USA > New Jersey > The New Jersey coast in three centuries; history of the New Jersey coast with genealogical and historic-biographical appendix, Vol. I > Part 45
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For several years after the close of the Revolutionary war, large quantities of lumber and cordwood were cut along the southern portions of the coast, and transported to New York in schooners, the principal shipping points being Egg Harbor, Barnegat and Toms River. At the first, cedar was the wood principally used, and was industriously worked until the supply was practically exhausted. The pine forests were next at- tacked, and miles upon miles of splendid yellow pine trees two to three feet in diameter were cut down and put into cordwood. Much of this work was carried on by large operators who bought up large tracts of pine lands.
Some time prior to 1840, lumber and cordwood shipments diminished greatly, the wood coming to be largely used for the manufacture of char- coal for use in local forges and for shipment to the ironworkers in Penn- sylvania. Some of the charcoal kilns were of immense capacity. After a time, many charcoal burners conceived the idea that the process of manu- facture could be cheapened by burning the wood on the ground where it was cut, instead of wagoning it to the kilns. This plan proved terribly destructive to the pine forests, large tracts of which caught fire, resulting in the killing of vast numbers of splendid trees.
Within the past third of a century, New Jersey has become a mant !- facturing State of the first rank, and its mechanical products extend to almost every department of industry. There is good reason for this, sit- uated as it is between two great cities-New York and Philadelphia --- and the two great commercial waterways-the Hudson and the Delaware -- with the terminus of the immense trans-continental railroad system on our eastern frontier, gridironed by the tracks of six trunk lines and their numerous branches, with ocean liners plying between our shores, and Eu- ropean seaports, New Jersey is geographically and commercially the best situated State of the Union.
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
According to the United States Census of 1890 there were only five States, viz., New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Illinois and Ohio, whose yearly product of manufactured goods exceeded in value that of New Jersey. In the production of silk goods New Jersey was far ahead. of all other States. In clay products, including pottery, it was also first ; in glass, leather, and leather products and jewelry it ranked second, Penn- sylvania only producing more glass and Massachusetts more leather goods and jewelry.
The natural products of the State form the basis of some of its mnost important industries. The neighborhood of Woodbridge, Perth Amboy and South Amboy, in Middlesex county, in the upper Raritan Bay region, and the upper part of Monmouth county, are remarkably rich in clay beds of great commercial value, comprising potter's clay and fire-clay, and micaceous sands useful in the manufacture of clay products. These have been classified, and fine distinctions are made by geologists and practical workmen in clay. Eleven distinct strata have been enumerated, compris- ing red shale drift, yellow sand and gravel, clay and sand, black pipe- clay, sandy clay, light blue and red clay, alum clay, two adjoining strata of fire-clay of different quality, red or spotted clay and red sandy clay.
From these are produced all descriptions and qualities of clay products -common and fancy for building purposes, drain tile, roofing tile, sewer pipe, garden border edging, fire brick for stove linings, for grate cheeks, and for retorts and crucibles for refiners, jewelers and dentists; as well as architectural terra cotta, enamelled floor and wainscoat tiling, porce- lain ware, granite ware, and white and yellow ware.
It is surmised that the aboriginal clay products, fine specimens of which are to be found in all pretentious museums, were made from material taken from these fields. Common brick for building purposes was made in early colonial days. In 1790 the first clay ware of tolerable quality in America was made in the vicinity of Norwich, Connecticut. The first known pottery in New Jersey was established in 1800 at what was then known as Old Bridge, now Herbertsville, in Ocean county. Fire brick was first made at Woodbridge in 1825, on the site which afterward became famous as the location of the great Salamander Works, incorporated in 1871. In 1836 pottery works were also established at Perth Amboy. At the latter named place was first made in America hollow brick for building purposes, which did not come into general use until 1878.
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The American Pottery Company of Jersey City began the manufacture of decorated ware in 1829, and this was probably the first article of its class made in the United States. Middlesex county now produces about ninety per cent. of the best quality of architectural terra cotta used in the
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
country. The cut tile and pottery goods made from the clay in this region is fully equal in quality, design and workmanship to the best English majolica goods. The New Jersey buildings on the Centennial Exposition grounds in Philadelphia, in 1876, and on the Columbian Exposition grounds in Chicago, in 1893, were constructed in large part and interiorly adorned with the products of Middlesex county clay working establishments, and were viewed with admiring interest by architects and builders from all quarters of the globe.
