USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Fifty years of Boston; a memorial volume issued in commemoration of the tercentenary of 1930; 1880-1930, Pt. 1 > Part 21
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In the next act of the great tragedy, Charles Sumner went from Boston to take Webster's old seat in the Senate. Between the two extremes, of those who put the Union above liberty and those who set liberty above the Union, the Free Soil Party had risen to preserve the Union with what liberty remained in it, to halt the further encroachments of slavery, and Sumner at Washington was a leader in the movement that evolved the Republican party. In that same year of 1851, Benjamin Robbins Curtis also left Boston to sit upon the
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bench of the Supreme Court of the United States. Six years afterward, Justice Curtis delivered the dissenting opinion in the Dred Scott Case, when Chief Justice Taney, for the majority of the Court, handed down the judgment that was to be over-ruled only by the sword in the Civil War.
Boston had led in the events that culminated in the war between North and South, as she had in the years that foreran the Revolutionary War, but she did not in either instance maintain her primacy amid the clash of arms. Far more than a third and nearer half of the names chosen for the Hall of Fame in New York represent the contributions of Massachusetts to our national biography; but it is significant that none among these was worn by a soldier in any war.
Although Boston loyally bore her full share of the burden in the Civil War, she may not boast special distinction in the field. But at the end of the strife she quickly pressed to the front again in the counsels of peace. Her foremost spokesman, Charles Sumner, went with the extremists in their drastic but unsuccessful measures of reconstruction. But he proposed also, in the interests of reconciliation, that the names of the battles between fellow Ameri- cans should not be placed on the regimental colors of the restored Union. For this he was censured by a hot-headed majority in the Massachusetts Legis- lature, but the censure was erased two years afterward.
Like all wars, the Civil War left in its wake partisan excesses, political demoralization and governmental abuses, and Boston was in the forefront of the movement to reform them and re-establish normal standards of conduct in public life. Sumner early challenged the tendencies which ended in the cor- ruption that disgraced the Grant administration. Bolting his party in 1872 and joining with his late enemies in the South, he set a shining example of courage and independence. The long and ultimately successful agitation for the abolition of the spoils system and the enactment of the Civil Service Law, in state and nation, centered in Boston. Here also was the starting point of the so-called Mugwump revolt by independent Republicans in 1884, which brought about the election of the first Democratic President after the Civil War, Grover Cleveland, with "public office is a public trust" for his chosen watchwords in that exciting campaign between him and James G. Blaine.
Following the Spanish War, Boston was the headquarters of the anti- imperialist movement. While this did not succeed in its opposition to the annexation of the Philippine Islands, it served to check the misuse of power in that Asiatic possession and led to the adoption of a policy of self-govern- ment in the archipelago.
The historic discussion of the next question to be thrust upon the country by a war was opened in Boston by the deliberate choice of President Wilson, who landed at this port on his first return from the Peace Conference at Paris and launched here his campaign for the League of Nations. Here, too, in
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Symphony Hall, a few weeks afterward, the most notable joint debate on the subject took place between Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and President A. Lawrence Lowell of Harvard; and to this day some of the most devoted admirers, as well as the severest critics, of President Wilson and his policies are to be found in Boston. As this difference of opinion transcends the usual party lines, it may be taken as further evidence that the tradition of independent thinking still survives in the city of the Puritans.
The men contributed by Boston to the political history of the country form a notable company. On the roll of senators from the city and its suburbs shine the names of John Quincy Adams, Webster, Choate, Sumner, Everett and Lodge, to which may be added, perhaps, that of William M. Evarts, long identified with New York but born in Boston and educated at the Harvard Law School. Among Boston's representatives in Congress in the early period were Josiah Quincy, Edward Everett, Nathan Appleton, Abbott Lawrence, Robert C. Winthrop, who was also senator for a time by appointment, Samuel A. Eliot and Samuel Hooper. The great nineteenth century immigration first was reflected and recognized in the Congressional delegation from the city by the election of Leopold Morse in 1876 and Patrick A. Collins in 1882.
