USA > Connecticut > History of Connecticut, Volume I > Part 42
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The Connecticut Yankee, however, enhanced his opportunities for profit by coupling the skill of the craftsman with the benefits of ad- vertising and the arts of salesmanship. These abilities were exemplified by the Yankee pedlar. He could be seen with a seventy pound pack on his back carrying tinware into the New England backcountry. When clocks, brassware, and textiles were added to his stock, wagons were especially constructed to carry the load. Traders to the southern states, such as Bronson Alcott, would frequently go by boat to a port such as Norfolk, and from there peddle their wares to the plantation owners and to the small farmers. The method of distribution was altered to meet the need. On occasion, as in New Haven, jobbers were used. Un- der this arrangement, some of the larger shops would establish branch shops in the larger cities such as Richmond and Montreal where trans- planted Yankees would fabricate during the winter months materials forwarded from Connecticut. The following Spring, pedlars would set out from these points and from Connecticut, shuttling between the two points to sell their wares and to replenish their stocks at the end of the line.42
The pedlar was recognized as the most effective method of dis- tributing many of Connecticut's products, particularly Yankee notions. An Act of 1765, which had required that anyone who wished to sell wares within Connecticut should be licensed by the county court, had been abandoned. There was, no doubt, some truth in Dwight's charge that the pedlar was a "mere wanderer, accustomed to no order, control, or worship, and directed solely to the acquisition of petty gains," but he had grown to play a vital part in the economic life of the state. Of necessity, the pedlar did not have a fixed price, and doubtlessly, as charged, some concerns profited more from his efforts than did others. Such complaints received only desultory attention in the General As- sembly, and, in 1836, all restrictions against the pedlar were dropped.
As manufacturing developed and as trade names became impor- tant, manufacturers preferred to have their articles distributed through established retail concerns, and with the coming of the railroads, the pedlar was less important in the distribution of Connecticut goods. After five years of unregulated trade, the colonial system of registration was revived for those who wished to trade within the state. When for-
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eign traders continued to flood the state, a non-resident pedlar was re- quired by an 1848 act to secure a license, costing ten dollars, from the selectmen of each town in which he proposed to do business. Under this restrictive system, peddling within the state declined. The pedlar had left an indelible imprint on Connecticut's economic life, however.43
As sales expanded, the demand for greater production was met in part by the importation or duplication of British machinery. Samuel Slater laid the basis for the textile industry when he circumvented the English law prohibiting the exportation of blue prints. He committed these to memory, and, after coming to Rhode Island, constructed ma- chinery for carding and spinning based on his knowledge of Arkwright's processes.44 Reliance on English invention was by no means confined to the textile industry. Although it is impossible to measure the extent of this borrowing with exactitude, its effect is evident in practically every area of industrial development. Reliance on English machinery was well established by 1820. In that year, James Croft, an expert English workman, insisted that English tools be used in the brass company in Waterbury, which was then partially owned by James M. L. Scoville. After he became associated with the Benedict Company, Croft returned to England, where he purchased a set of rollers which enabled the com- pany to roll its own brass and to provide sheet brass to other manufac- turers. Later, more elaborate machinery was imported, including a wire drawer and a tube maker.45 The Connecticut brass industry was dependent upon English machinery until 1840.46 American inventive genius began to have its effect, and, by the middle of the nineteenth century, American-made machinery was in demand in Europe, particu- larly in the small arms industry.47
As important as the machinery itself were the workmen who immi- grated. Some were especially induced to come, others simply chose to seek a new life in America. Their technical skill was a valuable supple- ment to the craftsmanship being acquired by the Connecticut laborer. These English workmen furnished much of the mechanical ingenuity necessary to the early success of the brass industry. Some, such as James Croft, acquired an interest in the factories. For the most part, however, the companies remained under the control and management of native Connecticut Yankees.48
