The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-04-23
WILL CLOSE THE MILLS.
That is What the WestbrOOk Manufac-
turing Company Will Do.

| 1t Means a Great Deal to Our Sister City
The Great Freshet a Severe Blow
Must Wait for Better Prices Before
Starting Again.
On Tuesday the Westbrook Manufact-
uring company voted to close the mills
on the first of June next and await bet
ter prices before starting again. Theirs
WAS a rumor short time ago that the
company contemplated this action and
representative of the PRESS called on
President Davies at the time to inquire
as to its correctness. Mr.. Davies then
said that while the rumor was untrue, If
prices did net improve the mills would
have to close as 1t was necessary to Sc
cure new dollar for an old one,
Mr.. Davies in answer to questions yes
terday said that the course to be pursued
by the Westbrook company-shutting the
works on June 1st-was that followed by
other bingham mills. There was abso-
lutely no market at a paying price.
Furthermore the company met with Sc
rious drawback in the recent great fresh
ct, which injured all their goods in the
brick mill, most of them the latest spring
styles. Mr.. Davies did not think that
the tariff had directly injured their bust
ness, but it was possible that it had per-
mitted a competition in finer silks, and
cotton goods that had worked to the dis
advantage Of the ginghams and yet all
the new styles were bright and.handsome
and should be great favorites in dress
goods.
Mr. Davies said there were about four
hundred employees with their families
that are at present connected with the
company. That means from 1900 to 1000
people. Many of these people are resi-
dents of Westbrook and are probably SO
situated that they can wait for better
times and the reopening Of the mills.
Others will probably drift away to other
places. Some will go into other avoca-
tions. The company's pay roll is about
ten thousand dollars fortnight or TWEEN
ty thousand dollars a month. The clos
ing will take this amount right out of
our sister city. The expenses of ths
mills will be cut down to a figure that
will enable them when they start up to
earn money. The company had really
been losing money for some months, but
did not believe in closing in the hard
months of winter. By closing in June
an opportunity is afforded the help to
provide against the coming Indictment
season.
MIR. Daveis saidthat there was no place
better fitted for the business than West
brook. There was every facility besides
a superb water power. But when in ad-
dition to the hard times, such an Attic
ton is imposed as that of this last winter
when floods descended upon them greater
than ever known or calculated upon, it
was too much to keep on throwing more
money after that which had gone.
Of course the shutting down of the
mills has caused good deal of sorrow in
Westbrook, as it means throwing out of
employment of great many people who
are dependent upon their wages alone for
support. A PRESS man talked with O
number of the operatives yesterday, who
will be thrown ont and they seemed in
clined to take the thing pnilosophically
and make the besti Of it.
1t is thought that most of the opera
tives will remain in Westbrook for the
present as all the other manufacturing
companies in this line are about in the
same fix, and are either shuttlngsodown
or running on short time, SO there is no
encouragement for them to leave, aud if
bus ness should lcok up this plant would
be likely to start again as soon as others.
The Westbrook had new IN i'll built in
1881 and filled with frst-class machinery
for the manufacture of ginghams, SO
when there is any demand for goods they
can make them as cheaply as they can DO
manufactured elsewhere. The company
has lately been making a very handsome
line of fancy dress goods, which in Or
binary good times would have met with
a ready sale and for which there would
be constant demand.