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Cbe finance m Commerce 
 
 of Boston 
 and JNew Cngland 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 ACCURATE AND COMPREHENSIVE 
 TREATISES ON THE FINANCIAL, 
 PROFESSIONAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 INTERESTS OF BOSTON AND 
 THE NEW ENGLAND STATES 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE 
 
 Boston Journal 
 
 PROFUSELY 
 
 The intention of this Work is to bring to the notice of the World the gigantic 
 manufacturing interests and immense resources of the New Eng¬ 
 land States and those financial, professional and com¬ 
 mercial firms, corporations and individuals whose 
 business acumen has contributed to make 
 us the first nation of the World 
 
 GRATUITOUSLY DISTRIBUTED. 
 
 \ 
 
;vjl 1 6 1986 
 
 •OSTOIICOURSE kltSAftf 
 
 CHESTNUT Hill. MA gltft? 
 
JNew GnglancTs Hcbiewments in Business 
 Success <jCTning from Scant 
 Native Resources. 
 
 THE GREATEST MANUFACTURING SECTION OF THE UNITED STATES—A VIGOR 
 OUS AND INGENIOUS PEOPLE—THE BEGINNING AND DEVELOPMENT 
 OF THE FACTORY SYSTEM—THE MOST SOLIDLY PROS¬ 
 PEROUS REGION IN CHRISTENDOM. 
 
 /*? 
 
 /^^HERE are no gold fields, no mines of 
 f precious stones, no great deposits of 
 ■ Ijjtl) coal and iron, in the rugged country 
 that forms the northeast corner of this 
 broad republic. Nowhere within the boundaries 
 of the United States has less wealth been made 
 ready for man by nature than in New England— 
 and yet nowhere has more wealth been accumulated. 
 The people of the six New England States, and es¬ 
 pecially of the most important and most character¬ 
 istic Commonwealth of Massachusetts, are reputed 
 to be the richest people in the world. They wrung 
 their first earnings out of their cold sea and sterile 
 acres. They have made the utmost of their own 
 scant native resources. But they have shown an ex¬ 
 traordinary power to take the raw materials of other 
 and less vigorous and ingenious people and turn them 
 to profit on their own account. 
 
 New England grows no' cotton, and yet it is the 
 greatest cotton manufacturing region in America. It 
 grows very little wool, and yet it makes more woolen 
 and worsted fabrics than any other like area in the 
 New World. It draws the hides for its leather and 
 its boots and shoes from distant States and foreign 
 countries. It makes the whole globe tributary to its 
 busy manufactories, and the whole globe furnishes a 
 market for its finished goods. 
 
 In New England’s early days of poverty, when she 
 could not freight her own ships, she became the car¬ 
 rier for others. This genius for the great trade of 
 transportation has long been almost a New England 
 monopoly. Everybody knows that New England led 
 for two centuries in the building and sailings of ships, 
 but it is not so well known that the Middlesex Canal 
 from Boston Harbor to the upper Merrimac antedated 
 by many years the Erie Canal, or that a four-mile line 
 from the Quincy granite quarries that carried the stone 
 for Bunker Hill Monument down to the sloops wait¬ 
 
 ing to cross the bay, was the earliest railroad on this 
 Continent. A steam railway from Boston to Worcester 
 was completed as early as 1835, and in 1841 it was 
 pushed through to Albany. The lines to Providence 
 and to Lowell came into operation about the same time, 
 and the locomotive and its train soon began to com¬ 
 pete with the sailing coasters and steamboats along 
 the Eastern Road to Portland. 
 
 factory System Begun. 
 
 Even before the coming of the railroads that now 
 pierce almost every important river valley in the six 
 States, New England had begun to develop what is 
 perhaps its most important contribution to industrial 
 America—the modern factory system. Up to 1814 
 the cotton factory confined its energies to spinning 
 yarn to be woven into cloth on hand looms in the 
 homes of the people The first application of power 
 to the spinning of wool was made in Rhode Island in 
 1819. There were alert men who saw the great op¬ 
 portunity thus opened to New England, with its 
 abundant water courses. Power was applied to the 
 complete manufacturing of cotton fabrics, first in the 
 factory at Waltham and afterward at Lowell, in 1823. 
 
 Daniel Webster’s prophetic vision saw in these fac¬ 
 tories an influence that was destined to change the 
 whole face of New England. But the calamity which 
 he mourned was a blessing in disguise, and the great 
 statesman and orator lived long enough to acknowl¬ 
 edge it. In his young manhood, and down, perhaps, 
 to the year 1830, shipbuilding, navigation and com¬ 
 merce had been New England’s paramount industries. 
 Thereafter they gradually became subordinate to 
 manufacturing, not because they decreased, for they 
 did not, but because of the vastly swifter expansion 
 of the new interest. Shipbuilding and shipowning 
 grew and prospered in New England until 1855. It 
 was not until then that there began the long and mel- 
 
4 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and A T ezv England. 
 
 ancholy decline that lias now left but a ghost of the 
 oldest and most historic of New England s great 
 vocations. 
 
 It was the water power of innumerable deep streams 
 rushing down mountain-side or hillside that gave New 
 England her first opportunity for manufacturing. 
 Coal and steam machinery in the early days were too 
 costly for general use, but water to turn a mill wheel 
 could be had for the building of a dam. The con¬ 
 figuration of the country, with rivers relatively nar¬ 
 row confined between high, firm banks, and breaking 
 over natural falls where the waste water could be 
 easily disposed of, was all-important to the pioneers 
 in the great mechanical enterprises that have made the 
 names of Lowell, Jackson, Lawrence and Appleton 
 famous throughout the land, and won great fortunes 
 for the descendants of these men of larger brain and 
 keener courage than their fellows. 
 
 H Crimty of Interests. 
 
 To this wealth of water power happened to be united 
 the other essential advantage of an active and thrifty 
 population, inured to toil in a climate where hard 
 labor was possible all the year around. The opening 
 of the great West would have ruined New England 
 if agriculture had been her main reliance, nor could 
 iier inland communities have lived on commerce alone. 
 It is the trinity of interests, all well maintained—agri¬ 
 culture, commerce, manufacturing—not conflicting 
 with, hut sustaining and complementing one another 
 —that has made New England the most solidly pros¬ 
 perous region in all Christendom. 
 
 It was to the textile interests—to the making of 
 cotton and woolen fabrics—that the New England at¬ 
 tention was chiefly turned in the first years of the 
 factory system, and these two interests have ever since 
 been kept pre-eminent. The aptitude for this busi- 
 less that was developed, particularly in Massachu¬ 
 setts and Rhode Island, was a natural heritage of Old 
 England ancestry. Lowell. Lawrence, Providence 
 soon became centres of large production, but the great 
 towns did not monopolize the profits of the new de¬ 
 parture. These towns were fortunate in having access 
 to the cheap carriage of the sea. Further inland, how¬ 
 ever, on rivers that were not navigable, in valleys that 
 canals did not reach, factories, small but ambitious, 
 grew up as if by magic. For half a century and more, 
 before the present magnetic force of consolidation 
 made itself felt, these neighborhood industries, each 
 driven by a little stream, employing a few dozen or 
 few score operatives, and furnishing the lifeblood; of 
 a hamlet of a few hundred souls, were as characteristic 
 of New England as its pine forests and its granite 
 hills. A great capital was not then indispensable. 
 I he wa\ side shop of some mechanic more energetic 
 
 or more prudent than his comrades easily grew into 
 a little mill, and the little mill into a greater one. 
 These neighborhood industries were usually owned by 
 one family, often by one individual, seldom by an im¬ 
 personal corporation. The head of the enterprise was 
 known by everyone of his work-people. Relations be¬ 
 tween employer and employed were close and kindly. 
 The "help" in the mill were self-respecting and inde¬ 
 pendent, and such things as strikes and lockouts were 
 almost unknown. 
 
 Changing to Corporations. 
 
 Of course, this condition was too Arcadian to en¬ 
 dure. The general growth of business made inevit¬ 
 able the steady substitution of corporate for individual 
 ownership. Before the Civil War New England 
 manufacturing had taken on its distinctly modern 
 phase. The little country mills were not increasing 
 so rapidly as the big mills of the towns, where coal 
 for steam power was available. To Lowell and 
 Lawrence had been added, in Massachusetts, Fall 
 River and Taunton and other towns, in New Hamp¬ 
 shire, Manchester and Nashua, and in Maine, Saco, 
 Biddeford, Lewiston and Auburn. The manufactur¬ 
 ing of Rhode Island had spread from Providence all 
 over the area of the smallest of the States. The 
 leather and boot and shoe industries, long almost a 
 New England monopoly, had grown to immense pro¬ 
 portions. Heavy iron manufacture felt the sharp 
 competition of Pennsylvania, but the lighter forms of 
 iron and steel fabrication which called for higher skill 
 were going on with gathering momentum. Worcester 
 was and is the centre of this noble industry. 
 
 Che place of Hgriculturc. 
 
 Meanwhile the oldest and most elementary of human 
 occupations had not really declined in the New Eng¬ 
 land States. Agriculture had not shrunk; it had 
 merely changed its character. Here and there were 
 abandoned farms, but in many cases they were farms 
 that might wisely have been abandoned long before. 
 As Senator George F. Hoar has pointed out, the chief 
 thought of the pioneer husbandman, as the settlements 
 pushed out from Boston and Plymouth and Ports¬ 
 mouth on the sea toward the interior of the colony, 
 was not where he could be most prosperous, but where 
 he could be safest. That is why so many gray old 
 farmhouses are clinging to the bare sides of the New 
 England hills; where the soil is thin and rocks are 
 the only crop that never fails to spring up in the fur¬ 
 rows of the plowman. Up and down the smooth sur¬ 
 face of the valleys ranged the war parties of French 
 and Indians seeking scalps and plunder. In his perch 
 on the ledges far above them the settler was out of 
 their direct path, and his eagle eye could discern their 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and Nezv England. 
 
 coming. For years after Wolfe and Montcalm died 
 together on the Plains of Abraham, and the dreadful 
 savages no longer came skulking down from the 
 northern wilderness, the yeomen still hung to their 
 rocky lands by force of habit. It was only when the 
 factory system gave them a home market in every 
 village that they discovered that a small farm in the 
 rich valley was better than a great farm on the hills. 
 
 Instead of wheat and corn the New Englander now 
 makes his money out of milk and butter and ve^e- 
 
 ■* <"s 
 
 5 
 
 ers are aptly described by that fine, homely word, 
 “forehanded. I he average annual income of the 
 farmers of Massachusetts is said to he between nine 
 hundred and a thousand dollars. Nearly all of them 
 own their estates; the rented farm is still unusual. 
 Many of these “forehanded” men are capitalists on a 
 small scale. They are the depositors of the savings 
 banks, or they have money loaned out on judicious 
 mortgages. A very large proportion of the New Eng¬ 
 land funds that have gone to the upbuilding of West- 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS STATE HOUSE. 
 
 this building is the best example of the work of Charles Bulfinch, the original Boston architect, who did so much to im- 
 prove the architectural appearance of his native city. Now, with its gilded dome, it is a conspicuous object in the 
 landscape, from any point, whether from land or the harbor. Enlargements and renovations have met the 
 increased demands of years, but the original shape and general appearance have been consist¬ 
 ently maintained. 
 
 tables and fruits. He finds it cheaper to buy his grain 
 in the West and to grow crops that yield a greater 
 profit to the acre. Vermont has become the most 
 famous of dairying States, and Massachusetts agri¬ 
 culture of the modern type boasts a product of fifty 
 million dollars annually. Even the abandoned farms 
 are coming back to cultivation for at least their grass 
 and hay, or are returned to the Assessors’ lists as the 
 summer homes of city families. New England farm- 
 
 era. cities and the opening of rich prairie lands has 
 come from the bowlder-strewn New England fields 
 and pastures that are the derision of the prosperous 
 grangers of the Dakotas and the Pacific slope. 
 
 Thus New England agriculture has not been effaced 
 by manufacturing. The two interests are not antago¬ 
 nistic ; they have thriven and increased side by side. 
 So, too, with commerce. It has changed its form. It 
 no longer means shipbuilding and navigation, of which, 
 
6 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 save in the protected coasting trade, there is indeed 
 only a remnant of New England’s ancient glory. But 
 never before were so many New England products 
 shipped year after year to foreign markets. Boston, 
 of course, is the great New England port, though 
 Portland has now climbed to a respectable place, and 
 the statistics, given elsewhere, of the expansion of 
 Boston’s overseas trade are fairly eloquent. 
 
 Hcbievement in JMamifactiiring. 
 
 It is in manufacturing, however, that New England 
 most conspicuously excels. No people in the world 
 make so many different articles, and make them all so 
 well. It must not be thought that the industrial and 
 economic energy of the busy area between the St. 
 Croix River and Long Island Sound is altogether 
 absorbed by textile fabrics and boots and shoes, though 
 these products are head and shoulders first in im¬ 
 portance. It was New England that developed the 
 first practicable elevator, the earliest satisfactory 
 machine-made watches, the first American pianos to 
 win critical approval, the admirable parlor organs, that 
 now go all over the world. It is Yankee skill that has 
 brought firearms to their greatest perfection. It is 
 Yankee workshops that produce the finest cutlery. It 
 is Yankee ingenuity that has shown how many won¬ 
 derfully useful things can be made out of the soft, 
 clean wood of the ordinary pine or spruce tree. Until 
 a few years ago a familiar sight on the Boston wharves 
 was the shipping of a complete house, all ready to be 
 set up in far away Australia. 
 
 There arc five and one-half million people in the 
 six New England States, or only one-fourteenth of 
 the inhabitants of this great Union. But they make 
 one-third of all the cotton goods made in the United 
 States, one-third of all the woolen and worsted goods, 
 perhaps one-half of the first-class boots and shoes. 
 Maine, with 694,000 people, has $123,000,000 invested 
 
 in manufacturing, an annual product of $84,000,000, 
 and 74,000 factory wage-earners. New Hampshire, 
 with about 400,000 people, has $100,000,000 invested 
 in manufacturing, an annual product of $77,000,000, 
 and 70,000 factory wage-earners. Rhode Island, with 
 about as many people, has $183,000,000 invested in 
 manufacturing, an annual product of $119,000,000, 
 and 96,000 wage-earners. Vermont, not usually con¬ 
 sidered a manufacturing State, has $48,000,000 in¬ 
 vested in manufacturing, an annual product of $40,- 
 000,000, and 29,000 wage-earners. Connecticut has a 
 capital of $314,000,000 invested in manufacturing, an 
 annual production of $208,000,000, and 176,000 wage- 
 earners. Massachusetts has $820,000,000 invested in 
 manufacturing, an annual product of $1,000,000,000, 
 and 496,000 wage-earners in her factories. 
 
 Maine's chief manufactures are cotton goods, lum¬ 
 ber, paper, woolen goods and shipping. Bath alone 
 has launched four thousand vessels since 1781. New 
 Hampshire’s leading manufactures are cotton goods, 
 woolens, boots and shoes, lumber and leather; Ver¬ 
 mont’s, cut stone, butter and cheese, cottons, woolens 
 and lumber; Massachusetts’, boots and shoes, cotton 
 goods, woolen and worsted goods, machines and ma¬ 
 chinery, leather, metals and metallic goods and paper; 
 Rhode Island’s, cottons, woolens, jewelry, tools and 
 machinery; Connecticut's, textiles, clocks, watches, 
 arms and ammunition, sewing machines, hats and 
 paper. 
 
 Every quarter of the country, every class of people, 
 looks to New England for some product of mechanical 
 skill, and this fact makes New England’s connection 
 with every corner of the land very direct and intimate. 
 It is seldom indeed in all human history that intel¬ 
 lectual leadership and industrial leadership have gone 
 hand in hand; that the thinking race has also been the 
 producing and trading race. But such is the extra¬ 
 ordinarily broad range of New England’s preremi- 
 
 nence. 
 
Boston in proportion to the population is the 
 most Hetive City on the Continent. 
 
 A CITY OF STRONG, RELIABLE FIRMS AND CONSERVATIVELY MANAGED COR- 
 PORATIONS-THE HUB OF THE BUSY REGION FROM THE SEA TO 
 THE CANADIAN BORDER. HER BIG COASTWISE TRADE. 
 
 ^■p^OR two centuries it was Boston’s 
 V|R 7 / noble harbor, the most spacious on the 
 glpl New England coast, that made the old 
 4^5-> 7? Puritan town famous and prosperous. 
 
 That harbor was the handiwork not of 
 man but of nature. The first colonists 
 found this immense land-locked haven with water deep 
 enough to moor the light craft of their day to the forest 
 bank. It was this great room and security which drew 
 thither many of the chief men of the Puritan company 
 that had first settled 15 miles away at Salem. For two 
 hundred years thereafter Boston was a shipping and 
 trading community pure and simple. The first wealth 
 of the town was all drawn from the waters, and this 
 maritime impress Boston has never lost, though its 
 great fort tines in these later years have come rather 
 out of railroads and manufacturing. 
 
 When New England half a century or more ago 
 turned from the sea to the mill, it was the counting- 
 rooms and banks of Boston that furnished most of the 
 corporate capital. The promoters of these new enter¬ 
 prises sought abundant water power and cheap land, 
 and for these things it was necessary to go far away 
 from the three hills overhanging the broad harbor, to 
 the swift, deep, fresh streams pouring down from the 
 snow-capped northern mountains. But Boston has al¬ 
 ways watched with an eagle eye its scattered invest¬ 
 ments, and the factories and the railroads which its 
 money has controlled have had their real headquar- 
 ters not far from State street, d he Massachusetts 
 laws are inhospitable to poor and feeble concerns, but 
 thev have encouraged strong conservatively managed 
 corporations, and a Boston office-lias long been a kind 
 of hall mark of prosperity. 
 
 Boston the Center. 
 
 The textile, shoe and leather and other great man¬ 
 ufacturing industries of New England, even it the ac¬ 
 
 tual work is done a hundred or two hundred miles 
 away, look to Boston as the real centre of their activ¬ 
 ity. It is there that their material supplies and ma¬ 
 chinery are purchased and the finished products are 
 sold. There the larger brains of the enterprise are 
 located. Boston itself does considerable manufactur¬ 
 ing, but it directs many times more in the busy region 
 between the sea and the Canadian border. It is an 
 old, thoroughly established, perfectly organized busi¬ 
 ness community. Its actual growth in population in the 
 last two decades has been far greater than that of many 
 an ambitious western “boom” town. And yet, for rea¬ 
 sons which Bostonians understand but which it is verv 
 difficult to make known to strangers, this city never 
 receives its just rating among the great cities of the 
 United States. It has never caught the modern craze 
 for the wholesale annexation of contiguous territory. 
 It has not followed the example of Chicago or New 
 York, and laid its corporate grasp on all Eastern 
 Massachusetts. The Federal census of 1900 gives 
 Boston 560,892 people, and allows that it is the fifth 
 city in the United States. There are, however, 850,- 
 000 persons living in the crowded “metropolitan dis¬ 
 trict” around the gilded dome of the State House on 
 Beacon Hill. This is the real Boston, the greater 
 Boston, for all of the clustering suburban cities and 
 towns are maintained by the mighty throbbing life of 
 the tideswept peninsula on which the “city proper” 
 stands. 
 
 Boston has no rival in New England. The next 
 New England city, Providence, has only about one- 
 third of her population, and Worcester, the second 
 Massachusetts city, only one-fourth or one-fifth. Bos¬ 
 ton is the political capital, the money capital, the mer¬ 
 cantile capital, the manufacturing capital, and last but 
 not least, the intellectual capital, not only of Massachu¬ 
 setts, but of all the five northerly New England States. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 '8 
 
 NEW COURT HOUSE. BOSTON. 
 
 Boston is the second seaport in the Union, the 
 greatest shoe and leather market and the greatest 
 wool market. In proportion to its population Boston 
 is the most active city commercially on this conti¬ 
 nent. It conducts about one-tenth of the overseas 
 traffic of the United States, and its coastwise trade 
 with other American ports near and far is enormous. 
 
 H Constant Growth. 
 
 Moreover, Boston’s pre-eminence is swiftly strength¬ 
 ening. The imports and domestic exports of Bos¬ 
 ton during 1900 were the greatest in the history of the 
 city, amounting to $192,608,536. In the same year 
 Philadelphia's commerce was $130,518,940, Balti¬ 
 more’s $131,150,644, New Orleans' $163,126,806, and 
 San Francisco’s$77,343,269. Thus Boston leads all 
 of her sister cities, save the giant metropolis, by a 
 very broad and handsome margin. 
 
 The exports of Boston in 1900 were valued at $123,- 
 867,754. Provisions, including animals, represented 
 $52,655,983 of these shipments of American merchan¬ 
 dise to foreign markets; breadstuffs, $25,000,618; cot¬ 
 ton and manufactures. $16,683,771 ; leather and manu¬ 
 factures, $10,603,544; iron and steel and manufac¬ 
 tures. $5,327,384. 
 
 The imports of Boston in 1900 were valued at $68,- 
 740,782, of which $11,278,258 represented wool and 
 manufactures of wool, $8,658,008 represented fibres, 
 $8,000,225 sugar, $6,913,819 hides and skins, $5,266,- 
 
 021 cotton and manufactures, $3,576,999 chemicals, 
 $4,263,249 iron and steel manufactures, and $3,230,427 
 leather and manufactures. 
 
 Because winter closes the St. Lawrence, and Bos¬ 
 ton's railway facilities are so admirable, our city han¬ 
 dles a considerable portion of the trade of the Domin¬ 
 ion of Canada. This is not included in the figures 
 which have been given. In 1900 there were entered 
 at Boston for transshipment to foreign countries, 
 chiefly Canada, imports valued at $5,827,788, and there 
 were received from Canada and exported via Boston 
 goods to the value of $4,398,31 1. With these addi¬ 
 tions the total foreign trade of the port of Boston 
 during 1900 rose to a value of $202,834,635—this not 
 including $2,091,403 of goods received at Boston and 
 forwarded to the interior without appraisement. 
 
 Significant figures. 
 
 Boston in 1900 had 365 steamship sailings, one a 
 day, for European ports, 151 of these for Liverpool. 
 In all, 1667 ships entered from foreign ports of a total 
 tonnage of 2,265,031, and 1618 ships cleared for for¬ 
 eign ports of a total tonnage of 1,977,410. Boston has 
 four first-class lines of steamships to Liverpool, three 
 of them carrying cabin and steerage passengers; two 
 first-class lines to London, a line to Glasgow, a line 
 to Bristol, a line to Copenhagen, a line to Hamburg, 
 a line to Holland and a winter line to the Mediterrane¬ 
 an. Fruit steamers ply regularly from Spanish and 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 9 
 
 Italian ports, and steamships do much of Boston’s 
 carrying from the West Indies and the East Indies. 
 All of these steamship enterprises in the foreign trade 
 are conducted under foreign flags, however, save one, 
 the new “Admiral” line of the United Fruit Company 
 from Boston to Jamaica, which has been established 
 under the provisions of the Postal Aid Law of 1891, 
 receiving a subsidy for carrying the United States 
 mails. 
 
 Of late years the cabin passenger traffic out of Bos¬ 
 ton to Europe has reached large proportions. Ten 
 years ago only six or seven thousand travelers left 
 and entered Boston for and from these overseas 
 countries. But the introduction of new, larger and 
 faster steamers by the Cunard, Dominion and Lev- 
 land lines has showed New England people that thev 
 need not go to New York to secure first-class cabin 
 passage for Europe. In 1898 the cabin passengers ar¬ 
 riving at and leaving this port in the transatlantic 
 trade numbered 10,202, in 1899 13,934, and in 1900 
 15.328. 
 
 Big Coastwise Crade. 
 
 But, after all, by far the greater part of Boston’s 
 seaborne commerce is with our own ports of the 
 United States. This coastwise commerce is conducted 
 as a rule in smaller vessels, but there are many more 
 of them. There were in 1900 10,436 arrivals, in Bos¬ 
 ton from American ports, these vessels having an ag¬ 
 gregate estimated tonnage of 8,244,860. The outward 
 voyages would give Boston a total tonnage of 16,- 
 489,720 in the coastwise trade; of nearly four times 
 the total tonnage of arrivals and clearances—4,242,- 
 441—in our foreign commerce. 
 
 These statistics on their face make Boston's a pre¬ 
 eminent position in domestic ocean trade, New York's 
 domestic tonnage in 1900 being estimated ai 14,245,- 
 280, Philadelphia at 7,249,040, Baltimore's at 4,879,040 
 and New Orleans’ at 1,258,050. 
 
 Boston has admirable coastwise steam lines carrv- 
 ing as a rule both passengers and freight, not only 
 to the nearby New England ports of Portland, Bath 
 and Bangor, and to the maritime Canadian cities of 
 St. John, Yarmouth and Halifax, but to New York, 
 Philadelphia, Norfolk, Baltimore, Charleston, Bruns¬ 
 wick, Savannah and Jacksonville. 
 
 American steamers also bring cotton in large quan¬ 
 tities from Galveston. The coal trade from Philadel¬ 
 phia, Baltimore, Newport News and Norfolk to Bos¬ 
 ton employs a great fleet of steamships, ocean tug¬ 
 boats, towing barges and capacious three, four, five 
 and six masted schooners. Boston receives vast 
 quantities of both anthracite and bituminous coal, 
 not only for its own needs, but for the other manu¬ 
 facturing cities and towns of northern New England. 
 There is a large import trade in sugar from the West 
 
 and East Indies and an import trade in sugar, hides and 
 wool from South America. These vessels go back to 
 the Southern ports laden with lumber, cooperage, fish, 
 provisions of many kinds, and all sorts of manufac¬ 
 tures. But Boston lacks a regular steamship line to 
 Central and South America, though this need is des¬ 
 tined soon to be supplied. 
 
 Important fishing port. 
 
 As a fishing port, it is true, though it is not gener 
 ally known, that Boston is second only to Gloucester. 
 There were received at Boston during 1900, 17,717,- 
 650 pounds of fresh and 131,000 pounds of salted 
 codfish, 916,800 pounds of cusk, 28,235,850 pounds of 
 haddock, 6,917,100 pounds of hake, 1,173,500 pounds 
 of pollock, 1,588,150 pounds of halibut fresh and 180,- 
 000 pounds salted, 4,019,362 pounds of mackerel fresh 
 and 1,404,300 salted, and enough other fish, fresh and 
 salt, to bring the grand total of Boston’s fishery re¬ 
 ceipts up to 66,820,912 pounds, valued at $1,598,506. 
 As a fresh fish market Boston is ahead of Gloucester, 
 receiving 63,647,812 pounds in 1900 as compared with 
 43,535,583 pounds brought into the famous Cape Ann 
 port. 
 
 The products of the far West make up the greater 
 part of Boston’s shipments of merchandise to foreign 
 countries. Of the 99,000,000 bushels of wheat ex¬ 
 ported in 1900 from all the United States, 11,925,415 
 bushels went out of .Boston. Of flour the receipts of 
 Boston were 2,594.854 barrels, and the exports abroad 
 were 1,606,016. 
 
 Though Boston’s chief interest is in manufactur¬ 
 ing elsewhere in New England or in commerce over¬ 
 seas or up and down the coast, the city has a great 
 amount of varied manufactures of its own. There are 
 5543 manufacturing establishments in Boston, accord¬ 
 ing to the State census of 1895, with a total capital of 
 $77,064,107 and an annual product of $165,774,080. 
 These manufacturing establishments employ 57' ,Q 8 
 hands, and disburse in wages annually $30,925,835. 
 Food preparations are the greatest single industry in 
 the value of the product—$32,072,204. Then conies 
 clothing, with $23,178,388; building with $20,211,121; 
 printing, publishing and bookbinding, $15,516,278; 
 liquors, malt, distilled and fermented, $10,186,255; 
 machines and machinery, $7,613,771 ; metals and me¬ 
 tallic goods, $6,429,654; furniture, $4,405,187. 
 
 Ships Owned at Rome. 
 
