Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1899-08-26
PROMOTE PROGRESS.
ENCOURAGE SMALL MANUFACTURING
PLANTS.

Each New Industry Adds to the
Towns Prosperity - Advantage OF
Large Power Plants In Attracting
Capital to Community.
Discussing the best means Of pro
noting the progress of II town. n corrc-
spondent of the Atlanta Constitution
advocates the encouragement of small
manufacturing establishments as n
sure way to growth and prosperity.
The writer is Il native of New England
and has witnessed the remarkable re
suits of this plan among his native
hills. What he says refers particularly
to Atlanta, but it will tit any city with
spirit enough to apply 1t ut home.
During the past 20 years, says the
correspondent, Il have been in the
heart of that section of the country
which owes its growth distinctly TO
manufacturing. | have watched the
progress of such cities as Lowell and
Lawrence. Hartford and Utica, and
believe the experiences of those cities
can be repeated here in Atlanta. They
have been built up by small manufac-
turing establishments. The great man
ufacturing establishments are of course
highly valuable, but as factors In the
building up of cities n number of small
er ones are Of more real value than one
large one employing in the aggregate
the same number of men. With the
single great industry there are bound to
be periods of depression, and then ev-
1,n Sr1onl low
concerns stagnation in one line will not
affect the others. Indeed, in many
ways the variety is to be preferred.
aside from all that, however, it IS
more practical to consider the smaller
concerns because it is easier to get
them. Once started and given such
facilities as the city seems to afford as
a distributing point and a commercial
center they will thrive and become
great. While at the outset each may
mean the addition of only n compare
lively few individuals, as they grow
they will increase both the population
and the prosperity of the city, and not
only that, but of the country about.
Twenty-Five men in factory will
mean additional employment to that
many more men in the country imme-
diately contiguous to the city-speak-
ing in general terms, of course. What
l mean is that % additional working
men who make their homes here in
Atlanta will mean on the average rs
new mouths to feed, and that extra
demand will mean n corresponding in
crease in the demand for farm labor
to supply the city's material wants.
The money these men spend for food
supplies goes first to the merchants,
then to the farmers, and then it comes
back to the city again.
''But l think everybody understands
all that. We all know how greatly
manufacturing establishments benefit
a city. How to increase the number
here Is the problem. In my opinion,
the first essential is cheap power In
Lowell and Lawrence and Hartford,
for instance, there has been an increase
Of population Of approximately 100 per
cent since the establishment of the
large power plants from which the
small manufacturer can purchase at
small cost the motive power he needs
to run his machinery.
'In these cities there are now a num-
Der of large buildings in which manu-
facturerS operating on n comparative
ly small scale can rent quarters and
buy their power. That ObviateS the
necessity of putting all their capital
in plant when they start into bust
ness. 1t makes their existence posi-
n Nx-In It1 t1nx l.
able to start. In Utica the same re-
suits have been attained through the
renting of electric power at very low
rates. \ manufacturer, no matter in
what part Of the city. can get his pow
er very cheap, and the same ends are
attained as are in the big buildings
with their steam power for hire
1.-THE great growth of all those cities
can be attributed to the growth of
their manufacturing establishments
during the past 90 years and this in
turn can be traced directly to the en-
couragement given to the smaller men
in just this way. These power plants
have received the encOura cement of
the municipalities in many ways, and
their announcement that they sell their
power at the lowest possible rate Is no
misnomer. At that they earn good in
terest on their investment. 1t would
seem TO me that for many towns cleo
trio power, all things considered,
would be the more feasible. Men seek
ing Il place to establish themselves in
any manufacturing line must be shown
that they can get power in this way
and can get it at a low rate-not told
Of the city's advantages in glittering
generalities, but shown by facts and
figures what they can expect"