In the manufacture of metal products, other than iron and steel, corporate production predominated. This is plainly seen in the smelting and refining industries. Thirty-three of the thirty-nine establishments engaged in smelting and refining lead were corporations. These reported 99.7 per cent of the total value of products. Twenty-six corporations of the thirtyone establishments engaged in the smelting and refining of zinc reported 92.0 per cent of the total value of products. Fortythree corporations of the forty-seven establishments engaged in the smelting and refining of copper reported 96.9 per cent of the total value of products. The smaller manufactures and trades, as jewelry making, electroplating, tinsmithing, and the reducing and refining of gold and silver, not from the ore, were very largely in the hands of individuals and firms. The tobacco industry in 1900 was conducted chiefly by individuals and partnerships, and particularly was this the case with the manufacture of cigars and cigarettes, where the value of the product for these classes of establishments was 77.1 per cent of the total. The manufacture of chewing and smoking tobacco and snuff was very largely carried on by corporations, their establishments producing 85.9 per cent of the value of the products of this branch of the industry. The manufacture of vehicles for land transportation was carried on chiefly by corporations in all its branches except carriages and wagons, the chief of these branches being the manufacture of steam and street-railroad cars. Iron and steel shipbuilding was carried on almost wholly by corporations, while 63.4 per cent of wooden ship and boat building was done by individuals and firms, 43.7 per cent being done by individuals and 19.7 by firms. The production of the following miscellaneous industries was chiefly that of corporations: agricultural implements, ammunition, coke, electrical apparatus and supplies, enameling and enameled goods, fireworks, gas, illuminating and heating, manufactured ice, lead pencils, phonographs and graphophones, photographic materials, rubber and elastic goods, soda-water apparatus, washing machines and clothes wringers, and windmills. 4. Miscellaneous ownership. The table shows only 2093 establishments reporting their form of organization as different from the three forms above considered. These establishments produced $30,959,765, or only 0.2 per cent of the gross value of products. The small number indicates the infinitesimal part which coöperation, either on the English (Rochdale) system or any other system, plays in the manufacturing industries of the United States. There are some striking instances of success in this form of organization in certain industries, the most notable being in the manufacture of butter, cheese, and condensed milk, which single industry reported 1765 out of the 2093 establishments of this class, and a product of $24,337,561, or 78.6 per cent of the total. Eight coöperative associations were shown in cotton ginning and nineteen in the canning and preserving of fruits and vegetables. These establishments are generally organizations of farmers who combine for the purpose of handling the produce of their farms. There were seven coöperative associations in the glass industry, with products valued at $545,319. The special report on the glass industry in the Report on Manufactures, Part III, contains the following statement in regard to this form of organization: The five companies of a "miscellaneous" character were all coöperative and engaged in the manufacture of window glass, most of them having been established within the census year, and were financially supported by the glass workers' union, which loaned money proportioned on the pot capacity of each plant. There were two establishments of this character reported in the pressed and blown ware and bottle and jar branch of the industry. It should be stated, in this connection, that there were in the glass industry, in addition, nine incorporated establishments of a coöperative character operating under charters, which in all the tables are included under the head of corporations. They are in all essential particulars cooperative associations. This movement toward coöperation arose from the desire to secure more work during the year, the capacity of the factories having been for some time so much in excess of current consumption that the "run" of the factories had been getting less each year, averaging about six months where it was formerly ten. The past record of coöperation in the window-glass industry of the United States has been unsatisfactory, all going well as long as the market conditions were good, but financial ruin usually appearing with any depression in the trade. The indications at present are very favorable for cooperative manufacture, and it will probably spread very rapidly in the industry in the near future. The greatest impetus it receives comes from the scarcity of workmen, which is leading manufacturers to organize companies in which a large share of the stock is held by the workmen, who are thus less likely to be tempted away by offers from other manufacturers. Along with these quasi-coöperative companies many real cooperative companies, composed entirely of the men in the factory, are being established, especially among the Belgian workmen, who form a considerable proportion of the entire working force. It should be explained that all returns from manufacturing establishments of a coöperative character, which were incorporated under state laws, were treated as corporations and so tabulated. Other establishments included among the miscellaneous forms of organization are several "communities," so called, a number of societies, churches, and colleges, which for the most part were engaged in the publication of periodicals devoted to their own interests. Under these miscellaneous forms of organization there were one hundred and seventy-four establishments, showing a product of $3,102,785, engaged in printing and publishing newspapers. CHAPTER VII STUDIES OF THE IRON AND COTTON INDUSTRIES 1. The Iron Industry in the United States 1 1 Thirty years ago Great Britain was still the world's commanding producer of iron and steel. Notwithstanding half a century or more of almost continuous protection, the United States held but a distant second place. The output of pig iron in the old country in 1870 was very nearly six millions of tons; that in the new country was but little over a million and a half. But between 1860 and 1870 the product in the United States had doubled, a geometrical progression, which, if maintained, must soon cause all rivals to be distanced. It is much easier, however, to double a small number or a small output than a large one: the rate of growth in the beginnings of a movement is rarely maintained for long during its later course. Yet in this case the unexpected happened: for three decades the geometrical progression was maintained in the output of pig iron in the United States. The product of 1870 had been double that of 1860, 1880 doubled 1870, and 1890 again doubled 1880. The iron industry of Great Britain held its own, and, indeed, between 1870 and 1880 made a notable advance; but it could not match the astounding pace of its young rival. In 1890 the United States turned out more than nine million tons of pig iron, for the first time passing Great Britain and displacing that country suddenly as the leading producer. The depression which followed the crisis of 1893 caused a sharp decline in the American product, the lowest point being reached in 1894. But with the revival of activity after 1896 the figures again mounted, reaching near twelve millions in 1898 and fourteen 1 By F. W. Taussig. Reprinted from the Quarterly Journal of Economics, February, 1900. millions in 1899. The year 1900 will hardly show a repetition. of the feats of the previous decades. The pace of the geometrical progression is too killing to be maintained; yet all present indications are that the close of the decade will show an output beyond the dreams even of five years ago.1 This enormous increase, however, has been by no means evenly distributed over the United States. Within the country a revolution has taken place, which is part and parcel of the changed relation to other countries, and which must be followed before the latter can be understood. The first great impulse to the production of crude iron on a large scale came in the United States with the successful use of anthracite coal as fuel. During the twenty years preceding the Civil War (1840-1860) the site of the industry and its growth 1 The figures as to the production of iron in the two countries are easily found in the excellent statistical reports prepared for the trade in the two countries, the Statistical Reports of the British Iron Trade Association, of which Mr. J. S. Jeans has long been secretary, and the Statistical Reports of the Iron and Steel Association, of which Mr. J. M. Swank has been the equally efficient secretary. For quinquennial periods the output of pig iron in Great Britain and the United States has been as given below. The figures for Germany (including Luxemburg) are given also; the growth there, too, has been extraordinarily rapid. For the United States and Great Britain the figures denote thousands of gross tons of 2240 pounds; for Germany, metric tons of 2204 pounds. [Since 1899 the output of the United States has been as follows: 1900 13,789 1902 = 17,821 1904 16,497 1906= 25,307 - ED.] |