Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 11

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : Munsell
Number of Pages: 1360

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THE COMMERCE OF BROOKLYN.

667

which are possessed by but comparatively few houses. Messrs. T. Hogan & Sons are well known in the New York trade as the consignees of several ships from foreign ports, and stand high in the commercial world, both as to capital and integrity.

In 1857, Mr. Hogan married Mary Nichols Millward, a na- tive of Liverpool, who bore him eight children, five of whom are dead. Arthur F. Hogan, a younger son, not yet identi- fied with his father's business, and consequently not men- tioned above, is yet in school, but bids fair to develop all of those sterling business qualities which characterize his father and brothers. Mrs. Hogan died in August, 1882, mourned beyond measure by her immediate family and deeply re- gretted by a wide circle of friends. Especially has her help- ful presence been missed by those actively interested in the charitable institutions of the city, who ever found her ready to aid, by gifts of money, by her counsel and by loving labors, all deserving objects. In the Sheltering Arms Nursery she was especially interested, and was officially connected there-

with. All the charitable institutions in Brooklyn were re- membered at the time she made her will, and her bequests to the Sheltering Arms Nursery, St. John's Hospital and Children's Aid Society were generous in the extreme. In some of these, and in other institutions of a similar character, Mr. Hogan has been and is also interested, continuing, as well as he may, his deceased wife's beneficence to the Sheltering Arms Nursery, of which he is one of the trustees. His fam- ily have long been communicants of St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church, State street, toward which Mr. Hogan has for years sustained the relation of vestryman.

Politically, Mr. Hogan is a republican, and a firm believer in the principles and an ardent admirer of the record of that party in all questions of national significance. Upon general issues he gives it his best and strongest support; but in local affairs he believes in lionest and economical govern- ment, and invariably supports such men and measures as promise to secure it, regardless of party lines or political ' affiliations.

THE

MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES

BROOKLYN AND KINGS COUNTY.

L. P. Brackett MM.L.

SECTION I .- Introductory.

G ( ROWTH OF MANUFACTURING IN- DUSTRIES in Brooklyn and Kings County in the last fifty years .- Notwithstanding the stale and oft-repeated jest that " Kings County, and Brooklyn especially, was only New York's bed- room," the defamers of the county have been com- pelled to acknowledge, for the last twenty-five or thirty years, that the county made a very respectable show- ing in its manufactures. In 1850, when the popula- tion of the county was 138,882, its manufactures, as reported by the seventh censns, were yielding an an- nual product of $14,681,093; in 1860 its population had doubled, being 279,122, and its manufactures had more than doubled, the annual product being reported in the eighth census as $34,241,520. In 1870 the population had increased less rapidly, owing partly, perhaps, to the war; it was 419,921, an increase of fifty per cent .; and the report of the manufactures of the county in the ninth census showed an increase of about eighty per cent., being $60,848,673. It is worthy of notice, however, as indicating either the worthlessness of the method of collecting these statisties, or the careless- ness of those who were appointed to collect them, that the largest industry of the county-sugar refining- which ten years before had a reported ammual produet of $3,794,000, was not reported as having auy exist- ence in 1870. In 1880 the annual product of the eleven sngar refineries of Brooklyn alone was $59,711,168, almost equal to the entire reported product of all man- ufactories in the county in 1870.

Imperfection of the Census Returns. The probable aggregate in 1883 .- The census of 1880 (the tenth) did not report the mannfactures of the States by counties until the summer of 1883; though it had made two previous attempts upon those of twenty leading cities, of which Brooklyn was one; but this report was, after all, of bnt little consequence, as the omission of petroleum refining, breweries and dis- to question its accuracy.

tilleries, ship building and repairing, illuminating gas, ete., make its footings of no great value. The total production of the county, according to the latest revi- sion of this census, was $179,188,685, and, fortunately, we have the data to supply these omissions from official sources. They amount in the aggregate to $24,365,106, making the entire census report of our manufactures 8203,533,791. The faults of the census methods, never more obvious than in this enumeration, the omissions, not often willful, but sometimes clerical errors and at others the results of gross carelessness, would increase this amount to at least $210,000,000; while the vast in- crease in every department of manufactures since 1880 renders it absolutely certain that the present annual product exceeds $250,000,000.

