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 26
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The largest of the mail order houses is Sears, Roebuck and Company, founded in 1893. By 1907 its sales had exceeded $50,000,000 and by the end of the World War they were approximately $230,000,000. In 1925 they began to establish their chain store system, which called for stores of three different classes: large departinent stores for the big cities, smaller department stores for smaller cities, and specialty stores carrying such items as tires and radios for locations determined as appropriate. Their aggregate sales in 1928 were approximately $320,000,000. Since the recent establishment of their large branch at Audubon road and Brookline avenue, in which one of their larger department stores is also in operation, they have opened a smaller department store in Cambridge and several specialty stores around suburban Boston.
While it seems probable that the mail order business as such, for various reasons, has already reached its zenith, the entry of the big companies into competition with both the chains and the department stores would seem to extend their possibilities of further progress over many years to come.
PROBABLE FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
There have been some who have contended that the department store has already reached the acme of its development. It is at least significant that we are not observing the founding of new department stores to any great extent except on the part of the mail order houses. On the other hand, it does not yet appear that the chain store has reached the saturation point, although in certain districts the competition of similar chain stores has begun to assume serious proportions. It would seem that the further extension of chain department stores and the merger of competing chains generally would be a normal development of the future.
As for the independent stores, the outlook is less definite. While their mission has been menaced by the advances of all the other types, it is still a fact that in aggregate volume the sales of the independents are greater than those of all the department stores, mail order houses and chain stores put together. The successful independent will continue to profit by efficiently
COMMON
"THE GREAT ILLUMINATED TREE" (See Page 83)
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FIFTY YEARS OF BOSTON
supplying the needs of his neighborhood, especially those not adequately fur- nished by his competitors. It is a safe assumption that we shall always have a place for the independent store.
Notwithstanding the fact that the rapid development of other parts of the country during the last half-century has admittedly affected certain districts of New England adversely in some of their major industrial interests, the out- look for Boston is still one of large promise for the future. Nearly half the population of Massachusetts lives in the metropolitan district within a radius of fifteen miles from the State House. This population is now approximately 2,000,000, which makes it the most densely settled area in America. The people have not only a high average level of intelligence but also a high per- centage of technical skill and a traditional aptitude for commercial and indus- trial enterprise.
Ambitious plans for the solution of Boston's railroad problems, the exten- sion of arterial highways, the further development of our excellent harbor facilities and the enlargement of the airport are already in the making. The future wholesale and retail trade of the community will naturally be benefited by these improvements.
CONCLUSION
It will be obvious to any reader acquainted with the business life of Boston that many branches of trade flourish here besides those that have been con- sidered in this article. Nothing has been said, for example, of wool, though Boston is the greatest wool center in America. Its wool sales houses and affiliated concerns occupy many blocks in the business district and the store- houses, stretching eastward along Summer street, culminate at the corner of D street in the largest wool storehouse in the world, an imposing and charac- teristic landmark for vessels entering the inner harbor. Hundreds of firms or corporations are engaged in other trades, such as leather and leather products, rubber, chocolate, spices, tea and coffee, paper, tobacco, musical instruments, market staples, fish, tools, flowers, garden implements. Many of these houses are fifty years old, not a few a hundred, some even older. They contribute to the prosperity of the city, making it an emporium and entrepôt for a great part of New England. Their variety offers one more illustration of the versatility of the New England mind. Some of them, no doubt, will be treated elsewhere in this book. The particular trades discussed here are merely a selection, representing fairly, it would seem, the activities of the city as a marketing center. It may be said of them that they are among the most characteristic of all and that the others in varying degrees are subject to the same conditions and display the same tendencies.
EDITORIAL NOTE
Figures not available when Mr. Fitzpatrick's able article was written show definitely the high rank which Boston holds in the wholesale and retail trades.
