats and Ali-over*. Walking skins hi black and gray. Also the popular Paco Skfate. m M I L L I NE R Y. The latest and moat stylish creations of the ■BHner's art are Aown here in all their aatmhn gkay. Just the hat you want, the style you want, and the trimmings yon want are to be had here with a promptness that will please yon. JAMES F. YEAGER. BIG VALUES MEN’S SUITS AND OVERCOATS FALL AND WINTER. 1M2-1M3. sasse ROMAN, the Clothier. CRAIG & WILSON. GASTONIA. .... NORTH CAROLINA. yyE we MOW In posltlea to furnish Grain Drills, Wagons, Buggies, Surreys, and all klads of Farmlag Implements such as Disc Plows, Turn Plows, Spike Tooth Harrows. Also we hove the nicest line of winter Lap Rohes that has ever been la this town. We are always glad to hanfsar customers call and see as when in need sf anything In the shove line. Wo extend a cardial Invltatlea to one sad all. Respectfatly Vows, Craig & Wilson. Do You Need Any Furniture? BEDROOM | FURNITURE tutjTtmLhwwm*“^sjrssjs WWPMBMT HALL RACIUL j;,, LOUNGES Ais6 COUCHES WILLIAMS FURNITURE CO. D*vl» Block. Oaitonto. N. C. Charlotte Private Hospital, 12 North Clrarck Street, Charlotte, - ■ - N. C. Medical and Surgical cum treated. Traiaad Nnn**. Motel Bqmipoomt. X-Ray MmMwo aal Aecoao rita lor rivtaff Electrical Tnataaeat. Hospital Stapp: :K‘ ■' • ’ -X'-■ ;■ T- '.vi-f-. JOHN It. IRWIN. II. D. C. A. MlgKNHKIMRR. M. D. ROBT. U GIBBON, If. D.