USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. II > Part 3
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"On motion of D. C. Remich it was further voted
"To exempt from taxation for ten years the Granite State Glove Co. property and the Charles L. Clay property situated at Apthorp, in Littleton, and any and all capital used in operating and manufacturing business put in operation or carried on in or upon said properties ; the exemption of said properties and capital to cease whenever the properties cease to be used for manufacturing purposes."
VOL. II. 2
18
History of Littleton.
thirty-two in number.1 The first meeting of the stockholders was held September 3, 1895, when Daniel C. Remich, Ira Parker, John G. Bent, Oscar C. Hatch, and Alfred D. Nute were elected directors. Subsequently the board organized by the choice of Daniel C. Remich as president, Ira Parker vice-president, John G. Bent secretary and treasurer, and George H. Tilton clerk of the corporation. At a meeting held October 1, the president and treasurer of the corporation were authorized to execute a lease on its part of the Granite State property at Apthorp in accordance with the conditions prescribed by the vote of the town.1
1 The following persons became subscribers to the stock : D. C. Remich, Ira Parker, George H. Tilton, George W. McGregor, Solon L. Simonds, Edward B. Lynch, Wil- liam H. Bellows, Henry F. Green, George W. Cleasby, James W. Remick, Harry D. Green, C. C. Morris, H. A. Jackman, C. J. Willey, Charles C. Clough, F. P. Bond, Irvin C. Renfrew, John G. Bent, George S. Whittaker, J. H. Bailey, A. W. Bingham, C. F. Nutting, Oscar C. Hatch, Charles C. Smith, Myron H. Richardson, E. S. Pres- cott, I. C. Richardson, Charles F. Bingham, Isaac Calhoun, William J. Beattie, and B. H. Corning.
1 A copy of the lease follows : -
" MEMORANDA OF AGREEMENT made this 28 day of December, 1895, between the Littleton Shoe Company, a corporation organized under the laws of the State of New Hampshire for the purpose of doing business in Littleton in said state, and the town of Littleton.
" Witnesseth : Pursuant to a vote of the town passed at a special meeting held July 27, 1895, and in consideration of the agreements hereinafter stated to be performed by said shoe company, the said town hereby leases said shoe company all of the property situated at Apthorp in said Littleton, recently purchased by the town of the Saranac Glove Company, except that portion of land purchased from said com- pany which was deeded to Frederick G. Clutter; for the term of ten years from the date hereof, free from taxes, provided said Shoe Co. shall carry on a manu- facturing business upon said property during said term, and employ therein after the first year not less than one hundred hands.
" Temporary stoppages, shut-downs of business, or reduction of number of hands employed below one hundred, caused by financial or other business conditions which similarly affect like manufactories through the country, shall not forfeit or terminate the rights of said shoe company under this lease.
"Said town agrees to put the buildings, dam and flume upon said property in good repair and condition for the business to be conducted therein ; they also agree to put in a good boiler and engine, for the purpose of heating and furnishing power when the water power proves insufficient, also a good elevator and water closets, and to properly pipe the building for steam heating.
" All ordinary repairs necessary to be made upon the property after the shoe com- pany takes possession thereof during the continuance of the lease, shall be made by the leasees, but all extraordinary repairs such as those made by fire, flood, or other casualty shall be made by the town.
"The said town further agrees in consideration of the said shoe company leasing the property and agreeing to carry on a reasonable business thereon, that the said shoe company shall have the option of purchasing the leased property at any time while this lease is in operation at what it has cost the town, not including interest upon the town's investment.
"The said shoe company in consideration of the agreements herein contained upon the part of the town, agrecs to lease upon the terms aforesaid, to start a manu-
LITTLETON SHOE FACTORY.
19
Manufacturing.
