USA > Tennessee > Davidson County > Nashville > History of Nashville, Tenn. > Part 26
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MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.
poration. The patent objection to the law is that an arbitrary rule is made for the guidance of the assessor, it being clear that the value of the stock and bonds of an incorporation may be high or low according to the condition of its business. It appears also that the law of 1889 was differently interpreted by different assessors-some interpreting it to mean that while they were required to use the stock of a company in such manner as to enable them to ascertain the value of the property, they were also required to assess the stock itself in the hands of the in- dividual stockholders. This interpretation of the law of 1889 made it worse than that of 1887, and in order to have the Legislature pass upon this question, and for other reasons, the Governor of the State called an extra session of that body which convened February 24, 1890. At this extra session a law was therefore passed explanatory of that of 1889, as it was intended to be, the law of 1890 stating explicitly that shares of stock shall not be taxed. Thus the matter rests, and while not yet in a shape satisfactory to manufacturers, the law of 1890 is a great improve- ment on its predecessors, in so far as it makes it clear that shares of stock are not subject to taxation.
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CHAPTER XI.
MERCANTILE AND COMMERCIAL.
Early Merchants-Price of Cotton-" Cotton Planter's" View-Steam-boats Trading with Nashville in 1824-Prices Current in 1829-Freight Rates in 1838-Prices Current in 1839 -Growth of Wholesale Trade from 1850 to 1860-Progress of Trade in Later Years- Present Value of the Wholesale Trade-History of the Merchants' Exchange-Statistical Tables-Present Organization of the Merchants' Exchange-The Commercial Club.
A CCORDING to the "History of Davidson County," by W. W. Clayton, the mercantile firms in existence in 1802 were the follow- ing:
King, Carson & King; King, Tripp & Richardson; Pickering & Wal- ler ; Stump, Rapier & Turner ; Goodwin & Walker, Hickman & Childress, John & Alexander Craighead, John P. Erwin & Co., Joseph & Robert Woods, Witherall & Yeatman, William Black & Co., James Stewart & Co., Brahan & Atwood, Thomas Deaderick & Co., Pittway & Cantrell, Andrew Hynes & Co., Joseph McKain & Co., George & Jacob Shall, Robert Stothart & Co., and E. S. Hall.
Among the other early merchants of Nashville were John H. Smith, A. Foster, Bustard & Eastin, and Thomas Jones & Co. A. Foster, on November 1, 1806, advertised that he was authorized by a responsible house in New Orleans to purchase one thousand bales of cotton, and also one thousand dollars' worth of bear-skins, for which he would pay in ap- proved bills on New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Bustard & Eastin, in August, 1806, received a fresh supply of goods, which, added to their former assortment, made it complete. They proposed selling on moderate terms for cash and for the following varieties of produce: Cot- ton, pork, hogs' lard, tobacco, bees-wax, and tallow. Thomas Jones & Co. were wholesale merchants, located between the post-office and Tal- bot's Hotel. They received cotton in payment for goods, and allowed fifteen cents for cotton loose, and seventeen cents for it when baled.
Baird & Boyce were also then in business. John Baird, active partner of the firm, had just returned from Philadelphia, and was opening at their new white store on the upper corner of Main Street, fronting the court- house, a large and general assortment of well-chosen merchandise, con- sisting of elegant dry goods, hardware, cutlery, groceries, China ware, etc. George Poyzer also offered for sale a general assortment of mer- chandise. Hanson Catlett, on November 1, 1806, announced that he had removed his shop next door to Mr. Porter's, where he had for sale a fine
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assortment of drugs, medicines, and paints. In March, 1807, John H. Smith and John Instone, who had been in partnership for some time, dis- solved partnership, and John Instone afterward carried on the business of the firm. He also kept a general assortment of merchandise. William Wright & Co., in August following, had on hand for sale a large assort- ment of dry goods, groceries, etc .; as also had R. Galt & Co., James Jackson, John B. Craighead, and Ramsey, Hart & Co.
