USA > Massachusetts > Commonwealth history of Massachusetts, colony, province and state, volume 5 > Part 36
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The hand of progress has been busy, too, at Westfield, where once horsewhips for all the nation were manufactured. They still make whips there, but in what diminished volume! For now the chief market lies in South America and the Orient, where beasts of burden are in use; while the new era has made Westfield a diversified industrial center, revealing food preparations, stoves, machinery, and bicycles as the most en- during items.
It is a great spectacle of spirited movement, of aggressive strategy, of quenchless, farsighted courage-this modern in- dustrial era in Massachusetts. It is not a spectacle of decadence, of languishing effort, of ebbing vitality. It is a record of progress-at times of victorious struggle, for un- questionably there have been obstacles to dismay, dangers to menace, human reactions to perplex and dishearten.
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EFFECTS OF EXTERNAL INVESTMENT (1890-1922)
Pessimists have been overquick to discover that the indus- trial prestige of Massachusetts was weakening under the exac- tions of modern conditions. At times the cause has been abandoned by the very individual from whom support was most ardently desired and most properly expected-the home capitalist. Much New England capital has gone into other territories which might have stayed at home to good advan- tage, particularly in Massachusetts. It is sometimes said, with a suggestion of pride which is pardonable, that Yankee in- dustrial initiative has made itself felt in every quarter of the land; but this does not add to the vitality of the industries in the Yankee's home territory. In many of the industrial crises of the Commonwealth the burden-bearing manufacturer has been disappointed by the external interests of capitalists, and the best welfare of the State has been placed in jeopardy. On the other hand, the dividends on the external enterprises of Massachusetts capital have furnished a fountain of funds for investment at home.
EFFECTS OF ELECTRIC POWER (1890-1930)
What conditions have encouraged the Massachusetts in- dustrialist to go on through these modern years of readjust- ment and opportunity? What tangible factors have stood by him to reinforce his own splendid faith and alert courage? One of the most pronounced has been the appearance of a power source transcending in some particulars anything he had ever encountered before. In 1890, or thereabouts, when electric motors were so rare that they aroused mingled skep- ticism and disdain, the steam engine, the gasoline engine and the water wheel were the most common types of machine drive in all the factories of Massachusetts. They were belted to line shafting, and from the shafting many other belts were carried to the power machines of the shop. One engine or one water wheel would be called upon to drive in this manner a consider- able array of machinery-sometimes an entire shop.
Then a few bold pioneers listened to the sales engineers of the electrical-equipment companies and belted their water wheels and engines not to machine shafting but to electric gen-
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erators, from which circuits were run to motors in the mills. First the motors drove the shafting ; and at a later period they drove individual machines.
The more discerning among the factory proprietors were quick to discover in this arrangement an appreciable flexibility, since various combinations of power units were possible, and since the power could be easily distributed unhindered by the physical conditions of the plant. The power also could be carried around corners without loss, something which could not be done by shafting.
The larger the factory, the greater the economy obtained with the electric drive in the volume of power per pound of coal. Finally, when power companies went into the field of generating and selling electric power over wide territories, the power problem in industry seemed to be permanently solved. It was no longer necessary for factories to maintain their own steam plants on the premises; they needed only to equip their machinery with motors and buy the power for those motors, delivered as electrical energy at economical rates.
Fulfilling one of the prophecies of the late Charles P. Stein- metz, the production and supply of this electrical power was in itself an industry, and has been so since the last decade of the nineteenth century. It is at present a flourishing venture, extensive and indispensable, within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
EFFECTS OF THE PROTECTIVE TARIFF (1890-1909)
The manufacturer in this State has also been encouraged by the high protective tariff laid by Congress on imports. The modern industrial period was ushered in by tariff rates higher than had existed under the tariff previously in force, that of 1883. The new tariff, the Mckinley Bill of 1890, at once laid slightly higher duties on wool, especially on middle values and on highest values.
Professor F. W. Taussig in his authoritative book, The Tariff History of the United States, remarks that the changes in the wool schedule were significant for their direction rather than their amount. "The effect of the new classification, in
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fact," he says, "was that all cloths imported must pay the highest rate."
