Working in the Mill
Fig. 15. The Avalon Mills, mule spinning. Emmett R. Suttenfield, overseer.
Workers were required to be on the job by 6:00 A.M.1 The work week consisted of sixty-nine hours: twelve hours a day, Monday through Friday with nine hours on Saturday. Sunday was the only day off. When deadlines had to be met it wasn't uncommon for work to go into overtime. Although some mills did, sources suggest that the Avalon Mill never ran a night shift.
Mill villages were working villages and long hours rewarded by low wages was the theme of Southern cotton mills. In 1900 workers in North Carolina cotton mills were paid: $1 to $2.50 per day for skilled men, 60 cents to $1 for unskilled men, 75 cents to $1.50 for skilled women, 30 to 75 cents for unskilled women, and 20 to 30 cents for children2.
With long hours and low pay, what was it that lured workers into the mill village? One of the attractions was a steady income. Farmers and farm laborers found refuge in the mills. For many farmers it was a move in a positive direction. The hours in cotton mills were long, but farm work often demanded an equal or greater number of hours. During the time, farm labor was more intensive as farmers weren't using tractors to tend the land. In farming there were no guarantees of a successful crop. Bad years for crops devastated farmers while good years drove prices down. For many farm laborers, after years of toiling under the hot sun, the idea of earning a steady income and working indoors must have been enticing.
For others, the mill's available housing was a perk. People who migrated from other areas who had nothing or were uneducated could become gainfully employed and provide housing for their families at the same time. However, the company-owned housing was not a free benefit. Employees living in the village were obligated to pay rent. In mill villages it was normal for rent to be charged by the room rather than by the house. It might seem that this per room renting arrangement was designed to keep large families out of the village--it wasn't. The reason for the arrangement was due to the company's need to house both individuals and families. It did, however, encourage families to pile as many as they could in a single room. The mills required a certain number of employees to run the operation. The company built only the number of houses it deemed necessary to employ the mill. In 1910 at Avalon there was roughly one house for every two employees. Housing was limited and mill owners couldn't afford to have a bunch of rooms filled with unemployed people. In spite of this, mill owners preferred bringing entire families into the village over hiring individuals. People who were encumbered by children were more likely to be loyal to the company and remain content with monotonous labor. And due to a lack of labor laws, large families provided more laborers per room than individuals. To encourage employees to live in the village the cost of rent was kept lower than what was being charged elsewhere.3.
Not everyone who worked at Avalon lived in the village. At least some of them came from across the river from the area known as Bentontown on Cedar Point Mountain. For some of those who took advantage of the mills' housing it may have proved to be a curse in disguise. Think about it: families living in mill villages were dependent on their jobs for both income and housing. In times of dispute the scenario did not leave a lot of room for argument or negotiation with mill management. For potential employees the perks associated with the mill village may have been seen as matters of great convenience. However, it's clear that the convenience of it all rested in the hands of the mill owners.
Being privately owned, the village of Avalon had neither a governmental body nor a police force to keep things in check. Issues that arose were dealt with or negotiated by company management.
- 1. Foushee, Ola Maie, Avalon: A North Carolina Town of Joy and Tragedy (Chapel Hill, NC: Books, 1977), 77.
- 2. Report of the Industrial Commission of the Relations and Conditions of Capital and Labor Employed in Manufacturers of General Business, vol. VII (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1901), 51.
- 3. "Southern Mills: Rent," The Protectionist: A Monthly Magazine of Political Science and Industrial Progress (Boston) May 1912, 15.
- Fig 15 - Unknown, Emmett R. Suttenfield (1900-1911), Location, Avalon, NC, Image [from Avalon: A North Carolina Town of Joy and Tragedy (Chapel Hill, NC: Books, 1977), 21].