Norwich bulletin., 1912-03-29

Wightman, T. NJ. Lyon, J. Carl Con-
 verse, B. P. Cooley, Marshall Bradway.
 Governor Baldwin said:
 In the early days of Connecticut
 history Stafford was thought to be
 one of the towns most especially fla
 vored by nature.
 Here were several iron mines of
 bog ore of excellent quality, and here
 were mineral springs to which people
 came from all over the country and
 whose waters cured many who could
 be cured nowhere else. There was
 water power at han0 for manufactur-
 ing, and all the iron hollow ware for
 the state was made here Tn the Rev
 olutfOn a cannon factory was set up
 which did good service to the cause of
 independence A hundred years ago,
 besides two cotton factories, one clock
 shop. three woolen mills, three tan
 neries, six grain mills and dozen saw
 mills, there were some for lighter work
 where women only were employed. In
 those days, to quote from Pease SS Niles Gazetter of Connecticut and
 Rhode Island. a publication of that
 era, large quantities of straw braid
 and bOnnets are made and sent abroad
 for a market, which is equally impor-
 tant, regarded as a source of profit, or as means of promoting female indus
 try and habits of attention to business,
 and a consequent abstraction from
 light and frivolous occupations and
 amusements. or the more unwarranta-
 ble employment of local detraction."
 I do not know which of the joint au-
 thOrs of this work, Dr. Pease or John
 M. Niles. wrote this description of the
 Stafford women of that day. but 1 ven
 ture to say that MT Niles, who soon
 z f+,y,r ,-J
 ator from this state and then postmas- ter general in President Van Buren's
 cabinet, would have found this pas sage in his Gazetter a hard thing to explain away, and might have been sorely tempted to found an earlier
 Ananias club, if he had been running
 for office here or anywhere in 1912.
 Most of the industries that Stafford throve on q hundred years ago have disappeared. Yet she has doubled her population, her prosperity and her in dustrial importance How is it? By three things: the invention of modern
 machinery, the introduction of coal to raise power, and the laws making in | corporation free to all
 It was once thought that modern machinery by displacing hand tools, would lessen ! the opportunities for | hand labor. Experience shows quite the contrary It takes human hands to tend any machine and to dispose of it's products. The greater the pro- duct, the more the men employed. It was once thought that water power was and must always be the cheapest Stafford was well supplied | with water privileges, but they were scattered. One good, steady source of power, right at hand, is worth ten that
 can only be avaiIed of by ten different 1 establishments and that vary in vol ume from one season to another. Rail roads have come in to haul coal to Stafford at freight rates low enough to make of steam the most reliable force to move your mills.
 But manufacturing is a risky busi- ness. The profits are a small percent age of the receipts. It must be run on | a large scale to pay under modern in dustrial conditions. New York recog- nized these truths a hundred years ago | by passing in 1911 a generol incor- poration act for manufacturing pur- | poses. Connecticut soon followed her example More than any one other l thing has the privilege of freedom of interpretations for manufacturers built up Connecticut.
 l It has offered an easy way for get ttllS LIlE 1lCCGoodl PA tcLA eAAAh | the risk by releasing the shareholders | from any liability except that of pay ! ing for the shares they subscribed for.
 The cry of the street just now is | that the corporations are a, danger to 1 the people. But it is they that have made our people prosperous. They 1 transact nine-tenths of our heavy | trade. They are simply a few men as- | sociated under a common name with a 1 common fund to trade on. The more there are of them in active business, | the better for the state, for the more i business will there then be.
 | The corporation is the life of manu- 1 featuring. and manufacturing is the shape in which the business life of our state and of this town is mainly cast l Our buslness men and our business