Daily Kennebec journal., 1902-12-04

ters to be over 10000 in number. exclu-
sive of students and all others whose
stay was of such temporary nature
as to exclude them from the NUMBER
of our permanent citizens. we iouiu
ourselves to be center CT educatio'
and OF manufacture. Under othef cir
cnmstances 1T would be pleasing to-
dwell upon the educational phases ana
advantages of our city. but we are now
confinins ourselves to what may De
properly called our business interests
Chief among those interests stand our
splendid cotton mills, owned and OPP
erated by the Lockwood Company
Here 1899 people, on an average, hnd
steady employment at such good wages
that every fortnight $4,000 is paid TO
them and their substantial. well-fur-
nished homes are both a tribute to their
| industry and economy and a monu-
| mont to the wise and liberal manage
noent of the company which employs
them. To these mills are brought from
| the Sunny South 100000 pounds of
snowy cotton every year, and the 9O,oO"
spindles in those mills feed the looms
SO fast that every hour in the working
day there issues a quantity or cotton
fabric. which, if scanned together,
would cover a space varying in width
from one yard to three yards and four
miles in length. In one working day
of 10 hours that would mean 40 miles
| of cloth and in one year OF 3l3 working
days it would mean that those 1.0oO,CO0
mounds of cotton have been changed
| into l2525 miles of fabric of the vary
ing width of which / have just spoken.
These goods find a market not only IN
our own city and i'm our own country,
| bu; even far-Off Singapore and ShanS-
hal contribute from their Golfers to pay
the wages of these 1900 working men
and women. Located across the river,
but so near to us as TO be a WaterVille
enterprise, SO far as its pay roll is con-
cerned, are the pulp and paper mills
| of the Hollingsworth & Whitney Com
| pany. which pays to its employees $1,000
| a week. or $1,000 every "a hours. includ-
| ing Sundays. To the mechanics ana
| artisans of Waterville, the Maine Cen
| traI Railroad Company pays every two
| weeks $4,000. Our woOlen mill contrl-
! butes weekly more than $1,000. The
| Hathaway Manufacturing Company,
which gives employment to large
| number of most estmable women. pays
/
| ture factory, two foundries, three pub
| fishing houses and other industries
which / will not stop to enumerate.
swell our pay roll to such proportion
that more than S1,700,0Oo are put into
circulation each year through our ave-
nues of trade; and even these hSures
| do not include sums paid to college, IN
| stitute, and city teachers ana other
I ~,
| city employees. Understand me, am
not enumerating these facts with an
idea of boasting as to what WaterVllle
| is. or even to prOphesy what 1t may be.
but | want to show you that here we
have a respectable market for your
products, since all these dollars go TO
! those who must live and eat. In clos
| ing this statement regarding our city,
| I want to say that Waterville is only
| one of limited number of cities IN
| Maine where it would be for the bene-
| ct of all concerned We're there more
| like her. ------'--'''.'
| Turning now to another thought.
| There are 59,259 farms in Maine. Out
| of this number. according to reports,
| II 7iO of those farms are devoted prin-
cipally to dairy products. l assume
| that the representatives of the Maine
state Dairymen's Association regard
the business of dairying as good one
| and If il be q good one, then there is
some reason why still more farms in
Maine are not doing a dairying buSl-
ness. Examining the records of the
New England states, we find that III
Vermont a little over 80 per cent. of
her farms are devoted principally to
dairy products. Massachusetts follows
with n little over &c per cent, New
Uampshire comes next with Il littl"
over ~ per cent, Connecticut next Wlth
a little over so per cent, Maine STANDS
fifth with her % per cent, ana Rhooe
Island last with her &c per cent. Ii
would be interesting to examine some
of the alleged reasons why so much
deriving is done in one state ana why
less is done i'm others. Vermont claims
her prominence in this respect largely
through her excellent pasturage, her
peculiar atmosphere and the diligence
and intelligence which have been de-
voted to dairying by her farmers dur
ing n long period of years. Massachu~
sctts and Connecticut, both of Whlch
states lead us in the percentage OF
dairy farms make no secret of the fact
that the proximity of their farms to
MANY and excellent markets and the
ease with which those markets may be
reached. are among the chief reasons
why a large dairying business is done
i'm each of those states. Neither of
them has better pastures, neither has
better temperature, in fact, neither
have natural advantages which far
surpass the State of Maine in this par
ticular direction. IL then, the dairy
business of Maine is to be largely in
creased in the future, we must have
larger and better home markets or
more easy and cheaper access to mar |
kets outside of the State. or perhaps
both. |
My conclusion in the matter is this. |
every time n rural hamlet in Maine be |
comes large village, every time II
large village grows to a thriving. pros |
pering city, through the energy and
business capacity of its inhabitants, so
often is the market for the dairy pro-
ducts of the State of Maine made bet
ter Every time a railroad is built.
whetherit be steam or electric, connect
ing portions of our State with avenues
of traffic to which they have not before
been connected, every time a water