History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 93

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1538

USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 93

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At the time of Dagyr's arrival, 1750, there were but three men in Lynn who carried on the business to such extent as to employ journeymen; and these

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

were William Gray (grandfather of the rich mer- elant, so extensively known by the inelegant sobri- quet of " Billy Gray "), John Mansfield and Benjamin Newhall; the latter, the writer is pleased in being able to say, was his great-grandfather.

Down to the Revolution the business moved on- ward, but its progress way slow. And during the war, like most other matters of trade, it was sadly depressed. Soon after the return of peace it began to show renewed strength, and was presently recog- nized as the leading employment of the place. Some of the shrewd business men seeming to have a proph- etic vision of the position it was destined to occupy in future years, vigorously set about placing its inter- ests on as firm a footing as possible. Several ener- getic workers to that end are more worthy of being remembered than some others who are extolled as public benefactors. There was Ebenezer Breed, a native of the town. He made himself acquainted with all that was to be learned in Lynn, and while yet a young man went to Philadelphia, where he en- gaged in a profitable business connected with the trade here. In 1792 he visited Europe, and not only sent over quantities of the better and most fash- ionable kinds of shoe stock, but also some skilled workmen to instruct the operatives at home in the more elegant mysteries of the art. He seemed de- termined to prove that as fine and substantial shoes could be made in Lynn as in Europe, and he snc- ceeded. But the business in a measure langnished, for shoes could be imported from England and France and sold cheaper than the manufacturers here could turn them ont. Finding such to be the condition of things, Mr. Breed, in conjunction with some others in the trade at Philadelphia, set about endeavoring to induce Congress, which then held its sessions in that city, to impose a duty on imported shoes sufficient to protect the home manufacture. They resorted to a little shrewd management to effect their purpose. Among other schemes a dinner party was given, for they well knew that an appeal to the stomach is in many cases more irresistible than an appeal to the head. Sundry members of Congress were invited to the banquet, as well as divers charming ladies, among the latter the fascinating Quaker widow, Dolly Todd, once Dolly Payne, and afterward Mrs. President Madison. Mr. Madison himself, who was an influen- tial member of Congress, was also there. One or two of the ladies appear to have been aware of the ulter- ior purpose of the party, and ant averse to assisting in making it a success. It need only be added that a very satisfactory act was passed, and Lynn rose on the event. Perhaps facts like these may partially account for the pertinacity with which our people have all along adhered to the protective tariff system. Poor human nature is such that self-interest has much to do with shaping principles.

Without attempting to follow the progress of the trade into minute details, it may be well to state a

few facts that will enable one to judge of its growth. In 1810 there were manufactured here just about 1,000,000 pairs, and they amounted in value to $800,000. The earnings of the female binders reached $50,000. Twenty years later, that is in 1830, the number of pairs made was, in round numbers, 1,670,- 000, Lynnfield having been set off in 1814 and Sau- gus in 1815. Twenty-five years later, that is, in 1855, the number of pairs is found to have been 9,275,593, Swampscott having been set off in 1852 and Nahant in 1853. From 1865 to 1875 there were made, on an average, not less than 10,000,000 pairs a year, of the average value of $1.20 a pair.

But a statement of the condition of the shoe trade at the present time would no doubt be most interest- ing as well as useful, and it is proposed to attempt it with some fullness.

Colonel Wright, in his synopsis of the last United States Census, gives

The number of shoe factories in Lynn as 174

The average number of employees as . 10,708

Capital invested .

$4,263,250

Wages paid in one year

1,931,530

Stock used 12,918,221

Value of product

20,916,867

Gross profit .

3,097,296

Estimated interest und expenses 2,350,482

Net profit or loss 746,814

Average yearly product per employee 1,956

Average yearly net profit per employee 70

Average yearly earnings for each employce 461

Percontage mon employed . 71.7

Percentage women employed

28.

