The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, May 26, 1922, Page PAGE EIGHT, Image 8
f S. M. MILUKEN C
;i' ?????
DEDICATED
of wm. F. GREENE. G1
BUILDING OF THE MILL?T
KEN, CALLED THE REA
The address follows:
It is more than a quarter of a cen
tury since the Abbeville Cotton Mill
was organized. We meet at the end
of that period, in the heyday of the
mill's progress and prosperity to turn
over to the operatives, tv the em-j
ployees, and to the officers of the
mill, and to the people of this mill
villatrp. this beautiful building, erect
*d by the mill authorities for the
comfort and convenience, for the
social and educational advantage of
the people who live here and from
year to year make the village for
ketter or for worse. All of us owe
much to those directors of the mill
who reside away from Abbeville fori
this evidence of their benevolent pur
poses towards us and our city, as well
as for many other evidences of their
good-will. Especially are we indebted
to Mr. Hatch, the president of the
mill, for his constant and earnest de
I sire to promote at all times the best
interests of the people who help to
make this corporation.
But while we owe much to him and
to the others who are more largely
interested in the mill from a financial1
standpoint, it has seemed to us that^
it would not be out of place today,
to speak for a little while of the men I
who built the Abbeville Cotton Mill, i
who made it a going concern, who
guided it over its financial breakers
xnd finally developed it into one of
the best equipped mills in the state,
as you have made it one of the best
manned mills in the state.
The mill was incorporated in 1896,
with a capital stock of $65,000. Thei
incorporators were G. A. Visanska,
W. C. McGowan, W. A. Templetpn,
Frank B. Gary, J. Fuller Lyon, R. M.
Haddon, J. R. Blake, Jr., J. Hayne
McDill and-J. C. Klugh. All of these
tut three have gone, we trust, to a
better country. On their application
the charter was granted Feb. 24,
.tSSSf with the following directors:
J. C. Klugh, who was made the first
president of the mill, W. H. Parker,
who was secretary, G. A. Visanska,
P. L. Grier, W. A. Templeton, Hugh
Wilson, B. F. Bailey, G. A. Neuffer,
and C. P. Hammond. All of these er
cept two have crossed to the other
eide of the river. The other two did
not long continue as members of the
Board of Directors. The early bur
den bearers of the mill are all of the
?au.eui
Almost from the beginning the
corporation experienced financial
difficulties. A, contract was let for
the buliding when there was not
^ enough money to complete even if.
In June of the same year 1896, it
became necessary to increase the cap
ital stock, the amount of authorized
capital being made $200,000. On
the certificate of increase, the name
f Benj. S. Barnwell, who became
ne of the staunchest friends and sup
porters of the enterprise, occurs as a
J: * ? r? iV.
uiicuuui avi uic uiat uaic.
I
Mr. B. F. Bailey, who had during
the summer made a considerable in
vestment in the stock of the com
pany and on account of being at that
time the largest stockholder of the
corporation, succeeded J. C. Klugh as
president, the latter soon after being
?lected a Judge of the Circuit Court
of the State. But the money contrib
uted to the corporation by the issue
of new stock was soon exhausted and
there was no visible means of carry
ingr iorwara tne project to comple
tion. The corporation had borrowed
iaoraiy on its notes, endorsed by the
directors. I recall vividly the declara
tions of my old law partner, Hon.
Wm. H. Parker, who always declared
when: asked to endorse another note, j
Cfur: he had already endorsed to such!
an extent for the mill that he felt!
fre<.- and easy to make any other on- ]
dorsement demanded of him.
The point had been reached at'
length where somebody else must
<2?>me to the rescue, or the Abbeville
Cotton Mil! faccd an inevitable re
ceivership. It was at this time that
Mr. Stephen Greene, of Boston, one
if the architects of the building:, dis
covered for the directors a man ca
pable of leading the mill out of the
wilderness of its financial troubles.
This man was S. M. Milliken, the
* ?.! bu!Hi?r of the Abbeville Cotton
(IMMUNITY BUILDING
MAY 23, 1922.
iVING SOME FACTS ABOUT THE
RIBUTE TO SETH M. MILLI
L BUILDER OF THE MILL
(Mill and the developer of this mill
village.
This was in 1897. Mr. MHIUcen was
then sixty-one years of age. He was
born in 1836 in a small town in the
state of Maine. His father was a
country store-keeper, a farmer and
a miller. He was adescendant of
the sturdy Scotch stock who came to
America as a land of promise and
who looked forward to the new home
as a place for development, and for ,
building. He thus came of the same ^
stock as largely did the people who (
in after life he so-greatly'served in
this section. He was educated in the
village school. After a few terms he
became the teacher of the school,
passing on to others what he had ^
learned of the three "R's" reading, .
