Phoenix : City Growing in the Sun

Arizona sky, maybe even drive the tourists away.

But now the hard facts of life in the postwar period forced a change in the thinking. People in great quantities had moved to the city, and more were coming. Without enough jobs to pass around, many of them would have to go back where they came from. There then would come a general sagging of Phoenix' economy a very real, if strictly local, depression with consequent damage to almost everybody remaining behind.

And so Phoenix made its decision. It would industrialize. Question No. 1: Could industrialists be persuaded to locate in Phoenix? This, after all, was still a remote area, far from the Eastern markets and from sources of raw material.

Question No. 2: Assuming that there were factories to be had, could they be confined to the kind that wouldn't disgorge tons of soot into the clear Arizona air?

Subsequent events proved the answers to both questions to be in the affirmative. Industry has moved to Phoenix, and it has been of a largely smokeless variety.

The success of the city's industrialization effort may be gauged from the figures cited earlier in this piece. The quarter-billion dollars which manufacturing yielded last year was a larger sum than was forthcoming from any other element of our economy except retail sales. Just since 1948, when the industrialization drive got going under the leadership of the chamber of commerce, some 200 manufacturing enterprises have set up shop in Phoenix. And many of those that were here before plants like AiResearch Manufacturing, Reynolds Aluminum, Goodyear Aircraft, International Metals, Allison Steel and Palmer Manufacturing have grown measurably and branched out. AiResearch, for instance, is no longer just producing equipment for military aircraft, it's turning out cabin-pressurization and air-conditioning devices, along with various other things, for all manner of planes, both civil and military. What kind of industry has Phoenix been getting? Well, a little bit of everything-electronics, aircraft components, apparel, industrial equipment, building materials, food products, furniture, household equipment and so on.

And why has industry been willing to come to Phoenix, in spite of all the manifest disadvantages? There are several reasons. And they add up to the fact that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

One advantage, and one which nobody ever thought would be a persuasive factor in locating a plant, is climate. It's a good climate to live in and work in. More sunshine means less absenteeism and smaller turnover. "When that sun shines through the plant windows, the people just feel better and work better," is the way one Phoenix industrialist put it.

But it's not quite that simple. For the climate doubtless has had a subtle impact on industrialization which cannot be measured entirely in terms of absenteeism and turnover. How many industrialists, for instance, decided to locate here simply because they themselves liked the climate and wanted to live here, and the only way to do it was to bring their businesses in with them?

Another advantage to incoming industry is the very factor which made such industry sought-after in the first place people needing and wanting jobs. In industry's own impersonal language, that means a labor pool.

But this labor pool isn't just a mass of faceless people lining up at the window marked "Applications Received Here." It comprises hundreds and thousands of persons with special and salable skills - people who, for the most part, gave up good jobs elsewhere to come to Arizona for health or better living. And behind them, waiting back in their home towns for some kind of opportunity to transplant to Arizona, are many more skilled people.

"When our company survey team was studying this area as a possible location for its plant," said an industrialist recently, "it was found that the chamber of commerce had on file letters from thousands of skilled and semiskilled craftsmen from all over the United States who were seeking employment in Arizona. An analysis of this labor market showed that hundreds of precision tool makers, jewelers, specialists in the electrical fields and supervisory type personnel would move to Arizona providing they could be assured of employment."

Still another factor is the tax situation. Yes, Arizona has taxes, just like everybody else. But certain taxes considered particularly onerous by manufacturers have been wiped off the books or lightened considerably, for no other reason than to facilitate industrialization. One of them was a manufacturers inventory tax. It was eliminated. Another was a tax on sales to the federal government, regarded as objectionable by plants involved in defense production. It, too, was eliminated. And, thirdly, a 50 per cent reduction was affected in ad valorem taxes on machinery and equipment.

