Evening star., 1901-04-09
Wage-Earnfng In Washington.

Wage-Esrning In Washington.
The proposition under consideration by
the directors of the Board of Trade to Sc
cure representation for Industrial Wash
ington at the Buffalo exposition is novel In
one respect. The proposed exhibit, unlike
that of any other community. is not of the
capitals manufactures. but of its lack
of manufactures. Inc purpose will
be not to exploit the superiority of the
products OF our factories in order to attract
customers and thus promote trade, but to
demonstrate the comparative absence OF
such factories and to point out the open
inEs for profitable manufacturing enter
prises suggested by that lack. The appeal.
ff made. will be to the manufacturers, and
not to purchasers Of manufactured pro-
ducts: TO the exhibitors more than to the
visitors at the Buffalo exposition.
To furnish home employment for any con-
siderable percentage of the growing youth
of the community the District of Columbia
needs a steadily increasing enlargement of
its list of light. clean manufactures, such
bring wealth to cities like Paris and
Vienna without detriment to their resi-
Dental attractions. Assuming that the To-
cation of factories in the District and their
character as smoke, smell and noise pro-
ducers Will be under strict regulation in
order to preserve unimpaired the supreme
attractiveness Of the residential sections of
the capital there seems to be no good rea-
sor why Washington should not advance
industrially, utilizing to the full extent the
Potomac's water power, the neighboring
coal fields, cheap river transportation and
the markets of adjacent Maryland and Vir-
snla and the farther south.
Washington's industrial status is we'll
Stated in the special bulletin No. 2 recently
issued By the census bureau:
Washington Is not a manufacturing city
In the general significance of the term, and
II follows that nearly all the industries re-
ported in 1900-123 in number-were of the
kind which may be described as neighbor-
hood industries. lie. industries embracing
establishments engaged in the production
or repairing of articles for local consump-
tion solely incluong the so-called hand
trades, such as carpentering, masonry,
painting, repairing of every description
dressmaking, custom tailoring, etc; and
also industries carried on in connection
with mercantile pursuits; all of which are
not manufactures in large sense, but
rather the mechanical Industries cOntem-
plated by the census act. 1t is doubtful if
any considerable proportion of the products
OF the establishments In the District. valued
at S4G6oI.G22, is shipped outside of Wash
ington for consumption elsewhere. The
percentage Of increase shows a healthy and
gratifying growth, and indicates that the
number of small shops in which the various
creased IN Washington in keeping with the
general increase in population"
Inc number of wage-earners employed
by private manufacturing and mechanical
Industries in the District exceeds sixteen
thousand, and with propEietors, firm mem
bers. officers, superintendents, managers
clerks and statesmen is sweIIed to twenty
thousand The governmental wage-earnA.s
engaged in mechanical industries, number
more than eight thousand. The small mo-
chanical industries of the District. not p,oy--
ernmental. are. thus, far more extensive
than is generally understood. But both
In these lines OF work and in the field of
manufactures proper there is room for a
vast and wholesome growth.
The youth of Washington suffer from,
lack OF opportunities of home-employment,
and by the thousand are driven outside its
borders to earn their living But the at
traction to the District of outside manu-
featuring enterprises in increasing num-
bers will not wholly meet this difficulty.
In almost all cities local residents, and the
children of such residents, have the prefer
ence in the local employnents In
the national capital the government
Is by far the largest employer. having over
twenty Thousand names on its roll Rut
the apportionment-Of-Offic law now in ef-
1tct shuts out from national employment
IN the classified service the Washington
p0y and all av0wed citizens of the District
or Columbia. Thus local residence, else
where ground of preference, Is here a.
cause of statutory disbarment from en-
ployment in the most extensive of the capi-
tals workshops and business establish
ments.
Inc appeal to outside manufacturing in
dustries to locate here will moreover fail
TO be completely and extraordinarily effect
I've until local capital shows that it rec
oSnlzes the force of the contention that
our water-power. transportation facilities.
favorable markets and lack of local COM
petition combine to make highly profitable
the establishment of manufacturing and
mechanical enterprises In the District,
The capitalist or manufacturer when in
Tited to take advantage of the wonderful
openings for money-making presented by
WashiLgtOn's industrial condition too
often takes the View that If the business
chances OF this sort Were really so great
cur local money. seeking investment would
never have neglected them
To give the sons OF washingtonians a
falr chance I'D the apportionment-of-
offices law Glogical and inconsistent as a
part Of the merit system) should be re-
pealed; and C2l Washingtonians of means
must themselves use their money to de-
Yeiop and to encourage and assist the de-
Nelopment of suitable empIoyment-giyIna
manufactures and mechanical Industries In
the District OF Columbia.
II AgulnsIdo shows as much business