The morning call., 1893-06-13
NEGLECTED. INDUSTRIES.

A correspondent of the Grass Valley
| Erening Telegraph points out few of the
shortcomings of San Francisco as they ap-
pear to him. He is particularly severe on
the iron and steel manufacturers who re-
| Gently pettioned to have certain raw ma
teral put on the free list. The list OF
articles submitted included iron ore, coke,
coal. pig iron. scrap iron and scrap steel.
All of these raw materials. except coke. he
says. we ha We at our doors. To quote his
own words:
II you will commence at the bedrock and
build upward, you will have crumbs and scraps
TO spare. San francisco would not be in the
condition those 160 irODwOrkers say 1t Is, but
let US see how near they speak the truth. Go
in to your commercial hardware-stores and you
Will not find per C nj OF their immense stock
manufactured in the State. This must surely
be the lack of enterprise, for l know the sources
are ample and with the distance Of 5000 miles
the carrying expense Is more than enough 10
pay the extra cost of fuel and labor. Your ores
are In abundance, your water power is running
10 waste. waiting for that genius, the electric
touch of capital, 10 bring them into use.
The opinion is also expressed that iron
and steel plates can be manufactured direct
from native ores as cheaply as they can be
brought here. But the iron industry is not
the only one that might be prosecuted here
if there were combination of forces.
The correspondent continues:
Go into your carpet-stores, you will find the
whole number 100 per cent imported your
furniture stores 80 per cent imported, and
your wearing apparel IN the same proportion,
your shoes and boots 40 per cent, and so IL Is
with everything in your domestic household.
The facts herein stated have often been
referred to by THE CALL The great
source of wealth is in the conversion of
raw material into finished goods. There
is more money in this line of industry
than in denuGing the granite bases of the
Sierra mountains of their two or three hun
dred feet oil gold bearing gravel. It is as
well to keep a million of gold from going
out of the State as to take million out of
the ground. But the imports of carpets,
furniture, boots and shoes, wearing ap-
parei aud other articles of common use
that might be produced in this State
cause an outflow of gold in excess of the
estimated products of the hydraulic mines.
And yet there seems to be no trouble
about getting capital to open mines with.
1t is expected that the Caminetti mining
act will cause a general revival of mining.
attended with an expenditure in the way
of preparation of hundreds OF thousands
of dollars. The industry will then be con-
Quoted under the eye of a commission of
engineers, who are required by the act to
permit mining only while it can be prose-
cuted without material injury to other
industries. The prospects of success in
any industry can best be determined by
those who have especial acquaintance
with the conditions under which they are
to be conducted. Why certain branches of
manufacture have not succeeded better is
best known to those who have put money
and time and skill into them. But it is
possible that conditions might, be so i'm
proved that success would be reasonably
certain If a concerted effort should be
made by all parties interested.