The courier-index., 1918-05-24
LITTLE ROCK GETS
 SlO,0OO,0 GOO PLANT
GOVERNMENT INSTITUTION TO MAKE PICRIC ACID = WILL USE ABOUT 4,O00 SKILLED WORKMEN.

Little Rock, Ark, May 21.-There was great rejoicing in Little Rock today when news was received from Washington that the War Depart ment had selected Little Rock for the location of the $1O,O00, ,0OO picric acid plant. The plant will employ 4,000 skilled worAmen. Several larger cities were competing for the bio plant, which Little Rock landed after constant negotiations between the board of commerce and author ltles in Washington sirce April 27. 1t will be one of the largest manu- ia turing plants in the south. The payroll will amount to S8,O0O,00O per year. There is now only one picric acid plant in the United States, it being at Newark. N. J. The b., ,ildings are to be of brick, steel and concrete construction, and if the plant is 10 longer needed for intuition purposes after the war it can be turned to the manufacture of dyestuffs.
 George Firman today gave out the following statement relative to the location of the plant:
 "As usual, Little Rocks success in landing this gigantic enterprise is another example of unstinted and un- selfish work on the part of citizens and members of the board of com merce piloted by Ed Cornish, w. R. Smith, Moorhead Wright, backed by solid body determined to make Little Rock the metropolis of the southwest.
 "The breaking across of the Mis- sissippi River into the southwest with the location of this great man ufacturing plant, which will ulti- mately be the largest of it's kind in the world, marks q new el och in the industrial development of the south west. It has been the policy of the government to locate it's great man. ufacturing plants close to Atlantic ports, so that the products could be quickly moved to the sea for trans port to Europe. As result the eastern railroads and the Atlantic seaboards are congested with traf- fic to such an extent that often inn portant shipments stand on side tracks or remain piled up on docks for weeks before they can be load ed on shipboard.
 The plant will occupy 1,6O0 acre site at the Factoria addition to the City of Little Rock. The War Department recently authorized E. M. Davis, a New York contractor, to select a desirable site for the fac tory. He approved the Little Rock site after inspecting, in addition to the Little Rock site, proposed sites at Memphis and Louisville. His selection today was approved the war department. , Several carloads of construction machinery has been in the railroad yards for several days, tentative ar engagements for offices and office equipment have been made and much of the material has been ordered, and force of construcSlon engineers, field aviators, building superintend ents and foremen have been in the city for several days waiting only for final word from Washington to start operations in the construction of the biggest industrial enterprise ever undertaken in the south.
 From 2,500 5000 men will be required to erect the plant. Several of the largest construction compan- ies in the United States will have contracts for building the various parts of the plant, as no one com- pany is equipped to handle the en- tire construction within the time limit required by the government. The services of these companies will be donated to the government, their