Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

Textile The American consumer has benefited I from intense competition in the textile in- < dustry with more than 5,000 companies i vying for a share of the U.S. market. I Despite spiraling costs of many goods and < services over the last decade, textile prices have managed to stay well below the rate of i inflation. Frnm 1Q7P tn 1 QRP thp avpraop rnct r.f consumer products rose 137 percent. At the same time, the price of textile products rose by half that amount. As a result of its continuing program of modernization, the U.S. textile industry is at the top of the world in textile productivity efficiency. Spinning and weaving operations of U.S. textile companies are unmatched anywhere in the world, according to Werner ' Associates, a leading international textile consulting firm. Japan, regarded as the world's most productive steel manufacturer, is just 74 percent as productive in textiles as the U.S. industry. The textile industry is one of the most productive industries in America. Since 1960, textile productivity has grown at an average rate of nearly 4 percent a year com pared with 2.8 percent for all U.S. manufacturing industries. Such productivity growth has been expensive for textiles, requiring an investment of $13 billion in the last 10 vparv hut thp results have hppn dramatic Today, machinery cleans cotton and other fibers 10 times faster than machines did 10 years ago. Looms can carry yarn on jets of water or air at rates of up to 450 threads per minute and produce 100 yards of cloth an hour, twice as fast as looms of a decade ago. Matching m mm mm _ bin i-orms Available in Main Office The Bailey Foundation's matching giftsto-education program is designed toencour Iage Clinton Mills, Inc., its subsidiaries and affiliated corporations and M S. Bailey & ion, Banners. employees 10 give personal financial support to qualifying educational institutions. The Bailey Foundation will match the first $50 of gifts in a calendar year on a two forone basis. This means that if an employee gives $50. the Bailey Foundation will give $100, or. if an employee gives $25, the Foundation will give $50. After the first $50. the gifts will be matched on a one-forone basis, subject to a maximum limitation of $2,000 annually. Employees who are retired under one of the Company's pension plans will be eligible to participate in the Program. IAn employee contribution is one which is the personal gift of an employee, actually paid by the employee, and not merely pledged to a qualifying educational institution An eligible employee may make a contribution to more than one qualifying educational institition. Matching Gifts to education forms can be obtained in the Main Office from Mack Par sons. Comp . . .The A ..aser beams can inspect 10,000 yards o ;iom an nour ? id rimes raster man a ndividual could do a decade ago. Compu :ers are used throughout the industry fc everything from accounting to cloth drying In the area of human resources develop nent, a survey conducted by the textile ir Blended Jeopard Remember the term "Category 613." That's the U.S. tariff schedule code f< fabrics made from spun yard that's most man-made fiber ? for example, 65 percei polyester/35 percent cotton batiste, brad* loth printcloth. Our Bailey Plant make these goods. The category was not covered in the recei bilateral treaty agreed upon by the U.S. ar China. Through September, more than nir (9) million square yards of this fabric ha been imported to the American market froi China and more was on the way. That's a 3 percent increase so far this year. OHirialc nf tho Amoriran Tovtilo Mani facturers Institute have complained aboi the situation to a new government task fort created to police and implement our varioi etition merican Consumer I if dustry's national trade association, the 2 n American Textile Manufacturer's Institute, cc i- indicated that the industry is involved in a in ir massiveandcontinuingtramingand retrain- te ing program involving more than 200,000 pi ?- employees. pi i- Each year, the survey showed, some rr Imported lize Some I textile agreements. The ATM I group noted c ar that Chinese fabrics in Category 613 are ly being priced well below comparable Amer- w it ican fabrics. They want the government to a c- establish a quota limit on Category 613 as y ?s soon v xissible. uni.ia, or course, nas Deen tne lastest p nt growing textile exporter to this country. The a id new textile treaty allows an average annual t< ie growth in Chineses imports of 3 8 percent, id about double our domestic market growth. c m But there are some surprises behind the av- e 10 erages: c ? Category 613 was left out completely. a Li- ?"Bonuses" were added to the base year . n ut 1983, on which future growth is calculated c ;e They averaged 17.5 percent, and in effect js allowed that much additional import in- t Hfjanfesgtot 's that time of year when we pause ) give thanks for the plentiful arvests which our nation has enjoyed iroughout the year, while praying lat those harvests may ever continue ) be bountiful. Let us also pray )r guidance...that the fruits of the arth may bless every table iroughout this land. That is our arnest hope on this Thanksgiving >ay, November 24, 1983. ~ ~ ?mnrriBn Pace 7 Has Benefited 14,000 people are newly-hired by textile jmpames, the vast majority of them requirgsome training. In addition, some 88,000 ;xtile employees are promoted to a higher aying or higher skilled job. Of these, 36 ercent are women and 25 percent are unorities. Fabrics Markets reases. ? In woven men's and boy's shirts made nth mostly man-made fibers the Chinese re allowed a 13.3 percent increase the first ear. ? Senators and Congressmen who supmrt textiles have urced the new task force nd President Reagan to get tough on the extile import problem. In the meantime, however, textile people an do helpful things: keep reminding your lected officials (and candidates seeking iffice) that uncontrolled imports hurt you md your families and friends; and buy U.S.nade textiles whenever and wherever you an. Remember Category 613. It's your future hat's at stake here.