Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1877-03-10

Hose Company-A Grand Re-
lief Society - Employees
Centennial Excursion
The Renowned Eu.
reka Club and the
Thistle Band.
MANY INTERESTING PARTICULARS.
From the Essex County Press, Newark, N. J.]
At the foot of Clark street, in the Eighth
ward in 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 hun
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 well
fare and prosperity OF the city than all its
financial institutions combined, we hear less
in the newspapers OF this world of wealth
makers than OF some second-class money
lending shop on Broad street. 1t 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
CONT" 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. 1t is made up of
NEARLY FoRTy-Two MILLION DoUBLINGs,
and yet is so fine as to be hardly visible
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 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 Shown, 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. 1t was on par with the intel
ligence and appreciation of the
REAL SOURCE 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, pay
ing out to them sixteen to twenty thousand
dollars every two weeks. These hundreds
of hands pay out thatmoney 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 obligations and fill
the channels OF trade with the circulating
medium called money, and which is to bust
ness what blood is to the human system,
giving it life, animation and power. Sup
pose tonight those works were
DESTROYED BY FIRE.
They are fully insured. The Clark Thread
pdHy TcCclNc tIlclT III CASH
from their underwriters. They say to them
selves: Cuisines is dull, sales are uncer-
tain, profits are small, the future is I'M
known, and our taxes are heavy. The vast
business requires close attention and per-
sistent 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
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 Company? 1t would
be ilcalculable. All those people who
earned money to purchase what they wanted
to buy, would be added to the list OF pau
pers who to-day clamor for work or bread
Misery, want,
STARVATION AND CRIME
would be the fruit of such a 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 restitution 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 dleness 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 ma
chinery. Better far that all other songs be
hushed and every note stilled, rather than
those, and to them we now introduce the
reader
ON THE DOCK
of The Clark Thread Company, which is
five 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 will make one hundred miles of
thread, containing about forty-two million
doublings. The mind cannot grasp the
fact. But four grades of cotton
are ordinarily used in the manufacture of
Clark's CONT" 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-
is raised on the peninsulas and
around the bays and inlets, but it is not
equal to that of the sea islands, which is
the finest in the world. The first bag of
this sea island cotton of the crop of 1876
was purchased by the Clark Thre ad Com
pany at fifty cents per pound. The island
cotton is not used in the manufacture of
thread, being too short in the fiber. On
these sea islands were the richest planters
Of the South in
THE OLD SLAVE DAYS,
many of them having as high as six hun
bred slaves, and compared with whom the
feudal lords of England were children in
luxury, hospitality, and elegance. But to-
day all is changed. Those vast estates are
cut up into small plantations, many of
I hem owned nv the negroes who now call