It is to be remarked, while giving all honor and praise to the Special Agent of the Census Bureau for Brooklyn manufacturers, Mr. James H. Frothingham, whose efforts to perfect these returns were unwearied, and were crowned with remarkable success, that he was greatly hampered and obstructed, not only by the faulty methods of the census office blanks and instrue- tions, to which we have already alluded, but by the most unwarrantable and absurd assumptions of uni- versal knowledge on the part of the Washington officials, which often led them into grievous blunders. Evidently the compilation of the census is not yet one of the exact sciences. As a rule, no industry was counted which did not give an annual product of over $1,000. When we consider how many of these small industries there are, which, though making no display, yet give a moderate income to those who conduct them, we shall be likely to coincide with the opinion of Mr. Lorin Blodgett, who estimates the total product of these unnoted industries, in Philadelphia, in 1880, as not less than $15,000,000.

When we add to these, as we must, the other great errors of the census, we shall see that Brooklyn and Kings County have far more cause than Philadelphia

669

THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

The Comparative Extent of the Manufactures of Brooklyn and Kings County .- The statistics of Brooklyn manufactures, according to the census of 1880, omitting the breweries and distilleries, were 5,281 manufacturing establishments, using $62,719,399 of capital, and having in their employ an average number of 37,878 males above 16 years of age, 7,299 females above 15 years of age, and 3,621 children and youth, a total average number of employees of 48,898, while the greatest number employed at any time in the year considerably exceeded 70,000. Adding to these the persons employed in the minor industries not enumer- ated, those in the breweries and distilleries, and those in manufactories in the county towns, and we have an aggregate of nearly 80,000 employees, and including those dependent on them, a population of more than 250,000, directly and indirectly relying on manufactur- ing interests for a living. The total amount paid in wages during the year 1879-80 was stated to have been $22,867,176; the value of the raw material used, $130,108,417; and the annual product (except the in- dustries specified above, and minor industries), $179,- 188,685 .* These figures show an apparent increase of 233 per cent. in manufactures, in the decade 1870-1880, while the increase of population had been only about 46 per cent., from 419,921 to 599,495.

There is every reason to believe that the increase since June, 1880, both of population and manufactures, has been in a still more rapid ratio. New branches of manufacture have been introduced, and those already established have been greatly enlarged, some of the largest having been more than doubled. Brooklyn now ranks as the fourth city on the continent in the amount of its manufactures, only New York, Philadelphia and Chicago surpassing her in this respect; and from the best attainable data, in 1883, she probably surpassed Chicago, thus making her rank that of the third city in the Union in manu- factures as well as population. Kings County has a larger annual product from her manufactures than any State in the Union, except New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Illinois and Ohio. Connecticut, that busy hive of industry, follows her very closely in man-

*This is the latest result of the calculations made at the Census Office, up to the present writing (December 20th, 1883), heing taken from the compendium of the tenth census, Vol. II., page 998. Three official statements from the same office, which have preceded It, dif- fered from it as follows, the substantial accuracy of each being vouched for :

ESTAB.

Capital.

Hands. Males.

H'ds. H'ds. Fmle Yths.

Wages paid.

Material used.

Annual product.

5164

$69.828.709

36,999

6,891

3,528

$22,902,683

$138,994.489

$188,573.056

.5089

56,621,390

34,920

6,883

3,423

21,072.051

124,951,203

169,757,590

.5201

61,646,749

37,105

7.020

3.462

22,487,457

129.085,091

177,223.142

.5281

62.719,399

37.878

7,299

3,621

22,867,176

130.108,417

179,188,685

.. 5404

79,721,149

41,931

7,500

3,795

23,407,966

147,287,654

203,553,781

Adding omis- sions from ofti-

cizl figures.

We await with some impatience the issue of the quarto volume of the Census on Manufactures, as these will undoubtedly give us still another version.

ufactures as well as in population. What are the inore prominent industries which make up this vast total ?

SECTION II. The Sugar Refining Industry.

Vast Extent of the Business .- As we have already intimated, the production of refined sugar, molasses and syrup is much the largest of these indus- tries, and, according to the census reports, amounts to almost one-third of the whole. As we shall see, pres- ently, there is reason to believe that it constitutes about two-fifths of the whole of the manufactures of the County. It employed, in 1880, according to the census, almost 2,500 persons, nearly all men, and paid out $954,929 annually, as wages. The reported capital of the eleven companies was $10,846,000, the material used was $56,423,868, and the annual pro- duct, $59,711,168.

