Evening journal., 1905-06-19
WASHINGTON WILL
HAVE INDUSTRIES
1t Is Proposed to Make the
Capital a Manufacturing
Centre
BY William Wolff Smith.


.ernment necessarily increased in i'm
.portance and in the amount of business
to be transacted. This growth made
necessary an increase Of the clerical
force and of subordinate officials. All
this increased the amount of money
.disbursed here monthly and added
Largely to the volume of trade.
AS the nation grew in Importance
the influx Of foreign visitors increase I,
and Washington became to them a sort
'of Mecca. Many things combined to
make Washington an ideal residence
city for the wealthy and the cultured,
and from these two classes several
thousands have been added to the pop
uation. A change has come and the
property holders and business men of
the city are dreaming of a future when
Washington win be an industrial CEN
tre About two months ago an asso-
citation of business men was formed
for the purpose Of encouraging the in
vestment of capital In manufacturing
enterprises to be located here.
The recent session I'm this city of the
Southern Industrial Parliament has
given an impetus to the movement of
manufacturing industries that is al
ready being felt Within the past week
representatives. of several establish
ments have been in the city comforting
with those interested and looking for
favorable sites for manufacturing
plants, among them agents of a large
company engaged in the manufacture
Of novelties in one Of the northern cit
les. Representatives of a new cash
register company were also looking
over the ground. This company has
recently acquired a number of cash
register patents and viii manufacture
under them and other patents which
have lately expired.
One of the men interested in this
company remarked that Washington
would be an ideal place to establish
a new factory although one had al
ready been acquired in New Jersey.
Speaking Of the cash register business
he said "Cash registers are like sew
ing machines; it is the patents that
make the business so profitable, and
there is no reason why, when our
company gets started the price of cash
registers should not go down as rap
idly as that of sewing machines when
their patents expired. There is no
reason why under the new and ex-
pired patents cash registers should not
be sold at half their present prices and
leave a good margin for profit" Sew
eral sites on the upper Potomac
where there is abundance Of water
power and land, were examined.
A glance at the list of Senators and
members Of Congress shows that when
the new Congress takes up the ques-
tion OF railroad rate legislation, as AL
will do in November. the votes of the
members from small towns and rural
districts will decide the question. An
analysis of the situation shows that of
the Senators and Representatives,
three Senators and thirty-three mem
bers reside i'm cities of one million or
more inhabitants; in cities of 5000
to one million there are two Senators
and eight Representatives; 250.000 to
100000 four Senators and thirteen
Representatives; 100000 to 250.000,
eight Senators and twenty-four Rep
'resentatives; $4,000 to 100000 two
Senators and twenty Representatives.
The remainder of the eighty-nine SEN
ators (there is a vacancy from Della
ware) and the 3S7 members Of the
House, live IN cities of less than fifty
thousand population or in the rural
districts.
The literary bureau maintained by
the railroads with branches in Wash
ngton, Boston. New York and Chi
cago, Is sending out tons Of literature
to show that if the Determinations in
favor of the large cities are abolished
they will be greatly injured. II the
smaller cities become convinced of
this fact and believe they viii be corr
respondingly benefited, they have the
votes and nothing can stop them.
Some interesting figures on the
French tobacco monopoly. which is
held by the French government. have
Just been received by the Department
OF Commerce and Labor from Consul
General skinner at Marseillles. It APP
pears the revenue derived from this
monopoly by the government in 1903
amounted to $S7.534516. an increase
over the year before Of $2,634.9OO, while
the expenses connected with it were
but S15,609.745. a decrease Of $S05.429.
The profit to the French government
from this monopoly was therefore $71,-
l92A77t. BY far the largest quantity Of
the tobacco came from the United
States, Kentucky Maryland, Ohio and
Virginia supplying 1892 tons.
From the most unique telegraph Of
fce i'm the world there is sent out Of
Washington once a week Information
OF the most vital Importance 20 the
business world. This information is
the weekly crop report. The Weather
Bureau recently. for some unexplained
reason, denied to the two great tele-
graph companies the privilege Of send
ing the report from the bureau over
their own wires, and as the trade ex-
changes OF the country demand this
crop report within a few seconds of the
time it is made public. these companies
were put to the test of making new ar
lrangements. A ride 10 the main Of
fees down town would consume too
much tine no matter how quickly ac-
lcomplished.
The Postal has a branch Office two
squares away from the bureau which
sufiiced for its needs. The Western
Union has no branch I'm that part Of
the city. Now every Tuesday just be-
fore noon. rain or shine, an operator
goes to the square containing the
Weather Bureau, mounts a pole, at
taches a wire and throws Il to the
ground where he makes a connection
with his portable instrument and sits
down TO await the stroke of noon. 1t
is but matter OF few seconds for
a messenger to scurry to this point