Industry and Commerce
Much of what the profile states on this topic speaks for itself, and will be presented here without comment, but.... It is hard to comprehend why a profile that was written to attract prospective commuters devotes so much space to discussing local businesses that employ local people. This is especially true of the two businesses that are mentioned first, and given the most exposure: gold/silver leaf beating, and the Heinz factory. Both were very well known at the time, but mentioning them in the profile does not seem an effective way of attracting people who intended to work in Manhattan.
Let's skip over them and look at what follows, and see what we can learn about 1908's version of Hicksville.
Obviously, this is not a simple agricultural village that employs only farm laborers and people in service industries. It makes goods for regional markets, and in at least one instance, for European markets.
For a village of 2,500 people, Hicksville is looking busier and busier, even before the changes that will be brought about by commuting have hit. Prospective commuters can feel confident that the robust base of service industries will make living in the village "work" for them.
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Next in the profile is a description of the village's agricultural base. Of course, as the tide of suburbia will erode and eventually wash away that base, it is ironic to find so much of this profile devoted to agriculture.
A lengthy preface to this section recounts how recent growth in New York City has displaced many farmers eastward to Hicksville and the towns near it. Consequently, the area now accounts for a significant and profitable part of Long Island's total agricultural business. At night, local farmers drive their wagons (each filled with several tons of produce) to markets in Brooklyn or lower Manhattan. Profits have been so high that per-acre farm prices in the area have increased nearly a thousand-fold - not a typo - since 1890. The annual total price of farm produce raised within five miles of Hicksville's railroad station is estimated at more than $1,000,000 (in 2020 dollars, more than $28,000,000).
Note that Hicksville farmland sold in 1908 for at least $500 per acre.
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The section on Industry and Commerce concludes with some skeletal information about the new local bank:
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