USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > Hudson County to-day; its history, people, trades, commerce, institutions and industries > Part 7
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By means of the tunnels one may go from either Hoboken or Jersey City to downtown New York for five cents, and to any part of Sixth avenue. as far as Thirty-third street, for seven cents. This is cheaper, quicker and more convenient than the old ferry and surface ear methods by which the public had to reach these districts. The tunnel has proven a great boon to Hudson County people who work in New York, as well as to those house- wives who care to go to New York to shop. Where a shopping trip used to take up the better part of a day, a woman may now leave home at a rea- sonable hour in the morning, reach the shopping district, transact her business and be home again in time for lunch. The saving in time for those who travel to and from work and business in New York is just as marked.
From the inception of tunnel service the motto has always been "safety. speed, courtesy." The tunnel authorities were the first of the great public service corporations operating in and about New York to impress upon their employees that the travelling public is entitled to courtesy. It was a great change from the "step lively," and the "hurry up" commands of the employees of other transportation companies to the "please hurry" of the new company employees at first and one which was much appreciated. Since then other companies got the habit of courtesy and it is now the rule rather than the exception.
The under river tunnels were the ontgrowth of the plan of the Hudson Tunnel Railroad Company, organized in 1873 by DeWitt Clinton Haskins, to tunnel under the Hudson, connecting New York and New Jersey and to furnish transportation by means of steam trains. Lack of facilities for com- pleting the projected tunnel cansed the scheme to lie dormant for a number of years, although it continued to be agitated. Finally the company was reorganized through the indomitable work of William G. McAdoo, now secretary of treasury for the United States, and plans were evolved by which the plan would be made feasible by electric operation.
All work was concentrated on the possibility of building a tunnel at first. Work was commeneed on what is officially known as the north tunnel, that leading to Hoboken, through the Erie yards and across under the river at Fifteenth street, Jersey City. This tunnel was completed from Jersey City to New York on March II, 1904. The uptown tunnels from Hoboken to Nineteenth street and Sixth avenne were opened to traffic on February 25. 1908, comprising 6.2 miles of single tracks. On June 15. 1908, the line was opened to Twenty-third street station, using the easterly side of the station only. On July 19, 1909, the downtown river tunnels from Church street terminal, New York City, to Pennsylvania station in Jersey City were thrown open to traffic, and on August 2, 1909, the link connecting the uptown and downtown systems on the New Jersey side was placed in operation and on September 20 the tunnels between Caissons No. 1 and No. 3 were opened which enabled the uptown system to send trains to and from the Erie station
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and the Pennsylvania station and at the same time the west side of Twenty- third street station was placed in use. The total length of single track in service at this time being 12.79 miles.
On September 6, 1910, the Henderson street station in Jersey City with the connecting tunnels to the Pennsylvania station and Washington street line were placed under operation, together with the car storage yard and approach thereto. On November 10, 1910, the line on Sixth avenue to Thirty- third street was completed. making the complete length of single track in operation 15.61 miles with 1.91 miles of storage tracks. From this have sprung all the ramifications of underground and under river transportation which we now enjoy.
A résumé of the work of tunnel construction would be interesting, but would require much more space than can be crowded into this history. That it was well done can be testified to by hundreds of thousands who use the tunnels to reach New York. But it was not accomplished without having to overcome many difficulties in engineering and construction work. Some lives were lost, but in the main the loss of life was comparatively small when the magnitude of the work is taken into consideration.
From the first the tunnels were well patronized. An effort was made to provide service on a straight five cent fare. After a trial it was found that this could not be done, so a seven cent fare was imposed for uptown pas- sengers and a five cent fare for downtown passengers. Taken all in all, from the standpoint of big investors, there is every reason to hope for continued and increasing success of operation until such time as it shall more than pay for itself.
The Hudson Terminal Buiklings, the downtown terminal, contribute in a large measure to the revenue of the road. They are fully rented.