The city and its environs have held high posts in the terms of twenty-two of our thirty presidents. In the first presidency, Washington was companioned in peace as he had been in war by that gallant son of Boston, General Henry Knox, Secretary of War. In the vice-presidency, at the same time, was John Adams, who himself next sat at the head of the Cabinet table. Jefferson's Secretary of War was General Henry Dearborn of Roxbury and Madison's was William Eustis of Boston. Benjamin W. Crowninshield of Salem held the naval portfolio in the second administration of that president, when Elbridge Gerry of Cambridge was vice-president also. At President Monroe's right hand sat John Quincy Adams of Quincy, who next was seated in the presidential chair.
Webster was Secretary of State under three presidents, Harrison, Tyler and Fillmore. George Bancroft, who lately had been Collector of the Port of Boston, was Polk's Secretary of the Navy, and the founding of the Annapolis Naval Academy is the enduring monument of his secretaryship. And in the latter half of Polk's term, Robert C. Winthrop of Boston was Speaker of the House.
Edward Everett succeeded Webster at the head of the Department of State in Fillmore's administration, and Caleb Cushing of Newburyport was Franklin Pierce's Attorney-General at the same time that Nathaniel P. Banks of Waltham presided over the House of Representatives. Johnson appointed William M. Evarts Attorney-General and Hayes made him Secretary of State. Grant had George S. Boutwell of Groton for Secretary of the Treasury in his first term and Henry Wilson of Natick for Vice-President in the second term. General Charles Devens was Attorney-General under Hayes. In Cleveland's first administration, William C. Endicott of Salein was Secretary of War and, in his second, Richard Olney of Boston was successively Attorney-
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General and Secretary of State. John D. Long of Hingham was McKinley's Secretary of the Navy, and George von L. Meyer of Hamilton was in the Cabinets of both Roosevelt and Taft, with Frank H. Hitchcock of Somerville also hold- ing a portfolio under Taft. While John W. Weeks of Newton, previously a senator, was Secretary of War in the Harding administration, Vice-President Coolidge presided over a Senate led by Henry Cabot Lodge, with still another Massachusetts man, Frederick H. Gillett, seated in the Speaker's chair at the opposite end of the Capitol.
With the exception of Mr. Coolidge, Mr. Gillett and Mr. Evarts, the men enumerated here as serving in the Cabinet or in other places of distinction at Washington in those many administrations were all closely associated with the business, professional or political life of Boston. Moreover, Boston supplied the occasion, in the police strike of 1919, which led to the promotion of Governor Coolidge to the vice-presidency and thence to the presidency. Finally, Presi- dent Hoover drew upon the Adams family for Cabinet material and chose Charles Francis Adams of Boston for the Secretaryship of the Navy.
The city, with its metropolitan area, has been represented in the Supreme Court of the United States in all but thirty years since that great tribunal was organized in 1789. The services of Justices William Cushing of Scituate and Joseph Story of Cambridge, between them, covered the period until 1845, and Justice Benjamin Robbins Curtis of Boston served from 1851 to 1857. With the selection of Horace Gray of Boston as associate justice in 1881 and of Oliver Wendell Holmes of Boston as his successor in 1902, the city has held a place on the Supreme Bench continuously through half a century. The appointinent of Louis D. Brandeis in 1916 gave it two of the total of nine justices, until the unanimously regretted retirement of Justice Holmes in 1932, after twenty-nine years of service and as he was approaching his ninety-first birthday.
The two Boston members of the Court were foremost and sometimes alone in upholding a progressive interpretation of the Constitution. If one were called upon to select a group of the most eminent inen of Boston who have served the nation in the last fifty years, their names could not be omitted. The figure of Justice Holmes loomed so large after his retirement that it may be said to have influenced, if it did not actually determine, the choice of his successor. Clearly it was felt that no routine appointment would be acceptable for the seat that he had so spaciously filled. The contrast with a smaller man would be too violent. The President, therefore, ignoring sectional and other considera- tions, wisely fixed upon a jurist who not only shares the liberal outlook of Justice Holmes but by general consent has no superior in this country for judicial learning and integrity of character.