The lease, executed on the 28th day of December, 1895, was most liberal to the Shoe Company. It provided that the property should be put in shape to meet all the requirements of the lessees. The town paid the Saranac Glove Company $5,000 for the real es- tate, and sold a small strip for $200 to Rev. F. G. Chutter, who then expected to engage in the business of manufacturing women's wrappers, leaving the first cost of the real estate $4,800. The cost to the town of the repairs for the property up to the time of occupancy was $5,570.03. Of this sum the principal items of cost were $1,758.13 paid for labor, $826.36 for lumber, $757.41 for piping, $506 for a boiler, $455 for engine, and $77.63 for a fire- escape. The total cost of the property is reported as having been $10,310.03 up to February 15, 1896. That year the plant was found to be too small in floor space for the requirements of the corporation, and this defect was remedied by adding two stories to the main building, making it five stories in height. This addition was made at a cost of $3,091.36, and the total cost of the plant, as it now stands upon the books of the town treasury, is $13,401.39.
The original board of officers and directors were re-elected in 1896. The next year Ira Parker declined to serve further as a director, and James Henry Bailey was elected to fill the vacancy. The stockholders at the same meeting voted to increase the num- ber of directors on the board from five to seven, and Fred H. English and William H. Bellows were chosen to fill the positions. thus created. Chauncey H. Greene was appointed auditor. The only change that has since taken place in either board was the election of William H. Nute as treasurer in place of John G. Bent, and as clerk of the corporation to succeed George H. Tilton, the previous incumbents having resigned.
At the annual meeting in December, 1901, it was voted to increase the capital stock to $72,000, by issuing four hundred shares of preferred stock of the par value of $200 each. The full amount of the new capital was subscribed and paid into the treasury before April 2, 1902.
facturing business thereon as aforesaid, and while in possession of the property, under the lease to commit no waste, and to leave said property at the expiration of the lease in as good condition as it now is, ordinary wear and tear excepted.
"The town of Littleton by HENRY F. GREEN, F. P. BOND,
SEAL.
Selectmen.
" The Littleton Shoe Company
By DANIEL C. REMICH, President. JOHN G. BENT, Treasurer."
SEAL.
20
History of Littleton.
This enterprise has doubtless met the reasonable expectations of its projectors and stockholders. Before the close of the first year of operation, it employed one hundred and seventeen hands, and in 1902 the number had increased to two hundred and forty. The first year 6,243 cases of shoes were manufactured, valued at $68,094.23. The number of cases for the year ending December 30, 1902, was 26,781, which were sold for $285,734.44. The business for the first half of the current year (1903) has more than equalled the same period of any previous season.
Another enterprise established here through instrumentalities of a somewhat similar character is the Oilstone branch of the Pike Manufacturing Company. These works were previously located at Manlius, New York. The company, desiring to bring them more directly under the personal supervision of its officers, was seeking a suitable site in this county. To the end that some provision might be made to secure their location in this town, an article was inserted in the warrant calling the annual March meeting in 1901, as follows: -
" Article VIII. To see what inducements the town will offer the Pike Manufacturing Co., by way of exemptions or other inducements, to locate their oilstone works in this town."
Under this article Daniel C. Remich offered a resolution ap- pointing a committee of nine with full power to do any and all things in behalf of the town to carry out the purposes suggested in the above article, which after debate was adopted. The same gentleman also offered a proposition to exempt from taxation for a term of ten years the real estate and capital invested in the proposed enterprise.1
1 The following is the vote appointing a committee and prescribing their power : "Voted, That Oscar C. Hatch, James H. Bailey, Fred H. English, William H. Bel- lows, D. C. Remich, Charles F. Eastman, Frank P. Bond, William H. Mitchell, and Myron H. Richardson be a town committee, and that they be and hereby are vested by the town with full power and authority to do whatever in their judgment, or in a majority of them, is reasonable and necessary, and for the best interests of the town, to induce the Pike Manuf. Co. to locate their Oilstone Works in Littleton.
" And the Selectmen are authorized and instructed to furnish said Committee with whatever money is necessary to carry out any agreement that they may make in behalf of the town with said company out of any money belonging to the town which may be available for such a purpose at the time when it is needed by the Committee, and if there is not sufficient available money on hand belonging to the town at said time, then they are authorized and directed to borrow, upon the credit of the town, such sums of money as may be necessary upon such terms and time as they deem for the best interests of the town. Provided that in no case shall the expense incurred by the committee exceed $10,000." (Town Records, vol. xix. pr. 305-306.)
21
Manufacturing.
