The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1924-05-28

serious trouble, is in the institution of a series of small industrial
units in rich agricultural regions, for the home manufacture, by
home labor, Of finished articles of food, clothing and household
and business use, out of raw material grown, raised or produced
right here at home.
This it would seem would have the effect of keeping the
young people from migrating, more or less disastrously to them
selves and others, to the greatly over-populated sections of the
country, and would furnish a means of profitable investment to
with no attractive home investments available, HE themselves,
their families and their wealth, not only to warmer chimes, but
to regions that seem to offer possibilities for the investment of
their wealth against old age, sickness or other forms of dependa-
.bilty.
"The home consumption, in Montana for instance, of canned
milk, vegetables and fruit; cereal products; work shoes, leather
boots, puttees, vests, jackets, caps, gloves, harness chaps, suit
cases, and the like; wrapping, newsprint and other rough papers,
bags, etc.; blankets, sweaters, stockings, caps and other wooden
articles of wearing apparel or home use; articles of lead, iron and
other baser metals; abattoirs products, such as hams, bacon, lard.
sausage, etc. overaIs, khaki work and tourist clothing, and many
other non-fancy articles, is so great that there would seem to be
sufficient home demand for the finished product to profitably
employ several of these industrial units in the state; using, of
course, and as largely as possible, homegrown raw materials
that are produced right here in our fields and mines.
ct seems that these bone industrial units should be financed,
81 per cent by some wealthy and humanitarianly inclined man,
and 40 per cent by the citizens of the community in which the
units are to be located, the principal stakeholder directing the
destiny of the corporation. The ground should be donated to the
corporation by public spirited citizens, aided, if need be, by the
municipality, and should include enough land for a possible power
plant; play grounds; natatOrium and lecture hall; skating rink.
Tor both summer and winter sports; and a residential district for
employees in which could be erected small, modern cottages. each
with a small garage, lawn and garden spot, but with no retail
stores allowed therein.
1.-THE unit should be so laid out that both receiving and shin
ping departments would be on spur racks of all the serving rail-
roads. The buildings should be scientifically arranged for the
economic handling of both the raw material and the finished
product; and employees should be so trained that a shortage of
workers IN one branch could be supplied by the branch having a
surplus OF labor. For instance, the branch utilizing fall aeri
c4tural products would require fewer employees in spring and
summer than many of the others which experience their heaviest
production period at that time.
The buildings should be small but substantially built q
native material, produced by home labor, and erected on the uni
), system so that, as the industry expands, additional units couh
be economically added. They should include a tannery; work sho
and leather factory; paper mill; milk condensary; vegetable an,
fruit cannery; wooden mill overall factory; cereal mill: front
packing plant; small smelter, etc. The Yellowstone and Glacie
National parks, alone, would use a very large quantity of food
lciothlng and furnishings, each summer, Bozeman and Livingston
oelng the logical shipping points in Montana. Statistics on in
n coming finished products in the lines above enumerated cou1
be easily secured from the railroads.
we have only the vagust idea of the sum of money
u would require to finance such a unit, in Bozeman for instance
Z but we believe the idea is economically sound and that if wi
prove to be the solution of at least several of our economic ills