Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1913-01-06
FACTORIES ARE
COMING TO COAST
Seattle Commercial Agent
Reports Eastern Manu-
facturers on Alert
AWAIT CANAL OPENING
Steel Industry Sure to Come
Freight Rates Will
Change Radically

SEATTLE, Jan. 5.-Manufacturers
throughout the United States are
keenly alive to the industrial develop
ments which must follow the opening
Of the Panama canal, according to
Frank P. Dunham, who, as commission
er of the new Seattle Chamber of Com
merce, spent two months touring the
industrial centers of the Middle West,
East and South and interviewing busi-
ness men in those cities. Mr.. Dun
ham has made his report upon his mis-
sion to the executive committee of the
industrial and exploitation bureau OF
the chamber.
Manufacturers generally realize
that in the great colonization move
ment which will follow the opening of
the canal" said Mr.. Durham, "the Pa
cific Coast will obtain the lions share
and that with it's present remoteness
from the source of supply of manu-
facturers an unusual opportunity for
industrial development on the Pacific
Coast will be presented.
Manufacturers Alert.
"This situation appeals with partic-
ular force to the manufacturers Of the
Middle West, who make articles sim
liar to those manufactured on the
Atlantic seaboard, as they realize that
the canal will mean low rates from the
Atlantic cities to the Pacific Coast,
shutting the Middle West out of the
market unless they take measures to
protect themselves by establishing
branch factories on this side.
"This particularly applies to all
articles for which the Pacific coast
affords the raw material, or on which
freight rates are disproportiOnately
higher in comparison to the value in
bulk of the finished product. A numb
er of large Industrial concerns an
nounced their intention of establish
ing plants on the Pacific Coast within
the next year or two.
Steel Plants Coming.
Leading men in the iron and steel
industry told me that it was inevitable
that this industry should find it's next
development upon the Pacific seaboarG
pointing out that the principal reason
which has held back this industry in
the past, the high cost of fuel, would
be changed by the development of the
Alaska coal and oil fields. In Pitts
burg coal costs from 81 to $1.75 the
ton, and some districts in which the
steel industry is operated gas at four
cents a thousand feet is available, this
fuel being equal to coal at 30 cents
the ton.
"In Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana
many industries established on ac-
count of the abundance of forest pro-
ducts are nearing the end of the raw
material, and those using wood as the
base of their products are looking to
the Pacific Coast for their future.
Freight Rates to Change.
1T generally is admitted that the
freight rate situation will be radically
changed by the opening of the canal
and that, whereas, st. Paul and Min
neapolis territory practically meets
Seattle territory at the Idaho line to-
day, in the near future new coast dis
tributive rates will push back the line
to the Dakotas.
MANY inquiries have been received
from men of small capital and know
ledge of trades regarding opportun-
tiles on Puget Sound, and Secretary
r. H. Mattison, of the industrial
bureau, has compiled an analysis of
this situation as the basis for a pro-
gressive campaign of industrial de-
velopment."
Prosperity in East.
Mr.. Dunham says that an eXtraor-
binary degree of prosperity exists in
the East and Middle West, and un-
doubtedly will soon be felt on this
coast. AS an indication of this he says
that he found politics completely sub.
merged by business activities. The
steel industries output for 1912 will
exceed all past records by about 6,0OO,.
900 tons.