The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1877-03-22
ManyInteresting Particulars

ward of the city of Newark, on the banks of
tina Passaic, occupying several acres of ground
upon which are buildings the flooring of
which measures nearly eight acres, are stu
ated the largest thread works in the New
World, employing about fifteen hundred
hands and paying out every two weeks from
sixteen to twenty thousand dollars in wages,
to be distributed by the employees among
different classes and occupations in the city,
and from fifteen to twenty thousand per month
to other parties here, who in various ways,
are connected with this vast establishment.
Although having the largest pay roll of any
employers in New Jersey, and contributing
more to the welfare and prosperity OF the city
than all its financial institutions combined.
we hear less in the newspapers OF this world
ofwealth makers than OF some second class
money-lending shop on Broad street. It would
be useless for any one to attempt to trace to
their source all the varied industries which
have entered into the production of Clark's
30 N. T." Spool Cotton, which is sold by
every merchant dealing in dry goods, fancy
goods, hosiery, notions, ETC.. in the United
States, and contains two hundred yards of
that indispensable article, strong, smooth and
beautiful. It IS made up of
NEARLY FoRTY-Tw0 MILLION DoUBI1NGs,
and yet is so fine as to be hardly visible a
few inches from the naked eye. The i'm
mense capital invested in The Clark Thread
Company's Works and the vast volume of
business, amounting to several millions per
annum, extending to every part of the United
&fofoa IF ho r
Newark's prosperity. What it is and the
blessings which flow from it, are not realized
by one in thousand ofthe people who dwell
within the sound of their tower bell. Not
outstanding the large amount OF money
which the establishment was to pour into the
hands of every merchant and trader in the
city, as events have shown, the first thing the
City Fathers did when these works were be-
ing erected was to tax the bricks and material
not yet shaped into buildings. It was not on a
par with the intelligence and appreciation OF
the
REAL SOURCES OF WEALTH,
usually exhibited by the average politician.
Had it been some trust company or curb
stone broker that asked exemption, it would
probably have been granted. Some idea OF
the value of these works to the community
may be had by an illustration of thing
which might really happen at any time.
The Clark Thread Company employ, as stated,
about fifteen hundred persons, paying out to
them sixteen to twenty thousand dollars every
two weeks. These hundreds of hands paw
out that money to the butcher, the baker, the
grocer, the clothier, the dry goods merchant,
and all who have anything to sell get part
of it i'll some way, either directly or indirect
ly. From their hands it goes to pay debts.
meet obligations and fill the channels of trade
with the circulating medium called money.
and which is to business what blood is to
the human system, giving it life, animation
and power. Suppose tonight those works
were
DESTROYED BY FIRE.
They are fully insured. The Clark Thread
Company receive their insurance in cash from
their underwriters. They say to themselves {:
Business is dull, sales are uncertain, profits
are small, the future is unknown, and our
taxes are heavy. The vast business REQUIRES
close attention and persistent energy. We
will not take this money and rebuild the
works, but adopt the plan pursued by most
moneyed men, viz: go to Washington, buy
government bonds, bring them home, put
them in tin box, pay no taxes, and sit down
to take our ease, eat, drink, and be merry,
with no thought OF care, supported in luxury
without risk by tue interest on our bonds, paid
by taxation OF the producing classes" Can
any man calculate the widespread ruin which
would follow such a calamity and course of
action by the Clark Thread Company? It
would be incalculable. All those people who
earned money to purchase what they wanted
to buy, would he added to the list of paupers
who to-day clamor for work or bread. Misery.
want,
STARVATION AND CRIME
would be the fruit OF such course. But this
is exactly what has been done throughout the
country, and explains why one in twelve in
Newark are to-day supported by the city. The
productive capital Of the country, which en-
ployed our now idle millions, has been put
INTO government bonds, and appalling desti.
tuition and want are on every hand, and in
creasing at fearful rate. Labor is the source
OF all wealth and prosperity, and there is no
loss equal to that which follows enforced idle.
ness of the producing classes. There is no
music so full OF joy and peace and good will to
men as the song of labor and the music of ma
chinery. Better far that all other songs be
hushed and every note be stilled, rather than
those, and to them we now introduce the
reader.
ON THE DOCK,
of the Clark Thread Company, which is i've
hundred feet long, is a mountain of two or
three thousand tons Of coal, drawn out of
boats at the wharf by donkey engine, and
the bales OF cotton find their way from the
same wharf to the brick house, tor the storage
of that precious material, one pound of which
will make one hundred miles of thread. con.
tanning about torty.two million doublings,
The mind cannot grasp the numerical TACT.
But tour grades OF cotton are ordinarily used
in the manufacture Of Clark's 80. N. IT,"
Spool Cotton, and known as ''Sea Island Cot
ton." This comes principally from South
Carolina and is grown on the small islands
along the coast Considerable is raised on the
peninsulas and around the bays and inlets,