Percentage children employed . .3

These latest published figures show that $668,280 more were paid in wages, in a single year, than the total capital invested. Equally remarkable is the high yearly average of earnings for each employee, which, it should be remembered, is the average for men, women and children. It is also satisfactory to learn that less than one-third of one per cent. of all Lynn shoe employees are children. The careful at- tention given, in recent years, to collecting statistics of employees and wages makes the reports of statisti- cal bureaus unusually interesting and instructive. In- dustrial information is eagerly sought, and an especial interest has centred in examining the progress of the shoe industry, because of its wonderful development and because that development is the result of Ameri- can ingenuity.

Although the shoe business has such a powerful hold on the every-day life of the people of Lynn, lofty shoe factories do not, by any means, constitute the whole of Lynn's wealth and enterprise. Wherever factories of any kind are located, there naturally spring up a seore of subsidiary industries engaged in producing articles which may be used as component parts of a staple product. Lynn, rich in its hundreds of large and small supply factories, which furnish al- most everything from tacks, boxes and blacking, to the beautifully finished kid skins of the great morocco factories, is not an exception. From sumac-filled

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vats, sunk deep in the grouud, up five and six stories, the city is devoted to every department of its chosen industry. Above ground and below ground the busi- ness centre of the city is thoroughly dedicated to pro- ductiveness.

To speak of leather-scented Lynn is almost to speak the literal truth. From tall chimneys, which stand above ponderous boilers and powerful engines, pours forth the smoke of leather shavings and leather re- fuse, swept from the busy workrooms. Thus every- thing serves its purpose. Hundreds of leather-shaping machines furnish ton upon ton of fuel for the great

boilers. As moisture from vegetation is taken up by the sun, and formed into clouds which pour forth rain to increase the same vegetation, so old leather assists in the manufacture of new leather. Every piece of discarded leather has a value. Thin shavings are pasted and pressed into some new form, fibrous pieces are ground into leather board, and even a ton of fac- tory sweepings has a marketable value. Thus from the time the tanner sells the hair shaved from the skin, to the timethe skin is cut and split into a thousand pieces, every particle has a use and value.

The activity and bustle of Lynn people is, in no small measure, due to association with swiftly-moving machinery. Indeed, it is almost impossible to work with people who are always in a hurry to keep up with machinery without catching the same habit. There is nothing lazy about Lynn. It is distinctively a city of workers when there is work to do. There are, unfortunately, seasons of the year when trade is at a low ebb, and there is therefore a necessity for making the most of it when the factories are in mo- tion. There are two busy seasons, one during Janu- ary, February and March, when summer goods are manufactured, the other during July, August and September, when winter goods are manufactured. The Western market generally requires goods earliest, the Baltimore and Southern market next, the Philadel- phia, New York and New England markets latest. Western wholesale buyers order sample pairs of the next summer's styles as early as the preceding Octo- ber, and for winter wear as early as the preceding March. Summer is as much a preparation for winter, and winter for summer, in shoe manufacturing, as in any other great industry. Although six months in the year probably comprise the busy seasons, yet there are often factories which run exceptionally steady through the greater part of the year. In fact, there is some trade in every factory every week in the year, as samples, sample orders and duplicate orders fill up a great amount of time between the seasons. The un- certainty of constant employment calls for good wages, so that during the husy season operatives earn a hand- some sum, which, if it could only be continued throughout the year, would make the trade of shoe- making very desirable. The dull times, however, put the annual income at no more than a supporting av- erage.

The conduct and ownership of Lynn factories is decidedly different from that of most manufacturing cities. In the large mill cities especially the facto- ries are owned by corporations, and often only a small percentage of the stock is owned by residents. The profits of the corporation are paid to non-resi- dents, who may have little interest in the city's pros- perity. Not so in Lynn. Lynn is almost wholly owned by Lynn residents. Wages and profits alike contribute to the city's advancement. There are no stock corporations, but every firm manages its own business. By the industry and perseverance of its own citizens, Lynn has increased its wealth, and taken a proud position among the foremost manufacturing cities of the world. Prosperity is not borrowed, but is a home product.

