National Republican., 1880-11-25
FACTORING VS.. MANUFACTURING.


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FACTORING VS.. MANUFACTURING
The capitalists aud merchants of New Or.
leans are taking commendable action to i'm.
press upon the people Of that city the necessity
Of encouraging home manufactures aud the
establishment of mixed industries rath er than
to continue to rely wholly upon the position
Of the city as a depot for tho receipt, storage,
export and distribution of the cotton, cattle,
tobacco and grain Of tho south and west.
The chamber Of commerce recently sp-
pointed a committee TO examine the subject
Of manufactures and the profits accruing
thorefrom, as we'll as the effect which these
industries would have upon the growth iu
wealth and population Of a community so ad'
mirably situated as that city. This COM
mittee has made its report and deserves great
praise for the thorough and sensible lnvesti-
CATION It has made.
After referring to the passing away Of The
almost exclusive control which Now Orleans
once had over the internal river commerce in
the past because Of its position rs the chief
river aud ocean port of tho southwest, the
report proceeds TO consider in detail the rise
aud progress Of several of the centres Of what
1t terms mixed industries" In this country.
II points out that while cities dependent Oh
transit trado have suffered from the change of
channel or tho reduction of local charges,
those which have employed the mixed in
dustrics and Investments have grown with
steadiucs5 and rapidity. The reason for the
superior capacity of these industries to sub.
sist large populous aggrcgations consists in the
fact that they employ both sexes aud almost
all ages, while crop frctorage employs but
fixed proportion Of malo adults for period
less than tho whole year and at a compara-
lively low rate OF compensation for the skill
or labor employed. In tho first case two and
a.half persons out Of i've contribute their
earnings to the subsistence Of all, whilo iu
the second tho labor Of one person out OF
Eve must subsist them all during the whole
year. The profits upon the large local capital
invested in mixed industries tend to increase
the values of taxable property.
Milwaukee and Fall River are chosen
as examples OF cities which have thus eu-
couragcd the establishment of manufacture
ing interests though not ueglecting their
other opportunities as convenient dcpots for
trade. The last annual report Of the Mlwau-
koo chamber Of commerce claims that Mlwau-
keo is tho richest city in the northwest; it
had less suffering, less crime, less actual pow
crty than any city of It's size IN the world.
Why is this? Not because of the special BEN
efts derived from tho complete railway system
oil which that city is a centre, nor because Of
the profits from the trade Of tho vast agricui-
tural area whose products IL receives whose
needs it supplies These advantages II might
have had, and yet have failed to reach its
present prosperity. Its grain trade is hardly
larger now than iu 1868, aud there has been
no great increase in its pork and beef pnck.
ing, nor in its wholesale and retail trade with
the surrounding country. The population
and wealth of Milwaukee have grown step by
step with its manufactures. 1t has doubled
the first in fourteen years, and quintupled the
second in the samo period. Six thousand
people make shoes, as many moro make cloth
ing; 3.000are manufacturing tobacco aud 4,5O0
are workers in iron. It's flour mills arc more
humorous and Of grenter capacity than those OF
any other city in America the same may DO
said of Its broweries. For these and other indus.
tries it possesses tho needed agencies of
money, COAL food and watcr-power in abuu-
dance.
| As regards Fall River another comparison
| is ins titutcd. In 1877 New Olleans received
/ 100 600 bales of cotton. Tho profit on this,
divided between the factor, drayman, tho
warehouseman and capitalist, was about
iG,5OO,O0O. Fall River, Mass, used the same
year 1000 bales in lis manufactures, yield
ing value of S2O,23OOOO. Tho product o
this ma nufacture was 3i1 per cent. over that
of faclorage. Meantime the mills of Fall
River increased in ten years from 10 TO 80
its number Of spindle fiom !il 600 TO $50
900; it's capital invested from S3750,0O0 tC
$50 $50, 900 its cloth made from 30,00000C
yards TO $50 900 600 yards; its operatives EN-
ployed from 2,G54 TO 1854; its population
from 1896 to 10000. These figures show
that upon n capital Of $50, ,375 600 Fall River
produced value of 500, ,23O, OOO-a gross profit
of 90 per cent. From this gross profit the ex,
pense account deducted is chiefly composed oi
wages, SO that the immense addition to the
value of the raw cotton accrued 10 The com.
munily in which the change from raw Ia
manufactured material was made. The pop
ulation of Fall River is little more than one.
9Th that of New Orleans, and yet its taxable
values arc more than one-half as great.
In conclusion, the report shows that in 1T
power 10 subsist much greater number o
work.people, aud in the cheapness and abun
dance of fuel and clothing, New Orleans com
pares flyorably with any city of the souti
and west AS 10 taxation, the state coustitu
tiOn provides that no tax or license shall bt
charged against the capital, machinery o.
other property employed in the manufaclur,
Of textile fabrics for a period Of ten years.
further states that New Orleans receives th,
best cotton for general manufacturing pur
poses in the SOUTH
On the collateral questions Of climate, polit
cal freedom and FREQ public education the re
port Is not SO satisfactory. In fact it dis
misses them with but slight consideration
Yet that city must remember that the freest
most independent, most exactlng classes 0
people in the world personally, socially ant
politically are the very classes of work peopl
it is desired to introduce and make part 0
the population Of this southern metropolis
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J THE incOnsiderate Boston Post is rasl
, enough to say that if FRYE was mad
speaker he would be sure to get the hous
into broil.
IF dispatch from indianapolis be true
another exemplifcation of the absuTdit