The action of the meeting in regard to exemption was :
" Voted, That the town exempt from taxation for a term of ten years any manufacturing establishment in the town of Littleton which the Pike Manufacturing Co., whose principal place of business is now at Pike Station, in the town of Haverhill, may acquire and use for manu- facturing purposes. Also any additions or improvements, or new building hereafter erected thereon for manufacturing purposes and the land upon which they are established, used for manufacturing purposes. Also the capital to be used in establishing and operating the same." 1
The proviso by which the committee was prohibited from ex- pending, or pledging the town for an expenditure in excess of $10,000 was not a part of the original vote, but was added in the meeting as an amendment.
Vested with these extraordinary powers, the committee at once entered upon negotiations for carrying into effect the plans con- templated by the vote of the town. On the first day of August, 1901, the Pike Manufacturing Company and the committee, in behalf of the town, entered into an agreement which resulted in the establishment of the oilstone plant of the company on the property formerly owned and occupied for manufacturing pur- poses successively by the Littleton Starch Company, the Scythe Company, and the Charles F. Harris Carriage Company.2 The
1 Town Records, vol. xix. p. 305.
2 The agreement between the contracting parties is given in full : -
" This AGREEMENT made and entered into this first day of August, 1901, by and between the Pike Manufacturing Company of Pike Station, New Hampshire, party of the first part, and the Town of Littleton, County of Grafton and State of New Hampshire, party of the second part.
WITNESSETH : That the party of the first part hereby agrees to move its Oilstone business to and install the same upon the Charles F. Harris property, so called, situ- ated in said Littleton, New Hampshire, within three (3) years from date, and to expend in moving and installing said business, in making improvements to the buildings upon said Harris property and in the construction and improvement of other build- ings on said Harris property for manufacturing and storage purposes, at least Four- teen Thousand Dollars ($14,000.00) in addition to the money paid it by the Town of Littleton, within said three (3) years.
" Said first party further agrees to have regularly employed in said manufactory at the end of three years from date not less than thirty (30) men, and to carry on said business thereafter in said Littleton for the term of ten years from date of this contract, employing not less than thirty (30) men unless prevented by serious business depression or other unavoidable casualty. If said party of the first part fails to move, and install said Oilstone business in Littleton, New Hampshire, as aforesaid, within said three (3) years, or fails to expend Seven Thousand Dollars ($7,000.00) or more, in addition to the money paid it by the Town of Littleton within one (1) year from January 1, 1902, it agrees to pay said Town of Littleton as liquidated damages Seven Thousand Dollars ($7,000.00) and to forfeit any exemptions from taxation which may have been granted it by said Town. If, on the other hand, said first party shall install its said Oilstone business in Littleton within three (3) years and expend said
22
History of Littleton.
property was entirely remodelled and put in shape by the com- pany as soon as could be after it acquired a title to it, and the machinery and other movable effects were transferred from the old factory at Manlius, N. Y., to the new, and it was soon in operation.
This oilstone factory is the largest concern in the world devoted exclusively to the production of that class of goods. The chief supply of raw material is obtained from the quarries of the com- pany in Garland County, Ark., near the city of Hot Springs. Two grades of rock from these quarries are used, - a medium soft, coarse-grained novaculite known commercially as " Washita " oilstone, and a very hard, compact, fine-grained novaculite known
Seven Thousand Dollars ($7,000.00) within one year from January 1, 1902, but fails to expend said Fourteen Thousand Dollars ($14,000.00) within three (3) years, and fail to have regularly employed at least thirty (30) men in its said manufactory at the end of three (3) years or fails to carry on their said business for the term of ten (10) years, and keep in their employ after the expiration of said three (3) years during the remaining seven years thirty (30) men as above stated, then said first party agrees to pay said Town as liquidated damages the sum of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) and to forfeit any further exemption from taxation by said Town.
" The party of the first part further agrees, that if the whole or any part of its manufacturing plant established in said Littleton is destroyed during the term of ten (10) years mentioned herein, it will rebuild or replace the same within a reason- able time so as to be able to perform its agreements herein contained, and if it fails to rebuild or replace as aforesaid, it will forfeit and pay to said party of the second part Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) as liquidated damages.
