The way to an American economic comeback, the way to help those out of work today find a paycheck, is to unleash the forces of job creation in America. The source of new jobs isn’t going to be the bureaucracies of Washington, but rather the creativity, ingenuity, and hard work of the American people.”
— Rob Portman, U.S. Senator, Ohio
“Made in the USA.” It’s a four-word slogan representing over four centuries of creativity, perseverance, and pride. It’s a simple phrase that, upon hearing it, conjures images of hardworking Americans combining innovation with tradition to make better products.
“Made in the USA.” Twelve letters that communicate American integrity and pride, conscientiousness and principled business practices grounded in the spiritual foundation our forefathers used to remind us from whence our storied existence originates.
A recent issue of American Profile contained a story about products “Made in the USA.” It featured wineries and textile manufacturers, many of which have been handed down through several generations of a single family.
“We’re doing things the way my great-grandfather taught us when he founded this place” is the motto by which these companies have operated for over a century. The descendants literally walk the same path as the company founders. They take seriously their oversight not only of the family brand, but the family name. They are a proud lot, this group of guardians.
They know they are unique in a society that has perverted American pride with business philosophies more concerned with how much money somebody can make rather than whether the product is worth the price. They are charged with moving the family business into the next generation so it can be both competitive and cutting edge while continuing the tradition of quality products worthy to boast “Made in the USA” as a symbol of American pride.
When I was a little girl growing up in Winder, Georgia, we had manufacturing plants encircling our downtown business district. They made clothing for the world. Most of the plants were family-owned businesses or partnerships between longtime friends. The owners were contemporaries of my father’s.
Most of the manufacturing concerns, like many of the businesses that called Winder “home base,” had been founded by the previous generation. Winder had been founded by resourceful people. They recognized the assets available in agriculture and transportation and built a world-class manufacturing segment that completed Barrow County’s golden triangle.
Winder was the epitome of “Made in the USA.” We grew the cotton, processed it, turned it into fabric and the fabric into clothing that the trains transported from one end of the country to the other.
Then the textile industry changed. Where once hummed hundreds of machines turning out jeans, overalls, and myriad clothing items, the buildings are either empty or have been replaced by a vacant lot. A couple of the plants have taken on new life as the Winder Cultural Arts Center or warehouse.
Winder is not unique. All across this proud land, factories have been shuttered, demolished, or turned into condos. Where crops grew in fields that stretched as far as the eye could see, subdivisions grew. As the economy faltered in recent years, too many of the subdivisions never made it out of the site prep stage. White pipes protruding from the earth gave these sites their designation as “pipe farms.”
In far too many of our towns and cities, local government is attempting to drive the rebirth they hope will happen. A handful of people decide they know better than the people they serve what the community needs to restore its economic health. They don’t ask anybody what they want; they just decide they know better than, as Neal Boortz calls them, “the great unwashed.”
Give folks a little credit, why don’t you, Mr. Official. They know how they want to spend their money. They know what they want to eat.
They know what they like to do. They know whether they’re being treated well. They know whether they want to make a return visit.
Give people a reason to bring their business to your town. Look at your assets and figure out what will make best use of them. Don’t try to be somebody else. Be true to yourself and who you are. And, for goodness sake, if somebody decides not to come back, ask them what you could have done to make things better.
We have to return to doing business with integrity. It’s not just about making a buck. Give people quality products at reasonable prices backed by second-to-none customer service. American products made by free people. American pride partnered with American ingenuity. Hoist the red, white and blue. Proudly proclaim: “Made in the USA”.
Helen Person is a former Winder resident residing in Virginia. You can send comments about this column to haperson.VA@gmail.com
Winder was the "Work Clothing Capital of the World". Goods were sold, produced, and delivered by Winder citizens. And Winder citizens were proud to make and deliver them. People weren't held against their will. They weren't "made" to work at their jobs. People willingly went to work each day, joining their friends each day. They earned their living each week. The more they produced, the more they made. They were proud of the work they produced. They were proud of the accomplishments that each company made, in delivering quality products each day, each week, each month, each year.
The pay wasn't the best. But it was good for around here. It was a living. Folks thrived here. My wife's grandmother was employed by those "bastions" you deride. She couldn't wait to get to work each day, not to make a living, but to make a life. She saw her friends every day, and helped her husband make a living from her wages that she earned. She was proud of her work. Others were, too.
When you deride the "bastions", you deride the hundreds who worked in all of Winder and Barrow County's factories. Your ignorance of the attitudes of those men and ladies who worked in Winder and Barrow County's plants demeans those who enjoyed the friendships made with each co-worker.
Slave labor? No. It was legitimate careers in an honorable profession, earned each day.
And American manufacturing is already on the way back. There's no better place on earth to build the heavy machinery and other manufactured goods that rising countries in South and Central America need.