(w)riting and 'rithmetic.
i
In time the country store and the^
mill of the father fell to the son. i
Here he laid the foundation of his j
future- career. The country store I
1 ?- J J ' J 11 aIi I
wnere ne comnuiiceu, um uu?,
resemble the great store in New York
where his career was closed. In the j
former he sold everything from eggsj^
to dress goods; likely he drew all!
the contracts between the farmers' j
and their tenants in his neighborhood, J
and as a country merchant, it must (
have been his duty to interpret the':
law for his neighbors on all subjects.!
Certain it is that he was frequently j(
called on to settle neighborhood dif- J
Acuities. One of these difficulties!,
which he liked to tell about was a i
l<
misunderstanding between Hiram;
Brown and Mr. Brown. Hiram came',
' ' ^ ? ^ ? f nH Pflir. l
CO tnc siore-Aecj;ei iui wnkc, ^
ing, "Seth, Mrs. Brown and I have
decided to divide the house. She cal-|
culates that I shall have the outside!
and she will have the inside." But!
Seth closed the country store long
enough to compromise the differences
between the two good people and per- j
suade them to start again from the j
point where they were before the ^
division of the house was approached.
He gained, too, from his contact with ]
the people a large insight into the (
selfishness and other traits of hu
man nature. He liked to tell another ^
anecdote; A farmer and his wife had
come to the country store to buy a (
birthday present for the wife, who
was named Maria. Everything in the
store was priced and much considera
tion given to the subjejct, when the {
husband finally "guessed" he would
take six yards of cotton cloth so .
Maria could make him a new night
shirt. His example in buying a birth
day present for the wife is said to #
<
be followed largely to tms day oy t
some of his Scotch cousins in Due ,
West. The country store from the ex
perience of its keeper and on ac
count of its being the gathering
place of the neighborhood, thus be
came the center of every kind of
business in the community and the
keeper became a distinguished per
son there because of his proprietor
ship.
But Mr. Milliken was not the kind
of merchant to be satisfied with what
other country merchants did and
were doing in other like communi
ties. He had good judgment, he
knew how to make money. But he (
was more than this?he was a man .
of imag'nation in business?he had \
the power of vision, the sine qua non (
of success in any calling. <
And because he was a man of im- i
agination in business he decided to 1
put his ship out to sea, so to speak, i
One day he bought a large amount <
of potatoes from the farmers of his j
community and instead of bartering {
them in the community and in near- i
by towns, he shipped them to New']
York, following by rail. The pota-. 1
toes were sold at a profit. The visit-1 i
or wa? imnrssod with the city. He de-'
sired to investigate'its possibilities;
and to see all of the sights of the!.
M.'Cr.t city where so much of his later,
life was to be spent. No doubt he I
saw it all. Me was accustomed to tell j
one incident of his first visit to thej
metropolis. One day as he was sight-j
seeing he came upon a great crowd.
He edged himself towards the centcr'
of the crowd where interest seemed'
to be focused. When he had gotten!
well into the crowd he discovered a
fight in progress and almost immedi
taught him not to be inquisitive about
crowds, he said, and in after life he
preferred to be far away from the
maddening throng.
After his visit to New York, along
with his partner, he. opened a store
in Maine under the style of Deering,
Milliken & Co., which soon became
a business factor in that city. The
firm moved to New York in a little
while where it began business in a
small w?v. Mr. Milliken, it is stated.
had a dry goods box for his desk anl
acted as his own porter, office boy,
salesman and bookkeeper. He was
not afraid of work and the business
grew. In time William Deering, his
partner, retired from the firm to be
come the head of the harvesting ma
chinery business in Chicago, which
bore his name. Hither he would have
had Mr. Milliken also go and a great
merchant he would have become in
the windy city of the Golden West,
but in his mind he had visualized the
:areer of a great merchant in the
greatest city in the world and he
:hose to remain for the accomplish
ment of his vision.
It was about this time that the
hum of the spindle began to be heard
in the South. The great product
Aim flnlrlp Vi,qrl fVion Koonin fn Ko
jsed and to be made into cloth at the
edges of the fields whence it was
gathered. Mr. Milliken at once de
fined the possibilities of the young
enterprises of this section and he de
eded to become and did become a
sioneer in Southern textile manufac
;uring.