 Although nine-tenths of its commerce is carried in 
 foreign ships, Boston is one of the great ship-owning 
 ports in the country. Most of its vessels are engaged 
 in coastwise trade, but there is a considerable fleet of 
 Boston sailing craft in overseas voyaging. Out of 
 the 640 merchant vessels owned in Massachusetts, ac¬ 
 cording to the last State census—with a valuation of 
 $12,220,132—Boston owns 290 vessels, including 42 
 
IO 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 s'teamers, 9 ships, 21 barques, 12 brigs and 145 
 schooners. The greater part of these vessels, as has 
 been said, are employed in domestic coastwise traf¬ 
 fic, but some of them run to British America, the 
 West Indies, Mexico, South America, Africa, Asia 
 and the Pacific islands. Boston’s ships earn about 
 $6,000,000 a year, approximately five-sixths of this 
 being from freight and one-sixth from passengers. 
 
 The chief items of export from Boston in 1899 were 
 cattle, valued at $9,314,421—the largest valuation ship¬ 
 ped from any American port—corn valued at $6,071,- 
 879 ; oats valued at $1,905,373 ; wheat valued at $10,- 
 575,5 1 ?: wheat flour, $7,648,623; raw cotton, $12,- 
 428,557; manufactures of cotton, $1,013,329; metal 
 workings $451,714; shoe machinery, $694,224; elec¬ 
 trical machinery, $256,492; pumps and pumping ma¬ 
 chinery, $217,467, and miscellaneous machinery, 
 $534,066; leather, $9,734,052; manufactures of leath¬ 
 er, $368,713; printing paper, $504,994; fresh beef, 
 $10,723,447; bacon and hams, $22,922,065; pork, $4,- 
 551,425; lard, $8,145,166; unmanufactured tobacco, 
 $574,037; lumber, $905,770; furniture, $475,834; 
 other manufactures of wood, $765,764. 
 
 These figures illustrate the wide range of Boston’s 
 foreign trade. New England manufacturing is well 
 represented, but the bulk of Boston’s exports is com¬ 
 posed, after all, of the products of the grain fields and 
 the cattle ranges of the West and of the cotton fields of 
 the far South. These products are brought to the 
 New England port by a noble system of railroad lines 
 supplemented by the coastwise steamers. Boston has 
 direct connection with the West by the Boston & Al¬ 
 bany road, now a part of the great New York Central 
 service, and by the Boston & Maine, which includes 
 the Fitchburg Railroad, or the Hoosic Tunnel route. 
 The Boston & Maine enjoys close relations with the 
 Grand Trunk Railway of Canada. These wide-spread¬ 
 ing railway lines to the north and west of Boston are 
 rounded out to the southward by the New York, New 
 Haven & Hartford, which gives Boston access to 
 Rhode Island and Connecticut and provides a short 
 line to New York City. Boston’s railway system is 
 therefore, in the hands of three progressive and pow¬ 
 erful corporations, which equitably divide the field, 
 and yet are competitors with each other for certain 
 kinds of business. 
 
 Benefits of Consolidation. 
 
 This consolidation of the manv old and weaker lines 
 
 into the three great companies has proved altogether 
 advantageous. Boston’s domestic and foreign trade 
 has prospered in the past year or two as never before. 
 The present urgent need is for enlarged terminal fa¬ 
 cilities and a deeper and broader ship channel for the 
 harbor. Steamers 600 feet long, drawing 30 feet of 
 water, now enter and leave Boston regularly all the 
 year round. The natural channel that served the de¬ 
 mands of commerce very handsomely for many years 
 is inadequate for these steel monsters. A new alter¬ 
 native channel via Broad Sound is now being dredged 
 to a depth of 30 feet, and the next step is to create 
 a new channel 35 feet deep and from 1,200 to 1,500 
 feet wide, from the Charlestown and Chelsea Bridge 
 to the sea. An appropriation of $3,600,000 for this 
 important work is confidently expected from the pres¬ 
 ent Congress. 
 
 There is every prospect, therefore, that Boston in 
 the twentieth century will hold its own as the second 
 commercial city of America. One new and especially 
 gratifying development is a revival of Boston interest 
 in ship-building and ship-owning. There has latelv 
 been established on the Weymouth Fore River, an 
 arm of Boston Harbor, a great steel shipyard abun¬ 
 dantly equipped with the newest and best machinery 
 for the construction of the heaviest battleship or the 
 largest merchantman. There two of the most formid¬ 
 able armorclads of the United States navy are now 
 building, together with a steel seven-masted schooner 
 that is understood to be the largest sailing vessel in 
 existence. Moreover, the Boston Steamship Com¬ 
 pany, a newly formed organization of Boston capital¬ 
 ists, has just launched in Maryland the first of two im¬ 
 mense cargo steamships for the foreign trade. These 
 two vessels will be the nucleus of a large Boston fleet 
 of mercantile steamers if favorable legislation is pro¬ 
 cured from Congress. 
 
 Every important Boston trade and industry is facing 
 the future with buoyant expectations. Those who 
 count Boston “slow” do not know the New England 
 capital. Her merchants waste no breath in bragging. 
 They are not much given to the chasing of speculat¬ 
 ive rainbows. But they have the courage of high 
 intelligence, the enterprise that is born of clear-head¬ 
 ed thinking and a perseverance fitly matching that 
 of their bold forefathers, whose keels furrowed everv 
 sea and brought tribute from every market in the 
 world. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 
 ; 
 
 BOSTON’S CITY HALL. 
 
 Though this is a comparatively modern building (completed in 1865 ) and planned on a liberal scale for those tunes, it 
 early outgrown, and many of the city departments find accommodation in other buildings. Its exterior is white Con¬ 
 cord granite, and the style the Italian Renaissance, with modifications suggested in modern J rencli work. 
 
 was 
 
In the field of the financial Interests, Boston 
 Commands the Respect of the Country, 
 
 and the Slorld. 
 
 GOOD BUSINESS JUDGMENT THOROUGHLY INTERWOVEN IN HER UNDER 
 TAKINGS-A PROUD RECORD OF INFLUENCE—A CITY OF ORGAN¬ 
 IZERS, DEVELOPERS AND DIRECTORS—CAPITAL 
 AND HIGH CREDIT FOR ENTERPRISES. 
 
 ,*? 
 
 I F one were to emphasize the old adage, 
 “Knowledge is Power,” so that it would 
 read “Money is Power,” Boston, which has 
 > always possessed an abundance of both, 
 could certainly lay claim to a power almost 
 beyond measurement. 
 
 A great financier, who, in his day, took a most im¬ 
 portant part in the development of the Western portion 
 of the country, made the somewhat suggestive and 
 significant remark upon a certain occasion that there 
 was hardly an acre of land beyond the Mississippi 
 River, hardly a mining proposition of any importance 
 or a railroad line that had reached any degree of 
 successful development that did not bear the impress 
 of Boston money either directly or indirectly. No 
 truer utterance? was ever made. It is indeed a fact 
 that Boston capital has done more for the substantial 
 upbuilding of the Tinted States along industrial, rail¬ 
 road, agricultural and mining lines than any other 
 municipality within its confines. 
 
 Boston may be. as it is claimed, second in rank to¬ 
 day as a financial centre. It may be true, also, that 
 many of the so-called progressive Western commu¬ 
 nities look upon Boston—the “Athens of America,” 
 and theoretically, at least, “the Hub of the Universe” 
 —as having had “its day.” It may be equally true that 
 some of the characteristics attaching to Boston peo¬ 
 ple may so savor of conservatism as to be seemingly 
 slow to the more aggressive and more venturesome 
 methods of the relatively new Western country. But 
 it is to be remembered, none the less, that the influ¬ 
 ence of Boston conservatism, the influence of the strong 
 and protective corporation laws of Massachusetts, and 
 
 the influence of the policy of integrity and good busi¬ 
 ness judgment that belongs to this entire section, is 
 still so thoroughly interwoven in the enterprises that 
 have been built up by Boston capital that these things 
 all still command the highest degree of respect from 
 those who are seeking the benefits to come from a 
 clean and sound policy of action. It may also be well 
 added that, even at this late day, when many Boston 
 capitalists have laid aside the burdens attaching to 
 the responsibility of organizing, developing and di¬ 
 recting, these same people who are accustomed to be¬ 
 little the power of Boston and its far-reaching influ¬ 
 ence, come to these very men whenever they are look¬ 
 ing for capital and high credit for their enterprises. 
 
 H proud Record of Influence. 
 
 Boston’s financial history, both as regards its bank¬ 
 ing institutions and its speculative interests, makes a 
 record of which any municipality may well be proud. 
 The Nickersons, the Thayers, the Peabodys, Forbes, 
 Ilunnewells, Coolidges, and others of like standing, 
 who in the early days of Boston’s financial develop¬ 
 ment, by industry, integrity and earnest effort, cou¬ 
 pled with a wise and sagacious business judgment, 
 planned and executed, when seemingly insurmount¬ 
 able obstacles obstructed in every direction, so that 
 the results which followed were of a substantial and 
 lasting character, not only built fortunes for them¬ 
 selves, but they established, as well, investments which 
 have since added materially to Boston’s wealth, and 
 at the same time have done very much in winning 
 for Boston its exceedingly high reputation as a cen¬ 
 tre of financial power and influence. 
 
 I 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 13 
 
 Boston is, it is true, conservative. This is an ele¬ 
 ment entering into the Bostonian’s character that has 
 been most potent in influencing action and in accom¬ 
 plishing splendid results. It is this same conservativ- 
 ism, accompanied by an indomitable energy, that has 
 established for the metropolis of New England a fin¬ 
 ancial standing which is unsurpassed by any country 
 on the face of the earth. And why, therefore, should 
 Boston people not be proud of a record of this sort ? 
 Wherever the Boston capitalist has directed his atten¬ 
 tion and bent his efforts, success has almost invar¬ 
 iably been achieved. 
 
 Vbc Banks. 
 
 STRONG, RICH AND CONSERVATIVELY 
 MANAGED. 
 
 I11 no direction perhaps does the influence of large 
 capitalists centered in and around Boston make itself 
 more manifest than in the great national banks of the 
 city. Indeed, the bank history of Boston is more than 
 ordinarily interesting. It is a history that covers a pe¬ 
 riod of nearly 125 years. In the present Massachusetts 
 National Bank is to be found the beginning of Bos¬ 
 ton’s national bank operations. This bank was the se¬ 
 cond organized in the United States under its inde¬ 
 pendent form of government. It was early in 1782 
 that the famous Bank of North America in Phila¬ 
 delphia, which had been started by Congress the year 
 before, commenced business, and only two years later 
 the Massachusetts, organized on the same lines with a 
 capital of only $253,000, started in to establish a busi¬ 
 ness which has since grown to enormous propor¬ 
 tions. In the early days of banking it was no easy 
 matter to establish a bank credit among the peo¬ 
 ple. Various methods were adopted which, in our 
 time, would be amusing to say the least. Continental 
 money experience was still fresh in the minds of the 
 people. When these new banks adopted a specie basis 
 to convert bills into coin great difficulty was encoun¬ 
 tered in giving credit to their notes. The people 
 somehow could not be made to believe that the bank 
 had coin or could redeem its bills on time. I he bank, 
 therefore, frequently employed persons to go about 
 town to get silver in exchange for its notes. It made 
 a great public display of its specie during banking 
 hours, kept men raising and lowering boxes supposed 
 to contain coin from bank room to cellar, and vice 
 versa, and it called into service other like expedients. 
 
 The Massachusetts Bank, besides being the second 
 established in the United States, was the first in New 
 England, and, as already noted, is still in an excellent 
 condition. The L nion Bank was the second in Mas¬ 
 sachusetts, being started in I79 2 - Its inauguration 
 was attended with much opposition by the old Massa¬ 
 chusetts Bank people and their friends, on the ground 
 
 that a second bank was not needed. This bank passed 
 its centennial anniversary some ten years ago. 
 
 If our forefathers had looked forward to the time 
 when Boston should possess 61 banks with an enor¬ 
 mous capital, with business done by the millions every 
 day, they would simply have marveled at the progress 
 of the times. And yet out of these small beginnings 
 came in the course of years, as commerce and busi¬ 
 ness increased and as banking demands expanded, a 
 development that far surpassed the dreams of the most 
 sanguine of a century ago. 
 
 Not until 1898, when the rapid expansion had gone 
 forward steadily for so many years, was any halt called. 
 
 Then it was that a svndieate of bankers, recogniz- 
 ing the fact that the city's banking business had out¬ 
 grown the requirements of the commercial demands, 
 proceeded to liquidate nine of the smaller institutions. 
 The process of liquidation has gone on ever since at 
 intervals—and quite rapidly during the past few 
 months—until banking capital now invested has been 
 reduced from over $50,000,000 to $33,250,000. And 
 this, too, has come about within three years, and 
 without causing the least disturbance to the financial 
 interests of the city and those allied to it. The banks 
 doing business in Boston when the last Comptroller's 
 call was made, show an aggregate surplus, accoiding 
 to those last returns, of $13,789,400 and undivided 
 profits of $6,731,148.91. This same showing summar¬ 
 ized gives the list of banks and their standing, as of 
 
 Dec. 10, 1901, 
 
 as below: 
 
 Surplus. 
 
 Undivided 
 
 Hank. 
 
 Capital. 
 
 Profits, 
 
 American . . 
 
 $200,000 
 
 
 $1,289 9 1 
 
 Atlantic . .. 
 
 750,000 
 
 $300,000 
 
 35-178 27 
 
 Atlas . 
 
 1,500,000 
 
 400,000 
 
 170,729 21 
 
 Boylston 
 
 700,000 
 
 200,000 
 
 58759 89 
 
 Bunker Hill 
 
 500,000 
 
 35 °, 000 
 
 90,146 52 
 
 Central 
 
 500,000 
 
 100,000 
 
 122,475 OO 
 
 Colonial 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 500,000 
 
 7 T 3 11 W 
 
 Commerce . 
 
 1,500,000 
 
 300,000 
 
 499,422 93 
 
 Commercial 
 
 250,000 
 
 100,000 
 
 15,729 14 
 
 Eliot . 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 500,000 
 
 295,31966 
 
 Exchange .. . 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 400,000 
 
 207,238 36 
 
 Faneuil Hall. 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 300,000 
 
 203,266 27 
 
 First Nat’l . 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 900,000 
 
 97353 00 
 
 First Ward. 
 
 200,000 
 
 100,000 
 
 47,14386 
 
 Fourth Nat'l 
 
 750.000 
 
 150,000 
 
 143,057 64 
 
 Freemans . . 
 
 500,000 
 
 130,000 
 
 36758 45 
 
 Hamilton . . 
 
 500,000 
 
 13,400 
 
 33427 57 
 
 *Hide &Le'r 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 300,000 
 
 111,30931 
 
 Market .... 
 
 250,000 
 
 50,000 
 
 65,16398 
 
 Massachu'ts 
 
 800,000 
 
 75,000 
 
 34.857 °7 
 
 Mechanics’ . 
 
 250,000 
 
 1 00,000 
 
 27,286 71 
 
 Merchants’ . 
 
 3,000,000 
 
 1,500,000 
 
 892,692 98 
 
 Metropolit'n. 
 
 500,000 
 
 100,000 
 
 63,398 24 
 
 Monument . 
 
 150,000 
 
 150,000 
 
 14,616 23 
 
 Mt. Vernon. 
 
 200,000 
 
 40,000 
 
 7,003 24 
 
 New Engl’d. 
 
 1 , 000,000 
 
 600,000 
 
 131,802 72 
 
 Old Boston. 
 
 900,000 
 
 200,000 
 
 23703 69 
 
 People’s . . 
 
 300,000 
 
 I 20,000 
 
 18,733 27 
 
 Redemption 
 
 2 , 000,000 
 
 400,000 
 
 244,182 40 
 
14 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 Republic 
 
 1,500,000 
 
 750,000 
 
 483749 74 
 
 Rockland . . 
 
 300,000 
 
 150,000 
 
 77,483 07 
 
 Second Nat'l 
 
 1,600,000 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 303,186 20 
 
 Security . . . 
 
 250,000 
 
 200,000 
 
 444 AI 7 37 
 
 fShawmut 
 
 3,000,000 
 
 1,500,000 
 
 675,306 62 
 
 South End. . 
 
 200,000 
 
 11,000 
 
 1,088 00 
 
 :; State . 
 
 2,000,000 
 
 400,000 
 
 300,482 38 
 
 ^Suffolk . . . 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 300,000 
 
 157,01644 
 
 Union . 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 400,000 
 
 381.373 59 
 
 $ Washington 
 
 750,000 
 
 250,000 
 
 138,871 22 
 
 Webster . .. 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 250,000 
 
 138,55800 
 
 Winthrop . . 
 
 300,000 
 
 200,000 
 
 165,05655 
 
 Totals 
 
 $36,100,000 
 
 $13,789,400 
 
 $6,731,148 98 
 
 The present invested banking capital in the 31 banks 
 out of the existing 39 included in the Clearing House 
 Association, is $33,250,000. 
 
 Only seven of the Boston banks are outside of its 
 Clearing House Association. 
 
 The absorption of banks and the bank consolida¬ 
 tion movement that has in recent years been under 
 way, and that has placed the Shawmut National pre¬ 
 eminently at the head of Boston's banks, has been 
 accomplished judiciously and in a generally satisfac¬ 
 tory manner. In their alphabetical order, and with 
 the respective dates of their incorporation, the na¬ 
 tional banks of Boston that have gone out of business 
 since 1898 for various reasons are as follows: 
 
 Blackstone, 1851; Broadway, 1853; Boston, 1853; 
 Columbian, 1822; Commonwealth, 1871; Continent¬ 
 al, i860: Eagle—the original bank—1822: Everett, 
 1865: Globe, 1824; Hamilton, 1832; Hide and Leath¬ 
 er, 1857; Howard, 1858; Lincoln, 1881; Manufactur¬ 
 ers’, 1873; Market, 1832: North, 1825: North Ameri¬ 
 ca, 1850: Revere, 1850: State, 1811; Washington, 
 1825; Shawmut, 1836—the original bank; Shoe and 
 Leather, 1836; Suffolk, 1818; Tremont, 1841; and 
 Third, 1863. The new banks that have come into ex¬ 
 istence during this same period are the American, Co¬ 
 lonial, Hamilton, Shawmut and the new Suffolk. 
 
 The above record of capitalization, surplus and un¬ 
 divided profits ranks second only with the high rec¬ 
 ord figures of all other cities in the country, New 
 York alone surpassing us as a banking center. The 
 liquidation and absorption movement is still in prog¬ 
 ress to a certain degree, and there are still plenty of 
 hank people in Boston who believe that before it has 
 been worked out to its full, the number of banks will be 
 reduced to 25, and possibly to 20. 
 
 In this connection it may be noted that the busi¬ 
 ness of a community of large proportions is usually 
 well measured by the size of its bank clearances, and 
 
 *The Hide and Leather Bank has been absorbed by the 
 State National, which has taken the Commonwealth Bank’s old 
 quarters. 
 
 f The capital of the Shawmut Bank has recently been increased 
 to $8,500,000, its surplus to about $2,000,000, and its undivided 
 profits to about $725,000. 
 
 f Liquidated and its business turned over to the new Nation¬ 
 al Suffolk Bank with a capital of $1,500,000. 
 
 they represent not only the mercantile and commer¬ 
 cial capacity, but the investment and speculative bus¬ 
 iness as well. Last year’s record of the Boston Clear¬ 
 ing House was by all odds the best in its history, a 
 history that covers a period of over 75 years' active 
 operations. The aggregate clearances for the year 
 1901 aggregated $7,191,685,071, as against $6,180,- 
 308,447 for 1900, a gain for the year of $1,011,376,624. 
 Lor this same-period the balances aggregated $610.- 
 980,351, as against $558,895,022 for the previous year, 
 an increase of $61,085,329. These figures show a vol¬ 
 ume of business more than double—indeed, nearly 
 three times—the amount that was transacted a dozen 
 years ago, and clearly count as a barometer of the 
 course of general business in Boston trade and finan¬ 
 cial circles. 
 
 An important feature of Boston and New England’s 
 financial interests is its savings institutions, of which 
 there are 18 in the city itself and 186 within the State. 
 Nothing more clearly marks the frugality, prosperity 
 and wisdom of the people than a good showing by 
 its savings banks, and it is doubtful if a better one is 
 to be found in any portion of the country than that 
 shown by these institutions here in Boston. Accord¬ 
 ing to the official statistics at hand, money deposited 
 in these banks has drawn an average rate of interest 
 for the past fiscal year of 3.75 per cent., or a trifle 
 less than that paid in 1900. Through these savings 
 banks there is a very large class of people in Boston, 
 as is true of every community, who are offered ex¬ 
 ceptionally good opportunities for the secure deposit 
 of surplus money which can be easily obtained when 
 desired, and which, at the same time, return, as in¬ 
 vestments now go, a fairly profitable income. The 
 list of Boston savings banks, together with their de¬ 
 posits, as of Oct. 31, 1901, is as follows: 
 
 Name of Bank. 
 
 Deposits, 
 Oct. 31, 1901. 
 
 Boston Live Cents Savings Bank.$ 2 7 - 575 ’ 9 1 9 37 
 
 Boston Penny Savings Bank. 2,778,207 98 
 
 Brighton Live Cents Savings Bank.. 1,173,451.18 
 Charlestown Live Cents Savings Bank 6,561,52760 
 
 Dorchester Savings Bank. 208,17746 
 
 East Boston Savings Bank. 3,587,320 34 
 
 Eliot Live Cents Savings Bank. 4,775,211 12 
 
 Franklin Savings Bank . 10,807,95521 
 
 Home Savings Bank. 8,265,64744 
 
 Institution for Savings in Roxburv. .. . 8,056,783 16 
 
 North End Savings Bank. 3,485,661 67 
 
 Provident Institution for Savings. 39,662,531 73 
 
 South Boston Savings Bank. 4,571,46232 
 
 Suffolk Savings Bank for Seamen and 
 
 Others . 31,721,85341 
 
 Sumner Savings Bank . 234,31388 
 
 Union Institution for Savings. 6,667,467 27 
 
 Warren Institution for Savings. 9,793,05095 
 
 Wildey Savings Bank . 2,882,466 22 
 
 Total 
 
 $172,809,008 31 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 15 
 
 This is an increase of $6,007,452.90 for a single 
 year, and of $50,514,220.08 within a period of eight 
 years. In this connection it may be interesting to 
 note the fact that the 186 savings banks within the 
 limits of the State of Massachusetts held on October 
 3b 19 01 . assets aggregating $596,094,801, as against 
 
 Central National Bank. —For nearly forty years 
 the Central National Bank of Boston has held a 
 prominent position among the banking institutions 
 of New England, and particularly of this city. 
 Located as it is at 141 Devonshire street, it is situ¬ 
 ated in the heart of the business district, and it is 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT BUILDING. 
 
 Facing Post Office Square, the structure fills the space bounded by Milk, Devonshire and Water streets, an area of about 45.- 
 oco feet. Its material is Cape Ann granite, so substantial that it successfully resisted the flames in the great fire of 
 1872. The building is crowned by several sculptured groups in Vermont marble, the work of the chisel of Daniel 
 C. French. The building accommodates, besides the Post-office, the other branches of the United States Gov¬ 
 
 ernment's work in Boston, such as the Federal 
 
 house Board, and the Int . 
 
 $574,237,239 a year ago. Chief among the assets are 
 the holdings of national bank stocks, many of which 
 at present command high premiums and return satis¬ 
 factory incomes, but which at present are in some 
 cases being sold out in response to higher market 
 prices for the same. They are exceeded in amount 
 only by the public funds. It is peculiarly noteworthy 
 also that the savings banks laws of Massachusetts, 
 carefully guarded by a Savings Bank Commission, 
 make these institutions exceptionally safe for depos¬ 
 its of money by people of small means. 
 
 Courts, the Weather Bureau, offices of the Light- 
 rnal Revenue Department. 
 
 a favorite bank with many of the larger business 
 firms of the City of Boston as the place of deposit 
 for their daily balances and for the transaction of 
 the many details of ordinary mercantile life with 
 which a banking house is so intimately associated. 
 The Central National Bank was established in 1873. 
 Its capital is $500,000, and the deposits at its last 
 report aggregated more than $4,000,000 The 
 yearly rate of increase is a most gratifying one. 
 Its board of executive officers is made up of Otis 
 H Luke, President; J. Adams Brown, Cashier; and 
 
i6 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 James H. Crocker, Assistant Cashier, all men of 
 recognized ability and integrity, and to its methods 
 and its management may be truthfully applied the 
 words—“Prompt, Careful, Progressive.’’ Its bank¬ 
 ing rooms are well fitted for the transaction of 
 a modern banking business, with burglar and fire¬ 
 proof vaults, private rooms for clients, and every 
 modern convenience. At the present time there 
 are sixteen employees, but the increase in the busi¬ 
 ness of the bank will doubtless lead to an increase 
 in the office force at no distant date. 
 
 The Eliot National Bank ok Boston. —A busi¬ 
 ness man’s bank, directed by men who have for 
 years held positions of prominence in Boston's 
 commercial and mercantile life, and always one of 
 their favorite financial institutions, is the Eliot 
 National Bank of Boston. Its offices are in the 
 John Hancock Building, 178 Devonshire street and 
 35 Federal street. 
 
 The Eliot National Bank of Boston was estab¬ 
 lished in 1853. It is capitalized at $i,oo£>,ooo, and 
 has a surplus fund of $500,000. Its character as a 
 business man’s bank shows plainly in its directorate. 
 Joseph H. White, its President, is a retired dry- 
 goods merchant; Henry C. Morse is Treasurer of 
 the Revere Rubber Co. ; David N. Skillings is one 
 of the principal owners of the Skillings, Whitney and 
 Barnes Lumber Co. and Treasurer of the Winches¬ 
 ter Savings Bank; James H. Proctor is Vice-Presi¬ 
 dent of the U. S. Leather Co.; Frederic C. Mc¬ 
 Duffie, of the Everett Mills and of the York Manu¬ 
 facturing Co. ; Wm. R. Dupee, beside his connec¬ 
 tion with Nichols, Dupee & Co., wool merchants, is 
 President of the American Rubber Co. ; Royal P. 
 Barry is of the firm of Barry, Thayer & Co , cotton 
 commission merchants; Leverett S. Tuckerman is 
 a lawyer; Henry B. Sprague is President of the 
 Sprague & Breed Coal Co. of Lynn, Mass., and of 
 the Central National Bank of the same city; Arthur 
 F. Luke is a member of the banking firm of Darr, 
 Luke & Moore. The Vice-President of the Eliot 
 Bank is Harry L. Burrage and the Second Vice- 
 President is Francis Harrington. 
 
 Massachusetts National Bank.— The oldest 
 bank in New England, and the third oldest in the 
 country, is the Massachusetts National Bank, located 
 at 53 State street, Boston, in the Exchange Build¬ 
 ing. It was organized March 18, 1784—almost as 
 soon as the Revolutionary War had ended—and 
 began business in what was then known as the 
 Manufactory House, on Longaere street, the 5th of 
 the following July, which makes it close to 118 
 years old. It was chartered as a national bank 
 May 1, 1865, just at the triumphant close of another 
 great national struggle. 
 
 The simple statement of so remarkable a record 
 
 coincident at its most important points with the 
 nation’s crises, tells more forcibly than they could 
 otherwise be described the sturdiness and distinc¬ 
 tion of this fine old institution, which has been an 
 important factor in the business life of New Eng¬ 
 land ever since Boston has been an American city. 
 The discretion and integrity which are the neces¬ 
 sary foundation of such success are self-evident, 
 and the traditions which they have established are 
 carefully preserved in the selection of the bank’s 
 officials, who are, at present. President John W. 
 Weeks, Vice-President Daniel G. Wing, Cashier 
 Frederic H. Curtin and Assistant Cashier Edward 
 S Haywood 
 
 The Massachusetts National Bank is capitalized 
 for $800,000. 
 
