USA > Ohio > History of Ohio; the rise and progress of an American state, Volume Five > Part 19
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258
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
early period. The general proposition will be accepted without discussion. While hazarding no prophecy of the time necessary for the manufacturing interest to overtake and pass the agricultural in Ohio, it may safely be said that the tendency is rapidly to that end. The prime factor of the wealth of this State will before very many years be manufacturing.
The following table shows the principal details of Ohio's manufacturing progress in the decade 1900-10 :-
1900
1910
Capital invested.
$570,909,000
$1,300,733,000
Value of products
748,671,000
1,437,936,000
Primary horsepower.
783,665
1,583, 155
Wages paid.
136,428,000
245,450,000
Salaries paid.
28,151,000
72,147,000
Persons engaged (including pro-
prietors, salaried employes, and wage-earners).
523,004
Wage-earners (average number) ..
308,109
446,934
Number of establishments.
13,868
15,138
We have already referred to the increase of capital. It will be observed that the three other items which represent volume of operations-value of products, wages and salaries paid, and horsepower-indicate a substantial doubling in the ten years.
In 1910 one inhabitant out of every nine in the State was engaged in manufacturing industry.
In the following table selections have been made of only such industries as, in either 1900 or 1910, had gross products valued at over $5,000,000 :-
OF AN AMERICAN STATE
259
Value of Products
1900
1910
Agricultural implements.
$13,975,000
$14,440,000
Automobiles, including bodies and parts
38,839,000
Boots and shoes, including cut stock and findings.
18,246,000
31,551,000
Brass and bronze products .
2,293,000
6,572,000
Bread and other bakery products
9,857,000
23,007,000
Brick and tile.
4,630,000
9,358,000
Butter, cheese, and condensed milk.
3,809,000
9,690,000
Carriages and wagons and materials. . .
22,803,000
21,949,000
Cars and general shop construction and repairs by steam railroad companies. Cars, steam railroad, not including operations of railroad companies. ..
12,975,000
28,690,000
Chemicals.
3,576,000
7,742,000
Clothing, men's, including shirts
17,312,000
24,869,000
Clothing, women's.
7,773,000
19,493,000
Coffee and spice, roasting and grinding .
5,850,000
11,224,000
Confectionery .
3,825,000
7,307,000
Copper, tin, and sheet iron products ...
5,377,000
19,086,000
Cutlery and tools, not otherwise speci- fied
2,441,000
5,036,000
Electrical machinery, apparatus, and supplies. .
6,505,000
18,777,000
Flour-mill and gristmill products.
35,078,000
48,093,000
Foundry and machine-shop products. .
83,039,000
145,837,000
Furniture and refrigerators.
9,515,000
16,259,000
Glass.
4,547,000
14,358,000
Hosiery and knit goods.
1,585,000
6,433,000
Iron and steel, blast furnaces.
40,367,000
83,699,000
Iron and steel, steel works and rolling mills.
98,569,000
197,780,000
Leather, tanned, curried and finished, not including leather goods.
5,182,000
10,128,000
Liquors, distilled.
12,447,000
12,011,000
Liquors, malt.
18,168,000
25,332,000
Lumber and timber products
32,812,000
34,597,000
3,942,000
6,451,000
260
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
Value of Products
1900
1910
Paint and varnish.
$6,704,000
$13,617,000
Paper and wood pulp.
6,544,000
16,965,000
Paper goods, not otherwise specified. . .
2,691,000
6,307,000
Patent medicines and compounds and druggists' preparations.
4,842,000
5,859,000
Petroleum, refining.
8,397,000
10,754,000
Pottery, terra cotta, and fire-clay prod- ucts
11,851,000
21,173,000
Printing and publishing
23,833,000
41,657,000
Rubber goods, not otherwise specified. .
7,330,000
53,911,000
Safes and vaults.
2,408,000
5,488,000
Sewing-machines, cases, and attach- ments.