In the wholesale trade it stands third among the cities of this country, surpassing all others except New York and Chicago. More than half the wholesale trade of New Eng- land is transacted here. According to the census, Boston in 1930 had 3,504 wholesale estab-
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WHOLESALE AND RETAIL TRADE
lishments, which employed 46,425 persons. The total volume of trade was $2,270,213,087. The salarics and wages paid amounted to more than $98,000,000. The principal products, classified, with the percentage of the total sales volume for each group, are given in the appended table:
Food products 26
per cent Raw materials, including wool, leather, mohair, raw cotton, hides and skins 20.8 per cent Clothing and furnishings, dry goods and notions, textiles and textile materials 14.4 per cent
Machinery, electrical goods, hardware, plumbing and heating equip- ment 8.8 per cent
Metals and metal work, petroleum, coal and coke 7.2 per cent
Automobiles and equipment, lumber and building materials, paper and paper products, chemicals and paints, furniture and house furnishings, drugs and drug sundries 12.3 per cent
In the retail trade Boston is rated as the leading market in the United States in pro- portion to its population. The per capita sales in 1930 were SS77.75, which was more than double the per capita spendings of the country as a whole. Tribute is paid in the census report to the enterprise of the merchants of Boston, "who have been for years the originators and energetic promoters of new and progressive merchandising methods."
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LABOR PROGRESS IN BOSTON, 1880 TO 1930
By ETHEL M. JOHNSON
OUTLINE
1. Character of the period.
2. Statistics of employment.
11. Welfare work for employees.
3. Changes in general.
12. Working conditions.
4. Housing.
13. Labor legislation.
5. Opportunities for recreation and self- improvement.
14. Organization of workers.
15. Women in trade unions.
16. Workers' education.
17. Contribution made by Boston to labor progress.
18. Some of the things remaining.
CHARACTER OF THE PERIOD
Significant in the labor movement of the country, the period from 1880 to 1930 is of particular importance in the history of that movement in Massa- chusetts and in Boston. The half-century just closed is marked by the organi- zation of workers' groups into state and national federations, by the growth of trade unions in numbers and in influence, and by the development of public interest in the problems of labor.
It is a period of rapid expansion of industry; of vast industrial changes which have had a profound influence upon labor. It is a period which has seen the extensive application of science and invention to industry, the development of mass production, the increasing mechanization of industry and the creation of giant corporations which were scarcely dreamed of fifty years ago. These changes have been accompanied by the movement from the farms to the cities, by the increasing entrance of women into industry and by a rising tide of immi- gration which was checked only near the end of the period under consideration.
It is a period characterized also by labor and social welfare legislation. Many of the important measures for the protection of working men and women which are on the statutes today were passed during the half-century just closed. Employers' liability, workmen's compensation, weekly payment of wages, factory sanitation, industrial codes, provision for the health and safety of employees, night work regulations for women and children, minimum wage legislation - these are some of the labor measures enacted during the past fifty years.
Many of the movements in the interest of labor and social betterment had their inception during this period. Others, dating from an earlier day, achieved success within this time. The probation system, the juvenile court, the playground movement, old-age pensions, mothers' aid, woman suffrage, workers' education, vocational training in the public schools, rehabilita- tion of industrial cripples- these are movements of interest to labor that belong to the period in question.
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6. Workingmen's clubs and homes.
7. Wages.
8. Cost of living.
9. Unemployment.
10. Hours of employment.
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LABOR
In many of these measures and movements Massachusetts played a prominent part. In a number Boston men and women took the initiative and supplied the leadership.
The prominence of Boston in these matters is logical. Boston is not only the seat of the capitol, it is the largest city in the state. It is also a center of education and culture. It has been said that Boston has more artists per garret than any other city in the country. From its founding it has been a mecca for liberal thought and action. Many organizations of a state-wide nature --- some of national character - have their headquarters here.
From its position as the principal seaport and railroad terminal Boston serves a large section of the state. The metropolitan district includes more than half of the population of the Commonwealth and a large part of the industries and of the persons gainfully employed.