In cotton goods, the protective principle was applied in 1890 with equal consistency. Duties on the lower grades, which are manufactured in the United States as cheaply as they are abroad, were lowered, but high-grade cotton prints, knit goods, stockings, and similar articles were subject to higher duties. These goods were in greater demand than the domestic mills could handle, and importations were still neces- sary, which meant foreign competition. Against such foreign competition the Massachusetts manufacturer was sheltered, and the lower prices to the consumer which might otherwise have been possible, or at least likely, could not be established in view of the tariff rates. Similar increases were laid on other dress goods which Massachusetts establishments produce, such as linens, silks, silk laces, and embroideries.
The trend toward high protection, which began with this bill of 1890, has been the dominant influence practically ever since. Notwithstanding the two Tariff Acts of 1903 and 1913, in which antiprotection came to the fore, the ruling thought has been to shield American industry from foreign competition and enable it to grow mighty and even opulent with the aid of a government-imposed handicap in its favor.
There were some recessions in duties of interest to Massa- chusetts manufacturers under the Tariff of 1894, particularly the entire removal of the duty on woolen goods. That duty was restored in the Tariff of 1897; and high protectionists have kept it in force almost continuously since. The tariffs from 1897 to 1913 on metal goods, on books, on hides, on shoes were, with some exceptions, high enough to favor the Massachusetts manufacturer to a considerable extent; for even if he sometimes, as consumer, had to pay more for his raw material-as, in certain periods, for hides for tanning- he usually was able to recover the margin in the high prices paid to him as producer under the existing duties.
Protection, both in principle and fact, continued under the Tariff Act of 1909, with substantial duties on many a product in which Massachusetts was interested, such as wood pulp and newsprint paper. But hides were admitted free under that tariff and duties on shoes and leather were lower by half.
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STATUS OF LABOR
PROSPERITY OF MANUFACTURERS (1909-1929)
As shoe manufacturing was growing in efficiency and con- sequently was establishing low costs, it needed no "protection" from a tariff, for it could hold its own in competition with the foreign article. Yet a duty on imported footwear was continued until the Tariff of 1913, since which time shoes have been "on the free list." In general there was a down- ward sweep in the Tariff of 1913, which was in effect through the war, and "war prices" prevailed in many Massachusetts industries. Then, in 1922, the protectionists swung things their way again, raw wool experiencing the highest duty ever laid by Congress and woolen manufactures receiving similar treatment. Silk goods, highly protected in 1909, and reduced in 1913, were again well protected in 1922, as were also cotton goods. Hides and shoes continued on the free list.
No one can suppose that the conditions created by a tariff generally protective in character did not react to bring larger profits to most of the industries of Massachusetts, just as they did to industries in other sections. To that extent, truly, they helped to keep those industries exceedingly well off.
Beyond these somewhat narrow and moderate influences making for the building of industry in Massachusetts, was the unquestionable spur of the great wave of sheer prosperity that set in soon after the opening of the twentieth century. Conditions of economic stability were ripe for money-making almost everywhere, abroad as well as at home; and the Mas- sachusetts manufacturer shared in this good time along with many of his industrial kin.
STATUS OF LABOR (1890-1930)
Yet, amid such developments-with cheapening power, high protection, general prosperity-amid these various fav- orable influences, the factory hand could not always persuade himself that he was in favorable circumstances. He fre- quently felt that his wages were not as high as he had reason to expect them to be. He failed to see any tangible sharing in the "good times" which at the moment were feeding the industrial treasuries. To him it was not enough that all through these years the factory chimneys were smoking, the
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factory wheels were turning, that he was never without work, and hence never without an income. The income did not seem, somehow, to give him a comfortable margin over the cost of the necessities of life; and without such comfortable margin he could not make himself believe that the prosperity of industry was including his welfare within its bounties.
How else can the recurrent labor disturbances in some of the important basic industries of Massachusetts during the last thirty years be adequately explained? Not always was it the radical agitator, the "professional malcontent"; not always was it the impulsive younger element, without domestic re- sponsibilities as heads of families. Without the support of the mass of the laboring people on the occasions of these unfortu- nate conflicts, at least some of the serious strikes of these years of undeniable "good times" could hardly have occurred.
Nevertheless it seems reasonable to assert that the worker and the manager, labor and capital, are closer together in Massachusetts at the beginning of this second quarter of the twentieth century than they have ever been before. Tangible signs appear of this approach to each other of the two great human factors in the industrial life of the State-factors which, while having a common interest in a great common venture, have been observed all too often arrayed against each other in bitter antagonism.
