Omaha daily bee., 1891-10-04
"Only n few Of us now; patronize home IN
Anctry md tbara ,yiII ha con ~

oiiy u lew Oh us now, pdUrOulZ6 nOule III
dustrv and there will be S00.n
In Omaha the manufacture of cooperage
has been greatly damaged by the competition
OF penitentiary work. No outside cooper
shop employing honest labor can undersell
Omaha manufacturers, but when it comes to
those who employ convict labor for which
they pay only Acc per day per man, the case
is very different. Convict labor is the curse
oil the cooperage business Just as II is of sew
eral other lines Of manufacture.
The number of barrels, casks and tirkins
used in Omaha and vicinity is enormous ana
If 1t were not for this unfair competition this
branch OF manufacture would grow to vast
proportions,
AT the present time John Powers employs
fourteen men at his shop, Fourth and Jones
streets, with a weekly pay roll of Sl54. They
manufacture all kinds of tanks, dairy cooper
age, barrels, etc. Some of these barrels
which are made for the white lead works and
smelling works are strong enough to hold 300
to 400 pounds OF white lead or blue stone.
They could easily keep thirty men employed
the whole year through if it was not for the
fact that so many Omaha firms use peniten-
( tiary cooperage.
The Willow Springs dIstlllery have quite a
large cooperage establishment and there is
also quite a large shop at South Omaha.
Shirt Factories.
The city of Troy, N. Y, is supported al
most entirely by it's shirt and collar factories
and the associated lines of business such as
u dCLOIlts, clC. 10 ClIE
proper has a population of about g., 900 peo-
pie and has always been regarded as a good
business point, the large sums of money dis
tributed among the working people making
trade lively.
A number Of other eastern cities have
added greatly TO their wealth and population
through this branch of manufacture.
Omaha has been content to see these cast
ern cities monopolize this lucrative branch of
manufacture and the people of Omaha have
contributed many thousands of dollars to-
ward their prosperity. The representative
OF an eastern shirt factory claims
TO have 5000 customers in Omaha.
This is probably an exaggeration, but
going ana furnishes one more explanation OF
why money is not always as plenty in Omaha
as business men would like to see it.
Cities like Chicago and Kansas City which
have no natural advantage over Omaha in
this branch of manufacturing send their rep
reSentatiyes here and receive a large patron
age, Many times these factories are very
small affairs conducted in some auto room,
but their agents talk big and the people of
Omaha patronize them andhelp them TO grow
big. tS.'
1t has been claimed by Omaha shirt makers
that If they were to send their agents through
the city and represent their factory as To-
Gated In some other city that they could
double their business. U.
Omaha has three shirt factories, the Ne
braska Shirt company, Pease Bros. and Il.
II. pOJtuelmer, employing tnlrty-tnree girls
and five men. The pay roll amounts TO S2l5
weekly. They manufacture on orders all
kinds of shirts from the cheapest to the most
expensive, underwear, etc. They can buy
the muslin and linen as cheaply as it can be
had in tho competing cities and wages are
about the same, so that Omaha manufactur-
ers can compete in price as well as quality
with any other city. a 10,
The fact Is that they have been making q
better article for the money than eastern
makers as an Involvement to Omaha people to
patronizo homo factories.
There are quite a large number OF Omaha
citizens who are having their shirts made in
the east at S4.00 each and occasionally in an
economical mood they give a local factory an
order Tor some at 500 or $3.50 and then re-
mark that the Omaha made article does not
wear quite as well as the eastern. When it
comes 10 the cheaper makes eastern manu-
facturers sell thousands OF shirts In this city |
at 81. 20 TO $3.50 and claim that they are made |
up TO order. The most OF these are
identically the same thing that can
DO obtained from any local dry
goods dealer ot 81 90. The party taxing the
order simply goes to the stock kept on hand
and selects one with the right length OF neck
band and sleeve and the Omaha buyer
thinks he has something that was mnde
especially for his order.
Parties wanting cheap shirts could do far
better by ordering them OF a local factory
where they would be certain that they were |
actually made tor their order.
III all the work in this line which is sent