48

The Nine Nations of North America

Why should we be in such desperate-haste
to succeed' and in such
pace with his companion5'
d;;;"'.;" enterprises? If a man does not keep
dmmmer' Let him step to the
he hears a different
;;il;;t";,-i;-L"'.u.,,"
'-"t1. which he hears, however measured or far away'

ride in the swan.shape4

on a warm Summer day, when children
p.alft Uout. in Bostonis Public Garden' and' in the evening'
a free Boston Pops
trr.rjr"a, gather on the Esplanade to hear words echo across the DRY
symphony concert, this New Englander's
i".u?"r. thi, i, also true next 6 a salthemarsh near Brunswick'
cheaplv
il;;;"t;-man tho*t "ff the house built himself' ancient
il ;rh great beautv, out of n]1|<s.salvaged tgt^ul
world of the Japon-
barn. And, of .or.r", "'"en in the high-decible
i* itr""t rnights oi col""tbtts Hall' thoughts turn to him'
For New EnglanJ is continuing to learn
his lesson' especially
Emerson was talking
as it was stated UV nufpn Waldo-Emerson'
Thoreau wrote the words
about his friend U.nrybavid Thoreau' tffi*
;;;;i^;;;;;" ,h"-t'"ks of walden Pond' out bevond what is "oh-ho say can.y,ou ol towers clus-
iror, the hefty cranes up them incon-
Dull green )-"-ki,',ss Amid '
now Route Iz8. Yith of Bethlehem Steel '
"He chose," said Emerson, "to be rich' by making his ter, sporting tn"Tll.,'i"'*;r;":;;;;;d black yardarms of a three-
wants
few." oruouslv, are nestleo,ii"'Uli.i. C uttot ion.
irasted sailing shiP '
"'':;i"I;* 'i'tpurk' the eve srowrv pans the
r"'t'
park
*'"/!i,::"*'t'"
i':;"^';;; f"1"i i""J e""'aing the harbor'
horizon. The jJ, l rn" "1 Ei u'i.t lmokestacks
which surrounds. i. #,.ri,i ^.',i",i.i' harbor over to th'e
and white u"a uruti'*lt"''io*"t'' 1*9tt^irt"
Iert, a ta', tili;";;*;i1 i1"];:Lf 3'#il :f:il:'";er
brockv

ru "^':g1';J,f :: g'::: iT i .,iru# uo"''

1""'
a th toge

i" tn"l*"i direction' dwarfing

like a monsrro"t 'i*ipu'tit;i;;;t
crab apple trees o[ Fort McHenry'
"^:'w;;
the
r1"i*"dty we hailed ' .' ' t|l.horizon'
., , r.nriznn. a closer examrna-
exe
Actually, dozens ;'t;;;;slft-e una otyaotk vard
over
tion reveals' rr," vr"j'vi""a tiliouuildi;;
to the right has ;:
,;":ill;;';; t:n*i,3J:i:Itffi;i; H:-
"#* r1;-r;r a nc i s

;ii I'ff" lil"f;,';':

ir'
il'll' 1H1' t'i"J'oss
"3
of ",.
steel''carries the
Scott Key eridge]"';;^'#t;iil" t*"r.v black' coal-
Baltimore Beltwav over the *ide wat-"-.Irr" b"lotgt to consoli-
dust-coverea pi"ri,ittth;h; Yo^"".
f";*;;' that
dated coal. r, rrud once helped fuel
trt" i"J"tttial b-ehemoth

L\-
 5r
THE FOUNDRY
5o The Nine Nations of North America

was the envy of the world the gritty cities of North America's
11,1":T;; ;,ir: l;[ffi"*,htfi,lx
e itf-Tf"1-v.-i:.r"ss, ;'"$ Jll'i:I
-
industrial Ntrtheast. Now, the pier needs a lot of work'
-i n
stripes' Its exact duplicate'
:"i11%it,^uv and fifteen
"At the twilight's last gleaming . ' '" feet ,'"'- ^, two teet a
-. eacrr r"--. ,^-., is one huge flag'
The Continental soldiers march with great precision, in their 'Ji**:;"i,)i,li,ifliini enni ',' '" r ,,rree,, rt arways does
blue swallowtailed coats with red trim and gold buttons. T6.i. " ':!::":;:t;; ;;"eches on tn" *-l'X,.a" tt'",'.." deal with
pants and leggings are as white as the George Washington qi*,
r.r.rd". their ttrree-cornered hats. Pennants are layered as thick is
palm fronds over one of the flags they carry' The pennants sn,
#x! 5"H'{':"+ "' ;ff i :ffiii*"ni;:, *m ;n:
,

ii;; *t li*':ffi;.,n"' N". i* 'l:-::'Pfi'i1il"'l;l,li, "', ,n"

ihirrg. like ceNrml BURMA, 1945. Where and why, exactly, was the ;'i' ftii;;ili,'it" t,"lians' the Jamaicans' the Lithuanians
battle for central Burma? The wool costumes look hot in the
bright June sun. The fireboat for the inner harbor fires tall jets of
high-pressure water into the cloudless sky. Tarnished-red-and sil-
vei tiailer boxes lie nearby like so many building blocks for n
i;{{*#:';, n:*itq*. *
this fine l'1n^,"^it) c"tti.-s.u"dina'ian
o
io.
they are ho,lorllts llurrr the ryellow
dti *r ff.:ft'#
e
cross on the blue field'of
- c .rr^r^-
Swe-
colossus, stacked and waiting for the containerized ocean -^-n.,ins there - -Lr!!
'\r'"'7t^^ Gorcet"j1;;;;;^of
,.Le wul"'' In fact' the^harbor was
r- fqct the harbor
freighter that is riding high in the water of the chesapeake Bay den, tg was bv for.tv.fgot serpent-
it
as it heaves to.
'1"-lll)-'^.i, u"i?rrir time -brundishing
t'"*'
t ^^A'AP"i19^t"n1::.
"t"il long DU4L' their Vikine .padded
scots'
"Oh say does tha-hat Star Spangled '" attacked;
The crowd in the park listening to the contralto belt it out is an
ethnic Finns
""i:;: "."Ia"r, N;t*;;i;"t' uti the warriors got thirstv' thev
'Y?'1"'
rrl^l.h :,;;.;
qn.l lIt5lr u
fiom England'
extremely diverse l,ot. Orientals. Blacks. Surprising number of Dotent pear wine i-fort"a
^:il;;?;.'wh;;
werslr, 'lll^^.^l^ra.
redheads. Uncommon quantities of adults under five and a half o'rh; ".''."o'i''i"
"' M E'"
feet tall, with pinched smiles and gnarled hands. virtually the
:#T;;;' B A
later in the
of aitt"ssion
^Ar4v
Bravery, u,lt r'uppJ'li'y^:n1::pit his city in the long green
entire history o1 the migrations that have made up North Amer- po'rt'ufa Schaefer toured
dav, as William thut ti*pfy said uevon" In
ad-
ica is writt"n o.r their fices. The neighborhood just behind Fort
Fleetwood *ith th; ii;ri* oi"l"t
McHenry is Locust Point' Surrounding the Locust Point Marine
;i;b" to h is driv e,: il i;;;"i;
;r1
9i'J,Y:;*'i;t*i:'H::
Terminal, it is the classic northeastern ethnic enclave' The front 1.
uia. *no looked like an administrattv if'"t" on special detach-
stoops of the row houses are polished white, gleaming from re- functioned as one, but who really
*ut
p"ut.d scrubbings on hands and knees with soapy water and a ment from Baltimore's Tac Squad int "q"lvalent of a SWAT
stiff brush. "These Germans and Polacks here in Locust Point"' - tt"iit"pt"r branch' in which
team. Form"rtv *'iif it" "rit" i-liit" th" safetv of the
the mayor of Baltimore had said earlier, "they think they're in- he had thrown ,o"ritri,L-'"it Li""t "ii;ttitom
dependlnt of the city. They're not poor' They have a lot of pride' air, he to* t.uu"l"a 'i'itf' a '38 under hls'plaid-jacketedshoulder'
you do.t't do anything down here without asking them' It's a pain city wades
and the knowledge that the mayor o[ a northeastern
in the ass." into some fairly s-trange crowds'
per se' It was
"Ba-NER-herye-hetwa-ha-ha-have ." Actually, tft" .on'u"r-ration was not about bravery
Over the star-shaped old squat brick fort' a replica of an old about windows.
Mencken' "the
flag was being raised. In the Indian summer of r8r4, in retaliation In the Union Square neighborhood' where H' L' pro-
for North Americans torching Toronto, British imperial forces ot sage of eultimo#i';;;i;;;, th"t" is a "shop-steading"
i'ho'nesteading"
had burned the White House in Washington, forty miles south gram. Shopr,"ual'ng r,'"'rpr"-tif Bti;;o'"''
here, and were then zeroing in on the.t-,i.iuin.agling industry of "f
pr"". l.'""t.'tir?istern urban homesieading' gutted. a-ged town-
the port city of Baltimore. th" .o--.ndant of th"e foit that stood
houses, which are in no conditio" tcl *o3rt"decent
human life
between the fleet and the city was casting about for a very spe- but whose sturdv i;t;k ;;ii;-ut" structurallv. sound that
cific symbol of defiance. "It is my desirei-' he wrote, archly' in
"to it seems u ,hu-J j;r;: ;;lilot" ,t'"*, 'tiit-- sold bv the citv for a
will have no difficulty "re
huu. a flag so large that the British
 55
THE FOUNDRY
51 The Nine Nations of North America in the
's
executive. A copy is retained by an old Prussian, who a retired
utility engineer. His job, for which he is paid next to nothing,l,
largeiy to make sure that if an action memo demands. a response
in two days, by the beard of St. Nicholas, a response is producg4
in two days. The habits this kind of system instills in city *o.k..i
can be awesome to behold. At ten o'clock one Saturday morning
a mayor's aide received a call from the organizers of a dedicatiJn
ceremony at a neighborhood "multiservice" center. More people
were showing up at the festivities than had been anticipated, an4
there were not enough fblding chairs. The aide made one call. At
ro: 56, one yellow truck, number 2737, Department of Public
Works, Bureau of Operations, showed up at that center on North
Dukeland Street, two miles west of city hall, in the predomi-
nantly black Rosemont neighborhood. It had two workers in or-
ange and yellow reflector vests, who worked with a will to unload
and set up a hundred more blue folding chairs.
In some northeastern cities on a weekend morning, you can't
call 9rr and get the police to show up in fifty-six minutes flat,
much less get a hundred folding chairs and a work crew' And,
'*nm**
unlike some of the old-line mayors and Maryland politicians he
tjTr""T["J"#:?i"il;;" within the last rew vearsI
admires, Schaefer has never been accused of corruption; more-
over, he seems to exercise his capacity for repressive totalitari- i"-futt'
4"' Yes'
when wei"i-Uo"gnt
it' one day
this all happened' *"re firing
anism only on political allies, opponents, and newspaper re- ;;tk ;'th" but uta'iit"t" t*6 gt'yt
walked toward up' Heroin'' In fact'
porters all of whom probably can be considered fair game' o.'t'id" tr'Jl;;;;,v"''
'h; name New Deal
- pillars of the rehabbed Rosemont neighborhood cen-
A.ror. the
up right
*cr"ra t"t allow us't'ooiing
;;t;th;
the liquor board
Nt* ;J tompletelv gone from
ter marked by clean new plate glass, sandblasted and repointed Two. Thev i,,'t *i-tli*tt'";t*" *"'t" goit'g to call it
turn-of-the-century brick, and marvelous old turrets, hung a the memory tf J;;;;;i" eutti"'otJ;
banner whose -"ir.g" seemed to be heartfelt (in 1979, Schaefer Heathen D"vr, .f;;;:;JJ tvr""tten's books'"
otk' bar she and
ran without signi{rca-nt opposition). In the city's colors of black whitely pro,'ati''t'owed the *u'o'"ii"'io'tg in' Inf the fine brass
and yellow (not very diffiient from the black and orange of the her husband had discovered uta -*ou"a r"",. srt" discussed the
city's beloved baseball team, the Orioles), it read: wELcoME MAYoR rails on which the future would pr..l"'i",i
SCHAEFER.
Anyway, this Saturday afternoon after attending the neigh-
oak ice box with beveled mirrors *t n:"::"TX"-lliijlS'.Xi;
-
borhood multipurpose center dedication, the Celtic-Scandinavian r;x;n,:"* ;:: ; f;,"il:"i'*" til;:"' 3r'" p o i " t" d out the
wail' and the care-
festival, the Flag Duy ."."*onies at Fort McHenry, and yet other "amenities," Iike the fiieplace nutf*uu lp the liwh"t" else could
activities, such is the French ethnic festival, a rummage sale at fully carved wooden detail ulo''g 'hl""tini""
the rz5-year-old Light Street Presbyterian Church, and a south *i,:'J*::':l t*"**I;;t?t"#5t,reet r was.s\1d I #as traver-
Baltimore street faii in which he responded to a man who wanted with his con-
to help keep the city clean by issuing an Executive Action Memo ing not alone, but with the mayor-;;JMitchltl' L'nch'" An
directing a city department to deliver the fellow a broom - cealed .18. There was a faded t',o- ;;"-iJ1;Bddi"'t. glass
i;' hi''g"'' its twirling
Schaefei had thoroughly exhausted the men twenty years his
junior who had tried to keep up with his pace. Now, the mayor'
old barber .nJ I[] il;;;;ii "rr
 56 The Nine Nations of North America THE FOUNDRY 57