Only this problem remains to be permanently solved-this transcendent problem of human relations-to insure for Massachusetts manufacturers in these modern times the widely diffused and happily perpetual benefits of honest industry, equitably rewarded, rich in the promise of a population eco- nomically secure through long generations to come. Indica- tions of such a trend are not lacking nowadays in the signifi- cant list of Massachusetts manufacturing plants which have not experienced conflicts with their workers. The Common- wealth evidently possesses liberal-minded men among all phases of its industrial groups who, having developed a marvel- ous age as material craftsmen and managers, are capable of still more golden achievements as broad-visioned, aspiring human beings.
In a large sense it is also evident that both executives and wage earners in Massachusetts, as elsewhere, are cooperating
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SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
to achieve what many economists consider an unheralded in- dustrial revolution. It is distinguished, first, by the applica- tion of scientific management; second, by the elimination of waste; and third, by a closer working bond between the two traditional human groups popularly designated as capital and labor.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
ARLINGTON MILLS .- Arlington Mills, 1865-1895 (Privately printed, Nor- wood, Mass., 1925)-An important woolen company in Lawrence, Mass. ASSOCIATED INDUSTRIES OF MASSACHUSETTS .- Annual Report of the Gen- eral Manager (Boston, 1916 and later years).
ASSOCIATED INDUSTRIES OF MASSACHUSETTS .- The Romantic Story of the Bay State's Rise and its Present Place of Leadership in the World of Manufacture (Vol. I, Boston, 1928)-Reprint of articles from In- dustry. (A second volume is projected).
BOSTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: BUREAU OF COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL AFFAIRS .- Cotton Manufacturing Industry of New England (Boston, 1926).
BOSTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: BUREAU OF COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL AFFAIRS .- The Foundry and Machinery Industries of New England (Boston, 1926).
BOSTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: BUREAU OF THE COMMERCIAL AND INDUS- TRIAL AFFAIRS .- New England's Industrial Leadership (Boston, 1923).
BOSTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: BUREAU OF COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL AFFAIRS .- Shoe Manufactures Industry of New England (Boston, 1923).
BOSTON : CITY PLANNING BOARD .- A Compendium of Reports and Studies Relating to the Commerce and Industries of Boston (Boston, 1924) - Based on reports and studies from many sources.
BOSTON FISH BUREAU .- Annual Report (Boston, 1876 and later years). BRAYLEY, ARTHUR WELLINGTON .- Bakers and Baking in Massachusetts, Including the Flour, Baking Supplies, and Kindred Matters from 1620 to1909 (Boston, 1909).
COPELAND, MELVIN THOMAS .- The Cotton Manufacturing Industries of the United States (Harvard Economic Studies, Vol. VIII, Cambridge, Harvard Univ., 1912).
FRENCH, GEORGE, editor .- New England, What It Is and What It Is to Be (Boston, Boston Chamber of Commerce, 1911).
HOWES, OSBORN E., and WILLIAMS, MOSES .- Professional and Industrial History of Suffolk County (3 vols., Boston, Boston History Co., 1894). Industry (Boston, 1918 and later years) .- A weekly journal of the As- sociated Industries of Massachusetts.
LAWRENCE BOARD OF TRADE .- A Brief History of the City of Lawrence (Lawrence, 1902).
MASSACHUSETTS : BUREAU OF STATISTICS OF LABOR .- The Annual Statistics of Manufactures (Boston, 1899 and later years)-The first volume contains statistics of 1886-1887.
MASSACHUSETTS : BUREAU OF STATISTICS OF LABOR .- Census of the Com- monwealth of Massachusetts (Boston, 1845 and decennially afterward) -The decennial census; a special section devoted to manufactures.
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MASSACHUSETTS : BUREAU OF STATISTICS .- The Industries and Foreign Trade of Massachusetts (Boston, 1915).
MASSACHUSETTS : DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND INDUSTRIES .- Report of a Special Investigation into Conditions in the Textile Industry in Massa- chusetts and the Southern States (Boston, Arkwright Club, 1923)- An investigation of working conditions, such as led to the removal of some plants to the South.
MESERVE, HARRY CHAMBERLAIN .- Lowell-an Industrial Dream Come True (Boston, 1923)-Written by the secretary of the National Association of Cotton Manufacturers. Contains an excellent bibliography.