2,923,000
5,972,000
Shipbuilding, including boatbuilding .
3,615,000
5,676,000
Slaughtering and meat products.
20,768,000
50,804,000
Soap.
. (a) 11,791,000
17,077,000
Stoves and furnaces, including gas and
oil stoves.
(a) 10, 191,000
15,358,000
Tin plate and terneplate.
6,023,000
7,889,000
Tobacco manufactures.
16,993,000
28,907,000
Woolen, worsted and felt goods, and
wool hats
2,826,000
7,690,000
(a) For the year 1904.
With the exception of carriages and wagons and distilled liquors, the value of products in every leading industry of the State shows an increase. The diminu- tion in the value of carriages and wagons is accounted for by the great development of the automobile business, Ohio's output in this department having a value of nearly $39,000,000 in 1910, against nothing reported in 1900 and only $6,350,000 for the year 1904.
The table represents forty-six industries. There are two having a gross product in 1910 exceeding $100,000,000; three from $50,000,000 to $100,000,000;
261
OF AN AMERICAN STATE
eight from $25,000,000 to $50,000,000; eighteen from $10,000,000 to $25,000,000; and fifteen from $5,000,000 to $10,000,000.
Of the other Ohio industries for which details are given in the census reports for 1910, four had products valued at from $4,000,000 to $5,000,000 :- canning and preserving, fertilizers, furnishing goods (men's) and leather goods; eleven from $3,000,000 to $4,000,000 :- belting and hose (woven and rubber), boxes (fancy and paper); coffins, burial cases, and undertakers' goods; cooperage and wooden goods (not otherwise specified); flags, banners, regalia, society badges, and emblems; gas and electric fixtures and lamps and reflectors, gas (illuminating and heating), marble and stone work, mattresses and spring beds; musical instruments, pianos and organs and materials; and oil (linseed); seven from $2,000,000 to $3,000,000 :- bags (paper), bicycles, mo- torcycles and parts, cordage and twine and jute and linen goods, firearms and ammunition, millinery and lace goods, pumps (not including steam pumps), and signs and advertising novelties; and twenty from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 :- artificial stone, babbitt metal and solder, belting and hose (leather), brooms, brushes, butter (reworking), cars and general shop construction, and repairs by street railroad companies; cars, street railroad (not including operations of rail- road companies); cement, clocks and watches (includ- ing cases and materials); dairymen's, poulterers', and apiarists' supplies; explosives, grindstones, ink (print- ing), jewelry, lime, liquors (vinous), salt, shoddy, and umbrellas and canes.
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262
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
Ohio has eighty-two communities with a population exceeding 5,000. Of these, five have over 100,000 inhabitants; three from 50,000 to 100,000; six from 25,000 to 50,000; twenty-three from 10,000 to 25,000, and forty-five from 5,000 to 10,000. The following are the principal statistics of manufacture, 1910, for the thirty-seven cities of over 10,000 population :-
Popula-
tion.
Number of
establish-
ments.
Persons
engaged in
industry.
Capital.
Wages.
Value of products.
Expressed in thousands.
I Cleveland .
560,663
2,148
98,686
$227,397
$48,053
$271,96I
2 Cincinnati.
363,591
2,184
72,488
150,254
3I,IOI
194,516
3 Columbus .
181,5II
586
20,523
48,747
8,892
49,032
4 Toledo.
168,497
760
22,900
58,319
9,9II
61,230
5 Dayton ..
116,577
513
24,740
61,316
12,45I
60,378
6 Yo'ngstw'n
79,066
II5
11,85I
87,160
7,835
81,27I
7 Akron.
69,067
246
19,023
58,216
8,936
73,158
8 Canton ..
50,217
204
11,313
25,342
5,719
28,583
9 Springfield.
46,92I
195
8,634
22,845
3,985
19,246
IO Hamilton ..
