Evening star., 1952-02-04

/
| the brink Of economic disaster.
Each had its economic founda-
ltion knocked out by sudden coll
Fifth Of Series.
lapse of textile industries upon
which the cities were dependent
The way each picked up the pieces
and built a new and sounder busi-
ness foundation should be inspira-
ltion to other hard-preSSed New
England textile cities and other
one-industry towns about the
country.
Both Manchester and Nashua
still have many problems. They
must bring in additional new In.
dustries to furnish jobs. Unem-
Iployment still is severe, particularly
lin Nashua, which recently re-
Iceived the second hard blow In
| four years in the closing Of a big
textile mill. But both cities have
passed most of the rough spots to
security.
The Nashua story is largely one
about the efforts of q young ex-
CT, 33-year-old Hugh Gregg, who
pulled the city together when 1t
was falling apart and, as a reward
may be elected the next Governor
Iof New Hampshire.
Manchester faced virtual ex-
tinction and became q national
problem in 1886 when the Amos
Ikeag, worlds largest cotton mill
closed its doors in bankruptcy
The mill buildings stretched more
than a mile along the MerrimacE
River beside the city. and in them
worked $4,000 persons, over hall
the city's breadwinners.
Purchased Huge Mill.
This blow came before the
country, and Manchester. had
pulled out of the depression o1
the 1930s. It took a long time fol
Manchester to recover, but the
city was saved when a group o1
enterprising citizens. led by Ar
thur E. Moreau, a hardware deal
er, formed a company to purchase
the Amoskeag property. They
bought it for $5 million with thu
help of the seven Manchestel
banks in handling the financing
The new company gradually
sold parts of the huge property
some to firms already in the city
others to new outside interests
until today 127 different COM
panies are doing business in the
mill yard. There is more textile
manufacture than any othel
single type, but the enterprises
are well diversified, making liter
ally everything from soup to cas-
kets. The firms employ 12.5O0
well over half of the city's indus
trial workers.
The two largest manufac acturine
industries are textiles and shoes
in the city Of $4,000. Both have
been in the doldrums, but thu
shoe companies dropped prices
dollar a pair and business ha:
picked up. Manchester's rayor
and blended textile mills also are
busier than those in other part
fof New England.
/ Unemployment has been re.
|duced in the past year to 1880 oi
6 per cent of the working force
Total payrolls in the city have
risen nearly 10 per cent in thu
last year, and business was re-
ported as generally good.
CIO Represents Workers.
The textile workers are organ.
Iized in the CIO Textile Worker.
Union, which represents most em.
ployes of the industry in New
England. On the subject of pro-
, ductivity, Michael Botelho, CIC
State director. said the Manches.
ter workers produce more thar
those of adjacent cities, becaus'
they worked with newer ma
|, chinery and daily work assign
ments were larger.
New England manufacturer
blame low work loads" largely fol
. their inability to compete will
textile mills Of the South.
1--WE pioneered in higher worl
loads" Mr.. Botelho said, "and tn
rest Of New England is going t,
follow. The employers in this necl
of the woods tackled the problem
of undermining their plants in yer
! vigorous fashion. They didn't wal
until the bottom dropped out o
their machines. Now they ar
reaping the benefits"
, Nashua, hard by Mancheste
/ and near the Massachusetts, Dor
der. received its biggest jolt il
l1948 when the Textron Corp, em
ployer of $500 people in a cit
of $4,000. announced it was clos
ing its two cotton mills. The com
= pany, headed by Royal Little, wa
/ one of the country's largest cottol
I~nnxS. ~na~,,&a o%,,rnr~ II hol Say,,.