History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 133

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534

USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania > Part 133

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The colder climate of the Middle and the New England States quickened habits of industry in the sturdy men who were exiled for conscience sake, and who clearly foresaw at a very early day the necessity of providing for themselves. A stern necessity incited the colonists of Massachusetts to provide raiment for themselves, while the liberality of Penn induced the skilled laborer of all nations and tongues to join him in his colony on the Delaware. Slowly, but with great certainty, these two colonies emerged from condi- tions of dependency and united the agricultural inter- ests with those of the factory ; hence it was against these two colonies before and after the Revolution, that Eng land legislated. In 1774 it was enacted (21 George III. chap. 37) "that any person who packed or put on board, or caused to be brought to any place in order to be put on board any vessel, with a view to exportation, any

machine, engine, tool, press, paper, uteusil or imple- ment, or any part thereof, which is now or hereafter may be used in the woolen, cotton, linen or silk manufacture of this kingdom, or goods wherein wool, cotton, linen or silk are used, or any model or plan thereof, should forfeit every such machine and the goods packed therewith, and two hundred pounds, and suffer twelve months' imprisonment." This act was amended in 1782, increasing the number of its prohibitory clauses and increasing the penalty to five Unndred pounds, and by a further supplement made perpetual in 1790.1 The improved machinery, of which England possessed a monopoly at the above date was the power-loom, brought into use in 1774 by Cartwright; the mule-jenny, by Compton, in 1775; carding, by Arkwright," about the same period ; and by the application of the steam-engine of Watt, in 1783. Cylinder printing was invented by Bell in 1785, and the use of acid in bleaching was introduced by Watt in 1786.

Notwithstanding the difficulty of obtaining im- proved machinery, or patterns from which to make it, a "jenny " found its way to Philadelphia, and was used during the Revolution by Mr. Wetherill in the manufacture of cotton and woolen goods. In April, 1782, he advertised for sale, at his factory in South Alley, "Philadelphia Manufactures, suitable for all seasons, viz .: jeans, fustians, everlastings, coatings, etc." This is said to be the first product of the kind made in this country.3 The Pennsylvania Society for the Encouragement of Manufactures and the Useful Arts, was formed as early as 1778. This society was open to every citizen of the United States. It was governed by a president, fonr vice- presidents, two secretaries, a treasurer, a board of twelve managers and a committee for manufactures; all except the committee were chosen annually by ballot. Sub- scriptions of ten pounds or upward, to constitute a manufacturing fund, were received from individuals or companies for the purpose of establishing fac- tories, the subscribers to be entitled to the profits of the same. The operations of this society extended throughout the Middle States, and aided the pioneers throughout the interior of New England not only in capitalizing labor, but in the improvement of machi- nery and the dissemination of scientific and useful knowledge. Under its auspices Mr. Tench Coxe, an ardent and influential friend of the manufacturers of

1 A set of complete brass models of Arkwright machinery was made and packed in England by the agent of Mr. Tench Coxe, of Philadelphia, in 1786, but was seized on the eve of its shipment, and the promising im- portation defeated.

"Sinuel Slater, having completed, under many difficulties, and chietly with his own hands, on the Isth of JJanuary, 1790, the entire series of Ark wright machinery, at Pawtucket, R. I., started at that place the first complete and successful water-spinning mill for cotton in the United States. The machinery operated by the water-wheel of an old fulling- mill, embraced three carding, one drawing and roving-machine and seventy. two spindles -Bishop's " Hist. American Manufacturer," vol. ii. 3 Bishop's " Hist. . Imer. Manuf.," rol. i. p. 308.

571

MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

the period, delivered an address at the University of Pennsylvania on the 9th of August, 1787.1 Mr. Coxe's effort was indorsed by David Rittenhouse and others of extended influence, and Benjamin Franklin aided in giving publicity to the timely paper. The manu- facturing committee, S. Wetherill, Jr., chairman, made a report at the close of the first year's operations. The contributions received in "hard specie " amounted to £1327 10s, 6d., and the expenditures for machinery, utensils and fitting up factories to £453 108. 2d. leav- ing a circulating capital of £874. To employ the poor, they had purchased flax, and employed between two and three hundred women in spinning linen yarn during the winter and spring, and engaged workmen to make a earding-machine, four jennies of forty, forty- four, sixty and eighty spindles, for spinning cotton. Owing to the difficulty of finding artisans and making machines without models, or with imperfect ones, and obstructions by foreign agents, they did not get the first loom at work until April 12, 1788. By August 23d of the same year they had, however, twenty-six looms in operation ; by November Ist they had manu- factured of jeans, corduroys, flowered cottons, flax linens, tow linens and bird's-eye four thousand and sixteen yards, of which two thousand and ninety-five