STATISTICS OF EMPLOYMENT
Fifty years ago the population of Boston was 362,839, of which number 172,268 were males and 190,561 females. For 1930 the corresponding figures are: Population, 781,188; males, 383,454; females, 397,734. If labor is broadly interpreted to include those gainfully employed, then nearly half (45.4 per cent) of the entire population of Boston today comes within that classification.
In 1880 the number gainfully employed was 149,194, or forty-one per cent of the population at that time. By 1930 the numbers had advanced to 355,352, an increase of more than 138 per cent. This is a larger increase than that in the population as a whole, which had increased 115 per cent during the period. The difference is largely explained by the marked increase in the number and proportion of women gainfully employed - an increase from 38,751 in 1880 to 108,287 in 1930, or nearly 180 per cent. During the same time the number of men gainfully employed advanced from 110,313 to 246,651, an increase of 123.5 per cent.
Comparison in the aggregate and by sex of the persons employed in the principal occupations in 1880 and in 1930 is given in Tables 1A and 1B at the end of this article. Some idea of the remarkable changes that have taken place in industry, commerce and finance during the last fifty years is conveyed by an examination of these figures.
They reveal that certain lines, such as private domestic service and the garment trades, have remained practically stationary. Phenomenal advances, however, have been made in the iron and steel industry, in the telegraph busi- ness and in banking and insurance. In each instance the increase in the numbers employed is more than 1000 per cent.
There have also been large increases in the building trades, in the shoe and textile industries, in steam and street railroads, and in public and pro- fessional service. The numbers engaged in professional service, for instance, have increased more than 600 per cent during the period considered. Other lines with marked increases are food industries, hotels and boarding houses, and laundries. The increases here are perhaps an indication of the changes in home life that have come with the extensive employment of women outside the home.
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FIFTY YEARS OF BOSTON
CHANGES IN GENERAL
What have these vast changes in industry and employment meant to the wage-earner? What has been their effect on wages and on the standard of living? How are they to be interpreted in terms of labor's well-being? The forces that revolutionized industry during the past half-century necessarily liad a marked influence upon the lives of those industrially employed. There have been sweeping changes in the social and economic conditions of working men and women within this period. Habits and customs have altered. The manner of living today is widely different from that of the 80's.
Fifty years ago there were no automobiles. The radio had not been invented. There were no motion pictures. Electric lights, electric elevators and trolley cars were unknown. The telephone for all practical purposes belonged to the future. Steamn heat and modern plumbing were not in general use. Gas was the principal means of lighting. In many of the poorer houses oil lamps were still in use. The homes of the well-to-do were equipped with hot air furnaces. The tenements where many of the working classes lived were often heated only by coal or wood stoves .-
Horse-drawn vehicles furnished the chief means of transportation within the city. The wealthy kept horses or used cabs. The masses walked or rode in the horse cars. These were lumbering affairs, with the floors covered with straw in winter to keep the passengers' feet from freezing.
The standard of living has been raised materially since that time. The average workingman's family in Boston today has comforts and conveniences that in the 80's were undreamed of or were regarded as luxuries for the rich. In few respects is the advance more striking than that in housing accommodations and living arrangements.
HOUSING
There are still unsightly tenement sections in Boston. An enlightened policy on the part of the city, however, is providing for the removal of a certain part each year until all have been removed and modern houses or parks and playgrounds constructed in their place. Despite the shortcomings of some of the present conditions, there has been a vast improvement in the housing of the working classes over that existing fifty years ago.
The early reports of the Bureau of Statistics contain surveys which denounce vigorously the foul, unhealthy quarters in which many of the poorer workers in Boston lived at that time. Although these studies antedate by a few years the period under consideration, they may give some indication of conditions that were still found in 1880.
An article on homes of the working classes in the report of the Bureau for 1872 states that old houses and other buildings are fitted up and filled to their utmost capacity with tenants crowded in too close for health or decency. They are described as "hovels rotting with damp and mold, surrounded by puddles reeking with stenchy garbage, putrid cesspools and uncleansed drains."
