The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1875-12-09
DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRY.

DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRY.
What is it, in a given community, that
will make it possible for all the laborers
to find both constant employment and
good wages ? We answer, great variety of
occupations. Where farming operations
are carried on eX -lusively, the demand
for labor is for that kind only which can
be engaged in the cultivation of the soil.
Bakers, BARRIERS, bookbinders, civil en-
gineers, druggists, factory hands, gas'f MT
tiers, shovel makers, aud, generally, the
whole list of mechanics, would, in such
a region, appeal in vain for employment
in their several vocations. But in cities,
where occupations are very numerous and
widely different, even the manual day-la-
borer has u better market for his services;
for, if he cannot be hostlcr in a livery sta
BILE, he may drive a dray, or serve as Il
hotel porter, or shovel coal, or find doz-
ems at ether sorts of work. Moreover, his
search for it is accomplished with COM
paratively little expenditure of time and
muscular exertiOn. In the country the
farms are often distant from one another,
and the applicant for employment. after
the first refusal, may have to trudSe
some miles in order TO reach the next
farm but, in the city, the chance he
loses at one door he may find at the sec
ond and half an hours effort may carry
slim the round of quite a number of houses
Diversity of occupation, therefore, is a
condition of society highly favorable 10
every person who has to live by daily la
bora condition, also that every laborer
should encourage by every influence he
can bring TO its aid.
Let US illustrate this point further. We
will suppose an agricultural community
III which there exists Il water power, and
chat some enterpnsing persons erect
1hereat a H@oleA factory. How speedily
Ghe situation of affairs is changed. An en-
tirely pew class of laborers is introduced.
These operators, 80 far from berg COM
petitors with the farm hands, become a
positive addition of strength, by creating
an entirely new market for the growths
of the soil. ~Neighboring farmers, find.
ing sale at their very doors for a consid-
,drable part of their surplus products, are
mt once relieved to that extent of the bur
tiensome cost, previously unavoidable, of
getting to the more distant market. But
this is not all. The tiller of the soil OBJ
tains customers for articles that until then
would not pay the expense of special and
large cultivation, such as turnips, cab
'bages, beets, potatoes, tomatoes, and the
like for the factory hand has neither
time nor inclination for such production,
and SO readily becomes a purchaser.
Thus the farmer is enabled somewhat to
vary his crops to the benefit of his land,
while securing a more profitable return.
At the same time the wooden mill sup
plies him with yarn or cloth at cheaper
prices than he was formerly accustomed
to pay to the dealer in the market town
where he used to sell lis produce for less
han he gets now. Moreover, each labor
'er becomes n partaker in these general ad-
v%antages. Here we see every individual
member of the community beRetited by
the introduction of single manufacturing
establishment on a large scale.
Further suppose that subsequently,, in
the same ncighborhood, sn iron mine
should be opened, furnaces erected, and
IL rolling-mill Put in operation. There
would follow a large increase in the num-
Der of of agricultural products,
and of the fabrics of the wooden mill al
ready established ; iron, as well as yarns
and cloth, would become cheaper TO the
surrounding CONSUMERS, while the growths
of the SOIL would fetch better prices than
before, on account of finding better de-
mand at the immediate place o. produc-
ton. Manufacturer and farmer being
brought close together, there is an end of
those many intermediate and cumulative
profits of the transporter and of the trade,
which eat up the purchasing power of the
daborer, who generally buys by the
~'small," and make it exceedingly difficult
for him to get ahead in the world. Thus
we see that every increase in manufacture
ing industry and diversity of employ
ments, in any region, becomes q positive
benefit to the laborer as well as 10 the
Capitalist-to the farmer as UeR rs to the
mechanic. Te those who are skeptical
regarding the benefits conferred upon an
agricultural region by the Introduction of
manufactures the history of Joliet, H.,
will offer some strong arguments against
aheir doubts. The land upon which the
Joliet Iron and Steel Works now stands
was twice sold for taxes within twenty
years, with lapse of title in each case, so
little was the present or prospective value
of the ground. The first iron rail was
rolled at this works in July, 1870, and by
May 1872, the population of the city of
Joliet had doubled, and the value of real
estate throughout the city and vicinity
had quadrupled.
Still more The mechanic arts are
birds of q feather that flock together.
Each helps and is helped by the rest.
For example, in the Hypothetical case we
have stated, so many factory and rolling
mill hands must have separate dwellings,
and a saw-mill springs into existence.
They must have -four and meal, so a grist-
mill rises to supply the want. A largely
increased number of letters are sent and
received, besides more newspapers and
magazines, and their multitude warrants
the establishment of a new post-office. Il
is lnconvenient or dangerous to cross the
lord in time of high water, and a substan-
tial bridge spans the stream. The dirt
roads are hard upon the wag )ns and hor-
ses, and a plank road takes the place of
the earth highway. Instruction is de-
sired for the children, and d school-house
soon makes its appearance. Men and
women must worship God, and a neat
church edifice rise from the ground, its
spire pointing, like an index finger, from
the perishing things of time and sense to
the house not made with hands, eternal in
the heavens. So many people in commu-
nifty feel the want CT the local news, and
someb ,dy is induced to start a newspa-
per. The settlement thus grows into a
sewn, with its hctel, its stores, its minor
industries, its doctors, its dentists, its
photograph gallery, and all the other &C
sessories and conyeniences of a thickly-
settled district. with, by and by, perhaps,
its railroad.