35,279
I25
7,770
24,629
3,798
18,184
II Lima
30,508
85
3,899
5,488
2,024
7,754
12 Lorain ..
28,883
57
7,347
34,387
4,788
38,987
13 Zanesville ..
28,026
109
3586
6,025
1,793
9,145
14 Newark ....
25,404
72
4,282
9,036
1,958
7,85I
15 P'rtsmouth
23,48I
75
4,319
6,385
1,459
7,277
16 St'ub'nville
22,39I
55
4,638
18,424
3,203
21,187
17 Mansfield ..
20,768
I2I
3,90I
8,539
1,472
8,173
19 Sandusky ..
19,989
9I
2,518
6,495
1,006
5,947
20 Ashtabula ..
18,266
44
1,60I
2,076
814
3,459
21 Marion. . . .
18,232
55
3,028
7,864
1,405
5,667
22 Norwood ..
16,185
49
4,445
13,368
2,08I
9,684
23 Lakewood .
15,18I
-
7,988
2,764
6,629
18 E.Liv'rpool
20,387
82
5,254
263
OF AN AMERICAN STATE
Popula- tion.
Number of
establish-
ments.
engaged in Persons
industry.
Capital.
Wages.
Value of products.
Expressed in thousands.
24 Alliance .. .
15,083
44
3,026
$7,212
$1,462
$6,135
25 Findlay ..
14,858
74
1,623
2,955
574
3,487
26 Elyria .. . . .
14,825
58
3,1I7
7,324
1,573
8,065
27 Chillicothe.
14,508
57
1,872
2,364
707
4,345
28 Massillon ..
13,879
56
2,193
7,788
1,127
4,788
29 Piqua ......
13,388
82
3,073
5,444
1,292
6,93I
30 Middlet'wn
13,152
4I
2,992
10,564
1,389
16,517
31 Ironton .. . .
13,147
63
2,119
4,993
888
7,118
32 Lancaster ..
13,093
42
1,657
1,459
677
4,074
33 Bellaire ....
12,946
36
2,846
6,427
1,412
10,092
34 Marietta . .
12,923
66
1,549
3,275
594
3,215
35 Tiffin
11,894
75
1,970
3,727
828
3,254
36 Cambridge.
11,327
32
1,406
2,379
919
4,29I
37 Warren
11,08I
68
2,174
4,5II
9II
5,988
In the United States census reports for 1900 (Vol. VIII, pp. 679-80) the following general summary is given of the history and development of Ohio manu- factures :
"Of the various causes which have contributed to the early development and steady advance of manu- facturing in Ohio, the great commercial advantages of the State must be considered the most important. Water communication with the Atlantic seaboard is afforded by Lake Erie and the Erie Canal, and with the states of the northwest by the western Great Lakes and the Sault Ste. Marie Canal, while the Ohio River, which forms the southern boundary of the State for four hundred and thirty-six miles, and its tributary, the Muskingum River, navigable for several miles
E 1 1 1
-
264
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
above Zanesville, furnish cheap communication with Western Pennsylvania and the entire Mississippi valley. Two canals, connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio River, one from Cleveland to Portsmouth and the other from Toledo to Cincinnati, were constructed by the State between the years 1825 and 1835. Settle- ments, trade, and local manufacturers developed almost entirely along these waterways during the earlier years of the [nineteenth] century. Other parts of the State were opened up by the construction of railroads, but the effect of these water routes in the localization of manufactures is still very marked, for in 1900 the great manufacturing centers of the State were located at the lake and river termini of the two principal canals, along these canals and their feeders north of Cincinnati and south and southeast of Cleveland, and along the Ohio River west and northwest of Wheeling.