comp_letely smashed. Al's Billiard Supply was boarded

sign^flaking. ciiywid. TV Sales & service sat there *itt-,
itlY.^it, -*."?i"li"f!1fi
,::tl1*i*ftd*t*f,:1if i$;i:#
covered by grilles of steel. M. Hess Luncheonette was
*"*'
Drifters ambled past with no particular place to go." "b";;.;:1,
"Doesn't this neighborhood ever scare v you?,,
Whitely. Jvu: rI rater
later asked
"Not really."
"Aren't you afraid of being raped?,,
"No' I can't explain it, but-I r""t
borhood. Union Square jr,y"ry .p".iui
growing up I saw a neighboihood _
and I think within-^me t'1r.,*ur
u.to."ness to this entire neigr.
,o me, becaus" *tr"r t
W.rt
*u,
fuy"it"-S""", -- al.,
m'#F#*$,:*rT{ff*ll
u psychological-""Jw".u*
neighborhood go from a solid one
moved out after the war. tt became
to a'ghettol e i"i-"iirr. familiesu -r,!"*f+'$**r:#"i{l'r":,,s*"'H[:',:,trui
several miles
a tenant area. It integrated on Eist Jefferson in Detroit'
too quicklv; then the.srate and Amori's Party Store
the city started .ond"-,rlnL it ut'o" the street from Renaissance Ford' a deal-
erries for rhe exoans.ion of the o.oo- south. Amori's
univer'sirv-ri r*a"rvil"i.'""ira,"r, practically in the shadow of the new down-
ership that is, in turn'
i":f:
to be boarded up. A"J;;it'ut ,tu.t"a ih"r" *u. .,o.._ town Renaissance t-enier'
which is supposed to typify the resur-
"The crime rate increased. sence of downtown Detroit'
Amori's ttui u lot of glass' too' only
Everything started to falr apart.
father died on wesr Fayetre st.eei, My r#;;i; und u half thick and bulletproof and inside
ihe six hundred block, in nine- ""'i".t,
the liquor store, separating the operators
from the customers'
teen sixry-six. The dlv
cause here was this liitle
father ai"a, it *", ;;b"h"i"fi", U"-
--vho.r." iifi"'Jg.*a that he''d ,r"r,"i ,""r i bank bar outfitted
with that kind of secu-
similarly.
trrui *u, set back with fie trees ;;;;;|h;";h he allowed that he,d seen a
and roses in the front yard. e"a just the.week
trr"" irr" ,*""."i;;'""-o His Second P..cirr.iiounge had been burglarized
today the new dentat ,.r,t"r ,;;;r;;r";;'ho_. .* but the guns he-keeps
Ll.,,and b.fo.., and they'd gotten ,iot only his cash
up by the lake had been
And now whiterv is in the middle ftu"av. The day b.io.e that, his iottage
of the west Baltimore street burned. Arson. And a lot of bars were closing around himin Ham-
shopsteading u."u, attacking
crowbar' She paid considerJblv
trr. *"^t bar in Baltimore with a tramck, now that tn" Cntytt"r Dodge Main plant next door had
-"ri"irt"n the token g roo to the been shut down permarre.ttly, throwing thousands out.of,work'
city for her building, b".u.rr",'u;';;.;
as rhe cops might have But OIko wasn't pessimistic Lbor'tt his future, and he said he felt
wished it, the New Deal h"J
he knew where Wttit"ty was coming from. "Yeah," he said' "You
her, up and down ,rr" ui".[";;L";;llou.,do.,.d. But a'around
made such a dear were at work
."i;;;., and masons who had just gotta be tough."
restoring storefionts that wourd An-d tough is wiat defines North America's nation of northeast-
soon become an ice cream parlor,
ern gritty cities in a multitude of ways.
printing shop, a self_service iaundry,u .rrrir"* hair salon, a ouickie
;ik_;;;;;;il;; r".ironr, Gary. South Bend. Flint. Toledo. Cleveland' Akron' Canton'
sterer's operation, a delicatessen "i..frir".t,s
sultant's, a constructions firm,s.
l" office, a tax con_ Youngstown. Wheeling. Sudbury. London' Hamilton' Buffalo'
SyraJuse. Schenectad"y. Pittsburgh. Bethlehem' Harrisburg'
In the course of c, Wlkes-Barre. Wilmingion. Camden. Trenton. Newark'
u,,.gru.i",,;#,"::'=:'JJi:l;T,J"ffn::'Tff The litany of .ra-ef bring clear associations even to the most
time to time on West Balilm;; ,,I,m :::."X"i,:T
here," she said. "A lot of p"opl"
d.;.;. not afraid to live
insulated residents of other iegions. These names mean one thing:
jobs;
more Street is the last frontie.
.r" i
""a*stand that, but Balti_
heavy work with heavy
-a.hir.r. Hard work for those with
3altimore Street is turned
," t" .orqr"."a out here. Until
hard times for those without.
around l; ;;._, of physical appear- When columnists speak of managing decline, this is the region

L*,.
 THE FOUNDRY 59
of North Ameica
58
The Nine Nations
thev mean. wtren they speak-of the seminal battles of tIuO.
?ti
ptu.. tieii
H;t";;:;'h "yb"mocratic
iir""pp."it"g
markers here' When they write of lfii
city political juggernauts, not for noth- #if i#tri'ff tr: ifr ;;;;i :*""""'t:T# a*t?
t;e; they call them machines, for this is where they humrned,
then rusted.
When television presents the concept "Archie Bunker," i1 1*
cates his neighborhood here, for the four boroughs of New 1,q1tr

****rmm*uW
that are not Manhattan are part of this nation.
In a4 ironic way, this place is the real New South, for it re-
ceived fhe vast internal migration of job-hungry blacks fleeing the
once-overworked land of Dixie, and now it is the warehouse of
important because it freed the industryCoast
n?lr, geo-
their discontent. North America's Gulag Archipelago, it's been ,, was also.
next to East
fto- "t i"penden^ce on locations
called; the continent's chain of urban prison camps' oraohically
Its capital must be Detroit, the birthplace of the assembly line, i**:ru'"9TT"1'.';.,T,"ff t,:i".i::*TllX1i;f :#X;':;
closet t'.t:i- "T::::,:.
but its spiritual center is bankrupt Cleveland. Its hope may be tated its move of' the mountains'
Baltimore, but its shame is Cicero, the northern town whose iirrtJr,-*"t" in' or.west
hatred broke the heart of Martin Luther King, Jr. Itwasirrthemrdl8oosthatasystemwasinventedthatwould
cheap that the much stronger ma-
steel so
This is the nation of the Foundry. ,#;';;.;roduction of*ith ito"- the Bessemer process' In I864'
A foundry, in which molten metal is cast into forms, histori- terial could compet;
;;fi;il;;t., rvri.nigu", th"_netroit River less than ten miles
cally represents one of the most basic and ancient technologies "" would put on the map half a
known to man. "If you want to use your imagination a bit," says from rhe Dearborn ,fi;;H";.y Ford
i."i"tif*";, ih" nrrt North American commercial pour of Bes-
Sheldon Wesson, of the American Iron and Steel Institute, "one ingots, North America's first
would guess that the first foundry was born when primitive man semer steel was made. From these
steel railroad track was made in 1865' at
the North Chicago Roll-
saw this reddish crud melting around his campfire, and this hot
stuff trickled down into the sand, and when it cooled, it assumed ing Mill.
the face of the
the shape of the area in the sand where it had trickled. It didn't Steel from the nation of the Foundry changed
of felces in-the tree-
take much of a leap for him to realize that he could produce a continent. Barbed *i." utto*"d the buiiding
less Breadbasket, ,.u"tio.-i"g it from rangeland into farmland
form to his own specifications. I've seen foundries today so prim- May ro' at Prom-
and promoting the creation oito*ttt' On 1869
itive that yor, *orldn't believe it. Just wet sand on the floor of Pacific and the
the factory.A guy comes along with a hand ladle and pours hot ontory Point, Utah,-steJ.uit. ti"t"a the Central
the coasts' The "Chicago
metal pretty much as it was done a million years ago."
Union Pacific ..il;;;d;, and thus
school " of architecttrr" .f"tu"g"d the ways cities would
look and
Well, not a million years ago, but in the case of copper, at least in the and r89os'
three millennia before the birth of Christ. Iron is mentioned in
f"""tio" Uv ffn."tittg the stJel skyscraper r88os
Meanwhile, ,t."t *-u, fhanging"the geography of the Foundry
the Old Testament eighty-six times, and steel, three.
itself, the inierior of which Ior.ta ltself ideally situated in the
And historically, the nation of the Foundry served as basic and
middle of a triangle of the three resources basic to both iron and
time-honored a role in the development of North America as the
steel:
facilities after which it is named. In fact, especially for the the
hundred years ending during World War II, North American in- ' High-quality iron ore from northern Michigan -and' after
completion of the Su.,tt Sui"te Marie locks linking Lake Superior
dustrial history and the history of the Foundry were close to and iake Huron in 1855, the Mesabi Range of Minnesota'
being the same thing. But eve{ before that, during the r77os.' coke ot
uro.r.rd the eastern Pennsylvania iron deposits, "iron plantations" ' Bituminous coal, io U" Uut"a into thethehigh-heat-value
entire eastern moun-
almost pure carbon, found in virtually
were formed, the largest at Hopewell, Pennsylvania, with twelve

t"""
 6o The Nine Nations of North America THE FOUNDRY
tain range, but mainly in the valleys of pennsylvania, tw'"'; r-:-
ginia, and Kentucky. West
- ,^Aq- ln the
lasl ' ' can find presum-
. Limestone, which is the shells of prehistoric
V1
_r^ of c?rta-- An, Toronto'
.hrrp and to t?tt :1 v vou
as nothing but an
crusl Y'--,t Founor'.,'1.ri,
- who view
squeezed into rock, used to ."-ot" impurities -^ inl2rr*
1o !"'-^orvnoid w';:. ;;'r.;;;
' -r 6rreL)eC 'rt" ""u*uy
the French-sDeakers
once agarn'
steel' It can be found in deposits miles rong
in the i.,rlllun, -ru oa,*- r^ nlnr ro scre.w,'i:.;:;';h"se cities would not have
deep all over the N_ortheast, especialiy in
."Jtn."r."i."lrlo 2I{"'"" T?l',Jui, ih" point '"li'.'l::'d;i:';;i in"y ,,o, u""n
New yo.k, p".rrtt J.ur
nsylva. "'T;",ff 'oTui""".1,","^"'J;3,1T";,?nft?;;;i.omrr'"vervdirt
nia,Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, urra O.riu.io.
have the var-
- -But
best of all, the waGr_rich Foundry was
ble waterways ranging from the G;;;; Lakes
laced with r "l?]lii."ilv log.ateo
:?,;;;";"- well position"d to
to the o6ro *iuuisa
duv';;;;is st'r th" :'i?;::;-'#:#i""T,?:'.;#i;'':',i,,lin?3lXtX?:il:lTlf'1"
eartns ''l:i:-. There, they would.oe.
ff*?:.#,t;il#*lis 'h"upo; il"'Jl:
ious
'- -- ^- +'a I localru"o-'
I n:*^'tt:':'^-
t"",.,''t
"l "
basic nineteenth-century
a *er
So industrial tol
d es, ;":i:::" ;'l,nHfl i'#ifil#:;:*l :if :iH' ;li::I-"' ;, i,u., "a wave
ptodYl]^i"runi'iuU".- first t-h"
il!;"
*uu. of Europeans'
Un ite star
[ilH-i; h' i,i."tl$
]li {'States, l',iJrrrtriul Not ror
greatest headquarters city in the Jnited
i, i".ut"J*r,... U*i*f:,,iil1ffi uL.1,, ."."ntru'ih" Hispanics
p"ople have
the Monongahela and Allegh""y .i""., rrrcrr '-- r:r r,.prr rall it the Melting
pot-how -utty
River. (It's no accident that tne footbalr
merge to create -il; the Ohio nothing did
tncv -iitr f.ti.nl"l Tiut', a Foundry term and con-
Rivers Stadium.)
s;*I".r i.,'rr,.* ii-"ttirtg pots" rn tr
cleveland is located,where the cuyahoga
River-famous for '"ooi;u',*,-:i:'1"^:;:""uff
once being so polluted that it bu.si into
flames :,Hii::tffJlJl'j;'Ti?::l'lil'ii
Erie-also famous for.once-being so polluted that - itmeets
was
Lake
inca.
exPlicitlY in the t-ra
class who
pable of sustaining marine life. lnit, cham^pion of the working
Detroit is on the western edge of Lake Erie,ts ia"uti,tic Marxist and ffr th" sood of all ' when'wasin
Rivera
is Toledo. believed i,t indiuia'iai; iiliin;
Buffalo is on its eastern edgJ. iidutt'iui E"u"lopm"t't'
You can still get from Buffalo to Albany fascinated uv "to'''l?',it';; Witiiu- Valentiner' then the cura-
via the rgz5 Erie Canal, California in r93o' i""*t-iit' that I knew about
and from there to New york City on the ^itr" all
to h"ut -rtagg"rit"tg
that barge canal,linking New yori -iiy
Hudson River. It was tor of that u.t i,t"il']'"':h;;*d cap i tal i st
*roa".
along which the cities-of Utica, at;".",
u'a the Great Lakes, and industry in Detroit,i i'alent iner Rguee RiY:'' inairillil
com-
and Rochester were achievement of "the R;;;;;;- th5 two-thou-
built, which was the beginni"g'"iih;-end for He"re' within one
Boston and New plex of Henry F*i'-l;;:tg""d t'i*' earth came in one
as the primary induJrial region. It transformed
sand-acre industrial "city"' raw
l"g]"ll iron-laden
New every other
York city from a second-clas, ,"upo.,'ro
the East coast,s com- end, and Model Ar;;;";;t the other' *ith uittttullv making of
mercial center. It helped make New york
the E_pi* Sr"i". f* industrial process ;;J!i *i*'1n" uttio-olir" (the
dafs. Interstate 9o roughly parallels thut .u.rul. glass, for i" between' "In all the construc-
Chicago, Gary, and lrtil*urrk"" u.. on
Lake Michigan. "*.r"pr*ii,i'"J*t"a
tions of man's past," *rot" Rivera' ''pyramids'
R"Ti"^::.ids and
Toronto is on Lake Ontario, and as recently aqueducts, cathedrals and palaces' tt'""" it
nothing to equal these
as ,"qSS, that was
u"d *"itti""tt ' ]th" best
making an enormous politicaL urra mod-
difference in North fskyscrapers, ,tp.;ig;;";'' and functional
America. Nineteen fifty-pine was the ".orro,'ic
year that the st. ru*.".r.. ern architects of our tg" u," finding tn# ""ttft"tfc-
machine-
Seaway was completed..As noted ubo.,r",
it,s not that the Seaway inspiration in iNortn-emericanl i"att'ttiut buildin^gs"
connected the Lakes and the Atrantic
for the fi.rt ti-". whlt tn" design, and engineering, the greatest expressions
of the ' ' ge-
Seaway did rvas allow, all but- the largest nius of this New World."
oceangoing traffic (fbr
[il:
lffi "iu";*"
"11* :t,;r::":i,?,? :'1T:
example, supertankers) into the Lakels. prior are y ard, wh ich
tJ ,qis, O;6t".,, il:: #:U"
^1"# *i
Montr6al was functionally the end of the line J'X;
for f"igJ..iii JT;i*.Tf bctsel -Forqffi
qrt patron !T:"|T"',T Qzu,oov- * ^'*,""
not coincidentally, Montr6al was the financial panelS on the foUr
""a, Depression painted twenty-se\
and commercial
- Rivera

