The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1913-06-30
RY LEO l.. REDDING.
Copyright. 1912. by Town Deve

Copyright, 1912, by Town Develop
ment Company
The getting of factories for town is
a common and at the same time a
very proper ambition.
1t is the one tangible evidence of &C
tivity to which your Board of Direc-
tors can point with pride
1t is an important phase of commu-
nifty development work for the reason
that no other one achievement so ma
terillly aids in the growth and mater
ial development of the community.
Being a popular phase of town de-
velopment work, it has come to be
considered difficult one.
AS matter of fact, the getting OF
new industries is just like any other
ordinary business proposition. 1t hin
ges on the selling ability chiefly.
There are certain fundamentals that
govern, and no town can hope to sue
coed in efforts for industrial develop
ment until those fundamentals are I'M
derstood and mastered.
Then there are mistakes 10 be avoid
ed-mistakes that are too often dis
covered only through unhappy expert
ences.
In the first place, no town should
attempt to secure the location OF in
dustries until after careful anal
ysis of local conditions as bearing up
on manufacturing has been made by
some one competent 10 do so and the
conditions as found summed up and
logically arranged for future use.
This study of local conditions has
come to be known as an industrial
survey. This survey properly made,
should bring out clearly the town S
advantages for manufacturing and dis
tributing. 1t should also evidence any
disadvantages that may exist. From
such survey it should be a simple
matter to get, by deduction, the kind
of manufacturing that local cOndi-
tons are most favorable for, the kind
that might be expected to do fairly
well, and finally the kind that should
be advised to stay away.
Such survey should be so complete
as to permit the secretary to tell the
inquiring manufacturer the exact cost
of fuel labor and of raw material in
his particular market; to give details
as to character of transportation the
town has to offer, to outline living
conditions for both employer and en-
ploye and generally to be able to
furnish promptly on request all the
information demanded by the prOspeC-
tive manufacturer.
Because of the competition among
communities for good manufacturing
plants and because of improved com
munity conditions through effective
commercial organization work the
manufacturer takes every phase of
community life into consideration in
selecting a location The welfare of
his employees is given serious consid-
Grafton, for the modern manufacturer
has learned that good homes for his
workingmen increase their efficiency
and improve his output.
This industrial survey will point out
the character of industries that
should be sought for the community
The organization should be firmly
honest with itself and the manufac
turer and be courageous enough to de
cline an offered manufacturing plant
if that plant comes in the list for
which that particular community is
not adapted.
Nothing is more disheartening and
nothing more disastrous to successful
community building effort than hav
ing a factory fail in it's new location
The successful factory is a constant
source of satisfaction and of profit tC
the community. The factory that fails
is more emphatically a source of sor
row and regret for years to come.
Much of the evil and disappointment
resulting from the failure of newly 10
Gated Industries in the past has been
due to too great anxiety on the part
of the directors to get an industry
Too often committees have been de
ceived by the clever arguments of the
promoter. Citizens have been induced
to take stock in enterprises that look
ed good on paper, but proved worth.
less in practice.
A very good rule to follow in inves
tigating industries that might be Sc.
cured for a community is to investi