"During the first half of the century, owing to the existence of these water routes to the east, Ohio was the most accessible region west of the Allegheny Mountains, and was the first State, therefore, to feel the effect of westward emigration on a large scale. From 1820 to 1880 the population exceeded that of any other State west of the Allegheny Mountains. Many of the settlers came from New England, New York, and Pennsylvania, bringing with them the mechanical knowledge gained in their former homes. Machinery and tools were also brought from these older manufacturing sections, and industries for the supplying of local needs were started. Production for the broader market received its first great impetus when steam navigation began on the Ohio River,
265
OF AN AMERICAN STATE
between the years 1810 and 1820. The rapid settle- ment of the Mississippi valley developed a market which eastern manufacturers found difficult to enter in competition with the more favorably located estab- lishments of Cincinnati. The rise of this city as a manufacturing center was remarkable. Coal brought down the Ohio River at small expense from Pennsyl- vania was largely used. Pennsylvania furnished also crude forms of iron, and forests in the vicinity supplied abundant hard wood. In 1803, manufactured products were shipped to points along the Mississippi River as far south as New Orleans.
"Cleveland was essentially a commercial city during the first half of the century, its prominence being due to its location on Lake Erie and to the trade which passed through the Ohio Canal. By 1860 railroad construction had begun to deflect commerce to other centers, but the decline threatened at that time was averted by the industrial development which followed the opening of the Sault Ste. Marie Canal in 1855. Water communication was thus furnished with the richest mines of iron ore in the United States, and the iron industries of Cleveland and the Mahoning valley began their great development.
"Among the natural resources of Ohio are a fertile soil, extensive hard wood forests, and an abundance of coal and natural gas. This last came largely into commercial use in the State in 1884. * Petroleum was also used as a fuel, though to a less extent. The water power of Ohio is not extensive, its use being confined very largely to flour and gristmilling, lumber milling, and the manufacture of paper and wood pulp."
266
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
The earliest settlements within this State along the Ohio River, at Marietta, Cincinnati, and Gallipolis, were established by men of energy and ability, some of whom were prompt to lay the foundations of com- mercial and industrial enterprise.
At Marietta and in that vicinity several mills were built as early as 1790. The first tannery in the village was erected by Colonel Ichabod Nye in 1791. About 1800 ship and boatbuilding became an important local industry. "The depth and gentle motion of the water in the mouth of the Muskingum, and the cheapness of excellent timber," wrote Major Jervis Cutler in 1809, "render this one of the best places for shipbuilding on the Ohio River." At that time a number of large vessels had been constructed, one of which, from Captain Stephen Devol's shipyard five miles up the Muskingum, was of over two hundred tons. Accord- ing to the same authority the early settlers on the Muskingum found coal in great abundance, which was "sold at Marietta at about three cents the bushel and much used for fuel." They also were aware of the plentiful existence of iron ore in the State, and had a lively appreciation of its value, though it could not then be generally utilized because of the scarcity of furnaces and forges. In 1814, some workmen boring for salt on Duck Creek, Noble county, twenty-five miles above Marietta, struck oil at a depth of four hundred and seventy-five feet. Being thought worth- less, it was allowed to run to waste. Dr. Hildreth, writ- ing of this oil well in 1816, said: "It discharges vast quantities of petroleum, or, as it is vulgarly called, Seneca oil, forced out by a tremendous gas, and is
267
OF AN AMERICAN STATE
no use for salt. Nevertheless the oil is being gathered for profit, is coming into demand for workshops, and will be used soon for lighting the streets of Ohio cities." The pioneer settlers were thus familiar with the four leading factors in the mineral wealth and industrial development of the State-coal, iron, oil, and natural gas.
