New York panorama : a comprehensive view of the metropolis, Part 38

Author:
Publication date: 1938
Publisher: New York : Random House
Number of Pages: 630

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In round numbers, the entire United States in 1935 recorded wholesale ansactions approximating $42,803,000,000. In the same year New York scenlid a wholesale business valued at $9,618,000,000, or more than 22 per- want of the national total. Among all American cities, Chicago made the 's latosest approach to New York's accomplishments in the wholesale field, werut its transactions were but slightly in excess of one-third of the New werfork total. Only three other American cities, Boston, Philadelphia and ankan Francisco, did a wholesale business amounting to more than a billion ichlollars in 1935, and New York's wholesale business far exceeded the com- nen ang ined total of all three plus that of Chicago.

In the field of retail trade, New York likewise occupies a predominant bar osition among American cities. In 1935 its total retail sales amounted to 2,847,000,000, which was about eight percent of the national total. No n ther American city. could show anything like this figure, the closest being thi ing ap rg Chicago with less than half the New York total. As a matter of fact, New York City transacted more retail business in 1935 than did any state in the Jnion except the state in which it is situated; and this business was con- lucted in more stores (numbering 115,500) than were in operation in ny state except New York and Pennsylvania. Employed in the retail and thewholesale establishments of the city in 1935 were 522,908 persons, or 37,- of'64 more than were employed in the city's industrial plants. Supervising ro his great army of wage-workers were 114,882 proprietors and firm mem- hopers. Employees in the city's retail and wholesale establishments received min average of about $1,500 each for their labor in 1935, as against an esaverage of about $1,200 paid to the city's factory workers.

0 The foregoing data establish the general quantitative picture of market- ang in the metropolis. In a qualitative examination it should be noted, first iof all, that retail establishments in New York City can be classified in i three main categories characteristic of retail marketing in any community. iBriefly, these categories are as follows: (1) stores engaged in the selling ¡of "convenience goods," such as groceries, meats, drugs, baked goods, to- pacco, etc .; (2) stores selling the so-called "shopping lines," consisting of

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wearing apparel, house furnishings, dry goods, etc .; (3) stores that set little "luxury goods," such as expensive jewelry, furs, antiques, etc. milar s

In New York, as in every other community, an overwhelming majoril fun of retail establishments belong in the first category. Engaged in the majance, keting of commodities that have a generally low sales price, such retail etpods t tablishments find it profitable to cluster close to the heart of comparative hirty- small residential districts. In 1935 almost one-half of all the retail stor there in the city, 52,161 to be exact, were engaged in the marketing of foce pat stuffs. That these stores were, for the most part, small-scale neighborhocath a enterprises is shown by the fact that they were operated by a total of onagion 60,300 employees. Stores of this type are scattered, in proportion to poputher d lation concentration, over all five boroughs of the city. In themselves the at typ are no more distinctive of New York than of any other city. ert, t

New York's world-wide reputation as a shopping center derives pripre m marily from retail outlets that belong in the last two categories above mer fonity tioned-the great department stores, the countless "specialty" shops, th Oviou "exclusive" gown, millinery, art and antique stores. These establishment: Be particularly the department and specialty types, constitute the shoppin roxin mecca of the entire metropolitan district. They cater to the varied taste locati and needs not only of New York's millions, but of additional millions i: pis c New Jersey, Long Island, Connecticut and upstate New York. Unlike th bry "convenience goods" shops, the location of such establishments is deter listri mined more by their accessibility than by their proximity to the buyin; tard public. During the past 30 years, consequently, New York's retail shop tide ping district has shown a marked tendency to crystallize in the area ofther Manhattan bounded by Thirty-First Street on the south and Fifty-Ninth yake Street on the north, between Third and Eighth Avenues on the east andlong west-the area that is most accessible to all parts of the metropolitan dis pove trict. This area receives a majority of the quarter-million or more who dailyprese visit the city, for most of these visitors arrive at the Pennsylvania ancof tr Grand Central Terminals. Since all the city's rapid transit systems con-flon verge on the center, the area is also directly accessible to the hordes of T bargain hunters among the native population, whether they come from thetict outermost reaches of the Bronx or from the depths of Kings or Queens. City