A meeting was held at Talbot's Hotel on Monday, October 12, 1807, which attracted considerable attention from the planters. Its object was to fix the price of cotton for that year's crop. The following resolution was adopted :
"Resolved, That we whose names are hereto affixed do agree to re- ceive cotton at $12 loose and $14 baled, with the rise of the market, for debts contracted within the present year."
The names signed to this resolution were: Duncan Robertson, Dead- erick & Sommerville, J. & W. Jackson, William Wright & Co., Bustard & Eastin, R. Galt & Co .; King, Carson & King; James Hennan & Co., Waggeman & Sullivan, John H. Smith, Alexander & A. Porter, John B. Craighead, Stephen Cantrell & Co .; Ramsey, Hart & Co .; Howel Ta- tum, C. Stump & Co., and George Poyzer.
The price of cotton as thus fixed failed to give satisfaction to several of the planters in the vicinity of Nashville. One of them addressed a letter dated November 3, 1807, to the Impartial Review, in which he said :
"I observed in the Impartial Review of the 29th ult. an extract from a letter from a gentleman from Philadelphia to his friend in Nash- ville, which I suppose is why the merchants in Nashville, in a committee of the whole, have fixed the price of cotton at $12 loose and $14 baled. For the satisfaction of the planters I wish that gentleman's name had been given, that we might have it in our power to examine into the cor- rectness of the statement; that we might learn whether it was not written for the particular purpose which it has answered-that of reducing the price of cotton. Has he money deposited in the hands of some person for the purpose of making a speculation? or is he concerned with some house in Nashville? It is a fact well known to all who are raising cotton the present year that it is superior in quality to that of any previous year. The late drought has entirely perished and caused to drop all the later bolls, so that what little there is is thus of the first forming, and is ex- tremely white and clean. Having received information from Natchez and the Southern States, I am induced to believe that the price of cotton fixed by the merchants of Nashville is an imposition on the planters. If
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HISTORY OF NASHVILLE.
it originated from the extract of the letter mentioned above, they ought to be well convinced of the correctness of the statement before they enter into such a resolution. COTTON PLANTER."
The extract in the letter alluded to by the writer of the above was as follows:
"Cotton has been very low, especially upland and Tennessee, which on account of its bad quality last year, generally could not be sold. You may rest assured that the credit of Tennessee cotton suffered more last year than it will be able to retrieve in three years; and if you do not adopt some other mode of inspection, it will not be worth exporting hereafter."
The price of hemp was at that time $6 per hundred pounds. K. Green, in April, 1815, had just removed his store from College to Market Street, and was selling cheese at 25 cents per pound. James Hanna also adver- tised a choice quality of New England cheese. In this connection it is deemed proper to introduce the prices current in Nashville on May I, 1816, for the purpose of comparison with prices later in its history. They were as follows: Cotton, $20 to $21; tobacco, $8 to $10; hemp, $7 to $8; bacon, 10 cents to 12 cents; whisky, 56 cents to 62 cents; flour, $6 to $8; corn meal, 37 cents per bushel; butter, 18 cents to 25 cents; sugar, $22 to $23 per hundred pounds; coffee, $40 to $45 per hundred pounds; iron, $12 to $15 per hundred pounds; lead, $12 per hundred pounds.
The merchants of Nashville, on the 19th of February, 1817, gave public notice that they would take for all debts due them, and not payable in bank, the notes of chartered banks of North and South Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. They would also take said notes for goods and for any other property they had for sale. The names of the following firms were signed to this notice: S. & J. Marshall, W. Barrow, W. H. Whitaker & Co., Robertson & Kelton, John P. Erwin & Co., William Allen & Co., Tilford & Hart, Samuel Tilford, John H. Smith, William Lytle, Stump & Cox, B. W. & W. H. Bedford, William Carroll, Eastland & Craig, D. C. Snow, James Stewart, Osmon & McCrea, Thomas H. Fletcher, Crockett & Adams, James Gordon, Duncan Robertson, Thomas Hill, Archibald & George W. McNeil, C. Stump, Jenkin Whiteside, Thomas Ramsey & Co., Sam- uel Elam, Porter & Spence, Berryhill & McKee, Jacob Shall & Co., Brahan & Atwood, Robert Weakley, and Norvell & McLean.