One final factor, affecting not industry as a whole but a specific industry, namely, electronics, is the proximity of the Army electronics proving ground at Fort Huachuca, near the Mexican border. The military men in charge of it haven't been at all coy about coaxing electronics firms into Arizona. They've said, as clearly as language can express it, that electronics industries will have a better chance at government contracts if they're close to the proving ground. And, at the same time, Washington again called on defense industries to disperse - scatter out into the hinterland, away from the succulent target areas of the East and Far West. Thus persuaded, the electronics people have come a-running. And so this the in-surge of electronics - has been the big industrial story of the mid-1950's in Phoenix, and in Tucson as well. One after another, names like Motorola, Sperry-Rand and General Electric have made headlines as the industrial giants gathered up their engineers and their machine tools and headed for Phoenix.

Actually it's unfair to suggest that the electronics people have come to Arizona solely for the purpose of cozying up to Uncle Sam. Not a small part of their output goes into conventional civilian channels. Motorola, to mention only one, produces as many transistors in Phoenix as all its competitors put together - transistors as essential to your pocket radio as to a military computing machine.

Then, too, the prospect of government contracts isn't the only inducement that Arizona can offer to the electronics industry. The climate is scarcely less important and for reasons that relate in no way to turnover or absenteeism. Certain electronics components, for instance, can be produced and assembled with efficiency only where the humidity is low. Obviously it's simpler to establish a plant in an area where low humidity exists - to wit, Arizona-than to go elsewhere and de-humidify the air there.

This fast-moving electronics development of Arizona's has caught the eye of economic observers all over the country. And some of them see the day coming - and not too far distant - when electronics will be the biggest thing in Arizona, and, indeed, when Arizona will be the electronics center of the nation.

The skeptic might still wonder how Phoenix industry, electronics and otherwise, is getting around the obstacle of freight cost-the long haul to market and the heavy expense implicit therein.

The answer to that one is three-fold: First, much of the output of Phoenix industry-especially the electronics industry-consists of small items which cost little to ship.

Second, the gigantic southern California area, including its aircraft industry, is a major market for Phoenix' industrial product, and that market is only 375 miles away. The very fact of southern California's continued growth is a prime factor in the continued growth of Phoenix industry. And the population boom of the coastal region shows no more sign of abating than the population boom here.

Third, Phoenix' own growth has developed a market for certain types of manufacturing-a "home market," as economists call it, and one which entails no shipping at all. Thirty-five new factories have set up in the valley since 1948 to supply building materials and equipment to local contractors. Their products include such things as aluminum thresholds, lighting fixtures, concrete blocks and prefabricated steel buildings. Consider, in addition to these, such other locally-consumed products as processed food, furniture and automotive equipment. Then you can understand why the "home market" accounts for more than 1,900 of the 10,000 new manufacturing jobs created in Phoenix since 1948.

This is the factor of jobs is, of course, the aspect of Phoenix' industrialization which is most meaningful to the newcomer or the person hoping to move to Phoenix. And, obviously, industrialization has generated both a considerable quantity and a considerable variety of new jobs. People who might never have found decent positions here 10 or 15 years ago are now finding them. And specialized skills which might never have been put to use 10 or 15 years ago are now being put to use.

That's not to say, however, that the employment market is as wide open and diversified as in New York, Los Angeles or Pittsburgh. The skilled specialist, the technician, the high-echelon management man still may have to do quite a bit of hunting before he finds a niche for himself. And the niche-and, for that matter, the salary-may then not be entirely to his liking. He might even have to take pot-luck at something else until the right job opens up. Phoenix, for all its industrial growth, is yet a fair distance from being a happy hunting ground for the unemployed.

Still, there is a startling significance in all this industrial expansion of the past decade or so in Phoenix. For it emerges as nothing less than an economic revolution of the first order. No longer are the city and its people dependent for their subsistence on the lowly head of lettuce and the whims of the wintertime vacation-goer. Lettuce can slump and the vacation-goer can go to Florida. But Phoenix, thanks to the coming of industry, will still survive, and rather nicely, too.

In point of fact, tourists-although we make a great to-do over them-constitute a relatively small source of revenue for Phoenix. That again is borne out by the figures cited earlier in this article-$80 million from tourism compared to, say, $250 million from manufacturing. As one of the city's foremost economists expresses it: "Tourists are no longer the vital part of our economy that they once were. You might say they're the frosting on the cake. Actually, perhaps, the by-products of the tourist industry are more important than the tourists themselves. Moneyed people come out here for visits in the winter. Many of them like it so well that they come back to live and they bring their capital with them. And if there's anything we need in Arizona more than water, it's capital."