The central retail shopping district, conforming to this first principle of tict profitable retail operation, is distinguished first of all by intensive concen-"ver tration of retail outlets. Here are a majority of the most modern and best ! te equipped metropolitan agencies that retail service and amusement as well out as merchandise. Definite location patterns are discernible in the district, ten

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hat set: little homogeneity. Certain shops that handle similar goods or serve ilar social strata tend to develop a location center peculiar to their spe- ajorifl function. Along and in the vicinity of Thirty-Fourth Street, for in- e m Ince, are many of the mammoth department stores, which sell the most tail eods to the most people. Along Fifth and Madison Avenues, between ative irty-Fourth and Fifty-Ninth Streets, are most of the "quality shops," storcere the cost of an article is reputedly a secondary consideration with foo: patrons. Then there is "automobile row" on Broadway between Fifty- rhoo th and Sixty-Fifth Streets, the art galleries and antique shops in the fongion around Fifth Avenue and Fifty-Seventh Street, and a number of popper distinct centers in each of which are shops specializing in a particu- s the type of merchandise. This clustering trend is a response, for the most tt, to consumer desire to "shop around," to deliberate and compare be- price making a purchase. To some extent, too, clustering develops in the mentinity of establishments that do extensive advertising, the reason being , thevious.

ents Before the development of modern methods of transit and transport, pinoximity to the buying public was the decisive factor in determining the aste cation of New York's central retail shopping district. The history of as ifis central district, accordingly, has been virtually identical with the his- thry of Manhattan's residential development. Originally, of course, the ter strict was in the lower end of the island. By 1850 it had pushed north- pingard to Canal Street, only a short distance south of the newly developing op sidential area. Thirty years later the shopping center had effected an- og her northward migration, this time to Fourteenth Street and again in the inthake of the residential movement. By 1900 a further move had been made, andong with the northward-bound populace, to Twenty-Third Street. The dis ovement toward Thirty-Fourth Street and beyond began early in the ilf:esent century. Very gradually, and virtually in inverse ratio to the tempo und: transit development, proximity to the buying public ceased to be a loca- on determinant.

There is every reason to believe that New York's central shopping dis- hejict will remain permanently rooted in the area that it currently occupies. ity planners have called attention to the fact that only the financial dis- of ict has the economic power to displace the retail merchants, should it ver feel the urge to move north. Business and banking firms have shown est tendency to move their administrative offices northward in recent years, el ut the only apparent effects on the central shopping district have been ew skyscrapers, greatly increased street and sidewalk congestion, and a

on- of

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still further influx of retail establishments stocked with wares to catch t fancy of the new armies of office employees.

Retail merchants in the city as a whole manage to retain their trad tional enterprise, even in the face of adversity. There were nearly 12,0 more stores in New York in 1935 than in 1929, although the total 19 dollar volume of business was only about one-half the 1929 total. Wheth in a boom or a depression year, however, the lion's share of the city's 1 tail business is transacted in Manhattan. Thus, in 1935 the total doll volume of sales in Manhattan exceeded by $77,666,000 the correspondi total in the other four boroughs combined.

Wholesale marketing is concentrated in Manhattan even more inte sively than retailing, 91 percent of the city's vast volume of wholesa business in 1935 having been transacted on the island. Although virtual

U o at en all this business was carried on below Fifty-Ninth Street, Manhattan co tains no central wholesale area comparable to the central retail shoppin district. With few exceptions, each of the 20 or more well-defined whol sale market sections in the city is composed of all the agencies dealing certain products, clustered together in a specific neighborhood. The whol sale market for butter, cheese and eggs, for example, is concentrated ( Greenwich Street, on the west side of downtown Manhattan; most of tl wholesale leather establishments are in the old "Swamp" district, belo the Brooklyn Bridge; the wholesale shoe distributors are on Reade ar Duane Streets in downtown Manhattan; the wholesale fish market ce ters around the intersection of South and Fulton Streets. Similarly conce! trated in particular neighborhoods are the fruit and produce markets, tl coffee and tea markets, the women's garments market, the men's garment the headwear, jewelry, silk goods, woolen goods and cotton goods market The wholesale hardware, drug and paper markets, on the other hand, a: composed of scattered agencies, although the latter remain in the centr .ct area. Only the groceries and fresh meat markets are made up of wide scattered agencies. her

This tendency of some wholesale agencies to cluster and of others the scatter is created by factors peculiar to the selling process in each cas Where price fluctuations are frequent, where buyers come to the marke or where the determination of quality is important, the market is con posed invariably of clustered agencies, since the proximity of every deal to all the others in each case is essential to the efficient transaction of bus ness. Where, on the other hand, price and quality are standardized, th market tends to disperse over a wide area.

