Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-02-05
MILFORD WOODRUFF.
GEORGE @. CANNON,
JOSEPH +. SMITH.
INDUSTRIAL GROWTH NEEDED.


Were II not for just one industry.
that of mining, Utah would be buy
ing more than she Is selling. and con-
sequently would become bankrupt in a
short time, or else her inhabitants
would have to dispense with a heavy
percentage of the merchandise and
commodities they now consume. This
means that they would dress more
cheaply and that their homes and
tables would be furnished more scanti-
ly. In other words, the mining in
dustry is all that keeps the people of
this State from sinking into "A condi-
ton of squalor. more or less pro-
nounced. This may be putting the case
little strongly, but In a sense at least
the statement Is literally true.
And yet among the Inhabitants of
Utah there are probably as great a
percentage and variety of skilled labor
as in any state in the Union; for a
large proportion of our population has
come from the manufacturing regions
Of Europe. 1t would be easy to find,
right here at home. the skilled labor
necessary to man almost any kind of
textile, shoe or iron works. foundry,
pottery. ETC.; and this State is capable
of producing the raw material for al
most any such industry. Then why is
not our industrial growth accelerated?
One reason Is because neither capital
nor business ability Is invested in that
direction to an extent that bears any,
thing approaching n just ratio to the
needs and opportunities that exist
within the State. We have in abund-
ance of banks. stores. money lenders,
agencies of various kinds. and other
sorts of business enterprises that stand
between the seller and buyer, or be-
tween the producer and consumer, and
that try to increase their own wealth
without increasing that of the COM
munity in the aggregate; and 1t is
pity that some of the capital
invested In such enterprises, and some
of the business talent that is trying to
make success of them, could not be
diverted into manufactures
There ought TO be. right here in this
city, great big mandatory of mems
clothing. at least of the coarser kinds;
for the wool, and the machinery. and
the skilled labor are here, or near here,
to make the cloth cheaper than the
mills OF New England are turning 1t
out. There ought to be n knitting fac
tory that would supply the intermoun-
tain country with all kinds of knit
goods, and we ought to be eoining
money out OF the silk industry. All
these things have been re-asserted so
riany times that statements of them
are stale ana hackneyed; yet no suiIi-
Client explanation Is offered to account
for the lack Of Industrial growth in
this State.
How many Utah merchants are maxi
ing good money? How many Utah banks
are making satisfactory dividends?
our leading mercantile houses. and
most of on banks, are doing little IL
any more than holding their own. They
are not making the dividends that
ought to be made in young and Wig
orous state ike this. upon the capital
they represent; and some of them
would find 1t profitable as well as phil
anthropic to change their present lines
of business for manufacturing industries.
VIII not the Chamber of Commerce at
least discuss these truths?