Omaha daily bee., 1903-03-23
MANUFACTURING IN THE WEST
Industries Follow Whers the Star Of
Empire Leads.
ABUNDANT RAW MATERIAL TO WORK ON
Unequalled Opportunities for 'FRONT.'
able Investment of Capital, skill
and EnerEy-wbat HAS,
Been Done.

Bonds and Mortgages, a Chicago monthly.
discusses in the March number the growth
Of manufacturing industries in the middle
west and presents instructive statistics
showing what has been done and what
may be done with capital and skill intelli-
gently directed. The abundance Of raw
material now shipped to other points dis
tant from the source to be converted into
manufacturing products ~Justihes the as
sertion that the west today affords un-
equalled opportunities for the upbuilding
Of profitable industries. The paper, quoted
editorially, says:
While the west has been developing in
population and has been endeavoring to
inaugurate new methods OF agriculture,
that it might be more certain OF It's crop
returns, it has said little Of its progress
in the art Of making things. The manu-,
featuring impulse that has accompanied
the production Of raw material has worked
It's way so quietly that II has been APP
p~arently one OF the minor evidences OF the
progress in the western and northwestern
states. Yet 1t Is doubtful IL there is to-
day any one thing that is of more import
ance In the vests development than this.
The fact that II is able to enter the manu-
featuring lists and to keep its people en-
ployed at other things than the raising OF
crops is of vast value to it's ultimate
growth and the permanency Of it's business
conditions.
Growth of the Manufacturing Instinct.
The reasons for the vests movement in
this direction are found in the coming Of
men accustomed to this life. The towns
are filling up as we'll as the country and
the men who are making their homes
therein are those with the manufacturing
instinct. Then there is an investment fund
in the west that is at the disposal of the
business men who are capable Of handling
1t and of utilizing the raw material that is
so abundant. II is ridiculous that the ranch
man of Dakota should send his hides to
Massachusetts, and then pay freight on
them back again in the form of shoes. 1t
has been so proved, for one of the most
successful shoe factories in the nation is
In Minnesota while others are being To-
Gated in other parts of the prairie region.
The breakfast food industry has been CEN
tered in Michigan for several years; now
It is also becoming prominent in Minneap-
oils, Omaha and Kansas City, where new
factories are probable this year. The wheat
and oats are grown at their door and can
be utilized cheaply.
The northwest is particularly independ-
ent in this. The fuel supply of the states
along the northern border Is abundant for
the furnishing of vast power; the rivers
of the states near the mountains are ready
to give the power to many mills; the tim
Der of the states farther west is of such
quantity and quality as to make the de-
velopment Of the lumber industry in all its
forms of most profitable investment. AL
ready these factors are being utilized and
the people are making themselves the arbi-
ters of the new prosperity that has come
to their section.
Money I'm Sight.
There is plenty of money for this de-
velopment. Not all OF 1t is in the west,
but a large portion is there. The GER
tainty Of the large demand, all the time
growing larger as the population advances
by leaps and bounds through the constant
influx of settlers, gives assurance that
there will be a market for the products
and the people who invest in the new
plants are the ones most familiar with
the conditions. In every town of any size
in the west some industry Is taking root.
1t may be nothing more than a broom fac
tory or a brickworks, but 1t is aiding to
some extent in the new movement that is
making the west rich and is also making
II a rival 10 the east ; long time supremacy
in such things.
How many realize that there are in the
western states, meaning those between the
Mississippi and the Rockies. 225 ,2s7 manu-
factories with an aggregate capital Of
SO, 447, 5S7, 249 and an annual product of
IS, 252, 81, O29? This includes some of the
largest mills in the world, the packing
houses that are the wonder of this age
and other vast enterprises as we'll as many
that are of lesser account. In famed New
England, the nome Of manufacturing, there
are only one-fourth as many establishments
as in the west, with less than half the
capital invested and an annual product of
only two-hfths. Two decades ago the west
had practically none of this vast manu-
featuring industry.
What Has Been Done.
These are the states that have made UP
this splendid record:
Iowa, 14,1S9 establishments, $102, 733, los
capital. 1904, 1851 product.
Missouri. 1884 establishments, $249,
ssS. 5S1 capital. 1886, 49S, 7s4 product.
Minnesota, IL ,112 establishments, $50, s27,-
1862 capital, $173, 129, 1893 product.
Nebraska, STA establishments, 81. sS2, ISL
capital, $14S, 100000 product.
South Dakota, 1859 establishments. 81
SIS, 9S5 capital. &12, 2S1. 2Ss product.
Colorado, $3.50 establishments, $50, S22, Az