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WORLD MARKET PLACE

The forces determining the locations of the various clustered markets e less easy to define. Generally speaking, the markets in which fashion is factor, such as fur, women's garments, millinery and silk, have gravi- ted uptown toward the central retail shopping district; markets where ucking economy is a paramount consideration, such as the fruit and oduce market or the butter, eggs and cheese market, tend to concentrate car the railroad pier stations on the lower west side. In at least one case, at of the leather market, the location seems to have been established by adition, the "Swamp" having been associated with New York leather perations since earliest times.

Unlike the retail merchant, whose existence depends upon his ability attract the public eye, the wholesaler as a rule operates behind the scenes, enerally in an out-of-the-way neighborhood and usually in obsolete remises. Of his role in the city's economic life, the public at large knows ttle and cares less. Nevertheless, that role is of primary importance. The holesaler is the stoker who feeds the city's mighty productive machine; e is the distributor of its million-fold products. He is host to much of e avalanche of rail and water-borne cargoes that descend daily on the ty. Such functions will be necessary to the end of time.

In addition to being America's greatest commercial center, New York also this country's major industrial city. More workers are paid more ce cen ages for producing more goods in more manufacturing establishments ere than in any other American city-or, indeed, than in any one of 43 ates. In 1935 (the latest year for which figures are available) 485,144 orkers were employed in 26,061 factories scattered throughout the five broughs of the city. For converting $1,756,000,000 worth of raw ma- erials (including fuel and power) into $3,666,000,000 worth of prod- cts, these workers were paid $582,000,000 in wages. Only the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio paid more wages to hore factory workers, and produced manufactures of greater total value. New York City contained twice as many manufacturing establishments as ny state in the Union other than New York and Pennsylvania, the latter aving only 20 more than one-half the New York City total. With refer- nce to the United States as a whole, New York City factories employed six ercent of all the workers, who were paid nearly eight percent of all the rages for manufacturing eight percent by value of all the products of the ountry.

While 77 percent of all the manufacturing establishments in New York

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State during 1935 were situated in New York City, these gave employmelast to only 54 percent of the total number of workers in the state and mar sea factured only 60 percent by value of all the products. This indicates theces New York City industrial establishments were, as compared with those hd ol

AvOrI the rest of the state, generally small-scale enterprises. The output per f: tory, from the point of view of value, was considerably smaller in N De to York City than in the rest of the state. On the other hand, the city's high ppar skilled wage-earners were producing, man-for-man, more valuable co: modities, and were being paid higher wages. The raw materials passi th through the hands of the average New York City worker annually wey's increased in value by $3,900, while raw materials passing through todu hands of the average worker up-state were increased in value by or th $2,600.

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The preponderance in New York City of highly skilled workers et gaged in the manufacture of high-quality articles is one of the prima Elat Ich reasons for its dominant position among American industrial cities. Sor of the other factors that helped to mold the industrial pattern were tw ready accessibility of capital, raw materials and specialized machinery. (

rdi great importance also were the geographical peculiarities of the city regic creating grave transportation problems, and the concentration of popu. tion on Manhattan Island, leading to excessive land values, high rents ar acute traffic congestion. In addition to these basic factors, which con( tioned the establishment and growth of industry in general, were nume ous minor factors peculiar to specific industries. In certain trades, as f example, the making of women's cloaks and dresses, it was essential th the plants be located in close proximity to the favorite haunts of the buyer in this case the mid-town hotels near the Pennsylvania and Grand Centr Terminals.