L.-
 63
6z The Nine Nations of'North America THE FOUNDRY
walls of the museum,s skylit, bungalow_sized
*,'"'il'ff11"*rum::::i,::-:i:*li*:i-r.li"lil[;l
the ancient Roman water_iolor_o.r_f?"rt _praster Garden Cour i\

,"{ii''tt,i**ff***f :;i*f *$**t*

fiesco t".h^,t,
ll'
:r"ii'J'fl
of the y,"l'ffixtrl:;:i""t:;;
'',l.#;ff
Rouge, Fo- ff T:f
i:s *:rlt*i li+i1'ilxt:
lli"l;rt:;;l*i#1,:-:ili;l
po*.. House N;. 'i, ';lt #"lTJoiJ:J,*
foundry operations, and open-hearth .t""t milt nr.-^_-_, lace,
ir#,:;::ili;i;i.1"1*'J":*#*"'i::'.Trl;iffi
::ffi:ili.Tlff 'Lli;,#"1i,J1#::?,T*.9:l;.#l"ilii,ll:
;fjJff :::,r'f:#ffi"jlk*:"-'"'"T:r:,"*;fi Til:jl,ll;
yd"ih
#-#'+f*t*[,ft"'r'i"Ti::ff ]TFffi
;*:;
:Tff ff*,T:""*';:Tri:'::"Til*i:','""TiJ:#:::?"|'i
speck, way in the distanc" ,f* ilffi;;:::ffi,T
fij::r ", ""i'"f
of far more concern to Rivera were the
men and earth. Looming ou". ih" basic raw materials .-
that depict the guts oT the pi;;;.
nudes
b.rry ,.,o.th urrd ;;;
ire
panels
four qri"tl r".rinUg #**fi*,*-:l$*n*ti***uu**m
- Caucasian,-Oriental,
their hands,
a_".i.u., Indian, urra N"g.o. fn
they on"r, ,.rf".ii;;l;, l"-;, illX"*i'; Indiana, oh io, Pennsvl
v an ia' Mi chi-

rron ore' and coar, the races and ;i'ii_"L""",, ,"r0, "'i;,, fgt "l::'::Tilffi', of
:*uTl^|",, oroduced sixty-tour million tons n1e to-
iron
substances Rivera saw as anaro_
gous "in their . . quality ."fo. u"a fo._,u, *"ti ur*Uv tt,.i. sun' und T::I::":;';;""; ti'" united States-Canadian
"f
historic lNorth Americanj functions.ii in rsl7, which was 'i
conventionar thinking ubo.,t th"'r'or.rd.y
today combines an
l'"ri,ia,F,,',,''j jtff ',:*:Tiiimffifi li-fii:,:}'};::to
make difficult
odd combina ti on of me"mory ;"d virginiu' Dtl'ut*'ult,dustry's statistics p"it""ty
Foundry once meant to Norih Americans.
;;;;ri;,.";;"1;;"rliiu r rr,. duction the iron tr
throw
On the one hand, it,s possibl" i,
i..go that to artists like Ri_ ASSCSS.
the above six states and this time
vera and Charlie Chaplin, who, Similarly, if you take of the Foundry pro-
in Ontario, yo'' ai'Jti"t tft"t
in ttre ntm Modern Times (rn6), that
showed man becoming merely ii'portion which *lt zs percent
Foundry was a metapior of tfr""
.rg-i" a societal machine, the duced ro6 million to#; 'u*-'t""t ,i977'
totur' e"A'ihat's again
not count-
f,,rt-trre. a world i, *t i.fr .u".y_ of the United whose
thing that moved was measured in
dwarfed by their inventions, was tons, and humans were ing leviatha,t' liktT"-s;;;;;;;t rtl*^"rt*
"u':::'i;;;;; in Marvlan-{'
seciet' Nor does
hope and despair. Detroit u.ra
the uttimate statement of both production i' to"'iiJt"i-'o*"tt'i"g-or'u*itude
w;iftt' ptta"ter of the steel
what Houston, Los. Angeles, u"a
t'" .iii r'.. it were to their time that include New Jersey's RoeblingBridse'
tfr"'.ities
--^ of the MexAmerican ;;;;;'.J i" building the Brooklvnu"""iurv numbers for the ap-
southwest are to this
amaze and appall.
lenerario"
"iri"ns of wonder that both If you .*u*"'"''Ji? t*"*d4 u"d provinces' I'ou dis-
propriate portio"'"oi tl"'"1*"rt" "ut"t
on the other hand, especially to residents
who, like ail North of the Foundry itself, cover thar i,,e7J, ;:;iii:.s "l*;5 m ffil;l.i,i::
l1*i."^. "i'.rilur. J;;;
alism' sometimes memories or *hut
ri^ are confused
Ji,"*or"...rr,_ for 64percent oi the United States-La'-*;r:;" factories that
that dtesn't reflect the component
In
is. In the days of Ri1e1a,-the. F;;;;;as with what C*pu"v bolts together'
American development. In fact, the linchpin of North produce ,n" o"r,l',n"i il;;;; ""a the Rouge Works in
east"
to irost, the Foundry _ ,,back In a walk alons the vast assembrii# "i
was North America. Th" u;;;J'
Foundry - was the united a;;r* ;;;;iro,, of th"
stut"r. tiir oigur,,,',ore that
the summe''r' i'i
^;"*; *i**:"1"#,:i:',f:t'l;ili:;
grav me'|ar
States national anthem sings. the united
lill' :::fi HIJiT;'illil;'ffi;i* h";k' or
'inli',rtii*ut"ty
H"rrry fora, who had his own air
force of Ford Tri-molors, fi;;;';'j;"ot "i"'i *^rt' resulted in
and certainly his own army of Lakes freighters, come togeth", l;';;;i; Capris bEing spit out
once
"."u, of workers, was
tens of'thorrr.rds gleaming, strongly hued Musta"gt u"J
 64

raphy.
The Nine Nations of North America
every forty_eight seconds. And I got q
---- ^ b"L a rvorurr
For sure, the car doors hung in
in rnqustriat
lesson r'tr industr.

racks labeled ,,Return

Bordeaux." France..The piecE -*.aur^J-h.;;;.'fr
transmissions was labeled ,,Lanfkarte.
"i
to Forcl
*eog.

f;'Tif,l"#ffi
THE FOUNDRY
Mine Worker is an emotional allegiance,
Auto Worker, a Rubber Worker, a Steel
65

l
pallet T'u*. a"iil^tfr.
veuse.".And carpets were labeled ,,Troy
Mills, 1.ror, fl" Sui.1q 11
"J,!$li j[: y;t* p gfi
fT "i onilJrhe srowry ili il?i;*.T
ii i*: ;#y,
dfl;**uuuH*:tgfi,':,,ffi
ec es
:placed
these:
pu.ring rilr, n"a
__--.D t'qr,\J, .rr*'i"irr.;.j:::\:r;
r,du Lrucs ro tnetr origin
lik,e
"Return to Warner Gear vidor! '
"Kalamazoo Sra.mping
Division, Muncie, Indiana.,, "''"Ji?" Foundry is zol North America, despite what the conti-
and Die Co- Kulurnurooldi.hlgun, medi3.- most of which are headquartered there -
o:fl'^ c1{ity di"' u,iJ riJioir*r.,,
pro. j,],.l"ud
"J"i"l-news you to believe. The Foundry is the only one of the Nine
1i, -","i '*iii"", that can be said to be on the decline. The other eight are,
..-rne ARro Corp., Canton, Ohio.,,
"Midwest Rubber, Deckerville, Michigan.,, economically stable (for example, Qu6bec and New Eng- I

"Federal Screw "iLrrt,

La), in the sense that a plausible balance between quality of
-k.|r, R.;"1;;,
"Yale Rubber Manufacturi"g tdichigan.,,
;;.,';""dusky, iif" urra modest growth rate make for stability. And others are
I

"RB & W Metal Forming Michigan.,,

oiirr-","rrrrentor, ohio.,, eenerating wealth and growth so fast that their biggest problem
"Jim Robbins co., Blacfco;ii,;;"t, Is controlling the boom.
"Manchester plas ti cs, Troy, Michigan.,,
Mu".h;;;;ior.r,irur,.,, This is not to say that other nations do not have problems. They
"Rockwell Interna tion^l, do. Water is as crucial to Tucson's future as race relations are to
Ch;i;;, nni.higu.,.,,
"Rockwell International,
Logansport, Indiana.,, Baltimore's. It is not even to say that the rest of the continent
"s&s products, wheet a;;;;il;bly, does not share some of the Foundry's problems. Many of Dixie's
"American Hose Corp., wyandotte, Michigan.,, cities are at least as old as the Foundry's. Refitting steel mills and
l

W_.h;r;;.,iraiu.,u.,,
ptastics, st.'ctur.na;j;;;.,, assembly lines to meet the challenges of Japan are concerns in
,,5"y
bashaban products, Clarkston, the Breadbasket in Ecotopia just in the Foundry.
l

"Stant, a purolator Co., i4i.higu.r.,, - even

The error, as this continent matures,- not
is in our unquestioningly
Connersuitt-", frraiurru.,,
"Huron Tool & Manufacturtnj;;;: equating the igevitable decline in the Foundry's dominance with
that makes a world of aiff"."rr.8,'i"ii.rgrorr, Industries company, and an inevitable decline in the world position of the United States or
Unqueslionabtv. the, rgr"arf Michigan.,, Canada. What's happening in the Foundry today is perhaps com-
thar can make a"worrd of
ir;i;ii formidable place, one Parable to the wrenching realizations Europeans were subjected
tinuing to view it as metaphor
;lfr;'.";;".'il " i;;ili,""r.,X,11, ."r- to ovel the last five centuries:
not only doei the sun not revolve
1 of
only place in which North A-".i*,r'rrmorrows the f.uture _ seeing it as the around the earth; the
earth does not revolve around London. yet,
mered out. By the turn of tn" are being ham_ to}"!o*, Western civilization survives even prospers.
most important segment of
.".rt".r, ,, may not even be the the borders of the Foundry -is an exerciie in human,
North a-ir.r. That role may well be -^P,"fit1ng
rather than geophysical distinctions. Each of the nations of the
assumed by the MexAmeric""
S.;;i;;est, all by itself. Already, thi Foundry, and Dixie is a mixture of agriculture
poputation ir'srr]ir;;';; a attq
*:,::,1]l'.:nral
maJonty' lrom northern and eastern] The
southern and -inwesrern tndustry. There is significant
"n::a.db,asket,
corn production in Oh]o, just as
largest
'in'California uu.rt xorth i: significant automobile production in Oklahoma. The view
America is not in
,New
y".k i;k _ the gar.k of ;l::
America. If energy deposits
a*ir"v, the Foundry,s future is by llllflth:.Uew Jersey Turnpike is so appalling that Dixie planners
no means assured. Although"."
its coal'."."*", are f.antast ic, they ifl1,"-'l.ullt mention that itate u, *irut they don't *u.rt to ,""
are deep beneath th".-oi.rJi";,;"J ill'"1t,*?.tl become. Yet the largest stretch of wilderness in the
scarred by battles with exploir";; are mined uv _"r, ,ilil New Jersey the pinJBarrens of the southern part of
;t; occurred harf a century
;Tt"l:.it
"rc Stote . The Delaware - River, along its west, is the biggeit wild
 6,-
V THE FOUNDRY
66 The Nine Nations of North America
-r minutes
river in the East. The rural scenery twenty -- north
--- of
". Tr l0[.
there
*,lj"rqitI#***.-#*iW
ton is breathtaking, and, by the same token, 41s portions
ifi'"3'Elll'iii':li'1;i'"i"i#'il#ffi'#:l:';ff ?ll"i[:l
Olett)
^r
-f
wretched
But this hardly means these nations are the same. There
sharp differences in history, attitudes toward ttt" tuna, p..]l'
dicei, economics, and futures among these nations, and it's ho,rv
these differences come together that defines their boundaries.
Thus, the Foundry, for example, is a place that is thoroughly 4..
scribed by man and what he's done to the mountains and rivers
and plains in the course of trying to get ahead, more than it is by
mountains or rivers themselves.
Cities are the Foundry's dominant physical characteristic. i'
There are lots of them. They're not terribly far apart, by the
standards of most of the continent, and they are crowded places.
",,,h : ry'
?n
a.adY needs
to 1'" i'.*: :::j hi :.{ll:iil*ii"""
!,q; up on the soutno-<-rtli.^*
P-.".1,".f."a f
,."inl
rl,''H
tni"t
As a result, there is no trouble pointing to the Foundry's heart'
tne
land- its megalopolises. The boundaries are less distinct where ouor' '
':,Iti::l;;,11fr:t'ffiT;,oj'-Jl)?"#."r",";,lnlTfl'",,^,,
-^:l-lp to start admiring
;;F"'^:,'#l;:" rru::lliili" e, Ann apor s is,^ b:*'
the area is less urban. A tour around the border of the Foundry i
tow n'
rin
helps explain.
,q,s noted in the chapter on New England, the southwestern third
of connecticut is part of the Foundry, because it is tied by tele-
vision stations, commuting highways, and suburban values to
;Jil i;]{ :'F: [' ffri l'il *'ffi i,t**,' *a goo: #:,i^
; : [ place to
ffi":;,3ft';Brllii."rut;,"r^qgq
itself is ''"131."6,,1
place,
New York.
oldline Dixie. Annapolis " ?:T;'.:;io-"a
to-".Tfiil;;;rrgia,io the
beautv
Manhattan itself is so unusual on this continent that it is dealt walk around in, a town
tl:tt could love'
with separately in the next chapter. But its suburbs are not, and i'r?"'i"'tn' South carolina' :"-1ff:f';J;;: seen so much
::Marvland'
thus the border town betwe..t ih. Foundry and New England is But it's also the J;";n";ior corruptton ft"*lf;T:l,ito,' root
New Haven. political
To the west of New Haven is Fairfield County, with its bedroom
iJ.i .rJ uig-citv
clean by contrasl
Wash-
ixie line, we come.to rhat
communities like Bridgeport, Darien, and New Canaan, which Moving *"r,-ulong the FoundrY-O,.
,o consumed uy.rrself
would shrivel up and die without New York. To its east is New i"ei"", ;.c., which, Iike Manhattan:,'..#;;. It should be noted'
London, which ii clearly part of New England. An important part
of the New London-Grotbn-Uystic area is its relationship to the ll"':,**l;{li:'J#'iiil:lill5:[**1"::*'l*ffi
trurt;;;;; "'iliJlill
open Atlantic. Nuclear submarines, built at the Electric Boat- They're- certatnly
part of the Foundry. with
viewed
works, the Coast Guard's training vessels attached to its acad- state capital, Rfi;"J]
like Fairfax are vre\
"'ut"u',th";; tt""" "rr -u:"'"-: o[
repre-
emy, and historic whaling tall ships all call eastern Connecticut awe and disbelief. The voters tp northern Virginia
home. hensible Yankee notions' You can nft;;;i"-in
The line, therefore, must be drawn between these two different
worlds, and New Haven is inviting. On the one hand, it has H1;.THl,'*f n'J,ily:[*;:J*'*"t'*fq'"'1""1:i11il;
a
goes o
distinguished institution, Yale, on which to base its claim as a
The majorit, Lok at anvthing that
civilized place. On the otirer hand, it has very little else on which 'iiil;'t; know whY'lhev
rook
to base a claim as a civilized place. Providence is more charniing \lli::in:";[ifil#' l'?ffli;:i,""
than New Haven.
 The Nine Nations of North America
THE FOUNDRY

blue from a distance? They're so covered with trees that, in t6.