"In consideration of the engagements hierein made by the party of the first part, the Town of Littleton agrees to exempt from taxation all property acquired, con- structed and used by said party of the first part in said Littleton for manufacturing purposes and all capital invested by it in carrying on its manufacturing establish- ments for ten (10) years from the first day of January, 1902.
"Said Town further agrees to pay said party of the first part, upon the execution and delivery of this Agreement in duplicate, Seven Thousand Dollars ($7,000.00) and if at the end of three (3) years said party of the first part shall have kept all of its agreements herein contained and shall have fifty (50) men, or more, regularly em- ployed in its manufacturing establishment in Littleton, New Hampshire, to pay said party of the first part One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) with interest from date at four and one-half per cent (42 % ).
"IN WITNESS WHEREOF we have hereunto set our hands and seals at Littleton, New Hampshire, this first day of August, 1901.
The Pike Manufacturing Co.
E. B. ยท PIKE, President. E. BERTRAM PIKE, Secy. & Treas.
Town of Littleton By O. C. HATCH F. H. ENGLISH W. H. MITCHELL J. H. BAILEY D. C. REMICH WM. H. BELLOWS M. H. RICHARDSON
A committee chosen by the Town at a Town meeting held March 12th, 1901.
1
1823 THE PIKE MANUFACTURING CO. 19023
----
WORLD'S HEADQUARTERS FOR SHARPENING STONES GENERAL OFFICE " CHAMBRESES. PIKE, NIC
PIKE MANUFACTURING CO. PLANT.
23
Manufacturing.
as " Arkansas" oilstone. This last is the finest-gritted and highest-priced oilstone known, and is the standard the world over for high-grade tools. The rock is difficult to obtain, and very expensive owing to the fact that ninety-five per cent is lost in the process of quarrying and manufacturing the goods. Other mate- rial for the factory comes from quarries of the company in Orange County, Ind., in Ohio, New York, and Grafton County. Small quantities of rock are also imported from various quarries in Europe for special purposes.
This company has practical control of the market in this country for the class of goods it manufactures, and for certain of its grades throughout the world. It has factories at Evans- ville, Vt., in Indiana, and a large scythestone factory at Pike Station in Haverhill, which is the headquarters of the company. Some idea of the scope of its commercial operations may be gathered from the fact that it maintains agencies in London, Hamburg, Paris, Cologne, Yokohama, Buenos Ayres, Havana, and Porto Rico.
The New York agency, at 151 Chambers Street, carries a large stock of all the goods manufactured by the company, with a large line of imported razor hones, grindstones, sharpening stones and machines of all kinds.
The officers of the corporation are Edwin B. Pike, president ; George H. Worthington, of Cleveland, Ohio, vice-president; E. Bertram Pike, secretary-treasurer. The superintendents and managers at the factories or quarries are Walter Burbeck, manager at Pike Station; Arthur B. Knight, superintendent at Littleton ; Henry I. Smith, superintendent at Evansville, Vt .; Maurice Gandry, manager of the New York Branch; Homer Fisher, agent at Orleans, Ind .; and James A. Smith, agent at Hot Springs, Ark.
The business was founded at Haverhill by Isaac Pike. The stone for that plant was quarried in Piermont, near the line which sepa- rates that town from Haverhill. This rock was used for scythe- stones only, and was of a superior quality. Alonzo F. Pike, a son of Isaac, succeeded to the business, and under his direction it ex- panded and grew to large proportions. He secured possession of all the valuable quarries in the country, and soon virtually con- trolled this line of business. He was among the first to combine under one management the various small concerns engaged in the same class of business. His work was not a gigantic undertaking, like that of some of the modern trusts, for the largest possible production was limited in extent, as was also the consumption ; but
24
History of Littleton.
the principle involved in each was the same. He brought to his work none of the practices of the highwayman that have marked the development of the Standard Oil Trust. His methods were clean, open, and aboveboard. There was no pressure brought to bear on the part of great public utilities, or by depression of prices to force his competitors out of business or to surrender their property at a price far less than its value.
In 1884 the business was incorporated under the style of the A. F. Pike Manufacturing Company, with Alonzo F. Pike as president and Edwin B. Pike vice-president. In 1889 the name of the corporation was changed to the present title, and in 1891 E. B. Pike became president of the corporation.