1 It appears from his remarks that after giving relief to the industrions poor, which was one object of the society, the employment of machinery as much as possible in their operations was contemplated by its friends. This purpose was urged in reply to the ubjection which, among many others, appears to have been made against the establishment of manufac- tories, and were severally combated by the speaker, that they were injur- ions to the health of the working-people. A proper regard for the inter" ests of agriculture, as the most important, was recommended in any measures that 'might be adopted for the advancement of manufactures. In this connection the cultivation of cotton in the Southern States was recommended as an article from which the best-informed manufacturers expected the greatest profits, and upon which some established factories depended. It thrived as well there, he said, as in any part of the world, and those States raised it formerly when the price was not half what it had been for several years past. It was then worth double the money in America which it sold for before the Revolution, European nations having prohibited its exportation from their colonies to foreign countries. The great progress made in agriculture and manufactures, particularly in Petmisylvania, since the year 1762, and still more since the late waly was adverted to, and a lengthy list of articles then made in the State was given. These included hosiery, hats and gloves, wearing apparel, coarse linens and woolens, some cotton gouds, wool and cotton cards, etc. The advantages of America in having the raw materials and market at home, in exemption from duties, in the ability to sell for cash by the piece instead of large invoices on long credits, as imported goods were then sold, in the superior strength of American linens, in the benefits of a better atmosphere for bleaching linen and cotton, were severally urged as so many inducements to undertake manufactures. He recommended the exemption from duties of raw materials, dye stuffs and certain im- plements ; premiums for useful inventions and processes ; the invita- tion of foreign artists to settle by grants of land, and that every emigrant ship should be visited to ascertain what persons were on board capable of constructing useful machines or of conducting manufactures. The waste- ful use of foreign mannfactures was illustrated by the fact that the importation into Philadelphia alone of the finer kinds of coat, vest and sleeve-buttons, buckles and other trinkets was supposed to amount in a single year to ten thousand pounds, and cost the wearers sixty thousand dollars. In urging the benefits to the agricultural interests of mannfae- tures in their midst, he ventured the assertion that the value of Ameri- can productions annually consumed by the manufacturers of the State, exclusive of the makers of flour, Inmber and bar-iron, was double the aggregate amount of all its exports in the most plentiful year .- Bishop's " Rist. Manuf.," rol.

were cotton. The entire product from the beginning amounted to eleven thousand three hundred and sixty-seven yards. The committee stated, in conclu- sion, that, being impressed with the conviction of the importance of the cotton branch, they "beg leave to recommend in the strongest terms the prosecution of the manufacture by fresh subscriptions, until a knowl- edge and due sense of its value shall induce sonte proper persons, either citizens or foreigners, to under- take the business." 2

2 Public sentiment upon the subject had reached and sensibly affected the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, and as early as 1778 an act was passed, entitled an " Act to encourage and protect the manufactures of the State." This act, which was limited to two years, prohibited, noder certain penalties, the exportation of manufacturing machines, the scarcity of which was the great obstacle to such undertakings. This act is stated by the editor of the American Museum, M. Carey, to have owed its existence to the fact that in the year 1778 two carling and spinning- machines in the possession of a citizen of Philadelphia, and calculated to save the labor of one hundred and twenty persons, were purchased by the agency of a British artisan, packed up in cases as common merchan- dise, and shipped to Liverpool. A quantity of cotton-seed is also stated to have been soon after purchased in Virginia and burned, in order to prevent, if possible, the extension of the cotton manufactures in America and their injurious effects upon the importation of Manchester goods. In October, 1788, a reward of one hundred pounds was given John Hague, of Alexandria, Va., for a carding-machine completed for the society in March of the ensuing year, when the Legislature passed "An Act to assist the Cotton Manufactures of this State." The act was de- signed to assist "The Manufacturing Committee of the Pennsylvania Society for the Encouragement of Manufactures and the Useful Arts, and under whom a manufactory of cotton articles has accordingly been established with great prospect of success in the city of Philadelphia, but the sums subscribed to which are inadequate to the prosecution of the plan upon that extensive and liberal scale which it is the interest of this State to promote." It authorized the treasurer of the State to subscribe in the name and for the use of the State for one hundred shares, of ten pounds each, in the maunfacturing fund of the said society, which was lone accordingly, and an order drawn upon the treasurer, Dr. Ritten- house, in favor of Christopher Marshall, Jr., treasurer of the society, for the sum of one thousand pounds, April 9, 1789. The manufactory was burned down on the night of the 24th of March, 1790, and evidence- having been obtained that it was fired by design, a reward was offered by the State for the detection of the culprit.