While these figures, though obtained with great care, and as accurately as possible by the accomplished agent of the census office, are liable to some correc- tion, the census methods being, in many respects, mis- leading, yet the value of the annual production does not differ very largely from that of 1881, 1882, and 1883, for these reasons : the duty on imported raw sugar was materially reduced in 1881, and there was a corresponding reduction in the value of the refined product ; there has been a great increase in the production of adulterated sugars, within three years past; a glucose sugar, that is, one containing 25 to 30 per cent. of glucose, being made to resemble very closely in color, appearance and weight, the pure sugar, though containing only § the sweetening power; this sugar could be made for 5 cents a pound, and was sold at 72 cents, while the pure sugar cost 7} cents to make. A reduction in price followed the putting of these fraudulent sugars on the market. There was also a great falling off in production, in consequence of the destruction, by fire, in 1881, of the immense refineries of Messrs. Havemeyer & Elder, which turned out a million pounds of refined sugar a day. It was highly creditable to the Brooklyn refineries of pure sugar, that, notwithstanding these difficulties and ob- stacles, they actually increased their production by at least thirty per cent., and maintained an annual value of their product of about $60,000,000.

This condition of affairs is now changed, in many respects. The great refinery and filtering houses of the Havemeyers are rebuilt on a larger scale than be- fore, and are turning out 1,200,000 pounds of sugar every day, with a capacity, if pressed, of doubling that production. The other sugar refineries are being driven to their utmost capacity, and, taken together, they can, and do, produce five-eighths of all the refined sugar made in the United States.

The glucose fraud has been so thoroughly exposed that the demand for glucose sugars is not on the in-

670

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

crease, and the tendencies of both the raw and retincd sugars are upward rather than downward. There is, also, a large and constantly increasing demand for sugars for the export trade. Whether the Sorghum culture will soon, or ever, become so large as to dimin- ish our imports, is uncertain as yet, but everything seems to indicate a prosperous future for the sugar trade.

One of the errors in the census methods was the great variety of items it included under the head of raw material. All the boxes, bales, mats and bags in which raw sugar was brought to the refineries, and all the barrels used in packing the refined sugar, were counted as a part of the cost of raw material in the manufacture. The raw sugar and molasses consumed could not have approached the amount named in the census report, 856,423,868 ; for the production of re- fined sugar in Brooklyn, according to the census, was only 39 per cent. of the whole production of the coun- try, and 39 per cent. of the entire amount of sugar imported into, and produced in, the United States in 1879-80 (making no account of that which entered into consumption without passing through the re- fineries), was only $43,330,373.58, and yet, that year was one of extraordinary production and importation. The amount of capital invested, and the number of hands employed, were both very uncertain quantities. Larger sums than those specified in the census were invested in the very costly plant of these establish- ments, but the working capital cannot be estimated even by the parties themselves. The number of hands employed varies constantly. Automatic machinery is constantly being introduced, and, while the capacity of the refineries is increasing, the number of hands is stationary, or decreasing.

There are now thirteen establishments which claim to be sugar refineries, in Brooklyn and Kings county. Of these, eight are engaged in the manufacture of pure sugars, and most of them, incidentally, in the production of syrups. One or two of them inake syrups a specialty. The daily production of these, at the present time, is about 2,600 tons of sugar of the different grades, or 768,000 tons annually. Their ca- pacity for the production of a much larger quantity is certain, but how great that capacity may be, depends on several particulars : the quality of sugar mnost in demand at a given time, as hard or soft, of high or low grade; the soft sugars and those of low grade ad- mitting of a much larger production than the hard and finer sugars; the active demand at an advancing price, and the facility for obtaining the raw sugars in the quantities needed. It may be said with safety, that, if all the circumstances were favorable, the present facilities would permit of the annual produc- tion of not less than 1,250,000 tons of refined sugar, and a large quantity of syrup. This means a produc- tion of over $100,000,000.