 Merchants’ National Bank. —Among the na¬ 
 tional banks of Boston the Merchants’ has always 
 held a conspicuous place. It has had a career of 
 more than half a century as a state and national 
 bank, during which time it has stood as the repre¬ 
 sentative bank of the City of Boston. The Merch¬ 
 ants’ National Bank was established as a state 
 bank in July, 1831, with a capital of $500,000, which 
 in a few years was increased to $3,000,000. This 
 increase was necessary to meet the requirements 
 of the bank’s rapidly increasing business. 
 
 Its bank building, one of the finest in the city, is 
 one of the most conspicuous structures on State 
 street, occupying as it does the site that the Custom 
 House occupied in the old colonial days, and it is 
 opposite the spot where the first revolutionary 
 blood was shed. Its banking rooms are a model of 
 dignity and elegance and will well repay a visit. 
 The lofty dome some 60 feet in height, for light 
 and ventilation, is one of the attractive features. 
 The bank’s large capital and unsurpassed facilities 
 enable it to care for the largest business interests; 
 but it extends to all depositors, small as well as 
 large, a cordial welcome. The directors of the 
 bank are: T. Jefferson Coolidge, Franklin Haven, 
 George A. Gardner, Howard Stockton, Nathaniel 
 Thayer, Francis B. Higginson and Charles W. 
 Amory. 
 
 National Shawmut Bank.— A tower of strength 
 in New England finances, and one of the great bank¬ 
 ing institutions of the United States, is the National 
 Shawmut Bank of Boston. It is a depository of the 
 United States, of the Commonwealth of Massachu¬ 
 setts, and of the City of Boston, and the funds en¬ 
 trusted to its care by them and by great corpora¬ 
 tions and individual private depositors amounted in 
 total, according to its statement issued in January, 
 1902, to $53,149,682.75. 
 
 The National Shawmut is a great combination of 
 several national banks which were, individually, 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 17 
 
 large and flourishing institutions before their con¬ 
 solidation. Bringing them all together into one 
 corporate body has created a composite of almost 
 unlimited resources, guided by the master brains of 
 finance, making possible the vast mercantile and 
 commercial undertakings to which a strong founda¬ 
 tion is a necessity, and holding trusts of great im¬ 
 portance and responsibility. And all of this has 
 been accomplished not only without the slightest 
 jar or loss to the business of the city and state, 
 which was intimately affected, but, as well, in such 
 a manner as made for increased confidence and 
 prosperity, even. 
 
 The present capital of the National Shawmut 
 Bank—the nucleus of which was originally known 
 as the Shawmut National—is three and a half mil¬ 
 lion dollars. In January it showed $2,691,858 of 
 surplus and profits with $1,639,147 in circulation 
 and over fifty-three millions on deposit in its care. 
 Its resources included nearly seven millions in 
 United States and other bonds, besides a few dol¬ 
 lars less than twenty millions in time loans, ten and 
 a half millions in demand loans and almost sixteen 
 and a quarter millions due from banks. These 
 figures give some idea of the tremendous business 
 which this institution carries on day in and day out. 
 It is, moreover, not only a bank for depositors such 
 as have been described; it is a bank for lesser banks. 
 It makes a feature of transactions with other financial 
 institutions, being in a position to offer every 
 business facility which is not inconsistent with 
 safe and conservative banking. Its banking house 
 at the corner of Water and Congress streets is at 
 the very centre of the vast money interests of what 
 the government census shows to be the territory 
 with the greatest per capita wealth of any like sec¬ 
 tion of the country. 
 
 It is but natural that such a remarkable institu¬ 
 tion as the National Shawmut Bank should have a 
 distinguished directorate and should be officered by 
 men of the highest degree of skill and of the high¬ 
 est reputation. Practically all of the most import¬ 
 ant commercial interests on which New England’s 
 prosperity is built, the law, and the best kind of 
 business and financial success are represented on its 
 board, which consists of: Oliver Ames, Micajah P. 
 Clough, George M. Coburn, Edmund D. Codman, 
 Eben S. Draper, Henry B. Endicott, E. Hayward 
 Ferry, Francis I. Foster, William A. Gaston, 
 Daniel B. Hallett, Edward B. Hayden, Henry L. 
 Higginson, Henry S. Howe, Frederick S. Moseley, 
 Horatio Newhall, Joseph B. Russell, Francis B. 
 Sears, William S. Spaulding, James P. Stearns, 
 William A. Tower, Frank G. Webster, Jeremiah 
 Williams, Moses Williams, Robert Winsor, Alfred 
 S. Woodworth. 
 
 THE NATIONAL BANK OF REDEMPTION, 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 
 CAPITAL, $ 2 , 000 , 000 . 
 
 SURPLUS AND PROFITS, $ 650 , 000 . 
 
 DEPOSITS, $ 22 , 000 , 000 . 
 
 ACCOUNTS OF BANKS, BANKERS AND 
 CORPORATIONS SOLICITED. 
 
 JOHN E. TOULMIN, PRESIDENT. 
 
 EDWARD A. PRESBREY, VICE-PRESIDENT. 
 
 GEORGE G. MCCAUSLAND, CASHIER. 
 
 PALMER E. PRESBREY, ASST. CASHIER. 
 
 SAMUEL N. ALDRICH, PRESIDENT. 
 
 ALFRED L. RIPLEY, VICE-PRESIDENT. 
 
 GEO. B. WARREN, CASHIER. 
 
 INCORPORATED 1811 . 
 
 ORGANIZED AS NATIONAL 1865 . 
 
 THE STATE NATIONAL BANK OF BOSTON, 
 CORNER DEVONSHIRE AND WATER STREETS, 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 
 DEPOSITORS AND CORRESPONDENTS HAVE THE SECURITY 
 OF A LARGE CAPITAL AND A CONSERVATIVE MANAGEMENT. 
 
 $ 2 , 000,000 CAPITAL. 
 $ 1 , 000,000 SURPLUS AND PROFITS. 
 
 ACCOUNTS SOLICITED. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 18 
 
 The officers of the National Shawmut are: James 
 P. Stearns, President; E. Hayward Ferry, Francis B. 
 Sears and Abram T. Collier, Vice-Presidents; Frank 
 H. Barbour, Cashier; Wallace S. Draper, Henry F. 
 Smith and Arthur P. Stone, Assistant Cashiers. 
 
 This is the condensed table report of the con¬ 
 dition of the National Shawmut Bank of Boston, at 
 Boston, in the State of Massachusetts, at the close 
 
 of business, January 15, 1902. 
 
 Resources. 
 
 Time loan..$19,962,283.18 
 
 United States and other bonds . . . 6,807,605.24 
 
 Demand loan .... $10,545,033.89 
 Due from banks . . . 16,198,854.61 
 
 Five .per cent, fund . 83,975.00 
 
 Cash. 7,382,936.84 34,210,800.34 
 
 $60,980,688.76 
 
 $ 3,500,000.00 
 2,691,858.51 
 
 i, 6 39 , 147 - 5 ° 
 53,149,682.75 
 
 $60,980,688.76 
 
 Depository of the United States Commonwealth 
 of Massachusetts, City of Boston. 
 
 We invite correspondence from Banking Institu¬ 
 tions, and are in a position to offer every business 
 facility not inconsistent with safe and conservative 
 banking. 
 
 Loan & Urust Companies. 
 
 THEY HAVE AN IMPORTANT PART IN MODERN 
 FINANCIAL OPERATIONS. 
 
 Closely allied to the banking interests in Boston, and 
 entering largely into its work, are the numerous loan 
 and trust companies. These corporations are the prod¬ 
 uct of a comparatively recent period, and, in so far as 
 they are given a broader scope in the handling of 
 money and in the care of trusts, they are fulfilling a 
 want not provided for under the national bank laws. 
 Hie development of the loan and trust nusiness, and 
 incidentally of the safe deposit provisions, in Boston, 
 has been remarkably rapid, and to-day, in the aggre¬ 
 gate, it stands close to the head among the financial 
 centresof the United States. Nowhere, perhaps, more 
 than in Boston and New York, is the loan and trust 
 business so profitable. And this is so because of the 
 enormous amount of money seeking investment, as 
 well, also, because of the many securities of a high- 
 class character that are available for these funds. The 
 loan and trust companies have gained a remarkable 
 popularity, as is evidenced by the fact that they have 
 doubled in number during the past decade. At the 
 present time there are 18 of them in active operation, 
 with one more—the City—recently started, and still 
 another—the Fremont—seeking a charter. The man¬ 
 
 agement of these institutions comprise in many cases 
 leading financiers and the men who have in the past 
 been largely instrumental in floating many successful 
 propositions in railroad and industrial fields. The 
 period of reorganization and financial readjust¬ 
 ment that came to many of the large Western corpora¬ 
 tions a few years ago was in a large measure responsi¬ 
 ble for the organization and development of these cor¬ 
 porations. They are peculiarly valuable in financing 
 corporations and in the flotation of large issues of new 
 securities, and in the accomplishment of this work they 
 have proved valuable beyond expectation to the organ¬ 
 izers and shareholders. Boston’s list of these corpora¬ 
 tions, together with their capitalization is as follows: 
 
 American Loan and Trust Company.$1,900,000 
 
 *Bay State Trust Co. 500,000 
 
 Beacon Trust Co. 300,000 
 
 Boston Safe Deposit & Trust Co. 1,000,000 
 
 City. 1,000,000 
 
 Columbia Trust Co. 100.000 
 
 Federal Trust Co. . .. 500,000 
 
 International Trust Co. 1,000,000 
 
 fMassachusetts Loan and Trust Co. 1,000,000 
 
 Mattapan Trust Co. 100,000 
 
 Mercantile Trust Co. 1,000,000 
 
 New England Trust Co. 1,000,000 
 
 Old Colony Trust Co. 1,000,000 
 
 Provident . 200,000 
 
 Puritan Trust Co. 200,000 
 
 Securitv . 200,000 
 
 State Street Trust Co. 600,000 
 
 Union Loan and Trust Co. 100,000 
 
 United States Trust Co. 200,000 
 
 Total .$10,250,000 
 
 That the loan and trust business is increasing stead¬ 
 ily is evidenced not alone by the fact, indicated above, 
 that two new companies are just entering the field, 
 but by the added fact that the present established 
 companies are in several cases going to establish im¬ 
 portant branches for the accommodation of their cus¬ 
 tomers. 
 
 American Loan and Trust Co. —From the day 
 of its opening, in 1881, the American Loan and 
 Trust Co., which has its offices in the Exchange 
 Building, 53 State street, Boston, has maintained 
 a position of dignified independence which has 
 made it one of the most influential and successful 
 financial institutions in the city. It is capitalized 
 for $1,000,000 and its surplus earnings are another 
 million. Its directorate includes some of the best 
 known names in Boston. 
 
 Indeed, such a position as the American Loan 
 and Trust Co. holds could be maintained only by 
 the associations of such men as Chairman S. E. 
 Peabody, C. F. Adams, 2d, Hobart Ames, Edwin 
 F. Atkins, Isaac T. Burr, Samuel Carr, Cordon 
 
 ^Controlled by the Old Colony Trust Company. 
 
 {Recently sold to a local syndicate. 
 
 Liabilities. 
 
 Capital stock. 
 
 Surplus and profits. 
 
 Circulation. 
 
 Deposits. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and Nciv England. 
 
 19 
 
 Dexter, Elmer P. Howe, N. W. Jordan, David P. 
 Kimball, Francis Peabody, Jr., Albert A. Pope, N. 
 W. Rice, R. E. Robbins, Philip L. Saltonstall and 
 Charles W. Whittier on the Board of Directors and 
 Messrs. Carr, Jordan, Kimball, S. E. Peabody and 
 N. W. Rice as Executive Council. Mr. Jordan is 
 President of the institution, E. A. Coffin, Treasurer, 
 C. H. Bowen, Secretary and G. W. Auryansen, 
 Assistant Secretary. 
 
 Besides its general banking business, in which it 
 allows interest upon deposits, this company is a 
 legal depository for executors, guardians, trustees 
 and courts of law, and acts as financial agent in any 
 matter. As transfer agent and registrar of stocks 
 and bonds, which is its specialty, it enjoys a unique 
 position. 
 
 Federal Trust Co.—The trust company is a 
 comparatively modern development of business con¬ 
 ditions, but it has made for itself a permanent posi¬ 
 tion as a necessary adjunct to commercial life. 
 Among the several trust companies of Boston, the 
 Federal Trust Co. with business offices at 95 Milk 
 street is recognized as conservative, safe and splen¬ 
 didly organized concern, with an efficient and capa¬ 
 ble board of officers and directors. It is capital¬ 
 ized for $500,000. The Federal Trust Co., as such, 
 accepts trusts created under will or otherwise, as¬ 
 sumes the care of invested property and the collec¬ 
 tion of dividends, and acts as transfer agent and 
 trustee for corporations. Interest is allowed on de¬ 
 posits subject to check, just as in a regular banking 
 business. The offices of the company are fitted with 
 the most modern and up-to-date equipment ob¬ 
 tainable, since the company was organized and the 
 business opened in May, 1899. The officers of the 
 company are Joseph H. O’Neill, President; Josiah 
 S. Dean, Secretary and David Bates, Treasurer. 
 Included in the directorate of the company are such 
 well-known Boston business men as James W. 
 Kenney, John E. Stanton, D. M. Anthony, Win. J. 
 Carlin, John W. Horne. L. J. Logan, Thomas F. 
 Galvin, Jacob Morse, John B. Fitzpatrick, Wm. J. 
 Emerson, Joseph B. Horton, John T. Burnett and 
 J. C. Spillane. 
 
 Old Colony Trust Co.—P erhaps no similar in¬ 
 stitution in the United States has a more distin¬ 
 guished Board of Directors than the Old Colony 
 Trust Co. of Boston, whose banking rooms are in 
 the Ames Building. Their names, the best possi¬ 
 ble indication of the-institution’s character, are: 
 
 T. Jefferson Coolidge, Jr., Chairman; Gordon 
 Abbott, Oliver Ames, C. W. Amory, Samuel Carr, 
 B. P. Cheney, T. Jefferson Coolidge, Charles E. 
 Cotting, Philip Dexter, Eben S. Draper, George F. 
 Fabyan, Reginald Foster,George P. Gardner, Henry 
 S. Howe, Walter Hunnewell, George von L, Meyer, 
 
 Laurence Minot, Richard Olney, Henry R. Reed, 
 Nathaniel Thayer, Charles S. Tuckerman, Lucius 
 Tuttle, Stephen M. Weld and Henry C. Weston. 
 
 It is not surprising that under such management 
 the Old Colony Trust Co., with a capital of 
 $r,ooo,ooo, has, in the twenty-one years that it has 
 been doing business, accumulated $2,000,000 sur¬ 
 plus and deposits amounting to more than $27,000,- 
 000. It transacts a general banking business, giv¬ 
 ing special attention to accounts with ladies for 
 whom special accommodations are provided. In¬ 
 terest is allowed on accounts subject to check. Its 
 trust department acts as transfer agent, registrar 
 and trustee under mortgages and as executor and 
 administrator of estates and accepts trusts under 
 wills or agreements. As an adjunct to this very 
 complete banking house there are safe deposit 
 vaults also, so that a customer may transact all his 
 business under one roof and with the utmost con¬ 
 venience and security. 
 
 Security Safe Deposit Co. —One of the neces¬ 
 sities nowadays is a place of assured safety from 
 fire and theft for the protection of valuables, 
 whether in the form of silverware, jewels, securi¬ 
 ties or important documents and papers, and the 
 vaults of the Security Safe Deposit Co. in the 
 Equitable Building, 67 Milk street, at the corners 
 of Federal and Devonshire streets, are among the 
 most perfectly equipped place of the sort in the 
 country. 
 
 The company began business in 1876 and its suc¬ 
 cess was immediate. Its vaults are safe-guarded by 
 every modern device. Built of steel and masonry 
 they are constantly under the eyes of watchmen 
 and are in addition fitted with the most improved 
 electrical system, connected directly with police 
 headquarters. 
 
 On the street floor are the most sumptuous read¬ 
 ing room and parlor in any similar institution in the 
 country. They are in direct communication with 
 the Boston and New York Stock Exchanges and offer 
 every facility for the transaction of customers’ busi¬ 
 ness. 
 
 The Security Safe Deposit Co., has $200,000 of 
 capital. Its officers and directors are: E. M. Mc¬ 
 Pherson, President; William A. Tower, First Vice- 
 President; James H. Hyde, Second Vice-President; 
 Nathan Warren, Treasurer; Gorden Dexter, Gage 
 E. Tarbell, Henry M. Alexander, E. Rollins 
 Morse, Louis Fitzgerald, F. A. C. Hill, Oliver 
 Ames, William H. McIntyre and Daniel G. Tayler. 
 
 State Street Trust Co. —After eleven years of 
 successful business, during which time the corpora¬ 
 tion has placed itself in a most prominent position, 
 the State Street Trust Co. stands to-day a represen¬ 
 tative Boston business institution. It was estab- 
 
20 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 lished in July, 1891, to carry on a trust and banking 
 business, and is incorporated, with a capitalization 
 of $600,000. Its offices at 38 State street are in the 
 heart of the business section of Boston, and are 
 readily accessible from any part of the city. This 
 company has made a 
 reputation for conserv¬ 
 ative and capable care 
 of trusts under will or 
 similar legal provision, 
 and it is the transfer 
 agent and trustee for 
 many corporations, a s 
 well as the accredited 
 caretaker o f invested 
 property and collector 
 of dividends for many 
 individuals not in a 
 position to adequately 
 care for their own 
 property. The officers 
 of this company are 
 Moses Williams, Presi¬ 
 dent; Charles Lowell, 
 
 Actuary; F. J. Stimson 
 and J, B. Russel, Vice- 
 Presidents ; Allan 
 Forbes, Treasurer; E. 
 
 W. Foote and L. W. 
 
 Wiggin, Assistant 
 Treasurer; and J. H 
 Pitman, Assistant Sec¬ 
 retary. Included in the 
 directorate of the com¬ 
 pany are R. L. Agassiz, 
 
 Harcourt Amory, John 
 Jacob Astor, Edward Atkinson, August Belmont, 
 Richard Delafield, Philip Dexter, Stuvesant Fish, 
 W. Cameron Forbes, Gustav E. Kissel, Geo. V. 
 Leverett, Charles Lowell, Neal Rantoul, Joseph B. 
 Russell, Frederic J. Stimson, Howard Stockton, 
 Albert B. Wiggin, and Moses Williams. 
 
 Glide Influence 
 
 EXERTED BY BOSTON BANKERS AND BROKERS. 
 
 Boston capitalists have not only developed and 
 directed the affairs of many corporations of the past, 
 hut they have as well established a broad market for 
 the securities of the same, and made Boston, on that 
 account, a financial centre second only in importance 
 to the New York Exchange. Boston in its Stock 
 Exchange and its small army of brokers possesses a 
 force for the development of business that is as potent 
 as it is successful. It is here in Boston that are con¬ 
 trolled very many copper producing properties of the 
 
 Lake Superior and Montana districts, and it is Bos¬ 
 ton capital that has opened up many of these extremely 
 profitable mines. It has been said in the past that the 
 Boston Stock Exchange would perhaps be a dull affair 
 but for its copper stocks. In a certain sense this may 
 
 be true, but the Stock 
 Exchange, dispite the 
 fact that its copper 
 shares furnish the bulk 
 of its business, still has 
 upon its lists a group 
 of securities that are 
 widely traded in, and 
 that furnish as well, 
 every opportunity for 
 a broad and profitable 
 speculation. 
 
 The Stock Exchange 
 to-day, in its conveni¬ 
 ent and well-arranged 
 quarters on State Street 
 furnishes another alto¬ 
 gether splendid monu¬ 
 ment of the progress 
 that has been made in 
 local financial circles 
 during the past century. 
 It has been a most im¬ 
 portant factor in the de¬ 
 velopment of the finan¬ 
 cial interests of Boston, 
 and it has won a repu¬ 
 tation which places it 
 well at the head of the 
 stock exchanges of the 
 world. 
 
 From a simple beginning it has grown steadily, and 
 at times rapidly, until to-day it has a list of securities 
 which furnishes at times extremely active trading, 
 and a membership numbering 150 bankers and brok¬ 
 ers of the leading and progressive men of the city. 
 There are 96 firms represented on the board, 39 of 
 which have membership in the New York Stock Ex 
 change. Ten firms have two memberships in the Bos¬ 
 ton Exchange, and one firm has three memberships. 
 Edward L. Giddings, of Tower, Giddings & Co., ,s 
 dean of the board, having been admitted on March 
 23, 1864. The last member admitted was Herbert I. 
 Foster, of Paine, Webber & Co., on Jan. 9, 1902. The 
 price of membership is now $22,000, and they have in 
 the past sold as high as $25,000. 
 
 1 he board has been in existence for nearly 68 years, 
 having been organized in October, 1834. In those 
 early days a few of the old-time bankers were accus¬ 
 tomed to meet daily at the office of one of their num¬ 
 ber, and trade in the few securities of banks and 
 
 EXCHANGE BUILDING. 
 
 Here , on the first floor of the building are the quarters of the 
 Stock Exchange. The Chamber is a handsome hall , 115 
 feet long , 30 feet wide and jj feet high. The 
 Stock Exchange dates from 1834. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England 
 
 ^ o 
 
 railroad corporations which were then upon the mar¬ 
 ket. The name of P. P. Bolles and John E. Thayer 
 are among those who were chiefly instrumental in 
 its organization. As soon as the board had been 
 properly started the members assessed themselves 
 $100 each and that amount was made the initiation 
 fee. It was later advanced to $200, and still later 
 to $1,400, and as the business increased, and the 
 value of the membership was thereby enhanced, it 
 was lifted to $2,000. In recent years the price of a 
 seat in the Boston board has, as noted above, reached 
 $25,000, and very recently it was sold at $22,000. 
 
 Boston brokers have, in recent years, seemingly 
 caught the spirit that has long dominated Wall 
 Street and in the speculative and investment arena 
 it has certainly taken a foremost place. Its business 
 last year-a banner year—aggregated 10,758,462 
 shares of listed stocks, and 5,447,485 shares of un¬ 
 listed and $22,981,628 of bonds—truly a marvelous 
 showing when placed in comparison with the records 
 of its early years, when everything was done on a 
 small scale and when the opportunities for develop¬ 
 ment were greatly restricted. 
 
 Here in Boston, too, have been founded, matured 
 and developed banking houses of a world-wide 
 reputation, whose names are synonyms of unlimited 
 credit, and of the highest possible business stand¬ 
 ing. These concerns have, in the past, financed 
 many of the largest corporations that have ever 
 been launched, and it is through them that much of 
 Boston capital has found its way into the West, for 
 the achievement of the great development, in all 
 directions, that has been accomplished during the 
 past half century. 
 
 Bright, Sears & Co.—Among the firms of Bos¬ 
 ton bankers and brokers with offices in the Exchange 
 Building at 53 State street is that of Bright, Sears 
 & Co., an enterprising house employing fourteen 
 efficient clerks and transacting a growing business. 
 This firm was established on July 1, 1897, for the 
 transaction of a general banking and brokerage 
 business, by William Ellery Bright and Harold C. 
 Sears. The firm are members of the Boston Stock 
 Exchange, and are thus in a position to handle the 
 business of their clients quickly and directly. In 
 addition to the regular telegraphic service of a 
 modern brokers’ office, Bright, Sears & Co. are in 
 touch with the New York Stock Exchange by means 
 of private wires to members of that exchange, and 
 are therefore enabled to carry on transactions in 
 Wall street without loss of time. The rooms of the 
 firm in the Exchange Building, readily accessible as 
 they are to patronshaving business on “ the Street,” 
 and are splendidly equipped with every facility for 
 the transaction of a brokerage and banking business, 
 
 21 
 
 with private rooms for customers, telephone and 
 messenger service, etc., and that this is appreci¬ 
 ated is evidenced by the firm’s constantly increasing 
 business. Its customers are those which would 
 naturally be attracted by methods, which while con¬ 
 servative, are yet progressive, safe and reliable. 
 
 Nathan B. Goodnow & Co. and South End 
 National Bank.— Among Boston’s banking firms 
 the house of Nathan B. Goodnow & Co. has a 
 recognized financial standing. The firm was estab¬ 
 lished in 1873 and has a New York office. They 
 transact a general banking business, including the 
 purchase and sale of stocks, bonds and grain, for 
 investment or on margin. They are also dealers 
 in government, city, town and railroad bonds and 
 make a specialty of Massachusetts town bonds. 
 
 Some time ago Goodnow & Co. established a 
 permanently invested fund of $224,000, which is 
 held as a guaranteed security for all persons who 
 have business with that concern. In this manner 
 they have afforded ample protection to those who 
 have invested with them. 
 
 Nathan B. Goodnow is Vice-President of the 
 South End National Bank, 1119 Washington street. 
 The bank handles the accounts of corporations, 
 firms and individuals in a manner that has secured 
 the highest confidence of the public. John A. 
 Pray is President of the bank, Frank H. Robbins 
 Cashier and John G. Blake, Thomas W. Carter, Char¬ 
 les A. Pooke, Randall G. Morris, John A. Pray, Nathan 
 B. Goodnow and S. A. D. Sheppard, Directors. 
 
 The Boston office of Goodnow & Co. is at 2 Post 
 Office Square, and the New York office at 52 Broad¬ 
 way. 
 
 Haight & Freese Co. — The firm of Haight & 
 Freese Co., 85 State street, Boston, with branches 
 at 105 Summer street and 15 Brattle street, is 
 known all over the country. They are commission 
 stock brokers, with offices in all the large cities, 
 and have been in business for eighteen years. This 
 house makes a specialty of fractional lots, being 
 pioneers in that field, and the quality of its broker¬ 
 age service has been long established. Their illus¬ 
 trated “ Guide to Investors ” is of great value to all 
 who care to keep in touch with the world’s markets. 
 Their New England branches are in Worcester, 
 Springfield, Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, 
 Providence, Lowell, Lynn and Waltham. 
 
 Haight & Freese Co. was established in 1890, 
 under the State laws of New York. The capital 
 paid in is $100,000. Their policy of being “ up-to- 
 date ” is well illustrated in the establishment of 
 their branches in the different cities, whereby the 
 traveling public, as well as local residents, have 
 similar facilities in way of good service, the latest 
 
22 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 news and advice, as can be found at the home 
 office. The “ Guide to Investors ” will be mailed 
 free upon application to any address. Besides gen¬ 
 eral information it contains the history of all rail¬ 
 roads and industrial corporations, their dividend 
 payments, earnings, etc., and maps of all important 
 railroads, and clearly written explanation of the 
 methods of trading on margin, technical terms, etc. 
 
 Hornblower & Weeks.— One of the half dozen 
 largest firms of bankers and brokers in Boston is 
 that of Messrs. Hornblower & Weeks, who have 
 offices in the Exchange Building, 53 State street. 
 It was established August 7, 1888, has taken a lead¬ 
 ing place among the financial institutions of New 
 England, and has become a notable factor in money 
 circles in New York, where it has a branch house 
 at 10 Wall street. 
 
 The high repute of Messrs. Hornblower & Weeks 
 is based, not only upon the business record of the 
 concern, but upon the personnel of the membership 
 also. The gentlemen who compose the firm are: 
 Henry Hornblower, John W. Weeks, Ovington E. 
 Weller, James J. Phelan, James H. Wainwright 
 and Edward L. George. Mr. Hornblower is a 
 director of the First National Bank of Arlington; 
 Mr. Weeks is President of the Massachusetts 
 National Bank of Boston and of the Newtonville 
 Trust Co.; Mr. Phelan is Vice-President of the 
 Federal Trust Co. of Boston. 
 
 Having a New York establishment of their own, 
 Messrs. Hornblower & Weeks are in a position to 
 afford their customers especially valuable service, 
 and their facilities in all departments are excep¬ 
 tionally complete. The positions to which various 
 members of the firm have been chosen by other 
 large financial institutions are an indication of the 
 esteem in which are held the sagacity, conservatism 
 and progressiveness which have always character¬ 
 ized the methods of the house. 
 
