
America has been closing its mills and factories for decades – and sticking its head in the sand about the issue.
Now we are a “high tech” and “service oriented” economy – because, as President Bush often said, “Americans don’t want to do this work”.
The mill room in the image above was used to blend chemicals for the plastic and rubber coating of fabrics – this particular factory at one time sold bolts of fabric to Detroit automakers for seat covering.
Of course, during the hundred years the factory was in operation, they liberally soaked the ground with toluene, naphtha, fuel oil, and everything else they used in their manufacturing processes.
When the factory closed about 20 years ago – they just left everything in the building – explosion proof vacuum pumps, drum mixers, overhead blending conveyors, the works.
Then nature, in the form of graffiti creation, began to take back the buildings.
For me, this image is an accurately lurid representation of the our present chaos as American workers flounder with nothing to do….