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There developed a close personal relationship among the pioneers in manufacturing in Connecticut. Interdependent industries, close business relationships, and close family connections were characteristic of the industrial development. The Thomas clock makers exemplify a family's devotion to a single industry, while the Lewis family of Nau- gatuck illustrates the cooperation of family members in a number of different enterprises. The Lewis family fortune was based in the eight- eenth century on land and the export business. Milo Lewis, then, estab- lished a textile manufacturing establishment and, from the profits earned in it, expanded the family's holdings to include the manufacture of farm implements, a woolen mill, and two rubber companies. The father and one son were responsible for the farm, a second son for the cotton mill, and a third for the rubber business. The members of the family were bound not to undertake any new enterprise without sub- mitting the proposal to the other members of the family for approval.49 There were close business associations among those engaged in such technical areas as the manufacture of small arms and the spirit of co- operation and mutual help continued as long as the government con- tinued to extend aid.50 In addition there was a tendency to associate in- terdependent industries in one neighborhood in order to make full use of the labor potential in families only partially occupied in a single pursuit and to utilize the waste of one industry in the processing of a product of another.51
Capital for the establishment of industries only gradually became available during the first half of the nineteenth century. The short- term loans, generally available for commercial undertakings at the be- ginning of the century, were of little assistance to projected industrial undertakings where the "tooling up" required an extended period of time.52 This prompted Whitney to seek and to secure advances from the Federal government for the establishment of his arms factory. When such advances were made, a performance bond was required of the con- tractor, with sureties of several individuals, who, collectively, would be worth at least the amount of the bond.53 Such Federal assistance gave the early arms makers a distinct advantage over others attempting to establish industries. It is recorded that the arms maker, Nathan Starr, was using the banking facilities of Middletown as early as 1819, but the
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nature of his transactions is not clear.54 In general, it appears that the banks were long reluctant to make loans for manufacturing purposes. An indication of an increasing willingness to invest in manufacturing is indicated through the increased amount of stock issued by chartered companies. Before 1818, companies with a capitalization of more than $100,000 were rare. After that date, many were capitalized for from $300,000 to $500,000, and, by the middle of the century, at least two of the companies in the state were capitalized for more than $1,000,000.55
Connecticut industry further benefited from the introduction of steam power. Connecticut rivers and streams, dotted with natural and improvised waterfalls, furnished the major source of power during the eighteenth and early nineteenth century for the grist mills and such early industries as Whitney's arms factory. As early as 1824, attention was given to the introduction of steam in the arms industry, but little headway was made in its use before 1830, partially because of the lack of knowledge of the use of steam on the part of the mechanics.56 The introduction of steam power was of primary importance in transferring the making of cloth from the home to the factory. A power loom is said to have been erected in Connecticut as early as 1820. In the early stages, power was used in the textile industry only for the making of the plainer cloths.57 It was in this industry that the early experience in the use of steam was gained. George T. Newhall, who had observed its use in the textile industry in Rhode Island, introduced it into the carriage industry before the middle of the century.58
The transition from an agricultural to a manufacturing state had been all but accomplished in Connecticut by the middle of the nine- teenth century. Of the 114 enterprises listed in the returns of the asses- sors in 1845, the products of only 28 can be identified as derived from the soil and 86 were manufacturers. Grace Fuller, in her study of Con- necticut as a manufacturing state, cites the number of persons engaged in manufacturing as evidence that Connecticut "was not yet a manufac- turing state."59 Because of the number of laborers engaged in more than one trade and the number of farmers who engaged in manufacturing as a sideline, Miss Fuller, quite properly, reduced the number of "hands employed" from the 54,807, or approximately 16 per cent of the popu- lation, reported by the assessors, to not more than twenty or thirty
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thousand. It would seem, however, that there is a more accurate gauge of the degree to which Connecticut had moved toward manufacturing than either the number so employed or the number of factories, which, as Miss Fuller correctly implies, would include undertakings of almost every extent and description. The total industrial production, as re- ported, was valued at $48,874,304. Of this, agricultural products were valued at $14,492,590. Mining and fishing combined accounted for another two and one half million. Manufactured products, then, in the year previous to October, 1845, accounted for approximately two-thirds of the state's industrial production. By 1845, manufacturing had be- come the profit producing enterprise. Of equal importance is the fact that the products introduced and the factories begun in the period be- fore 1845 were the ones on which the state was to build her industrial empire.60