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Industrial establishments engaged in the fabrication of products th require large reduction in bulk or weight of raw material avoided Ma hattan because of space and transport problems. The water barriers sep rating Queens, Brooklyn and Richmond from the New Jersey railhead discouraged such establishments from taking advantage of the large trac of undeveloped acreage in these boroughs. Conversely, industries manufa turing products that involved little or no reduction in the bulk or weiglfor of raw materials took early root in Manhattan and (in cases where in mediate juxtaposition to the market was not a primary condition of su: vival) in the adjoining boroughs. Where quick accessibility to the grea

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WORLD MARKET PLACE

yme man st Side labor market was a major consideration, as in industries subject seasonal fluctuations in demand, Manhattan factory sites were vitally s thcessary. In the same fashion, Manhattan became, and continues to be, a vorite locale for industries that find it possible to function in run-down d obsolete buildings.

NE Despite transport, traffic, warehousing and realty difficulties probably high paralleled in any other important manufacturing area, Manhattan Island con today, as it has been from the beginning, the hub of industrial activity assid the metropolitan region. Since 1910, when nearly 49 percent of the way's population was concentrated in Manhattan, there has been a steady h E odus to Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens, until today only 22 percent the population remains in Manhattan. But there has been no propor- nate dispersal of manufacturing establishments. Some industries, such tobacco products, have fallen from a position of importance to one of im: atively minor consequence. Certain branches of the garment industry, Sontch as underwear, shirtwaists, kimonos, children's wear and house dresses, et gio which both the operation and the product are more subject to stand- gdization than cloaks and dresses and men's wear, have shown a tendency favor the outlying boroughs. Similarly, the heavier branches of the etal products industry and most of the chemical establishments have ifted to the environs. In the main, however, Manhattan is still the fa- rite site for New York's industrial activities.

Turning again to the 1935 statistics, we find that of the city's 26,094 dustrial establishments 18,694, or about 72 percent, were situated in anhattan. Employed in these latter were 288,000, or about 59 percent, the city's industrial wage-earners-an average of about 15 workers to ch factory. The value of the commodities manufactured in these Man- ttan establishments amounted to $2,432,000,000, which was 66 percent the total value of all the products manufactured in the city. Of the tal value of commodities manufactured in Manhattan, more than $1,- :2,000,000 was added in the course of manufacture, representing nearly percent of "added value" for the entire city. Thus, while output per ctory on Manhattan Island was less than in the other four boroughs, the anhattan factory workers as a whole were performing more skilled opera- ons and turning out more valuable merchandise than workers in the other roughs of New York City.

A few city-wide statistics for 1935 concerning those industries in which Manhattan holds undisputed leadership will convey, to some extent, an

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376 TRADE AND INDUSTRY

idea of the scale of operations. Engaged in the manufacture of fur goc were more than 2,000 shops employing about 9,500 wage-earners. T value of their product exceeded $124,000,000, which was 86 percent the value of all fur goods manufactured in the United States. There w 10,272 apparel and accessories plants (nearly triple the number of plai in the city's next most important industry), which employed an avera of 187,334 workers and manufactured goods valued at $1,383,000,00 more than $675,000,000 of this sum being added in the process of mar. facture.

Next in importance with respect to the number of plants involved a value produced was the printing and publishing industry, with 3,159 tablishments, employing 49,783 wage-earners and turning out produ: valued at $490,357,000. Book, music and job printing was the large division, with 1,886 establishments in which were employed 20,631 wo ers. The total output of this division exceeded $155,519,000 in valu which was about 22 percent of the national total in the same division. T newspaper and periodical publishing division of the industry followed ne in number of plants and wage-earners, but the value of its products € ceeded the value of the first division's products by nearly $100,000,00 and amounted to 21 percent of the national total.

Of greater importance than the city's printing industry, from the poi of view of value produced, and nearly equaling it in total number plants in operation, was the foods and beverages industry, with 3,072 € tablishments, employing 49,906 wage-earners and producing commoditi valued at nearly $545,000,000. More than 2,100 of these plants, emplo ing 24,100 workers, were engaged in the manufacture of bread; the tot value of bread products exceeded $157,000,000, nearly one-half of th. amount being added in the process of manufacture. In the next large division were 132 confectionery establishments, manufacturing goo valued at more than $28,500,000 and employing 6,329 wage-earner Among the various other establishments in this division were 99 ice crea plants, 28 malt liquor plants and three sugar refining establishments.