 Lawson, Arnold & Co.—Amongthe Boston firms 
 of bankers and brokers with offices on State street— 
 the Wall street of Boston—that of Lawson, Arnold 
 & Co. occupies a position of prominence. The finely 
 appointed offices of this company occupy the best 
 floor of the Worthington building, at 33 State street, 
 corner of Congress street, and are just across the 
 way from the Boston Stock Exchange. Lawson, 
 Arnold & Co. are a comparatively new firm, since 
 it was established in January, 1900, but its members 
 had personally been identified with the financial 
 interests of commercial Boston for many years. 
 The firm was organized to carry on a general bank¬ 
 ing and brokerage business, and its members are 
 Thomas W. Lawson, Allen Arnold and Henry H. 
 Arnold. The house has a very large clientele 
 
 throughout the New England States, and the 
 brokerage feature of its business is that to which 
 the major part of its effort is directed. Its count¬ 
 ing rooms are hives of industry during exchange 
 hours, and the twenty efficient employees of the 
 house are kept busily engaged. Private wires to 
 New York and all the aids to the modern brokerage 
 business are at the disposal of the firm’s customers, 
 and its members occupy a prominent position 
 among the members of the Boston and New York 
 Stock Exchanges, of which Mr. Allen Arnold is a 
 member. 
 
 Mitchell, Knapp & Co.—A firm that stands high 
 in the New England world of finance is that of 
 Mitchell, Knapp & Co., which is located at 59 Con¬ 
 gress street and 48 Water street, Boston. Although 
 this firm is comparatively young, having been estab¬ 
 lished on January 1, 1900, its members have by 
 energy and good business methods placed it on a 
 solid foundation. They do a regular banking and 
 brokerage business, making a feature of railroad 
 securities, which is their specialty. Henry Mitchell 
 and Charles Henry Knapp are the members of the 
 firm, and they offer every inducement to their cus¬ 
 tomers and the best of service. The commodious 
 office of Mitchell, Knapp & Co., located in the 
 midst of other large financial houses are conveni¬ 
 ent headquarters for customers, from outside points 
 who may be visiting the city. They do a large 
 business in various parts of New England, and more 
 particularly with those who are interested in rail¬ 
 road stocks. 
 
 Either or both members of the firm are always 
 in their office, to personally attend to the wants of 
 their many customers, and it is such courtesies as 
 this and close attention to the trade that is greatly 
 responsible for the fast and ever increasing busi¬ 
 ness of the firm of Mitchell, Knapp & Co. 
 
 Paine, Webber & Co.—At the corner of State 
 and Devonshire streets, in the center of Boston’s 
 commercial district, are the offices of Paine, Web¬ 
 ber & Co., bankers and brokers, a firm which is 
 rapidly forging to the front among similar Boston 
 companies. Since Boston is in reality the commer¬ 
 cial backbone of New England it naturally follows 
 that its banking and brokerage business is carried 
 on by a multitude of firms, each differing somewhat 
 from its fellows in the class and variety of the 
 business transacted. • Paine, Webber & Co. have a 
 high class clientele. Their customers come from 
 all parts of New England, and their facilities for 
 the transaction of a banking and brokerage business 
 are of the best. The firm is made up of William 
 A. Paine of the Boston Stock Exchange and Charles 
 II. Paine of the New York Exchange, thus putting 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 23 
 
 the patrons of the company into touch with the two 
 busiest parts of the Eastern section of this country. 
 Private wires, long distance telephone, the regular 
 ticker and messenger service, as well as the facili¬ 
 ties of a finely appointed and up-to-date office are 
 at the disposal of their clients, and their business 
 is a growing one along firmly established lines of 
 action. Patrons of this house are those who appre¬ 
 ciate a high class, reliable and progressive service, 
 and their number is increasing constantly. 
 
 Richardson, Hill & Co.—Among the substantial 
 and conservative banking houses of Boston, none 
 takes a higher place than Messrs. Richardson, Hill 
 & Co. Their offices at 40 Water street, in the heart 
 of the financial district, are a center for investors 
 and for many large 
 money interests. 
 
 Besides buying and 
 selling stocks and bonds 
 in all markets, this firm 
 does a general banking- 
 business, receiving de¬ 
 posits subject to check 
 at sight. It deals large¬ 
 ly in commercial paper 
 also. 
 
 The firm of Richard¬ 
 son. Hill & Co. was 
 established in 1870, and 
 has always commanded 
 the confidence of fin¬ 
 anciers. It consists of 
 SpencerW. Richardson, 
 
 William H. Hill, Henry 
 W. Dodd and Frank E. 
 
 James. 
 
 E. H. Rollins & Son. 
 
 —In these days of gen¬ 
 eral investment for in¬ 
 come or for speculative purposes only, it has natur¬ 
 ally come about that certain firms have associated 
 themselves directly with one branch of the business 
 or the other, without mingling the two separate 
 interests. Among the many firms in Boston hand¬ 
 ling securities, either as brokers or as trustees, 
 the firm of E. H. Rollins & Son (incorporated) 
 has become known very generally among investors 
 as dealers in high-class investment securities, that 
 is, longtime railroad and municipal bonds and 
 similar securities which are purchased as a mat¬ 
 ter of safe investment where a constant income 
 is desired. This branch of commercial business is 
 entirely different from the buying or the selling of 
 stocks or bonds upon commission for the purposes 
 of mere speculation, since the company handling 
 
 STATE STREET—Boston’s Financial Quarter 
 
 such securities virtually stakes its business reputa¬ 
 tion upon the safety of the bonds sold to the inves¬ 
 tor. The E. H. Rollins & Sons’ corporation, which 
 was established in 1882, has a capitalization of 
 $300,000. It offices at 19 Milk street are commodious 
 and splendidly equipped, and its forty or more 
 employees are both capable and efficient. During 
 its twenty years of business life this firm has se¬ 
 cured a large and growing clientele of New Eng¬ 
 land investors, and the securities which it handles 
 are of the highest class. 
 
 Tower, Giddings & Co.—One of the oldest pri¬ 
 vate banking houses in the City of Boston is Tower, 
 Giddings & Co., located at 105 Devonshire street. 
 This firm was established in 1867 by Messrs. W. A. 
 
 Tower and E. L. Gid¬ 
 dings. These two gen¬ 
 tlemen, together with 
 Messrs. W. L. Under¬ 
 wood and Richard G. 
 Tower constitute Tow¬ 
 er, Giddings & Co. at 
 the present time. Dur¬ 
 ing the thirty-four years 
 that this house has been 
 established it has always 
 done a strictly commis¬ 
 sion business in the line 
 of brokerage, confining 
 itself particularly to 
 higfh-class investment 
 securities. Mr. W. A. 
 Tower has long been 
 prominently identified 
 with the banking in¬ 
 terests of Boston, flav¬ 
 ins' been a director of 
 
 o 
 
 the National Bank of the 
 Commonwealth from 
 the time of its organization, and President of the 
 same bank at the time of its consolidation with the 
 National Shawmut Bank, also for the past twenty 
 years he has been a trustee of the Boston Five 
 Cents Savings Bank. 
 
 Mr. E. L. Giddings is a member of both the New 
 York and the Boston Stock Exchanges and Mr. R. 
 G. Tower is a member of the Boston Stock Ex¬ 
 change. The New York office of Tower, Giddings 
 & Co. is with Tower & Sherwood, 10 Wall street, 
 with which it is directly connected by private wire. 
 No banking house in Boston holds a higher position 
 than Tower, Giddings & Co. 
 
 Towle & Fitzgerald. — Among the younger 
 firms of Boston stock brokers, which have made for 
 
24 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 themselves niches in Boston’s commercial edifices 
 is that of Towle & Fitzgerald, with their offices and 
 counting rooms at 18 Post Office Square. Although 
 the partnership was not consummated until Feb- 
 uary ist, 1899, the business of the firm has grown 
 with constant and permanent increase, until to-day 
 twenty-three employees are upon the pay-rolls of 
 the concern, and others must soon be engaged. It 
 may not prove true in all cases that additional em¬ 
 ployees means additional business, but with the 
 brokerage house of Towle & Fitzgerald there can 
 be no doubt about it. The firm is an enterprising 
 one, and its members are filled with the character¬ 
 istic American spirit of push, combined with the 
 ability to see an enterprise through to successful 
 fruition when it has once been launched. Hence, 
 it is no surprise to their business associates that 
 success in their chosen line is theirs in ample 
 measure. Customers of this firm are given the ad¬ 
 vantages of good service on both the Boston and 
 New York Stock Exchanges finely fitted and cen¬ 
 trally located business rooms, and in fact every re¬ 
 quisite to the expeditious buying and selling of 
 stocks, and it has naturally followed that the firm 
 has forged rapidly to the front. 
 
 F. M. Tucker & Co.—Among the many firms of 
 bankers and brokers with offices in the “ Wall 
 Street of Boston ” is that of F. M. Tucker & Co. at 
 60 State street. Active, progressive and with a 
 large clientele of customers in different parts of 
 New England, this firm is well equipped with all 
 the machinery of a modern brokerage business. Its 
 members are also members of the Boston Stock Ex¬ 
 change, and in addition are in intimate touch with 
 the New York Stock and Cotton Exchanges, and 
 with the Chicago Board of Trade, by means of pri¬ 
 vate wires to affiliated brokerage firms in these 
 cities. This ability to furnish a safe, expeditious 
 and reliable service is so well appreciated that the 
 commodious rooms of the firm are thronged with 
 customers during Exchange hours, and the large 
 
 corps of capable and gentlemanly employees are 
 kept busily engaged in carrying through the trans¬ 
 actions inaugurated in the public rooms of the com¬ 
 pany. In addition to the ticker service and the 
 special wires to metropolitan marts of trade, the cus¬ 
 tomers of this company have the benefit of the long 
 distance telephone, with private booths, and retir¬ 
 ing rooms for the transaction of private business, 
 as well as the use of messengers. The offices of 
 the firm are in the heart of the business district as 
 they are directly across the street from the Stock 
 Exchange. 
 
 Tucker, Anthony & Co.—The old established 
 firm of Tucker, Anthony & Co. occupies a prom¬ 
 inent position among the banking and brokerage 
 firms carrying on business in Boston. The mem¬ 
 bers of the firm are William A. Tucker, S. R. 
 Anthony, Philip L. Saltonstall and Nathan An¬ 
 thony, all men of the highest standing in the busi¬ 
 ness community, and for many years associated in¬ 
 timately with Boston’s commercial development. 
 Conservative, yet progressive, and with a reputa¬ 
 tion for business-like methods and sound principles, 
 this firm has gathered together a splendid clientele 
 of customers. While doing a regular banking and 
 brokerage business the company makes a specialty 
 of sound investment stocks and bonds, and is pos¬ 
 sessed of unusual facilities for handling such orders 
 on both the Boston and New York Stock Ex¬ 
 changes. The firm’s New York correspondents are 
 Thomas L. Manson & Co., at 71 Broadway, with 
 whose offices they are connected by private wire. 
 
 The office of Tucker, Anthony & Co. are at 53 
 State street, in the Exchange Building, and in 
 point of fitting and completeness of equipment for 
 the business carried on there compare favorably 
 with any in Boston. Dealing as it does in sound 
 investment stocks this company has placed itself 
 firmly upon the pedastal of public confidence, and 
 is reaping its reward in a constantly progressing 
 business. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 2 5 
 
 
 N. W. HARRIS & CO., 
 
 
 BANKERS, 
 
 LEE, H1GG1NSON & CO., 
 
 67 MILK STREET, BOSTON. 
 
 44 STATE STREET, 
 
 BOSTON. 
 
 # 
 
 DEALERS IN 
 
 GOVERNMENT, MUNICIPAL AND RAILROAD 
 
 BONDS. 
 
 INVESTMENT SECURITIES. 
 
 DEPOSITS RECEIVED SUBJECT TO CHECK. 
 
 INTEREST ALLOWED ON DAILY BALANCES. 
 
 
 LETTERS OF CREDIT ISSUED FOR THE USE OF TRAVELLERS 
 
 AVAILABLE IN ALL FARTS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 ESTABROOK & CO., 
 BANKERS. 
 
 KIDDER, PEABODY & CO., 
 115 DEVONSHIRE ST., 
 BOSTON. 
 
 35 CONGRESS STREET, 
 BOSTON. 
 
 21 NASSAU STREET, 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 INVESTMENT SECURITIES. 
 
 FOREIGN EXCHANGE. 
 
 LETTERS OF CREDIT. 
 
Che JVJamng of Ccxtiles and its Hllted Branches, 
 the Industry that Leads all Others 
 
 in ]Ncw Bngland. 
 
 ITS HISTORY BEGINS BACK IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY—ITS GROWTH CO¬ 
 EXTENSIVE WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE WHOLE COUNTRY- 
 NEW ENGLAND COTTON AND WOOLEN MILLS BLEACHERIES. 
 
 AND CARPET FACTORIES. LEAD THE WORLD. 
 
 $ 
 
 i^HE textile industry of New England has 
 UK for many years been among" the most im- 
 portant of its manufactures, and to-day, 
 taken with its allied branches, exceeds any 
 other in the gross value of its products. Its history 
 begins back in the eighteenth century, and its 
 growth has been co-extensive with the develop¬ 
 ment of the whole country. 
 
 (Ireat difficulties have been overcome in the manu¬ 
 facture of textile fabrics of every style, until to-day 
 New England’s cotton and woolen mills, bleacheries 
 and carpet factories are the equal, on the whole, of 
 those of any other great manufacturing country. 
 This is the greatest cotton-growing country of the 
 world, and our wool clip is larger than that of any 
 other manufacturing country; the New England 
 mechanic is the most ingenious and skilled in the 
 world; therefore it is only the result of a natural 
 process of industrial evolution that New England 
 is the great textile manufacturing centre that it is. 
 In this, as in many other industries, Massachusetts 
 leads the other States of the East. 
 
 'Cbe JVIakcrs of Cdoolcns. 
 
 NEW ENGLAND MEN THE BUILDERS OF A GREAT 
 
 SUCCESS. 
 
 The breeding and raising of sheep, especially for 
 their wool, to furnish raw material for woolen cloth 
 and worsteds was first attempted in this country in 
 New England; the factory making of woolen goods 
 in the United States was first established in Massa¬ 
 chusetts, and the first store for the sale of American 
 woolens on commission was opened in Boston. As 
 the population became more dense on the seaboard 
 and the great prairies of the West gave room for 
 ranching on a scale which the East could not afford 
 
 to give, sheep raisers turned toward the land of the 
 setting sun; but the mills which gave them their 
 market stayed in New England, and here more than 
 anywhere else they have flourished and built up the 
 wonderful business which reaches out for the world’s 
 markets to-day, and Boston, the country’s chief 
 mart for raw wool, became a great headquarters for 
 jobbers of the finished woolens. 
 
 These bare statements show the importance given 
 to New England by the development of one of the 
 branches of textitle making which has been brought 
 to its highest state of perfection here and the im¬ 
 portance which New England has been to one of the 
 leading industries of the present time. But they 
 give no idea of what has been involved in its 
 growth—a series of struggles through disheartening 
 difficulties and in most adverse conditions to suc¬ 
 cessful achievement of the most emphatic kind. To 
 a certain extent it is the story of the other great 
 undertakings with which Yankee grit, inventive¬ 
 ness and shrewdness have set the older civilizations 
 staring, but it has many interesting chapters which 
 are all its own. 
 
 Up to the beginning of the last century America 
 was obliged to look to England for practically all of 
 its woolens. Household making of cloth had, of 
 course, been going on since the days of the Puritan 
 fathers, and in some places more than enough of it 
 to supply the family wants was made, and it was 
 sold profitably. The hand card, the spinning 
 wheel and the clumsy wooden hand loom, handed 
 down in many cases from the original settlers 
 who, no doubt, had brought them from their homes 
 across the sea, were the implements employed, and 
 they were no more efficient than they had been for 
 centuries in England and on the European conti¬ 
 nent. In a report to Congress on the subject of 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 manufactures, in 1791, Secretary Hamilton refers 
 to the household manufacture of textiles and to the 
 making of woolens in particular, saying that it was 
 confined entirely to the field of family industry. 
 
 Two facts account in large part for the compara¬ 
 tive slowness with which the factory or mechanical 
 making of woolens was established and built up 
 during the last half of the eighteenth century and 
 the early part of the nineteenth. One was the lack 
 of raw wool in the United States, the other the em¬ 
 bargo England placed upon the exportation of tex¬ 
 tile machinery beyond her boundaries. In 1802 the 
 first flock of genuine 
 merino sheep were 
 sent to this country 
 by its Minister to 
 Spain, Col. David 
 Humphreys of Con¬ 
 necticut. There 
 were 100 animals in 
 all, and they subse- 
 quently supplied the 
 raw material for 
 the establishment 
 of Col. Humphreys’s 
 manufactory of cloth 
 at Humphreyville, 
 
 Conn. Other impor¬ 
 tations of sheep fol¬ 
 lowed rapidly during 
 the next ten or a doz¬ 
 en years. Prior to 
 this period neither 
 the quality nor the 
 quantity of the wool 
 supplied in this coun¬ 
 try was such as to 
 boom manufacturing 
 and attempt to use 
 raw material brought 
 from abroad showed 
 it impossible to com¬ 
 pete successfully 
 then with the British 
 manufacturers. The commercial restrictions at the 
 time of the War of 1812 are said by authorities to 
 have done more than any other one thing ever did 
 before or has done since to improve the domestic 
 clip. 
 
 Heroic efforts were put forth to establish an 
 American industry in the manufacture of woolen 
 products by machinery and power as early as 1788, 
 but the first endeavors in this direction were not 
 very successful. They led to experiments, how¬ 
 ever, which resulted in the establishment at Byfield, 
 Mass., in 1794, of the first woolen factory operated 
 
 by power in this country. As much of the diffi¬ 
 culty of making satisfactory woolens could be traced 
 to hand carding, the first improvements were 
 mechanical cards. The first carding machine was 
 set up at Byfield and then there was little further 
 progress until the embargo of 1807 and the non¬ 
 intercourse act of 1809 threw the people of the 
 United States suddenly on their own resources. 
 They found themselves obliged at a moment’s 
 notice, as it were, to make at home what they had 
 before very largely imported, and they took up the 
 task with enthusiastic energy. No other industry 
 
 was so prominent in 
 the public eye, dur¬ 
 ing the five years im¬ 
 mediately preceding 
 the War of 1812 as 
 the manufacture of 
 wool. F actories 
 were built and the 
 surplus of farm labor 
 was diverted to the 
 mills, so that in 18 to 
 the census takers 
 found that woolen 
 products to the value 
 of $25,608,788 were 
 made and 5,452,960 
 yards of cloth, worth 
 $4,117,308, turned 
 out, as cqntrasted 
 with the 15,000 yards 
 annual capacity and 
 a yearly output worth 
 $75,000 credited to 
 the mills at the be¬ 
 ginning of the cen- 
 tury, when the first 
 census was taken. 
 
 The necessity of 
 furnishing the army 
 and navy of the War 
 of 18x2 with all man¬ 
 ner of woolen cloths 
 gave the industry a special impetus. The spinning- 
 jenny, first introduced in America by Rhode Island 
 mills in 1804, came into general use, and native 
 invention began, the activity which has never yet 
 ceased. In the single year of 1812 the United 
 States Government issued 237 patents on textile 
 machines, largely to be used in woolen factories. 
 Steam made its first appearance in the woolen mills 
 at about the same time. 
 
 The declaration of peace at Ghent nearly pros¬ 
 trated the American woolen industry, for importa¬ 
 tions from England recommenced, and the state of 
 
 EXCHANGE CLUB. 
 
 This is a down-town organization of business men, and professional 
 men , begun in 1S92 , and incorporated a year later. It has 
 numerous dining and lunch rooms , as well as apart¬ 
 ments for social relaxation. Its members 
 number about nine hundred. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 28 
 
 wool supply, the still imperfect machinery—less 
 efficient, of course, than that which its foreign com¬ 
 petitors had been working over for many years— 
 and the reaction of prejudice after the cessation of 
 hostilities proved nearly fatal handicaps. Many 
 of the manufacturers of that day had rushed 
 into the business without proper training or suffi¬ 
 cient capital, led on simply by the rewards it 
 offered under the unusual conditions arising from 
 the war, and they suffered in the reaction, of 
 course. Finally, they turned to Congress for relief, 
 and the tariff act of 1816 was largely the result 
 of their efforts. Then, for the first time, the 
 woolen industry was placed on a really stable foot¬ 
 ing and it has ever since been working upward and 
 forward. 
 
 The representations which were made to Con¬ 
 gress by the wool manufacturers in 1816 declared 
 that $12,000,000 was invested in the industry, that 
 $7,000,000 worth of raw material was consumed and 
 $19,000,000 worth of goods produced in the whole 
 country. The latest figures issued by the Massa¬ 
 chusetts Bureau of Statistics of labor show a very 
 interesting contrast on these points and give some 
 idea of the development of this industry, which is 
 now confined in great part to New England and has 
 become one of the most important branches of Mas¬ 
 sachusetts maniifacture. 
 
 The Bureau of Statistics considered 140—not all, 
 by any means—of the woolen making establish¬ 
 ments of the Commonwealth. They represented an 
 investment of close to $25,000,000—twice as much 
 as the manufacturers of the early days, who are 
 suspected of having exaggerated somewhat, too, 
 claimed for the whole United States. They iised 
 stock valued at $21,898,179, an increase over the 
 consumption by this one State in the previous year 
 of almost three and a half millions and tremendous 
 increase in actual quantity over the estimate for all 
 the States of 1816, when prices were many times 
 what they are now. The product of Massachusetts 
 mills was set by this recent report at a little more 
 than $38,000,000—not quite six millions gain over 
 the preceding twelve months. Here again the val¬ 
 uation of Massachusetts alone is now double what 
 it was for the entire United States in 1816, and the 
 quantity is proportionately greater by reason of the 
 difference in prices. 
 
 This country is rapidly becoming the great wool 
 manufacturing centre of the world. Years ago it 
 passed the Continental European nations, and it is 
 pressing England harder and harder in the contest 
 for supremacy in this branch of industry. The op¬ 
 portunities for special, technical training, which is 
 of the utmost importance in this particular manufac¬ 
 ture, and broad American energy have done much to 
 
 put the United States in its present position and are 
 doing more every day. The quality of American 
 goods is kept at a higher point in nothing else than 
 it is in woolens, and other factories are turning out 
 to-day the best goods that can be found in any 
 market. 
 
 The exportation of them is insignificant at the 
 present time, for as yet they are not produced in 
 sufficient amount to much more than supply the de¬ 
 mand of this country’s rapidly increasing popula¬ 
 tion. Where they have gone abroad, however, 
 they have won their way easily, and there is every 
 indication that their future, under right conditions, 
 will be simply another step in the American inva¬ 
 sion of the mercantile world.’ The taste, the qual¬ 
 ity, and every advantage in workmanship and man¬ 
 ufacture are on their side. 
 
 It is a matter of much pride to New England and 
 cause for much honor that she has fostered so great 
 an industry, brought it up from nothing, watched 
 over and protected it when its lines lay in hard 
 places, brought it through serious crises in the face 
 of overwhelming odds, given it her interlect and 
 her wealth, and made it powerful and respected and 
 a credit to the whole nation. 
 
 American Woolen Co. —There is probably no 
 greater corporation in New England, excepting 
 perhaps the quasi-public service corporations, than 
 the American Woolen Co. Necessity for econ¬ 
 omy in the manufacture and sale of woolen 
 goods was the chief reason for the organization of 
 this immense concern, which, by combining many, 
 in fact almost all of the woolen mills of New Eng¬ 
 land, and concentrating their operations, has been 
 able to reduce gross expenditures in the production 
 of goods, and in some cases increase the output of 
 the mills. Like many other great corporations of 
 the present day, in this country, the American 
 Woolen Co. is of recent origin. This company 
 was incorporated on March 26, 1899, and began 
 business in the following month of that year. 
 It has a capital stock paid in, of $49,501,100, of 
 which $20,000,000 is preferred stock and bears 7 
 per cent, interest. The par value of the shares is 
 $100 each, being fully paid, non-assessable and 
 without personal liability. The company is auth¬ 
 orized to issue $40,000,000 of common stock and 
 $25,000,000 of preferred stock. 
 
 Notwithstanding the fact that a great sum of 
 money was required, the organization of this com¬ 
 pany was effected without the issue of bonds. The 
 stock subscription provided working capital in a 
 sufficient.amount to meet the requirements of bus¬ 
 iness. The properties are free of all encumbrances, 
 excepting unmatured bonds existing at the time 
 of the purchase of two of the mill properties. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 29 
 
 The American Woolen Co. operates twenty-five 
 various woolen or worsted mills, and to run these 
 mills, it employs 20,000 men. No other figure can 
 be so impressive as indicating the magnitude of the 
 work carried on by the company as that which 
 shows the great army of employees which it carries 
 on its pay-rolls. The plants of the American Wool¬ 
 en Co. comprise 603 acres of land,—equal to 
 a good sized township, and the mill buildings, prin¬ 
 cipally of stone and brick, containing 5,480,065 
 square feet of floor space. The equipment includes 
 298,980 spindles, 541 sets of cards, 166 combs and 
 5,410 looms. The condition of these properties was 
 excellent at the time they were purchased, and they 
 have been kept at the highest point of efficiency. 
 Since the organization of this company several of 
 the mill buildings have been materially enlarged, 
 and the equipment of the various mills has been 
 improved, increased and readjusted with a view of 
 concentration of operation, economy of production, 
 and increase of output. The expenditure for im¬ 
 provements and permanent additions of this char¬ 
 acter up to January 1, 1901, amounted to about 
 $ i ,75°, oo ° with the result of increasing the product¬ 
 ive power of the mills about 15 per cent. 
 
 It is interesting to note in the Treasurer’s report 
 that the net sales of this company from the time it 
 began business, April 17, 1899 to January 1, 1901, 
 amounted to nearly $51,000,000, and produced profits 
 of over $5,500,000. 
 
 The wide range of the products of the American 
 Woolen Co. is shown in the following classes 
 of goods which it advertises. Beavers, kerseys, 
 fiezes, meltons, thibets, wool and worsted, plain 
 and fancy overcoating, coverts, broadcloths, Ven¬ 
 etians, granites and vicunas; piece dye and mixed 
 clay diagonals, fancy weave piece dyes and mix¬ 
 tures serges, wool and worsted cheviots, all grades 
 of worsted and wool fancy trouserings and suitings, 
 and wool and worsted mercerized fabrics. This 
 company also spins worsted yarns, by both English 
 and French systems. For its products, it received 
 the highest award, gold medal at the Pan American 
 Exposition. 
 
 All the plants of the American Woolen Co. 
 are held in fee with the exception of the National 
 and Providence Mills, which are held through own¬ 
 ership of 97 39-100 per cent, of its capital stock. 
 In other words the company now owns all of the 
 common stock and 4,478 shares of the preferred 
 stock of the National and Providence Worsted 
 Mills; the American Woolen Co. also holding 
 
 a contract from a responsible party for the delivery 
 to it of the balance (522 shares) of the preferred 
 stock of the National and Providence Worsted 
 Mills. The personnel of the executive manage¬ 
 ment and directorate is the same as that of the 
 American Woolen Co. 
 