The larger brick and terra cotta industries of the State are restricted to those in the vicinity designated, with the exception of the plants near Trenton and Camden, and a few smaller establishments elsewhere.
In 1901 the amount invested in these industries was $7,263,307-a slight increase over the previous year. The number of establishments was sixty (a few were unreported) ; material was used to the value of $1,439,- 882, and the value of the finished product was $4.359,258. The number - of workmen employed was 4,671, and the wages paid amounted to $1,879,- 461, an average per capita of $402.37.
Sand suitable for glass manufacturing purposes, of superior quality and apparently inexhaustible quantity, is found in nearly all the counties in the Statc. The first glass making establishments were in the woods, remote from transportation facilities save by water, and many of these were closed when railroads came into operation. The greater number of glass manufacturers are now located in Cumberland, Gloucester and Salea! counties. The products of the works include glass for all domestic and mechanical purposes, stained and leaded glass for decorative purposes, and aventurine, an opaque reddish-brown glass filled with gold spangles, a reproduction of the spangled glass of the ancient Venetians, used for table tops, jewel boxes and other decorative purposes.
The number of glass factories reporting was twenty-one, employing capital amounting to $4,219.943. The value of material used was $1,426,- 334, and that of the finished product was $5.098,301. The number of per- sons employed was 5,433, and the amount paid in wages was $2,721, 121- an average per capita of $500.85 for a ten-months working year, the fac- tories being closed down during the months of July and August.
The canning industry is one of much importance, and particularly is this the case in the southern portion of the State. Considering that region to be, as it is, one of the most productive fruit-growing sections of the country, it does not appear that the industry is being carried on to anything near the limit offered by the supply of material, and that there is here a good opportunity for the investment of capital in a safe and profitable business. The number of canneries in operation in 1900 was forty-
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
mine; eleven of these handled both fruit and vegetables, and thirty- seven put up vegetables only.
Eleven establishments were operated by corporations or stock com- panies with an aggregate of 202 stockholders, and thirty-eight were owned by private firms or partnerships with a total of sixty-six partners. The total amount of capital invested in the industry was $897,104; of this $185,590 is controlled by corporations or stock companies, and $711.514 by private firms or partnerships. The average investment per stockholder was $918.76; the average for each member of the private firms was $10,- 780.50. The total number of persons employed is 6,428, of whom 4,033 were females and 2,395 males. The total amount paid in wages was $286,832, and the selling value of the industry product for the year 1900 was $1,480,751. In eighteen establishments the number of persons em- ployed was less than Ico; nineteen others employ between 100 and 200, and eleven furnished work for from 220 to 600. The number of days during which the forty-nine establishments were operated ranged from eleven to three hundred and eight, the average for each plant being ninety-six days. Thirty-two establishments, or sixty-six and two-thirds per cent. of the total number, worked from eleven to sixty days during the season, the average for each of these being thirty-seven days, which, considering the perishable nature of the goods handled, may be accepted as a fair average for the entire industry. The average earnings of the men and women employed is $44.00, and the daily wages calculated on the basis of thirty-seven days' work is $1. 19.
Salem, Cumberland and Burlington counties have, between them, thir- ty-two of the forty-nine canneries, the number located in each being respect- ively seventeen, eight and seven. Hunterdon and Monmouth have four each; Cape May, three; Gloucester and Mercer, two each, and one each in Union and Ocean counties. The list of vegetables and fruits that were canned includes every variety grown on our soil that is placed upon the market in that form.
Omitting the oyster and fishing industries, which are considered under their own proper headings, the industries of the State, so far as based upon local natural products, have been disposed of, and we turn to a gen- eral consideration of manufactures, with the Report of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor and Industries as a basis.
