The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I, Part 168

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1114

USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I > Part 168

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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 honest 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.

BY L. P. Brackett M.D.

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 census, 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 statistics, 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 annual product of $3,794,000, was not reported as having any exist- ence in 1870. In 1880 the annual product of the eleven sugar 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 manufactures 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 but little consequence, as the omission of petroleum refining, breweries and dis-

tilleries, ship building and repairing, illuminating gas, etc., 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 $203,533,791. 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 instruc- tions, to which we have already alluded, but by the most nnwarrantable 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 to question its accuracy.

669

THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

The Comparative Extent of the Manufactures of Brooklyn and Kings County .- The statistics of Brooklyn manufactures, according to the eensus 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 produet (exeept the in- dustries specified above, and minor industries), $179,- 188,685 .* These figures show an apparent increase of 233 per eent. in manufactures, in the deeade 1870-1880, while the inerease of population had been only about 46 per cent., from 419,921 to 599,495.

There is every reason to believe that the increase sinee 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 eity on the continent in the amount of its manufactures, only New York, Philadelphia and Chicago surpassing her in this respeet; 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 produet 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), being 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. I'ds. File Yths.

Wages paid.

Material used.

Annual product.

.. 5164

$68.828,709

36,989

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

22,367,176

130,108,417

179,188,685

.5404

79,721,149

41,931

7,500

3,795

23,407,866

147,287,654

203,553,781

Adding omis- sions from offi- cial figures.

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

ufactures as well as in population. What are the more 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 mueh the largest of these indus- tries, and, according to the eensus 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, aceording to the eensus, 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- duet, $59,711,168.

While these figures, though obtained with great eare, and as accurately as possible by the aecomplished agent of the eensus office, are liable to some corree- tion, the eensus 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 produet ; 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 eolor, appearance and weight, the pure sugar, though containing only 3 the sweetening power; this sugar could be made for 5 eents a pound, and was sold at 72 eents, while the pure sugar eost 7} eents 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 refincries of Messrs. Havemeyer & Elder, which turned out a million pounds of refined sugar a day. It was highly ereditable to the Brooklyn refineries of pure sugar, that, notwithstanding these difficulties and ob- staeles, they actually increased their produetion by at least thirty per eent., and maintained an annual value of their product of about $60,000,000.

This condition of affairs is now changed, in many respcets. The great refinery and filtering houses of the Havemeyers are rebuilt on a larger seale than be- fore, and are turning out 1,200,000 pounds of sugar every day, with a eapaeity, if pressed, of doubling that production. The other sugar refineries are being driven to their utmost eapacity, and, taken together, they ean, 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-

672

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

pounds of sugar a day=1,225 tons, or about 10,000 bar- rels, and with the existing demand for refined sugars, both for export and for home consumption, both re- fineries are running nearly up to their capacity. The Havemeyers and Elder refinery is said to be the largest in the world, and the two turn out about one-half of the refined sugar made in this country.

The Other Brooklyn Refineries .- Next in ex- tent to these two great refineries, is that of the Brook- lyn Sugar Refining Company, an incorporated com- pany, which has, for many years, produced excellent sugars and syrups. Its capacity is about 600,000 pounds of sugar per day. Moller, Sierck and Co., an excellent house, whose sugars are of the very highest quality, and command from ¿ to { a cent per pound more than any others, follow, with a capacity of about 450,000 pounds a day. Dick & Meyer, 450,000 pounds, and Thomas Oxnard, the Fulton Sugar Refinery, and Charles Havemeyer's, in Greenpoint, are, perhaps, next in order. All these houses make syrups, rather as an incidental product, than as a specialty. John Mollen- hauer, on the contrary, makes syrups his specialty, but produces a considerable quantity of sugars, mostly, we believe, by the centrifugal process. The Atlantic Sugar House, Crab & Wilson, and James Burns, are engaged in the manufacture of good, low-grade sugars from molasses, and also prepare the residuum for a variety of uses. Of Burger, Hurlbut & Livingston, or the Livingston Sugar Refinery, we have little defi- nite information. They are reputed to manufacture the so-called "grape sugars," and are doing a large business.

WILLIAM DICK .- A great portion of the manufacturing in- terests of Brooklyn are located north and east of the Walla- bout, while the immense sugar refineries, the largest in the country, all centre in that part of the city along the river.