Establishments engaged in the manufacture of metal and machine-shc products, ranging from boilers to structural and ornamental ironwor numbered 1,689. There were 1,031 textile plants, 898 wood produc plants, 653 chemical plants, 414 establishments making stone, clay ar. glass products, 378 paper and paper products plants, and 129 establisl ments manufacturing tobacco products. The manufacture of jewelry, pr cious articles of metal, and similar products occupied an average of 3,38

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Above : THE POLO GROUNDS, HOME OF THE NEW YORK GIANTS Below: ALL SET FOR A TRIP DOWN THE BAY, OR UP THE HUDSON

THE EARLY BIRD CATCHES THE BEST SEAT IN RADIO CITY'S MOVIE PALACE

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SHAN KAR PRESENTS THE DANCES OF INDIA IN THE RAINBOW ROOM ATOP THE R.C.A. BUILDING

Above: ROCKEFELLER CENTER'S SUNKEN PLAZA TURNED SKATING RINK FOR THE WINTER

Below: BROADWAY PLAYGROUND

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HEAT WAVE ANTIDOTE FOR EAST SIDERS AT HAMILTON FISH MUNICIPAL POOL

HOT WEEK-ENDS FIND MILLIONS OF NEW YORKERS ON MUNICIPAL BEACHES. THIS IS JACOB RIIS PARK

CARAVAN THEATRE A UNIT OF THE FEDERAL THEATRE PROJECT

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Above : "JAM SESSION" IN A 52ND STREET BARROOM Belou': A NEW STEP IS BORN AT A POPULAR NIGHT CLUB

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orkers in 466 plants. Their output was valued at $32,679,000, nearly 12,000,000 of which was added in the course of manufacture.

In the miscellaneous category were 3,805 establishments, 212 of them aking signs and advertising novelties, 152 making toys, 106 making unks, suitcases and bags, 80 making windowshades and fixtures, and arious others manufacturing everything from feathers and plumes (95 ercent of the national total) to buttons (27 percent of the national total).

While Manhattan Island contains a disproportionate number of these manufacturing establishments, industries that require spacious plant facil- ies or that are unaffected by the whims of fashion have shown in general preference for the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. Industrial establishments the Bronx are of about the same average size as those in Manhattan, but the other two boroughs they are generally larger. The average number f workers per factory in 1935. was 27 in Brooklyn and 32 in Queens, hereas the average in Manhattan was only 15. But Brooklyn, with 24 ercent of the total city area and 37 percent of the total population, con- lined only 17 percent of the city's manufacturing plants; and Queens, rith 35 percent of the total area and 17 percent of the total population, ontained only five percent of the city's manufacturing plants.

Industrial planners have long been conscious of the maladjustment of ses to areas which these figures reveal. Yet the heavy tribute in overhead, treet congestion, trucking costs, transport demands and human misery xacted by the over-concentration of industry on Manhattan Island has not esulted in any appreciable shift of manufacturing to the outer boroughs. Even in the period immediately following 1933, when the financial crisis educed the number of industrial plants in operation in New York City 0 19,233, fewer by far than at any time since 1899, location trends re- hained in the traditional groove. Between 1933 and 1936 the number of eopened and newly established plants in Manhattan increased by 37 per- ent, while the increase in Brooklyn and Queens amounted to only 28 percent and 27 percent respectively.

Even more distressing than the failure of industry to effect a more logi- al site distribution in New York City is the closing of many of its plants ince 1929. By the end of 1935, when the incidence of industrial produc- ion was approaching its post-depression peak, 3,300 fewer plants were n operation in New York City than when the financial crisis began. Idle, long with these plants, were more than 76,000 wage-earners who had been working six years before. The drop in wages from the 1929 total xceeded $328,000,000. Products manufactured in 1935 were worth $3,-

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New York panorama : a comprehensive view of the metropolis, Part 38

Author: Publication date: 1938 Publisher: New York : Random House Number of Pages: 630

Author:
Publication date: 1938
Publisher: New York : Random House
Number of Pages: 630