Wages in Lynn are paid weekly. It has been so ever since factories were first established, being an outgrowth of the old custom of paying the shoe- maker for his work as soon as finished. Saturday is the great pay-day. Lynn shoe manufacturers have always been well rated in the financial world, and no doubt much of their sound financial standing is dne to frequent payments. They have an immense cash paid-up capital in labor alone, all of the time, and as labor is estimated as about one-fourth the value of the manufactured product, Lynn manufac- turers would pay one-fourth immediate cash for all their bills, even if they did not pay any more. Labor bills are preferred bills in Lynn, and its good effect is seen on every hand. A "nimble sixpence " has always been a Lynn business principle, and any other system would seem unnatural.

Lynn operatives have never been called to work by factory bells. Nominally there are fifty-nine working hours in the week, but practically there is so much work done by the piece that operatives work a much smaller number of hours. Factory whistles give alarms at seven o'clock in the morning, at twelve o'clock noon, and at one and six o'clock in the after- noon. Those employed by the week observe these hours, excepting on Saturday, when work is over at five o'clock. Almost every kind of work is piece- work, as even in work done by the week there is some stated amount to perform, which is practically the same. There is unusual freedom in entering and leaving factories, and a time-keeper from some strictly-conducted industry would no doubt consider Lynn perfectly demoralized. It would be hard to name a place where employees can be more indepen- dent and more fully allowed to regulate their own time than in the factories of Lynn.

Lynn employees live well, dress well and are very thrifty. They live for the most part in detached houses arranged for one or two families. There are very few tenement blocks, and on the average there is one house to every seven persons of the whole population. Manufacturers, as a rule, are not large real estate owners, and do not attempt to house their

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

own employees, as is often the case with corpora- tions. The employees themselves are large real estate owners, hundreds of houses being owned by thrifty workmen and workingwomen, who have built for themselves neat little homes. Until recent years people still preserved land for kitchen gardening, even in streets contiguous to the business centre. These gardens are gradually filling up, but the same custom still exists in the outlying streets. Lynn owes much to its working people. Had they been less intelligent and industrious, the city could never have grown so evenly and so neatly as it has. Had the working people been less willing to build houses with their surplus earnings, the increasing population could never have been so comfortably accommodated. Manufacturers needed money for increasing business, and could never have afforded to build the houses as fast as they were needed. Lynn has been the mutnal success of employers and em- ployed, and a history of its progress which failed to give proper credit to its small property-owners would do injustice to the people-the bone and sinew of the community.

As is the case in every other great industrial com- munity, Lynn capitalists and workmen have often- times disagreed on the equivalent to be paid for labor. A general disagreement has almost always resulted in a strike. It is a strange fact that strikes almost invariably occur with most frequency in years of great business depression, when manufacturers can least afford to pay increased wages, and when work- men can least afford to remain idle. The success of a strike depends greatly on the efficiency of labor organization and the confidence of the members in the leaders. There are periods when organizations spring up in great numbers, and other times when the members lose interest and the organizations are less powerful. Disagreements between capital and labor are no modern invention. The good old doc- trine of "bearance and forbearance " will do more to engender good feeling than anything else. Water is bound to seek its own level. If the market will war- rant it, prices go up, and if there is no demand, prices must go down. Prices get where they belong, de- spite remonstrance, strikes and differences of opinion. No combination of capital or organization of labor can arbitrarily permanently establish them. For a short time it may be possible to govern them, but that progress which changes trades and trade methods is no respecter of combinations or organizations, and grades and levels prices in accordance with the prosperity or adversity of the existing generation. It is for us to adjust ourselves to changing circum- stances with as little friction and as peacefully as pos- sible.

The process of shoe manufacturing does not neces- sitate so large a plant nor so expensive an outlay as textile manufacturing. Shoes are composite, and the shoe industry is composite. The shoemakers take a