The commerce of Nashville on January 1, 1824, is indicated to some extent by the following summary of steam-boats running to and from the town on the Cumberland at that time. Those running between Nash-
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ville and New Orleans: The "General Green," 300 tons, built at Cin- cinnati in 1819; the "Cumberland," 253 tons, built at Pittsburg in 1820; the "Nashville," 180 tons, built at Cincinnati in 1821; the "Ram- bler," 118 tons, built at Pittsburg in 1821; the "Andrew Jackson," 280 tons, built at Cincinnati in 1823; the "President," 280 tons, built at Pittsburg in 1823; the "Phoenix," 150 tons, built at Pittsburg in 1823; the "Telegraph," 100 tons, built at Pittsburg in 1818. Those running between Nashville and various points on the Ohio River: The "Pitts- burg," 120 tons, built at Pittsburg in 1822; the "Penn," 100 tons, built at Pittsburg in 1822; the "Eclipse," 120 tons, built at Pittsburg in 1823; the "General Neville," 100 tons, built at Pittsburg in 1822. Besides these there were several others which came and went at irregular inter- vals.
In 1828 Crutcher & Wood were wholesale grocers; McConnell & At- kinson, wholesale dry goods merchants; Brent, Spruce & Co., tanners and curriers; John Dwyer had just returned from Europe, where he had made arrangements for a large and constant supply of all kinds of dry goods, hardware, cutlery, and queensware, and he was a large importer from New York and Philadelphia; Kyle & Orr were proprietors of a large wholesale house; James Telford, commission merchant; George Backus had just received a large supply of prints and cotton goods from New York via New Orleans; Robertson & Elliott had a large book- store, as also had R. P .. Hayes; Nichol & Hill were wholesale mer- chants; and Trabue & West were importers of hardware and cutlery.
Following is a table of Nashville prices current January 1, 1829: Cof- fee, 16 cents to 18 cents per pound; cotton, 9 cents to 10 cents; choco- late, 22 cents to 25 cents; candles, sperm 371/2 cents, molded 10 cents to 12 cents, dipped 10 cents to 14 cents; cheese, 12 cents; flour, $6.50; hides, 13 cents; iron, pig $30, bar $140, Swede $140, castings $60 to $70; leather, sole 30 cents; molasses, 45 cents to 671/2 cents ; sperm oil, $1.50 per gallon; linseed oil, 75 cents; salt, $5 per sack; whisky, 25 cents to 37 cents ; sugar, 81/2 cents to 23 cents.
H. & J. Kirkman & Co., in December, 1829, received from England a large assortment of hardware, cutlery, and saddlery. Among the new goods received they advertised Rogers's pen-knives, table, dessert, and carving knives and forks, razors, and scissors. They also received plat- ed ware and building material. Cumberland coal appears to have first found a place in this market about this time, and Corry McConnell acted as agent or dealer. C. Morgan & Son opened a new wholesale house in the early part of 1831. They dealt in dry goods, hardware, plated ware, hats, boots, shoes, Leghorn, Bolivar, Dunstable, and Navarino bonnets,
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HISTORY OF NASHVILLE.
combs, brushes, etc. In this year Duncan Robertson and Eichbaum & Norvell had bookstores in Nashville, the latter being the successors of Hugh Elliott, who had removed to Philadelphia. During the year end- ing September 30, 1831, there were licensed in Nashville twenty-one wholesale stores and warehouses, seventy-seven retail stores and gro- ceries, and sixty taverns and tippling-houses. About this time Nichol & Hill dissolved and sold out their large wholesale store to Francis Por- terfield & Co.
