The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-11-22
The LOcalizatlon Of Industries.

State, are made nine,tenths OF all the Skin
gloves and mittens manufactured in thu
United States. One man began this In
dustEy in Johustown many years ago
some time after It extended 10 village
four miles 10 the north. called from tha
circumstance Gloversville; and now thesG
two comparatively small but beauti-
ful villages virtually supply the whole
United States with their buskin glove!
and mitLens, and also with ar
incredible number OF gloves anC
mittens made from the skins Of other ami.
mails, or made partly Of skins and partly
OF woOlens. Though this branch Of in,
dustry Is prosecuted also 10 Plymouth, N.
H., the Mohawk people entirely control
the trade, have built u railroad 10 accom-.
MEDIATE II, and by means OF 1t have be.
come prosperous. They understand, too,
very well, the bearings OF tariff duties on
their business; and under the new tariff
OF 1879 they get their imported hides and
skins free Of duty, and At the same time
under q special exception, preserve thC
old duty on imported gloves and mittens
from the ten per cent reduction enjoyed
BY other manufacturers Of leather. The
imported buckskins are tanned in fish oil
then carefully dressed, then cut out In the
shops, and then distributed to private
families in the villages, who do the stitch,
Ing at home and thus get 4 good living in
an independent way.
The boot and shoe manufacture In
Massachusetts, exhibits the same tendency
10 localize itself Some towns are whole
given up 10 this industry. Lynn IL. Sc
is North Brookfeld. So are Milford and
other towns. Even the tendency TO sub
divide locally the general business Is quite
perceptible; Lynn, for example, makes
almost exclusively certain kind Of
woman's shoes, while mems boots have
become the specially Of other localities
Even the lawyers are pretty apt To
keep very near TO each other in every
town and city. Pemberton Square and
Court street hold most OF that craft 10
Boston; and they are not far to seek ID
New York when one Is in Wall street OF
Pine. Now there are reasons for all this
II We can only find them out.
The first and fundamental reason is
found in the convenience Of buyers. Buy.
ers like 10 compare stOcksa and prices. But
their time intOwn is limited. II the lead,
Ing houses are close together, buyers will
run into several to compare notes Q little
but they will rarely take time 10 90 into
a distant street. So, whenever TWO or
three leading houses happen to be neal
together, the trade begins 10 concentrate
there, and the outlying houses soon begin
to find out that they are not in the cur
rent Of trade; that customers do not ire
quent them as heretofore, and that they
must move in where the rest are or lose
their trade. Thus, little by little, partic.
ular trades find their centres, which they
only sbandon under the same influences
as constituted them such previously; and
the moving spring Of all is the conyen-
renee Of buyers. A new house, fit wishes
to succeed, must locate itself alongside Of
the old established firms: and it commonly
finds, II well managed, that there is Oh.
portunlty In the traffic Of the world ior
new individuals, as there is, also, for new
nations, though the former can make nc
fictitious advantages Tor themselves, as
the latter sometimes tOolishly Try to do.
Subordinate, however, to the main
reason for the localiZation OF industries il
another OF very considerable influence
especially in some industries, and that il
the convenience Of the sellers. Rivalrlet
within the several trades and professions
are not carried so far as they seem tc
outsiders togo. There Is commonly al
the bottom good feeling and mutual help.
fulness. Booksellers, for example, com
monty avail themselves Of each others
stocks to Eli out their orders; and, strange
as 1t may seem 10 clients, lawyers are
usually willing 70 give one another advice
and assistance free, gratis, for nothing. Il
is, accordingly, a great convenience for
the members Of the separate trades and
professions TO be In proximity with each
other; and this, in connection with the
still grester convenience Of their custom.
ets and patrons, will account for what i
becoming more and more striking fea
ture OF all industrial and professional nc
tiVity. ~ I'D -"
Ol course accident sometimes deter
mines at the start the location of an in
dustry. GlOversyille and Johnstown are
no better fitted by nature or situation for
the glove trade than hundred other vii.
lagos ,pI the State Of New York; bu, since
that hos become the leading industry
there, and society has adjusted itself 10 il
sllee the avenues 10 and from her ma
.terials and completed products are al.
really well trodden, since the people there
know how TO make gloves and the world
knows well where to find them, since thc
skins Of deer and goats and Patney cattle
have learned tier way thIther from South
America and even from India, It will
probably be long before this useful indus.
try iorsakes the shadow OF the old baro-
NAL ball OF Sir William johnson.