Although there was a shifting of fortune in Connecticut products, textiles continued to be the strength of her manufacturing. The com- bined value of the textile and related materials produced in 1845 ex- ceeded $8,000,000 or approximately 25 per cent of the products manu- factured.61 Wool and cotton were the leaders among the textiles, with cotton manufacturing concentrated62 in Windham and New London counties and with wool manufacturing more or less equally shared with these and Tolland and Litchfield counties. Related industries, such as calico printing, hosiery, and yarn, were concentrated in Hartford County. The silk culture, which attracted capital in the first part of the century, had been rendered valueless as a result of blight and over- speculation, but enterprising Yankees, such as the Cheney brothers, had begun the production of sewing silk, which, by 1845, attracted a total capital investment of more than $100,000 in Hartford and Tolland counties.63 Linen products, however, were reported as less than $500 in value in 1845. Clock making, foremost among Connecticut pioneer manufactures, also continued to produce timepieces valued at three quarters of a million dollars.64 On the other hand, the value of glass products, as of linen, shrank to a point of insignificance. The value of the glass articles produced hardly exceeded the amount of the capital invested, and this had shrunk to $10,000.65
The manufacturing field in which Connecticut was to attain na-
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tional leadership, that of general hardware, had grown steadily. In 1845, its total product was valued at almost $2,000,000.66 In the case of certain products, such as screws and hinges, a large gross product was produced with a comparatively small capital outlay. Hardware prod- ucts, too, had benefited immeasurably from the distribution and ad- vertisement by the pedlars.67 Hollow ware had been sold in regions far and near and its gross production of a half million dollars exceeded the gross value of nails which had been among the earliest products fabri- cated in the state. North and Judd, Russell-Erwin, P & F Corbin, Stan- ley, and Landers, Frary, and Clark, names which were to gain for New Britain the appellation of "The Hardware City," were all names of companies founded before the Civil War.68 New Haven vied with Hart- ford County in the production of hardware.69 Brass production, which was closely related to the hardware industry, became concentrated in Waterbury, with the names of Hayden & Scovill, Benedict and Burn- ham, and Brown and Elton becoming famous in this industry.70
In addition, there were special manufactures which contributed significantly to Connecticut's total gross product, and others whose significance lay in the fact of their establishment rather than in the quantity of their early production.
The hat industry was concentrated in Danbury where the Mal- lorys, in 1823, began this manufacture. The gross production of hats, caps, and related articles was valued at more than $900,000 with more than 75 per cent of the production concentrated in Fairfield County.71 In New Haven, the coach and carriage manufacture, under the guidance of James Brewster, had reached a production of almost three quarters of a million dollars by 1845.72 Although the firearms industry made contributions which became significant in Connecticut's later manufacturing development, the 4,000 rifles and the 14,000 pistols , produced before 1845 were valued at only $155,000. The Connecticut arms makers, Eli Whitney, Simeon North, Nathan Starr, Samuel Sharps and Samuel Colt, were American, as well as Connecticut, pioneers in this field of endeavor.73 Meriden and Wallingford became a center of silversmithing because of the early activities of Charles Yale, who intro- duced the manufacture of Britannia Ware for his southern trade. In 1850, his large factory in Wallingford was combined with the interests
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of other makers of Britannia Ware to form the International Silver Company. William Rogers introduced silver plating in 1847.74 At about the same time, 1839-1843, Charles Goodyear was perfecting his process for vulcanizing rubber.75 Goodyear's patent was made available to the Goodyear Metallic Rubber Shoe Company of Naugatuck and to the L.
(Courtesy Conn. State Lib.)
EAST HADDAM-SHAD FISHING, CONNECTICUT RIVER
Candee & Company of New Haven. The latter was the forerunner to the United States Rubber Company. The manufacture of rubber was firmly established by the middle of the century, and its production sub- sequently became significant in quantity. By 1850, most of the goods produced in the state was to some degree prepared by the factory process.76
The maritime industries were concentrated, quite naturally, along the Sound and the Connecticut River. It was reported that 37 vessels and 453 boats were built in 1845. Their construction was confined al- most exclusively to New Haven and Middlesex counties and was limited to small craft.