Among these vast establishments, whose buildings rise to lofty heights, cover large areas, and furnish employment to hundreds of workmen, is the refinery of Dick & Meyer, situ- ated on the river front, at the foot of North Seventh street. The senior partner, Mr. William Dick, was born in Hanover, Germany, in 1823. He received the thorough education afforded by the schools of that country. He remained with his parents as long as they lived, but, after their death, came to America in 1845, whither a brother had preceded him. He landed in New York without wealth, with health, intelligence, energy and habits of industry and frugality. The first busi- ness into which he entered was keeping a small grocery, in connection with his brother; afterwards, with a brother-in- law, he opened a flour and feed store, in which they remained for several years. Having by this time accumulated some capital, for which he sought a more lucrative investment, he decided, after consideration, to engage in sugar refining with a partner who had had some experience. They began in 1858, at the corner of Pike and Cherry streets, in New York, but as their business grew, they felt the need of more room. Accord- ingly, they erected a large brick building in 1863, at the foot of Division avenue, and abutting on the East river, thus se- curing the best facilities for water transportation. The busi- ness of the firm, now Dick & Meyer, has made a wonderful

growth; the capital invested has reached $1,500,000, while the annual product of the refinery reaches 355,000 barrels- about 100,000,000 lbs. refined sugar. The management of this vast interest is almost wholly in the hands of Mr. Dick, a position for which he is especially well fitted, by reason of his intelligence, business sagacity and capacity for work.

But Mr. Dick is not merely the man of business; he is also the scholar and the public-minded citizen. He has been a close reader of history and literature, as well as a careful observer of the events of the day. The man whose ability, integrity and force have revealed themselves to his fellow- citizens, through a long business career in their midst, is always sought by them to fill positions of trust and responsi- bility. Mr. Dick is no exception. He is connected as trustee with the Manufacturers' National Bank, the Charitable Hospital, the Third Street Dispensary, and, as treasurer, with the German Lutheran Hospital of East New York. When the prospects of the German Savings Bank were dark, an appeal was made to him to lend his assistance and assume its man- agement. Accepting the Presidency, he restored credit and confidence, placed the institution on a firm footing, and, at the end of the second year, left it prosperous, resigning his office only on account of the fast increasing demands of his own business upon him. A handsomely engrossed testi- monial from the Savings Bank authorities attest the esteem in which Mr. Dick is held by them. Kind and philanthropic by nature, his interest in worthy charities is active, and his contributions numerous; while he is a warm supporter of the Lutheran Church and its institutions.

Retired and domestic in his tastes and habits, he shrinks from, rather than seeks, publicity. With this disposition, he is content to discharge the citizen's duty at the ballot-box, without seeking political preferment ; though his modesty cannot conceal the fact that he is one of the leading influen- tial men in the Eastern District, and so recognized every- where. He is respected for his intrinsic worth as a man, and beloved by those who have received his benefactions. He enjoys the comforts of an elegant home with the wife of his youth. They do their part in society, and their house is frequently opened to their large circle of friends.

Mr. Dick has already attained to a great degree of useful- ness; but with every year his business relations, his charities and his influence expand, so that the future alone can reveal to what he may yet come.

SECTION III.

Relative Importance of Different Manufactures.

The importance of each industry is not to be judged by the aggregate production of all the establish- ments, but by the individual product. In review- ing the different classes of manufactures conducted in the county, we cannot be guided entirely by the magnitude of the annual product. This may be the result of the aggregation of the products of a very large number of producers, or it may be, as in the sugar refining industry, the result of the immense production of a very few manufacturers of large capi- tal and ample appliances. In the sugar refining busi- ness, the product averages, according to the census re- turns, $5,430,000 to each refining company, and the material used is reported as $5,130,000. On the other hand, the bread, crackers, and other bakery products, which amount in the aggregate to $5,594,975, are pro-

673

THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

duced in 532 establisliments, so that the average to each establishment is only $10,510. Still smaller is the average product in the case of the boot and shoe manufactures, where, though the aggregate annual product is $1,819,993, it is divided among 546 estab- lishments, giving an average product of only $3,333 to each manufacturer. There are instances, indeed, where the average annual product is less than $2,000, but these are rather mechanical employments, like watch and clock repairing, mechanical dentistry, etc., etc., than manufacturing in the ordinary sense.

SECTION IV. Petroleum Refining.