The company report for December 31, 1913, shows that there is a total trackage of 7.089 miles in New York and 11.668 miles in New Jersey. This includes main lines, sidings and crossovers, car yards and approaches, etc. While there are 18.757 miles of trackage, there are but 7.91 miles of roadway.
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A comparison of statistics for 1912 and 1913 shows a general increase in number of car miles operated, passenger revenue, miscellaneous revenue, in number of passengers carried, number of passengers carried per mile, pas- sengers revenue per mile. ete. A million and a quarter more passengers were carried in 1913 than in 1912.
There is one thing on which the company is strong, i. e., safety to em- ployees and to public. To this end no expense has been spared to secure the latest in electric safety appliances. It is claimed that it is absolutely impos- sible for a car to be run past a danger signal, no matter if the motorman be asleep or dead. The car is stopped automatically where a signal is set, and must continue to remain there until the danger ahead has been eliminated either by the train ahead passing out of the block and automatically releas- ing the signal or until the danger, if it be something else, is eliminated.
To further guard the safety of the public, every employee is furnished with set of rules and a book of safety hints. In these books every known transportation contingency that can arise is met with explicit instructions how to act in any emergency. The books are so modified that the instructions can be found and followed with practically no loss of time. The book also contains instructions for first aid to the injured.
The membership of the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Athletic Asso- ciation comprises about 80 per cent. of the employees of the company. Com- modious quarters have been furnished by the company and equipped with pool tables, gymnasium apparatus, hand ball court, and a well stocked reading room, have afforded social intercourse and healthful recreation. A motion- picture machine has recently been installed by the association and has been used not only to furnish entertainment, but also to illustrate frequent instruc- tive lectures on matters pertaining to railway operation, particularly the subject of "safety."
On March Ist, 1913, an agreement was entered into between the company and Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Athletic Association, representing the employees, under which Sick Benefit and Death Benefit Funds have been established. The operation of these Funds has been highly satisfactory, and the cordial relations which already existed between the company and its employees have been greatly strengthened. The Funds are managed by a committee composed of officers of the company and employees elected by the Athletic Association.
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Standard Oil Company
A MONG the great industries of Jersey City and its adjacent towns is the manufacture and distribution of oils and oil products as carried on by the Standard Oil Company in Jersey City and Bayonne. The plant at Bayonne is the largest oil manufacturing establishment in the world. It covers an area of something like 252 acres, where crude oil is manufactured into its various products.
From the Bayonne plant alone during the year 1913 were shipped 2,608,- 660 tons of oil and oil products by water. There were received into this plant by water 797,240 tons, making a total amount of business done by water over their docks of 3.405.907 tons. This does not include the material used in the preparation of oil and oil products, such as tinplate, boxes, steel pipe, machinery, etc.
This plant is equipped with four large docks capable of handling the largest commercial vessels in the world. Fifteen large ships can be accom- modated at these docks at one time. To do this large amount of business 496 ship loads were taken in and sent out, 410 being loaded out and 86 brought in laden with oil. Two hundred and ninety-three barges, oil laden were also handled into the plant and 1.704 barges an average of six a day, were handled out. The ships and barges vary from a capacity of 3,000 to a capacity of 15,000 tons. They go to all parts of the world, many cargoes reaching the far interior of China, islands of the Pacific ocean, interior of Africa, Australia, South America, Scandinavia and as far north as the arctic circle.
Besides the oil shipped out of this plant daily there is manufactured on an average of more than 50,000 cases per day, each case carrying two cans of five gallons each, the cans also being manufactured within the plant. The plant is also equipped to manufacture 7,000 wooden barrels per day, as well as the steel barrels used in the shipment of oils for long distances. Not only is the manufacture of receptacles for its own products carried on, but the plant is so equipped that practically all its own machinery and repairs are made there by its own mechanics. A large boiler shop, blacksmith shop, machine shop and carpenter shop, employ some 2,000 men constantly on such work. The total number of employees in the plant aggregates 6,000 and the manufacture of oil, its products, cases, machinery, etc., is carried on night and day.