As early as 1837 Congress appropriated $55,000 for the improvement of the Cumberland River, which was to be applied to the removal of ob- structions to navigation between Nashville and the falls in Whitely Coun- ty, Ky. Captain McKnight went to the mouth of Laurel Creek, a few miles below the mouth of Laurel River, to commence operations. Good coal was abundant near the mouth of this river, and it was expected that in a year or two coal would be as cheap in Nashville as it then was in Louisville.
In 1838 the question of the expense of transporting cotton to the East- ern cities began to attract considerable attention. It was found that the rate to Philadelphia via New Orleans was as follows: Freight to New Orleans 75 cents per 100 pounds ; insurance, drayage, storage, river and other charges, 421/2 cents. Freight to Philadelphia and all other charges there until sold, $1.88. Total, $3.0512 per 100 pounds.
By way of Pittsburg the charges were as follows: Freight to Pittsburg, 62 1/2 cents per 100 pounds; freight to Philadelphia, 75 cents; charges to and at Philadelphia, 82 cents; total, $2.1912 cents, a difference in favor of the Pittsburg route of 86 cents per 100 pounds, or $5.44 per bale. In addition to this one-half the time was saved by shipping by the Pittsburg route, which made a difference in interest of 20 cents per bale. It was also shown soon afterward that the cost of importing goods via Pittsburg was considerably less than via New Orleans, as follows: Charges on 445 boxes of coffee of 68,818 pounds from Philadelphia to New Orleans, $930.24; insurance, $242.05: total, $1,172.29. The same from Phila- delphia via Pittsburg, freight, $1,007.08; insurance, $III.37: total, $1, 118.45, a difference in favor of the Pittsburg route of $53.84.
Nashville prices current for June 1, 1839, were as follows: Bacon, IO cents to II cents per pound ; bagging, 25 cents ; beef, 5 cents ; bees-wax, 22 cents to 25 cents; butter, 20 cents to 25 cents; candles, sperm 50 cents, molded 20 cents, dipped 13 cents to 18 cents; cheese, 16 cents to 17 cents ; coffee, Havana 1412 cents to 15 cents, Rio 15 cents to 16 cents, Java 18 cents to 20 cents ; cotton, 10 cents to 13 cents; feathers, 30 cents to 33 cents ; flour, $6 to $7; corn, $2.50 per barrel; oats, 40 cents ; rye,
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MERCANTILE AND COMMERCIAL.
50 cents to 60 cents; lard, 81/2 cents to 9 cents ; lead, 812 cents to 16 cents ; leather, sole 25 cents to 30 cents, upper, per hide, $2.25; quinine, $5 to $6 per ounce; rice, 8 cents to 10 cents; sugar, 812 cents to 25 cents; salt, $4 to $5 per sack; clover seed, $18 per bushel; Timothy seed, $4 to $4.50; Cognac brandy, $2.50 to $4; whisky, 60 cents ; alcohol, $1.20 to $1.25.
In 1841 A. Hamilton & Co. opened a house for the transaction of a commission business. A. B. Robertson & Co. were wholesale dealers in boots and shoes. George Handy & Co. dealt in foreign and domestic hardware; A. G. Payne and Lanier & Morris, in groceries; and Green & Shanklin were commission and forwarding merchants .. About this time John S. Petway, as agent, kept a coal-yard near the stone bridge leading from Market Street into the Murfreesboro Pike. The prices for the different kinds of coal were: Lump coal, 12 1/2 cents per bushel; can- nel coal, 1212 cents per bushel; and blacksmith coal, 8 cents per bushel.
In 1844 Morgan, Gardner & Co. were wholesale dealers in fancy and staple goods; John Kirkman, formerly H. & K. Kirkman & Co., was a hardware dealer; Johnson & Baird opened a cash store in the house formerly occupied by P. Negrum, on Deaderick Street and the public square, dealing in fancy and staple goods. H. & B. Douglas were whole- sale dry goods merchants in 1846, and W. T. Berry was at this time keeping the "City Bookstore."
