The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1877-03-22

Clark Hose Company---A
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MANY INTERESTING PARTICULARS
IFrem the Essex County Press, Newark, n. J.1
At the foot of Clark Street, in the Eighth
Ward of the city of Newark, on the banks
of the Passaic, occupying several acres OF
ground, upon which are buildings the floor
ing of which measures nearly eight acres,
are situated the largest thread works in the
New World, employing about fifteen hum
dred 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 thou.
sand 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 vel
fare and prosperity of the city than all its
financial institutions combin ed, We hear less
in the newspapers of this world of wealth
makers than of some second-class money
lending shop on Broad Street. Itwould be
useless for any one to attempt to trace to
their source ali the varied industries which
have entered into the production of Clark's
so. 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. tits made up Of
NEARLY FORTY.TWO MJIJJoN DoupITNes
and yet is so fine as to be hardly visible a
few inches from the naked eye. The inn
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 States, is one of the principal sources
of Newark's prosperity. What it is and the
blessings which flow from it, are not realized
by one in thousand of the people who
dwell within the sound of their tower bell.
Notwithstanding 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 howD, the first thing
which the City Fathers did when these
works were being erected was to tax the
bricks and material not yet shaped into
buildings. It was on a par with the intelli-
gence and appreciation of the
REALsoURCEs OF WEALTH,
usually exhibited by the average politician.
Had il 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 thin g
which might really happen at any time.
The Clark Thread Company employ, as
stated, about fifteen hundred pels sons, pay
ing out to them sixteen to twenty thousand
dollars every two weeks. These hun
dreds of hands pay out that money to the
butcher, the baker, the grocer, the clothier
the dry goods merchant, and all who have
anything to sell get a part of it in some
way, either directly or indirectly. From
their hands it goes to pay debts, meet OBJ
legations and fill the channels of trade with
the circulating medium called money, aad
which is to business what blood is to the
human system, giving il life, animation
and power. Suppose to'nish5 these 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
money and rebuild the works, but adopt
the plan pursued by most moneyed men,
viz: 60 to Washington, buy government
| bonds, bring them home, put them in tin
boz, pay no taxes, and sit down to take our
ease, eat, drink and be merry, with no
thought OF care, supported in luxury with;
out risk by the interest on our bonds, paid
by taxation of the producing classes" Can
any man calculate the wide spread ruin
which would follow such calamity and
course of action by the Clark Thread Com.
pany? It would be incalculabls. All thosc
people who earned money to purchase what
they wanted to buy, would be added to the
list Of paupers who to-day ciamor for work
or bread. Misery, want,
STARVATION AND CRIME
would be the fruit of such course. But
this is exactly what has been done through
out the country, and explains why one in
twelve in Newark are to-day supported by
the city. The productive capital of the
country, which employed our now fdle mil
lions, has been put into government bonds
and appalling destitution and want are or
every hand, and increasing at fearful rate
Labor is the source of all wealth and pros
perity, and there is no loss equal to thai
which follows enfotc tced idleness of the
producing classes. There is no music sc
full of joy and peace and good will to mer
as the song of labor and the music of ma
chinery. Better far that all other songs bt
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 il
i've hundred feet long, is mountain of two
or three thousand tons of coal, drawn out
of boats at the wharf by a donkey engine
and the bales of cotton find their way from
the same wharf to the brick house, for the
storage of that precious material, one pound
of which viii make one hundred miles OF
thread, containing about forty-two million
aoubhngs. The mind cannot grasp the
numerical fact. But four grades of cotton
are ordinarily used in the manufacture OF
Clark's go. Mt" Spool Cotton, and known
as "Sea Island Cotton" This comes prin.
cipally from South Carolina and is grown
on the small islands along the coast. Con
siderable is raised on the peninsulas and
around the bays ard inlets, but it is not
equal to that of the Sea Islands, which is the
finest in the world. The first bag of this Ses
island cotton of the crop of 1876 was pur
chased by The Clark Thread Company q
fifty cents per pound. The inland cotton
not used in the manufacture of thread
being too short in the fiber. On these Sci
Islands were the richest planters of tn
South in
THE OLD SLAVE DAYS,
many of them having as high as six hun
feudal lords of England were children il
luxury, hospitality and elegance. But to
day all is changed. Those vast estates ar
cut up into small plantations, many O
them owned by the negroes, who now cal
no man master. They bring in their sea
sons product, sometimes on mule an,
again in large quantities. Brokers on tn
ground or at the landings buy and pay tn
negroes for their cotton, often dividing tn
money according to the labor performed il
raising the crop. Some lease the land o
the former owners, but the old state o
things is "dun clar' gone" This trade ant
traffic, it may be fairly expected, will in
few years largely increase the wealth ant
intelligence of the in these localities.
THE SEA ISLAND COTTON
brings treble the price of inland. An acr
will produce in the neighborhood of thre
hundred and fifty pounds of seed cotton
which when ginned weighs about seventy
w MD 70