Aside from these, there are one, and possibly two, houses which manufacture sugars and syrups, largely adulterated with glucose, and perhaps, also, with some chemicals to improve the color. We know the pro- duction of these sugars and syrups to be of very con- siderable amount, but have been unable, of course, to obtain any figures. There are also three or four houses which make a pure, but low grade sugar, by boiling down molasses, filtering and crystallizing. Their products find a ready market in some of the Southern and Southwestern States. It may be safely estimated, then, that the present actual production of sugars and syrups of all sorts (including the glucose and the molasses sugars), is between 75 and 80 million dollars, and the possible production, under the most favorable circumstances with the present facilities, is not less than $112,000,000. Mr. T. A. Havemeyer is our authority for the statement, which he had care- fully verifled, that Brooklyn produces five-eighths of the entire production of sugars and syrups in the United States.

The refiners who produce honest sugars, not adul- terated with glucose, white clay or any other substance, are justly indignant at the frauds of the adulterators. They claim that their sugars, when refined, contain the hard sugars, one hundred per cent. of pure sucrose or cane-sugar, and the soft sugars, from which the entire moisture has not been evaporated, nincty-nine per cent. of pure sugar, the one per cent. being water in com- bination.

The raw sugars brought hither for refinery, come from many countries, and are the product of many dif- ferent plants, fruits, stalks and tubers. That which largely predominates is produced from the different species of the sugar-cane. We receive raw sugars from Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas ; and a somewhat richer article from the sugar canes of Mexico and Cen- tral America, Cuba, Jamaica and other West India Islands, and from Demerara, Venezuela, Guiana and Brazil; the excellent raw sugars of the Hawaiian isl- ands; the luscious sweets of the canes of Java, Sumatra, Borneo, the Malayan peninsula, the Philippine Islands, India and China; date sugar and some sugar cane from African ports; beet sugar from central and sonthern Europe; sorghum and imphce sugars from the west, and from China and farther India; the product of the sugar yam from Africa, and in small quantities, sugar from cornstalks, from the sap of the maple, and even the watermelon. These all produce sucrose or cane- sugar, while the glucose is made by treating starch from maize, acorns, the cereals and potatoes with sul- phuric acid.

We cannot go into the details of the processes, by which these erude and often very dirty masses of sugar are changed into the pure suowy white masses, sent forth daily, in quantities of many hundreds of tons, from the wharves and docks of Brooklyn.

671

THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

Suffice it to say that the raw sugar is dumped into immense mixing vats on the lower floor of the refinery, mixed with water at the temperature of 110°, being stirred thoroughly the while, by steam power, and after a time pumped by steam directly to enormous tanks at the top of the building, the acidity corrected by lime, heated to 200° F, and run down through the double bag-filters to the floor below, where the strained liquor passes into the bone-black filters, from which it issues a pure, colorless liquid, which has parted with its impurities to the bone-black, which now has to be washed and re-burned. This liquid is now drawn into the res- ervoirs connected with the immense vacuum pans, holding cach 200 barrels or more, and once conducted to them they are closed, a vacuum produced, and tlicy are boiled by steam heat at a temperature of about 100° F. Having been grained, it is drawn and packed into iron moulds in the shape of an inverted cone, which holds about 64 pounds of sugar. In these they crystallize and harden for a week, and are then hoisted aloft, the plugs withdrawn, and they drip and drain for 24 hours, and after a solution of pure white sugar and water has percolatcd through them for another 24 hours, they are taken to the ovens or stoves where they are baked for another week till all moisture is expelled. The "titlars," as they are called, then go to the mill

* The following description of the new refinery, filtering house, machine shop, cooperage and railroad depot, and other buildings con- nected with the Havemeyer & Elder establishment, we condense from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 30, 1883.

The building, or buildings rather, for there are two of them -a refin- ery proper and a filtering house-are the largest of the kind on the face of the globe, and, when supplied with all the machinery, and in full operation, wili have by far the largest capacity of any refinery on eitber continent.

The present monster structure furnIshes an idea of the enormous business done by Mr. Havemeyer. His immense establishments, which cover so much of the Eastern District river front, are completed in all their appointments, with the addition of a new machine sbop, which is now finished. Tbe establishments of Mr. Havemeyer, connected with the new refinery, are bounded by South Second and South Sixtb streets, First street and the Fast River. On the east side of First street, running midway in the block between South Third and South Fourth strects, is a great structure which was used as a boiler house and for filtering purposes, before the great fire a year and a half or more ago. The building is eleven stories high above ground, and had been connected by an iron bridge across First street at the third story with the burned buildings.

