The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-06-03
The Primacy of, Flour.

- ..
It will be observed that. flour continues
to be by long odds the chief industry of
Minneapolis. Its production forms nearly
half the total product of the city and is
four times as great as that of the second
largest industry, lumber It Is gratifying
to find that it is a growing industry, the
! value of it's product having increased $19,-
600, 900 in ten years, though the number
of establishments decreased from twenty
five to twelve. The number of wage
earning employees increased in the same
time from 1,621 to 2,071. - -5:ss,i +
Whether -four making will continue In
| definitely to be such a great industry as
| it now is in Minneapolis is hard to say.
Judging the future by, the past, we might
expect that the city had now reached the
climax of its growth in this department
Of industry, but the action of the Wash
burn Crosby company in: deciding to erect
another mill, after carefully studying the
| situation to ascertain whether another
point would be more advantageous, indi-
Gates that the apex has not yet been
reached People will continue, forever to
| eat, bread and as the population grows the
amount of flour made must increase, The
fact that the center Of gravity of wheat
production:is slowly moving farther away
from Minneapolis does not seem to make
a great deal of difference, since freight
| must be paid on either wheat or flour.
But as the production Of hard wheat with
in the limit of the United States has prob
/ ably reached its limit, unless there should
be a succession of years Of high prices
for wheat the prosperity and growth Of
} the milling Industry here will. soon de-
! pend upon easy access to the Canadian
: wheat fields. Our own tariff against wheat
q and the efforts of Canadian railroads and
, governments to:build up milling center
in Canada may interfere with plans for
making the Canadian wheat fields tribu-
r tary to Minneapolis. At any rate, when
the future of such splendid industry is
at stake, it behooves those. interested te
begin early the efforts required TO Sc.
l cure the arrangements fitting to new con
ditions which will insure the continued
prosperity. of the Minneapolis flour indus
try. Minneapolis Industries are not We
sufficiently we'll diversified to permit it!
2 major industry to decline. ~ S
Growth in lumber Production.
e The manufacture Of lumber and timbe,
d products also shows a handsome increase
x from 81 ,215, 293 in value Of product to $12,
a 2s5, 3O5 and from ,2,475 men to 3,017, Their,
: seems to be little doubt that this industr.
has reached Its maximum product an!
: will henceforth show q slow decline. In
! deed, the allied industry of planning mill
= sash and door products, already show {
8. decline of about 500, 900 in value tof it
n product since 1900 and a falling OF IN tn
u number. of men employed from ]. 419 It
) 900. The decline in the value OF the lun
% her product during the present decad
y may: not be great, but any one who ha
y paid any attention to the, history Of thi
= industry, must feel confident that ulti
s mately the Industry will go the way j
= Minneapolis that it has already travele
in La Crosse, Winona, Muskingum, Ea
Claire Chippewa Falls and ther, citie
- that once were, famous for their sawrailI
- - Though the sa wmill industry is SO muc
~ in, evidence in Minneapolis, it does, nc
: have so large an output in point Of valu
- as might be expected. In view Of the Tax
!, 20 that it employs s1s,0o0o00 Of capital 8
- compered with $14,0o0,O00. in -four, whic
!. has product four times as valuable.
81, The wage pasTolls Of the two indus
:. ! tries are about the same, being 81 0,0t
for lumber and $780, 600 for -four TIL,
If of Minneapolis two leading industrie
=, ~ the one which has the smaller capital al
: the much smaller product pays the mo-
total wages and probably returns to IL
,e capital Invested about the same actu
amount of profits as the other.
The lumber industry thus appears to 4
d. a more valuable industry to the city TIL
It -four in respect to number Of men er
I'd ployed wages paid. and returns to car
tai. If the flour Industry were to