In the year 1901 reports were received from 1.675 manufacturing establishments, sixty-three less than in the previous year. This deficiency is accounted for in part. Eight establishments were moved outside the State, mostly to New York and Pennsylvania-these being for the
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
manufacture of metal goods, carpets, glass, hats, photo paper, clothing, steel castings and knit goods, One firm, manufacturers of glass, gave as the reason for leaving the State that it wanted to escape from the annoyance of labor agitation : all the others report having moved because of the superior advantages offered by the localities to which they have gone. The business carried on by one firm engaged in the production of drop forgings, one silk mill, one silk dye house and three manufactories, six establishments in all, have gone into receivers' hands for various rea- sons, the principal one being bad business management and low prices. The last mentioned cause is the one assigned for the failure by three shoe firms.
Fifteen firms report themselves as having gone out of business, the establishments formerly owned by them being now permanently closed. Of these, four were manufacturers of shoes, two of silk goods (one of which was the oldest of the large silk mills in Paterson), one silk dye house, one manufactory of silk mull supplies, one iron foundry and one jewelry works. One manufactory each of artificial flowers, steamer chairs and shirts, with a steam laundry and an iron mine were among the places that closed.
Of the 1,675 establishments, 852 are owned by private firms and 804 by corporations. The number of partners comprised in the private firms is 1,459, of whom 1,369 are males, 60 females, 7 special and 23 represent- ing estates as trustees.
The stockholders who own the establishments controlled by corpora- tions are 37,690 in number ; these are divided into 23,548 males, 12,991 females and 1,151 banks, who sold stock as trustees for the estates of minors.
The aggregate number of partners and stockholders who own the 1,675 establishments is 39,149. In private firms the average number of partners to each establishment is 1.7; among the corporations the average number of stockholders per establishment managed in that way is 45.8.
The capital invested by all the establishments reporting is $263,974.031. Of the total, $45,329,217 is owned by private firms, the average investment of individual partners being $31,069 ; the corporations control $218,644,814, the average holding of each stockholder being $5,801.
Seventeen and one-tenth per cent. of the total capital invested is under private management and 82.9 per cent. under corporate management. As compared with the year 1899 corporation control of industry has increased two per cent., the figures for that year having been corporation, 19.1, and private management, 80.9 per cent.
Notwithstanding the number of establishments embraced in the tables.
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
is sixty-three less than appeared in last year's presentation, all these im- portant items show a very large increase. One hundred and nineteen new plants, large and small, for the manufacture of a wide variety of articles, were either opened or advanced toward completion during the year; the increase is greatest in the machinery and metal lines. Besides the new plants, the buildings of thirty-four establishments have been enlarged, and their facilities for doing work otherwise greatly improved. Scarcely a factory in the State was run below its full capacity, and a large proportion of them found it necessary to erect new buildings, enlarge old ones, and otherwise extend their facilities for turning out work.
The cost of material used was $242,885,017, and the selling value of the product of goods made was $407.595,280, the latter item showing an increase of $52,129,310 over the previous year.
Wonderful prosperity, surely! But long arrays of general statistics are not necessarily an index to the real condition of the individual, upon whom, after all, rests not only the commercial activity but the moral interests of society and of the State.
It is pleasing to note a considerable decrease in the number who did not have steady work throughout the year 1900, as shown by a comparison with the percentage of idleness for 1898 and 1899. The percentage of the number employed in all industries in 1898 who failed to find steady employment throughout the year was 17.8; in 1899 it was 11.4, and in 1900, the year for which this report was made, the percentage was only 5.2.
Small as this percentage of idleness was, it would be less if the manu- facture of brick and terra cotta and glass were left out of the calculations. These industries, as is well known, have their seasons when almost all work is suspended, as is brick making during the winter and glass during the months of July and August.
The aggregate amount paid in wages by all industries in the 1,675 establishments (excluding salaried employees ) was $77,118,902, an increase of $1,030,621 when the establishments were sixty-three less in number. and the average annual earnings per capita were $437.51, against $438.55 in the previous year. The average number of days work performed dur- ing the year was 288.20, less by 1.18 days than in the previous year, and the falling off was unquestionably due to strikes. The average length of the working day was 9.64 hours.