The earnest recommendation of Mr. Coxe and the efforts of the society to introduce the manufacture of cotton are believed to have had much influence with the members of the convention assembled in Philadelphia, at the time of its organization, to frame a constitution, under which a more efficient government could be adopted to remedy the numerous. evils arising under the old confederation. The Southern delegates, on returning home, generally recommended the cultivation of cottou, and with such success as to secure increased attention to that crop. The same influence and the necessity of a revenue indneed the first Congress to protect the raw material and its manufacture by a duty of threepence a pound on foreign cotton and of five per cent., which was soon after in- creased to twelve and a half, on foreign manufactured cottons. There is little doubt that the first Secretary of the Treasury derived important hints in the formation of his fiscal scheme, and much material for his able report on manufactures, from the statesmanlike views and accurate knowledge of his assistant, Mr. Cuxe. In his recommendation of the cotton culture for the creation of a redundant staple, and of manufactures as one of the firmest supports of a prosperous agriculture and commerce, the latter was unremitting and enthusiastic. We learn from the writings of Mr. Coxe that Pennsylvania, within a year or two after, if not before the destruction of the small manufactory above referred to, was in possession of a full set of the Arkwright machinery for spinning cotton, as well as the complete works of the water-mill for spinning hemp and worsted yarn. Ile strongly advocated the introduction of manufactures on a large scale conunensurate with the increased abilities and wants of the country. Ile drew up and published the details of a plan for a manu- fixturing town in the interior of the State, which should be to Phila- delphia what Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and Sheffield were to their

572

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

During the period of the Revolution, and to the time of the adoption of the National Constitution of 1787, the colonies were united under certain " Articles of Confederation," by reason of which the colonies, or States, exercised the power of regulating trade and commerce. The conflict of interests, thought to be irreconcilable on account of the want of cheap and rapid transit between distant points, resulted in the passage of laws greatly at variance with the welfare of the whole people. State impost laws proved a feeble barrier to the flood of merchandise that poured into our ports of peace, while in some exceptional cases they almost excluded the products of sister States. Notwithstanding the unfavorable conditions between the period of independence and that of national unity, manufactures, both of the co-operative and household kind, increased in volume and quality. The adoption of the Federal Constitution, in 1787, invested the national government with full power to regulate foreign commerce and trade and repeal all inter-State restrictions thereon.

By no class of the community was the new consti- tution and its adoption by the States more zealously urged than by the friends of American manufacture ; with no class was its ratification a subject of greater rejoicing than with the friends of capitalized labor and mechanics of every kind. They saw in the resto- ration of public and private confidence, through the agency of a national faith, and in the wholesome check to an impoverishing and corrupting use of foreign manufactures by a general revenue system, the first dawn of hope for their young and feeble factories, which, under all the discouraging circum- stances of the times, had given hopeful assurance of future and enduring success. The first national Con- gress began the work of legislation, and in laying duties or imports, in July, 1789, had reference, as the preamble to the act declares, to " the encouragement and protection of manufactures." No review of the rise and significance of American manufactures will be satisfactory without reference to the legislation, both State and national, and the current State papers intended to encourage and protect the development of the mechanic arts and skilled labor necessary for

respective seaports. A capital of five hundred thousand dollars, raised either by the subscriptions of an associated company, by lottery tickets or by an appropriation of State funds to that amount, was to be invested in the purchase of two thousand acres of land, whereon the factories for all branches of manufacture, dwellings, and other appurtenances of a com- plete manufacturing village were to be erected, to become the great support of the rural population around. Navigable communication with the city and the interior, an ample water-power and access to wood and coni, etc., were the conditions which should determine its selection. The suggestion was afterwardsarted upon by a " Society for the Establishment of L'seful Manufactures," which, under the patronage of the Secretary of the Treasury, and with a large capital, in shares of four hundred dollars .each, was chartered in November, 1791, by the Legislature of New Jersey, with extensive privileges to carry on all kinds of manufactures at the Falls of the Passaic. Although not immediately successful, the enter- prise was the fourlation of the present active town of Paterson, which, not many years after, became the seat of numerous cotton-factories, that have been the first in the State .- Bishop's " Hist. Manuf.," vol. i.

the success and permanency of this industrial pur- suit. The subject in detail is, however, beyond the scope of this chapter, and therefore referable to the standard works and authorities wherein it is treated in extenso.