course of photosynthesis, they exhale resinous hydrocarbons that
create thelr own natural haze) is the Shenandoah Valley'
Songwriter John Denver has it wrong when he sings about 16.
*E*id-fuq***tri+ii*'Hliril''il*
Shenandoah Valley being in West Virginia, rather than Virginiu,
but he was right about its being almost heaven, and it is not part
of the Foundry. The pace of affairs at the Southern States Farry1-
ers Co-op is the tip-off : if you wish to buy a screwdriver, for e1-
ample, you first pause, mention the weather, remark on the price
of seed, Soke with the girl behind the counter , and then ask for the
tool . Brusquely and impersonally attempting to slap down money
and leave with your merchandise marks you as an outsider' Even
nlg**i*r*wir
and expensive- 1o,
ourn without causing pollution' It is often in
which requires w.ork of a lot of high-priced men
il;o;"*, the.
the industrialization is not what you'll find in the Foundry. This
picturesque sheep-and-orchard valley is the sort of place that is l;i:1,ru'*ilT::;i#'*:ff t?l;l?1il?ll::'llff;,ff i
the coal is near the surface, and can be strip-
offered clean, lucrative factories, like the Adolph Coors Com- ;rffo;;i;;."Where
pany's eastern beer-brewing plant. This is the sort of job creation iririi,-ir't generally on a slope so steep that the operation de-
holds that an in-
that planners will kill for, and it is a plum that is reserved only ,ir"Vr'rfr. eirvironment. There's a theory that parts is connected
;;; in the severity of spring floods in these
for places with a high quality of life. But this happened in far hold the rain as well
northern Dixie, and was received by the valley people with a i" ,irip--i"ing praciice.. hh" hills lust can't
;t;t"; used to. with Washington pushing coal as an export item
skepticism unusual for the South. Being near the border of the all this' But
Foundry, they have seen so much industrial devastation in Penn- t" g".rpt, coal may soon again be king here, despite
if it is, ii will almost undoubtedly be accompanied by an increase
sylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia that even the value of jobs dissolved into a
in labor unrest. The UMW started off as a cause,
like these are questioned, because of the change they'd bring. pathetically' the
racket offering its leaders cushy lives, and now,
Northern West Virginia Morgantown, Parkersburg, Wheel-
ing especially its northern - panhandle, which follows the Ohio union's reformers seem incapable of leadership '
-
River south from Pittsburgh, is clearly part of the Foundry. The So much bad blood was tuilt up during this process' and so
with industry that turns much good blood spilled, that unionization is a fiercely polarizing
Monongahela and the Ohio are loaded
to air. Coal-fired elec- topic liere yet, long after labor and management in other parts of
water strange colors and brings texture the
with Steel, glass, and North America hire -a.ruged to confront the issues with other
tric plants split the hills high-tension lines.
jobs jobs that are than a quasi-religious, gunfiie-punctuated fanaticism' This is why
industrial chemical plants bring worrisorne
not only dangerous and difficult, but are hit first -in a slackening
in "good" times this area is part of the Foundry
In really bad times, when ihere isn't much work at all, the way
economy. folk hunker down i.r ih"i. hollows for the long haul is pure Dixie'
Southeastern West Virginia is problematic. It is at all times iso- After all the years of infusion of antipoverty money, the opportu-
lated by its mountains. Similar terrain in the Empty Quarter at nities for education, health care, adequate diet, and having one's
least has the good grace not to be populated. Charleston, West horizons expanded are better than they were. But it's still not
Virginia, is by no means the most rugged part, yet its airport can something that has caused abandonment of a century-old pessi-
inspire respect in good weather. In search of enough horizontal mism about the inevitability of progress. There is still a devotion
space for a runway, its planners sheared off the peak of a moun- to the land here, no matter hourunyielding it is (and there is vir-
tiin. that leaves no mirgin for pilot error. The grandly named tually no commercial farming in West Virginia).
West Virginia Turnpike, meanwhile, is two lanes, undivided' From Huntington, West Viiginia, to Cincinnati, the border fol-
West Virginians typically have a very limited spacial horizon.It's ,lows
the Kentu"ckv side of th; ohio River. Some scholars have
common to find some who have never been to a town fifty miles
 71

r THE FOUNDRY
7o
The Nine Nations of North America

lffi #,}#
"national road" --.- i.
contended that U.S. Route 4o- the old
dividing line between Dixie and the Foundry,' It
runs,from t'ii''j|i
and on to Rich.
ir,g, W""t, Virginia, to Ohio's capital' Columbus'
They traced subitantial differences in fbod' a1.6t.
-3"a, tndiuni.
i".,r-r.", the layout of towns, and music to either side of ti1i,
^-^il^,
highway.
probably was once a useful distinction. There is still u
taste of the culiure of old Dixie in southern
Ohio. But the fnql
instead of the Interstate
itu, i, is referred to as the U.S. 4o line, old the
7o line (7o now parallels 4o),
tells
ifrr po.rnarv u.rd Di*i" have gone through
you how
a lot of
idea is' Bot\
shanges in thg ,+*fi***',.n.*i't":oii'ffi
last fifty years. is flsturr*^ city rn
and pollutiol :^ r-Aion2oolis, the largest
Be that as it may, the Ruhr-like industrialization area
of ttr" upper Ohio River Valley now
- p"V,"",
cinnati and layton are definiiely
is
part
the
of
fact
the
that
Foundry'
ln fact, was referred io-in Richard Scammon and Ben
controls' Cin-
'ffi
Wuti""U"tg's The Real Majority as "the typical American
city"'
the Foundry is typical of noth-
While this chapter contenis that
note thatThe Almanac of-Amer-
i"g .-c , itseli, lt's interesting to
of Richard Nixon's
ican Politic.s tells us that Day6n is the home
housewife whose hus-
the typical United btut"' voter: a
"irio" "f
UunJ *ort t i" u factory and whose brother-in-law is a cop' Day-
ton is middle-sized ar,i middle class' It is losing population and

has a black mayor. ft" growth has been in the sub-

"'U'tuntial phenomena as the Wright
urbs. And it has gi; Uirth to suci
"The Phil highways'
brothers, Erma e"*i".k (th" srrb.r.ban muse), and section of more interstate :X:;ileplace else'
Donahue Show." il;;.]i it u ptu." to be in {o"l,y:in-"*rr lndiana between
"n the I'neJ;i;;;i';.
Cincinnati, meanwhile, is so Germanic that it is beyond Reds
imagt- "'rni-';;, ii,"", a*.one draw
t"-t:t:"i;JJdry
..'T':;1#
become so undisciplined at a tn.'tr""a" and Dixie? Perhaps und th"
nation that some fan would line betweel-t-t".tt,
g^-" ifr"i fre might throw a beer cup into the ou1field. Cincinnati i"it"""otiit' And the and Gary'
t"9l"tlP"jt.ffius,ii
is the home of Frocter and Gamble, which is certainly next is imPortant
to
basket? Interstare 6s between
Teutonic godliness. Cincinnati is so straight that
you us,ed to have ;;;;.i;ll;in the u'"u ""'o"ld'npli;';;." of a-majc
to cross the river into ientucky to have I good time' The Beveriy
ijiffr Srrpp". Club, until it burned in a
tracted first-rate Las Vegas talent' It was in' of all
tragic fire in ry^77' at'
places' Coving-
part of Ken-
liii, itff# l#ffil fr" **ffi:::i'Jl?::
:{tf ttqi -:'.',Tffi
:l* i:lL :u*:: #:"** i *1 ;:
In fact' that
ton, Kentucky, just ,o,,ii' of Cincinnati'
tucky had long b".n considered a mini-Vegas' in which *: l;llll I
itr"tl"gftfvillegil prostitution, gambling' and vice had also flour-
ished.
As the Ohio River flows into Indiana' the national
are the f'acts:
boundaries I'**fl:'a+t**+i+-th'ti:r't#'li*
was ProPosed, were interests
who
get complicated. Here
" Northlrn Indiana Fort Wayne, Elkhart, Gary are unques-
- -
 72 The Nine Nations of North America THE FOUNDRY 73

right were other interests with similar, if conflictins ;.t^

final location of the highway was an extraordina.ir"-.^"1-".u'
cision thar
that balanced force" liLp +L,i-
forces like ^^^:.^^+ ^^^t- '.,t""tlcal
this against !,q;"a':;[i"ilHi{#*li:h::*Ti,*i
LJi t\":",j,-:
H;;;;';-pu"t.'' coach' vince Lombardi'
against the forces that wished to get i direct"u.rr.o"t""iri"i'lllul
T".,lttl u
interstate can be an eloquent statemenr ;iO;,U":lil
llr,l,;r1"
In northwestern Indiana, the spoor of the Foundry
#"l,*fi *ffiT*3i#ii::.ii,.i:i+tT,tii*':'.H
#tdf .'t':xf ''l"'iili:ff li::"H3;ii|f;
is not su
m;salo.nolis, rar ronger than the
,1HY1::YlI:;Y",y."fee
from Boston to washinston, t"rz' ifi" l";;;;;:;a"il'J^'ll oou

.-#tllfH':'::#,1',11".:*:'::l1yL"::i"{d"'i:'*i
3ffi of Garv. The smell is the same u.
eries *tin.
Jersev. The iarticurate matter belched
rrrui ;i'^d;"il
f;";;"".;.tTlill. N'- t+-ll,t;*?*r"','rtm*1;59*1;11
sla66v^^'.:;#
rrv is tne trought so that they could get

i*:il5;iffi:?it"";;;""i;'r.';J ril'.,
mills r.vas once so great thar it affectJ ,i;:.*;d;;.;:::,r,fi1
laden clouds comini in from trt" *..i-*ould +L^ r ^La r{r,rnn
over Gary and become so heavy that they *orid- up;ii, ,,rff
pick
*:*:*t";;;#.:xft.]l3; +::"1?5".lJtl
whatever they held a few doi.n
-itl, "..t,
p."Jipiiui" uu,
which il ."rgfrfy
l; fj[:
T#f"il:"i#;'i' ; qr'!'tio"". that southern ottawa is
where LaPorte lies. Laport" *u, ."g,rlu.rv
trr. .ui"i".i * ."ii",.u It is the *o't a"t"Jty populated' most industrialized'
place in Indiana. dry.
[,i,ir^'"*",ry, the ao'"i"#i p'Jt {
c^il|: ]l'-.Y:y^1r"t.t:
Welcome to Chicago. Richard J. Daley,
Mayor. I know. He,s
gone' But it will be a generation befor"
irr. uiituou.ir^lqrutrng nrfl i"'.;'*lt"""n*"uJl;,'ff ?jjil':."{:".:"il;
fhe,gitV with his prg f*. fade from the mind. tts sloga.,J ubout ii;ili;;Jy western democracv' ottawl lu"-
itself
Foundry -th-e City of Broad Shoulders, tf," Wi"Jy"b;7;':r,..r, int"*ut power Washington Ut::lJn:.1tlj*
;;ht;g like tlhe"onf"J"rated
themes, like toughness.
;;;g North,q*"ri.u't nations canonlv be seen with the great-
Chicago, "The Second City,,,a fundamentally
pared to the real West, like Salt Lake
eastern city com- a.ritil;h;f th" 4eth pu'allel' Notenvironsdoes of Alberta li':'i
91"Yi in the
to New York, the Foundry model for the urban
City, is, in its relationship tiri O,reU"., but ihe Jnergy-rich
their.own
sees all over North America. Tulsa-okrarr"-.
.o_p"iitio.r, on, Quarter show repeated determination to, set
colony with oil reserves to be
Dallas-Houston. Anchorage-Fairbanks.
ciivlT..^*r-prr. r, refusing to be treateJ like a
ted. TheJe provinces are separated by the. Breadb?tk::
Montr6al_Toronto. The
first city claims to be the '.-N"* yo.k;-of *h"."rr.. |]-
all of Manitoba'
i, irln" -"* , which includes *,r.h of Saslatchewan and
glamorous pacesetter. The other, p."rr"d,
Urrt ,roi .uplfi, ,f air- which resents being rriai*ir"d by high-priced energy-and in-
missing the claim, Ecoto-
_responds by iuggesting it is more down to [al goods from its-partners to ttre east and west' And
earth, more "real." N,Iore i"to i"!?oney than making trends, Brit-ish Columbia, iike the New England-ish Maritime Prov-
perhaps. It will be a long time-ut that they
as the "city that works.;
before-Ct i.ugo lives down its fame , are so different i** ttt" cential provinces
lically and seriously debate whether confederation was a
west of "chicagoland," as the radio stations idea, Lfter uti- itrir is the implied threat behind Qu6bec sep-
it. were a.theme park, is the Breadbasket, like to call it,asif
where distances be- ism: Why stop there?
tween major population centers begin to get eanwhile, southern Ottawa is so commingled with the United
excessive. Convet-
iently, and not coincidentaily, chicaio is Nolth es portion of the Foundry that Windsor, for example' is ac-
America,s grearest "most
transportation hub, linking the greai "out There" lV to"tft of Detroit. The direct route between Detroit
to its wJst with
the industrial heartland tJits B"ff.i; *"iiv ittrough this portion of Canada' over the
to trr" *orri ty'rair,
1oad.,
"Irt,u.rJuoth
pipeline,-ship,.and air (Chicago,s O,Hare,+irpori is tfr" Uuy r shote of " Lake nrie, riot the ltng way around, by way of
iest in the world). The spider webs"of trade nd. C.nua.b auto industry, which is centered in southern
cago are dense and impressive.
router i" crti-
""ar"g
 75
74 The Nine Nations of North America THE FOUNDRY
ontario, is inextricably linked to that of Detroit via the I n" t' Rodsers'' ul,'-":l:J :lyfi""Hl
A,,n^
which is, in effect, a common market agreement tr,.i--ilt\
United States-Canadian boundary tranJp"r;;;;;;;;
and finished prodlcts i"''*'hu.,g" i;;ui:,il
"rl5q
;:i"#tJr":ts
Despite extensive cariadian attempts to exert
sovereionr..
its economy, according toThe Finaicial pori ;",""* *f'lryqo
one corporation in sares in canada *as
G"r,e.aL irjr"a^ lTTbo
ada., Ltd., headquartered in Oshawa,
;; il';;;;
perhaps eighty miles across Lake o",".i"-r-_ ;i;;i:,*
"s"f;ii""":,,{
snow flies. One hundred percent of it is o*rr;d ;; ;ilT;".:: .h

