AMERICA’S COTTON INDUSTRY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 450, 16 December 1930, Page 6

AMERICA’S COTTON INDUSTRY

£VERY no w and again the chorus of praise for industrial conditions in the United States of America is punctured by some inconvenient fact which reveals that Americans have much to learn from Britain and New Zealand. This land of lauded high wages has some industries in which conditions are far from satisfactory. For instance, the low grade workers in the lumber industry earn wages which are inadequate to say the least. Now another tack in the tire has been provided by the publication of the fact that the American Cotton Textile Institute has succeeded in getting the majority of the cotton textile mills to agree that night work for women and minors must be stopped, and energetic measures are now being taken to get a definite agreement from 75 per .■e;..t. of the industry that will mean putting these humane intentions into actual practice. It has not been an uncommon practice to run the mills for as much as 14b hours: a week, but eventually a schedule was adopted whereby not more than 55 hours a week by day and s(t hours by night was not exceeded. This limitation of operation was not found to be harmful, indeed it was discovered that it was better for all concerned. But how unfavourably does this compare with conditions in Nev. Zealand. It must always be remembered that money wages are not the only factor to be considered; working conditions and shorter hours and social services must be taken into account. Those people who cite the wages index figures alone to show the relative position of the New Zealand worker in 19.14 and to-day cite only part of the proposition. Hours and conditions must also be brought into the account. The same conclusion must be made when, comparing conditions between one country and another. America’s standard cannot be so high compared with that of Nc.v Zealand when such reforms as are here indicated have yet to be brought about in the cotton mills.