Justice Brandeis, distinguished in his youth as one of the most brilliant students ever graduated from the Harvard Law School, identified himself as a practising lawyer with cases involving important social issues. He was "counsel for the people" in several states in proceedings to establish the constitutionality of laws reducing the hours of labor and providing for a minimum wage, and was the driving force behind the movement which has resulted in the creation of a system of savings bank insurance in Massachusetts. Like Justice Holmes, he
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is a man of wide reading and of a general culture which is reflected not only in the admirable style of his judicial opinions but also in his books and articles, dealing characteristically with those social problems which are, perhaps, his chief interest in life.
If two Boston statesmen of the last fifty years were to be selected whose names might be held to match in importance those of Holmes and Brandeis, the choice probably would fall on Secretary of State Olney and Senator Lodge. Richard Olney, hardly less conspicuous than President Cleveland himself for strength of conviction and indomitable will, reaffirmed the Monroe Doctrine at a crisis in our international relations and, by so doing, served notice on all the great powers that there must be no further encroachment by them under any pretext on American territory. Henry Cabot Lodge, an accomplished historian and skillful debater, led the opposition in Congress to President Wilson upon his return from Europe after the World War and was without doubt the foremost individual factor in preventing the entrance of the United States into the League of Nations.
Boston has contributed a generous share of strength and wisdom to other departments of the government than Congress, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court. At the inauguration of the Federal Reserve System, President Wilson summoned Charles Sumner Hamlin to be a member of the Board and he has remained in that post since the organization of the Board in 1914. Frank William Taussig was called to be chairman of the Tariff Commission, for which post Robert Lincoln O'Brien afterward was chosen. The services of Jeremiah Smith, Jr., as commissioner general of the League of Nations for Hungary and of Roland William Boyden and Thomas Nelson Perkins in connection with the Reparations Commissions have given them a reputation which may fairly be called international.
Boston has continued to produce accomplished diplomats and skillful negotiators, as it did in the days of the Adamses. Citizens of the metropolitan district repeatedly have served as envoys to the great powers. One has been a governor-general of the Philippines and still another was the first minister to the Dominion of Canada. James Russell Lowell represented his country at the Courts of Spain and England, and Thomas Jefferson Coolidge was minister to France. George von Lengerke Meyer was ambassador first to Italy and then to Russia, where he conducted the delicate negotiations which resulted in President Roosevelt's successful intervention in the Russo-Japanese War. William F. Draper was ambassador to Italy; Larz Anderson minister to Belgium and ambassador to Japan; Curtis Guild ambassador to Russia, and George Fred Williams minister to Greece. After having been Governor-General of the Philippine Islands, William Cameron Forbes served as ambassador to Japan, where he was succeeded by another of our citizens, Joseph Clark Grew, who had been America's representative successively in Denmark, Switzerland and Turkey. Frederic Jesup Stimson has been ambassador to the Argentine Republic; William Phillips has represented his country in the Netherlands, Belgium and Canada, and A. C. Ratshesky in Czechoslovakia. Alanson B. Houghton, recently ambassador to Germany and to Great Britain, is a native
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of Cambridge and a graduate of Harvard. It may not be out of place to men- tion here that President Eliot was twice offered the post of ambassador to Great Britain and that the offers came from presidents of opposite political parties, Taft and Wilson.
The disproportionate share of leadership and leaders that Boston has given to the nation is the more impressive when viewed in the light of the fact that Massachusetts never was courted and flattered among the doubtful states until the election of 1928 and was in no position to demand consideration in exchange for electoral votes. But the City and the Commonwealth always have been invested with what President Cleveland termed a reflex influence, which has obtained for them a peculiar and great weight in the development of national public opinion. This is the tribute paid to the force of the ideas generated here and to the qualities of the men that those ideas have bred.
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CHAPTER V
THE FOUNDATIONS OF PROSPERITY-COMMERCE, INDUSTRY AND LABOR
THE COMMERCE OF THE PORT By MELVILLE D. LIMING
History, tradition and the ingenuity of an adventurous people - influenced largely by the necessity of wresting a livelihood from a section of the country which offered few important natural advantages - have formed an interest- ing and at times romantic background for the development of Boston's com- mercial greatness. In that development the port of Boston has become one of the major ocean gateways of America and the city an important factor in the affairs of the nation.