number of manufactured articles, and sew and nail them together in a stylish, shapely manner, thus pro- ducing a shoe. There are few chemicals to evaporate if manufacturing ceases for a day, a month or a year. Nearly everything in shoemaking represents work. When work stops, the factory process stops. There is no boiling, mixing or dyeing process going on while the shoemaker sleeps, but his guiding eye and hand are necessary to progress. Water, blacking, glue, paste, cement and applied finishes are all the liquids that enter into the process of shoemaking. In temper- ing stock, water exclusively is used, every other liquid being for external application. On account of this simplicity, shoes can be made economically in a very small compass, with little outlay, or can be made in great factories with a perfect wealth of machinery. It is a versatile business, and depends on the energy and perseverance of the manufacturer. It is more a business of the people than any great textile industry possibly can be. It is possible for a mechanic to rise from the lowest to the highest position. There are even workingmen's co-operative factories. The work- men invest a sum of money in the enterprise, are paid the same wages as are paid in other factories, and are to share in the profits. Shoe manufacturing needs industry, economy and a natural talent for making business success, like any other pursuit. Small be- ginnings are just as possible to-day in any business as they ever were, and are just as inconvenient. The convenience only of a large capital seemingly makes it a necessity. Oftentimes a comparatively newly es- tablished firm will outstrip veteran manufacturers in the race for trade. This has a tendency to keep trade progressive, and no doubt will contribute to its per- manence. With the constant invention of improved machinery and tools, the style of conducting business changes about as often as the styles of shoes.

To small capitalists venturing into the shoe busi- ness, contractors are a great assistance. With their help a man can manufacture shoes at a very small outlay. There are contractors to do almost every- thing. Large manufacturers even have a large part of their upper-stitching done by contractors. But to the small manufacturer, the shoemaking contractor, with a line of machinery, is incalculably valuable. He not only contracts for making the shoe, but will even provide lasts and everything necessary to be used. It is possible for a man to have one small room for headquarters, and yet, by contract, arrange for the transaction of an extensive and profitable busi- ness. The product does not have that distinctive in- dividuality, however, which belongs to individual factories, because several manufacturers are often supplied by one contractor. But it serves to show how thoroughly Lynn is equipped for the business in all its phases.

Not only in our country, but beyond the seas, the fame of Lynn factories has attracted notice. During the year 1885 a young man, the son of a wealthy

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LYNN.

German, made his home in Lynn and worked on dif- ferent machines in a Lynn shoe factory, studying the ways of Yaukee shoemaking. American machines and Lynn machines have made their way all over the world, attracting great attention and interest. Lynn is only one large customer for her own great supply dealers who make the city their headquarters. Lynn supplies go to a dozen foreign countries as well as all over the United States.

If a person were to ask what grade of goods were manufactured in Lynn, he would be told everything in the shape of a shoe. The staple grade is a medium and low-priced article for ladies, misses and children, but there are also several prosperous firms manufac- turing for men, boys and youth. In ladies' wear, ev- erything is made from elegant hand-sewed French kid button boots and delicate beaded velvet toilet slippers to shoes of cheaper material, which are made for the million. Everything that can be thought of or desired for American wear is made in Lynn. There are some goods made for export, but the goods for foreign wear form a very small part of the year's hus- iness.

Lynn represents a city built without any natural advantages, excepting a healthy situation and beauti- ful natural attractions. There is no reason why it should have become a prosperous city more than many another, and it would not have become so but for the untiring industry, energy and perseverance of its inhabitants. The city is blessed with a very poor harbor, has no extensive water-power privilege, is not a great railroad centre, and, until a few years since, had only one steam railroad privilege. Its close proximity to Boston has, until recent years, been a disadvantage to local store-keepers, and there has not been that reliable country trade from neighboring towns which has contributed to the wealth of more distant cities.

Lynn is not a county-seat, and has no National, State or County buildings or institutions. The city forcibly illustrates how a whole people can, by de- voting themselves assiduously to some definite call- ing, make themselves proficient and prosperous. The world is never surprised at rapid growth in the West, but the growth of an ancient town on the rock- bonnd New England coast is remarkable and notice- able. Lynn, a quiet, home-like town, grew from itself, by itself, to a position of importance, and is now the largest city in Essex County. Its inhabitants knew how to make shoes, and they made them. In- crease of business called out increase of inventive power to supply the demand. Machines to make shoes called for factories, and factories called people in from towns all over the Northern New England States, where shoes had formerly been sent to be made. This remarkable city is an interesting study because of its peculiar success, as withont natural or fortunate advantages it has grown and made a famous name.

