The Massachusetts-Rhode Island Boundary as an Example of a State Line's Influence on the Occupance Pattern of an Area

The Seamless Hosiery Industry of Laconia, New Hampshire S. NORMAN CAItLS Oregon Normal School , Monmouth, Oregon The conditions and prospects for any definite economic endeavor within a region or city can be fully understood only by taking cognizance of the conditions and prospects of its' competitors. The hosiery industry of Laconia, the seamless hosiery manufacturing center of New Hampshire, declined greatly during the last decade. A comparison of basis for the industry in Laconia and in the principal areas of American seamless hosiery production, the Chattanooga district and the North Carolina Piedmont , reveals the possibilities of Laconia. There is inherent in the Laconia site neither major advantage nor impressive handicap for hosiery manufacturing. In the two large cost items of raw materials and labor it stands on a par with competitors . The New Hampshire center lacks, however, modern plants and automatic machinery For that reason it must, in-so-far as market demand does not permit expansion of plants, produce the higher quality and more specialized lines. Advantages of Laconia that encourage industrial revival are its relative proximity to the marketing center, a position permitting frequent personal contacts between manufacturers and factors, and a reputation for high quality goods. Its principal handicaps are the inefficiency of plants and equipment that commonly characterize old industrial regions, and a defeatist attitude—an attitude developed during that period when southern competing centers enjoyed decided labor cost advantages, and aggravated by style changes perplexing to long-established industrial centers . The Massachusetts-Rhode Island Boundary as an Example of a State Line's Influence on the Occupance Pattern of an Area MDWAlU-") ULIAIAN State College of Washington, Pullman, Washington A state boundary line does have an influence on the occupance pattern ; it is a cultural impress, almost obliterated in some areas but very evident in others: with the exception of regular boundary markers, most of the rural parts of the eastern Rhode Island—Massachusetts line are not marked by even fence or property lines. In more thickly settled industrial and urban outskirt areas however, the line is very definitely marked by such items as: road endings an« surface changes reflecting differences in administration, location of factories, as well as minor vice establishments (to avoid stricter laws or higher taxes of a neighboring state) and by changes and termini of water, sewer, electricity, and other utilities which in turn influence the location of some settlement forms. Other problems of (31) geographic interest are present such as the protection of city water supplies derived from interstate watersheds. Few of the adaptions, however, are direct and clear cut. This leads to the conclusion, borne out by numerous further examples, that a state line is apt to exert its influence over a zone and not in a sharp line of demarcation or cleavage. Examples illustrating this tendency are: extensions of utilities and roads for short distances ove1· the state line and the presence of slums and minor vice areas on both sides of the line although the reason for their existence originated in the less strict laws and lower taxes of one side. This zonal quality apparently reflects in some measure the compromise between the fixed political , and the actual changing areal limits of expanding and contracting human activities. It also seems ""'"> be a major factor differentiating a state line from an international boundary. The Rise and Decline of the Indigo Industry of South Carolina WALTER W. RISTOW State Nornwil School, Clieney, Washington Indigo production in the middle coastal plain region of South Carolina began in 1741 and flourished for a little more than a century. The rapid rise to favor and the almost equally rapid decline in production were the result of several physical, human, and economic factors. Favoring factors in the development of the industry included: 1.Extensive areas of well drained upland sandy loam soils 2.Favorable climatic conditions, including abundant well distributed rainfall, and a long growing season 3.Nearby marl deposits which provided lime, used in the process of extracting the dye 4.A good supply of cheap slave labor which had been introduced oarlier into the region to cultivate the rice lands r\long the streams 5.The high price which indigo commanded...