The Forrest City times., 1896-05-29
VARIED INDUSTRIES.
.. Badly Needed in Arkansas as
 Diversity of Crops.
Experiments will Demonstratc that One v,ll be as Beneficial as the Other Has Proven to be Where Tried Manufactories Needed in
 All Sections-

The necessity of a change of method
 from the old style has been presented
 in every imaginable form. They have
 been advised by newspapers and agri-
 cultural societies and appealed to by
 writers and speakers to plant less cot ton and more corn, vegetables and gar asn truck, in order to make the farm
 .elf sustaining and the state in degree
 independent of the rest of the world.
 And while the question of diversified
 crops has been successfully agitated,
 cansiug a large per cent of farmers to
 select a variety of plants for cultivation
 ,be question of diversified industry has
 not been pushed to the front, in fact,
 has not received much attention.
 What Arkansas needs more than any
 thing else today and has needed in the
 mast is varied ndustrieS-workshop
 mills. manufactories. Whatever the
 middle and New England states have, achieved in progressive improvement and wealth is due almost wholly to
 variety of employment Long years
 ago the people of those regions became
 convinced that there was no profit in ag-
 riculture and they turned their atten-
 tion to other vacations. When settle
 ments were made on the bleak New
 England coast if one of the pilgrim
 forefathers had been told that Boston
 would in time become one of the monied
 centers of the United States and the
 valleys of the Connecticut river the
 manufacturing center of the universe,
 it would have required all the sanguine
 credulity of youth and all the fervid
 glow of enthusiasm to have made him
 believe it. The bustling, active people
 of that region were not content with
 the earth's yield. They turned their
 energies and genius to manufacturing,
 banking, insurance and commerce.
 Meantime the south has been Loyalty
 welded to agriculture, with strong
 preference for cotton. Even before
 the war the money center of the coun-
 try resided where it now is. Diversi-
 fled industries then, as now, exceeded
 the profits of plantation and farm. But
 1t is not too late now to encourage man.
 ufactories. It is never to late to cor
 rect mistake or acknowledge an error.
 Arkansas has the elements and requi-
 sites for varied industries.
 An Erroneous Idea
 One erroneous idea about manufac-
 tories is that their esta blishment re-
 quires vast amount of capital. The
 fact is there are large factories and
 small ones, the same as large planta
 tions and small farms. If the history
 of the frraot fa ctc c,.iac of tho nrtb
 were written it would appear that the
 greatest of the great manufacturing es-
 tablishments were a few years ago
 comparatively insignificant institutions struggling for existence. Carnegie, the millionaire manufacturer, was few years ago salaried foreman of an iron mill. The Studdebaker wagon works in Indiana was thirty years ago a coun- try blacksmith and wagonshop at a
 crossroads, employing less than dozen men, Now it employs thousands Ar kansas has water power to operate mills and upon the banks of the rivers which afford this power are forests of oak, hlckory, cypress, pine and walnut in- Vltlng the saw and the plane. A sys- tematc and general effort should be made to invite and induce diversified industries ill all parts of the state. With this object in view every county h Arkansas should form society for The Establishment of Manufactories. The purpose and object of such socie- ties should be to study the question of what factory, mill or industry would be pest suited to the resources and mater lai afforded by the locality and to de- yise ways and means to procure capital ana men to establish and operate such institution. The leading idea should Ut to ascertain just what industry would be best adapted to the environ ment No omatter however insignificant alaetory might be started, the main consideration should be to erect an es- 'aoiishment to consume material, give employment to men and produce an ar 'cle Tor which there is demand. It neeuS no argument to convince intelli- gent thinking men that such a manu- iactory, however humble and limited it "ight be as compared with the great uinS or the manufacturing regions, m"uld attract at least a little money. i IL would draw little, it would with Suuiclous and persistent advertising ~a" more. A home market would be 1ea1ed and other industries would .piihg up A few mills would necessitate al e eestaolishment of foundry and ma sl'ine shop, bringing in more salaried en ana increasing the number of con sDuiers' Thus the farmer and truck
 s'ower would be benefited and a ~y s'eauy Inflow of money from abroad "1uid naturally follow.
 ~ IS mistaken idea that we ought nave great factories. All great