Cannon Mills and Kannapolis: Persistent Paternalism in a Textile Town

7. Paternalism Expanded: Charles Cannon and Welfare Work

Chapter 7 Paternalism Expanded: Charles Cannon and Welfare Work With Cannon Manufacturing Company under the leadership of Charles Cannon, the firm expanded its welfare work. Labor historian Stuart Brandes defined welfare work, or welfare capitalism, as “any service provided for the comfort or improvement of employees which was neither a necessity of the industry nor required by law.”1 Brandes believed that industrialists initiated welfare work for three reasons. First, altruism motivated some employers. Second, employers wished to get more control over their employees to make them better workers. If the programs begun by the employer made the workers more efficient and loyal, then welfare capitalism was an investment in personnel that resulted in a direct economic benefit for the employer. Third, employers used company programs to battle unions. They believed that by offering programs and fringe benefits advocated by unions, firms could blunt the attractiveness of unions and avoid unionization.2 James W. Cannon had laid the foundation of welfare work, or welfare capitalism, at the Cannon Manufacturing Company. Housing, education, and recreation, as mentioned earlier, received his attention. He was also interested in employee health. In 1917, the county health department began offering typhoid shots to the residents of Cabarrus County. The mill owner convinced the health department to offer the vaccinations to all Cannon employees in the county.3 Charles continued and expanded the welfare work instituted by his father. In 1923 some mills of Concord, including the Cannon Manufacturing Company, employed a Metropolitan Life Insurance 80 @ Paternalism Expanded nurse. Besides seeing patients for illnesses, the Metropolitan nurse also conducted classes for mill operatives in health and hygiene. The Metropolitan nurse worked under the auspices of the county health department.4 Augmenting the work of the county and Metropolitan nurses, the county health department also employed a tuberculosis nurse. Charles Cannon understood that mill operatives were especially susceptible to tuberculosis because of the nature of mill work, indoor work with long shifts and limited circulation of fresh air. Cannon and his companies supported the work of the tuberculosis nurse by contributing to the Cabarrus County Tuberculosis Nurse Fund. The Cannon Manufacturing Company contributed three hundred dollars per year. Cannon served with the Cabarrus County Tuberculosis Association and routinely contributed three hundred dollars yearly during this period.5 The company took additional actions to promote the health of its employees. Replacing the work of the Metropolitan nurse, the firm created a medical department in 1928. As the company put more resources into its Table 5 Mills’ Contributions to Churches, 1928 Mills Churches Amount Gibson and Hobarton Manufacturing Cos. McGill St. Baptist Church $50.00 Kerr St. Methodist Church $50.00 Bayliss Memorial Presby. $50.00 Protestant Methodist $50.00 Calvary Lutheran Church $50.00 Franklin Cotton Mills Westford Methodist Church ($41.66 paid monthly to Rev. A. R. Bell through office payroll) $500.00 West Concord Baptist $50.00 Norcott Mills Co. West Concord Baptist $50.00 Kesler Manufacturing Co. Park Avenue Methodist $100.00 Patterson Manufacturing Co. China Grove Methodist $100.00 Sources: G. B. Lewis to C. A. Cannon, letter titled “Welfare,” Box 195, Gifts to Churches, etc., 1925–32, Charles A. Cannon Collection. This letter lists the mills as numbered plants, the new designations after the consolidation. Conversion to the older mills’ names was made using a company memo converting the mills’ names to the new plant designations. Cannon Mills Company, Treasurers’ Office Series, Box 42, Cannon Mills Collection. Paternalism Expanded ^ 81 own medical staff, it ceased support for the Metropolitan nurse and became one of North Carolina’s leaders in industrial medicine. Eventually, the medical department grew to a staff of fifty employees with three physicians.6 Charles Cannon did not confine welfare work to employee medical care. He continued his father’s practice of supplementing pastors’ salaries from mill coffers (see table 5). Reasons for supporting churches varied. Both J. W. and Charles Cannon were devoted church members. The Cannons may have believed that by giving to area churches, they were improving the spiritual life of the community and their workers. They believed that operatives who attended church regularly made better workers, as family stability, sobriety , and respect for civil leadership were usual messages of the churches and wholeheartedly supported by the industrialists. Industrialists could also work through the churches to affect public issues to their advantage. One such issue in Concord was prohibition. Both the Odells in the Methodist community...