And this seems a proper place to go a little into his- torical detail regarding the leather manufacture here, as distinguished from the shoe manufacture. But, be- fore passing to that matter, the writer would acknow]- edge his indebtedness to Mr. Howard Mudge New- hall for what is most interesting in the foregoing ac- count of the shoe trade.

Leather .- There is an old proverb which tells us that there is " nothing like leather," so necessary and nse- ful is it in all the arts and for many domestic pur- poses. So-well aware of this were the early settlers of New England that we find the General Court voting, in September, 1638, to "remember to provide bark in the following April for the tanning of divers hides to come." This importation of hides would seem to indicate that they had few cattle, or that they purposed to kill as few as possible, that their num- bers might increase. It is probable that the hides of those killed were not well taken off or properly cured, and thus were lost through neglect or destroy- ed. For this reason we find an order passed in Oc- tober, 1640, providing for the proper slaughtering and care of hides and skins, and for sending them to be tan- ned and dressed, with a fine to be imposed upon all who neglected such duty. In June, 1642, the Court passed an elaborate bill, providing that no butcher, currier or shoemaker should exercise the feat or mys- tery of a tanner, on pain of forfeiting six shillings eight pence for every hide or skin tanned ; hutchers to forfeit twelve cents for every gash or cut made in slaying ; no persons except tanners to be allowed to purchase any hides ; persons selling hides insuf- ficiently tanned to forfeit them ; tanners not allowed to let their liquors heat or spoil on pain of £20 for every offense; no currier to dress any leather insufficiently tanned, or burn or injure any leather in dressing, on pain of forfeiting the full value of every such hide ; sealers of leather appointed, and leather not sealed to be forfeited ; sealers to take oath to per- form their lawful duty. This order was afterwards extended so as to include all leather made into boots and shoes. In 1646 a stringent law was made to pre- vent the exportation of any hides or skins, and per- sons so exporting, and masters of vessels receiving them, were to forfeit their full value.

A committee was appointed May 31, 1672, to look after defects in the tanning of leather and report means to prevent the same.

Although goat and sheep-skins were not classed with hides, yet the same stringent measures were taken to prevent their exportation. A number of glovers, whose names were George Hepbourne, Thos. Buttolph, James Johnson, Nathaniel Williams, Geo. Clifford and Thomas Goulby petitioned against their exportation by one Ralph Woory in 1645, and he was restrained from sending away more than eight dozens, and he and all others forbidden thereafter to export any unless made into gloves or other garments-an early instance of the protection of labor and home industry

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

In 1672 every seaport town was obliged to choose an officer to see that no hides or skins were improperly transported.

That the manufacture of leather from hides was car- ried on at Lynn at a very early day is evident. We are informed that Francis Ingalls, one of the first five persons who settled within our bounds, was a tanner and carried on the business on what is now Burrill Street, in Swampscott, and it is claimed that his was the first tannery in the colony. Mr. Lewis states that he saw some of the vats removed from their an- cient position about the year 1825. George Keysar came to Lynn about 1639. In 1649 he bought from Samuel Bennett the land lying between Boston Street and Waterhill, and extending from the New- hall property to the present city pumping station. This had previously belonged to Joseph Armitage. Keysar carried on the tanning business here till his removal to Salem, in 1680. His wife was a daughter of Edward Holyoke, and he died in Salem in 1690, aged seventy-three. His son Elizur pursued the same calling at Salem, and his son John at Haverhill- this fact showing that the sons were educated to their father's trade here in Lynn. In 1665 a child by the name of Elizabeth Newhall was drowned in one of Keysar's tan-vats near Boston Street. This property was not disposed of by Keysar's heirs till after 1702, when it probably passed into the possession of the Potters, who owned the property on the opposite or northerly side of Boston Street. In 1705 Robert Pot- ter, who was son of the first settler, Nicholas, disposed of this tan-yard with the tan-house to his son Benja- min, who was a tanner, having very likely, also, learned his trade from the Keysars; Benjamin after- wards acquired the title of captain, and pursued his calling here till 1745, leaving his estate to his chil- dren, only one of whom was a son, named Benjamin, and he became non compos and had a guardian for many years.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 93

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1 Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1538

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1538