March 12, 1975
Page 6286
WORKERS' INTEGRITY KEEPS INDUSTRY IN MAINE
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, according to a recent article by John D. Moorehead of the Christian Science Monitor, the Southworth Machine Co. of Portland, Maine, recently considered moving to the Midwest, but decided to stay in Maine because of the integrity of the workers there.
Southworth's decision is high praise for working men and women in Maine. In order to share with my colleagues one company's opinion of Maine labor, which I consider one of Maine's most important resources, I ask unanimous consent that the article be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
[From the Christian Science Monitor, Feb. 21, 1975]
A. N.E. FIRM DECIDES TO STAY
(By John D. Moorhead)
BOSTON. – The facts seemed to point to a move out of New England.
The Southworth Machine Company of Portland, Maine, which sells most of its products and gets many of its raw materials from the Midwest and South, was seriously considering starting production at a site nearer its markets.
Company officials took a good, hard look at those long supply lines – and decided last fall not to move.
What made them stay put, says Loren K. Hutchinson, Southworth president, was "the independence of the average worker in Maine, his great pride in craftsmanship, his personal integrity."
Instead of heading for the Midwest, the 85-year-old company leased 10,000 square feet of additional space in a nearby industrial park and prepared it for the manufacturing of heavy machinery.
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE LINE
"I really feel that New England should wake up to what they have to offer and stop playing themselves down," says Mr. Hutchinson. "We are not at the end of the line, as people often say; we are at the beginning of the line."
Southworth, which manufactures paper mill equipment and heavy-duty tables, ships its products out by flat-bed truck, "which is a long haul to some of our markets, as far away as the West Coast," says Mr. Hutchinson.
"Transportation costs are high, but there are many ways you can overcome that," he says.
According to a survey by the First National Bank of Boston, 53 New England industries chose to pick up stakes and move in the last two years, but 37 or 70 percent simply stepped over to another location within the same state. Four of these just moved up the street.
During the same period, five new firms came to New England while five firms migrated out of the region, the First National Bank survey shows.
And there appears to be a trend toward locating in medium-sized or small communities. Of those 53 companies that moved, only 10 percent went to larger towns.
"When you get into a smaller area such as Maine," says Mr. Hutchinson, "people understand what it means to be neighborly."
EXAMPLE OF INTEGRITY
He also likes to tell the story of a Southworth machinist who sometimes leaves his lathe in the middle of the work day and punches out on the time clock. The worker goes back to the lathe, works for a bit, and then punches in again.
"Every time he makes a mistake, says Mr. Hutchinson, "he punches out so he won't cheat the company, and then he corrects his error on his own time.
"By the same token, he wants everything that is coming to him" in terms of wages and benefits, Mr. Hutchinson adds.