The vast business of refining petroleum oils, though conducted and owned mainly by Brooklyn men, is carried on on both sides of Newtown Creek, the bound- ary line between Kings and Queens counties. That part of it usually regarded as belonging to Kings county, reported in the census of 1880, 18 refineries, employing $2,675,000 of capital, and 2,302 hands; pay- ing $974,036 in wages; using $12,643,724 of raw ma- terials, and yielding an annual product of $15,115,293. Since 1880, the consumption of petroleum oils for pur- poses of illumination, lubrication, heating, and as a fuel for marine, locomotive, and stationary engines, has vastly increased, and the export demand for the refined products of petroleum is growing at a rapid rate.

Before petroleum oil, as the product of oil wells, was known in this country, " coal " or " rock oil " was distilled from some of the fatty coals and bituminous shales of Kentucky, Ohio and Illinois, and perhaps quite as extensively, from a shale, rich in bitumen, brought to New York from Nova Scotia. Mr. J. M. Stearns states that the late Dr. Abraham Gessner, who was, some twenty-five or thirty years ago, an eminent practical chemist here, had, from 1855 to 1860, a dis- tillery, for producing this oil from the Nova Scotia shales, located near Dutch Kills, on the north bank of Newtown Creek. The price of the coal oil was high, and the business was profitable for several years, though the processes adopted were not economical.

The gases gencrated in the distillation, were con- ducted into a large iron tube, and instead of being utilized, were burned at the point of contact with the atmospheric air, that they might not contaminate thie air, in the neighborhood. This immense flame at night illumined the creck and the surrounding landseape. The discovery of petroleum, and its rapid develop- ment in 1859-62, made the distillation of coal or rock oil unprofitable, and Dr. Gessner was finally reduced to bankruptcy, and eventually died in poverty.

"There were, just before the change from coal oil to petroleum, two camphenc distilleries in the Eastern District, Engel's at the foot of South Second street,

and Brundage's at the foot of South Fourth street. After the change, camphene was distilled from petro- leum, and one of these firms had a storage depot on the block between North Third and North Fourth streets and the East River, in which was stored 15,000 barrels of crude petroleum. In unloading a schooner, laden with this inflammable substance, a barrel burst and took fire, and very soon communicated with the storage sheds. The whole 15,000 barrels were set on fire and their contents flowed into the East River, and for a mile in extent, the river, half way across, was in flames. The shipping moored along the shore of the Eastern District, was in great peril, but was towed out of danger; but the pier, where the fire originated, was burned. In about an hour and a half the fiery river had burned itself out, and there were only the smouldering remains of the petroleum barrels and sheds, to recall what might easily have become one of the greatest conflagrations of the century. This experience has been repeated several times since on both the East and North Rivers, notably, during the present year (1883). One beneficial result of this fire was, that very little petroleum has since been stored in barrels. It is now mostly stored in iron tanks, and conveyed by pipes underground from the oil regions to the refinerics."

The Standard Oil Company, which has refineries and storage tanks on both sides of Newtown Creek, in Kings and Queens counties, and also at Bayonne, N. J., Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Titusville, Oil City, etc., etc., is by far the largest holder of petroleum oils and products in the country. Most of the other re- fining companies purchase their crude or partially re- fined oils of this company, which, by its vast capital and extensive operations, controls the entire petroleum trade.

There are in Brooklyn about 21 companies engaged in the production of petroleum products; possibly, in- cluding the very smallest, 25 companies. Several of these buy the partially refined oils, and possessing one or more stills, still further refine them for special uses. While the Standard Oil Company is the largest seller of both crude and partly refined petrolcum; Charles Pratt & Co., the Devoe Manufacturing Co., the Empire Reining Co., and some others, also sell partly refined oils to the smaller manufacturers.

In general, it may be said that all the companies purchase their crude oil of the Standard Oil Com- pany; perhaps not always willingly, but because its extraordinary facilities for bringing the oils to market, and its control over the whole production of the coun- try, enable it to supply them at better terms than they can obtain elsewhere. During the past season, the single company which had stood out longest, and whose production enabled it to be a somewhat formid- able rival, for several years-tlie Tide Water Pipe Line,-found its advantage, in so far pooling its re- ceipts, as to become an ally, if not a customer of the

674

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

Standard Oil Company, and the smaller companies which had received their supplies from it, are, one af- ter another, falling into line.

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The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I, Part 168

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1114

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1114