It was about this time as already
ndicated that Mr. Stephen Greene
Erected his a/ttention to the Abbeville
Dotton Mill. An investigation wasj
nade and he determined to help the <
mterprise. And though it had many
storms to weather and much rough
"oads to travel, he guided it from
:hat day to the day of his death un
erringly toward success. It was his
enterprise and its success was all his
iwrnnnlicitimprit. It was his vision
;hat foresaw the way to success and
it was left to him to blaze the way
jut. He bought largely of the com
mon stock of the mill and urged oth
ers to buy. He caused the first issue
sf preferred stock and then the sec
ond issue to be offered to the pub
lic, offering to loan to worthy stock
tiolders, on long time and at easy
terms,'the money with which to pur
chase their share of each issue, and
finally bought himself all of both is
sues which others would not buy. I
recall that some of the directors at
:he one time or the other doubted the
tvisdom of issuing more preferred
stock and that at other times some
loubted the wisdom of other
ilans which he made for the
nill. That has been a con
siderable time ago, and looking back
low over the road which the mill has
Tavelled, as the oldest director now
>n the Board, in point of service
>nly, it is a pleasure for me to say
is others who know would gladly say
;hat his advice always proved sound,
;nat nis pians always wuri\.eu uuu iv
naturity and that with us he made
10 mistakes. In his dealings with
js, he was never over-enthusiastic
jut he was never pessimistic. When
le had blazed a road to travel he
cnew that it led up the hill to prog
*ess whatever the difficulties en
:ountered. And having blazed a road
;o travel, he traveled it.
While Mr. Milliken was doing so
nuch for the Abbeville Cotton Mill,
le was all the while directing his
>wn large business in New York City
ind was likewise interested Ln many
>ther Southern mills similar to ours,
is well as in Northern mills. And as
le directed the destinies of these
:orporations in the North and in the
South and continued to manage the
hTairs of Deering, Milliken & Co.,
-"e developed into a tower of strength
n his adopted city. His marvelous
success with his own business, his
far-sightedness in business matters
generally, his sound judgment, but
most of all his high character and
proven integrity made of him a man
to whom people instinctively turned
in the day of their troubles.
At one time he saved a great bank
in New York City from failure by
iiiing the presidency and actively
participating in the management
' frVi lin u-ys 11I1 vc'/Vll 5 V unn'ilfi fr?
undertake so huge a task, as it seem
ed io some of his associates. It was
only a few years airo that one of the
!n Spartanlwvcr county, in thi
state, was enveloped by a flood and
swent away in swift disaster. Its ob
ligations at that time were such that
if pressed the stockholders would
have lost heavily and the employees
v >ukl have suffered great hardships
from being turned out of their homes.
But the stricken mill was a Milliken
mill. The banks which held its obliga
tions were quietly told to send their
notes to him as they matured and
they would be paid. Some idea of the
confidence men had in him is to be
gained from the statement that not
one of these notes was presented to
him for payment. The mill and its
owners were saved ana csetn m. mu
liken was the bulwark that saved
them from a financial flood as por
tentous as the flood which destroyed
the physical plant.
Mr. Milliken was what we of the
South would call a stern Maine Yan
kee. His Scotch ancestry, the place
of his birth, and the many and varied
duties which he performed, had com
bined to give to him perhaps his
stem exterior self. Those who knew
him casually judged him to be aus
tere, a somewhat cold and calculating
business man, without emotion and
not affected in business by humane
considerations for others. But while
he was thinking always of the finan
cial affairs of his mills and of success
in their development, those who
knew him best tell us that he thought
also of the men who manned his en
I
terprises; that he thought of those,
who arose early, ate the frugal meali
by the lighted candle and went down'
to the turning wheels while it was|
yet dark. Better living conditions,!
better lives, better homes, recreation 1
after working hours, good schools!
and fine play grounds?these could |
not come in his day because his mills
were still struggling for their exist
ence. The mortgages had not been!
paid off, which will tell us of the1
South the real conditions. But those!
ivho have been left to provide these ad
vantages for this mill village today
would have you know that they are f
doing so not alone of their own mo-j
tion and desire, but because S. M. I
Milliken so willed it and because he I
would have done so had he lived to I
this good day.