The wholesale dry goods trade of Nashville grew quite rapidly from 1850 to 1860. In the former year there were but three wholesale dry goods houses in the city : Morgan & Co., Douglas & Co., and Eakin & Co. The aggregate business of these three houses amounted to about $375,- 000. In 1860 there were twelve houses of this kind, and the extent of the trade had increased in about the same proportion. The total value of dry goods sold in Nashville reached about $2,225,000. There were then three establishments devoted exclusively to wholesale variety goods ; four exclusively wholesale boot and shoe houses; nine others both wholesale and retail; one exclusive hat, cap, and bonnet house; and three dry goods houses keeping boots and shoes, hats and caps. There was one exclusively wholesale clothing house, and fifteen both wholesale and re- tail, and ready-made clothing was kept in several wholesale dry goods houses. There were two wholesale queensware houses, and several oth- ers both wholesale and retail. There was one exclusively wholesale hard- ware house, and seven others both wholesale and retail; and there were two exclusively wholesale drug houses, and about ten others that were · both wholesale and retail. Nashville was therefore an excellent place-in- deed, a much better place than most Eastern cities-in which the mer-
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HISTORY OF NASHVILLE.
chants of other cities and towns in most of the South-western States could buy their goods, as the labor and expense of a trip to New York, Phila- delphia, or Boston was thereby saved, and the goods required were as low here as there.
Nashville was at that time a port of entry, and for this reason the reg- ular hardware dealers here were able to offer special inducements to country merchants to purchase of them. Many of the most important articles in the hardware line were then of foreign manufacture, such as table and pocket cutlery, guns, chains, etc., and these were imported di- rect from the manufacturers. The profit that the New York importer would otherwise have realized was saved to the purchaser in the Nash- ville market. Jesse Thomas was at that time Collector of Customs at this port.
The wholesale grocery trade of Nashville also grew very rapidly from 1850 to 1860. At the former date there was scarcely more than $100,- 000 invested in that line of business, whereas in 1860 there was not less than $4,000,000, and the trade extended all over Tennessee except a small portion in the western part of the State, nearly all of Southern Ken- tucky and some of Eastern Kentucky, North Alabama, North and a portion of Middle Georgia. One incident in the business life of the city is worthy of special note-viz., that in 1858, at a very low stage of water in the Cumberland River, Nashville merchants brought their heavy gro- ceries from New Orleans to Memphis by water, and thence to Nashville by rail, and then sold them to merchants doing business nearer to Mem- phis than to Nashville. The liquor department of the grocery trade ex- tended to a still greater distance from the city than did the regular gro- cery trade.
During the war there was not the same great advance in prices in Nash- ville as there was in cities that were for the most part in possession of the Confederate forces. The variations here were much the same as in Northern cities. But little is to be inferred, therefore, from war prices in Nashville, beyond what might be inferred from the same prices in any city farther north. In 1868 (July I) the prices of some of the principal articles sold upon the market were as follows: Corn, 73 cents to 75 cents per bushel; hay, $20 per ton; bacon, 1712 cents to 20 cents per pound ; flour, $8 to $14 per barrel; wheat, $1.65 to $1.75 per bushel; coffee, 22 ·cents to 40 cents per pound; New Orleans molasses, 80 cents per gal- lon ; sugar, 16 cents to 1812 cents per pound; candles, 1712 cents per pound; salt, $3.50 per barrel of seven bushels; whisky, $1.75 to $2.25 per barrel for common, $2.75 to $5 per barrel for Robertson County, $4 to $6 per barrel for Bourbon; quinine, $2.25 to $2.30 per ounce.
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MERCANTILE AND COMMERCIAL.
