THE ESSEN OF THE U.S.

Hokitika Guardian, 24 December 1917, Page 4

THE ESSEN OF THE U.S.

FIFTEEN LANGUAGES IN ONE WAR FACTORY. £4 A DAY WORKERS. • itacw York, Oct i

I was driving with one of the city’s leading manufacturers . through Bridgeport, Connecticut, and spoke to him of the munition works at Gretna Green which are nine miles long ail'd three wide. “ I guess,” he saidßrily, ‘‘it’sno use showing you anything here.” “ Please do not think that,” I answered. C‘ I have heard Bridgeport called ‘. the Essen of America,’ and I wantlto tell the people of England what it has done to earn that title.”

I left Bridgeport firmly persuaded of its-right to he called “ the Essen of America,” aud greatly admiring the energy and enterprise which have expanded its production so jtparveltously. .7 Three years ago this was a city' of some too,ooo. Came the war and the demand for munitions. Immediately it began to increase ill output in its already numerous factories. A big small-arms and cartridge factory was already iu existence. Other branches of the metal industry' had works at Bridgeport and a number of miscellaneous trades made the city known for the production of submarines, typewriters, sewing machines, and other useful objects. It also claimed a place in history as the birthplace of Baruuni. The illustrious showman presented it with the fine park along the sea front which gives the place so much pleasanter aud healthier a character than that of most manufacturing cities. It is not upon the open sea. It lies opposite Long Island, protected from possible attack. Its situation between New York and Boston and exceptionally good communication both by rail and by water accounted for its prosperity before the war. During the past three y r ears it has grown rapidly both in wealth and population and is now a. city of between 170,000 and 180,000. Ninety' per cent of its entire manufacturing output consists of arms, ammunition, and other warlike material, such as motortrucks for transport, tools, and machines, for the amount spent on building within the city limits has increased from the normal j£Soo,ooo to a year.

HOME FOR THE WORKERS.

As we drove about the new factories new “ residential sections ” were pointed out to me every other minute. The show place of Bridgeport at present is a range of thirteen vast erections of red brick begun and finished for the Remington Company' within twelve months. I saw photographs of the site as it was on December 1, 1915. They showed a few mean houses in a wilderness ’6f swamp. A photograph taken on December 1, 1916, included thirteen factories, a powerhouse with two huge chimney's, and an office block. This company employ's 16,000 workers, aud pay's out wages of £ 33,000 a week. Here, as in other new plants, the machinery 7, is so designed that it can be used with slight interruption for peace purposes when the war is over.,

The difficulties oF housing the people’ who poured into the city during the,period of expansion can easily be imagined. At one time it was impossible .to find a decent place to sleep in Men came and left again after twq.or three days in disgust. There are now 37,000 furnished rooms all tenanted. Whole districts of new houses have arisen ; summer cottages by the sea have been tupied into tenements for munition workers; the manufacturers clubbed together and formed a company to build a garden suburb. In spite of every effort the difficulties remain. Many' look forward to the cold weather with dismal foreboding.

Another result of the sudden increase is the demand for labour and a rise in wages bey'oud the dreams even of labour agitators. For ordinary factory workers the rate jumped last year from is 6d to nearly 3s an an hour. Highly skilled men are earning in some cases as much as £4 a clay. The prosperity ot the place can be seen in the shop win dows filled with expensive display's, and in the crowds of shoppers who make a solid block off the principal, streets on I‘Saturday 1 ‘Saturday afternoons. It is a strangely mixed population which lias come together in Bridgeport. In one factory I visited fifteen languages are spoken. The first r newspaper I saw printed was in the Russian character. There are many Greek cafes “ Koffeeneion ” outside in Greek letters. Italian is heard constantly' in the streets, 70 per cent of the inhabitants are said to come from Southern or Southeastern Europe. They are good workers, and on the whole lawabiding folk. The police guards who surround the principal ammunition factories are not required on their account; it was the Germans who were considered dangerous when these guards were ordered, but that danger seems to have passed. The tide of hostile feeling has risen high, and Germans are keeping very quiet. The Essen of America would make short work of them it they tried to cause trouble there.