ln*,*i i:: ff:Tt :'_Tffi Hf;H j*r,m::;l'"

tion was Ford Motor companv cu"uJu, *il
i" ci"r.trii", t.li',iT that when people are
an hour west of Toronto ind- even "r croser to the u"tt"Jt,llll ;#';:lit'il::::li to this experience
Eighty-eight percent of it is owned by fo.a
i' n"u.bo.".ii*U,,
Ltd., ro.o,,to. s"*,".,ty percent owned
*::;l',Jff T:?i :il, by

conversely, canadian firms are the rargest

rug$#,*ff**ff*"'ffi
foreign
U's' metals and machine manufact,r.ing. canadian investors in
investmentin
the United States ol.I{l h frieh.., p.;
capita, than the oth.. *uy
around. The New york Times Jstimated es' +s4'u'Ii,,.,0".,
,i. ,g791o,.i, #.., *A Tfi.::Xfi ""*TI#m' and 648 homicides'
indirect, to be gzo billion. to alcoholisT: e'o ?""r';;ii""ng from automo-
Foundry, then, finally ends north of Ottawa,
;;iK;;t"ndant
at the O*awa
River, on the other side of which i, unoth.r
but one that is unique in North America,
industrialized nation, ;,It.,ffi S''"S?;'il!:!lili{:H":il',':Jff
rate rePorted stnc
l:,:xl:.'f ""1;
in that most of its pop. ;;;;;, ;# highest
,rr""r""a p"rprg .*,":: ""t "f
"i1io.l does not spiak English: ttr.-.-".girrg kept. Six n"ror"i "rra^-,*-"'',,y-fiu" o;i t

of Quebec.
and defianr narion
work. ( An d,n"
"'i"il t
; ;i;i, " "'ll U::' fi'"T fJii:: Hi';
::::n;*tl':ii;,*rri ji:riJ:dti"?';m:1,tru:l
The central issues in the Oorr"O.r,
terms, revolve around questions ;f
U.,f, i" human and financial
lf,:? I'f H :i. "#l lii'.'! iT l;-; ;ffi
?ff .
;; J' i' d"'' i r 2 4 m or
e

investment. Enormous quan- "ff

tities of time, sweat, and money hu.r" U""r,
invested in making
murders, and so on.
^.. o^.L,I sa
said to me in Solidarity
this region what it is, and,fr.'f"""a.y,s And sure enough, as Oscar Paskal
future will be deter- House,theDetroitt'1'^o"o*,";:":l*",r"1;""-irlllr?J#;:';
ryined by the extent to which North Americans decide thel
should, or will, walk away f.o- tt ui.
-^'

Questions of reindustriulirirrg aged facilities, ;#T:[j"|?J :'n i?ii'"}: :"TJ'Tffil ;ilt;;tt

;* n o *515' al:u i " s
at children'
"lt
bled cities, and recommitting political
revitali zing crurn around and, appare"iiv, ?**g random ;i bar-
racism, are all intertwined.
will to ease the ..r,rtrl^of won't be lons before vlu get the standar["-ll-g""t-bcrserk' putttul sai d'
-op"ns-fi
For openers, the whole point of living ricades-self-i-nsi de-hous", r"- * i t r-tl#"?-tin "
in the Foundry is work. "titffl':i:,*fi,? "'
It has been argued that the protestu"l *o.t jlTT$;,", Detroit
caught on in North America to the
ethic never really on the rront page "r NrAL
ll:. rLLs'
gest. "*r.", that its p... *o.rld ,,rg- **T, i""ii,tli
"'
;;#iJ i' J.iii""a slu MP'*"uo'
ME
 THE FOUNDRY 77
The Nine Nations of North America important'
more
76
-r"r had grown to r6 pe^rcent' Butthan
"Some stare silently for hours at walls," it read' "Others o,, --r Bv 1975'tl1:.t':;;" of fto* less 5 percent in
--^ ^ f^^l i-^l o',o- rl-^, , "vtl. -J -^-pd ll5 J "*porti over 35 per-
eat or drink heavily. Some feel rtired constantly,
^^--r^*r1., even thoug[
1L'^r
-rcel'
t)'^l^n in"'"at':,-':"..;d's leading exporter' shipping
''\) tfle w'
,--^--
may ^t^^-sleep hours. All of
L^,,-- All ^f these are common slmptoms o1
fLo"o are cnmmrrn swrnntoho ^. "\J ItPa" ,^^.nm€
tY""* ;'t -.eventies'
rr. I :, -,-,^ --^-.,:-^ number of und: ^r the , o1o to
depression among Michigan's growing '^,,-L^- United States had begun
illitv 'l:,T':::;;.'#ii-r."""ties, itsthesteel
ployed '"'ni*;*n11";:l#;T;;;;;;;, of more than Europe'
- "Itr
recent weeks, several newly unemployed p-ersons have bar. bloc' ln manv
-ways' what had hap-
to'irnPort,":#"#,,imunist
ttt"olli""a,. textile
ricaded themselves with shotguns inside their homes. One Ho.r'tttun industry d".udlr earlier has been
side Detroiter, who lost his joi and his wife within ,h" ias1:ltl New !rr''-rs;d"/; to
^onedlo t". steel. It was being tran^sferred
years, shot at two of his neighbors and then killed himself . .
f,^ipenine :l:.i#i;;;n.re the costs were lower' Steel-mak-
" 'These are not mild cases of the blues,' " said Mel Ravitz,41. 'oii"t put"--T;":;;r;-" 1".nnotogv. It doesn't begin to com-
rector of the Detroit-Wayne County Community Mental Hsn115 ine is. no^ to;fi;il ;l ;";i'; -u,,.,ru.i."" u n"d assemb v. I o[ semi -
Board in a colossal understatement. " 'Unemployment for a pro. pate \rt t"'1':::,;- j"ti."t. And that manufacturs' in 1u1n' will
longed period of time attacks the very core of a person's identity |o'-1l."t'ff 'I,?;j ei ;;' ;; _n ed gl n e eene t
i -en g n eer n g n -
c i i i

";
i
;
und r.li-p"rception. Their fmstration and feelings of worthlesi- totll"il'."1,r.' its indusirial creation of forms of life-little
ness in turn threaten the entire fabric of the f-amily' These people dustry' *':l'- "iti
:-"-;-;r", tttut are custom-designed to eat copper ore
can't deal with all the problems and complications tnicrobes, tof utstau'
una tpit out
refined copper' '.-^lnsv of zs6K
z56K semtcon-
sem'
The very core of a person's identity and self-perception' U"f"te the technology
Ask these people who they are, and before they say man, It's going to be.a. *nii" com-
ductor memory tn'pt
u"a genetically altered microbes are
woman, Methodist, Catholic, American, Canadian, Democrat, Re- of steel is no mys-
monplace in nulgail '
U"t in" manufacturine.-the
publican, black, white, or brown, they'll say, for example: steel- i' thai s.ome of Foundry's steel
tery there now' The*poi"t
worker. were drying up - being.le.tter served
industry,s overseas ;;rk.i. industrializing nations
It,s this which brings the dry abstractions of the steel industry's
il; ho;'";;.*n l''at"tty' And those newlv
bleats about foreign competition down to human scale'
had an advantage ""i7tft"'.f;"t
tt"a centers' in that they fre-
At the end of World War II, North America produced the ma' quently started t,"*-"tuittt' so they
could invest in the most
jority of the world's steel. The united States' share alone was 48 efficient n"* -"trrod. 1rt*-a"""rop"d'
Th" Foundry' meanwhile'
perclnt in the ry48_ t952 period, and its share of exports was 25 antiquated open'
had an enormous iJu"'-*""t in' ior example'
percent. By the -id-t"u".tties, the U.S. share of world production hearth furnaces ,h#;:rh.p;'J;"lJ hurr"
b""tt rapidlv scrapped
was down to a mere I8 percent, and its exports down to less than but weren't.
5 percent. less important for
Moreover, a Foundry location was -becoming
What was happening during that period was that every part of Some o[ the
steel. Steel toduy ir".i"J"l" trtilV;n'"" U'S'itates'
the world was recognling stJel proiuction as basic to its devel- Iargest post-Worli w".-ri tl"el
jacilities in
built the United
opment. Today, one-of the-first things an emerging nation does works of U'S' Steel' built in t953'
is
States, such as th; F;li;
gt looking foi a., international loan to build a steel mill' It's an
were not built insiie ,tt. C."ut Lakes resources triangle'
Fairless
!lr"n -o.i" basic drive than that toward energy independence' is in the Fo,r.td.''r. t"tliit of Philadelphia' with a straight
And appropriate, too. The world's second largest iron-ore re- ;*;T",#liiljiit.. ".tth
At Fairless, vou can see whv: great
mounds
r"*"t, fot example, after the Soviet Union, are in Brazil' of uu;i";
;rii."r J"""i ii" about' in their characteristic
Furthermore, war-ravaged industrialized countries, notably -Ja- colors. Venezuelan "i'irt.
iron-laden dirt is more reddish-brown than
to
pan, were creating a vasiinternal market for new steel needed i.""-i"a"" O"Z[J atr,, which is more a glinting metallic grav' As
rebuild themselves. And they met that demand with the Jatest' ,ft" *i"i"T ;;;;ir.'r,*f-i"a"stry has" gro*ri, it has responded
most efficient technology. There are obvious advantages to bein9 by rethinking its locations.
forced to start again from scratch.
:- -^ .L^- tnan
.1,-s Th" ."il;?; t;;;i *itt ," open in North America in more
In r948-r952, Japan produced less than 3 percent of the world

t
 79
The Nine Nations of North America THE FOUNDRY
78
a decade, the $r.z billion job at Nanticoke, Ontario, eightv rn,,
west of Toronto, is owned by the Steel Company of Cunudu. i"'t'
ically, even its Lake Erie locltion, directly u..o., f."-
towns like Youngstown, Ohio, reflects the new realities.;"el
from the traditional reasons for locating in
Foundry, Stelco had new, more sophisticated imperative
the
"*i"nli};
h.;;;
spokesman for the company admittei it didn't t"" u r..",i"i,, ,|
u}p,T g##g*firu*iffi
the dirt-poor, thinly populated Atlantic Maritimes market n5
much of a bet. Neither was it eager to further its investmell 1n
nationalistic, French-speaking Qu6bec. But at the same time, its
growth market, according to company executives, is seen as 11.,.
Empty Quarter environs of Alberta, which w_ill need everything
from high-rise steel buildings to Stelco's wide-gauge steel pipei
''#ff
lines. If one assumes that a competitive steel mill must be built
with access to cheap water transportation, then it comes down to
the Great Lakes or the Pacific coast. Cheaper to ship west, across
the flatlands of the Breadbasket, than try to lift this stuff east
over the mountains from British Columbia, Stelco feels. weight of its cars'
a*ctural that'used to
and decorative functions
The North American steel industry today says it has been dealt
dirty by the governments of the United States, Canada, and Ja- ;y #Ln*:; t',],', #iii! # :1,: I ,:,ji,?,:;' f: :, 31";'
ri is'
itseif
" "'
as of this
pan. The United States and Canada, the industry says, have a result. Meanwnuel'in"'""1t-obil;.in;;;try
hign *i"t*' rates' toughened
slowed revitalization by forcing the corporations to invest bil- writing, in u t""toi""ltii;";' supplies
credit availabititv, ;#;il*'
uti unpredictable tuel with
lions of dollars in environmental equipment to clean the water affair" the
billions that, they say, should have been not only No'tiT;;i;;t ptou"'uiii "love continues
and air of the Foundry
-
productivity. The Japanese industry, by con-
".ta
car, but threaten t;;;; ih" -uttitge ' And all this
spent on increasing "";
;;t.i;" down the demand for steel'
trast, they say, is in bed with its government, which is tn-re' But
the more serious charge is that Japanese and other exporters are Itwourdo".h"oJ;;:;1#;l'::1,t.".i;f,#:i#,a3ili,ff]'n'.
"T.1ff ,:il*Tt' h'n'T:il":S#i:?;; ;; n u' " ""
dumping shipping steel across the Pacific for less than they can u nv ed i est

afford to -make it in order to keep their furnaces blasting at full

capacity and to retain advantages of scale and penetration of *3"t1;l miles south of
market. bTl-"""tvlvania border' about seventva"d Pittsburgh'
There are enormous arguments over this. Critics of North
Lake Erie il;"1'r;#1ffi;;" Cr"""ru"d
""d
Youngstown i, g;i;;'u.,J where well-meaning
th""'less burs
American steel companies say that they have simply made tre- " ian
*"tn" ii'ection of the I tal and
mendous blunders in not modernizing more quickly. These coil'
would-be ro.,r*"R' i:i.; ;;i;;'' of
placent old leviathans, the critics chaige, *"." ttto.i interested in
dishes at the Holiday Inn.It ttut u ttry'poft'tuti"" .r4o'ooo
a mil-
dropping, and a metropolitan ut"u poiti*ion of about half
maintaining profit margins than in p[;;t bu.k tft" billions of Iion.
dollars that would have been necessary to niaintain technological If it were located elsewhere, those numbers would put But in
Youngs-
parity with Japan. town in rnort otn.l ;;;;;t;liit trt"it ten largest cities'
But some part of this argument is moot. one steel mill after the Foundry, it's only number five "rinOhio'
another has been shut down. Plans to build new ones have been ii";;;ioi'io,rngrtown, traditio""riv' n"t been the nearbv making of
indefinitely delayed, because the offending company concluded rron and ,,."r, h;u"* consumed GM plantas-at
bv
that steel is simply no longer a growth industrv in Nortn sociated
-,llri:i;;i;i'
industrii] J;h;;h; automated
America. -od"-'
 llt
TrIE FOUNDRY
8o The Nine Nations of North America