This isn't to suggest that Phoenix, in its zeal to industrialize, is about to shrug off the tourist industry. If anything, the contrary is true. More and more effort and money are being invested to advertise the city's virtues (and, of course, its sunshine) and thus attract the capricious tourist.

As a consequence, the tourist industry has grown steadily right along with other elements of Phoenix' economy. This growth is clearly visible. Since the war, scores of new motels-many of them as luxurious as the most svelte winter resort-have been built. Trailer courts have sprouted up. A large new hotel has been established in downtown Phoenix and two more in nearby Scottsdale. New restaurants have opened by the dozens. Two large new race tracks have come into being.

This again has meant jobs and more of them-and not simply for waiters, bell-boys and men who take your bets at the race track windows. Any industry, as it spreads out, has an impact on the entire economy. More motels mean, first, more construction, and then more furniture, sheets and pillowcases. More restaurants mean more restaurant equipment and more food. And, overall, more tourists coming into the town mean more customers for the theaters, filling stations, souvenir-and-curio shops and merchants in general. And as they expand to meet the mounting demand, still more jobs are created.

What of agriculture? In terms of cash return, and for Arizona as a whole, it continues to be important. In fact, during the 10-year postwar period, Arizona lead the entire nation in farm income growth-a spectacular gain of 143 per cent.

In the immediate Phoenix area, however, an interesting and paradoxical thing has been taking place. Landat least some slight amount of it-has been going out of cultivation, and for reasons relating directly to the economic and population boom itself. For industries and subdivisions have been going into areas which once were farms. Whole citrus orchards have been pre-empted for housing developments (with most of the citrus trees left painstakingly intact to make the homesites more desirable). Land once used for growing cotton, barley, lettuce or what-not now is used for growing children.

Even so, this has had no significant effect on the city's economy. Whatever land has gone out of cultivation in the Phoenix area is more than balanced off by new land going into cultivation-via the drilling of irrigation wells-farther out in the county and around the state. And, because Phoenix is Arizona's distribution and merchandising hub, it safely can be said to derive economic benefit from almost the entire agricultural complex of the state.

The state itself, in fact, is an important source of revenue for Phoenix. This again is because of the city's central location, its size and its place in Arizona's commercial scheme of things. Phoenix is a shopping center for people living in outlying towns. It is a supplier for small-town businesses, farming operations and distant ranches. And, overall, it is a place that people come to for no other reason than that they want to come to the big city, see the lights, the people and the stores, have dinner at a nice restaurant and take in a show. All of which means more money in Phoenix pockets.

How does Phoenix make its living? The answer, as you can see, is a heterogeneous one. It's many different people doing many different things. It's a vast, diffuse and ever-growing community making the best possible use of its desert locale, adjusting as best it can to new times and new conditions. It's imagination and resourcefulness and a willingness to try new ideas. And, finally, it's change-swift, implacable and dramatic more dramatic, perhaps, than any change taking place anywhere else in the nation.

Yours sincerely

ON DISPLAY IN IRAN: It was most kind of you to send us a package of recent issues of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS. From them we developed an exhibit entitled "Arizona: Iran's American Cousin." The pictures so clearly resemble scenes in Iran that they have attracted much attention and helped us greatly in establishing a sense of mutual interest between this country and the United States. Having maintained the exhibit for two weeks in our administration building, we are displaying it now in the adjoining academic building, where we have 2608 adult students of English, many of them very prominent people.

The photo accompanying this letter shows part of the exhibit under review by two native Arizonans (Mrs. Margaret Gardner Bryan, born in Prescott, and Miss Donna Bryan, born in Jerome 11 years ago) with two Iranians (Mrs. N. Samii, who teaches Persian at the American Mission School, and Golnaz Amin, age 11, who studies there.) We thought you might like to see how we used the magazines you sent us.