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COTTON MANUFACTURERS .- Transactions (Bos- ton, 1866 and later years).
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WOOL MANUFACTURERS .- Bulletin (Boston, 1871 and later years)-A quarterly magazine devoted to the interests of the national wool industry.
NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL CONFERENCE BOARD .- A Graphic Analysis of the Census of Manufactures of the United States. 1849 to 1919 (N. Y., 1923).
NATIONAL SHOE RETAILERS' ASSOCIATION .- A Brief History of the Shoe and Leather Industry of New England (Boston, 1924).
STONE, ORRA L .- New England's Industrial Future (Boston, Associated Industries of Mass., 1924).
TARBELL, IDA MINERVA .- The Tariff in our Times (N. Y., Macmillan, 1915).
TAUSSIG, FRANK WILLIAM .- The Tariff History of the United States (N. Y., Putnam's, 1923).
UNITED STATES : BUREAU OF THE CENSUS .- Biennial Census of Manu- factures (Washington, 1921 and later years).
UNITED STATES : BUREAU OF THE CENSUS .- Census of Manufactures, 1914 (2 vols., Washington, 1918-1919).
UNITED STATES : BUREAU OF THE CENSUS .- Census of Manufactures (Washington, 1919).
UNITED STATES : BUREAU OF THE CENSUS .- Census of Manufactures; General Totals in the United States, by Geographic Division, States, and Industries, 1914, 1909, 1904, and 1899 (Washington, 1916).
UNITED STATES : BUREAU OF THE CENSUS .- Fourteenth Census State Compendium, Massachusetts (Washington, 1924) -Statistics of popula- tion, occupations, agriculture, manufactures, and mines and quarries for the State, counties, and cities.
UNITED STATES : BUREAU OF THE CENSUS .- Industrial Districts: 1905 (Washington, 1909).
UNITED STATES : BUREAU OF THE CENSUS .- Manufactures, 1905 (4 vols., Washington, 1907-1908).
UNITED STATES : BUREAU OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC COMMERCE .- New England Manufactures in the Nation's Commerce (Washington, 1928) -Part of The Industrial Structure of New England, Part I.
WARD, D. F .- "Brief Story Concerning the Fishing Industry of Massa- chusetts" (Our Boston, 1927, Vol. II, Nov., pp. 18-24).
WASHBURN, CHARLES GRENFILL .- Industrial Worcester (Worcester, Davis, 1917).
YOUNG, HAROLD H .- Cotton Manufacturing in New England (Providence, R. I., Bodell, 1928).
CHAPTER XIII
TRANSPORTATION IN MASSACHUSETTS (1890-1930)
BY WILLIAM J. CUNNINGHAM Professor of Transportation, Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF TRANSPORTATION
New England as a whole, with Massachusetts as its central State, has been defined as "an economic unit on the outskirts of the central commercial territory of the United States." An ample supply of capital, water power and skilled labor led to the establishment of industries, elsewhere described in this volume. By 1890, the beginning of the period under review, New England in general and Massachusetts in particular was well served by an adequate complement of rail lines, but lacked the integration or unification which came later.
As "an economic unit on the outskirts of the central com- mercial territory" New England's interest in transportation is vital. New England's industries must meet the competition of those more advantageously located in closer proximity to the raw materials. Transportation, therefore, is a major problem with three broad aspects : (1) to provide the cheapest possible carriage of inbound raw materials; (2) to insure economical movement of food stuffs from remote centers of production; and (3) to distribute under favorable rates the finished products to the various markets throughout the United States in the face of local competition.
ALTERATIONS IN RAILROAD STATUS (1890-1930)
During the last 40 years the railroads of Massachusetts have gone through four stages of transition :
(1) From 1890 to 1900 the processes of consolidation and integration under way since the 'fifties had active play, with the result that the numerous small railroad properties
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were reduced in number to three important railroad systems. Since 1900 no important permanent changes have been made in corporate railroad organization and no substantial additions to railroad mileage within the State.
(2) From 1900 to 1917 came the development and failure of an ambitious attempt on the part of the New Haven Rail- road to effectuate complete control over all steam railroads, street railways and coastwise steamship lines in New England. The project itself was not as indefensible as the manner in which it was engineered. The failure of the attempt nearly wrecked two of the three principal railroad systems and left them in a state bordering on bankruptcy when the transporta- tion agencies of the country were called upon in 1917 to assume the burdens of the war overload.