Lordstown, a few miles west. (Lordstown once achieved a dt

of notoriety as a result of studies that demonstrated "*,."*;*,liu
els of boredom and alienation among its young workers' Lq.4,.
town also served as the model for Fernwood in TV's "Mary gn.i
man, Mary Hartman." But I digress.)
Starting in ry77, three major steel mills in a row folded in
Youngstown, starting with the Campbell Works of Youngstoqn
Sheeiand Tube, foliowed by U.S' Steel's ohio Works, and i6
McDonald Works.
ffiffis,*fi
They were just a few of the hundreds of major plants that have
closed in the Foundry in the past decade as industries moved
south or west, or were unable to meet foreign competition, s1
phased out obsolete facilities'
Shortly before Youngstown's Black Monday, September i7,
,g77, *i"n the first miil closed, throwing four thousand out of
*oit , Bethlehem Steel laid off thirty-five hundred workers in
Lackawanna, New York, a suburb of Buffalo, and another thirty-
five hundred in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Bethlehem also halted
work on a new steel mill in Johnstown. Three thousand workers
were out of a job in conshohocken, New York, when another steei
return'
company deciared bankruptcy. In Akron, Ohio, twenty-one thou-
ruttd iob. in the rubber industry have disappeared since I95o'
twenty-five hundred of them in 1978 alone. New York state lost Actuallv, it can be
argued
t\erj
tl*
tn:19::"ril:1"fft?1""t:i::i ;l:
three iundred and twenty-seven thousand jobs in the first seven
.oni.*uiiu"' For one thing' \e,1:':;i;i;;; rhen' too'
'"it'estimates of
;;;;;;"', before the second "":1.:l';t,h's"r;nr,"r'.
years of the seventies. Michigan figured that plant relocations
ulon" .ort thirty thousand jobs in thut tt.t" between ry7o and :'::T'li
"#;
rix wh a'l do
"
cost it fifty thou- H*T.:X1 T :3 l'f l':::l'ff ;n:1 "
ry74, and Ohio figures that plant closings alone ;'ffi '#i.|i:;rn'5ffff
sand jobs between ry7o and ry77. '. l"::::'*::::r:riii"":"ff:tmentin
No o"" has ever cal-
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, gathering numbers that coVer urban facilities that Youngstown
*nt;;;;;
what is basically the United States portions of the Foundry and i" ttt*s'of capital
culated exactly *nut u cit! that 'i'" "iotoii"' miles
New England, siys I.4 million industrial jobs have been lost there investment. But Youngstown has
dt';;;I;thools,'endlessart mu-
in the tf,irteen years'from ry66 to tg7g,-and clearly, the bulk of of sewers, roads and itreet lamps'
municipal buildings'
of thousands
that impact has to have been in the Foundry. seums and sports fields-.not to m"niio'i'tindt"at
Youngstown's triple closings the elimination of nearly ten^ *H";::?:llf act to
-
thousani high-skill, high-pay, high-status jobs, the holders of u r'"e r.^'Yl*ms
which have known .ro oth"r lfe
-
alone produced a ripple effect 'ffi:'3'g*?n;?"'i
maximizer-n,J,tH1r":.tli;i,#il3i1,:tH:,H;;:,.:lTli
that has ended up costing the taxpayers hundreds of millions of steel mills, Iike Youngstown t, :ili;r';;o-,.,g
dollars. -;? ,"gio,-ts for invest- s an
g
S.T",i:," "' ;iln";' *;;';i;;
ren e ct
The closings, in effect, were a manmade disaster equivalent to
a killer hurricane or a tornado. The "ripples," in fact, were mon-
Hlxil:i cr 6s in

"'i{: H:::;ttt:?t:::HiJ the Foundrv has

priced itserr out or
strous waves, touching every resident, from the department store
clerk to the gas station attendant.
 83

F THE FOUNDRY
8z The Nine Nations of North America
::
the market, with high-priced unionized labor, high land
. -- Locat-'", T:.:l 'li';f,:':T:'YiY'H*!'^il'i1[i; 'l:"? ";
",
high energy costs, high pollution-control costs, und ,o f*i'o,,r,
The liberal National Center for Economic AlternatiVes j1'oc" {"rli', ;teolrsf^"i.iv"
9ti": J,'ff :,1,': ffi i};.* t* ir ; f":ff lather
asks cerlain questions, however: Are we really going to J"',tl*,
,bit^;;;r"r b{ ?" ll:-:',': iiir".i."egts1 to
{li.- rt hu'^j."'utthough t'
_.,nfluv'-, ^- A ltr4r"
up next
l?[f,;::.-Ju"u-"atu lini
Are we,_really going to walk away from ,h; i';;;;"y ."tfirt"',, t;tlJr"a pft{ir",r rf rooprool, lJ"*"j"."'lUou" th" rows of liquor
we really goi"! to iry to build them all over again i.r itl"*G, A,u """ sir t-
"''n; -
ti'.ryt,;5*":1Ti:'llii'l' bar
and Dixiel Dolou have any idea of what thatis g"id;;'il;rt*, $:li:i:t'"T
The center and its ideological soulmates have carried errl
more extensive studies thatihow that Youngstown, t". #?; "|:::$'ifr I"I'i:: i,';'t;:',sf i{.'s ;'ii:'":i
should be an excellent place for heavy investment in certain ";;J;:
kinds
of steel facilities. In order to gain support for^1he granting of gov.
ernment seed money for the revitalization of Youngstown's steel
industry, they've trotted out analyses purporting to show thai
Youngstown's location is an advantage, not a disadvantage. ens
of the more technologically sophisticated ways of making steel _
mru#*
the electric-furnace method requires enormous quantities qf
scrap as a basic item. Where- would be a better place to put an rried meat
electric-furnace mill, this argument goes, than on a rail line in T:l';1 :;;:"f,"tiu'pi'rogiz
"^pluined'to.1e'
migsem ;"i"*i',,"'tv pork dinner,
the middle of more junkyards than any in the dreams of a mean Y*'2::;' oft",r,gz'6o' Pieczen wteyr'1u1T"*-"rthe
"-*"'";;:; roast
dog: Youngstown? This analysis states that relatively cheap T*Sil: -- i; i' tr't most expenlS;it;?, Mai;lanka menu' Nales'
is but-
power can be generated from the region's coal, and that a savings *T"tilt"";r,J
-iki $l'Ju' '"-.-i.rrn
costs v- prunt
Lv be
(rLrL to r
e's.
of perhaps $4o a ton could ensue. z powidtami
lutn out . ,nRo
Yet the reports have done little save give rise to a few headlines
and then gather dust. One analyst cynically suggested that
?:fr 'fu ;:iwarntii'i"'n;*tramck'
: il,r' *xfof :i{-:'ffi
Youngstown will have to wait until the Japanese read these fig- without much "?,?nJ"'"sii"ffi
l"oot" a
worK' fac-
ures and locate a North American plant there. our
Meanwhile, the Foundry continues to decline. [:#,lt:r ffi Jlfiil'',' it''o* e' n' : :;;
in
"n;oiJ,. ou",.,' i: :':::
In Hamtramck, Michigan, an incorporated city completely sur- iJ;:i iu" *lrion '0"1:"i::l; irl-""rr' Vorare
:l ."J:,::. derelict'
?S lrrdrt) -" I
rounded by Detroit, United Auto Workers Local 3 is preparing to which used to prodttce year"no\v::"i:;;
-ands .,
Dodse Aspen automobiles
a tnly a trickle of
shut down. ""ff;h:"5;."luurtti.,n union hall ' thereol:,fi:;; ;id retraining
In r9ro, Hamtramck was a sleepy, German-American village of
less than four thousand. But Chrysler changed all that. Dodge be- rers
gan car production in Hamtramck in ryr4, and thousands of |*:f"xtl'l-,r;Ir"a heavYset
J,'J: in his earry sixties,
workers moved into the sparsely settled town. Many were young James S. BrYant' 9t^:!J:
right after the war'
men without families, living in overcrowded rooming houses and about coming to "lf,g'"is*n
Del;l't'ii"tnou'
dingy hotels, where each bed did twenty-four-hour service. By
r9zo, Hamtramck's population had bulged to forty-five thousand, I was born and raised in Arabama'':
just outside of Birmingham' \r\hen
":':l::liil: llli:: ii't;;"tlii:
I g?t, t:.t^:'r-]rrti.g .."aitions Back
making it the state's fastest-growing boom town. It became the t"
Polish "capital" of Michigan, absorbing wave after wave of east- had come up here. t, ..i,u, a queslion "',oj:l'"rt ffi;t.iJidn't g" 9.1tu I
ern Europeans and Ukrainians hungry for work. By r93o, 58 per- ffitr.*';cil*,-t nua u lou in rt'"'i"ilT']'l',l;;'t.'Jdvanc" mv'"I['
I
it. I had a better opportlnitv here' it:l;ffi;."r,'in them times' vou
cent of Hamtramck's population was Polish-speaking. see? I cot
couldn't advance in Birmingham'
Ethnic pride found expression in organizations like the Polish

L*-
 85
W THE FOUNDRY
tt4 The Nine Nations of North America

know, because I was black. I was fixing the track for the switchin,
^i-^- tr/l-.,}--
gines.
+ho-a
Maybe G.,-
hrrr
five nr
rrracn'r onino
years Tt cnrrld
ciw rrprrs
or six
ta ci2v
could har/e
there wav-
way.
bctter t^t
ootten a hetter
have gotten
there
there *"".
$ U\.
iob au^'['
*,luhrr the
wheers - tot-:-: :::,:-"Til': #;;
there, but I wasn't going to slay
T there, no Yeah
Yeah, - were miil;:l #n:':^*"rownis.H??:i;f'"ilHi?;l;#;'"J"!13T"'u
*,1rvtv hoTt'.:;"n
- r," -'^'- lrom
of ..,:+L the
--^ with
^f, us rL^ same
^^*^ :l^^
idea, I'-
I'm -,,-^ It figured
sure. G-".-; I'd ctart out
I'r'l start nrrl at .-.,.r . "'ulS
ql any1111f""qs
t8.\p lwa"a, rhar ^-r., .,n? .o"",y away
coal,",Y"'^::i'";,;r-i"no*n"d lor its
L^-^ and
here ..,^-L mv *1v,lrl rrrhich T d'id I started off in tho c^-
^-l work gh
-., :ll:l
l^il,i^] 'i?i'.*::t.::..'l:-t:""d1
Really hot job. Shaking dust off the castings. o'd
that was *-1*_Ti
j\.:" o..i
-^#yhill
t?l::1i?iii'",'; ;-5*ffY, ;;il";*n"" *Y *jl:;
;:il
vears' J llli
It was a bad job. I would say so, yeah, the kind of iobs bla.i o":'Y:'T"H;;;Ji"' '
people would get. There weren't any white guys doing that job. 51 "Pl-"'"? b;;tt;' '*"'"v coal-miner',Just
nitcrr'- r min€r. "".:-';;;.^ and u".o*irig'u
eight cents an hour, though, and that *u. g6oi -on"! U^.n"tft"r.. rlitln '**.":?1i.^rirvttg t","i.::..:.o sa lot here' and r came
the Dodge Main plant finally closed, I was a paint repairer. If a car carne
g*J?;:tin;1 i1i"1t';:"'i:'r '-- "ii"ut "p
through the line and there was a scratch or something,I had to repairit rr-' ' ' .--,*.. -r Chry
:^r- at
job chrvsrer's
before it went to final inspection. Paint repair, now, that's a good job.
hgqt:*-.- -nr establlsnuu to get a
That's skilled. Almost top [pay1 scale. In my department that's almo51
ui4 i"13;;i.'"
o"t':-';i r'ua enough :"llT,':i i" ? rJ monrhs,was
p]"i:'
to
" K" cars
the top job. Ain't no discrimination now.I got that because I had thirty-
Rov ;ssembly Il]'''::;,;eet-drive
ren I ,'
three years' seniority. You get the job you want, you just got no prob- Jeffersol. i,']1", u .-all, fuel-el hc
" on
i:I:- ;,';;.w if I'll get the
t",ri"e its future said'
lems. Repairing paint is a good job because you don't work on every car, '*",I|::i::*u' r#rj."l"ii"rso.n,"-l.re
the way I see it. Sometimes you only get every third car' You don't have that chrYstc.'-".1L-"r". Ain't never.b:::,;;; i[ it works rhe same
j.o-1o-'l'",,.r-l
rr anxiety.."Don t
x
to brist your butt. Good job. Good pay. About eight dollars and some- same
thing an hour.
I've been out of work now six months. Longest I'd been out before was
on strike, a hundred and five days. I been piddling around a lot. Painting,
working around the house. Doing little odd jobs. The first month, it 5;
t'ffi #;:f-ff (
t'' *i!
*h f.trH:'
i' I" ffi i ; rl
seemed like [model year plant] changeover. But after that, it gets on.vour est concentratlon
nerves a bit. You just don't get used to it that quick. You work around afi
'sevenlv-three [h.e said]'
hundreds and hundreds of friends, you don't get used to leaving them r came over in il:iTnJi:ht:!':.:Ttt
that quick. You can't just walk away from a group of friends of thirty
lii I n:*x,',one':q'Not!:il ji ti}
years and you don't see them no more and you be happy about ir' The
mill is just like your home.
mr i'
il;';il';;; can't set
: .T'i:;
""1,1
I

{* ti "u""? ;'T "l i:: :';'*,

uu't. there. twice
ilin
children back in v""*"n. I supporr 'l:i lik"'iii, no*, -uy.b".I go back
The United Auto Workers' contract has a "thirty and out"
clause, which allows men to retire after thirty years of service'
tT*;ril.f'*" ;;:T1:;;?4fi"1^il tlliii*+:l,rx
,;:-* jt ;;: t:lt-" :, i::!
Men who start work at eighteen, then, are eligible for a pension
at forty-eight. Bryant hadln't planned on reti;ing Yet, but with
: llf iyl j,",ru:*:
I