 The company has established a selling depart¬ 
 ment for its products, and by this plan has received 
 substantial benefits. It completes the organization, 
 and renders it more effective because of closer re¬ 
 lations with the market. The American Woolen 
 Co. properties include the following mills: Wash¬ 
 ington Mills, Lawrence, Mass. ; National and 
 Providence Worsted Mills, Providence, R. I.; Sar¬ 
 anac Mills, Blackstone, Mass.; Fulton Worsted 
 Mills, Fulton, N. V. ; Fitchburgh Worsted Mills, 
 Fitchburg, Mass. ; Beoli Mills, Fitchburg, Mass. ; 
 Valley Worsted Mills, Providence, R. I. ; Riverside 
 Worsted Mills, Providence, R. I.; Assabet Mills, 
 Maynard, Mass. ; Sawyer Woolen Mills, Dover, 
 N. H. ; Bay State Mills, Lowell, Mass. ; Beaver Brook 
 Mills, Lowell, Mass.; Vassalboro Woolen Mills, 
 North Vassalboro, Me.; Puritan Woolen Mills, 
 Plymouth, Mass.; Anderson Mills, Skowhegan, Me. ; 
 Kennebec Mills, Fairfield, Me.; Manton Mills, 
 Manton, R. I. ; Anchor Mills, Harrisonville and 
 Pascoag, R. I. ; Chase Mills, Webster, Mass. ; 
 Brown Mills, Dover, Me. ; Ray Woolen Mills, 
 Franklin, Mass. ; Weybosset Mills, Providence, R. 
 I.; Baltic Mills, Enfield, N. H. ; Moosup Mills, 
 Moosup, Conn. ; Lebanon Mills, Lebanon, N. H. 
 
 The officers of the American Woolen Co. are 
 as follows: 
 
 President, Frederick Ayer; Vice-President, 
 Frank Hones; Treasurer, William M. Wood; As¬ 
 sistant Treasurer, Edward P. Chapin; Secretary, 
 Joseph T. Shaw. Directors: Frederick Ayer, 
 Lowell, Mass. ; Frank Jones, Portsmouth, N. H.; 
 
 AETNA MILLS, 
 
 MANUFACTURERS OF WOOLENS. 
 KERSEYS, CLOAKINGS, ETC. 
 
 266 DEVONSHIRE STREET, 
 
 BOSTON. 
 
 49 LEONARD STREET, 
 NEW YORK. 
 
30 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 William M. Wood, Andover, Mass. ; James Phillips, 
 Jr., Boston, Mass.; Edwin C. Swift, Boston, Mass. 
 Charles R. Flint, New York; Francis W. Kittredge 
 Boston, Mass.; Samuel P. Colt, Providence, R. I. 
 Edward P. Chapin, 
 
 Andover, Mass, and 
 J. Clifford Wood- 
 hull, Summit, N. J. 
 
 William M.Wood, 
 the Treasurer, has 
 his office in the 
 Ames Building, 
 
 Boston, Mass. The 
 selling agency of 
 the American Wool¬ 
 en Co. is in New 
 York City at 66-72 
 Leonard Street and 
 the selling agent is 
 J. Clifford Wood- 
 hull, whose office is 
 at that address. 
 
 L. C. Chase tk Co. 
 
 —The firm of L. C. 
 
 Chase & Co. was es-. 
 tablished about 
 1 88o by L. C. and 
 II. F. Chase. They 
 commenced in a 
 small way the man¬ 
 ufacture of harness 
 for retail. About 
 1855 they began to 
 manufacture horse 
 blankets, halters 
 and surcingles in a 
 small way for the 
 wholesale trade. 
 
 The business wa$ 
 started in part of 
 the store now occu¬ 
 pied by the French 
 Carriage Co., on 
 Sudbury street. In 
 1855 they moved to 
 tlie corner of Sud¬ 
 bury and Portland 
 streets, and occu¬ 
 pied that block, 
 from which time 
 the business grew 
 rapidly. 
 
 In 1868 they be¬ 
 came associated 
 with Thomas Good- 
 all in the manufac¬ 
 
 ture of carriage robes at Sanford, Maine, L. C. 
 Chase & Co. taking the sale of the goods. About 
 this time they also became the selling agents for 
 the Troy Blanket Mills, at Troy, N. H., which 
 
 corporation has 
 doubled its capacity 
 several times in the 
 last twenty years. 
 Eighteen years ago 
 they moved to their 
 present quarters, 
 129 Washington 
 street, and since 
 their establishment 
 at the latter place 
 they have given up 
 retailing, devoting 
 their entire time to 
 the wholesale o r 
 jobbing trade. 
 
 Two years a g o 
 they moved their 
 manufact u r i n g 
 plant f r o m 129 
 Washington street 
 to a very large fac¬ 
 tory at the corner 
 of Massachusetts 
 avenue and Osborn 
 street, Cambridge. 
 
 They dispose of 
 the product of 
 about 1,800 opera¬ 
 tives and repre- 
 sent, without 
 doubt, the largest 
 manufactories i n 
 the world of carri¬ 
 age robes, Mohair 
 plushes, horse 
 blankets and rubber 
 ducks and drills. 
 This concern has 
 had a steady and 
 continuous growth, 
 keeping pace with 
 the growth of the 
 country. 
 
 The Chases were 
 succeeded about 
 twelve years ago by 
 John Hopewell, O. 
 F. Kendall and 
 Frank Hopewell, 
 the present mem¬ 
 bers of the firm. 
 
 OLD SOUTH MEETING HOUSE 
 
 This famous lamt mark of Boston is often catted “ 7 he Sanctu¬ 
 ary of LibertyEvents famous in the history of Boston and the 
 country have taken place within its 7oat Is, including the town meet 
 ing 70 hich demanded the removal of the British troops from the 
 city following the "Boston Massacrethe meeting of protest 
 again t the importation of tea; and Warren s oration on the anni¬ 
 versary of the massacre, in March , 1775. During the first part 
 of the Revolution it was used as a riding school for the British 
 troopers, the pews and other furniture having been taken out. 
 
 In /,S’7 2 its use as a place of worship was discontinued by the 
 Old South Society, which three years later moved to its neso church 
 in the Back Bay. In /Sy6 it 70as sold to be torn down and to be 
 replaced by a mercantile building, but at this point the Old South 
 Presbyterian Committee stepped in and rescued the property, pur¬ 
 chasing it conditionally for four hundred and thirty thousand 
 dollars. It now contains a valuable and interesting collection of 
 historical relics. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 3 1 
 
 Cotton Goods. 
 
 A GIGANTIC INDUSTRY IN WHICH NEW ENG¬ 
 LAND EXCELS 
 
 Considerably more than a quarter of all the money 
 invested in manufacturing in Massachusetts is in 
 the capital of the makers of cotton goods. The 
 most recent State 
 statistics of manu¬ 
 factures, issued in 
 1901, showed the 
 total amount em¬ 
 ployed in this great 
 industry to be 
 $129,544,848, an in¬ 
 crease of $50,000,- 
 000 in five years, 
 and of more than a 
 million and a half 
 in a twelvemonth. 
 
 In the matter of 
 industry product of 
 the amount paid in 
 wages and of “pro¬ 
 fit and minor ex¬ 
 pense fund ”—three 
 of the principal 
 points covered by 
 the Bureau of Sta¬ 
 tistics of Labor in 
 detail—cotton goods 
 stand at the head of 
 the nine leading in¬ 
 dustries, and in the 
 value of stock used 
 and of goods made 
 they are second 
 only to boot and 
 shoes, which, by 
 the sudden develop- 
 ment of recent 
 years, have usurp¬ 
 ed the position cot¬ 
 ton textiles held for 
 a century. On every 
 point the cotton 
 mills show a gain 
 each year and no 
 competition in new 
 fields—the South 
 being, of course, 
 the chief factor—can 
 
 The practicality and determination of the Puritan 
 spirit utilizing to the utmost the wonderful natural 
 advantages of location and water-power which New 
 England proffers with such a generous hand, have 
 
 been from the beginning and are to-day the basic 
 elements of the success of the cotton industry here. 
 Yankee inventiveness and Yankee shrewdness in its 
 best sense have developed it, splendid shipping- 
 facilities that have extended its market to the 
 nethermost parts, and high repute grown out of the 
 hardest tests and increased by consistent progress¬ 
 iveness have fos¬ 
 tered it. The story 
 tells of a series of 
 struggles through 
 most adverse con¬ 
 ditions and over 
 seemingly uncon¬ 
 querable difficulties 
 to splendid achieve¬ 
 ment. 
 
 There is no phase 
 of her history of 
 which New Eng- 
 land can rightly be 
 prouder than the 
 development of the 
 commercial indus¬ 
 tries which have 
 been the mainstay 
 of the republic at 
 all times and on 
 which its power and 
 position among na¬ 
 tions so largely de¬ 
 pend. In this sat¬ 
 isfaction none of 
 six Common¬ 
 wealths has a larger 
 share than Massa¬ 
 chusetts. Here the 
 industries found 
 £h,eir first abiding- 
 place ; here they 
 have always found 
 encouragement 
 and, when need be, 
 aid and protection; 
 here were laid the 
 strong foundations 
 of a reputation for 
 integrity in wares 
 and in methods 
 which have given 
 the American man¬ 
 ufacturer strength and standing abroad, as well as 
 at home. And the first great industries were textile 
 industries, and the first among the textiles was cot¬ 
 ton cloth. 
 
 Until the middle of the eighteenth century spin- 
 
 FANEUIL HALL. 
 
 Known throughout the country as “ lhe Cradle of Liberty." The 
 first Faneuil Hall, built in 1742, was primarily a market /muse, and 
 was set up on the site of the town market house in old Dock Square, 
 which had been destroyed by a mob “ Disguised as clergymen." Peter 
 Faneuil built the structure, and gave it to the town. The first public 
 gathering in the new hall was curiously , the delivery of a eulogy upon 
 Faneuil himself, who died suddenly in March, 1743. 
 
 Burned in 1761, the building was replaced by the town , and was by 
 the orator , Janies Otis , dedicated to “ 'The cause of Liberty In 1803 the 
 building was materially enlarged , and now stands as it was after the 
 changes woe made. 
 
 During the siege of Boston it was converted into a playhouse. 
 With this single exception its mission has been a serious one, for from 
 its rostrum orators have spoken from revolutionary times to the present. 
 'The hall is never let for money but is at the disposal of the people 
 whenever a sufficient number of persons, complying with certain regu¬ 
 lations, ask for the opening. 
 
 shake them from their position. 
 
3 2 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 rung and weaving were done entirely, by hand. It 
 was long after that before machinery became really 
 useful in textile making, and it was a full hundred 
 years before the great mills began their work. 
 Meantime every family was obliged to make its own 
 supply of cotton cloth, and the most familiar picture 
 of the Puritan maiden or house-wife shows her at 
 her distaff or spinning wheel. 
 
 When the new nation had subsided from the ex¬ 
 citement and disquiet incident to the Revolutionary 
 War, it discovered that great progress had been 
 made by the mother country in cotton cloth making, 
 and with characteristic energy turned its attention 
 to that industry, which was then the most prom¬ 
 inent and important one. The obstacles put in the 
 way of obtaining machinery or even patterns of 
 machinery from Great Britain served only as a 
 stimulus to the Yankee inventor, and it was not long 
 before he had equipped the Yankee manufacturer as 
 well as his brother across the water, was equipped. 
 The inventor’s work has never ceased, and to-day the 
 American textile mills are the best equipped, best 
 managed and best producing mills in the world. 
 
 The cotton cloth making business, as it exists now, 
 started in Lowell in 1843. The exceptional water 
 power which the Merrimac River could furnish first 
 attracted attention to that location, and far-seeing 
 men who were already making cotton goods else¬ 
 where—on what would be considered a very small 
 scale nowadays—took prompt advantage of it. 
 One mill followed another in rapid succession until 
 the greatest centre of its kind on the continent was 
 built up by degrees. Meanwhile other men had 
 been equally active in other places and other textile 
 making enterprises of great importancce had come 
 into being. New Englanders were back of them 
 and their indomitable perseverance brought imme¬ 
 diate vigor and ultimate success. From the day of 
 its inception cotton cloth making has flourished in 
 New England as nowhere else. 
 
 AVhen the South began extensive mill construc¬ 
 tion there were predictions of serious results to 
 New England cotton interests from Southern com¬ 
 petition, which would have the advantage of 
 obtaining its raw material almost without transpor¬ 
 tation cost. There was a natural flurry which 
 made some impress, probably, on the statistical 
 figures, but from which recovery was almost im¬ 
 mediate. The figures of the building of mills 
 during the last half of 1901 show that New England 
 does more than hold its own. Not only have the 
 old establishments, with their enormous productive 
 capacity, flourished, but the demand has been such 
 that five new cotton mills have been built, three of 
 them being located in Massachusetts. 
 
 This gain, despite powerful competition, is proba¬ 
 
 bly traceable to four things, which, while they in 
 no way intimate any discredit to other parts of the 
 country, have always given this section especial 
 advantages in both domestic and foreign markets. 
 One is the quality of the goods produced; another 
 the circumstances and surroundings in which they 
 are made; third, the peculiar transportation advant¬ 
 ages which are enjoyed here, and fourth, the char¬ 
 acter of the men engaged in the vast textile busi¬ 
 ness, those who own the manufacturing plants and 
 whose money operates them and brains direct them. 
 
 There is no question but that cotton goods are 
 made under well-nigh ideal conditions in the New 
 England mills. The materials and machinery are 
 the best to be had; that is to be taken for granted 
 in the case of New England manufactures to-day. 
 But the operatives are of superior intelligence and 
 character beyond the mere skill called for by their 
 work, and their employers, realizing the commercial 
 value of that, as well as having a wholesome idea of 
 duty derived from Puritan ancestry, perhaps, do all 
 in their power to encourage and improve the excel¬ 
 lent state of affairs. The sanitary condition of the 
 mills and the operatives’ homes is carefully watched 
 over, and whatever is thought to give the product 
 worth and quality in other ways is liberally pro¬ 
 vided. 
 
 The transportation facilities and advantageous 
 freight rates bring the mills closer to the supplies 
 of raw material and to the customer as well at an 
 economical expenditure. The men who direct the 
 great mill enterprises are, many of them, descended 
 from the founders of their establishments. They 
 have grown up with their factories and their enter¬ 
 prise and keenness have figured largely in the 
 latter’s development. They have the respect and 
 confidence of the commercial world. 
 
 From a child of immediate necessity cotton manu¬ 
 facture here has grown to be of far-reaching import¬ 
 ance. One indication of its wide market is in the 
 loss of trade for a time which resulted from the war 
 in China and the prompt improvement when hostili¬ 
 ties ceased and the business of the Celestial Empire 
 was resumed. There is no country on the face of 
 the globe that it does not touch, and there are many 
 in which it is supreme. 
 
 Some of the plain facts about the making of cot¬ 
 ton goods in Massachusetts, as told by the last State 
 statistics, are interesting. That alone of the nine 
 leading industries approached doing business to the 
 full amount of its capacity, the average proportion 
 for the year being more than 91 per cent. The 
 average yearly .earnings per individual increased 
 not quite 5 per cent, in the same period. The 
 total amount paid employees in wages was almost 
 12 per cent, larger than it had been the year before, 
 
33 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 while the percentage of increase in the number of 
 persons employed was but 2.71. 
 
 There were, on the average, 92,625 operatives, 
 44,144 of them women or girls. The largest num¬ 
 ber of employees found occupation in March, the 
 smallest in August, when 4.1 per cent, of the maxi¬ 
 mum number were unemployed. This is a very 
 much better showing than any other industry made. 
 
 The value of the goods made in the year these 
 statistics cover was $127,964,445, a gain of some¬ 
 thing more than $27,000,000 over the record of the 
 year before. Only two other industries passed the 
 hundred million dollar mark that year, and one of 
 those was $25,000,000 below cotton goods. 
 
 Atlantic Cotton Mills. —The Atlantic Cotton 
 Mills of Law¬ 
 rence, Mass., 
 have for many 
 years manufac¬ 
 tured the cele¬ 
 brated and pop¬ 
 ular Atlantic 
 wide sheetings 
 and pillow tub- 
 ings in all 
 widths. 
 
 This com¬ 
 pany has al¬ 
 ways maintain¬ 
 ed a high stand¬ 
 ard of excel¬ 
 lence in the 
 United States 
 and abroad. 
 
 They make a 
 large variety 
 of narrow sheet¬ 
 ings and other 
 fabrics, among 
 which are the 
 “Standard 
 Sheetings,” which^are very popular with buyers all 
 over the world. 
 
 In the far East “ Standard Sheetings,” the pro¬ 
 duct of the Atlantic mill find their way and have a 
 very firm hold on the buyers in that country. The 
 people of the Indian and Oriental countries are 
 known as the best judges in this class of fabrics 
 and only use goods of a very high standard. This 
 is perhaps the reason why the Atlantic mills wisely 
 chose an eastern name for their goods sold in those 
 countries. The trade mark used there is ‘ ‘ Leopard ” 
 (which is generally regarded as the “ most beautiful 
 of beasts”), and the name of which is a synonym 
 for excellence and reliability of manufacture. 
 
 The Atlantic Cotton Mills were established in 
 
 1S46, and during the last half century have never 
 deviated in the excellence of their justly famous 
 high class product of the mills, which are sold to 
 the trade by the well-known dry goods commission 
 houses of Messrs. Armory, Brown & Co. 
 
 Pepperell Manufacturing Co.— The growth and 
 development of the cotton manufacturing industry 
 in New England is well represented by the Pep¬ 
 pered Manufacturing Company, which has its mills 
 at Biddeford, Maine. This company, established 
 in 1844, has participated for fifty-seven years in the 
 varied history and successes of the cotton manufac¬ 
 turing industry. It has seen marvelous changes 
 during that time in methods and machinery, and 
 has always kept in the forefront of this great in¬ 
 dustry. T h e 
 company has a 
 capitalization 
 °f $2,556,000, 
 and its mills 
 give employ¬ 
 ment to 3,500 
 operatives. 
 Cotton drills, 
 flannels and 
 sheetings are 
 the chief pro¬ 
 ducts. The 
 Treasurer is 
 Mr. P. Y. De 
 Normandie, 
 who has his of¬ 
 fice at 30 Kilby 
 street, Boston. 
 
 Tremont & 
 Suffolk Mills. 
 —It was seven¬ 
 ty years ago in 
 Lowell, Mass., 
 that the cotton 
 manufactur¬ 
 ing industry now represented by the Tremont & 
 Suffolk Mills, was first established. Forty years 
 later, August 19, 1871, the present corporation was 
 formed by a consolidation of the Tremont Mills and 
 the Suffolk Manufacturing Co. These mills manu¬ 
 facture canton and French flannels, cotton blankets 
 and hosiery yarn and have a world-wide reputation 
 for their products. In these mills 3,500 persons 
 find employment, and the capital represented in 
 the business is $2,000,000. The Treasurer is A. S. 
 Covel, whose office is at 70 Kilby street, Boston, 
 Mass. Smith, Hogg & Gardner are the selling 
 agents both in Boston and in New York. 
 
 York Manufacturing Co. — Among the older 
 New England corporations engaged in the^manu- 
 
34 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 facture of colored cotton goods are the York 
 Manufacturing Co., of Saco, Maine, and the 
 Everett Mills, of Lawrence, Mass. The former 
 company was established in 1831, and for seventy 
 years had held a prominent place among the cotton 
 manufacturing concerns of New England. It is 
 capitalized for $900,000, and employs 1,650 hands. 
 The Everett Mills, which manufacture the same 
 class of goods, have a capital of $700,000, and em¬ 
 ploy 1,050 operatives. These mills were estab¬ 
 lished in i860, and the work thus inaugurated during 
 the trying days of the Civil War has been carried 
 on with increasing output until the present time. 
 
 Cotton and Cdoolens. 
 
 TWO GREAT INDUSTRIES COMBINED SUCCESS¬ 
 FULLY AND PROFITABLY IN 
 MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 While the manufacture of cotton goods and the 
 making of woolens are distinct industries, their com¬ 
 bination is not unnatural, and at least one concern 
 in New England is engaged in both lines at the same 
 time. The magnitude of such an enterprise and the 
 intricacies of its management are as evident as its 
 advantages. 
 
 Not only are the operations in cotton and woolen 
 cloth making different in so far as the nature of the 
 mechanism used goes, but the training and experi¬ 
 ence required for one are essentially dissimilar from 
 those the other needs. The raw materials for the 
 two kinds of goods and their finished products are 
 bought and sold in widely separated markets, and 
 dealing in each is a business by itself. Success is, 
 of course, dependent upon a thorough understand¬ 
 ing of all the minute details of both industries if 
 they are to be combined in one concern, and the 
 success which has been attained in New England in 
 such circumstances is a high tribute to Yankee 
 genius and thoroughness. 
 
 That the part of the country where American tex¬ 
 tile making had its origin, where it grew so remark¬ 
 ably as it has in the last century and a half, and 
 where it has always been strongest, should be the 
 place for such a combination as that of cotton and 
 woolen milling is natural and that such satisfactory 
 results should be wrought is doubtless due to the 
 elements which enter into New England textile en¬ 
 terprise. 
 
 Textile Blcacbmes. 
 
 COTTON FABRICS OF THE EAST AND SOUTH 
 FINISHED IN GREAT NEW ENGLAND 
 ESTABLISHMENTS. 
 
 A visit to a big bleacherv, several of which of 
 great capacity are located in the vicinity of Boston, 
 
 is quite apt to be a revelation to one who is unfamiliar 
 with the method of transforming cotton cloth from 
 the natural color into a condition of snowy white¬ 
 ness all ready for the market. The visitor is also 
 sure to be surprised to learn how extensively this 
 industry is carried on all about us. 
 
 In the first place New England is a center for the 
 manufacture of cotton fabrics, great mills being 
 located in every State, and as all this great output 
 has to be bleached, it is natural that the bleach- 
 eries situated near the metropolis of the East should 
 be well patronized. The local bleacheries receive 
 their unfinished material from all the great mills of 
 the East, and from many in the South, while the 
 major portion of the bleached cloth is shipped to 
 the West. 
 
 Some idea of the enormous industry that the 
 bleaching of cotton goods is in this locality is 
 gained from the statement that one big bleachery 
 situated near Boston has a capacity of 150 tons per 
 week. It is understood that these works are run to 
 their full capacity the greater part of the year, and 
 fall below it only during certain quiet seasons. 
 
 The origin of the processes of bleaching is lost in 
 obscurity. Linen bleaching was known in Scrip¬ 
 tural times. The bleaching of cotton goods has 
 been done in the United States for a hundred years 
 or more, the firm above alluded to having been es¬ 
 tablished very early in the nineteenth century. 
 The industry has steadily grown, keeping pace with 
 the manufacture of cotton fabrics in this country. 
 The bleacheries of Massachusetts are among the 
 largest in the world. 
 
 Hs a Cdool JVIart. 
 
 BOSTON LEADS THIS COUNTRY AND IS 
 SECOND TO LONDON ONLY— 
 
 A GREAT RECORD. 
 
 As a wool market Boston leads, and always has 
 led, the country for a long distance. It is second 
 to London alone. In 1899, indeed, its transactions 
 in wool were the largest in the world. It has 
 never but twice before done such an enormous vol¬ 
 ume of business in this particular line as it did last 
 year. 
 
 These two “banner” years—1897 and 1899— 
 were characterized by very unusual speculative 
 activity, with the consequent boom in prices, from 
 which it required a considerable time to recover. 
 The result was that in 1900 sales fell off consider¬ 
 ably, but when the tide turned, as it did early last 
 year, the rise was rapid, and the total for 1901 was 
 almost twice that for the preceding twelve months. 
 The supremacy and growth of Boston as a wool 
 market is strikingly told in the statement of the 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and Neiv England. 
 
 35 
 
 number of pounds sold here annually since 1890, 
 which follows: 
 
 Years. Pounds. 
 
 i8 9°.141,979,990 
 
 1891 ..142,652,560 
 
 18 9 2 . 175,658,829 
 
 *893 .124,171,000 
 
 18 94 .142,738,085 
 
 18 95 .. 219,564,247 
 
 18 9 6 .. . i 48 , 45 °, 3 °° 
 
 18 97 • • •.. 361,63 2,100 
 
 18 9 8 .141,132,510 
 
 18 99 • - •.347,185,776 
 
 19 00 .. 46,9 7 5,100 
 
 1901 .272,738,900 
 
 Beginning with the year 1895, it will be seen that 
 the years have alternated in respect to the volume 
 of business done. In 1895 the sales reached a total 
 of about 220,000,000 pounds, in 1896 they had 
 dropped to 148,450,300 pounds. In 1897 they rose 
 again, reaching the large total of 361,632,100 pounds. 
 In 1898 they fell off again, the total declining to 141, - 
 132,510 pounds. In 1889 they again increased to 
 347,185,776 pounds, but during 1900 dropped to 
 146,975,100, and now, during the year 1901, they 
 have risen to 272,738,900 pounds. 
 
 In the past year Boston imported but less wool 
 than it-did in 1900, the total in pounds being 53,- 
 488,023. Exports were practically naught—1,436 
 pounds. 
 
 As showing the lead which Boston has in wool 
 dealing a comparison of the supplies of wool, exclu¬ 
 sive of that in bond, in the three important markets 
 of the country at the beginning of this year and 
 last as follows: 
 
 1901. 1900. 
 
 Boston.80,110,000 94,749,000 
 
 New York.8,879,000 14,259,800 
 
 Philadelphia.17,685,000 22,682,646 
 
 The total supply in the United States at the same 
 time, exclusive of wool in bond, was 177,191,000 
 pounds this year and 294,537,338 pounds last year. 
 Boston, then, would seem to have almost one-half 
 of the visible stock of the country. The decrease 
 in the stock on hand from last year was due to the 
 better general conditions and the Boston dealers, 
 with the good prices they can command now and 
 the steadiness of the market, have promise of an¬ 
 other record year. 
 
 Mauger & Avery. —Among the wool brokers and 
 commission merchants of New England the firm of 
 Mauger & Avery, located at 105 Reade street, 
 New York, with a branch at 564 Atlantic avenue, 
 Boston, is well known as a house of conservative, 
 yet progressive methods. The firm was established 
 in New York in 1873, by Nicholas Mauger and 
 
 Charles Avery, and to-day the members of this 
 house are considered among the leading authorities 
 in this country on matters pertaining to wool, and 
 have been appointed by the government as experts 
 upon committees having to do with tariff classifica¬ 
 tion of wool. Their business embraces the import¬ 
 ing of high-class French wools, silk wools, Austra¬ 
 lian lamb wools, camels hair wools, cashmere, 
 vicuna, etc. 
 
 Cotton Buyers. 
 
 IMPORTANT FACTORS IN COUNTRY’S GREATEST 
 TEXTILE-MAKING STATES-A 
 GROWING BUSINESS. 
 
 Of course the cotton buyers are an important fac¬ 
 tor in the mercantile life of the States in which the 
 manufactures of cotton are close to the top of the 
 list of leading industries, and they have become of 
 especial consequence to New England mill owners, 
 since the springing up of competition in the South¬ 
 ern States, where it has the advantage of proximity 
 to the plantations which supply most of the world 
 with the raw material for cotton fabrics. In fact 
 the buyers are becoming of greater importance with 
 each year and with the constantly increasing con¬ 
 sumption of the mills for which they act their busi¬ 
 ness is expanding to greater proportions each 
 month. 
 
 Ever since its recovery, after the interruption 
 caused by the Civil War, the business of buying 
 raw cotton has been a growing one. The develop¬ 
 ment of Boston’s coastwise shipping and of New 
 England’s railroad facilities, with the very favorable 
 transportation rates which have accompanied them, 
 have been supplemented in giving it impetus by the 
 giant strides of the mills in their production of the 
 finished goods and the output of thousands of addi¬ 
 tional spindles. With the markets of the world 
 thrown open to the goods from American looms 
 and print works, and the spreading reputation of 
 American business men abroad, the amount of cot¬ 
 ton purchased through New England buyers has 
 increased from thousands of pounds to thousands of 
 tons. 
 
 Manufacture of Carpets. 
 
 A FLOURISHING. GROWING INDUSTRY, PRAC¬ 
 TICALLY ALL OF WHICH IS 
 NEW ENGLAND’S. 
 
