the laboring element, the heart of the village

Hezekiah Harlow, courtesy the Drumheller family

It is easy in studying the history of a business enterprise to become so involved with financial aspects that one neglects to examine the status of the laboring element. In the case of Southern textile mills such an omission is especially serious because of the almost feudal relationship existing between the mill worker and the company itself. The scarcity of information on this problem in our study is, therefore, unfortunate. After 1880 the picture is somewhat clearer, but for the period between 1865 and 1881 we must be content with only a casual glance. --Harry Poindexter