The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1923-12-13
GRAFTON LOSES 4 YOUNG
And PROMISING INDUSTRY
United States Auto Chain and
Twin Hook Co. Removes It's
Business to Oakland.

JlHel IS SLdu 10 spread Dig neau
like above over its news story of
that suspicious and gadsome news
paper report. We believe in this in
stance it is even more appropriate to
put such a head over this sorrowful
and regretable event in the history of
this community. Yesterday Grafton
people witnessed the elimination of
months of disappointing discourage
ment and cold disregard and disinter-
est Of our business people and sub
stantial property owners of their
fellow citizens and fellow business
men, men who have worked for
months trying to get enough addition
al fellow Grafton business men in
terested in their company to finance
the construction and equipment of a
factory in Grafton to employ Grafton
labor and young people to turn out
the product they have carried far
enough ahead and manufactured
largely enough and long enough in Q
very small way to prove out beyond
any reasonable question of doubt as
to it's absolute worth as a commercial
product, which will sell and sell rcadi-
~ in competition with the very best
automobile chains and chain at"lian-
ces now manufactured in Amer d.
whereby this infant industry Of more
promise than any other industry we
recall ever having been offered in
Grafton was transferred to Oakland
Maryland.
Despite these promoters efforts
along this line and despite the fact
that they have been manufacturing
their patented auto chain and the
chain hooks here in Grafton for more
than a year past, and selling the pro-
duct faster than they could get to-
gether the raw material and manu-
facture them and despite the fact that
they have kept upon their books I'M
filled orders for their product almost
continuously since they first COM
menced to make them and put them
on the market, they were coldly
turned down by every local business
man whom they approached for the
purpose of possibly interesting him in
taking stock in a larger corporation
to build in Grafton an adequate fac
tory and equip it with the necessary
machinery and raw materials to make
this revolutionary tire chain and put
it upon the market in . large way;
thereby aftording employment to a
large number of skilled workers and
dozens Of unskilled workers at high
wages in Grafton, they met with dis
enlargement and disappointment.
Meanwhile these promoters carried
their patents and samples of their
manufactured chain to different
points where manufacturing concerns
might be interested in securing the
industry for their plants or cities
might be interested in securing the
factory which Grafton, the lifelong
home of most of the parties inter-
ested in these patents and this infant
industry, had turned down as coldly
as Nero was supposed to condemn
the unfortunate gladiator to death.
They had several very gratifying and
satisfying offers to place the manu-
facture of the patented chain and = G
chain hooks with firms or corpora
tons amply able to put them on the
market in a big way. The local
owners of the patents make no secret
of the fact that they have bona fide
offers to take up the manufacture of
this chain and hook in the course of
the next few months by the Wheeling
Steel Corporation upor scale that
would insure its absolute success as
a business proposition, and on a
basis that would have meant possibly
greater immediate returns to the own
ers than any other; a chain manufsc-
turing plant at York, Pa. (the home
of the great chain Industry which is
the sole property of single expert
chain manufacturer whose chains are
known throughout the world fer their
excellence and quality, and whose
plant we are told by the promoters
he valued at $4,000, offered to put
his plant and equipment into a new
company on a $3.50 basis with the
Grafton owners of the patents and to
go into the manufacture Of these
chains and hool3 upon a large scale
and split the profits of the venture on
that basis.
Despite these offers, and the as
surance of every hardware sales OK
pert and auto accessory sales expert
to whom the chain has been submit
ted, that these Siucell chains and
hooks will outsell and be preferred
by the vest majori'y Of automobile
owners over and abo;a the famous
and much advertised Weed chains and
the Mckay chains, (the manufacture
ing Of which has built two enormous
CORPORATIONS wort h ccOraS of ,,,i1IiOye