Referring to the unskilled laborers, the author of the report states that their homes are in the tenement houses such as described above or in small shanties such as were to be found at that time by hundreds on the inarshy and low lands of Boston and vicinity.
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LABOR
"These homes of the poor, both in their surroundings and interior accomodations, are but miserable places. Poverty is every where appar- ent. There are no well-paved streets, no grassy parks for children's playgrounds. In their place are pools of stagnant water, filthy alleys and back yards full of mire, mud and disease-breeding filth. These homes have no parlor with carpeted floors, easy-chairs or pictured walls. The furnishings of the living room and bedchamber are all the demand that they make, and even this demand must take the goods of the junk and second-hand trader, while their clothes are the cleansed and mended cast-off garments of the second-hand dealer."
A survey of the conditions of workingmen's families in Boston and in other sections of the state is included in the Report of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor, 1875. Two of the illustrations of conditions in Boston, apparently typical at that time, taken from this survey are given below. One pictures the family of an unskilled laborer, the other that of a skilled craftsman.
LABORER ON WHARF
Earnings of father.
$221
Earnings of wife.
110
$331
Condition .- Family numbers five, parents and three children from two to ten years of age. Live in three rooms in a tenement block, with miserable surroundings. The apart- ments are poorly furnished and inconvenient. Family ill-dressed. The mother goes out washing and the father worked but very little last year; would have starved if they had not received assistance; most of their clothing was given to them. The fuel used by this family is picked from the streets by the children.
Food .-- Breakfast. Bread, coffee sweetened with molasses.
Dinner. Bread, meat twice per week, potatoes. Supper. Bread, sometimes butter, coffee.
Cost of living.
Rent. .
$96 00 Fish.
$4 40
Groceries.
199 53
Sundries
9 67
Meat.
21 40
CABINET-MAKER
Earnings of father
SSS0
Condition .- Family numbers four, parents and two children of six and nine years of age; both go to school. Live in the suburbs, in a tenement of four rooms, in a pleasant neighborhood with good surroundings. The apartments are well furnished and are carpeted. Own a piano, also a sewing machine. Family dresses well and attends church.
Food .- Breakfast. Hot biscuits, butter, meat or eggs, cake, tea.
Dinner. Bread, butter, meat, potatoes, vegetables, pie or pudding, tea.
Supper. Bread, butter, fruit or sauce, cake, tea.
Cost of living.
SS20 82
Rent
$192 00 Fislı
$6 80 Dry goods
$21 90
Fuel
41 75 Milk
38 60
Papers 10 00
Groceries
261 89 Boots and shoes 30 00
Religion
24 00
Meat ..
99 50 Clothing 60 7
Sundries 33 60
OPPORTUNITIES FOR RECREATION AND SELF-IMPROVEMENT
Opportunities for recreation and amusement were more limited in the 80's than at present. Working hours were much longer and employees had less
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$331
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FIFTY YEARS OF BOSTON
leisure time. In a city like Boston, however, a variety of forms of entertain- ment were available. An article on the social life of working men in 1880 * lists the following kinds of entertainment offered in Boston: Baseball, rowing and sailing clubs, picnics and outings, lyceums, literary and debating societies, improvement societies, concerts and dramatic entertainments, music clubs, choirs and brass bands. There were also art clubs, exhibitions and museums. The Lowell Institute and the Boston Public Library offered further opportunity for intellectual improvement.
The lyceum was still popular, but its power was beginning to wane as newspapers came into more general use. A contemporary writer comments thus:
"Literary and debating societies are numerous, and by their dis- cussion and entertainment contribute largely to the form of social and educational opportunities. The press has, however, to a great extent usurped the former functions of both the lecture platform and debating society. The reader takes the place of the listener, and thus these schools of oratory have ceased to graduate orators as they once did."