In the Communipaw section of Jersey City is another oil refinery, cover- ing approximately 80 acres of land, in which is manufactured 15,000 barrels of crude oil into various grades of lubricating oil daily. This plant is fully equipped for the manufacture of all the products of petroleum and employs a force aggregating about 1,000 men. This plant was established in 1878 with a small manufacturing capacity and has grown steadily to its present size. Both of these plants probably represent the most modern and up-to-date methods that can be found in this particular business.
With such an extensive business it must be recognized that the Standard Oil Company plays an important part in the finances of the section in which it carries on its manufacturing operations. The weekly payroll of the com- pany is something like $75,000 in the two plants. Most of this is disbursed by the employees in their own particular sections among grocers, butchers and other local merchants.
The company has suffered several disastrous fires in its Bayonne plant. One in July, 1890, broke out at midnight and burned for a week, the loss being in the neighborhood of $2,000,000. Since that time the company has employed every means and adopted every contrivance to prevent a repetition of such a conflagration. Great care is taken to provide sanitary and safety appliances for the protection of employees at all times and every reasonable effort is made to look out for their welfare.
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Since the big fire an additional pumping system, by means of which the immense tanks of oils, gasolene, naphtha, etc., can be quickly drawn off in the event of a fire close by, and carried to points of safety elsewhere, have been installed. A splendid fire system has been organized among the em- ployees. There are plenty of hydrants and hose and a heavy pressure of water is always ready. Besides this the fleet of tug boats is equipped with every known device for fighting fire from the water front.
Just how well the company looks after its employees and their interests may be gleaned from the fact that it maintains a private hospital and corps of physicians and surgeons, with every modern convenience for the treatment of the sick and first aid to the injured. Also a pension system has been in- troduced by which a person having worked for the company for twenty years and having reached the age of 60 years is entitled to retirement on half pay for the remainder of his life.
Among the other important plants of the company is the one at Tampico. Mexico, from which pipe lines are laid to various oil producing sections throughout the country and to which crude oil for refinement flows directly from the wells. the oil being metered so that the flow from each well can be properly registered. Many independent oil companies and oil wells are de- pendent upon the Standard for their own existence, the Standard taking the flow of crude oil in this manner direct from the fields, with little or no expense to the well operating companies. Of course, the Standard has many wells of its own in the best known oil fields of the country.
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Schwarzenbach, Huber Co.
3 N the silk industry of North Hudson the Schwarzenbach-Huber Com- pany plays a prominent part. It conducts one of the largest plants for the manufacture of broad and novelty silks in the entire country. Its magnificent factory is bounded by Highpoint avenue, Spring street, West street and Oak street, in West Hoboken. During the busy season it is a busy hive of industry, and during the entire year employs a large force of men and women in the manufacture and distribution of its products.
Silk manufacturing in North Hudson is conducted along more humane lines than it is in some other parts of the country. Manufacturers here believe the workers have rights which the employers are bound to respect. This is particularly true in the Schwarzenbach-Huber plant, which, although it played a prominent part in the last great strike in the silk industry, was forced to do so, not because the employees were dissatisfied, but because they had been led to believe that the success of the strike in Paterson depended upon the paralysis of the industry here.
The Schwarzenbach-Huber plant is a model one. There is plenty of light, air and ventilation. Every precaution is taken to preserve the health of the employees as far as the details of the industry will permit. The men and women are not herded in the shop like sheep, and wherever it has been possible for one machine to do work with fewer attendants that has been done. This has not been found to be a short-sighted policy for the reason that where the work can be done with fewer employees the air is better, the employees are more wide awake, there are fewer accidents and less misery than where the workers are crowded together in small space with little breathing and working room.
