Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 4.djvu/225

Rh the water is not allowed to run to waste, but is again caught and harnessed up to the spindles of industry where the covering of the back of the sheep of yesterday is converted into a covering for your own back of to-day. No one resident north of California can visit the woolen factory of Salem without a feeling of pride and of pleasure; and as he sees the bales of blankets, of clothes, and of flannels, lading the wagons which stand ready to be freighted for every homestead in Oregon, he feels the glow of pride in thus seeing our own looms weaving wools of our own growth, and desires instantly to robe himself in garments that no foreign hand has woven, and from wool grown from flocks no alien hand has tended. Let "Home Industry" be patronized, home products be consumed, and the country will be benefited to such an extent that we shall not have idlers to stir up mischief nor rebels to stir up rebellion in either the North or South. Mr. Rector, the obliging and gentlemanly head of the factory, showed me through the compartments and gave me some valuable statistics relative to its annual growth. His intention is to double this year the number of spindles. The surplus wool, heretofore shipped to New York, will be retained and manufactured at home; thus, our clothes and blankets will all be supplied from wool which all can grow. Mr. Rector finds difference in the wools grown on the east and the west of the Cascades, and preference being given to the latter, as containing more oily or fatty matter, and hence requiring less oiling in the process of manufacturing. That grown to the east of the Cascades is thought to be not only drier but harsher—more dirty—but time and the proper attention to its culture will doubtless bring about changes. New breeds, housing in winter, and dry foothills for grazing, are all advantages which wool growers to the east of the Cascades can have on their side. There are few