Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-04-27
A r LEADS.

The census bureau reports that for the year 1919,
the ftgures on which are now available. Grand Forks
was the leading manufacturing city in North Dakota,
Fargo coming next, and Mnnot third.
We are accustomed to think OF North Dakota cities
as distributing rather than manufacturing centers. and
1t is true that in these cities commercial and financial
activities occupy a greater share of attention than do
the manufacturing industries. Yet we are doing more
manufacturing than tho casual observer wonld suspect,
as there was produced in Grand Forks in 1919 ;S,77a.-
900 worth of manufactured goods, as against $6,771 600
in Fargo s5.561 in Minot. Nearly seven million dol
lars worth of manufactured goods a year is not bad for
q city In the center of a purely agricultural district
where attention is necessarily first given to activities
other than those of manufacturing.
In this connection i, may be noted that in recent
years there has been a strong and growing trend OF man
ufacturing enterprises toward the smaller cities. In
the preceding decades the opposite tendency congested
manufacture in a few great cities, and undoubtedly many
large concerns moved to the big cities for no other rea-
son than a Sentimental desire to be right at the center of
things. the desire on the part Of one manufacturer to en-
JOY the prestige Of being located in as big q town as any
that his competitors could boast.
Their has been growing a realization that many
lines of manufacture can be carried On as advanta seously
from every standpoint in a town of moderate size as In
a great metropolis. and, while the big city undoubtedly
has advantages, the smaller one has features which often
outweigh them.
Chicago, Tor instance, is our greatest railway CEN
ter, but it is by no means the most convenient to ship
goods into and out of. 1t hos its vast areas of yards
and its hundreds of miles of trackage. But it also has
It's thousands OF cars to handle, and it's sometimes
more Of a job to get a car out Of a Chicago yard than to
ship it across the continent. In the smaller city the han
ding facilities may more readily and less extensively
be adjusted to the needs of the community.
Housing and local transport conditions are better,
or may be made better in the small city than in the
large one. In the latter the factory worker has his
choice between living in crowded quarters where the
surroundings are of the barest sort, and where children
should never be reare0 and spending an hour in the
morning and another in the evening riding to and from
work. In the latter case he may have room and fresh
air for his family. but his transportation is costly, and
he has not much time for home life. In the small city
he is usually able TO find desirable living quarters within
walking distance Of his work. This tends to develop
the home spirit, which, in turn, is an admirable pro-
moter Of everything that goes to build good citizenship.
The big manufacturing enterprise is not an I'M
mixed blessing to a small city. That city Is in the best
condition economically which Is the home Of Q large
number of relatively small manufacturing concerns, no
one Of which overshadows the others, and no one Of
which is OF greater size and importance than the town
itself.