 There are but two carpet weaving mills of conse¬ 
 quence in the United States outside of New Eng¬ 
 land. The full significance of that statement is evi¬ 
 dent when the amount of carpeting needed for the 
 comfort of 90,000,000 people is considered. Making 
 
36 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 carpetings is not so big an industry in Massachu¬ 
 setts as some other lines of manufacture, perhaps, 
 but it is included among the nine leading industries, 
 and shows a gain in volume of product and in pro¬ 
 fit every year which gives promise of a great 
 future. 
 
 The growth of the carpet industry has, in a way, 
 a special significance. Carpeting was, to a certain 
 extent, a luxury in the early days of American tex¬ 
 tile making. Floor coverings were home-made in 
 many places, and the market was proportionately 
 unattractive by reason of its limitations. The im¬ 
 portation of carpets was largely depended on to 
 meet the demand. The American manufacturer 
 had to take the field as a competitor to a well-estab¬ 
 lished and prosperous trade. As has happened in 
 many similar cases, however, when the scope of 
 textile machinery had widened so as to include fab¬ 
 rics for the purpose of covering floors, the Yankee 
 stepped forward, and by the quality of what he 
 made and the economy of his method of making it 
 soon had his rival hard pushed. 
 
 To-day there are no finer carpetings in the world 
 than those made in this country. They have won a 
 place of distinction in home and foreign markets 
 alike. And much the largest part of them are the 
 product of New England’s factories. 
 
 Bigelow Carpet Co.—The present Bigelow Car¬ 
 pet Co. was incorporated in 1899 with a capital of 
 ^$4,030,000, being a consolidation of the Bigelow 
 Carpet Co., incorporated 1854 and the Lowell Man¬ 
 ufacturing Co., incorporated 1828. 
 
 The invention of Erastus B. Bigelow of a power 
 loom, marks distinctly an epoch in the manufacture 
 of “Terry Fabrics” under which head all tapestry 
 Brussels, tapestry velvet, Jacquard Brussels and 
 Wilton carpets are classed. 
 
 The Lowell Ingrains were the first made on 
 power looms and they took and have always main¬ 
 tained the first place in the market. 
 
 In June, 1866, Mr. E. B. Bigelow succeeded 
 Stephen Fairbanks as President of the Bigelow 
 Carpet Co., until his death, when Mr. James H. 
 Beal was elected. Mr. C. A. Whiting succeeded 
 H. N. Bigelow as Treasurer, and upon his death 
 C harles F. Fairbanks was elected. The capital was 
 increased to $1,000,000 in 1875. 
 
 The recent union of the Lowell and Bigelow 
 Companies secures to the new Bigelow Carpet Co. 
 the best lines of Axminster, Wilton, Brussels and 
 Ingrains made in the United States, and as evi¬ 
 
 dence of the popularity of this company’s goods, 
 and the steady demand for carpets in the United 
 States, comparison may be made between the pro¬ 
 duction of carpets in this country in 1810, about 
 10,000 yards, and the present output of the com¬ 
 pany’s mills, over 7,000,000 yards yearly. 
 
 THE CONTINENTAL MILLS, 
 LEWISTON, ME. 
 
 SHEETINGS, TWILLS LAWNS, SATEENS, 
 MUSLINS, COARSE AND FINE YARNS, ETC. 
 
 BOSTON OFFICE: 
 
 31 BEDFORD STREET. 
 
 C. H. WOOD, 
 
 TREASURER AND SELLING AGENT. 
 
 THE FARWELL BLEACHERY. 
 JOHN W. FARWELL, TREAS. 
 
 MANUFACTURERS 
 
 SHEETINGS, SHIRTINGS, .LAWNS, ORGANDIES, 
 DIMITIES AND FINE FANCY GOODS. 
 
 BOTH BLEACHED AND COLORED A SPECIALTY. 
 
 LAWRENCE, MASS. 
 
 BOSTON OFFICE: 56 SUMMER STREET. 
 

 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 HAMILTON WOOLEN COMPANY, 
 
 LUCE & MANNING, 
 
 BOSTON OFFICE, 
 
 WOOL, 
 
 
 138 FEDERAL STREET, 
 
 18 POST OFFICE SQUARE. 
 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 
 ■ 
 
 THE WALTHAM BLEACHERY AND DYE WORKS. 
 
 
 BLEACHING, DYEING AND FINISHING 
 
 STEPHEN M. WELD & CO., 
 
 A SPECIALTY. 
 
 COTTON MERCHANTS, 
 
 
 89 STATE STREET, BOSTON, MASS , 
 
 WALTHAM, MASS 
 
 AND 
 
 
 16 to 22 WILLIAM STREET, 
 
 BOSTON OFFICE: 50 STATE STREET. 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 G. E. JORDAN, AGENT. 
 
 
 
 I" 
 
Ccxtilc JVIacbuicry and the JMarvels of JMecbamcal 
 
 Genius that Originate in 
 Puritan Land. 
 
 NEW ENGLAND INVENTORS AND MACHINISTS LARGELY RESPONSIBLE 
 FOR THE GROWTH OF MANUFACTURES—THE FIRST SUCCESS¬ 
 FUL COTTON FACTORY IN THE WORLD—SOLID AND 
 STEADY IMPROVEMENTS A MIGHTY 
 INCENTIVE OF TRADE. 
 
 “^'T is owing to the fact that New England 
 inventors and machinists have produced so 
 much new machinery for the manufacture 
 of textile fabrics that the textile industry 
 has grown to such proportions in this part of the 
 country. The first successful cotton factory in the 
 world was started in Massachusetts, and from that 
 day to this there has been a steady improvement in 
 textile machinery. 
 
 A Boston man introduced the first power loom, 
 which has been developed into a mechanical wonder. 
 New England textile manufacturers have always 
 been quick to adopt every improvement in ma¬ 
 chinery, and this has ever been a mighty incentive 
 to its improvement and manufacture. 
 
 So successful have the makers of textile machinery 
 been that they have been able to compete even in 
 foreign markets with notable success and profit. 
 Combined lightness and strength distinguishes New 
 England-made textile machinery, much of which is 
 manufactured in the old Bay State. 
 
 Ox Strong Glcmcnt in Hmcrican progress. 
 
 It was almost a necessary consequence, as it was 
 certainly a natural development, that having given 
 their first home to the great American textile in¬ 
 dustries New England should be foster mother to 
 the manufacture in some ways most closely related 
 to them—the making of textile machinery. So she 
 is entitled to be called a special benefactress of 
 the country, for the first American machine shops 
 were built to produce textile machinery and from 
 them—often in them—sprung up the host of me¬ 
 
 chanical wonders, of labor-saving and labor-help¬ 
 ing devices, of marvelous engines and almost hu¬ 
 man mechanisms, which are the pride of modern 
 times and which have been the greatest single fac¬ 
 tor in raising the United States to its high place 
 among nations. And first and foremost among tex¬ 
 tile machines came and still stand those for making 
 cotton cloth. 
 
 From the landing at Plymouth there have been 
 weavers and spinners in New England. Exiles, prac¬ 
 tically outcasts, the puritan forefathers had to seek 
 in their own rude homes the means of covering 
 themselves from the inclemency of a climate which 
 was harsher to them, because it was unaccustomed. 
 It was not possible then to bring across the water 
 what their needs cried out for, and so they set 
 themselves to making it with their own hands. As 
 others followed them, from England, and the neces¬ 
 sity increased, industry kept pace. Many had 
 worked in their old homes with spindle and shuttle, 
 and their women knew the use of the carding 
 comb and the wheel. 
 
 As the colonies grew and other thoughts than 
 those of supplying only the most pressing wants of 
 human life found place the making of materials for 
 clothing and for household use suggested itself 
 among the first, of course. Here the colonies found 
 themselves in a difficult predicament, however, for 
 the mother country, which had just begun the de¬ 
 velopment of the textile industries by machinery, 
 jealous of the future which she saw in them, for¬ 
 bade the exportation from her shores to any foreign 
 parts of “ utensils made use of in the cotton, linen, 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Bos/on and New England. 
 
 39 
 
 woolen and silk manufactures ” of her people. 
 This set the spur at once to Yankee ingenuity and 
 this same prohibition, which was continued in force 
 almost until the middle of the last century, turned 
 out to be the starting point of American industrial 
 independence. 
 
 Cotton manufacture was what Great Britain espec¬ 
 ially wished to keep to herself, for in that had most 
 of the mechanical improvements been made; in fact, 
 the first textile machinery was contrived for the spin¬ 
 ning and weaving of cotton. The Act of Parliament 
 against exporting machines seems to have proved 
 
 This policy on Great Britain’s part overreached 
 itself. Furnished by nature with splendid power in 
 her many streams, New England was not to be re¬ 
 tarded in her progress by outside inference, and 
 forced to be self-creative and self-reliant her ma¬ 
 chinists began with the textiles the wonderful me¬ 
 chanical contrivances which in their growth and 
 broadening have won Yankeedom its most satisfac¬ 
 tory reputation. American machinery is by every 
 necessity of its being original, characteristic and 
 effective to the highest degree. 
 
 The first recognition of the efforts of the early in- 
 
 MECHANICS HALL. 
 
 'This is the building of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic's Association, and was erected for the exhibition of 
 American manufactures and mechanical arts. Jt is used also , however, for a great variety of 
 public occasions where the size of the audience or the entertainment demands 
 a large space. Besides the exhibition halls , it has a 
 seating capacity of 8,000 people. 
 
 insufficient, for it was later altered so as to include 
 plans and models, the penalties for its violation were 
 made severer and it was enforced with great care and 
 stringency. Indeed, so close a watch was kept that 
 when, as late as 1839, an English concern had secured 
 a patent from this Government on one of its devices 
 it was obliged to smuggle its patterns through France 
 in order to reach its American representative. 
 
 ventors and manufacturers came from Massachu¬ 
 setts in 1786. The first textile machinery works of 
 the New World began operations at Bridgewater 
 just previous to that, and the Legislature appointed • 
 a joint committee “to view any newly invented ma¬ 
 chines that are making within this Commonwealth 
 for the purpose of manufacturing sheep’s and cotton 
 wool, and report what measures are proper for the 
 
4o 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 Legislature to take to encourage the same.” As a 
 result of the report of this committee ^200 was sub¬ 
 sequently granted toward the completion of the ma¬ 
 chines, which were for carding and spinning cotton. 
 They were not used for actual manufacturing, how¬ 
 ever, but were shown as models to diffuse informa¬ 
 tion. The action of the State in the matter was 
 none the less of permanent value, for it led ulti¬ 
 mately to the successful introduction of the manu¬ 
 facture of textile machinery, and the advanced stand 
 which Massachusetts took then she had never 
 yielded, pushing ever forward and holding now the 
 hrst place, so that all the nations are, one by one, 
 lurning to her as customers. 
 
 The earliest successful cotton factory in the coun¬ 
 try was located at Beverly, Mass., in 1787-9, and 
 there were made the first parts of American spin¬ 
 ning machinery. So Massachusetts saw the first 
 models and the first practical results from which 
 were established the enterprises outside of its 
 boundaries and Rhode Island took the next step. 
 
 The introduction of woolen machinery came 
 twenty years later than that of cotton machinery, 
 and dates from the last year of the eighteenth cen¬ 
 tury. In the household fabrication of woolen cloth 
 the greatest trouble arose from hand carding with 
 proper care in sorting and mixing the wool, which 
 resulted in the uneven shrinking of the cloth when 
 it was fulled and dressed. The carding machine 
 was, therefore, the first step in the mechanical pro¬ 
 duction of woolen goods, and it made its appearance 
 here at Byfield, near Newburyport, in 1796. It 
 was several years after power was applied to cotton 
 making that it was first employed in woolen manu¬ 
 facture. Massachusetts was a leader in this branch 
 of progress, too. 
 
 To a Boston man belongs the credit of having 
 given the first great impetus to American mechanical 
 invention, which seemed to have stagnated for the 
 time being, by introducing the power-loom within 
 the first fifteen years of the last century. The re¬ 
 sult of his accomplishments was the starting of the 
 textile mills which have grown so tremendously 
 and the first work in connection with the new en¬ 
 terprise was the building of a shop in which the 
 machinery for the cloth factories could be made 
 and repaired. At first all of the machine shops 
 were connected with mills, and even now many 
 of them are located in the great manufacturing 
 centers where most of their trade is to be found; 
 but in 1845 they became independent separate 
 concerns, and to-day the business of making mach¬ 
 inery is so individual that it has centers of its 
 own. 
 
 The success of American textile machinery is dis¬ 
 tinctly a New England success, and its markets ex¬ 
 
 tends beyond all the seas. It results as much from 
 quality, in both raw materials and in finish, as 
 from the ingenuity which created it almost. The 
 great resources of the country are brought close to 
 the factories by the unequaled transportation facil¬ 
 ities, and the best that the world gives is put into 
 every part of every mechanism. 
 
 The superiority of American metal has long been 
 acknowledged abroad, and it enables American 
 manufacturers to construct machines of equal 
 strength with those of foreign make, but much 
 lighter, a very evident advantage. Lightness has 
 figured largely in the ability of the United States 
 to compete in foreign markets with profit and suc¬ 
 cess, for the cost of freighting, so considerable an 
 item, where necessarily heavy articles are handled, 
 is reduced to a minimum. 
 
 The gracefulness of proportion and fineness of 
 finish for which American machinery is distin¬ 
 guished have their practical uses. They encourage, 
 and even enforce, greater care on the part of the 
 operative, compelling the cleanliness necessary to 
 perfect working order. Interchangeable parts and 
 the extensive use of special tools in construction 
 make for a precision of action and an economy of 
 production unattained abroad. An advantage par¬ 
 ticularly noticeable in cotton machinery comes 
 from the making of every part of a machine in the 
 same shop, which is quite different from the Euro¬ 
 pean practice. The American product has then, 
 for obvious reasons, much greater perfection than 
 the foreign; its parts are better fitted, and it is 
 more thoroughly one whole. 
 
 Many millions of dollars are invested in the tex¬ 
 tile machinery manufacturing enterprises of Now 
 England. From the humble beginnings of a little 
 more than a century ago there has been a marvel¬ 
 ous growth which has not known a moment of rest¬ 
 ing. As New England brains and energy and 
 pluck have improved and enlarged on the original 
 functions of textile mills the machinery has never 
 been lacking to accomplish the new work, and in 
 their turn the makers of machinery have stepped 
 in the lead and shown how the parent industry 
 could be brought to greater efficiency and economy. 
 
 This was all done at first in the face of competi¬ 
 tion made doubly powerful by legislative exclusion 
 and prejudice abroad, but the merit of what the 
 United States offered has broken down all the bar¬ 
 riers which hedged the foreign markets until now 
 one of the chief terrors of the “American invasion” 
 of Europe is the invasion of American machinery, 
 and at the head of American machinery marches 
 American textile machinery. Even England—the 
 strong competitor for a century, with every inclin¬ 
 ation and inducement to patronize this particular 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 4i 
 
 Yankee industry as little as might be—is gradually 
 giving way, and there seems no question but that 
 the final supremacy of the almost human spinning 
 and weaving mechanism of the New England shops 
 is going to complete the victory of American skill, 
 patience and energy the world over. 
 
 The Draper Co.—I n the manufacture of cotton 
 machinery, the Draper Co. of Hopedale, Mass., 
 
 well to state what no one has yet attempted to pub¬ 
 licly contradict, that with the Northrop Loom, a 
 weaver can produce from two to four times as much 
 cloth, using less skill, and at less expenditure of 
 mental and physical energy. This fact clearly 
 shows the importance of the invention. 
 
 The business now under control of the Draper 
 Co., a corporation organized under the laws of 
 
 THE EXTENSIVE PLANT OF THE DRAPER CO. AT HOPEDALE, MASS. 
 
 takes rank as the largest American producer, with 
 the largest plant and the largest number of opera¬ 
 tives. The history of this company illustrates the 
 remarkable progress that has been made since 1816, 
 when Ira Draper, inventor of cotton machinery, 
 and the originator of this great industry at Hope- 
 dale, Mass., started to take out loom patents. 
 
 Many changes have been effected during the 
 eighty-five years that have elapsed from the begin¬ 
 ning, but it was Ira Draper’s initiative that made it 
 possible for the Draper Co. to 
 gain the foremost place in the 
 manufacture of cotton machin¬ 
 ery. In the lines of spinning, 
 warping, spooling and plain 
 weaving, nearly all the really 
 vital changes of the last thirty 
 years have been produced by the 
 Draper Co. It has been figured 
 that the changes in the spinning 
 frame alone, made by this com¬ 
 pany, had brought a profit of 
 fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) 
 to the cloth producer and con¬ 
 sumer in this country, and it is further said that the 
 gains of the Northrop Loom will dwarf such figures 
 into comparative insignificance. 
 
 The Northrop Loom, is, in fact, the most import¬ 
 ant cotton machine improvement of the last fifty 
 years, a machine which the Draper Co. sold last 
 year to the number of sixteen thousand (16,000). 
 While the advantage of the Northrop Loom over 
 the common loom is generally known, it may be 
 
 Maine in 1896, was taken over from former Hope- 
 dale corporations and firms on January 1, 1897. At 
 that time the Draper Co. absorbed George Draper & 
 Sons, The Hopedale Machine Co., The Dutcher 
 Temple Co., The Hopedale Machine Screw Co., 
 also taking over the United States rights of the 
 Northrop Loom Co. and the agency for the Sawyer 
 Spindle Co. On the following year, the Draper 
 Co. purchased the plant of the Hopedale Elastic 
 Goods Co. for a necessary enlargement of business. 
 
 These great additions were fol¬ 
 lowed immediately with a plan 
 of alteration which would enable 
 the company to double its output. 
 
 In tracing the development of 
 this company from the year 1816, 
 it is interesting to do so chrono¬ 
 logically. In 1830 James Draper, 
 a son of Ira, purchased the loom 
 and temple business. Seven years 
 later he formed partnership with 
 E. D. Draper. In 1839 George 
 Draper was granted an important 
 patent in temple improvement. 
 E. D. Draper, in 1842, transferred his business to 
 Hopedale, Mass., forming a partnership in 1852 
 with George Draper. In 1868 E. D. Draper retired 
 in favor of William F. Draper, first son of George 
 Draper. The second son, George A. Draper, was 
 admitted to partnership in 1877, and the third son, 
 Eben S. Draper, became a member of the firm of 
 George Draper & Sons in 1880. George Draper 
 died in 1887 and the same year, William F. Draper, 
 
 THE NORTHROP LOOM. 
 
42 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 Jr., was admitted as a partner. George Otis 
 Draper, the second son of William F. Draper, was 
 admitted in 1889. 
 
 The various companies which were absorbed by 
 the Draper Co. were organized as follows: Hope- 
 dale Machine Co., organized in 1856, and chartered 
 in 1867; The Dutcher Temple Co. and Hopedale 
 Furnace Co., chartered also in 1867; Hopedale Fur¬ 
 nace Co. consolidated with the Hopedale Machine 
 Co. in 1880; Hopedale Machine Screw Co., char¬ 
 tered in 1888; Northrop Loom Co., chartered in 1892. 
 
 The officers of the Draper Co. are: President, 
 William F. Draper; Vice-President, Joseph B. Ban¬ 
 croft; Treasurer, George A. Draper; Agent, Eben 
 S. Draper; Secretary, George Otis Draper; Pur¬ 
 chasing Agent, E. D. Bancroft; Assistant Agent, 
 Frank J. Dutcher and General Superintendent, 
 Charles M. Day. 
 
 Saco and Pettf.e Machine Shops.— New Eng¬ 
 land is noted for its machine shops, just as Penn¬ 
 sylvania is known the world over for the product of 
 its rolling mills and armor plate works. It is a natural 
 result of existing trade con¬ 
 ditions, for no other section 
 of the country can compare 
 with the New England 
 States in the number of cot¬ 
 ton and woolen mills, dye 
 houses, print works and kin¬ 
 dred establishments, and 
 the machine shop is the 
 complement of the mills. 
 
 Among the larger con¬ 
 cerns having a home in New 
 England, which make a 
 specialty of cotton machin¬ 
 ery in its many branches, and similar mill work, 
 the Saco and Pettee Machine Shops are recognized 
 as among the leaders in this branch of manufacture. 
 Their products are known in every mill center of 
 this country, and have gained a well deserved repu¬ 
 tation for general excellence. 
 
 This firm is an old one, although it was not in¬ 
 corporated until 1897, when a general reorganiza¬ 
 tion was effected. The original shop was first es¬ 
 tablished in Newton Upper Falls, Massachusetts, in 
 1831, and its history has been one of constant growth 
 through the legitimate channels of manufacture. 
 The managers have taken advantage of the de¬ 
 mands made upon them to constantly improve their 
 machinery, and have accumulated a splendid equip¬ 
 ment of special tools for the creation of the almost 
 human machines which today turn the cotton of the 
 South into the finished cloth which has done so 
 much to make New England the prosperous section 
 of the eountrv it is to-dav. 
 
 But the original shop at Newton Upper Falls has 
 long since been outgrown, and the extensive plant 
 which has superseded it is typical of the enterprise 
 and business-like methods of the Massachusetts 
 manufacturer. This is not the company’s only 
 establishment, however, for it also has another 
 plant at Biddeford, Maine, which is devoted to the 
 same general line of machine construction. 
 
 The members of the firm are men with reputa¬ 
 tion for ability, and for a comprehensive knowl¬ 
 edge of this most important branch of machinery 
 building. Henry S. Shaw is President, R. P. Snell- 
 ing, Treasurer and F. J. Hale, General Agent, for 
 the corporation. 
 
 The company is not handicapped by insufficient 
 resources, either of plant or of capital, for its capi¬ 
 talization amounts to $800,000. Its workshops are 
 in close proximity to direct lines of transportation to 
 the great manufacturing centers, and, when neces¬ 
 sary, orders can be rushed out on very short notice. 
 On the pay rolls of the concern are the names of 
 2,000 employees, in itself an indication of the vast 
 
 output of the concern. 
 
 The shops of the concern 
 are divided into a number 
 of different departments, 
 each under the supervision 
 of skilled mechanics, and 
 the output of this company 
 has a deserved reputation 
 for good workmanship, high 
 speed and effectiveness in 
 meeting the requirements 
 of mill owners who desire 
 economy of operation as 
 well as the maximum of 
 
 output. 
 
 The enormous growth of the Saco and Pettee 
 Machine Shops from the little workshop first 
 opened more than seventy years ago, is in itself the 
 best recommendation any manufacturing concern 
 could desire. 
 
 Whitin Machine Works. —New England has 
 from the first introduction of mill machinery into 
 the United States been noted as a cotton manufac¬ 
 turing centre, and with the development of textile 
 working has come about the manufacturing of all 
 classes of textile machinery. The machine shops 
 of the New England States, and particularly those 
 of Rhode Island and Massachusetts have gained a 
 worldwide reputation for high-class, speedy, econom¬ 
 ical and labor-saving mill machinery of every 
 description, and many of the modern patented ap¬ 
 pliances for the manufacture of cotton goods were 
 the product of New England brain and New Eng¬ 
 land machinists. 
 
 A PRODUCT OF THE SACO & PETTEE MACHINE SHOPS. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 43 
 
 The development and radical improvement of 
 cotton machinery during the past seventy-five years 
 has been astounding, and yet the growth has been 
 brought about naturally. First, one appliance has 
 become obsolete and then another; one loom or 
 spinning frame has been discarded because some 
 ingenious inventor has found a simpler method of 
 doing the work, and at the same time has been able 
 to reduce the expense of operation and largely in¬ 
 crease the output or the quality of the product. 
 The making of such'machinery has been a prosper¬ 
 ous and constantly increasing branch of industry in 
 Massachusetts, and a number of firms have grown 
 up with the cotton spinning trade from infant in¬ 
 dustries to writable industrial giants. 
 
 Such a concern is the Whitin Machine Works of 
 Whitinsville, Mass. Whitinsville is a village em¬ 
 braced within the limits of the town of Northbridge, 
 and has been celebrated for years as a center of 
 the mill machinery manufacturing business. The 
 Whitin Machine Works were established in 1830 on 
 a small scale, but such was the quality of their out¬ 
 put, and such the firm’s reputation for honest deal¬ 
 ing, conservative methods and reliable machines, 
 that the works have been running for seventy-two 
 years. But, it has not been a lifetime of mere ord¬ 
 inary manufacturing routine. 
 
 With the spread of cotton manufacturing into the 
 mill-stream valleys of the New England States, 
 and the establishment of the hundreds of little 
 hamlets of operatives’ houses about the huge brick 
 and stone factories of the cotton industry, a con¬ 
 stantly increasing demand has been made upon the 
 mechanical resources of the Whitin Machine Works, 
 and year by year their output of improved and 
 standard machinery for this branch of textile manu¬ 
 facture has increased. 
 
 To-day the firm consists of Messrs. C.M. Whitin, C. 
 A. Taft, W. L. Taft, C.W. Lasell, J.M. Lasell, all men 
 of the highest standing in the commercial world, and 
 the firm has a rating, second to none, among manu¬ 
 facturers of this branch of industrial machinery. 
 The original work shops have long since been out¬ 
 grown, and additions have been made when neces¬ 
 sary to meet the demands for additional floor space 
 for the improved drills, lathes, milling machines and 
 other tools used in their modern and splendidly 
 equipped shops. 
 
 The number of employees has also increased in 
 proportions to the demands of the business, until 
 to-day a small army of 2,400 men are engaged in the 
 several departpients of the firm’s work shops in the 
 manufacture of cotton machinery exclusively. 
 
 The Whitin Works make an immense variety of 
 textile machines and appliances. To the average 
 citizen it will come as a surprise that in the list of 
 
 cotton machines manufactured by this one firm 
 alone, standard machinery for which their is always 
 a demand, there are cards, combing machinery, 
 railway heads, drawing frames, spinning frames, 
 spoolers, twisters, reels, long chain quilling ma¬ 
 chines and looms, and that under each of these 
 general divisions there are many different styles. 
 As in many another branch of machine work, 
 one machine may have several improved forms, 
 covered, perhaps, by special patents, and yet all 
 in regular daily use. Hence it will be seen that 
 a firm to successfully prosecute such a business 
 as that of supplying machinery to cotton mills 
 must be prepared not only to turn out new ma¬ 
 chines in a hurry when wanted, but must carry 
 in stock an immense number of molds for cast¬ 
 ing, and finished parts for repair work. The Whitin 
 Machine Works with their immense resources in 
 the way of men, tools and plant are in a position 
 to meet any or all requirements that may be made 
 upon them, for one firm cannot remain in the same 
 line of manufacture for more than seventy years 
 without accumulating a most valuable capital of 
 experience, and a knowledge of the intricacies of 
 mill machinery not to be gained in any other 
 manner. 
 
 Such a well-deserved reputation have the Whitin 
 Works, and it is a valuable asset which the mem¬ 
 bers of the firm do not intend to cheapen in any 
 way. 
 
 The company is incorporated and has a capital of 
 $600,000. 
 
 Within the last decade a new field for cotton 
 manufacture has been developed in the Southern 
 States. It has been backed largely by Northern 
 capital, and the superintendents and men in charge 
 have been in large measure from the North. Into 
 this new field the Whitin Works have successfully 
 introduced large quantities of their machinery, 
 much of which was built especially to meet the re¬ 
 quirements of the different conditions existing in 
 the textile industry of the South. To-day, this 
 branch of their business is a most important' one, 
 and in addition to their offices in New England they 
 have agents at Charlotte, N. C., in the heart of the 
 new manufacturing field, and at Atlanta, Ga. 
 
 A large addition has been made to the shops of 
 the concern within a few months, new machinery 
 has been placed in position, and with the constantly 
 increasing business along conservative lines the 
 Whitin Machine Works cannot but live up to their 
 reputation as builders of standard cotton machinery 
 for seventy-two years. 
 