;;;6" I
i,fr
g' ", wes'l : ca me

Dodge Main shut down, he sees no choice for himself except to xi::fi f:t;',$"T;i"t"T:i:;:lii:;' " 'lhe
spent the rest of his days at home. "My wife," he adds with a boast.I to California'
maYbe go
gri.r, "*hat with me being retired, sometimes she says, 'I'll be
glad when you go.' "
Kaid's siruation is similar
t:^lti:$ r#l:"":"JiJlt"iffii
Dominick Roy, in his early fifties, a pudgy white man, doesn't
have Bryant's option of retiring. He'd worked at Dodge Main only
since r953.
"I was a miscellaneous sprayer when I was laid off. Putting the
'**i-li1n-**rl*,|{iry**MJl*
black-out in the front and ihe-back, and under the hood. The job to leave the securitv ol Detrotr " .'l'*" onlv place
wasn't too bad, but the paint can get to you. I was in the wheel anew in a stranse .J"tli-'"ii:^ti^iJ
ni-'"ii'uiJt trtuittt"
room for twelve years until they shifted me into trim.I was lifting

lL*
 87
W THE FOUNDRY
ft6 The Nine Nations of North America

to other than Detroit was New

:xilff:x:ffiT:5i&:"" y
t:t*^i,ry;rii::lli,";fj:sH.:i:;:*:;TI:
When I asked him whether he'd thought of looking for ,,,^ ,
Houston or some other town much bett511ff_eco""*i.ufjilf
depressed Detroit, he answered the question vaguely, wltlL"".
mistakable lack of clarity about where Houston was. 1 w;s
ux*lt*l;g'P***t*t**
side his world, at any rate.
Douglas Gulock, twenty-five, however, had discovered H' i
ville; lie had already rp".ri ro-. time there. He was 0..";ilil::
ffi+,rru*11**{u*H",-*

*ffi
grown up in Detroit, but he and his wife were gearing up to rnove
to Alabama.
tl?* t*'n'
we build all the electrical parts for the chrysler corporation down there.
Electrical ignition, the Icomputer-controlled],lean-burn engines, starting
right from scratch. When I go down there, they're going to send rng 1q
school for soldering. I figured in the Detroit area, I wasn't going any.
where. I figure, you know, they're all going to move south. And to be in
a newer plant there'd be more chance of the plant sticking around. I
don't know a soul in Alabama. But after the first week, I really started
liking it, and that was the turning point. The people are friendly. The
work is a lot more interesting. There's more to it. More of a challenge. If
$ffffi
you go to school you can really make a career down there. Move yourself
up. They got a few trouble-shooter jobs there, and you gotta have two
years of electronics. As soon as I get settled down there, I want to get
into school, and, because it's job related, Chrysler will pay for part of it.
I'll go to college at night . Couple more years and I'll at least be
ffi ,'t:t*-"i:ffii{i#';*."rtiii;.t'*";
il;i]iritJ'i;
:i
what I'm thinking'

eligible for some kind of pension. I can just go down there and wait for
the right job to open up.I don't think I'm going to miss Detroit. The only
hard part is like my parents and my in-laws maybe. My whole family is
up here. But when it comes down to missing Detroit .

Gulock said that the Chrysler Corporation had offered much of

m:il*ffitiuu*]Ii}fltt#,,'ffi
ilili:T;t"ilr;t,'t he 'xPlained' in
rerus
;' t o-b e
ti:t |,mli S;:,Hl :"th "
soon-
the Dodge Main work force the opportunity to move out of state i i,, 1", it' s i ellenar
to other Chrysler plants, but that many of his buddies hadn't even Pid losePh P. Elliott
signed up for transfer. They were lookitrg for other jobs in the
Detroit area, "in steel mills, in meat-packing plants, whatever'
and some had taken big pay slrfs "fiue, si*-dollars an hour'" 'otf 'Hun:tlxl,?,i;.)'"l.l"il:.i[+ili:fr iffin;l'"i.'#
"Everybody gets set irtheir old- ways,'; Gulock said. "Even the
young guys, although for some, it may have been their wives saY'
i"g got fairily here, and they don't want to uproot their
"6lrtt"y
kids. But I think I've teen thinking ubo.rt the future
-ih;;;;
more thart
they have. I have to make a living f.; ;Gi.
Chrysler makes it, they're going to shut ii*; a b; of the old
that if. #fii*i$fit$**tt#$'ffi:tu*
People in a house.
plants up here and move south."
 89
THE FOUNDRY
88 The Nine Nations of North America
I've seen cases down here when the wife doesn't even want r^
husband retire at sixty-two, sixty-five. Thely don't.want them h";:ti
call, see if we can't keep the old man in the plant longer. Th"
Iem is with the poor guy who had to retire when Dodge Lgi" "::;'
had had a lot of kids, a lot of sickness, and never was ubl" tn"i"llOl
*.1"\
thing up. He doesn't have a pot to piss t",^il:.y1"":'^::ltl"d. \i;i
can't do nothing. Health probably gone. Soon he starts boo.in'j
much.

Elliott himself wasn't sure what he wanted to $o.. He'd thougfu

a book about the union. "The politics, you kr
about writing-do*r, l
just putting my thoughts." He also mentio""d,"J;"dt:
that he still had his papers as an able-bodied
ffit:l''m*'t*il#+i**qi3:T$:ff';'f
from whJn
^seaman,
he worked on freighters, starting at the age of sixteen. "Freshwa-
ter and saltwater. They're almost forty years old now, but I Iike
the sea. I used to go San Francisco to the [Hawaiian] Islands on
the freighters. That's not hard work. Four hours on, four hours
****fi+*m*$*l,.tm
il:i"ff :i'tT:ff;:
off." But he thought he was probably getting too old for that life. ,ffilt*;l#'jia*i*:*;.;:f
He wouldn't want long voyages away from his family.
[iru:;t**g;;'sff :i,",'*,:*JT::]ii*l?;'"T.ltunso-
Meanwhile, across the street, David Olko, the part-owner of the
ilf i;;; decline represents more than an
Second Precinct Lounge mentioned earlier in this chapter, was l}?fff rv+*---
surveying the traffic. Ited economlc arlarysrr rtrsr a dilaPida' ted neighborhood
icatedeconomrcu"'i;J';1"i"'ni;31,t1i:'-t:::;":5;;
even
"Last Friday night, we played ball outside. And at eleven ;il";;6 and energY
rL ;;i
trrer ---' e b een n
o'clock on a Friday night, there were two cars that went by in k row
)w houses r"o'"'""ii''"i;
hOuSeS reptsssurD. l;," ^"^Tt:tl:Tl
-a conffOnted
th.at
fifteen minutes. Two cars in that period of time. It's like a ghost io stubborn, interrelated prob-lems g:114"^:t:1:T-
saviors ur
X-De Savror-s of the rvurrerJ nuther than
Lrrs for,,tatv'
town. Then a bus went by with only two people in it. Listen now' be defeated by them , the
planners sim_
You can hear what traffic there is. None. There used to be traffic [t*.1""a possibly
ecided to t.y to obliterate them' Lf rrnrrno
qr
all the time, and there were people walking by. It's a scary feel' seventies a sroup voung
;;::ili:^i:'-';;;';;;;;;iv ;;ii in
itects facetio.rrly .u-'i' ;;
ing."
"luuot"'"^tli: lT"lfi
to sele
;t,;' i; ituolv"d setting-bonl*: :":t', -lorders
At some point in working on this chapter, I began to wonder how
.' ;;; ;;;;i, o' o'"Cu'-alrs. insi de "; 1'-i -11 ?.,;*fl
I u
ch wIias:
fi t:l"J;tl; ff ;T;HYj :t'"'" "i it'"' w ar Lnus whi
:
b
much of ihe Foundry's d-ecline was sirictly log-ical, as opposed to nsed to b. fortr,.omi;;h; washington nPly "' :l3'l*
emotional. One premise I start from is that hlistorical trends are turied to the "problems
money on Vietnam u"i^i*t"ua
finally realized ty millions of small, individual decisions taken cities," that is, the FoundrY.
over time. No corporation wakes up one morning and says, okaY' rt would be left .r,". iri"'i.lio"g"a air raid' lhese
arcfi^t^e-cj;
we're going to abandon South gend; San Diego, here we cofle' ted, would b" u ,,"*''ir!",""'?*tored to the way George
InsteaJ, individual decisions are made as questlons come up con- ngton knew it when tt"^I"i"tt"d the Hessians
there on
cerning markets, replacement costs, t"d ;;;;;;t*""lii"t tmas Eve, r776.
pre'
ies are-made of possible answers to narrow questions' and "stua- course, as Freud pointed out-, there t"*11:"-t
sumably a logical decision is made .s to *h.i-the corporation's l: ": idea is ihe:t,:.]"f:i
rever or
self-interest lies.Individuals operate the same way. Theie rnaybe
;""iii;lX"l?hiiJ;;;me architectsr
the ones
'ration it reflects.I" r;;;;;;;"nt', th"t" men were
a few people who just decide that they u.. tot going to live
 90 The N ine Nations of North America
i -
Tr{EFOUNDRY .. ^^:,
cotteieiel'^li|;
who labored mightily to restore beautiful old Vi"t^-:^ ; 'olline
starteo.fj'*""rli
iournalistic Amenca
that had seen better days, and tried to revive tfr"--rl'-'jn ^-cwer, I -^ aq *rrettos in North
h, t
r,-e-
"
artt"'---
,-noestlorr>*- tr
"'::-^t. ^ Ilo.", look at' l ended up
downtown. What does this "plan" tell you
il,'ili pick ore-t",J;"iv;;;"n B.o*n, who u'orKs
;;::r* r"f"l??i"nt
thutl^]ffi ,ugg"stton, t'Il^ r.^. Ueen around. "Academl'
There are frequent newspaper headlines that susseqt
-. , !"',"l,2irripo'1, is bla;'11iffi;;;;; lot or slums that are
that the Foundry has had first crack at some .f ,h-":;;"i' glashmt*",, he insisteu. ""i - ', --* L,,t Academy Street
American mistakes but the question is wheth". rrjll',h;; ;" p ;:.:a t,
this news would help- shed urrylight on the a".li"" ""'"L11-N9,
o] ffiint 'frf.f:"*
and sorr'" '., .t^"sn't ff
":'
fi,Tl i* l" ::,: #;:i
and investment in the region.
There are almost a hundred nuclear reactors on this
ff;;f r"a'onublv 'ul"\|:t'',nn, come up to
for example, but only one went haywire, raising . cont.
o.iij]".tt, *'l;4il'"q';jl ;ry ;J*T::,nli:lt"n*g;a".
emotional response fiom the *o.t,ilL.rd i, *". ii ,rr;'il:H*l
It ;;i ;?i,:*;5J*ffi11;i::it',nJ
:tH;:anvthing I
-o.,
S:T:i,.":n:.
Edi son's rhree Mi le Is land, jus t outsi d.-
H;tril;; ::t""'i; - ,- "
There are an estimated fifty thousand chemical dump
sites in
North America, and some of the worst of them u." i"^6i*r",
the continental symbol of the revolt of the Uu,
-.rtarir-ir'in tr,, l-'"''d+l#lni;*i*i+t+r*'n';tlff
co'"" uP I'u on show You
Fourrdry: Hooker Chemical's Love Canal, near Buffalo.
:tt if:il"m:T:;#;;
There are an untold number of flashy, .,stunt,,_architecture
high-rise buildings.in North America, but tire *"rt t;ili;;-"*ur-
Street."pliT" t]..eak, pasta, and. good . *i"".^L'
ples "of fortress architecture, with no windows,
r excellent Pi']T'"* ^, +he F.asr Coast's superlor
- Jin"East
restau-
Juperior rcsta.u-
per-
or windo"ws that
are mere slits, are in the Foundry. Even Detroit's Renaissance
,o',-to my -ttl'rlo*
tr the Trenton tratn
station' and
the street . cr-^^+ Inf{ee explained his view
vrew
- u.aott
across
Center, with its all-glass cylindrical and hexagorrut to,"r.r, eight blocks from AciT'i"r;"t;;;,'"ff""
built behind thirty-foot-tali medieval earth embankments. It,si, Street.
not easy to walk to the Renaissance Center. It clearly was meant
to be arrived at by car, through checkpoints. to do"-wasf"*U^l;tLXl"il"t::tJ":;
All of North America has pollutio., p'-bl.-r, the Houston Ship interested me, what I wanted
country-,.expose rtrysrrr
ere a foreign country'
rl€'re
expose *,tttlf^tl-ill,1tn"
*"
'e the paper to let me
Channel among the worst. But only t^he Cuyahoga River actually
burst into flames; only Lake Erie ioyed s is that the issues I deal
wrtn on Lrrar uee! *-
l;***l::::',".::iffin;:h::!:.,,'*[i*illn'n::
-iif, afi"gl ir is mainly
in^the Foundry that acid rain has rnud. dramatic iit*i.i"v. What does the government {o
to.irrr"*"rr" in the lives
point of viewi
iiroads, killing
off mountain-stream fish populations. ,poor, and does it *"*'i;;;';''itittry'humanistic does?
All of North America is confronting the energy crisis, but some are individuals, lots tt'i'#' lri"ti"a'!' *l^t sovernment
of the most trenchant continental m6mories oidepr ivation came I think
think I've found is lhat the ltoetat intentlon"not"*itLtiftl?tffil
t. ;:;1h;jiu"t'r. "'"'"i'iurg", a harmful im-
rl government programs tend to t'tl":'blui,l
in $9_win-ters of '77 and'7g, when much of Ohi", p.rrrrryluunia t
on the peopte rh"y ur"' i;i;;-,;-n"' ?':: il
and New York was immobilized by cold; the Ohio River was lrarrrrr,6, s.'
are b,ell(
-
.-l"gg"d by ice, thwarting coal-barge shipments; and, on top
with
Wrth SOme aoat ol
some SOrt academic training'
of academlc ":",*;:"il:rtr..1:
r-^ +r^an nof ouite
mrrke them not
qUite So
so
9t rene somehow in the lives of the poor and
that, factories closed forlack of nJtural gas. How many people .',
)o the feds hand out ,ilii]Jr'""'i,iJ-a"uu'-u?"i:
Do 1:];Ti:'jl:::1
three-thousancl-oorrar-a-r;;i ih; child care of
are there who wouldn't respond in a thought-association quizto ,itar"n oi*orking *o*"n? Yes, thev d3 o,"o"t;:,li"ji^-tir o1a
the challenge "snow," withlhe city ,,Buffal,o.', . fo. -ort ;;;kG *o*"n turns out to be.th-e
And, of course, if racism is bred of fear, with what part of the feds. to mV way"r seeing' 3t"a 1i11,',":^:l\::i:
turns out that the f"d.':;; -t'*"t useful social ser-
continent does North America associate black ghettosi ey without any compelling argument that thr: is