The French town of Gallipolis, founded in 1790, was remarkable for its great number and variety of skilled craftsmen. There were wood carvers, gilders, coach makers, watch and clock makers, shoe and hat makers, tailors, milliners, wig makers, confectioners-indeed, as has been remarked in the second volume of this History (p. 495) "almost every variety of skilled vocations was represented except those fitted for the transforming of a wilderness into the abode of civilization." H. M. Brackinridge, who visited Gallipolis in his boyhood about 1795, gives an entertaining account of the place and its people in a work entitled "Recollections of Persons and Places in the West." He mentions particularly a Dr. Saugrain, chemist, natural philos- opher, physician, and comprehensive genius. "The doctor," he says, "had a small apartment which con- tained his chemical apparatus, and I used to sit by him, as often as I could, watching the curious opera- tions of his blowpipe and crucible. * * The doctor's little phosphoric matches ignited spontaneously when the glass tube was broken." Evidently, before the close of the eighteenth century the little settlement of Gallipolis could have furnished some unique ideas and talents if the development of the new country had tended to that quarter.
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268
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
At an early period Cincinnati was plainly indicated as the destined metropolis of the Ohio valley. Its growth was continuous and substantial, and its business activities were characterized by vigor and solidity. During the first twenty-five years of the settlement a considerable foundation was laid for manufacturing, but the operations were restricted mostly to household and small-shop industries. Power machinery was not introduced to any noticeable extent until the second decade of the nineteenth century.
A tannery was established previously to February 22, 1794, as evidenced by an advertisement of that date in the Centinel of the Northwest Territory. It is interesting to note that the pottery industry, which has become so important in Cincinnati, had representa- tion among the very earliest recorded manufactures of the town. In the same newspaper for October 3 1795, George Kyler and Son, potters, begged leave to inform the public that they were carrying on the busi. ness of making potters' ware of all kinds at their shop opposite the printing office. Advertisements of black- smiths, millers, saddlers, hatters, dyers, tanners, bakers potters, gunsmiths, and cabinetmakers are found ir the Western Spy and Hamilton Gazette as early as 1799 In 1805 eighty-one artisans were engaged in various trades; these included two printers, one bookbinder fifteen joiners and cabinetmakers, eight blacksmiths two coppersmiths, four hatters, three tanners, sever shoemakers, five saddlers, three silversmiths, sever tailors, five bakers, two brewers, three tobacconists and twelve bricklayers.
269
OF AN AMERICAN STATE
John Melish visited Cincinnati in 1809, and in his 'Travels in the United States" the following list of artisans employed there at that time is given: masons, stonecutters, brickmakers, carpenters, cabinetmakers, coopers, turners, wheelwrights, smiths, nailors, copper- smiths, tinsmiths, silversmiths, gunsmiths, clock and watchmakers, tanners, saddlers, boot and shoemakers, glove and breechmakers, weavers, dyers, tailors, prin- ters, bookbinders, ropemakers, tobacconists, soap- boilers, candlemakers, combmakers, painters, potash and pearlash-makers, butchers, bakers, brewers, dis- tillers, and cotton-spinners.
It is pointed out by Mr. Frank P. Goodwin, in a valuable article on "The Rise of Manufactures in the Miami Country" (American Historical Review, July I, 1907), that notwithstanding the marked growth and enterprise attained by Cincinnati before the War of 1812, it was still much surpassed in manufacturing development by both Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and Lexington, Kentucky. The industries of Pittsburg in 18II, represented forty different occupations, and some of its establishments were operated by steam power. Lexington, at an even earlier period, had forty-two shops and factories, employing two hundred and eighty- five workmen and producing annually sixty tons of nails, ten thousand dollars' worth of copper and tin- ware, thirty thousand dollars' worth of hats, thirty-six thousand yards of baling cloth, fifteen hundred gallons of linseed oil, seven thousand gallons of whiskey, and three hundred tons of cordage.