(3) In the brief period of 1918 and 1919 the railroads, following a few months of voluntary unification in 1917 under private management, were taken over by the President of the United States and operated federally as an arm of the govern- ment during the war emergency. During that period the in- dividual and competitive activities of railroads were suspended while all lines were administered as a single national system.
(4) During 1920 to 1930 came post-war reconstruction and general rehabilitation of New England railroads. The physical condition of Massachusetts railroads came to be of high standard, public service was excellent, financial stability was reasonably assured, and public opinion, seriously alienated by the misdeeds of 1910-1913, was fairly favorable toward railroad management.
CHANGES IN MILEAGE AND CORPORATE CONTROL (1890-1930)
The 2,025 miles of railroads in Massachusetts in 1930 were actually 69 less than in 1890. The few additions were offset by the abandonment of short branches made unprofitable by competition of the electric railway and motor vehicles. A striking change, however, was apparent in corporate control. In 1890 there were 19 independent railroads in Massachu- setts. By 1930 over 94 per cent of the mileage within the State was operated by three companies : the New Haven (866
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miles ) ; Boston & Maine (729 miles) ; and Boston & Albany (339 miles). The other steam railroads were but two: the Central Vermont, owned by the Canadian National system, 55 miles in the central western part of the State; and the Hoosac Tunnel & Wilmington, formerly a narrow gauge line, from the east portal of the tunnel eight miles to the Vermont line. Besides there were two electrified lines, formerly steam operated : the Grafton & Upton, 15 miles from North Grafton to Milford; and the Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn, narrow gauge, 13 miles from East Boston to Lynn.
BOSTON & ALBANY (1890-1900)
The Boston & Albany was created by the merger in 1867 of the Boston & Worcester (incorporated in 1831) and the Western (incorporated in 1835) to form the main line from Boston to Albany. Prior to 1890 it had acquired by lease or stock ownership several small branches. It was very con- servatively operated, maintained unusually high standards, and was exceedingly prosperous.
The close and friendly relations between the Boston & Albany and the New York Central led the latter to consider extending its sphere of influence into New England. At one time it initiated negotiations for the Fitchburg Railroad; but the Boston & Albany was the more attractive property, and was acquired by lease in 1900.
The transfer of control of the Boston & Albany to New York aroused strong opposition in the Massachusetts legisla- ture. The necessary public sanction, however, was finally won. Loss of local control was balanced by expectation of a greater volume of export traffic through trunk line manage- ment. The New York Central was obligated under the lease to pay interest on the funded debt, a generous sum for the corporate expenses of the lessor company, and 8 per cent dividends on its capital stock.
BOSTON & MAINE (1890-1900)
The Boston & Maine Railroad, while incorporated (1835) both in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, is regarded mainly as a Massachusetts corporation. Its original purpose
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was to form a 45-mile connecting link in a through line from Boston to Portland, Maine-between Wilmington (on the Boston & Lowell Railroad) and North Berwick, Maine (on the Portland, Saco & Portsmouth Railroad). The latter was leased jointly by the Boston & Maine and its principal rival, the Eastern Railroad, which had a direct line from Boston to Portsmouth. The Eastern Railroad was leased by the Boston & Maine in 1883, and was afterward absorbed. With that lease the Boston & Maine acquired also a working control of the Maine Central. The Boston & Maine next leased the Worcester, Nashua & Rochester Railway (1886) and was left without serious competition in its own territory except from the Boston & Lowell, and its northern connections. That competition was ended in 1887, when the Boston & Lowell with several controlled lines northward to Vermont and Quebec, as well as the Massachusetts Central, were leased to the Boston & Maine.
The next activity was in the eastern part of the State, when the Boston & Maine leased the Connecticut River R.R. and with it obtained control also of collateral lines in Vermont.
The last important act of the decade of 1890-1900 was the Boston & Maine's lease of the Fitchburg Railroad, a line roughly paralleling the Boston & Albany from Boston to the Hudson River. This acquisition gave the Boston & Maine a practical monopoly in the territory north of the Boston & Albany and east of the Connecticut River, including all of New Hampshire and parts of Vermont and Maine. The system was prosperous and had no difficulty in paying charges and substantial dividends to its stockholders. The weakness of the structure lay in its top-heavy burden of leases with heavy interest obligations.
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