'
And because of his great interest!
in the Abbeville Cotton Mill, because!
he carried the burden of its financial:
troubles until it could walk alone,
because of his faithful labor in build
ing this community and gathering
together in this beautiful village the
people who make it because of his
unfailing friendship for the people
who thought and worked here and
whose thoughts and efforts combined
in some measure to help him in hip
endeavors?because of all these
things it has pleased the officers of|
the corporation to open to the peo
ple of the village this building today
and to set it aside for the benevolent
purposes for which it is intended, and
it pleases them equally well and theyj
have thought it proper at the same:
time to make some public acknowl-1
edgement of the services of the real I
benefactor of this community. So in
his honor and as our testimony to
his work and worth it has been de
cided that henceforth it shall be the
"S. M. MILUKEN COMMUNITY
BUILDING."
Above the main entrance to the
building is a marble slab bearing this
name. We unveil it today in his
memory.
And as the years pass and the of
ficer and employee of this corpora
tion, the husband and wife of this
village, the gallant swain and the
pretty sweetheart, and the little chil
dren pass in and out of these doors
and under this slab, is it too much
to hope that we all may learn some-(
thing from the history of his life;
may we not hope to catch at least
the spirit of thrift, of self reliance,)
of constant and unfailing effort in
all our enterprises, which he exhib
ited in his life and in his work? May
we not all try to make our lives out
standing as his was for fair dealing
and high character, strict integrity
and for helpfulness to others? He
who built this mill, who caused this
beautiful village to grow where be
fore there was nothing but hills and
a valueless waste, the man who
thought it all out while other people
slept, so to speak, has gone from
amongst us, but in his going he has
left us in other kindly hands. God
speed them in all good works for this
village and this people. May the
house which he planned grow strong
er with the passing years, and may
his tribe increase.
FIRE CHIEF TAKES REST
tV,o AKWIIIn Ti,..,
Department Grover Wilson left yes
terday for Columbia, Savannah and
points south for a vacation of abou!
ten days.
Copyright 1922 Hart Schaffi
What yc
this i
1 The Best
2 Finest Qui
3 Good Va
4 Personal
5 Satisfactic
Hart Si
& Marx
take car
first tw<
we take
1 ' J
the rest
TK^.o fix
reasons wh;
ought to con
THE R0SENB1
EISJ2JSI3J3MSISiSJ5ISi3?3I3I5I3M3JSJ3J3M3M3I
MRS. DRAKE WILL
RUN FOR OFFICE
She Enters The Race For State
Superintendent of Edu
cation
Bennettsville, May 24.?Mrs.
Bessie Rogers Drake, who has 'been
o<ut of town for several days, was
asked tday if she had definitely de
cided to enter the race for the of
fice of State Superintendent of
Education. Heir reply was ,"Yes, I
will make the race." She further
said, "I think I should say that the
requests which have come to me
from some of# the ladies educa
tors of the state to run, hav? in
creased my confidence in the idea
that I can be of service to the
~ * * * * * iLoi
State at tnis time, i am sure uwi
my friends will realize that the de
sir? to serve the educational inter
ests of the State prompts me to
take this step. I am not unmindful
that arduous duties and great re
sponsibilities face me. I trust I may
prove myself not unworthy of the
kind expressions contained *in let
ters and telegrams which I have re-!
ceived from these friends."
The Marlboro people are much1
interested in Mrs. Drake's an-j
nouncement. She will have the en_ j
thuisastic support or tne men ana'
women here who know her so wall
for they i*ecognize her worth and j
ability.
rutACH FOR PRESBYTERIANS
flov r. R. Williams of Due West;
will preach in the Presbyterian!
church Sunday morning.
ier & Marx
>u get at
store
Style,
ality.
ilue.
Service.
>n.
chaffner
.clothes
e of the
9 items;
care of
re good
y you
le here
RG MER. CO.
sjaiaajsiaisji
WANTS
POTATO SLIPS FOR SALE?Porto
Rico potato slips for sale, pulled
fresh from the bed as ordered.
R. S. McComb, Phone 405. 5,12tfc.
FOR RENT?Four up-stairs rooms
with all convenience?. Apply to
Mrs. R. C. Wilson, 19 Haigler st.,
phone 375-3. tf. col.
FOR SALff?Eggs at 30 cents a
dozen. tf.
Phone 1. Mrs. D. A. Rogers.
We are the EVERSHARP Pencil ser
vice store all EVERSHARP part*
are renewable. We have therti also
full line of Eversharp pencils and
lead. THE ECHO. 3, 13tf.
BISHOP KILGO ILL
Memphis, May 24.?The condi
tion of Bishop J. C. Kilgo of the
Methodist church Was reported to
night "by phyisicians to be serious.
He has acute indigestion. He was
en route to Charlotte.
DR. L. V. LISINBEE
OPTIMETR1ST
...Office Over...