Everything about the big mill is designed on the safety first idea. Espe- cially is this true in the precautions that have been taken against fire. While every floor is equipped with automatic sprinklers, there is also a trained fire department, fully equipped with hose, hook and ladder, etc., for quick work in the case of conflagration. Every man of the fire department knows his post in case of fire, and there is little likelihood of any conflagration gaining much headway at any time when the men are at work.
It is a policy of the company to keep the mills going the entire year, except such time as is necessary for stock taking, if possible. There are seasons of the year when ordinary work is slack, when to keep the mills running means the investment of large capital without adequate returns for the time being, when the mills are run at a positive loss because money which is handed out in wages and salaries would be drawing interest if allowed to accumulate in bank, but the managers recognize the fact that to keep good employees they must keep them engaged. and that the workers have to live throughout the year. the only means of subsistence being the wages they receive.
There is an organization at the Schwarzenbach-Huber Company plant such as would be hard to duplicate in any place run along lines of less efficiency. It is the effort of the managers to keep this organization intact. To do this they must keep fairly steady employment. So they have men designing novelties in the silk goods line. These novelties are manufac- tured and pushed upon the market. It is true of the company that the most of these novelties are accepted by the public and find a ready sale. This shows a remarkable grasp of public opinion.
Visitors interested in the process of silk making are made welcome at the plant and are shown around by courteous men employed for that pur- pose. Many visitors have said that a visit to the plant was interesting. not alone from the class of goods manufactured, but from the fact there is kept a high class of workers who are as courteous to the visitor as it is possible for them to be and keep their work in hand.
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R. & H. Simon Co.
A LWAYS of absorbing interest to North Hudson is the development of the silk manufacturing business, in which the R. & H. Simon Company of Union Hill and Easton, Penn., has played an importam
part. This firm is among the most progressive and largest employers of labor in Union Hill, and as such has been an important factor in the indus- trial development of that town. It employs at the present time, and ha. employed constantly for the past several years, an average of 2,500 people. A visit to the factory, a survey of its products and a study of industrial conditions there alone can give an adequate idea of the immensity of the enterprise.
The variety of the work turned out at this establishment is in itself marvellous. Here dress silks, ribbons, lining silks, tie silks and velvets are all manufactured under one roof. The ribbons, silks and velvets are sold under the trade name "Regatta," and they have attained an enviable reputa- tion on the market which makes them always in demand. The care taken to have the best efforts of every employe engaged in each particular line put into the goods manufactured is responsible for the excellence of the products.
The R. & H. Simon Co. factory is a model one in every respect. Every care has been taken to make the employes comfortable in their work. From the heads of the concern down to the office boys, every courtesy is demanded and enforced. The casual visitor is at once impressed with the refinei atmosphere of the place, which extends into every department. The firm has always endeavored to employ only the highest class of skilled labor, and the slovenly workman has no place on the payroll. Much care is taken with learners, and their instruction is always in the hands of experi- enced, careful and competent workers. By this method a splendid organ- ization of silk-makers has been perfected. each taking an interest in his or her work which would hardly be possible under other conditions.
Officers of the R. & H. Simon Company are: E. M. Simon, president : Charles W. Muller, vice-president : Egon Ebert, second vice-president and treasurer: G. Bixler, secretary. All are public spirited and always ready to help in anything which makes for the betterment of North Hudson. Such firms and such men as this are creditable to any community and deserve highest commendation.
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Rriling & Schoen
A MONG the foremost manufacturers of broadsilk in North Hudson is the firm of Reiling & Schoen, Hackensack plankroad, between Palisade and Clinton avenues, West Hoboken. This is among the most im- portant of North Hudson industries, the firm employing in its West Hoboken mill from 500 to 550 hands the year around and the aggregate payroll amount- ing to some $300,000 annually.
Besides the West Hoboken mill the firm also operates the Petersburg silk mill at Scranton, Pa., and the Penikees mills at Valley Falls. R. I. But it is of the West Hoboken mills that detailed mention is here made. The members of the firm are Joseph L. Reiling and Carl Schoen. The firm was established in 1893 under the name of Reiling. David & Schoen, but it was changed in 1908 to its present name. All classes of broadsilk are made here. including tie goods, dress goods, dress trimming, etc.
