The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1877-03-22
MANY INTERESTING PARTICULARS.

ward OF the city of Newark, on the bank
of the Passaic, occupying several acres O
ground, upon which are buildings the floor
ing of which measures nearly eight acres
are situated the largest thread works in th
New World, employing about fifteen hun
dred hands and paying out every two week
from sixteen to twenty thousand dsllars il
wages, to be distributed by the employee
among different classes and occupations i,
the city, and from fifteen to twenty thou
sand per month to other parties here, who
In various ways, are connected with thi
vast establishment. Although having tn,
largest pay roll of any employers in New
Jersey, and contributing more to the wei
fare and prosperity of the city than all il
financial institutions combined, we hear les
IN the newspapers OF this world of wealtl
makers than of some second-class none,
lending shop on Broad street. 1t would b,
useless Tor any one to attempt to trace t,
their source all the varied industries which
have entered into the production of Clark,
70. n. T." Spool Cotton, which is sold b,
every merchant dealing in dry goods, fame,
goods, hosiery, notions, etc, in the United
States, and contains two hundred yards Of
that indispensable article, strong, smooth
and beautiful. 1t is made up of
NEARLY FoRTY-Two MILLION DoUBLINGs
and yet is so fine as to be hardly visible 0
few inches from the naked eve. The i'm
mense capital invested in The Clark Thread
Company's Works and the vast volume oI
business, amounting to several millions pei
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 a 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 mer.
chant and trader in the city, as events have
shown, the first thing which the City Faith
ers did when these works were being erect.
ed was to tax the bricks and material not
yet shaped into buildings. 1t was 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 q thing
which might really happen at any time.
The Clark Thread Company employ, as
stated, about fifteen hundred persons, pay
ing out to them sixteen to twenty thou
sand 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 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, 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 al d
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 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 a calamity and
course of action by The Clark Thread
Company? 1t would be incalculable. All
those people who earned money to purchase
what they wanted to buy, would be 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 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 idle mil
lions, has been put into government bonds,
and appalling destitution and want are on
every hand, and increasing at fearful rate.
Labor is the source of all wealth and pros.
perity, and there is no loss equal to that
which follows enforced idleness OF the pro-
ducing 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 machinery.
Better far that all other songs be hnshed
and every note be stilled, rather than those,
and to them we now introduce the reader.
ON THE DOCK
IF The Clark Thread Company, which is
i've hundred feet long, is mountain of two
,r three thousand tons of coal, drawn out
If boats at the wharf by donkey engine
md the bales of cotton find their way from
he same wharf to the brick house, for the
torage of that precious material, one pound
If which will make one hundred miles OF
hread, containing about forty-two million
The mind cannot grasp the
fact. But four grades of cotton
ire ordinarily used in the manufacture OF
Jlark's 90. n. T." Spool Cotton, and known
Is "Sea Island Cotton" This comes prin-
,ipally from South Carolina and is grown
m the small islands along the coast Con-
iderable is raised on the peninsulas and
iround the bays and inlets, but it is not
qual to that of the sea islands, which is
he finest in the world. The first bag of
his sea island cotton of the crop of 1876
vas purchased by the Clark Thread Com
'any at fifty cents per pound. The inland
otton is not used in the manufacture of
bread, being too short in the fiber. On
hese sea islands were the richest planters
4 the South in
THE OLD SLAVE DAYS,
nany of them having as high as six hun
red slaves, and compared with whom the
eudal lords of England were children in
lxury, hospitality, and elegance. But to-
ay all is changed. Those vast estates are
ut up into small plantations, many of
hem owned by the negroes, who now call no
ian master. They bring in theirs seasons
roduct, sometimes on mule and again in
irge quantities. Brokers on the ground or
the Landings, buy and pay the negroes for