The buildings on the water front may be classed in this wise : On the block bounded by South Second and Soutb Tbird streets, First street and the river, is the new refinery and filtering bouse, ten and thirteen stories in heigbt respectively ; on the block bounded by South Third and South Fourth streets, First street and the river, a six-story structure has just been erected on the ruins of the old building. This structure will be used as a warehouse.

Beside his great refining and storage establishments, Mr. Havemeyer controls the vast cooperage interests covering the large square bound- ed by First and Second streets, and North Fourth and North Fiftb streets, which is familiarly known as Palmer's cooper shop. On the north side of North Fifth street, and bounded by First and Second streets, and running midway in the block between North Fiftb and Nortb Sixth streets, is Mr. Havemeyer's freight depot, which be placed at the exclusive use of the Erie Railroad. The other sugar refiners in that section of the city. and business men generally, sbip and receive freight at this very important station of the Erie road. It is said tbat it ranks fourth in a business point of view among the freight depots of the road. The depot has become such an important one that it is now altogetber too small, but no doubt Mr. Havemeyer will extend it and run the road a block furtber east. The trains are taken to and brought from Jersey City on barge floats several times during the day.

On the block bounded by South Fourth and South Fiftb streets is a seven-story refinery, formerly used as a storage house, and on the block soutb of this structure is a one-story brick building used for storage purposes also. It is not in any way connected with the build- ing north of it. All the buildings are supposed to be fire-proof, only iron and brick being used in their construction. Three of the build- ings will be connected at one of the upper stories by bridges.

In addition to these great buildings named, Mr. Havemeyer controls the refinery yet bearing the name of DeCastro & Donner, at the foot of Soutb Nintb street and the establishment at the foot of North Third street. The latter building covers a large block, and the South Ninth street structure is also of giant proportions.

room, and are mashed, sawed, ground like coarse mcal, or powdered like flour. There are five grades in all. This is the hard sugar.

The " soft " sugars, when grained in the vacuum pan, are discharged directly into the " stoek hoppers " or receptacles over the centrifugal machines. These machines, 64 feet in diameter, have spindles suspended from the top, the lower end being left free to oscillate. They run noiselessly, though at the rate of 1,200 revo- lutions a minute, and through the perforated periphery of the great brass box, the moisture and syrup is thrown out into the outer receptacle as completely in a few minutes as it could be removed by draining in a month. By the centrifugal process, raw sugar can be trans- formed into refined sugar in from sixteen to twenty- four hours. When removed from the centrifugal, it is separated into seven grades and sent to market.

Of the manufacturers engaged in this business, the great house of Havemeyers and Elder, dating from 1857, though not the oldest, is very much the largest, having with its new refinery and filtering house just completed,* a capacity for the production of 1,250,000 pounds of sugar daily ; while the house of DeCastro and Donner, in which it has a controlling interest, can produce in its extensive and well arranged refineries, 1,200,000 pounds more, daily ; an aggregate of 2,450,000.

The new refinery stands upon a plot of ground, 250x150 feet, and con- sists of the refinery proper, which is 250 feet on First street and 70 feet deep, and the filtering house, which is 250x80 feet. The refinery is ten stories in height, or about 110 feet above ground, with a cellar depth of 20 feet, and the only materials used in its construction were pressed brick and iron. The walls are four feet in thicknes at the bottom, and two feet at the top. The floors are of brick, being a series of fiat topped arcbes of 5 feet sweep, and they are supported by a labyrinth of cast iron columns, and wrought iron beams and girders, which are braced to sixty-six cast iron columns, each capable of standing a strain of 400 tons. The courses and trimmings of the walls are of blue stone, and the mansard roof is faced with black brick. In order to make the building as absolutely fire-proof as possible, all material of an inflam- mable nature was eliminated in its construction. The entrance arch- ways are secured with double iron doors, and the hundreds of windows are supplied with doors of the same material.

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Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 11

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909. Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York : Munsell Number of Pages: 1360

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : Munsell
Number of Pages: 1360