Returning to the wage account, it is seen that the average yearly earn- ings were under $400 in various industries where the operatives were mostly women, and the comparatively few men receiving this wage were principally quarrymen. Among those receiving under $500 were those engaged in manufacturing agricultural implements, brick and terra cotta,
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
chemical products, brass goods, high explosives, lime and cement, metal goods, saddlery, wooden goods, and miners, printers and bookbinders. Among those receiving under $600 were skilled laborers in artisans' tools, boilers, carriages and wagons, electrical appliances, foundry (iron), glass (window and bottle), hats (felt), ink and mucilage, jewelry, machinery, pottery, roofing (iron and stone) saddles and harness, sashes, blinds and doors, silver goods, smelting and refining (gold, silver and copper), steel and iron (bar), steel and iron (structural), steel and iron ( forging), typewriter and typewriter supplies and window shades. The fortunate ones who received more than six hundred dollars were those occupied in brew- eries, range and heater factories, in oil refining, ship-building and in mak- ing varnish and wire cloth.
The total number of male employees was 146,183. These, classified according to wage rates, shows 10.60 per cent. who are paid under $5 per week ; 4.28 per cent. who were paid more than $5, but under $6 per week; 5.47 per cent. who were paid more than $6 but less than $7 per week; 9.84 per cent. who were paid more than $7 but less than $8 per week; 9.17 per cent. who received more than $8 but less than $9 per week ; 13.17 per cent. who were paid more than $9 but less than $10 per week .; 13. 13 per cent. who were paid more than $10 but less than $12 per week; 14:77 per cent. who were paid more than $12 but under $15 per week; 13.60 per cent. who were paid more than $15 but under $20 per week; and 5.97 per cent. who received more than $20 per week.
The female operatives numbered 49,615. A similar classification shows 38.96 per cent. who were paid less than $5 per week ; 18.60 per cent. who were paid more than $5, but under $6 per week; 14.43 per cent. who were paid more than $6, but under $7 per week; 9.59 per cent. who were paid more than $7, but less than $8 per week ; 6.04 per cent. who were paid more than $8, but less than $9 per week; 4.87 per cent. who were paid more than $9, but under $10 per week; 4.32 per cent. who were paid more than Sio, but under $12 per week ; 2.48 per cent. who were paid more than $1 2 but under $15 per week; and .66 per cent. who were paid more than $15, but less than $20 per week, and .05 per cent. who received more than $20 per week.
Of the total number of 49,615 female operatives, 44,434 have been classified under fifty-one different forms of factory labor, leaving 5,181 unclassified. In those occupations long recognized as peculiarly adapted to women (artificial flowers, clothing, straw goods, textile products, and silk, cotton and woolen manufacturing ). the percentage of female operatives is .very high, ranging from fifty to ninety per cent. But it is curious to note the considerable number of women in other lines of work which have
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
been until recently monopolized by men. Female operatives in bicycle works were 15.5 per cent .; in wood and paper boxes, 68.7 per cent .; in chemical products, 16.2 per cent .; in cigars and tobacco, 67.4 per cent .; in graphite products, 51.3 per cent. : in jewelry, 27.3 per cent .; in leather goods, 45.8 per cent .; in metal goods, 21.4 per cent .; in metal novelties, 25.5 per cent. ; in musical instruments, 14.4 per cent. ; in paints, 9.7 per cent. ; in pottery, 17.7 per cent. ; in printing and bookbinding, 32.9 per cent. ; in rubber goods, 17.6 per cent .; in saddlery and harness hardware, 3.8 per cent. ; in scientific instruments, 16.8 per cent .; in shoes, 34.1 per cent. ; in soap and tallow. 19.9 per cent. ; in trunk hardware, 22.2 per cent .; in watch cases, 25.3 per cent .; and in wire cloth, 15.5 per cent.