J. Y. Bryan, Executive Director The Iran-America Society Tehran, Iran

INSPIRATION FOR POETS: I used two pictures from your January 1957 or December 1956 issue as inspiration for a class in freshman English who are beginning a study in the writing of poetry. I am not certain of the issues as I unstapled six magazines to make possible the posting of the pictures, so I do not know the particular book from which the pictures were taken. One was a very blue mountain stream flowing between two orange cliffs, the other a tall tree on a snow topped mountain. The assignment was to look carefully at the picture for five minutes, then to write a poem of one sentence that would be descriptive of the pictures or picture.

I have never had so much satisfaction from an assignment, and as it is obvious that your inspirational photographs were the sparks which lit their small torches, I am sending you a few of the better ones. Thank you for making possible such a rewarding experience.

Sister M. Judith Theresa Catholic High School Lancaster, Pennsylvania

The cliffs Like ragged orange curtains Fall from the heavens To meet their own reflection In the clear blue of the water. Joyce O'Brien The snow covered mountain stands, a huge Christmas tree, A snow capped boulder on its tip for a star, The sun on snow drenched trees, its light, Shadows dancing about, ornament it. Phyllis Yeager Below the age-carved flaming rocks, the stream is exulting with joy at its new found freedom. Mary Lombardo The twigs are donning new wrappings All shiny and sparkly bright - Just as we gayly wrap our gifts in silver sheen Mother Nature does hers in cool crisp ice. Elizabeth Fritz

OPPOSITE PAGE

"Phoenix Country Club" BY RAY MANLEY. Photographic data: Linhof Technika camera, 5x7 Anscochrome film, 210mm. Symmarr lens, exposure by meter, 1/25th second at f.16. Lofty palms gaze serenly over the tailored and polished greens of Phoenix Country Club, a popular sporting center for Phoenicians and visitors. Here most of America's greatest golfers have displayed their professional skills, and they return each year to vie for top prize monies.

BACK COVER "Illustrated Map, Phoenix and Surrounding Area" drawn by GEORGE M. AVEY. There is a lot to see and do in Phoenix and vicinity as this whimsical map by the art editor of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS so vividly shows. The roads are accurately plotted, places are about where they should be, and the life and times of the folks living in the area are treated with not too much poetic license. There are even reminders of days long gone, historic days of a rowdy territory and frontier wilderness.

IN FLIGHT Today a bluebird flew and etched in flight before my sight, a graceful curve of blue, more perfect than a draftsman ever drew. ELIZABETH PINGREE GINGHAM Gingham always seems to me A fabric spun of history. I see a red-checked cloth hold food Of patient love, of fortitude. I watch a candle's loneliness Lighting a small girl's Sunday dress. It was so durable, so plain And yet, against a window pane Its common, cheerful blue and white Filled sober eyes with brief delight, And sometimes it was edged with lace To light a trusting little face. Linen can give the heart a lift, Shimmering silk is beauty's gift, Proud velvet makes a royal show, But gingham sings of long ago! GERALDINE Ross OLD FORT IN THE DESERT Here where a fortress stood adobes crumble: Only encircling Time Confines within its walls the imprinted rumble Of drum or hoof beats. Time Is pregnant here where desert silence captured The sharp "Right face!" command, The swish of silk as ladies danced, enraptured, To a military band Sequence in terms of sounds once heardconverging Here forever more. But with the muted past and present merging The song of the rifle corps Grows faint, and fainter still the bullet's whine Scarce audible above A falling leaf's departure from the vine, Or one soft-spoken dove. RUTH REYNOLDS ALONE IN CHURCH Wading through waves of light, my feet Seem much too loud, and my heartbeat Is thunder as I tread the aisle, A crowd of one in single file. The stillness prays. The holy calm Of quiet walls becomes a psalm, The ceiling, darkly carved and dim, Swells with the grandeur of a hymn And, in my heart and all around, The air is rich with Bible sound, And all love keeps me company, And all the ages pray with me. GERALDINE Ross COUNCILLORS Look at them sitting around the council table, smoking their peace pipes, smiling at one another and blowing smoke rings to Mars. E. J. RITTER, JR.