The craftsmen of Boston early became adept in the building of ships. Materials were abundant and the cost of turning out first-class sailing vessels in and near Boston was far below that of Europe. Before long England became an excellent customer for ships made by the colonists.
Trade with the West Indies sprang up. Boston vessels carried to those regions dried fish to feed the slaves, agricultural products and barrels for sugar. They brought back not only cargoes of molasses, which led to the thriving rum industry of New England, but also an increasing volume of credit in the form of drafts on London which the West Indian sugar growers exchanged for Boston merchandise. These drafts in turn were used for the purchase of such English manufactured products as were necessary to the colonies.
During the Revolution commerce naturally declined and there followed a period when Britain controlled the most lucrative trade. During the early years of the nineteenth century Britain and France were more or less con- stantly engaged in war, and American trade progressed favorably. American ships, however, were forced to submit to various indignities, among which were the seizure of cargoes and the impressment of seamen. Hoping to bring the warring nations to terms, the United States passed the Embargo Act in 1807, which forbade American vessels to leave port for foreign trade. Many American ships rotted away during this period but substantial profits accrued to those captains who successfully ran the risks of disregarding the embargo.
The War of 1812 dealt a serious blow to the commerce of the young country. Boston was among the ports blockaded and the decline of trade was tremendous. Many ships were sold and the capital thus obtained flowed to young manu- facturing enterprises. This capital produced goods which were later to increase the world trade of New England and its principal port, Boston.
For years New England vessels handled the bulk of America's commerce, its captains engaging in a highly lucrative triangular trade - carrying food and
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manufactured goods to the South, cargoes of cotton to London and thence back to New England with British manufactures.
American whaling vessels frequented the Atlantic and Pacific, bringing back huge quantities of oil, which in turn formed the basis of an important trade with the West Indies, South America and Europe.
Oriental trade developed extensively. Salem skippers brought large quantities of tea, copal, silks, wines, spices and other luxuries. Another development was the shipping of ice to South America and the Far East.
The discovery of gold in California created a new demand for shipping facilities. Despite the danger of the trip approximately 90,000 passengers were carried to the Pacific Coast during 1849. This business gave a great impetus to the building of sailing ships and created a demand for more speed with maxinrum carrying capacity. Between 1850 and 1860 Massachusetts, and principally Boston, produced the "Yankee clipper ships" which broke every existing sailing record. In 1855 about one third of the world's tonnage flew the flag of the United States.
About this time, however, iron vessels propelled by steam were appear- ing. Britain had an advantage in its already well-established iron industry. By 1860 the trend toward metal vessels was marked.
During the Civil War many vessels were. lost. Much capital was with- drawn and invested in manufacturing enterprises. By 1870 the supremacy of the metal steamer was established. Meanwhile the foundations of industry in general had been well laid. New England grew in importance as a manu- facturing region. The Middle West produced an ever-increasing surplus of agricultural products, much of which found an outlet through Eastern ports. This combination of factors stimulated the growth of facilities for trade and laid a broad foundation for the development of Boston as a great commercial center.
FIFTY YEARS OF COMMERCE
With the growth of America's great manufacturing and agricultural areas and the coming of millions of immigrants to share in the nation's growing prosperity, the commerce of Boston, as well as of other American ports, changed, reflecting the evolution of the nation's business activities.
Reliable data on the actual volume of Boston's seaport trade are available for the period beginning in 1905. For the period between 1905 and 1914 the average annual imports were 1,147,856 short tons. During the war period, however, or from 1915 to 1919, when foreign raw materials, which represented a large share of Boston's imports, were difficult to procure, there was a decline in tonnage. On the other hand, Boston exports expanded during this period, largely because of the use of the port as a base of government operations.
Since 1920 there has been a pronounced upward trend in the volume of Boston's imports. During this period the average annual tonnage has been 2,819,877, or considerably more than twice the volume of imports during the period from 1905 to 1914.