For several years, commencing with 1868, there was prepared for the Union and American newspaper, by James T. Bell, its commercial edit- or, a review of the year's trade, the review covering the twelve months ending August 31. Upon the authority of these reviews the following facts and statistics for the years from 1871 to 1876 are here introduced :
During the year ending August 31, 1871, the prices for hogs varied from $6 to $6.62 12 per cental gross, and yet the farmers were not satis- fied. Instead of selling at these prices, they prepared to make bacon and salt down their pork for higher prices, which they felt confident would follow. To their disappointment, however, prices went down instead of up, and the reviewer thought that a salutary lesson had been learned by the farmers-viz., that the producer who disposed of his products when they are ready for market is generally the most successful. The conse- quence of holding back such products was that at the beginning of the next season these held over products would be forced upon the market, the consequence being necessarily a glutted market and lower prices than the year before. In the pork packing business in Nashville, Messrs. Hart & Hensley were the pioneers. The predictions were verified in a remarkable manner, for in 1872 the price for pork averaged about 41/2 cents per pound. The total sales in Nashville for this year amounted to about 20,000 head. At that time there were in Nashville three large pork houses, capable of handling from 500 to 1,000 hogs per day. In 1873 the number of hogs handled in Nashville was considerably larger than the year before, the number being in the latter year from 30,000 to 35,000. The estimated value was $541,031 as against $483,155 the year before. In 1876 the number was not quite so large, being 21,148.
In 1872 the receipts of cotton were about 25 per cent. less than the year before, but prices were 60 per cent. higher. Nashville had then become a good market, in part because the factors here charged only about one-half the commission charged by the same class of business men in other cities. Prices had ranged from 812 cents on September 1, 1871, to 24 cents on July 1, 1872. The receipts for the year ending August 31, 1872, amounted to 55,936 bales, and the shipments to 56,281 bales. The entire shipments of cotton from this city that year, including what went through without breaking bulk, amounted to 80,814 bales. For the year ending August 31, 1873, there were shipped from Nashville 63,- 051 bales of cotton, and in addition 38,645 bales went through without being unloaded. The amount of money required to handle the cotton that year was $4,260,000. For 1876 the receipts of cotton amounted to 55,936 bales, and the prices varied during the year between 712 cents for ordinary, and 12 2-5 cents.
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HISTORY OF NASHVILLE.
The dry goods trade during the year ending August 31, 1871, amount- ed to about $3,000,000, and was carried on by safe, prompt, and prudent capitalists. For the year 1872 the sales amounted to the same. For 1873 the aggregate was about $4,000,000, and would have been consid- erably greater had not the cholera raged in the city and country.
In 1871 the grocery trade was very large, and was, as ever since, in the hands of sound, enterprising men. The amount of sales of the leading ar- ticles was as follows: Sugar, 14,000 hogsheads and 15,000 barrels; sirups and molasses, 12,000 barrels; coffee, 55,000 bags; and the entire amount of the grocery trade and liquor trade combined was about $15,000,000. The next year the sales were generally larger: Sugar, 14,000 hogsheads and 16,000 barrels; sirups and molasses, 13,000 barrels; coffee, 45,000 bags; salt, to the value of $200,000. The entire sales in this line this year amounted to nearly $10,000,000. In 1873 the sales were: Sugar, 14,000 hogsheads and 18,000 barrels ; sirups and molasses, 13,000 barrels; coffee, 50,000 bags; and in 1876 there were sold of sugar 10,000 hogsheads and 30,000 barrels; sirups and molasses, 8,000 barrels. In 1870 there were sold in this market 1,000,000 bushels of corn, valued at $800,000. In 1871 the number of bushels was 650,000; and the value, $400,000. In 1873 the amount of corn received was 1,100,000 bushels. In 1870 there were received in Nashville 125,000 bushels of oats, worth $80,000; and in 1871 150,000 bushels of oats, worth $100,000. In 1873 the amount re- ceived was 100,000 bushels. In 1870 the wheat crop was larger than any preceding crop in the State, but the next year it was almost an entire failure. Since that time it has been a constantly enlarging feature of the market.
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