The Portland daily press., 1870-12-10
DAILY PRESS.
ND
Saturday Morning, Deoembsr 10, 1870.
Jay and its Mill.


Yourreaders have doubtless noticed that
factory is soon to be set in operation in the
town of Jay, to the capital stock of which the
to,on has become contributor to the amount
OF $4,000, the remainder of the capital being
furnished by private parties.
Jay is farming town. Its people are farm
ers. Its wealth is of agricultural derivation.
Yet portion of the property of these tillers
OF the soil has been taken to set on foot with
in the town a private manufacturing enter
prise. What might seem surprising, these
farmers have consented thus to be mulcted.
What is the meaning of this?
In part it means, doubtless, that certain To-
cal conveniences are to be snbserved by the
enterprise. For the rest, and much the larger
part, it means that these farmers have deter
mined to help their Agriculture by helping
Manufactures. They reason thus: This facto-
ry is to employ fifty hands. These fifty hands
no longer producers will become with their
families and dependents, consumers of farm
products. Thousands of dollars worth of the
yield of our land is thus to find a ready mar
ket close at hand, free of the cost of transport
tation. Much OF this produce cannot be car
ried any distance owing to its bulk, and per-
ishable natnre. This bought and eaten in
our midst is clear gain. Besides we can raise
vastly more than now, if we can sell it and
sell it from the market wagon. Relieved in
our little market of the rivalry of these fifty
workers we can sell promptly and at good
prices, and every product of our farm will
take on value before unknown. But as the
products Of the land become more valuable,
land itself becomes more valuable. Our
farms will rent and sell for more. Our honses
barns and other buildings will sympathize in
the increased valuation, because from being
mere shelters they will become instruments
In the processes of a profitable husbaudry.-
Further, the fifty being taken from the tilling
OF the soil, room for some 81 our sons and
daughters is made. Our young men and
women will not be obliged to flee from us as
now. They can mahe living at home. Thus
we will do something to check the emigration
that depopulates, impoverishes and destroys
the State.
Further, these fifty will some of them soon
want houses of their own TO live in. The
granite in our pastures will be needed for un-
derpinning; the hemlock, spruce and pine in
our woods for the carpentry, the clay on the
river banks for brick. Our own oxen can do
the transportation. No middlemen will stand
betwixt us and our customer and our pay.
The poplar on our steep hillsides will come
down to be cut up into salt boxes; the grey
and yellow birch will be in request for spools
and bobbins; our beech and maple forests will
be turned by the hundreds of cords into
starch boxes, spice boxes, proprietary medI-
cine boxes, fruit cases, etc., whereof the mar
ket now calls for millions monthly. If the
mill runs by steam it will make better prices
for our wood; if by water-power it will turn
the now wasted force of the Androscoggin in
to wealth and the materials of human com
fort. The mill will run all the year; can fur
nish employment all the year, and means 0
support to its workers and market for us al
the year. Some of our children have me
chanical turn. They don't like farming
These can find their place in the mill. Very
likely too the services of some weakly folks
will be in request, for sorting or packing the
goods or tacking them together. So these car
earn living who could not do the heavy
work of the farm. Wages will be likely to &C
up; but we don't care. Onr own people will
get the wages. We don't mind how higI
wages we have to pay, if we only can sell oul
produce at good prices; the worker who gets
good wages can pay good prices. The mil
will bring money here. 1t will send out
manufactured into useful forms, our tree
trunks now worth four dollars cord, ani
bring back in exchange for them scores if mo-
hundreds of dollars cord. We shall turr
the working power of many human hands
now perforce well nigh wasted for two-third
the year, into tangible resource. Nothin
rots men or States like idleness There wi
be more of us. We can have better school
and churches, more home and social resource
and comforts. The dressmaker, the shoe
maker, the tailor, the shop-keeper, artisans o
all sorts will have more to do and can com
mand reader and ampler pay. We don't ex
pect this one mill to bring on the economical
millennium in our midst, but it will help
and if this succeeds others will follow.
So, Mr.. Editor, the farmers of Jay reason
and for considerations such as these, in fal
greater number than now have space to re
cite, they have voted $4,000 for a mill. 1
only it falls into the right hands and is vel
managed, they will be paid manifold, and
whether the $4,000 are ever replaced in the
town treasury or not. The moral of all this
is let the State By a general laao authorize
any town to aid in the Institution of mana
Jactures in its midst. There will be some
blunders made; some enterprises will be un.
successful. But nothing can be bo so ruin.
Gus, so suicidal, as doing nothing. Let it be
so that any town disposed to render the aid
referred to, can render it, without the tedi.
GUS and utterly unnecessary process of appli-
cation to the Legislature. Our general facili.
ties for manufacturing are now well and
widely known. But capital from the outside
must have cooperation or it will not come
here. That cooperation can be best extend
ed by towns. Place it in the power of the
towns to extend it. w. WELLS.