On account of a variety of factors, Boston's export commerce has declined in recent years; but there has been a substantial expansion of the port's coastal and intercoastal commerce.
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During the period from 1905 to 1922 Boston's domestic commerce, includ- ing shipments and receipts, averaged 7,289,620 short tons a year, with no considerable fluctuations in the yearly volume. Beginning in 1923, however, a marked increase in the importance of Boston as a domestic trading center became apparent. For the seven years, 1923-29, the average volume of Boston's domestic commerce, outbound and inbound, rose to 12,869,706 short tons, or an increase of 51.6 per cent over the 1905-22 period. No other American Atlantic port has shown such an increase in its coastwise trade during the same period.
This increase in both imports and seaboard traffic was responsible for a steadily increasing volume of total water-borne commerce at the port. For the five years from 1905 to 1909 the total tonnage of all water shipments to and from Boston, both foreign and domestic, averaged 9,287,607 tons. This volume rose to 9,442,787 short tons during the next five-year period. During the war, the total tonnage declined to a yearly average of 8,630,264 tons for the five-year period; but beginning in 1920 the upward trend was resumed in notable fashion. From 1920 to 1924 the average yearly tonnage in and out of Boston was 12,266, 178 and during the following five years, includ- ing 1929, the yearly average amounted to 16,784,558 short tons. This growth in Boston's total water-borne commerce represents an increase of 55.6 per cent during a period of twenty-five years.
Boston, taking all classes of water traffic into consideration, has main- tained its traditionally high position as a port and today is among the first three Atlantic ports in the total of water-borne commerce. Only New York and Philadelphia outrank it, according to the figures published by the United States Shipping Board, covering the calendar year 1930.
As a terminus for overseas passenger travel, Boston is second only to New York. The facilities for handling passengers at Boston are good.
It is of interest to examine the causes for the growth in Boston's trade. As our manufactures have increased, so have the demands for raw materials increased, and usually this has meant more commerce for Boston. For instance, the importation of coffee increased from 2,784 tons in 1920 to 22,798 tons in 1929; of rubber from 1,307 tons in 1920 to 17,277 tons in 1929; of wood pulp from 40,687 tons in 1920 to 232,686 tons in 1929; of cocoa from a negligible amount in 1920 to 15,877 tons in 1929. In the period from 1914 to 1929 the value of raw materials used in New England manufactures almost doubled, standing at the latter date in excess of $3,000,000,000 annually. This has formed the basis for the growth of coastal and intercoastal shipments, especially to those sections easily reached by ocean transportation. The value of the manufactured products has increased from slightly under three billion dollars in 1914 to over six billion in 1929.
FACTORS AFFECTING BOSTON'S EXPORT TRADE
Boston has labored under several handicaps which the Boston Chamber of Commerce for many years has persistently endeavored to have removed. Among these are the rail rate differentials granted to Baltimore, Hampton Roads, Philadelphia and Montreal on export and import traffic from and to the territory west of Buffalo and Pittsburgh.
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The export differentials, while amounting to a maximum of sixty cents per ton in the case of Baltimore and Hampton Roads and forty cents per ton in the case of Montreal and Philadelphia, have been sufficient to handicap Boston in competition with the other ports for the bulk commodities of the interior. The export differentials have remained practically fixed for more than half a century despite substantial increases in freight rates in recent years. While less of a handicap than when lower rates were in effect, they nevertheless have been sufficient to maintain the diversion to other ports of much export traffic that Boston formerly enjoyed by reason of its natural advantages. This is especially true of ex-lake grain for export, on which Baltimore and Philadelphia have differentials of one-half cent per hundred pounds under Boston.
In 1877, after numerous rate wars, the railroads serving the several North Atlantic ports agreed to establish and maintain rail differentials from the interior to the several North Atlantic ports substantially the same as those now in effect, but the agreement expressly stated that the agreed differentials were for the purpose of equalizing the through rail and ocean rates via the several ports. Boston could not well object to this because rates of the steamship lines from the other ports were then greater by approximately the amount of the rail differentials.
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