The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1908-07-25
CONDITIONS
MUCH BETTER
Gist of Interviews Shows
That Confidence is on
It's Way to City.

Optimism is patent In Hammond to-
day where n month ago there was
doubt and six months ago gloom.
business, according to the heads of
the city's Industries, is not pros
porous to make them enthusiastic,
but 1t is prosperous enough to make
the outlook encouraging. Interviews
with manufacturers indicate early
return of prosperity. In many plants
1T has arrived.
WHAT THEY SAY.
j. Apon, of Reid Murdoch Co.; We
are hiring more men now than we
ever did There are now about 250
men and girls at work here. The
slump did not make any difference
with us and we have continued about
as active as we were before. We look
for business conditions to brighten up
in the future, but we have never had
any reason to complain"
George c. LOckIin, of the Enterprise
Bed Co.; We are anticipating much
heavier business in the fall. We have,
of course, been getting orders right
along but they have not been as large
as they were before the financial furry
came. There is much better tone
to business and we look for a complete
resumption of our former activity be-
fore fall"
DIDN'T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE.
VI. f. shire of tiIe Hirsch-Stein
Works: We have been running
through all of the so-called hard times
with practically as many men as we
have always had We look for things
in the business world to pick up in
the near future"
+. =. Betz. of the Betz Manufacturing
Company: We do not find that our
business has been as great this year
as it was last al this time and it is
picking up very slowly. OF course. we
expect it to get better right along and
look for a fine trade next fall"
AFTER NEW BUSINESS.
w. J. Stewart of the Stewart Ma
chfnery Manufacturing Company: Il
am pleased to state that We have been
receiving more inquiries regarding
new business in the past two weeks
than we have had in several months
preceding This shows that the period
of stagnation Is past and that the var
ious concerns are much more active
than they have been We have en-
ployed sixteen men all through these
hard times We ordinarily employ
twenty-six men and they are all well
paid"
John f. Fitzgerald of the Hammond
DIstilIinG Company; "We are as busy
as we have ever been, and during the
past six months our business has beer
up to the standard which was set dur
ing the prosperous times. Since We
started we have manufactured SAP
100000 worth of goods and we are
keeping up the pace We hire eighty
to 100 men. who have been working
in eighteen hour shifts
PROSPECTS VERY BRIGHT.
p. F. GOIding of the Fitzhugh-Luthel
Locomotive Works; The lomomotiv,
department has been running full and
the boiler and pipe and tin shops arr
also busy, but the car shop is a littl'
fat. We are employing in the neigh
borhood of $50 men and the prospect.
for the future are brighter"
Leonard KnOerEer, of the Champion
Potato Machinery Company; "Ou
plant has been closed down for few
days on account of the delay in tn
shipment of materials. We expect thi
shipment Monday and will open up tn
plant then. We employ forty-sevel
men when the plant is running to it
full capacity and with the prospect o
good crops we expect to have bus.
year. We are planning an addition t
our plant which will be 12o by 100 fee
in size"
HAVEN'T ANY KICK
w. c. McEwen, of the Hammon
Boiler Works; We are running abou
so per cent of normal and while W
have no kick coming we might b
buster. We do not expect much of
change in the situation until the var
ious other industries in the region ar
running. We believe the future look
brighter. however, and we expect
complete resumption of activity in tn
fall"
G. G. LindstrOm, of the Straube Plan
COmpanyi We are running at abou
two-thirds of the capacity of the plan
We hire normally about seventy-fiv
men. While the orders for the pas
two weeks have been less than fo