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Show UTAH'S KNITTING INDUSTRY BY JOHN A. HENDRICKSON The following nrtlclo which appeared appear-ed In the Payroll Uullder, was written writ-ten by Mr. Hendrlckson, and as It touches on a local Industry, should furnish interesting reading: Tho knitting industry ot our stato passed Its twenty-sixth birthday in July. July, 1890, tho writer placed nbovo the door of a small knitting factory in Logan a sign reading: Cache Knitting Works. It Is a fact, however, that previous to that tlmo somo fow hoslory had been made on hand knitting machines. The Cacho Knitting Works employed nt tho start .but eight knitters. Tho capital employed was quite as limited as tho number of hands employed, Tho factory fac-tory begau soliciting trado from tho stores as well as the retail trado. In 1891 additional articles of knit goods wero added to tho list, and ono year thereafter, other articles In the line wero added. In 1893 tho present well known union suits for men, mostly mado up In the black wero offered to tho public. Provlous to this period theso garments wero not on tho market. mar-ket. Ladles' union suits, however, wero mado in tho east and shipped west and offered by many of tho la-dies la-dies furnishings establishments. It wns with somo dtlllculty that the men's union suit found Its way onto tho market, as It was an Innovation In tho underwear lino. In 1895, ngents wero sent from Logan Into Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, soliciting solic-iting orders from tho consumers and wo wero indeed surprised nt tho results. re-sults. About this tlmo other factories factor-ies wero started In Logan, by men who had learned something ot this Industry from tho original factory, when agents wero bent Into sovoral additional states, and about sixty hnnSS woro employed by tho knitting Industry. Later on, tho writer was Instrumental In establishing tho Og-delf Og-delf Knitting Works, and tho samo year tho Salt Lako Knitting Works. There aro now twelve to fifteen factories In tho state. Tho reason that I give an Indefinite number Is from tho fact that two or three referred re-ferred to could hardly bo called factories, fac-tories, as thoy Import much of their knit wear nnd sell It as Utah mado. Our Present Market Last year, being twonty-llvo yci-s alnco tho birth of tho knitting Indus-try, Indus-try, over ono hundrod ngents woro traveling soliciting orders for Utah knit wear In tho following states: Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, California, Novada, Arizona, Arizo-na, New Mexico, and parts of lirltlsh Columbia In addition to our own state. Amount of Business Done Last year the knitting Industry ot this stato manufactured ?C47,779.39 knit goods. Thero was paid out for labor J10?,612.5I, 23 1-3 per cent of tho abovo products was sold within tho limits of our own stnto, whllo To 2-3 per cent was sold In othor slates. Thus It will be seen that $t12,000 wero brought Into tho states from knit wear shipped out ot ,tho slato as a result of the knitting Industry. In-dustry. Number Employed It Is a Uttlo dllllcult to ascertain tho exact number nt knlttors employed employ-ed by tho various knitting mills, but as near as can bo ascertained, thoro wero In 1915, 275 Mo knlttors nnd finishers employe .... main knlttors and f2 men and -ladles employed as foremen, dorks, stenographers, etc. In addition to tho abovo over 100 j tralcsmen wero sent out by tho varl- Si oils factories, fcj The Quality of Goods j It need hardly bo said that tho f quality of goods producod by tho j knitting factories ot Utah aro equal N It not superior to any ot Its kind on the market. Tho very fact that tho L Industry has grown to its present ex- I tent nnd that the goods aro sought I In all of tho woBteru states, tells Its ' own story. Tho present year bids fair to surpass all previous years. All I tho factories aro preparing for, aud aro oxpcctlng n larger output than that of any pteviou? year. Whllo j tho present world war Iiub Its lnllu-enco lnllu-enco Indirectly, directly It has but Uttlo effect ou tho Industry, other than making it moro dllllcult to ob-tnln ob-tnln suitable materials. It Is, how-over, how-over, a fact that eastern factories aro receiving orders from some ot the wurrlng nations, resulting In less competition by eastern houses to our stato Industries. Location of Factories Thoro aro In Logan four factorlos employing on an average ot thirty hands each. Thoro aro two wldo- , nwako knitting factorlos In Ogdcn j nnd flvo In Salt Lako City, and ono In Provo, making n total of twolvo. As previously stated, thoro aro oth-ors, oth-ors, but thoy can hardly ho countod among tho rcnl factories. Although tho peoplo of tho stato nrffTSot patronizing tho Industry as , thoy should, tho outlook Is good. It our peoplo realized that to buy good goods is tho cheapest Investment, thoy would soon bo convinced that tho articles mado by Utah knitting factoriob bocatiso superior In quality, nro cheaper than goods shopped In and picked up becnuso thoy wero apparently ap-parently chtnp. |