The following statistics, as reported in the census of 1880, show the present magnitude of the industrial arts of Pennsylvania, including those of Montgomery County. Located on the boundary of a large seaport city, with great natural advantages, enhanced by river and railroad transit, the county takes rank second only to Philadelphia and Allegheny Counties.

The total number of manufacturing establishments in the State was, in 1880, 31,232; the total capital invested, $474,510,993 ; the value of materials, $465,- 020,563; and of the products, $744,818,445. The num- ber of employés was,-males above sixteen years, 284,359; females above fifteen years, 73,046; children and youth, 29,667; and the amount paid in wages, $134,055,904.

The earliest authentic statistics attainable concern- ing the manufactures of the county are for the year 1810, found in Tench Coxe's statement contributed to the census report of 1820, from which the following is condensed :

Stockings : mills, 4; pairs, 1200; value, $1800. Shirt-buttons: dozens, 480; value, $30. Cotton and wool spun in mills, 15,600 pounds; valuc, $15,600. Spinning-wheels in operation, 9987; looms, 325. Carding-machines in operation, 11; pounds carded, 42,600; value, $3790. Fulling-mills, 4; yards, fulled, 18,800; value, $1575. Labor-saving machinery: billies, 1; jennies, 1; looms with fly shuttles, 4; spinning-frames, 2; spindles, 292. Cotton manufac- turing establishments, 2; mixed and hempen eloth, yards made, 40,000; woolen cloth, in families, 38,800 ; total value of all kinds of cloth, 894,200. Hatteries, 10; wool and mixed hats, 5148; value, $13,395. Forges, 2; tons of iron 310; value, $31,000. Trip- hammers, 2; value, $10,000. Naileries, 7; pounds of nails, 118,720 ; value, $10,600. Gun manufactories : 2; guns, 1800; value, $19,287. Black-smith's shops, 87: value, $44,250. Cutler's shops, 5; value, $4990 Tin plate produced ; 1500 pounds, value (with copper and brass), $1500. Tanneries, 30; value, $60,860. Shoes and boots : pairs, 37,705; saddles and bridles, 1100,-value, $53,710. Glue: pounds, 500; value, $100. Flaxseed oil : mills, 24; gallons, 46,100; value, $46,100. Distileries, 63; gallons, 55, 100; value, $27.550. Cabinet-makers, 8; value of work, $2300.

Carriage-shops, 1; value, $2600. Cooper-shops, 16; value, $7901. Bark-mills, 4. Paper-mills, 15; reams made, 25,433 ; value, $130,431. Marble-yards, 4; value, $17,500. Marble saw-mills, 1; value, $10,000. Snuff and tobacco-mills, 1; value, $4000; production 56,000 pounds. Dyers, 12; value of work, $2,150. Rope-walks, 2; tons made, two and one-half; value, $1300. Chocolate: pounds, 1200; value, $240. Gun-powder: mills, 5; pounds made,

MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

573

73,920; value, $28,000. Ginger: manufactories, 1; pounds, 12,000. Printing: offices, 2; value, $2600. Wheat-mills, 97; bushels ground, 446,700; barrels, 27,200; value, $959,700. Saw-mills, 55; lumber sawed, 1,383,000 ; feet value, $11,512. Brick-kilns, 2; number of bricks, 60,000; value, $480. Lime-kilns, 33; bushels of lime, 273,200; value, $42,210.

In 1850 the capital invested in manufactures in Montgomery County was $3,178,662, the number of hands employed was 3886, and the value of the total annual product was $4,737,419.

In 1860 the number of establishments was 601; the capital invested, $4,712,027; the cost of raw ma- terial, 84,323,233; the number of employés 4966 (3737 males and 1229 females); the annual cost of labor, 81,294,248 and the annual value of raw mater- ial, 87,127,984. Following are the statistics for 1880 (from the tenth United States census), exhibiting forty selected manufactures.

Allegheny, 1895; Lancaster, 1437; Berks, 1044; and York, 859.

