Some of the industrial communities were clean and self-respecting, but conditions depended largely upon the individual in charge of the mill.
As the years went on and more and more mills were built, the demand for operatives increased.

To draw them from the farms, it was necessary to improve living conditions in the mill villages and to increase wages.
Today the mill communities are generally clean, and care is taken to exclude immoral individuals.

Payment of wages in cash became the rule.

The company store persisted, but chiefly as a matter of convenience to the operatives; and in prices it met and often cut below those charged in other stores in the vicinity.

The hours of labor were reduced gradually.
Seventy-two became the maximum, but most mills voluntarily ran sixty-nine or even sixty-six.