Highway Through Garment Plants Can Lose $400 Million for Boston

Planned renting of the Boston arterial highway through Chinatown and the garment industry area may cost be city $400 million and one-fifth of all the manufacturing jobs in Boston, Seymour E. Harris '20, Professor of Economic, told a television audience Friday night.

Both ends of the new super-expressway have already been built, but the connecting, stretch across the city is still unstarted. Right of way to property in the highway's path must first be bought and the buildings eventually destroyed.

Wipe Out 200 Firms.

Experts have estimated that the route would probably completely wipe out 200 firms in the downtown garment district with gross receipts of $200 million a year.

Commenting on the effects of the construction on Boston's economy, Harris said, "This means that the people who have lost $200 million will not spend money, and therefore, most economists will agree that in such a situation, the total loss might be $400 million."

There will be jobs lost too. "Let it be remembered that there are roughly 100,000 manufacturing jobs in Boston," Harris said, "and manufacturing provides a large part of the total income of Boston."

"The apparel industry which will be destroyed by this contemplated action accounts for 20,000 employees. Therefore you will have removed one-fifth of all jobs directly," he continued.

Move to South

The move comes, Harris said, at a time when more and more of the garment industry is moving away from New England. "The Commonwealth of Massachusetts proposes by this route to go out of it way destroy the manufacturing industry of Boston," he said.

Even as Massachusetts makes this proposal, the South is building plants for manufactures who want to come down there. The South goes out of its way to build plants in order to entire New England industry, while at the same time Massachusetts proposes a policy which will destroy our plants and destroy Boston industry."