The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1912-10-08

Every large industry in New Jersey
is an object lesson Of tariff protection,
for every one of them grew up and
prospered under the protecting and fos-
tering wing of the tariff policy which
was inaugurated by the Republican
party and steadfastly maintained for
half century
Prior to that time American indus
tries, such as then existed, were small,
and we depended for nearly all our sta
pie goods upon English, French and
German manufacturers. Even the
Christmas toys of the children were
imported from Germany All our silks
| came from. France, for there were no
silk mills at Paterson We got our
pottery chiefly from England. Our cot
ton thread came from Scotland, and ii
cost double and treble what American
thread does now. Our railroads bought
their rails and cars and engines most
" in Europe, for there were no large
American plants. All our clothing OF
the better sort was imported. So were
| all our linen and most Of our cotton
goods, although we grew the raw cot
ton for the British mills to turn into
| sheetings.
Newark is known as the Birmingham
| of America. 1t got that name under
the protective tariff. Before the pro.
tecttve tariff system was adopted New.
| ark was a struggling village It did
not contain single large factory, and
what it manufactured was of the
| cheaper grade of goods that could with
stand foreign competition. At that
time what is now known as the Eighth
ward was wilderness of fields and
vacant lots
In most of this section no streets had
yet been laid out. Mount Pleasant
cemetery was out in the country. This
great section now is solidly built up
with residences, stores and factories
and the cemetery is in its center The
population is about 25,OO0 and the prop
erty valuation is enormous.
1t was to this then unpopulated sec.
| ton that the Clarks came soon after
the Morrell tariff was enacted to es-
| tablish a factory for the manufacture
of cotton thread. They came from
Paisley, Scotland, and the reason fol-
their coming was that they had to es-
tablish their industry here or eventu-
ally go out Of business. They brought
a few skilled operatives as teachers fol-
American labor and some machinery
Then they began business on the cheap
site they purchased in what is now the
Eighth ward.
| You can walk for hours through
miles of intricate machinery in the
great mills of the Clarks on both sides
of the Passaic today, and you will
know that all that machinery was
made in American machine shops by
American machinists. You can look al
these vast factories and be told that
they were put up by American build
ers. But that was the least Of the
benefits brought to Newark by the
Clark thread industry.
| The infant industry grew and ex
| banded, and as it grew so did the fac
tory buildings and the number of the
| employed. From hundreds the CLARK
payroll ran into the thousands, and as
the industry grew the neighborhood
grew and expanded.
| Dwellings began to grow up to house
| the operatives. Streets were laid on
and paved. Stores were erected, fol
the operatives must buy their neces
saries. Houses and stores multiplied
and churches and public schools came
in. The once great stretch of fields
and vacant lots was undergoing 8
marvellous transformation. There was
| no section of Newark that exhibited
such remarkable prosperity, and Il
| continued undated except for a few
| temporary checks. One was the viii
son tariff, the shadow Of which
brought on the panic of 1898.
The Eighth ward of Newark is
known as the banner Republican ward
| 1t always gives large Republican ma