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Mill News. Vol. XXII, no. 16 (Oct. 14, 1920)
Charlotte, N.C.: Mill News Print. Co., 1920.

Summary

Mill News, a weekly publication serving the southern mill industry, was founded in 1899 by Charles M. Ray. and George S. Escott. Escott served as the paper's president and editor for many years before turning over editorial control to his son, Albert, in 1911. George Escott was born near Grand Rapids, Michigan, on March 23, 1845, and he taught school for some twenty years before becoming a traveling salesman at age forty for the Valley City Milling Company of Grand Rapids. After Escott resigned his position as the Mill News's editor, he continued to contribute to the publication and later to The American Wool and Cotton Reporter of Boston, the paper that bought Mill News in 1922 or 1923. He died September 7, 1926 in Columbia, South Carolina, at age eighty-one.

This issue of the Mill News (October 14, 1920) was named the second "Peace and Prosperity" number. It was not a work of journalism, but a kind of handbook of the mill industry as it existed in the Southeast at that time, paid for by the companies described in its pages. Editor Albert Escott pitched it to potential advertisers as "a beautiful album of views of the mills and the villages that make up the Textile South . . . from Virginia to Texas." Advertisements and news items geared toward mill owners and businessmen are included at the beginning and end of the bulletin, while the middle of the issue describes specific mills around the region. Each mill entry includes the names of mill officials; a description of the facilities; what is manufactured there; the recent improvements made to the mill, houses, and other buildings; recreational and educational opportunities for employees; employee salaries; opportunities for promotion; employee morale; and the modern amenities planned or currently in place. Each entry is illustrated with photographs of facilities and people. A Mill-Buyer’s index at the end lists materials important in operating mills, along with companies that sell products in each category.

Works Consulted: Clippings on George Smith Escott, pp. 180-189, North Carolina Collection Clipping File Through 1975: Biography, North Carolina Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Monique Prince
Elizabeth McAulay

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