Edwin B. Pike was born in Haverhill April 7, 1845. He attended; the district schools in his town until his fourteenth year, at which time his father died suddenly of apoplexy, render- ing it necessary for him to earn his own living thenceforth. In his sixteenth year, being desirous of a better education, he entered the Newbury Seminary at Newbury, Vt., then one of the best- known fitting schools in this section of New England. By work- ing vacations he paid his way through several terms at this seminary, leaving shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War to go South with the Union Army.
He was married shortly after the close of the war to Miss Addie A. Miner, of Lowell, Mass., and soon afterward started on a commercial career as travelling salesman for a line of patented hardware specialties. In the early seventies he en- gaged as travelling salesman with the Enterprise Manufacturing Company of Philadelphia, and was for many years head salesman of this company. In 1879, after a long and serious illness, he was obliged to give up travelling. While with the Enterprise Manufacturing Company, he had handled also the larger part of the output of the scythestone factory owned and managed by his brother, Alonzo F. Pike, and, being of the opinion that there was a possibility of developing a large business in this line, he associated himself with his brother after his recovery, and has been an important factor in the upbuilding of this enterprising corporation.
The business instinct has been largely developed in this family. Its members have possessed great energy, courage, and that far-sighted quality which enables men to push onward under adverse conditions and reach the goal. The rugged and some- what undisciplined energies that characterized Isaac Pike and his son Alonzo F. have been toned and softened in Edwin B. Pike
E. B. PIKE.
25
Manufacturing.
and his son E. Bertram, whose early business education was ac- quired in a far different school from that in which their elders acquired theirs, with experience alone as their instructor.
The conditions under which the shoe company was founded and the Pike Company's branch was induced to locate here are pecu- liar to the town, and in but one instance, so far as we know, have they been imitated in this State.1 Formerly it was the practice for towns to exempt proposed industrial plants from taxation for a term not exceeding ten years, and if other inducements were required it was not uncommon for opulent citizens to make up a purse sufficient in amount to insure the location of the establish- ment in their town. This experiment with us is socialistic in form, but not in its results. The tax-payer may be considered a partner in the enterprise in so far as he contributes to its cap- ital, but is not a sharer in its profits beyond the shadowy advan- tage which every one is supposed to derive from contact with a progressive business enterprise. The advantages of this system of municipal promotion of manufacturing enterprises remains to be tested by the trial to which time subjects all ventures. Already it has engaged the attention of teachers of economics and political science who have begun an investigation which will make clear to the untutored mind the advantages and de- fects of this peculiar method of building up industrialism in the community.
The legal aspects of the case are of special interest. The courts of New Hampshire have not manifested a tendency to interfere with the action of towns in the local municipal treat- ment of the subject of exemptions under the statute of 1860. It has contented itself with a policy which has confined the town in its votes of exemption in matters of form to a literal com- pliance with the statute. It has studiously avoided the decision of any test case which has raised the fundamental question of the constitutionality of the act of the Legislature authorizing the exemption of any class of property at the expense of other classes. The Legislature has, from a very early date, assumed and exercised the right to offer direct bounties for the encourage- ment and promotion of various industries. This species of legislation has covered almost everything at one time or another, from breweries to the reclamation of swamp-lands. Judge Doe more than once betrayed an inclination to treat the modern system of tax exemptions as something in its nature identical with the ancient practice of the bestowal of bounties by act of the Legis-
1 In Pittsfield, on a small scale, in 1901.
26
History of Littleton.
lature, of which a multitude of instances are to be found in the early laws.
The constitutional amendment of 1889, which prohibited the voting of the money of towns in aid of private corporations, either directly or indirectly, marked a reaction in public sentiment against the policy upon which state bounties and tax exemption are predicated. But in the last constitutional convention (1902), a proposition to amend the constitution so as to forbid exemptions from taxation of any one class of property was rejected by a very large vote. The same convention also indicated its partiality to the principle of inequality in taxation by its adoption and sub- mission of an amendment authorizing the taxation of the estates of deceased persons contrary to that principle of equality which characterized the old constitution.
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