The question is how much of this is in the sli"ghtest rational? Ift with a broad impact on society.
 93

The Nine Nations of North America

F rHE Fou NDRr
92
{i . .-:;;;,"d Private
hom:"::l,x?"Jl;.*:#;
rlar:::Ilo^ *. :'ir";;;n
Or, for example, look at foster care. Foster care is what n,,.*^ _ .,,., in u -,,.h. because raise kids
ryfl:it;; -but lfrl* have a littre
:,'"T::T:"'::*;:l*i::;1':^t",:.:*::Y'?:l"Xl:l:^:tuo"'il:J:
vate homes, subsidized by the government. It has evolved t'
'".rt"."'".'^".:"'J:""tI ".",,
pal nreans by which government intercedes ".*;;u
*iil:T ii
iit'^li$i"[',*"*'j:"f,
.n&"o i]^"1 *"t*u
:Til-,,:t:::::]lJ,liil."I"Ti
ceives to be in danger, because they've l"^:-..:::.
b"".t ubatdon"al '!':l
kid is ne
,"i^t th"
neglected, or abused.
Sv ":*i*';;0",,"?f:i,'#: ],j.,^,n* , :X?^l"T [T::,i::
But what's commonly perceived as neglect is simply some middl" l"t."tt1-ii*"ntion "r f',:;:;;i;ion by rh"
:"J: J I ;:
r,.", t
social worker labeling poverty as somehow a manifestatl"" of pu, jthe t'l--,t ?t:'1
i,*"U",i'f e
": :: #l"l,U,
balance 1""-
ir,
" ".'
'-*t,rat"-class peop iJ :T Tfi
irresponsibility. or' "'-o-
been e, and,a;,: g'r k poo..
not corn"il ";l"".iin
Okay, say I'm a.social worker. I walk into a home because there,. ; "
^
in the hospital who's severely injured. The doctor t.^;;.;:;il f"oil??n5t;;e rn
been parental abuse. I go to the apartment. It turns out the t ia f.fl'*'q ^ere(
the window.I call it paintal neglect, because,I'm tft" hvp,oth.t;"ff$
worker. After all, a decen! parent wouldn't allow his kid to be.*porud
to the incredible danger of a rusted-through iron.railing five storie
above the pavement, or whatever. But any practical person would say,
"That's simply what slum housing is like, you stupid -lr;k>t*rc'xrr***."ri
What the social-welfare industry likes to call parental neglect is just a
fancy new way of justifiiing intervention by the state in the lives of the
poor. What happens is that it is a way for a bunch of middle-class people
with degrees in the social sciences to end up finding work.

ffg,ltW##ffi
What happens to the poor? Their families live under the additional
stress of having their families divided, and children shipped off to foster
homes. What my examination of abuse and neglect in New Jersey has
led me to, politically, is that it's turned me into an anarchist. I think that
if we shut down the state agencies that intervene in cases of alleged f*f ;n."'r':i:';*'ili"1";i'''':;'*[;nl;?;i"""tX';;
abuse and neglect, infant-moitality rates in New Jersey would not be
perceptibly *6..". The problem would be that the social workers would ffi"::$?"f ;:ilffi lffi:il"'xli};,*"HTf :rr*l:
be out of work.
looking at specific cases. There's this one woman I
I mean, I've been b, h? i;Tt[ :w'$ff:': i'"-'"\'x llY*lt *6 ;:
met on Academy Street, when I-was trying to see what life was like in
the slums. Over a period of some three years,I saw how her life and
lives of her children were really affected or unaffected by the
the
interven'
H i*'il"":# *t*r'ru:. *l{:#*ri;*'T
bfussional by pegpter::::'".t;" of
tr?,;"J.i"r."Jdiscussion
onal manner, they say' o[ slums
;ll *
tion of all these agencies. And on balance I can see no change whatever'
They're still living in a lousy slum apartment; the children aie still
doing
lili?'XTitiY;"Tl*"i:f ;1'^;L;:1ol'iifll"l"i'iji
il;i A direction that
poorly in school, are still subject to the a."g*t "u." "f
sexual molestation
lum' ii:* |""ti';::3l'fff# :'#t
that accompany any situation where childr"r, unsupervised 1n.,1
unproductive'
]". kedly r ._^^^lr rr" knocks on a door and
"'tpi.t"a j:??t:tjtJ;
penproletaiiat neighborhood. The p.ognori, I
rtl^ ,", *"un*hile, is enjoying himsell
1111,.u. family. They
self-sufficiency is just as bad as it ever was. I mean, one cannot
tttit o1f me into the tidy apaitment of a Puerto T"?"f",ir;"servedl
tangible improvement in the life of this f.-ii;;;';"s,r1t or att
me the velvet map of Vietnam.' *h,"I"^ro], onnrher son, anct
:?fr Jiii:|"*"n*mmt
can see that intervention has led the woman io be completelY distn, ,'."
:;ir''#:i;; *,::1'# ;#:iH:ll;'.T::.:i':'ff
rpl o"i riiJttlly-out-of-focus
threat to her has been all along that if you don't cooperate yttl l".^"inrl lnanlhoJ?^^ *tth the monev
veners, we will ship your kids off to ftster homes. And what Ylnrity. li:r'T':"flt"tJ#'fi."l'il,"*li."nt*-""n;1".S'l;l
and shot
Sometimes these kids end up in foster care for the rest of their -'lj Uut
- '
*ukirrg workiniin the States'
It can be argued that growing up in a slum is fraught with danger'
,rPF-

94
The Nine Nations of North America
rHE FOUNDRY ^:t
gown another kid ""'
will be wearing to fiftl
'".*:u'ns htth-grade *tu6qation
Ziii:"r_^^ t:'"'::+1':Tii#i;H11'',"1n
_,
,Joffee drags me out of that apartm€
-'rq
iu
;#'#fl
y's horne'

p['pis*ri*l'i+l-*,***'***+U '##;;rn"ai;ib:,-*:{Fi:*ji:'1r-:i
H;*"jffi ffiqHqili*j;?'lffi .ffi rrfi+*;[firiht'$.t:i::i-i i*
s1erthe..";h;i;';ffi ;il;J*;,.i_:l,il,i,LXT:i?^,.!J.iT
follow him. Ir's blocking tr," door'iJ
il"':;j#"io^"ll:", *;
iii?
f**:lt't'91 if":.tn :',iffiI i;; i' ::',':
bath. tn"r
They are, he
he,uy,,
savs *ith _- r
-- -wuroolfl e,
dra^+ p.ij":;#'JH"'i,ff1.il1
urith g."u,
l:jl --:r^ ,-

ffi :l*t+lJ,t*'w;ill{Jirfu
#:t'rgif r*xxT$::i,"l"":nip{n'"{i.*
'3i'

i""'ttti*t"u'o"i"elorthegradua-
f:frtti?ltif;"t?'oX"f
'*Tll-::.,:,,'trli#
:.q:*xtlf .r,i.t"n, iried chicken'
;::"'s;*-t"fl*"9":.'J*r';:*.a
' leaves speckle

5."'l;Jtln*.",il"ffi;,.f
and nsn \:u1L-:'
i *^i1, l'l;I greens'
ilH,:"S';
corn
'ps .1t""r", collard
""a-
if n:":';.'T:H:1"ii::^$F-3'z'::k:'k.Breakrast
Rfl ffi 'ffi ;;;':;;; pratetuI, -111i.1"
or above'
own racism' "You
At the-vestpocket park, which used
to have an inflated don ,er lunch, Joffee *"t:t"L"#*ittt,*v

3l,il"l*l*:,1"11 courts,.until the vandals put a fifteen_foot, i '.d;;;ii';;e, weren't You?" he asks'
reparable hole into its side, ."orf,". ..i"iil;;'#;:; r say' ililng
tl* rL'"It was
meanrng it, *-i"^;;^.,L,
scared"' .
ll a white Appa-
by arsorr..rh;,;;-;;ting it. rt,s a group bein as scared were in
if you .^,"."
-
,d yoo have as any-
*,'l*'l^r_:^.:1red
neighborhood peopie *r,", tn"v
Ju;;##''ffi irl'r',Jo3'"r, o', slum? They're :rrrt t"pable of violence there
"t
"r i.,h;;,;ii, r" -"re the park jnlo some
:;1,+t1l"Tot{.:i1' put"iio
thing. No, the li tu r,uJ d;;.,il; :'iiJili,i'iil. *", :u, I Dllrster-. r ure4rrr
1".1i:ttrii:i!1.'l', _ 1':'*i :T:;
mean, look, how .orten
dot:S, WhO iS he?
can the city do? lt i, too p;;;",";;;ce up on Academy Street? And r'l'hen he
salsa music plays, they show the nylon dome. As the
*';.ii;g;
or a social worker ttia tt,d""l-1iL::
;h;-;;g puerto Rican ilag rhey "vi"g
PeoPle who
rive
have painted on one wall, and ".
,fr" -.p they,ve made with paint ili.] ffi"J;i;#;;;';;?ilo the
and stones in the circle *f,"."
. ,."" ,ir"j :"t,ii!f i" doing a number on my
is clearly labeled: ARECTBo. cERoNrMo. puERro;. ;;;; J'faitld.It st,"v'Jt"-"o*pi"i"lt
and asking questions later.
we stop by Rrco. ,,
the reverse f.rt,. of fi'.r'J''". i perfectly reasonable
for
,La Larefla caf6, which, l"if"l-is-delighted to see,
someone is rebuilding- It used
,.
right out back on u rfit, urrtit tfr" fr"a".. terrific iork, rc the
roasted
short answer is:
ba;k th.e building one night.
f,*"Jp."ua from the pig
3f
I ask who lives ii tfr. *fri1"-fraired lady,s rooming house, ar,d
 97
The Nine Nations of North America Tr{E FOUNDRY

ft##HE{it[1,*'H,fuil"'lT'{'-:ii'-H
rns
*hly-lut?i.in"humm"t, oncame Y*-i::- cooled to gray but
niT',;::;
;;
lfrtt' i-:i:"?', srabs Pv un'a-*""g"a
lrg"r;;;,,:l:^tlT:,:i,"::i*i:if,:X",1}:f ff ""1:

r;ri]l,l":m:,*:ll*;1i,:l':,'fi l:*i:*jT'il:lJl;
Earlier in the day, Dave Hankins arld Jack Thompson of mlsi'*-rr*.rrrr", r,','hich, tt.
l ,dcs
t T"-,U is actually a_very
iiit* irys# ,:1::.1'"-1",
ignorant
Tlo't"...?l ,n".uJii..
making steel. They were good teachers. Tirey still rr"iJrrr"i'i n sides ll'l'^*, r-,ie :;ff;i J oui-
it reallv is. A steer T]tl]:
l i :::
J^":l il awe, and rightly so. At the coke ovens, tt"."
full of roaring hot coal being purified, they pointed -igtiVt
iate
ffi :3 t"tl':::i-ru"aur"a
ts" matter i*-qi
i"J*'-ilffi scrubbers. x; +.{ t"Ti:,i work_
called "Fairless rain." The coke is so hot thit when "";;li";,ff
lt i. .,,,L^t^, I th" envrrofirrrsrrrr"*"uJo*a and lines re cubisr. r
The
in a valley of water, a cloud of steam erupts;_as it cools, ,.*.A f-I? ;i;e skv' rh e shadon"s' .1::-:i'
-i"'id"
air-conditioned con
:;";'"i ur
"'t'
sp ri nkl d e

thousand yards downwind, it turns into dloplets on a .". *ina. H fftl'fitll

shield. It creates small ponds. The guides say they're clean. They srveat pouring off
the reportel''*i'l
are, in fact, being enjoyed by a host of wild water birds. A woman $:'ltt,'" exclaims
n".'JJ#lf i""t"'.T'" reet ffil:
stands by the business end of the coke oven. At least, Hankins
says it's a woman. There was enough roll to the hips of the
Fetv t'"rm"''
Jr"iv helmet, ll::
'"to
green satetv*;;#;h"ii
i':#::5,;"'i;i;; i:Tig:tJi:"l
t"* a",* abore
foeavy ,tau. ^ r r^_ +r'ah,v_
worker's walk to make his statement plausible. But with the radiating z too deg-ree ru' "'"'.a"4,
worker's helmet, face mask, heavy heat-resistant jacket and rck. lho-ptott, *no' ilii
rhomp so,,, 'who has \'t'orKeu
F;:9
:r'r,Y turnsI to the
i; io'J."],H X"E
of them as a roll gri
pants, and Li'l Abner steel-lined safety boots, it,s an open ques- r;;;.;il;;,v-t*o ;'i=l';';;: ;;:l
tion. streams of yellow sulfur escape before the refractory bricks off steer smires' He tnrowb uov^lt:jl?3;t"l,ii'nll-i
steel and smiles. sun, and
snreads his arms, as if
basking in a tropical 1

expand to seal the coke oven doors tight.

airt"r"."
on the.catwalK' crucifor"illt-l;t^-o
ln crucrltlr"
the catwalk, in t"-Juh"r" my paycheck
At the blast furnace, where manmade winds of four-hundred ils there
"I love it' It's ' -.,' navcheck
miles an hour hold the ore, coke, and limestone being worked in i"t" ,nrt-iteat," he says'
midair, in defiance of gravity, flaming red molten iron pours out
of the bottom constantly, like milk from a jug.
_ The soul of the primitive open-hearth steel-making"Hankins
furnace can
be viewed only through dari{ green smoked glass, and
Thompson say, as they hand oi". u rectangleif it. It's like look'
ing into the sun. You'll sear your eyes from a hundred feet awat
if you glance at it directly. As ove"rhead cranes maneuver giant
hooks the size of battleship anchors, which hold the lvll6 carq'
ing hundreds of tons t'h" r""ir"" .*m of the core of the earth'
"f
they give a machine operator a hand signal, and the de66 5win9'
and there, an eerie green, through the lioking glass, areflarnesso
intense that there ihould be a-nother *o.iflr them. If Datfie
could have only seen this
Much farther down the line is the forty-inch part of the