 Whitinsville Spinning Ring Co.—In cotton 
 manufacture much depends upon the perfect quality 
 and action of machine and the small component 
 
44 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 parts of machines. Spinning and twister rings, 
 for instance, have a very important function to per¬ 
 form in the manufacture of cotton yarn. For 
 twenty-nine years the Whitinsville Spinning Ring 
 Co. has made a specialty of the manufacture 
 of spinning and twister rings. Tools patented by 
 this company have revolutionized the ring business, 
 and have been adopted by the leading makers in 
 the United States and England. The patent met¬ 
 allic burnish, used exclusively by this company, is 
 to the spinning ring what the ball-bearing is to the 
 bicycle, and their double burnished ribbed ring is 
 said to be the lightest running ring yet produced. 
 
 Dirty travelers, travelers loaded with lint, are a 
 prolific source of uneven yarn. The remedy for 
 this defect is the United States Standard Travelers 
 Cleaner, which is another important product of this 
 company. It cleans the traveler automatically, 
 keeping it free from lint, thus relieves the yarn from 
 undue strain, and the threads retain the elasticity 
 and evenness which is so essential to good weaving. 
 This company manufactures at its factory in Whit¬ 
 insville, Mass., every variety of spinning and 
 twister rings, besides the United States Standard 
 Traveler Cleaner, and it also makes a patent steel 
 plate traveler cup. The company employs from 
 thirty-five to forty-five men. 
 
 STODDARD, HASER1CK, RICHARDS & CO., 
 
 LONDON AND BRADFORD, ENG., 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 
 FOREIGN BANKERS 
 AND IMPORTERS 
 
 OF TEXTILE MACHINERY, 
 COLONIAL, ENGLISH AND CARPET WOOLS, 
 EGYPTIAN COTTON, ETC. 
 
Che Dry Goods Crade of Boston and J\ew 
 Gngland is naturally among the 
 
 first Industries. 
 
 THE JOBBING HOUSES OF THE BAY STATE CAPITAL SUPPLY THE GREAT ESTAB¬ 
 LISHMENTS OF THE COUNTRY—NEWLY BORN CENTRES IN THE 
 WEST, AND SOUTH, CANNOT SWERVE THE SOLID¬ 
 ITY OF THE MOTHER CITY. 
 
 OSTON has been noted for many decades 
 as 8 Tea -t d r y goods emporium of New 
 England. Although many other distrib- 
 uting centres have arisen in the South 
 and West, and this city is no longer supreme in this 
 respect, it still holds a very important position as a 
 dry goods jobbing centre, and goods are to-day sent 
 from here to many points in the far West, even New 
 York buying many goods from the Hub. 
 
 This is the heart of the great mill district, and 
 local jobbers are able to get goods quickly and at 
 first hand. The increased use of domestic goods 
 and the lesser consumption of foreign products 
 gives the jobbing and commission houses of this city 
 an excellent field in which to work. With the de¬ 
 velopment of the textile industries of New England, 
 the goodly number of high-standing jobbing houses 
 in Boston have been able to increase their business 
 and keep abreast of the times. There are dry goods 
 jobbing houses in nearly every city of any size in 
 New England, but those of Boston are far in the lead. 
 
 Boston’s Business ©rowing 
 Despite Competition. 
 
 One of the great and distinctively modern factors 
 in the business world to-day is the jobbing house 
 whose province it is to buy goods from wholesalers, 
 importers and manufacturers and distribute to the 
 retailers. This form of industry has grown to 
 
 enormous proportions within recent years, and is 
 represented in Boston by several large houses. 
 
 It is difficult to get at figures descriptive of the 
 dry goods business, but it is generally agreed that 
 in spite of the development of outside jobbing 
 centres the transactions of Boston merchants, which 
 a quarter of a century ago were calculated in 
 thousands, have grown into many millions. New 
 England is, of course, the great manufacturing 
 centre for many lines of dry goods. This city is the 
 natural distributing point. At least one house, 
 which deals in fancy dry-goods and notions, is the 
 largest in its line in the country. 
 
 In dry goods the Boston jobbers have developed 
 fields which have surprised them, probably, as they 
 undoubtedly have their neighbors. They are not 
 relics of a time when the West had to look to the 
 East for all of its comforts and necessities; they are 
 the reward of high character and reputation and of 
 fair dealing in the best of goods. Nearly every 
 house in the city has a New York branch doing an 
 excellent business and more than one New York 
 wholesale dry goods establishment is a regular cus¬ 
 tomer of Boston concerns, sending buyers here at 
 stated periods. 
 
 The same is true with regard to the relations be¬ 
 tween Boston and more distant or smaller dry goods 
 centres. The concern referred to as the largest of 
 its kind in the country sends its salesmen to Cali¬ 
 fornia with results which become more and more 
 satisfactory. Others supply trade as widely separ- 
 
46 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and Nezv England. 
 
 ated aS Texas and Minnesota, and the territory be¬ 
 tween here and the Mississippi is largely shared in 
 by Boston. 
 
 Curiously enough, as it would seem at first blush, 
 it is in the immediate vicinity of cities posing as 
 dry goods centres that these Bostonians find many 
 customers. The simplest explanation is again in 
 the quality of what they offer. Their advantage 
 seems to be not alone in imported goods, but in 
 domestic products as well. Judgment, taste and 
 conservatism have no 
 doubt been the founda¬ 
 tion stones on which they 
 have built so substanti¬ 
 ally. 
 
 The situation is sum¬ 
 med up in the profits, 
 and the profits increase 
 steadily and comforta¬ 
 bly. 
 
 Into the business of 
 dry goods jobbing as into 
 nearly all departments of 
 industry many and sur¬ 
 prising changes have 
 come during the last 
 quarter of the nineteenth 
 century. These changes 
 are principally in the 
 amount and variety of 
 goods which the trade 
 to-day demands, and 
 which the jobbers are 
 perforce obliged to han¬ 
 dle. Dry goods jobbing 
 twenty-five years ago 
 was a comparatively sim¬ 
 ple affair and bore little 
 resemblance to the vast 
 and complex business 
 which it is to-day. Even 
 in the large centres like 
 Boston the business was 
 confined to very small 
 quarters, and goods 
 w h i c h to-day require 
 hundreds of square feet for their display were 
 easily shown off in a small corner of an ordinary 
 room, probably not occupying more than a dozen 
 square feet. Jobbing houses of the olden time were 
 not regarded as of very great importance, and the 
 biggest of them were apt to be found in two or three 
 rooms on some upper floor in a building located on 
 some unimportant street. 
 
 To these paces the retailers, who were in them¬ 
 selves of no great magnitude, came about twice a 
 
 year and made their essentially modest purchases. 
 Several of the biggest dry goods jobbing houses in 
 New England, and located in Boston, began in this 
 small way and through industry, perseverance, 
 foresight and wise business methods have been en¬ 
 abled to meet the requirements of a gradually un hid¬ 
 ing and widening trade, and to build up great 
 establishments which are models of their kind. 
 
 Another great change which has been wrought 
 in the dry goods jobbing business is in the kinds of 
 
 goods handled. Owing 
 to the development and 
 perfecting of American 
 manufacturing many 
 goods which were form¬ 
 erly supplied exclusively 
 by the foreign market 
 and were imported in 
 great quantities, are now 
 supplied entirely by 
 American manufactur¬ 
 ers. A good example of 
 this is found in hosiery, 
 which a few years ago 
 was imported exclu¬ 
 sively. Now the finest 
 grades of stockings are 
 made in American mills, 
 and there is almost no 
 demand whatever for 
 foreign goods in this 
 line, which are regarded 
 as in every way inferior 
 to the home product. 
 Not only in quality and 
 texture have American 
 manufacturers been able 
 to improve upon foreign- 
 made hose, but the 
 shapes and designs of 
 American stockings are 
 everywhere conceded to 
 be vastly superior. 
 
 Another line of dry 
 goods which the jobbers 
 have almost entirely 
 ceased importing is knit underwear. Great mills 
 for the manufacture of underwear have everywhere 
 sprung up in the United States, particularly in the 
 New England States, and goods of the finest tex¬ 
 ture, shape and quality are now turned out to the 
 value of millions of dollars annually. Formerly 
 underwear was imported, and as a consequence 
 exorbitant prices had to be charged for even the 
 ordinary grades. One of the members of one of 
 the largest jobbing houses in Boston said recently: 
 
 ALGONQUIN CLUB. 
 
 This is one of the leading business men's clubs in the City, 
 and its membership includes bankers, brokers, mana¬ 
 gers and lawyers. It was organized in 1885, 
 and noio has about six hundred 
 active members. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England, 
 
 o 
 
 47 
 
 “ When our representative made his last trip to 
 Europe he looked about to see if he could not find 
 some desirable underwear, and, meeting with no 
 success, bought nothing in that line. When he re¬ 
 turned he said that he was fully convinced that 
 American-made underwear is in everyway superior 
 to the foreign article. We now handle nothing but 
 the home product.” 
 
 Another industry which has brought about changes 
 in the jobbing houses is the manufacture of corsets. 
 These goods, and an inferior article at that, were 
 formerly imported. Whereas of old only the cheap¬ 
 est grades of foreign corsets could profitably be im¬ 
 ported for the American market, now all is changed, 
 and the domestic product has not only driven the 
 cheap foreign article from the market, but is also a 
 formidable rival of the finer quality of French goods. 
 From all hand-work to almost no hand-work is the 
 record of advance along the line of manufacture. 
 From the woven corset, often devoid of shape, to 
 the present strip corset, possessing all the come¬ 
 liness of a garment fitted to living models, is the 
 advance in matters of form. Nowadays extra 
 attention is paid to the quality of material, instead 
 of spending money for surface decorations. 
 
 Besides the American goods which have entirely 
 usurped the foreign product there are many lines 
 the ordinary grades of which are now made in this 
 country, and only the finer grades are imported. 
 The increase of the number of American goods now 
 in demand has been productive of several advantages 
 to the jobbers. The number of high-salaried repre¬ 
 sentatives which houses were formerly obliged to 
 send abroad to purchase goods has been lessened; 
 American goods, having to pass through a fewer 
 hands, yield larger margins and are more easily 
 obtained for distribution; as a result the jobbers, in 
 spite of ever-increasing competition, have found 
 profits commensurate with their business judgment 
 and energy, and at the same time have built up their 
 business to meet the demands of the age. 
 
 It is not to be understood that the importation of 
 dry goods has ceased. There are many goods 
 which Americans have either not yet learned to 
 produce or are impossible, for climatic reasons or 
 other, of production in this country. For instance, 
 linens are woven exclusively abroad. Laces, hand¬ 
 kerchiefs and Hamburg embroideries are all of 
 foreign importation. The manufacture of ladies’ 
 shirt-waists is exclusively an American industry, 
 and has been developed to enormous proportions, 
 to the advantage of the jobbers, late years. 
 
 A visit to a great dry goods jobbing house in 
 Boston is an interesting experience for anyone. 
 The departments are divided according to the var¬ 
 iety of goods. Laces and Hamburgs are arranged 
 
 in snowy piles on tables covering an entire floor; 
 hosiery and underwear are displayed for the con¬ 
 venience of the buyer in such quantities as to excite 
 the wonderment of the uninitiated; shirt-waists, 
 wrappers, ribbons and a thousand and one articles 
 that go to stock the big retail dry goods store are to 
 be seen, each in a department by itself, in bulk suffi¬ 
 cient to stock a dozen great retail stores at a 
 moment’s notice. 
 
 While Boston is the centre of dry goods jobbing 
 in New England it is not the only city where this 
 line of business is carried on. There are small 
 jobbing houses in nearly all the cities of any import¬ 
 ance whatever in the East, but these smaller houses 
 do not cater to the great department stores even in 
 their own cities. They chiefly supply the retail 
 dealers in dry goods who have small stores in coun¬ 
 try towns. The big houses in Boston do business 
 in nearly all the great cities in the United States and 
 in some of the northern provinces. But the cities 
 of New England like Worcester, Springfield, Man¬ 
 chester, Hartford and New Haven are the ones that 
 look practically exclusively to Boston for supplies. 
 
 Amory Browne & Co. are one of the famous dry 
 goods commission houses established in the early 
 half of the nineteenth century, and stand to-day 
 in the first rank of the great dry goods commission 
 firms of New England; in fact, of the country. 
 Their Boston offices are located at 48 Franklin 
 street, Boston. The original house was founded by 
 Upham, Tucker & Co., in 1830, and it grew, until 
 to-day, under the present name, they do a world’s 
 trade. Among the mills for which they are selling- 
 agents are: The Nashua Mills and Jackson Co. 
 of Nashua, N. H. ; The Lancaster Mills, Clinton, 
 Mass.; The Atlantic Mills of Lawrence; The Indian 
 Head Mills of Cordova, Ala., and Hill Manufactur¬ 
 ing Co., Lewiston, Me. They have offices in Bos¬ 
 ton, New York and Philadelphia. The Nashua 
 Manufacturing Co. are among the largest producers 
 of napped goods in America; their cotton or canton 
 flannels and Nashua blankets are noted everywhere. 
 “Lancaster” ginghams are famous, The Lancaster 
 Mills being the oldest gingham factory in this coun¬ 
 try. “Indian Heads” brand is known for the 
 excellence of the cloth, which is made by the Jack- 
 son Co. and The Indian Head Mills of Alabama, 
 though a comparatively new company has already 
 commended itself to the trade by the superior con¬ 
 struction and finish of its standard cotton sheeting 
 and drills. 
 
 Bliss, Fabyan & Co.—Among the largest and 
 most prominent dry goods commission houses in 
 the New England States, and one which for many 
 years has been in the van of the dry goods commis- 
 
4 8 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 sion business of Boston, is the firm of Bliss, Fa- 
 byan & Co. The Boston offices are at ioo Summer 
 street in the very heart of the wholesale district, 
 and readily accessible from either the North or 
 South Terminal Station, or the ferries and steam¬ 
 boat docks. With its branches at 32 Thomas street, 
 New York City, in the Medmah Building, Chicago, 
 and in Philadelphia, this company is in a position 
 to draw upon the entire dry goods manufacturing 
 business of the country, and buying as it does in 
 quantity, and handling only standard goods, it 
 stands in very 
 close relations 
 with the largest 
 dry goods purchas¬ 
 ing and manufact¬ 
 uring concerns of 
 the United States. 
 
 Its offices and 
 salesrooms in this 
 city are exception¬ 
 ally well adapted 
 for the business 
 demands made 
 upon their facili¬ 
 ties, and a large 
 force of efficient 
 a n d gentlemanly 
 assistants are 
 numbered upon 
 the pay-roll of the 
 firm. Included 
 with in the clientele 
 of Bliss, Fabyan 
 & Co. are some of 
 the largest dry 
 g o o d s houses of 
 the city, the state 
 and of New Eng¬ 
 land. This firm 
 carried an excep¬ 
 tionally large and varied assortment of goods, many 
 of them of special weave, and has the exclusive 
 agency for New England for a number of leading 
 manufacturers. 
 
 Cati.in & Co.—The dry goods commission house 
 of Catlin & Co. is one of the oldest and best known 
 in the country. It is a firm which has the highest 
 standing in the mercantile world, and its reputation 
 as a successful business concern is of the best. 
 They have offices in Boston, New York and Phil¬ 
 adelphia. They sell the products of a number of 
 the largest cotton manufacturing companies in the 
 country and have the sole agency for the hose and 
 belting manufactured by the United States Cotton 
 
 Duck Corporation. Catlin & Co. are also agents 
 for many cotton yarn mills situated in various parts 
 of the country. 
 
 Among the concerns whose products they handle 
 are: the Chicopee Manufacturing Co. of Chicopee, 
 Mass., makers of cotton, flannels and blankets 
 for home trade and export; the Appleton Co. of 
 Lowell, Mass., manufacturers of colored flannels 
 and sheetings for home and export trade; the Vic¬ 
 tory Mills of New. York State, manufacturers of 
 silesias and linings. In addition Catlin & Co. repre¬ 
 sent the Henrietta 
 Mills of North 
 Carolina, the Flor- 
 e n c e Mills of 
 North Carolina 
 and the American 
 Spinning Co. of 
 Greenville, South 
 Carolina. 
 
 During the year 
 an immense 
 amount of busi¬ 
 ness is handled by 
 this concern. The 
 members of the 
 firm are well 
 versed in all man¬ 
 ufacturing mat¬ 
 ters and have the 
 confidence of the 
 trade. 
 
 The Boston of¬ 
 fice of Catlin & 
 Co. is at 67 Chaun- 
 cey street and the 
 New York office at 
 345 Broadway. 
 
 Converse, Stan¬ 
 ton & Co.—A bus¬ 
 iness firm long identified as a leader among dry goods 
 commission merchants and agents for mills, is Con¬ 
 verse,Stanton & Co.,a firm which is made up of three 
 men who have gained high reputations in business— 
 Edmund W. Converse, Andrew B. Cobb and Michael 
 E. Bannin. The original company was known as 
 Converse, Stanton & Cullen, also Converse, Stanton 
 & Davis, and after having been in business for 
 thirty years was succeeded by Converse, Stanton & 
 Co., the present coneern, which was established in 
 1898. It has offices at No. 62 Franklin street, Bos¬ 
 ton, at No. 85 Worth street, New York, at No. 
 221 Fifth Ave., Chicago and at No. 618 Chestnut 
 street, Philadelphia. 
 
 Converse, Stanton & Co. are agents for mills, 
 
 SOMERSET CLUB. 
 
 This organization was gathered together in /Sje, and is an outgrowth 
 of the Tremont , one of the earliest oj Boston’s social clubs. All 
 the conveniences and luxuries which obtain in a high 
 class club-house of modern days are 
 to be found there. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 49 
 
 manufacturing woolens, cottons and underwear, as 
 follows: Cotton,—Exeter Manufacturing Co., Cen¬ 
 tral Mills Co., Pocasset Manufacturing Co., Lons¬ 
 dale Co., Wachusett Mills—Underwear,—Broad- 
 albin Knitting Co., Gem Knitting Co., Index Knit¬ 
 ting Mills, John Warner's Sons, Regal Textile Co., 
 MacFarlan & Co., Nelson Knitting Co., Oak Knit¬ 
 ting Co., Thomas F. Byrne, Athens Knitting Co.— 
 Woolen,—Gay Bros. Co., Dundee Woolen Co., Carle- 
 ton Mills Co., Chapel Mills Manufacturing Co., 
 Valley Woolen Mills, Sangerville Woolen Co., P. M. 
 Pfaffman, Dens Woolen Co., T. F. Mullens & Co., 
 B. W. Green Sterling Mills Co., I. W. Smith, Cale¬ 
 donia Mills Co., H. C. Jones Co:, Samuel Riddle’s 
 Sons, Angora Mills, Saxondale WorstedMills and 
 Heritage & Hirst. 
 
 Joy, Langdon & Co.—Among the number of 
 notable drygoods commission firms, that are promi¬ 
 nent in the New England States with headquarters 
 at Boston, is the popular house of Joy, Langdon & 
 Co. This firm was originally established under its 
 present name in the year 1872, by the late John D. 
 W. Joy, Woodbury Langdon and Charles B. Gookin, 
 and so continued until the death of John D. W. Joy 
 in 1898 when it was organized as it is at present, the 
 members now being Woodbury Langdon, Charles 
 B. Gookin, Franklin L. Joy, Eustis L. Hopkins and 
 Arthur E. Mason. The last two named members 
 are located in New York City. 
 
 The firm of Joy, Langdon & Co. to-day stands in 
 the front rank of New England’s dry goods com¬ 
 mission agents and represent the following well- 
 known mills and manufacturing companies: Ham¬ 
 ilton Manufacturing Co. of Lowell, Hamilton Print 
 Works of Lowell, Hamilton Woolen Co. of South- 
 bridge, Mass., Amesbury Mills of Amesbury, Mass., 
 and Newmarket Manufacturing Co. of Newmarket, 
 N. H. The offices are at 99 Chauncy street, Boston, 
 108 Worth street. New York, and also in Philadel¬ 
 phia, St. Louis and Chicago. 
 
 The Nevins Co.—A s the center to which New 
 England dry goods merchants turn when purchasing 
 their stocks of goods is Boston, so it follows that 
 within the past twenty-five years a number of enter¬ 
 prising dry goods commission houses have sprung 
 up in Boston, and have firmly established them¬ 
 selves. Among the prominent houses is that of the 
 Nevins Co., which was established in 1898. The 
 firm is incorporated, with a capital of $200,000, and 
 its officers are: Moses T. Stevens, President; John 
 R. Trull, Vice-President; Henry S. Shaw, Treas¬ 
 urer; and Lawrence Mayo, Clerk. The Nevins Co., 
 when incorporated, succeeded to the firmly estab¬ 
 lished business of the old firm of Nevins & Co., and 
 it has progressed rapidly yet surely to its present 
 most reputable position. To-day the firm occupies 
 
 offices at 78 Chauncey street, in the dry goods dis¬ 
 trict, so-called, and has fourteen employees upon its 
 rolls. In addition to its Boston establishment it 
 has a branch at 212 Church street, New York City, 
 and is therefore in touch with the dry goods trade 
 of the whole United States, and with the importers 
 through the ports of both New York and Boston. 
 The firm is conservative in its methods, and yet 
 there is no touch of old fogyism about its business 
 dealings. Its policy has gained the firm friends, 
 and its clientele of customers is rapidly extending. 
 
 The Walker-Stetson Co.—T he whole of the 
 large building, 157 Essex street, at the corner of 
 Lincoln street, Boston, is scarcely large enough to 
 accommodate the constantly growing business of 
 The Walker-Stetson Co., dealers in fancy dry goods 
 and makers of the Domestic Wrapper. The concern 
 is one of Boston’s standard mercantile establishments. 
 
 The house was established January 1, 1887, as 
 Walker, Stetson & Sawyer. Two years later it was 
 incorporated under its present style, and it now 
 includes James H. Stetson, Alfred H. Jones, 
 Frederick L. Walker, Charles D. Mather and William 
 E. Worcester in its membership. It is a Massa¬ 
 chusetts corporation—which is universally recog¬ 
 nized as a high business recommendation—with 
 $200,000 capital, and has-125 employees. 
 
 Wellington, Sears & Co.—Wellington, Sears & 
 Co. are among the older firms, identified with the 
 dry goods commission business of Boston. They 
 date back by direct predecessors to 1850, and to¬ 
 day represent the following mills: Lanett Cotton 
 Mills, West Point Manufacturing Company and 
 Riverdale Cotton Mills, all of West Point, Ga.; the 
 Columbus Cotton Mills of Columbus, Ga. ; the 
 Brookside Mills of Knoxville, Tenn. ; the Warwick 
 Mills, Centreville, R. I., and New England Bunting- 
 Company of Lowell, Mass. Wellington, Sears & 
 Co. are the sole selling agents for these manufac¬ 
 tories, including especially cotton duck, cotton 
 fabrics generally and all-wool bunting. The Boston 
 offices are at 202 Devonshire street, 58-60 Worth 
 street, New York, and 1411 Chemical Building, St. 
 Louis. This popular firm that has made a niche in 
 the history of Massachussets during the last half of 
 the last century, and, in its hardy and sturdy con¬ 
 dition at present, promises to do so for the first, and 
 even the last of the present young century. Among 
 the members of the firm are: William H. Welling¬ 
 ton of Boston; Horace S. Sears of Weston and 
 Edward P. Boynton of Medford. They constitute a 
 firm, not an incorporated company, and employ 
 more than two score of employees. The fact that 
 it is necessary for them to establish and support an 
 office in St. Louis, speaks for the popularity of the 
 house and their goods in the West. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 5 ° 
 
 FAULKNER, PAGE & CO., 
 DRY GOODS COMMISSION, 
 
 BOSTON OFFICES: 
 
 91 BEDFORD STREET. 
 
 NEW YORK OFFICES: 
 
 58-60 WORTH STREET. 
 
 HARDING, WHITMAN & CO., 
 
 SELLING AGENTS FOR: 
 
 WHITTENTON M’F’G CO. 
 SAMUEL A. CROZER & SON. 
 OAKLAND MILLS. 
 
 ELIZABETH POOLE MILLS. 
 MISSISSIPPI MILLS. 
 
 LAUREL COTTON MILLS. 
 FAULKNER & COLONY M’F’G 
 CO. 
 
 FAULKNER M’F’G CO. 
 
 CHESHIRE MILLS. 
 
 DUSTIN ISLAND WOOLEN MILLS. 
 ANDREW HOWARTH & SON. 
 
 J. C. PARKER CO. 
 
 CHARLES M. DAVIS & CO. 
 ROCHDALE MILLS. 
 
 WILTON WOOLEN CO. 
 
 C. J. AMIDON & SON. 
 THOMAS KENT M’F’G CO. 
 BOUND BROOK WOOLEN 
 MILLS. 
 
 E. KENYON & SON. 
 NASONVILLE WOOLEN CO. 
 PLAINFIELD WOOLEN CO. 
 
 F. SCOTT & SON. 
 
 DRY GOODS COMMISSION, 
 78 CHAUNCY ST., 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 
 C. B. FILLEBROWN & CO., 
 68 ESSEX ST., BOSTON, 
 
 SELLING AGENTS, 
 
 DRY GOODS COMMISSION. 
 
 LAWRENCE & CO., 
 
 DRY GOODS COMMISSION, 
 68 CHAUNCY STREET, 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 
 SELLING AGENTS FOR: 
 
 FACTORY: 
 
 WOONSOCKET, R. 1. 
 
 THE PACIFIC MILLS. 
 MERRIMACK M’F’G CO. 
 BOSTON M’F’G CO. 
 GILMANTON MILLS. 
 
 HARGRAVE 
 
 COHECO M’F’G CO. 
 SALMON FALLS M’F’G CO. 
 IPSWICH MILLS. 
 
 PARKER MILLS. 
 
 MILLS. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 5 1 
 
 MACKINTOSH, TAFT & MC KENNEY, 
 
 COMMISSION MERCHANTS, 
 WOOLEN, 
 
 56 FRANKLIN STREET, 
 BOSTON, 
 
 59 LEONARD STREET, 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 SMITH, HOGG & CO. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS COTTON MILLS, 
 BOOTT COTTON MILLS, 
 
 EVERETT MILLS, 
 
 YORK MANUFACTURING CO., 
 TREMONT AND SUFFOLK MILLS, 
 MASSACHUSETTS MILLS IN GEORGIA. 
 
 144 ESSEX STREET, 
 BOSTON. 
 
 115-117 WORTH STREET, 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 PARKER, WILDER & CO., 
 
 BOSTON & NEW YORK, 
 
 DRY GOODS COMMISSION, 
 4 W1NTHROP SQUARE, 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 
 SELLING AGENTS FOR: 
 
 TALBOT MILLS, 
 
 NORTH BILLERICA. MASS. 
 
 CONCORD M’F’G CO., 
 CONCORD, MASS. 
 
 BELVIDIRE, W. M. CO., 
 LOWELL, MASS. 
 
 MONADONOCK MILLS, 
 CLAREMONT, MASS. 
 
 NAUMKEAG S. C. CO., 
 SALEM, MASS. 
 
 COHECO W. M. CO., 
 
 EAST ROCHESTER, N. H. 
 
 CLARENDON MILLS, 
 
 WEST BOYLESTON, MASS. 
 
 GONIC M’F’G CO, 
 
 GONIC, N. H. 
 
 CHARLES A. STEVENS CO., 
 WARE, MASS, 
 
 PHOENIX FACTORY, UNION 
 M’F’G CO., 
 
 PETERSBOROUGH, N. H. 
 
 STIRLING MILLS, 
 
 LOWELL, MASS. 
 
 YANTIC MILLS, 
 
 YANTIC, CONN. 
 
 G. F. SILBY, NORTH MONTPELIER, VT. 
 
 Clothing and Cdoolens. 
 
 TWO WHOLESALE LINES IN’ WHICH BOSTON 
 STANDS HIGH—MERCHANTS BY 
 HERITAGE. 
 