Generally the work in silk mills is dependent upon fashions and seasons because the manufacture of these goods is thus dependent, but Reiling & Schoen have established a reputation of keeping help engaged the year round. The firm anticipates demand by creating and manufacturing novelties. It employs a large staff of designers and produces original designs in fabrics which vie with and often surpass imported silks. The capacity of the local mill is 1,000,000 yards of broadsilk goods a year, while the total capacity of all the mills operated by the firm is 3,500,000 yards.
In the local mill the motto of the firm for all employees has been "safety first." To this end the mill has a complete fire department of two companies of twenty-two men each. It has an equipment capable of throwing three one and one-eighth inch streams over the roof of a five-story building at the rate of 750 gallons per minute. There is also a complete automatic sprinkling department, which, in case of extensive fire, would effectually check the spread of the flames. There is an underground reservoir with a capacity of 100.000 gallons for the use of the fire companies at any time they may be called into action. Ample fire escape facilities, in accordance with the latest require- ments and regulations of the State Department of Labor have been recently constructed and installed.
Both Messrs. Reiling & Schoen have been prominent in furthering the industrial interest of silk goods manufacturers throughout the country. Mr. Schoen was foremost in the formation of the United States Conditioning and Testing Company, of which he is a director. This company is a mutual undertaking and is the final arbiter in controversies over grades and con- ditions of raw silk. Every concern in the manufacture of silk goods recog- nizes its status and virtually all silk manufacturing concerns utilize its facilities for making their tests.
Mr. Reiling is a prominent member of the Silk Association of America and two years ago made an exhaustive report regarding tie silks, which showed his thorough understanding of the subject of silk manufacturing throughout the country. In this report he touched upon the problem of costs and prices which affect every manufacturer, scored the ridiculously low prices at which some firms put their goods upon the market and said that if every manufacturer would have enough moral courage to refuse a few orders at the prices prevalent at that time, prices could easily be raised to a basis where the industry would receive the returns to which it is entitled.
At the time of this report the knit tie and tubular tie were in vogue and this, it was stated, had reduced the demand for tie silks by about thirty per cent. The report predicted the early abandonment of the knit and tubular tie as a fashionable adjunct to the refined wardrobe and this prediction has been so completely borne out that the demand for tie silks during the past year has been perhaps the greatest in the annals of the silk industry.
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Robert Reiner Importing Un.
Fall the business institutions in North Hudson none is more important than the Robert Reiner Importing Company. the largest importer and distributor of embroidery machines in the United States. The main factory is located at 556-562 Gregory avenue, corner Ilackensack plankroad. Weehawken, and here not only are found a wonderful array of the Vogtlan- dische shuttle embroidery machines, of which the company is the sole agent in America, but repairs are also made and parts furnished and manufactured.
Mr. Reiner, who has introduced into this country almost every machine used in the domestic manufacture of embroidery, is firm in the belief that the ical centre of embroidery in the world is shifting to America. Early in the great European international war he declared that even with an early cessation of that conflict Europeans could never catch up with the tre- mendous and growing demand on this side of the Atlantic.
Mr. Reiner announces that his company is amply prepared for this expan- sion. It has more than $100.000 worth of machines and machine parts in its demonstrating and storage plants in Weehawken. No American manufacturer need suffer for lack of repair parts, accessories and attachments because the company accumulated a large stock before the war, and can make immediate shipments at any time desired.
The Robert Reiner Importing Company's demonstrating plant in Wee- hawken is the largest of its kind in the world. It was erected solely to show what the Vogtland machine will do. Prospective purchasers may here actually test a machine before buying and actually see their own work being made up into the finished article. Besides demonstrating. this part of the Reiner plant serves as a show room for the many machines ready for immediate delivery.
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