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(Courtesy Conn. State Lib.)
STONINGTON-FISHING SCENE
The average value of the vessels built was less than $10,000 and that of the boats about fifty. New London was the center of the fishing industry, with whaling and associated industries based there. The Con- necticut River shad industry was valued at more than $100,000 a year.
Despite the rise of industry, Connecticut labor in the early nine- teenth century did not emerge as a class conscious group. The ten per cent of the population which the laborers constituted was hardly large enough for effective action. The reforms introduced, such as the aboli-
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tion of imprisonment for debt and of the mechanics' lien laws, were programs of the major political parties rather than of special labor groups. There were groups which advocated labor legislation, but the interests of labor were not considered to be separate or different from those of other members of society.77
Connecticut, however, was not free of labor disturbances during this period. The shops of the Thompsonville carpet works were closed in July, 1833, when seventy-one workers requested that their rate of pay be increased to compare to that paid at other mills in the Northeast. The employees demanded that they be returned to work and that their wages be made retroactive to the last regular pay day. The company issued an ultimatum declaring that if the workers did not return to work by the following Monday, their wages would be reduced. When the workers refused, the company brought suit, charging the laborers with conspiring to damage the prosperity of the company. The court refused to consider the issue of wages, but ruled that the alleged conspiracy did not exist.78 The company had won its contest with the workers long be- fore the decision was rendered. When the company began hiring new workers, the strikers sought to dissuade them from working. This failed, and, under the threat of eviction from company owned houses, the workers returned to work within a month. Connecticut labor in this period, in common with labor throughout the country, lacked the clear cut objectives, the capital, and the energetic leadership necessary for effective action.
A nascent awareness of the social implications of industrial growth developed gradually. Manufacturing was altering the characteristics of Connecticut communities. Young men and women were leaving their rural surroundings for the crowded living quarters, which offered limited accommodation for health and comfort. Sons and daughters of Yankee stock were mixing with transient laborers, many of whom were immigrants who had only recently been permitted to hold property in the state. Concern was voiced as to the responsibility of corporations to provide homes for workers and schools for children, and to care for the moral and health welfare of the workers. The General Assembly was not disposed to pass regulatory legislation except to require that manu- facturers supply schools for child laborers. Many factory owners as-
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sumed a personal responsibility for their employees' welfare. Benevo- lence, in some instances, no doubt, was confined to that which would avoid public censure.79
Further development in the economy of the state was dependent
HARTFORD-ALBANY TURNPIKE OPENED 1799 CONN-N.Y. Stale Capital Roule 17 Winsled Wonderland in The Litchfield Hills. Incorporated 1771. Elevation 700 to 1500 ft.Pop.9.500.Trading Center of 12 Towns Highland Lake Winchester Historical Mansion, Home of Gilbert Clocks, s. Bu/ Oldest Clock Factory In U.S.
ele Hills Federation, 690 Main ST.
(Courtesy Mills Coll., Conn. State Lib.)
HARTFORD-ALBANY TURNPIKE POSTER (A COPY)
upon development of the transportation facilities. The steamboat had enabled an effective ferrying system to New York. The Farmington Canal, designed to improve the water transportation of the whole of the Connecticut Valley, had never realized the success which had been anticipated. The benefits to be derived from attention to water trans- portation were necessarily limited: only the turnpikes tapped the inland towns of the state. While these had been greatly improved and provided connecting links in the overland system, they had been designed pri- marily to meet the needs of an agrarian economy. A mode of transporta-
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tion was needed which would approximate the tonnage carried by boat, yet would not be restricted by the accessibility of water.
Improvements in transportation, necessary to the development of Connecticut's economy, were supplied as soon as technical advances per- mitted. Although the introduction of new methods did not revolu- tionize the state's economy, they provided a basis for alterations, particu- larly in the latter half of the century. The period before the Civil War was an era of experimentation. As steam became the primary motive power, the canal, which had been designed to supplement the turn- pike, was replaced by the railroad, and the sailing vessel was replaced by the steamboat.
