Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1893-03-30
NAY aovE TO RlDDDE,s MINIS.


A Possibility of Blumenthai's Big Mo-
rocco Factory Being Transferred to the
Banks of the Brand wino--A Chat with
the Superintendent.
Messrs. Ferdinand Blumenthal and ]. s.
Ulman the members of the firm of i.
Rlumenthal a Co. of this city and New
York, are expected here this week tu con
slider the proposition Of the purchase of
the Riddles mills, on the Brandywinc, for
the purpose of using them as q morocco
factory. IL this be accomplished, il means
the entire selling out Of the present prcmi-
SEES at Front and Monroe streets As the
iirm stands now the requirements of the
business call for doubling of its number
of hands and its output, The first inten-
ton was to build ali addition 1T the present
location.
General Manager Richard Patzowsky,
who is largely interested in the business of
the firm, and Assistant Superintendent
john E, Sparrow were seen by q repreSGn-
tatiye of The GAZETTE Tuesday. Both
gentlemen spoke freely and openly Of tile
whole matter. There is no Disgusting the
fact that the heads Of the firm and the
local Officials also are extremely disap'
pointed over the matter of the water tax.
They expected that BY this time some com
cessiOn would be made them.
The Riddle mills site is looked upOu
or city tax out there and the water lowCr
will be had for nothing. The payroll of
the Monroe street factory is now between
S2tO,OOU and S225uU0. If the factory be
located at Riddles mills it would mean
payroll of S5UO, 900.
II seems that parties in Newark, \. j.,
are Offering the l}lumenthals Inducements
70 remove to that cty Othef offers have
also been received. PERSONALLY re-
marked Gencrah Manager patzowsky last
Tuesday, ~ like Wilmington, ex-
tremcly. My particular diversion is
driving, and ] must admit You have
here rs romantic aud attractive natural adj
vantaBes in your driveways as anything
have seen in the United States. But of
course that has nothing to do with bust
ness. should like to stay here, but the
numerous taxes that meet the manufac-
turer IN almost every direction are simply
understandable. There is 10 reason III
them.
II would suggest that the people of Will
iningtun look very carefully into the
matter before they allow their larger manu-
facturers to leave.
Whatever location we eventually select
there is one thing sure and that is that we
Will double our hire. We will have loo
men employed. Another thing is that we
don't rely Oh Wilmington for d single adj
ditiuna hand. With that long.distance
telephone call can get Immediately from
New York 900 more men, and all of them
skilled hands. Their coming means the
presence Of 400 or 5lO families additionally
in Wilmington.
IF the Riddle location be accepted it
would take a year to thoroughly settle
there, An entirely new plant would be put
in. Il would cost $3.50 900 to liz up. fhe
proposition is to purchase the Riddle mills
premises outright
Ia speaking on the matter of taxation to
which the manufacturer is subjected here
Assistant Superintendent Sparrow said
"On the other hand, in New York we get
our raw material placed at the factory
| doors and no freight to pay. Here the
| freight is to be paid on the raw material
and then again for the finished article
! going back 70 the New York market We
| hoped that the water tax would he reduced
TO such minimum rs 10 be an Offset to
| overcome this freight margin. But it does
not, and therefore, with the state, city and
manufacturers tax you are driving us to
look outside for factory site.'