When the amount of capital invested in manufac- tures is taken into consideration, however, Montgom- ery comes forward to fourth place, with an investment of $13,789,461, the only counties taking precedence of it being Philadelphia, with $187,148,857 ; Allegheny, with $70,641,426; and Delaware, with $14,256,720. Berks County has more than a million and a quarter dollars less capital invested in manufactures than Montgomery, and Lancaster has more than three and a quarter million dollars less, while York, which, as we have shown, exceeds Montgomery in number of man- ufactures, falls far behind it in capital, having only $3,537,375.

In the value of products Montgomery is the third county of the State. The value of the total annual output of its manufactories is $20,656,993, while that of Philadelphia is $324,342,935, and of Allegheny,

INDUSTRIES.

Capital.

Males above

above

and

Total amount paid in wages during the year.

Value of Inaterials.

Value of products.

16 years. 15 years. youths.

Agricultural implements

$256,145

138

$63,570

$95,332

$214,58I

Brass castings

23,000

7,000

60,000

75,000

Bread and other bakery products

83,400

15,781

82,715 :

126,997

Brick and tile

168,100

44,649

34,275

135,184

Carpets other than rag (see also woulen goods)

8,000

4,500

23,538

35,000

Carriages and wagons .

63,700

33,883

35,210

87,050

Cheese and butter (factory)

43,705

4,844

96,738

119,621

Clothing, men's

67,600

147

825

119,950

941,100

1,107,060

Clothing, women's

12,300

5,026

25,80M

32,879

Cotton goods (see also mixed textiles)

683,250

271

143

133,393

236,902

423,517

Cutlery and edge-tools (see also hardware)

109,850

31,557

31,397

75,908

Fertilizers

33,000

3,380

52,167

1,640,089

1,866,107

Foundry and machine-shop products Glass

100,000

26,000

40,000

72,000

Grease and tallo

5,000

2,18!

81,870

91,376

Gunpowder

26,000

1,500

18,000

22,500

80,1KXJ

100

35,000

110,000

270,000

5,245,613

2,027

1,301,610

1,593,563

7,194,821

Leather, curried

27,500

1,530

46,471

57,525

Leather, fanned

4,560

92,658

125,431

Liquors, malt

27,000

3,087

16,680

25,724

Lumber, suwed .

60,550

7,510

61,640

01,004

Marble and stone-work

36,450

13,870

22,385

50,750

Oil, linseed

18,200

1,135

18,100

25,220

Paper .

-1 1

001,000

4,000

12,000

36,000

Printing and publishing

86,000

22,XINJ

25,177

61,404

Saddlery and harness Sash, doors and blinds (see also lumber, planed)

33,000

6,057

14,100

25,500

Shirts .

57,500

17,044

90,000

142,000

Tinware, copperware and sheet-irvu

96,150

21,716

43,851

88,015

Tobacco, cigars, etc. . .

114,690

378

233

145,096

280,685

475,634

Woolen goods (see also carpets and mixed textiles)

1,963,000

636

719

342

529,058

1,991,362

3,103,641

Totals

840

$13,789,461

7,459

3,073

1,107

$3,596,20X

$13,189,707

$20,656,993

500,000

50,000

100,000

270,000

Flouring and grist-mill products

115

1,1>>4, 100)

213

378

158,401

207,806

461,052

Iron and steel

100,00G

32,000

55,000

Lumber, planed (see also sash, doors, etc.)

142,750

33,139

64,228

110,923

Mixed textiles (seo also cotton and woolen goods)

1,190,000

364

560

266

370,978

1,176,937

2,029,640

320,500

134

76,150

298,650

537,230

Paving materials

20,850

7,016

20,030

41,159

Shoddy (see also mixed textiles)

35,(0)

53,500

111,4×0

205,000

In the number of manufactories, Montgomery, with 840, stands sixth among its sister counties, those with a larger number of establishments being Philadel- phia, with (according to the census of 1880) 8567; 1

$105,272,739. The county of Berks closely follows Montgomery in the value of its annual products, reaching the amount of $20,143,164, and Delaware comes next in order with an annual output valued at $19,601,493. The value of Cambria's yearly produc- tion reaches $16,150,865, and that of no other county exceeds $15,000,000.

1 The number in 1882 is stated upon good authority to have been 11,844.

Number of

establishments.

Average number of hands employed.

Females Childr'n

2,475

14,000

21,500

Confectionery

20,850

Dyeing and finishing textiles

34,680

Hardware (see also cutlery)

Iron nails and spikes, cut and wrought

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 133

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1534

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534