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The region's state governments have made creative use of economic sweeteners. Lowell, Mass., founded in 1826 as one of the U.S.'s earliest planned industrial communities, slipped into business decline when the textile industry moved south after World War II. But Lowell decided to prime its own pump. It sold urban-renewal land to new companies for 25¢ per sq. ft.; then it lent them money at low rates to build new plants. Wang Laboratories Inc., one of the UJS.'s leading manufacturers of word processors, received a $5 million low-interest loan from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to build a $ 15 million office tower there.
While Massachusetts has to capture high-tech companies, other states are using different approaches. Vermont is trying to create new jobs without damaging its image as the scenic Green Mountain State. Says John Simson, director of the state's planning office: "We're not smokestack chasing. We are doing quite a bit to spread our manufacturing base." General Electric Co., for example, built one plant in Burlington, but its second new factory is in Rutland, 67 miles to the south.
Remote, underdeveloped Maine, which has little to attract computer makers, is emphasizing its traditional assets in natural resources and local energy. Boise Cascade is building a $254 million papermill circuit that will draw 40% of its energy from wood waste and hydroelectric sources.
Rhode Island is developing the former U.S. Navy base at Quonset Point, the first home of World War II's ubiquitous Quonset huts, into an industrial park. Some 95 companies are already in place, including General Dynamics' Electric Boat Division, which employs 4,500 workers making nuclear submarine components. Kenyon Industries, of Kenyon, R.I., closed its Rossville, Ga., plant in August 1979 and consolidated its textile-finishing operations entirely in the smallest state. Says Chairman David Curtis: "The change in attitude of the New England governments was certainly a factor. We feel that if we have a problem, the Governor and two Senators will listen."
New England has shown that the Snowbelt states can cast off their old industrial base. The skilled labor force has quickly adapted to different industries; and local and state governments realized that cooperation with business rather than confrontation was the answer to economic ills. Instead of clinging to dying and unprofitable businesses, New England has ensured its economic future by seizing industry's new technologies.