Steam navigation began on the Ohio River in 1811, the first steamboat being the New Orleans, built in
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270
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
Pittsburg. Ten years before, a company had been organized in Cincinnati by Samuel Heighway and John Pool, claiming to own an invention "capable of pro- pelling a boat against stream with considerable velocity, by the power of steam, or elastic vapor," and in 1803 the proprietary rights of this concern were acquired by the celebrated Miami Exporting Company with a view to the construction of a steam vessel. The proj- ect fell through. With the inauguration of the steam- boat business the trade of Cincinnati expanded rapidly, and there was a coincident awakening of the manufac- turing spirit on lines of large operation for those days. Mr. Goodwin analyzes the causes for this latter development, and shows that it was a stern economic - necessity. He says: "The rising tide of immigration, the difficulty of obtaining manufactured goods in the East, the great cost of the long haul, and the necessity of creating a home market to save the cost of exporting the increasing surplus of agricultural products, caused western people to think seriously of encouraging manu- facturers in their own region; and thus was ushered in the second industrial period of Cincinnati." In con- sequence of the "long haul" and the heavy charge for transporting manufactured goods from the East -- sometimes as high as eleven dollars per hundred weight to Pittsburg, the western distributing point-Cincin- nati people had to pay nearly twice the Philadelphia prices for manufactured articles. It was estimated by a writer in Liberty Hall that the products of the country tributary to Cincinnati had an annual value of $600,000. The local consumption was one-third, another third was sent to New Orleans for coffee, cotton, molasses,
ELIAM E. BARNEY
Born in Henderson, Jefferson county, New York, October 14, 1807; graduated from Union College, Schenec- tady, New York, 1831; came to Ohio in 1833, and from that year until 1851 was engaged in educational work; in 1850 established, with Ebenezer Thresher, the Dayton Car Works, which subsequently became the Barney and Smith Manufacturing Company; president of the latter concern until his death (December 17, 1880), identi- fied with other business interests, and a prominent and useful citizen of Dayton.
4. 6. 1 Jamie
270
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
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ect fell zi With the inauguration of the boat buninow the trade of Cincinnati expanded r and there was a coincident awakening of the mam turing spirit on lines of large operation for those d Mr. Goodwin analyzes the causes for this L development, and shows that it was a stern ecom necessity. He says: "The rising tide of immigr .. the difficulty of obtaining manufactured goods East, the great cost of the long haul, and the ne of creating a home market to save the cost of exp the increasing surplus of agricultural products, ou western people to think seriously of encouraging : facturers in their own region; and thus was ushey the second & butrial period of Cincinnati." Ir sequence of die "long haul" and the heavy char transportmy manufactured goods from the En sometimes as bagh as eleven dollars per hundred we to Pittsburg, the western distributing point-Cu nati people had to pay nearly twice the Philadel prices for manufactured articles. It was estimate a writer in Liberty Hall that the products of the co tributary to Cincinnati had an annual value of $600 The local consumption was one-third, another waa sent to New Orleans for coffee, cotton, mo
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271
OF AN AMERICAN STATE
sugar and spices, and the remaining third went over the mountains in specie for manufactures. "We ask candid men to inform us," said this writer, "how and in what manner this kind of trade will increase the capital of the western country? * * Sugar, cotton, and coffee we do want; but we can manufacture almost every article of British manufacture that we drag over the mountains at such enormous expense. It may be asked, how shall we find a remedy for this ruinous British trade, which embarrasses us so much, which drains us of our specie, which twice a year sweeps away every dollar which can be scraped up in Cincin- nati, without adding to our wealth? We answer promptly and without delay: Put in operation in Cincinnati manufactures for woolen cloth, for cotton cloth, for glassware of every description, for straw hats and every article which is imported but can be manu- factured in Cincinnati. Let the two hundred thousand dollars which we send over the mountains be paid the manufacturers in Cincinnati for the above articles. This would keep so much of our wealth at home, thereby increasing its productive manufacturing industry. It would increase the value of lands and houses, and sup- port a greater population than we can now otherwise possibly support. This two hundred thousand dollars would be added to our capital every year and increased in a proportional ratio."
A notable improvement in the local industrial situa- tion was observable in the year 1814, when the Cincin- nati Steam Mill, the western wonder of its time, was completed, after two years spent in its erection. This structure was built under the direction of William Green,
272
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
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