and
are approaching closely, if they have not reached, the rate per unit of
product paid in other sections. The cost of fuel has increased, although
in some localities the development of hydro-electric power has reduced
this item. All the States have imposed restrictions upon the employment
of women and children in the mills, particularly at night. On the other
hand, taxes remain lower, the cost of building is less, and strikes and
other forms of industrial friction are still uncommon. When well
managed, the Southern mills are still extremely profitable, but margin
for error in management has become less.

The Southern mills are chiefly to be found in four States, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, and in the hill country
of these States, though a few large mills are situated in the lowlands.
North Carolina, with over three hundred mills, has more than any other
State, North or South, and consumes more cotton than any other Southern
State--over a million bales.

South Carolina, however, has more spindles, the average size of its
mills is larger, and it spins more fine yarn. North Carolina is second
only to Massachusetts in the value of its cotton products, South
Carolina comes third, Georgia fourth, and Alabama eighth. Virginia and
Tennessee are lower on the list. In quantity of cotton consumed, the
cotton growing States passed all others in 1905; and in 1916 the
consumption was twenty-five per cent greater, in spite of the fact that
New England had been increasing her spindles. Some Southern mills are
built in cities, but usually they are in the smaller towns and in little
villages which have grown up around the mills and owe their existence to
them. There is some localization of industry: a very large number of
mills, for instance, may be found in a radius of one hundred miles from
Charlotte, North Carolina, and one North Carolina county has more than
fifty mills, though the total number of spindles in that county is not
much greater than in some single New England establishment.

In the allied knitting industry the production of the South is
increasing in importance. North Carolina led the South in 1914, with
Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia, following in the order named. Though most
of the establishments are small, some are important and are
establishing a wide reputation for their product. Generally they are
situated in the towns where cotton mills have already been located.

The textile industry