Industrial Seattle

ials for export and manufacture. 3.The several large rivers of the eastern shore which have deposited their loads of alluvial material in the lowland regions and thus built up a number of rich agricultural districts in a region generally lacking in soil fertility. 4.The mild temperate marine climate of the region which permits almost year-around logging and lumbering operations and has encouraged such specialized forms of agriculture as the dairy, poultry, berry and vegetable industries. 5. The location of the region as the gateway to Alaska and the Orient with their rich commercial possibilities. Industrial Seattle I IO WAUIt II. MAIlTIN University of Washington, Seattle, Washington Among the various methods of analyzing the type and extent of industrialization in an urban area, the ideological sketch is of definite value. By breaking down and regrouping the statistical data of manufactures, it is possible to arrange the resulting classified groups into graphic pyramidal form, and thus determine whether or not any given city has wha'; may be called an "industrial personality ." By applying this method to Seattle the resulting sketch shows an unusually large pyramidal base of the common, subsistence industries, . universal in every urban center; with 300,000 or more population. Rising above this predominant base are three types of- industries which serve to give Seattle a certain amount of industrial personality . First is the' wood-working group, including lumber, a declining shingle industry, and a steadily increasing furniture industry.,.,Sec-, ond is the mechanical' group, including marine engineering and its allied crafts, and the relatively new aii'plane plants. Third in importance is the processing of foodstuffs for distant markets, including the canning and quick-freezing of fish, fruits and vegetables, the milling of flour, and the preparation of coffee, tea and spices. By further analysis of industrial Seattle, using both statistical and graphical comparison, the following conclusions are reached : 1.Such a large proportion of Seattle 's manufactures fall within the subsistence classification that its industrial personality is not well defined. 2.Hinterland raw materials, particularly wood, have long been the dominant basis for manufacture . 3.Entrepot monufacture — the processing of commercial materials passing through Seattle —is far less than might be expected . 4.Available and potential hydroelectric power is adequate for a much greater industrial development . 5.In its present stage Seattle is more definitely a commercial than an industrial city. (IK) ...