The turnpike continued to grow until it reached its height in 1840. New companies were chartered every year from 1792 until available capital was attracted to the railroad as a more desirable investment. During the fifty years, turnpikes were built to provide a network of accessible, well-maintained, and gently sloping roads which connected the commercial and budding industrial centers of the state. The state continued to encourage the construction of such roads, but never of- fered outright assistance. The public interest was protected through commissioners, who were to make certain that the turnpike companies operated in accordance with their charters.80 Despite their popularity, the turnpikes failed to meet the transportation requirements for carry- ing goods in quantity or of heavy tonnage. The Salisbury Mine opera- tors found, for example, that it cost five dollars more per ton to trans- port iron forty to fifty miles overland than to carry it the 150 miles to New York by water, even though this included a twenty-mile trip to the Hudson.81
The introduction of the steamboat in 1815 did not become of gen- eral importance to the state until after 1824, when the Supreme Court broke the monopoly of New York interests operating steam vessels on Long Island Sound. The Fulton appeared at New Haven in March, 1815, and established service between there and New London. Another vessel, the Connecticut, was added to make the run from New Haven to New York. Since the New York legislature had given to Robert Fulton the exclusive right to navigate the sound, Connecticut com- panies were not only prevented from establishing competitive facilities,
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but also the sail packet lines were seriously threatened. The Connect- icut Assembly was induced to retaliate by prohibiting any vessel of the Fulton concern to enter the waters of the state. Steam travel between New York and New Haven was discontinued on June 1, 1822, and the
(Courtesy of the Marine Historical Association, Mystic)
MYSTIC SEAPORT-SAMUEL BUCKINGHAM HOUSE
Fulton and the Connecticut confined their service to the Connecticut shoreline. In the Gibbon vs. Ogden Case, in 1824, the Supreme Court reversed the Court of Errors of New York and declared the Act of the New York Legislature to be void. Immediately, the use of the steamboat expanded.82
Regular routes were soon established from New Haven, Hartford, and other Connecticut ports. The first boat to run between Hartford and New York was the Oliver Ellsworth. Others, added later, were the
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McDonough, the Charter Oak, and the Bunker Hill. One, the Water Witch indicated a nautical interest rather than ancestral leanings. The Ellsworth was a vessel of 227 tons and carried 60 passengers per trip. The passenger traffic must have been heavy, yet the report that three vessels carried 2,000 passengers a week seems an exaggeration. The steamboats faced the problems of rapids, sandbars, inadequate locks, and insufficient draft. Regular service was provided, however, between Hartford and Springfield as well as from Hartford to New York. Pas- senger service was discontinued after the coming of the railroads, but the freight business continued to thrive for a number of years.83
Responsibility to broaden and deepen the river channel was vested in the river transportation companies along with their privileges. The Union Company, for example, which had been founded in 1800, was obligated by the terms of its charter to provide a channel six feet deep between Hartford and Middletown. Shipmasters became accustomed to the artificial channel and forgot the original investment of the Union Company in achieving it. By 1830, the exaction of tolls by the company was protested, and the legislature was urged to curb the company's privileges. The petitioners for free navigation of the river complained that the charter was private legislation which vested the company with unreasonable privileges. A legislative committee investigated the com- pany's operations in 1836, but restrictive legislation did not result. However, the next year, the legislature authorized the issuance of a writ of Quo Warranto to the company, forcing it to show why its charter should not be vacated and its collection of tolls stopped. The company proved that it had not exceeded its charter rights and that its charges were not unreasonable. Economic, not legal obstacles, caused the death of the company. Turnpikes had cut into the profits which the company had expected from its tolls, but its ultimate fate was deter- mined by the railroad. As these were built the Union Company passed quietly out of existence. Similarly, the Connecticut River Company was authorized in 1824 to clear the river from Hartford northward. This company was permitted to add banking to its dredging activities when the Farmington Canal threatened to absorb the traffic in northern Connecticut.
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