Not all entertainment, even in Boston, was of a literary type. The Survey on the Social Life of Working Men just quoted, states that the city is well supplied with halls for dancing, billiard rooms and bowling alleys, and driving parks; that Boston maintains eleven theaters with an aggregate seating capacity of 15,000; that in the majority the established prices range from 15 cents a seat to $1.50, the average being 662 cents. It is further noted that
"Boston maintains thirteen free bathing houses for males, six for females and one for males and females at different hours.
"Every year there is an increase in the volume of picnic travel in Boston. There are within thirty miles of the city five first-class picnic groves, owned or controlled by the various railroad companies, besides numerous private groves obtainable for a moderate sum. These, together with the harbor and beach resorts, place within the reach of the middle and working classes abundant opportunities for cheap excursions which are eagerly improved.
"Statistics received from various railroads leading from the city indicate that about 125,000 picnic passengers were transported to and from Boston in 1879. Within the past few years several summer amusement gardens have been established in Boston. Some of these have been fostered by the horse railroad companies, and all are easily reached from the thickly-settled portions of the city proper."
The public celebration of patriotic holidays furnished further entertain- ment for the working classes. An account of a Fourth of July celebration in Boston in 1880 may be of interest in this connection.
"On the Fourth of July forty-eight entertainments were given during the day for the children in the public schools. Each entertainment
* Report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics for 1880.
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LABOR
was an hour in length. They were of the following classes: Three concerts by first-class talent at the Boston Theater, seven sleight-of- hand performances at various hours, six musical and variety enter- tainments. The balance consisted of miscellaneous exhibitions, ventriloquists, shows of trained birds, etc. The other features of the Fourth of July celebration were as follows: Rowing regattas on the Charles river and Jamaica Pond, sailing regatta in the harbor, bicycle race on Huntington avenue, concert of consolidated bands on the Common, and fireworks."
WORKINGMEN'S CLUBS AND HOMES
There were a few institutions in Boston in 1880 that offered to working men and women some of the privileges of a club and social center. The Roxbury Young Men's Free Union, established in 1877, is mentioned as the pioneer in this respect. A free reading room for workingmen was opened at 281 Hanover street, in March, 1878, under the auspices of St. Paul's Church. Two years later the Wells Memorial Workingmen's Club and Institute was established. It is described as an actual workingmen's club, managed by workers under the trusteeship of the Wells Memorial Association.
The club maintained a reading room with library and an amusement room for checkers and other games. In one room smoking was allowed. Social gatherings were held every fortnight, with occasional lectures or other enter- tainments. The club, a few months after its establishment in 1880, numbered 200 members, composed of mechanics, teamsters and laborers. In addition to these clubs there were such institutions as the Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Associations and the Young Men's Christian Union.
For working women there was an institution at 1031 Washington street called "Boffin's Bower." This was organized in 1870, with the financial support of the leading employers of women and girls in the city at that time. It was conducted under the direction of Miss Jennie Collins.
Its purpose was to furnish to working girls and women literary and musical entertainment. A free reading room and an employment bureau were main- tained. No fees were charged in connection with the placements or any services of the Bower. The entertainments were open without charge to all working women who desired to attend. The Bower afforded to women out of work a comfortable place in which to stay during the day, and also food and shelter at night for those unable to procure this for themselves. Young girls, strangers in the city, were cared for and assisted in procuring work.
A temporary home for women in domestic service who were out of employ- ment was maintained at 17 Davis street, Boston. Here a girl could get a meal or a night's lodging for fifteen cents. If she had no money, she was permitted to stay for five days while effort was made to help her in securing work.
The Young Women's Christian Association on Warrenton street accom- modated in 1883 about sixty girls. They paid for board, lodging and washing from $3 to $5 a week. Today, at the same institution, the working girl pays for room and fourteen meals from $7.75 to $10.25 a week.
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FIFTY YEARS OF BOSTON
WAGES AND COST OF LIVING
What wages did working men and women in Boston receive in the 80's? What did it cost them to live? How did they fare in the matter of employment? If their standard of living was lower, if they lacked many of the material advan- tages enjoyed by workers today, did they gain in the stability of their jobs?
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