The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-08-03

land was slowing down. Disma
 prophets peering darkly into the
 future deserted what they held to
 be the inevitable end of New Eng
 lands ancient economic eminence
 Supposed superior advantages oi other sections in materials or mar
 kets, and the pressure of the "new
 competition" were slowly dOom- Ing the northeast to industrial de- cadence. The twilight of New Eng land. 1t appeared. had come.
 To-day such opinions seem little short Of laughablc. New England $ reply to the prophets of gloom may now be considered part of busi-
 ness history. 1t Is us inspiring as 1t has proved emphatic. The obsequles were unceremoniOusly y interrupted and the funeral indeti-
 nitely postponed. Calling upon those reserves of energy, acumen and adaptability which have serv- ed to maintain New England as- cendancy in similar crises of the past, business leaders of the sec ton faced squarely the fact that changing conditions were indeed compelling a drastic readjustment of their economic scheme, and set about mOblliZing their resources to make the process rapid and conn plete.
 The results of this vigorous initi- ative are already to be read in the general migration of industry 50 depressinyly depleted by the ad- vance agents of disaster, Il count | <l 1.st Nn,a ,s reveals that from 1926 to 1929 for each industrial concern which fail ed or folded its tents and departed New England soil. two new ones totaling fifty per cent lrager per sonnel appeared to take It's place. During the period 1925-3O 1t. is calculated that more than n bill lion and q quarter dollars of new capital was invested in the fac tories. utilities, railroads and other enterprises of the six states.
 The newest census of manufac- lures offers additional evidence to
 which the sections's industrial po- sition has been maintained. New
 England's mills and factories in 1929 turned out n mass of fabri- cated products exceeded in variety by no other one section, represent ing q gross value of more than $G, 400, ,000, ,00O and an increase of
 63 per cent over the output of 1927. With only per cent of the
 total territory of the country and a little over per cent of the pop
 ulat!on, New England still pro- duces approximately 10 per cent of all value added by manufacture
 nearly $3,000. o 900 of new wealth drawn each year from this source alone.
 Not less significant than the re- suits themselves are the means by which they have been achieved With characteristic insight. New England leadership has been among the first to grasp the full import of cooperative action and scientific research as twin keys to the economic achievement of the future.
 The Boston Chamber of Com merce has to its credit a splendid record of civic service in promot- Ing those forms of co-ordinated ac- tivity among the city's business in- | tcrests best calculated to maintain
 Boston's traditional economic su-
 premacy within its sphere. The stimulating influence of the cham
 ber's work has extended far be-
 yond the limits of the city itself, and beyond the borders even of the state. Outstanding among its achievements, and q national ob- jcct lesson in cooperative effort In the mercha ndising field. is the in- st.tution of the yearly Boston con.
 ference on retail distribution under the auspices of the retail trade board of the chamber and uniting
 the retailing interests of leading
 bodies of New England with the research facilities of It's great edu- cationai institutions. It would be difficult to ovcrestim~ tc the inhn- ence of the Boston conference in aiding New England to cope sue.