The radical changes in the processes of manufacturing that have taken place within the past decade has opened the way for the employment of female labor in many lines of industry that were formerly closed to them. Hard and disagreeable work, which required the strength and en- durance that only men possess, is being made a thing of the past by the introduction of new machinery and methods, under which deftness of touch and intelligent perception on the part of the operative takes the place of importance formerly held by the more rugged qualities peculiar to men. There is, therefore, every indication that these changes will open still wider fields for the introduction of female labor. And these conditions offer a fertile field for speculation for the social economist and moralist who is satisfied that already the foundations of society have been undermined by neglect of the marriage relation through the reduced ability of the more poorly paid male wage-earner to provide for a home, and through the more independent status of the female wage-earner who, deriving her livelihood through her own effort, would rather bear the ills she has than to fly to those she fears may come in company with one of her own station who cannot much exceed her in wage-earning capacity.
The very elaborate report to which reference has been made also shows the average cost of living in the month of June, 1901, as compared with the same month in previous years. Reports were received from various centres of population in twenty-one counties of the State, on a uniform list of necessary articles of food. The average cost of the entire bill of goods throughout the State was $26.12 for 1898. $25.20 for 1899, $25.35 for 1900, and $26.51 for 1901. A steady but very small increase is thus shown to have taken place each year since 1899.
Localizing the industries of the State, it is to be said that on and near its northern tidal waters are many great factories engaged in various lines of manufacture whose product is to be found in all the markets of the world reached by American commerce. In addition to brick, pottery and
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
terra cotta, these products comprise every form of iron and steel work, from mammoth locomotive and stationary engines to wire and needles; silk, woolen and worsted goods; all articles manufactured from leather and from rubber; wool and felt hats for men and women; every description of article in jewelry and celluloid; sugar and tobacco; and countless chemical products, with refined oils and by-products from petroleum.
Paterson is one of the most famous manufacturing cities in the United States, made so by its important natural advantages, being so situated that the full force of the Passaic Falls has been largely utilized in the develop- ment of water-power, by which numerous silk mills and other large indus- trial establishments have been operated. The great number of firms en- gaged in the production of silk goods has given Paterson the name of the "Lyons of America." In this city, with Jersey City and West Hoboken, there were in the year 1900 one hundred and fifty silk mills, representing a value of twenty-two and one-half million dollars, employing twenty-five thousand operatives, and annually distributing nearly ten million dollars in wages. There are alsc two locomotive works-the Cook Locomotive and Machine Company and the Rogers Locomotive Works. The first-named company turned out in the year 1900 one hundred and twenty locomotives, which were sold for $1,508,618. The Rogers works have been doing little or nothing for the past year, owing to the retirement of the old man- agement, but are now about to resume operations under the control of new men.
Twelve large machine shops produce silk-working and other special machinery, and one devotes itself entirely to that required for making rope and twine. There are numbers of combined machine shops and foundries. Steam engine and boiler works, jute machinery, iron and brass castings, files and rasps of a superior quality, and a great variety of other metal products are turned out by Paterson establishments.
In the textile industries, outside of silk, Paterson has several mills engaged in the production of white wear for men and women, in which nearly fifteen hundred hands are employed. There are also a large dye- house for dying and finishing cotton goods ; one manufactory of carriages and wagons, four of paper boxes, one of carpets and rugs and one of food products, making a list that is fairly representative of the main industries of the city.
Passaic is one of the most prosperous manufacturing cities in New Jersey. A fine water-power is furnished by the Dundee Water Power Sys- tem. Many factories are located here, the woolen industry being espe- cially well developed.
In Jersey City are located large refineries of the American Sugar Com-
HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST. 425
pany, the immense works of the Lorillard Tobacco Company, six great establishments engaged in the manufacture of soaps and perfumery, and extensive rubber mills and factories.
Newark has the largest population and the greatest diversity of indus- tries of any city in New Jersey. In 1890 it was the twelfth manufacturing city in the Union, and it was claimed to be the leader in variety of articles made in its factories. It is the largest jewelry manufacturing center in the State, with its sixty-five manufactories, representing a value of three million dollars and affording employment to twenty-seven hundred oper- atives. It is also the principal seat of the leather interest. The shoe indus- try alone is represented by forty-eight manufactories, with a capital of nearly three million dollars, and employing five thousand workmen. Here the celluloid industry had its beginning, and here are three extensive cellu- loid plants under one management, with a capital of two million dollars, and employing seven hundred men.
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