 Boston is the oldest mercantile centre in the coun¬ 
 try. While traders with the Indians may have 
 established themselves elsewhere at an earlier date 
 than they did here, business, as a man of the pres¬ 
 ent day recognizes it, had its beginning hereabouts. 
 As the needs of the person were naturally the first 
 to demand attention, clothing and the materials of 
 which it is made were prominent in the city’s early 
 business interests. 
 
 The old-time Boston merchant was a distinct 
 type and his modern successor, who is in many 
 cases his blood descendant, stands apart in many 
 respects from others of his kind. Principles laid 
 down in time when there was more leisure for 
 consideration, a judgment cultivated in the days 
 when most things^were dmportedymdQhe great port 
 j of the country was the port of Boston, ideals and 
 integrity inbred with the Puritan blood, have all 
 been inheritances the value of which has never 
 been underestimated and the preservation of which 
 has been regarded as a duty and a business ne¬ 
 cessity. 
 
52 
 
 The Finance ana Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 It is, indeed, upon these foundations that Boston’s 
 business existence stands. The jobber of to-day has 
 taken the place of the merchant of the past, carry¬ 
 ing - on much the same kind of an enterprise and 
 doing it in much the same way as his predecessor. 
 Every advance in social conditions benefits the job¬ 
 bers in necessities which have possibilities of devel¬ 
 opment toward luxuries. As a consequence the 
 clothing business feels an uplift every year. 
 
 Boston clothing jobbers have their field under 
 constant and careful cultivation. Their nearness 
 to the great mills and their shipping facilities enable 
 them to reach and hold certain territory by reason 
 of conditions of cost which do not apply to less 
 favored places. It 
 is well recognized 
 that the sweat- 
 shops are not as 
 great an evil in 
 Boston as in many 
 large cities and 
 the clothing dis¬ 
 tributed from here 
 is regarded as 
 clean and of good 
 workmanship and 
 material, well 
 above the average, 
 indeed, in most 
 respects. 
 
 Hand in hand 
 with the clothing 
 business goes the 
 trade in woolens. 
 
 It is conducted by 
 the same stamp of 
 men ; often by the 
 same individuals. 
 
 The numerous ad¬ 
 vantages of the 
 city as a distribut¬ 
 ing point—its splendid railroad and ocean shipping 
 and importing facilities, its high financial rank, its 
 nearness to the great mills, which are the producers 
 of so much of the stock used in this country now— 
 have attracted this particular line of business and 
 made a profitable home for it. 
 
 Macullar, Parkkr Co. — As manufacturers and 
 retailers of clothing, as well as importers, and job¬ 
 bers of woolen goods, and dealers in furnishing 
 goods, Macullar, Parker Co. are among the first and 
 foremost concerns of the New England States. The 
 company was established in the year of the gold 
 fever—1849—and was incorporated in 1895, with a 
 capitalization of $400,000, under the State law of 
 
 Massachusetts. The directors of the company arc 
 Charles W. Parker, James S. Wesson, Hatherly 
 Foster, Ross Parker and Herman Parker. Their 
 goods are known for their fine wearing quality, 
 style and finish. Nearly 600 operatives are em¬ 
 ployed in the manufacture and sale of the product 
 of this old ho'use. It is generally known and taken 
 as a fact, that the man w r ho can turn down his coat 
 collar and show -the Macullar, Parker Co. label, is 
 “well dressed.” The various stores of the Macullar, 
 Parker Co. are located as follows: Men and Boys’ 
 Clothing and Furnishing Goods Departments, 400 
 Washington street, Boston, Mass., Custom Clothing- 
 Department, 398 Washington street, Boston, Mass. 
 
 Wholesale Cloth 
 Department, 81 
 Howley street, 
 Boston, Mass. 
 
 Men and Boys 
 ready made and 
 Custom Clothing 
 Departments, 166 
 West m i n s t e r 
 street, Provi¬ 
 dence, R. I. 
 
 F o r e i g n Pur¬ 
 chasing Agency, 
 30 Golden Square, 
 W. London. 
 
 A. S H U M A N & 
 Co. is the largest 
 exclusive manu¬ 
 facturing retail 
 garment house for 
 boys, women and 
 children in New 
 England. The 
 house was estab¬ 
 lished in 1859, and 
 the “Shuman Cor¬ 
 ner ” at Washington and Summer streets is the 
 heart of the retail section of Boston. It is passed 
 by almost every line of cars in the city, is five min¬ 
 utes’ walk from South Terminal Station, and in the 
 vicinity of all hotels, theatres, etc. 
 
 A large portion of the great success of this firm 
 is its entire reliability as dealers in woolen fabrics, 
 the numerous details being directly under the eyes 
 of the management, both as regards manufacture 
 and retailing. Every piece of cloth is subjected 
 to the most severe tests, so that no doubt remains 
 as to its genuineness. A. Shuman & Co. in 
 connection with their retail interests are also 
 among the largest jobbers and wholesalers of boys’ 
 and men’s clothing in the country. The firm 
 
 A. SHUMAN & CO. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 53 
 
 members are A. Shuman, Samuel Shuman, Edwin 
 A. and Sidney E. Shuman. They employ 600 people. 
 
 Corset Manufacture. 
 
 AN INDUSTRY WHICH HAS BEEN PARTICU¬ 
 LARLY DEVELOPED IN NEW ENGLAND 
 ALONG IDEAL LINES. 
 
 The day when the American woman felt that 
 anything- for her personal wear must, if it were to 
 be good, be imported, is long since past. In the 
 wonderful progress of American manufactures her 
 needs have been among the first considered, and 
 now that she sets the fashion for the rest of the 
 world—as the rest of the world, praising her good 
 taste and judgment, is beginning to admit she does 
 —the special industries which supply her wants are 
 
 products, cannot be surpassed in excellence. In¬ 
 deed, there are probably few other manufactures 
 of a similar nature which have been so carefully 
 considered in their development and in which so 
 much attention has been given to cleanliness and 
 healthful surroundings as the establishment and 
 rise of American corset making show. The work 
 is done largely by women, whose deftness and taste 
 are almost necessary to attain the best results, and 
 the conditions under which they labor in the great 
 New England factories are an object lesson in 
 themselves to Europeans. 
 
 The history of this particular business has been 
 very notable. In the face of a predilection for im¬ 
 ported goods based on what might almost be called a 
 superstition of fashion, it has so far out-stripped 
 
 ROYAL WORCESTER CORSET CO.. WORCESTER, MASS. 
 
 found already developed to a degree of perfection 
 that centuries have hardly vouchsafed elsewhere. 
 This is particularly true of corset making. 
 
 That the colonies which were born in hardship 
 and austerity and brought up in Puritanical sim¬ 
 plicity should become the home of this manufacture 
 seems somewhat paradoxical, but such was the 
 course of events. Some of the greatest corset¬ 
 making concerns in the world are here, and from 
 here are supplying the very foreign markets on 
 which this country used to be dependent for their 
 special line of goods. They have had a wonderful 
 growth, and it has come to them through the skill 
 shown in their workmanship and the quality of 
 everything they used. 
 
 The conditions which obtain in a wholesome New 
 England city, the superiority of employees who are 
 well paid and well cared for and the readily recog¬ 
 nized advantages of factories constructed with the 
 utmost regard for sanitary perfection have done 
 much to increase the popularity of American-made 
 corsets, which, like other of our great country’s 
 
 its foreign competitors that it has been utterly 
 unable to keep up with the demand it has created, 
 and its growth has been by leaps and bounds. 
 
 The Royal Worcester Corset Co. of Worcester, 
 Mass., has grown by rapid stages through tireless 
 business enterprise from the Worcester Skirt Co., 
 which Mr. David Hale Fanning, President of the 
 present corporation, established in 1861. The man¬ 
 ufacture of corsets was added to its business in 1862. 
 Eight years later the name of the concern became 
 the Worcester Corset Co., and under that style it 
 was incorporated in 1888. Last year it was re¬ 
 incorporated as the Royal Worcester Corset Co., 
 with a capital of $400,000. Its factory for making- 
 corsets and waists, shown above, is one of the model 
 manufacturing plants of the world. The conditions 
 under which its thousand employees produce the 
 goods which have become as famous abroad as they 
 are at home are practically ideal. The growth of 
 the business has been such that preparations for 
 extensive additions to the building are under way. 
 
Boots and Shoes the Industry in which 
 Massachusetts Leads the Slorld— 
 
 Still Hdvancing. 
 
 THE OUTPUT OF THE PRESENT TIME—MORE THAN FIVE TIMES THAT OF ANY 
 OTHER STATE—THE RECENT INVASION OF FOREIGN MARKETS—A 
 FOUNDATION WHICH ASSURES GREAT PROSPERITY 
 
 FOR THE FUTURE. 
 
 J& 
 
 this State, and from the time that boots and shoes 
 were first turned out by machinery to this day of 
 marvelous production, the industry has stood first on 
 the list of the nine great industries of the State, not 
 counting- all the various textile products. To-day 
 Massachusetts is recognized throughout the United 
 States as the boot and shoe centre of the country, 
 and during the past two years has claimed the atten-’ 
 tion of foreign countries as well, particularly Eng¬ 
 land and France. 
 
 It is probable that if the historian should turn his 
 attention to the boot and shoe industry of the period 
 previous to workshops and machinery he would still 
 find the old Bay State in the lead. For many years 
 after the settlement of the American colonies no 
 attempt was made to manufacture boots and shoes 
 for the market, footwear being imported from Eng¬ 
 land and France. Hand-made shoes, and a clumsy 
 product at that, were all our early ancestors could 
 secure to guard against chilblains and frostbitten 
 toes. In some of the larger localities there was a 
 local shoemaker who was regarded as an important 
 individual, standing well in the community, as he 
 certainly had a right to. The smaller villages and 
 hamlets were visited at stated intervals by a travel¬ 
 ing cobbler, whose coming was always heralded as 
 an event of great consequence. Having shod all 
 the people of the countryside, he gathered up his 
 kit and jogged on to the next village. 
 
 His business doubtless suffered after the building 
 of the first shoe factory, which was located in Dan¬ 
 vers, about twenty miles from Boston, not far from 
 the historic house in which General Porter of Revo¬ 
 lutionary War fame was born. As early as 1786 
 currying, cutting and shoemaking were begun in 
 
 I N the manufacture of boots and shoes Mas¬ 
 sachusetts has always been in the lead, the 
 output in this State being at the present 
 time more than five times that of any other 
 State in the Union. Among other manu¬ 
 factures in Massachusetts the boot and shoe in¬ 
 dustry stands second and the proportion of its 
 gains in recent years indicate that it will event¬ 
 ually stand first. The most satisfactory feature 
 of the industry itself is the recent invasion of 
 foreign markets. Massachusetts-made shoes are 
 imported to nearly all the great countries in 
 Europe, England having at last acknowledged 
 the superiority in every particular of the Ameri¬ 
 can product. This is regarded as a great triumph 
 for Massachusetts shoe manufacturers and opens 
 up a field which practically has no limit and 
 places the industry of boot and shoe making on a 
 foundation which assures great prosperity for the 
 future and a continued increase for an indefinite 
 period of the amount of the product. All the dis- 
 tinctively boot and shoe manufacturing cities of the 
 State have showed corresponding gains in the past 
 ten years, while the last year was one of unusual 
 gains. 
 
 Business in which |Vew 6ng- 
 land Leads Country. 
 
 It would appear that from the earliest days of the 
 country to the present time the inhabitants of 
 Massachusetts had been especially interested in see¬ 
 ing that mankind were well shod. So far as is known 
 the first shoe faetorv in the world was established in 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 55 
 
 the original factory at Danvers. This building is 
 said to be still standing. There was at first a strong 
 sentiment against machine-made shoes, and it may 
 be said that this feeling did not die out for several 
 generations. But as the quality of the manufac¬ 
 
 tured article improved the prejudice began to dis¬ 
 appear and gradually new factories sprang up in 
 different parts of the State. 
 
 In a recent statistical report of the industries of 
 the State 673 boot and shoe establishments were 
 considered. This figure does not include a great 
 number of smaller houses. The last census report 
 issued at Washington in 1890 showed that there 
 were 1,057 establishments in Massachusetts, with an 
 aggregate capital of $44,567,702 and a production 
 valued at $116,387,900. This was vastly in the lead 
 of any other State. New York State being second 
 with 257 establishments, aggregate capital of 
 $11,950,891 and a production of $23,661,204. The 
 Government Industrial Census for New England 
 for 1900 is not yet complete, but reports for four 
 States. New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Islandand 
 Connecticut, have been issued and show an astonish¬ 
 ing increase in the number of establishments and 
 the amount of the output during the past ten years. 
 The forthcoming report on the boot and shoe indus¬ 
 try of Massachusetts will show this State to be even 
 further in the lead than ten years ago, while the 
 
 number of establishments, capital and output have all 
 increased at a corresponding ratio. New York will 
 probably stand second and New Hampshire third. 
 
 Turning to recent statistics of the boot and shoe 
 industry of the State the following interesting 
 
 figures are shown: Amount of capital invested, 
 $26,716,110: value of stock used, $80,829,629, the 
 year following the amount being stated at $80,966,- 
 554, showing an increase in one year of $136,875; 
 value of goods made and work done first year, 
 $ x 5 0 , 2 59,849; second year, $152,333,435, increase in 
 one year, $2,073,586; number of persons of both 
 sexes employed 59,288; total amount paid in wages 
 in one year $27,476,207. 
 
 Other interesting statistics are: Capital invested, 
 $26,716,110; average persons employed, 59,288; in¬ 
 dustry product per $1,000 of capital $1,805 ; industry 
 product, average per employee, $813.36 ; percentages 
 of industry product devoted to profits and minor 
 expenses, 43.02; the same paid in wages, 56.98. 
 The above estimates are for one recent year on a 
 basis of 673 establishments considered. The report 
 for the year 1901 will show no decline in the amount 
 of capital invested or the value of outputs, while 
 the increase in all departments of the boot and shoe 
 industry has been steady and of a healthy growth. 
 The figures for 1901 will show up very satisfactorily 
 beside those above quoted. 
 
 CONGRESS STREET, BOSTON. 
 Wholesale Leather , Shoe and Rubber Goods Trade. 
 
56 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 The country for many years looked to Boston 
 very largely for its boots and shoes. The East still 
 does so, and the establishment of a great distribut¬ 
 ing centre in the Middle West, while it has, of 
 course, split the territory, has not circumscribed 
 Boston’s field to the extent which might be supposed 
 by any means. 
 
 The different manner of reckoning business in 
 different parts of the country makes it difficult to 
 say positively that Boston is the chief boot and shoe 
 jobbing centre of the United States, but that such 
 is the fact seems to be in little doubt. It is in this 
 vicinity that the majority of the “ maker to wearer ” 
 brands of footwear are manufactured, too, but the 
 extraordinary home market in New England helps 
 to equalize the opportunities and prevent restriction. 
 
 The showing made by Boston in boot and shoe 
 jobbing is little short of marvelous. Progress and 
 growth, which are the general rule of the city, are 
 decidedly in evidence. Boston has outstripped 
 many other cities. In less than half a century there 
 has been an increase of 25 per cent, in the houses 
 engaged and of nearly 500 per cent, in the amount 
 of business done in this one line of jobbing annually. 
 
 The growth has been healthy; it has been gradual 
 and lasting; it continues, and there was never a 
 brighter outlook. A comparison of authentic figures 
 is interesting from every point of view. Below are 
 set side by side the number of boot and shoe job¬ 
 bers in Boston and the amount of their business in 
 different years: 
 
 R. B. Grover & Co.—A comparatively recent 
 product in the shoe manufacturing industry, a pro¬ 
 duct that has been fully justified by business de¬ 
 mand, is what is known as the specialty shoe. One 
 of the foremost of these is “The Emerson Shoe” 
 which is manufactured by R. B. Grover & Co. at 
 Brockton, Mass., a concern established in 1899. 
 This company manufactures fine shoes for the retail 
 trade, selling the product of the factory direct to 
 the wearer, and to the wearer only, through its own 
 channels. In nearly all the larger cities of the 
 l nited States, Emerson Shoe Stores have been 
 established and there are also two branch stores in 
 London, England. R. B. Grover & Co. sell no 
 goods either to retailer or jobber, direct or on com¬ 
 mission, and it is said to be the only shoe manufac¬ 
 turing concern that disposes of all its product 
 directly to the consumer. An essential part of the 
 system is a uniformity in prices, shoes being sold at 
 two prices only,—$3.50 for Goodyear welt shoes; 
 $5.00 for hand-sewed shoes. 
 
 Five hundred employees are engaged in the man¬ 
 ufacture of the Emerson shoes, the factory having - a 
 capacity of fifteen hundred pairs per day of welted 
 
 shoes. Thirty-four stores are being operated to dis¬ 
 pose of this product. 
 
 The members of the firm of R. B. Grover & Co. 
 are Robbins B. Grover, Charles O. Emerson and J. 
 Frank Hill. 
 
 George E. Keith Co.—T he George E. Keith Co. 
 was established as Green & Keith in 1874, George 
 E. Keith in 1880, and incorporated under its present 
 name in 1896. They manufacture men’s, boys’ and 
 women’s shoes, are capitalized for $500,000, and em¬ 
 ploy 2,300 persons. Their three factories are located 
 at Campello, Mass., and have a daily capacity of 
 10,000 pairs, and are now turning out 8,500 pairs 
 per day. Their “Walk-over” and “ Bilt-well ” 
 brands are particularly exported to foreign coun¬ 
 tries in large quantities. The members of the com¬ 
 pany are George E. Keith, Myron L. Keith, S. 
 Corey Keith and Oscar L. Davis. They own and 
 operate their own wooden box factory, having the 
 same connected by a spur track of the railroad. 
 
 Their immense factories are located directly on 
 the line of the New York, New Haven and Hartford 
 Railroad at Campello, on Evans street and Perkins 
 avenue, making their facilities for shipping excel¬ 
 lent. Two of the factories are used exclusively for 
 welt work. Among the foreign countries which buy 
 their “Walk-over” goods in very large quantities, 
 are particularly England, Germany and Australia. 
 The company operates a number of stores in the large 
 cities, and it is safe to say, as is very well known 
 that the George E. Keith shoe holds its own with 
 the sales of any shoe in the country. 
 
 Preston B. Keith Shoe Co. —The name of Keith 
 has long been prominent in the shoe industry of the 
 United States, and for thirty years Preston B. Keith 
 has been one of the foremost figures in the great 
 shoe centre of the world, namely Brockton, Mass. 
 In 1871 he established the shoe manufactory which 
 was incorporated five years ago under the name of 
 the Preston B. Keith Shoe Co., and from its first 
 day the history of the business has been a story of 
 growth—the healthy and substantial growth which 
 comes from enterprise and honesty and a progressive 
 spirit. 
 
 In its seventh year (1878) the concern was obliged 
 to build a new factory to keep up with its trade and 
 in 1880 and 1881 extensive additions to the plant 
 were made. Three years ago further extension was 
 imperative and the Keith factory was rebuilt and 
 added to, so that it took the form of a hollow square. 
 The establishment is now the striking features of 
 Rutland Square, Campello, Brockton. 
 
 The Preston B. Keith Shoe Co. makes only 
 medium and fine grades of goods in Goodyear welts 
 and Me Key sewed. The capacity of its plant is 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 57 
 
 3,600 pairs of shoes a day and 700 persons are em¬ 
 ployed in making them. This product goes into an 
 ever-broadening market. 
 
 With President Keith are associated as officers of 
 the Corporation, Vice-President Rufus P. Keith and 
 Secretary and Treasurer Chas. M. Park. The capi¬ 
 talization is $100,000 
 
 The Lester-Shire Manufacturing Co.—The 
 largest shoe factory in the world is that of the 
 Lester-Shire Manufacturing Co., which has practi¬ 
 cally created the village of its location, Lester- 
 Shire, in Broome County, N. Y., two miles from 
 Binghamton on the Susquehanna River. It has 
 more than 2,000 employees, which gives it a daily 
 capacity of 20,000 pairs of heavy pegged and stand¬ 
 ard sewed shoes and medium and high grade McKay 
 sewed shoes. One of its specialties is shoes made 
 from the celebrated French Kangaroo Kip, the tan¬ 
 nage of which the Lester-Shire Manufacturing Co. 
 controls exclusively. 
 
 The success of this concern is almost phenomenal. 
 In its ten years of existence it has reached a point, 
 where, in spite of its enormous facilities, which in¬ 
 volve the investment of $1,000,000, it has begun 
 further extensions, and will, in October, open a 
 new Goodyear factory with a daily capacity of 10,000 
 at Endicott, N. Y., six miles from its present plant. 
 A sole leather tannery, the product of which will 
 be used exclusively in the new factory, is also being 
 built at Endicott. 
 
 Like all great enterprises the Lester-Shire Manu¬ 
 facturing Co. and its growth and prosperity, are the 
 work of farseeing, well-trained men. There are 
 but two owners of the concern, H. B. Endicott and 
 George F. Johnson. It is hardly necessary to say 
 anything further about men who can point to such 
 an establishment as theirs. 
 
 M. A. Packard Co.— The shoe manufacturing in¬ 
 dustry is one that for many years has made its 
 centre, and practically its entire field of operations 
 within the New England States. The industry 
 grew most rapidly in Massachusetts, and during the 
 past twenty years, which have been years of the 
 most considerable development, Massachusetts shoe 
 eities have shown the greatest progress. In 1880, 
 when shoe manufacturing began to develop new 
 ideas and adopt new methods, in accordance with 
 the trend of modern demands, the M. A. Packard 
 Co., a pioneer company in producing men’s fine 
 shoes was established in Brockton, Mass., with a 
 capital of $100,000. 
 
 This company furnishes a good example of the 
 recent development of the shoe manufacturing in¬ 
 dustry. At the present time, the M. A. Packard 
 Co. manufactures about 2,300 pairs of shoes each 
 
 day, and employs 550 men. The product of the 
 company’s factory consists of fine shoes, nearly all 
 of them being Goodyear welts, and the value of this 
 product, as billed from the factory, represents in the 
 course of a year about $1,250,000. These goods are 
 sold in every state and territory of this country, 
 and also in Canada, British Columbia, Cuba, Eng¬ 
 land, Australia, South Africa and India. 
 
 The officers of the company are: President, 
 Moses A. Packard; Vice-President, Oliver M. 
 Fisher; Treasurer, John S. Kent. 
 
 The Thomas G. Plant Co.—A concern to be 
 measured, by millions is the Thomas G. Plant Co., 
 manufacturers of ladies’ shoes, who are best known 
 for their “ Queen Quality ” brand. The running 
 capacity of their factory at the corner of Centre and 
 Bickford streets in the Roxbury district of Boston is 
 upwards of three and one-half millions of pairs of 
 shoes a year; their business in 1901 amounted to 
 close to four millions of dollars, an increase of half 
 a million over 1900; their capital is two and one- 
 half millions, and the pay roll of their 2,000 em¬ 
 ployees foots up $1,000,000 each twelve months. 
 
 The Thomas G. Plant Co.’s factory is a model 
 establishment, built of brick, six stories high, with 
 a spacious basement where is the 500-horse-power 
 engine which operates all of the machinery and the 
 electric lighting plant. It is well constructed, 439 
 feet long and fifty-five feet wide, and has all the 
 most up-to-date sanitary and mechanical appliances. 
 
 Such a tremendous establishment doing siich an 
 enormous business is, of course, in the hands of 
 men of progressiveness and of large ideas. The com¬ 
 pany was formed in 1891, and has at its head as 
 President, Thomas G. Plant, with George H. 
 Hutchinson as Vice-President, W. L. Ratcliffe as 
 Treasurer and W. A. Mitchell as Secretary. The 
 other directors are John MacNair, Junius Beebe, 
 W. F. Plant, W. Y. McGaffee and George J. Carr. 
 
 The Frank E. White Co.—For more than twenty 
 years the Frank E. White Co., of Brockton, Mass., 
 have been prominent as makers of men’s medium- 
 priced foot-wear. In that time they have brought 
 their product into extensive use among the whole¬ 
 salers of all the principal cities of the United States, 
 and thev were among the first American manufac- 
 turers to cultivate the European market, in which 
 they have built up a flourishing trade. 
 
 During the last two or three years the White Co. 
 have made special efforts in the direction of im¬ 
 proving the quality as well as increasing the quan¬ 
 tity of their output, and have concentrated their 
 efforts upon a few lines. The resulting siiccess has 
 doubled their production, and further extension of 
 their factory buildings has become necessary. 
 
53 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 The head of the house, which was established in 
 1879, Frank E. White, who has been prominent 
 in the shoe world for many years. He has the 
 financial management of the concern’s affairs, while 
 the manufacturing is in charge of Hervey Dunham, 
 another man who is of long experience in this branch 
 of the business, and is recognized as of particular 
 skill and competence in it. One of the firm, Loring 
 Q. White, the junior partner, is in charge of the 
 sales department, which he has developed to a great 
 success. 
 
 E. S. Woodbury & Co.—This is an age of special¬ 
 ists, and the firm of E. S. Woodbury & Co., shoe 
 manufacturers, make a specialty of shoes for boys 
 and girls of school age. The firm was established 
 in 1874, and its members are Edwin S. Woodbury 
 of Boston and David D. Lefavor of Marblehead. 
 In their twenty-eight years of active business life 
 the firm has grown into a prominent position in the 
 shoe trade, and to-day they employ 600 operatives, 
 and some $2 5 0,000 is invested in the business. Their 
 Boston office is at 135 Lincoln street, in the heart of 
 the shoe and leather district. The factory is located 
 at Salem, Mass., and is thoroughly up-to-date in 
 machinery, methods and equipment. It contains 
 some 50,000 square feet of floor space. 
 
 Brockton of "Co-day. 
 
 A WONDERFUL RECORD OF GROWTH AND PRO¬ 
 GRESS-GREAT SHOE INTERESTS. 
 
 The City of Brockton to-day, with its energetic 
 and progressive industries, is a marvel to all who 
 are familiar with the rapid growth of the city dur¬ 
 ing the past thirty years. As the town of North 
 Bridgewater, in 1870, the place had 8,007 inhabi¬ 
 tants. In 1874 the name of Brockton was adopted 
 and in 1881 the town became a city, with a popula¬ 
 tion of 13,608 according to the census of 1880. 
 
 The present population is estimated at fully 43,000 
 inhabitants. The 1900 census gave the number as 
 40,063, but since then the growth has been unpre¬ 
 cedented, owing to the great expansion in the shoe 
 business, which has taxed the capacity of the fac¬ 
 tories to their fullest extent. 
 
 During 1901 there were produced in the Brockton 
 factories 629,413 cases of shoes (estimated at over 
 13,000,000 pairs), which was the greatest output in 
 the history of the city, and an increase of nearly 
 20 per cent, over the business of the year before. 
 In 1880 the product was 189,490 cases. At that 
 time the assessed valuation of the city was$6,252,413. 
 Now it is $28,680,853. In order to provide room in 
 which to turnout pressing orders the local manufac¬ 
 turers were compelled during the past year to make 
 
 additions and enlargements of their factories to the 
 extent of about 200,000 square feet of floor area. 
 
 No city in the world can challenge Brockton’s 
 claim as the leading city in the manufacture of men’s 
 shoes. Not only is the Brockton shoe recognized 
 throughout this country as the standard in the fine 
 and medium grades, but it has already established 
 a firm footing in nearly all the civilized countries 
 of the world. In addition to marketing their goods 
 through the regular jobbing channels of trade, 
 several of the leading manufacturers have estab¬ 
 lished retail stores for the exclusive sale of their 
 special shoes throughout the country. During the 
 past year a number of stores have also been opened 
 in the leading cities of England and Germany, the 
 success of which has been very pronounced and 
 awakened a large demand. 
 
 The exports of American boots and shoes, which 
 has increased from a value of $1,010,228 in 1895 to 
 about $6,000,000 in 1901, has received probably 20 
 per cent, of its increase by the shipments from 
 Brockton factories. The value of the shoe product 
 of this energetic city during the year 1901 is esti¬ 
 mated to have been $25,000,000, of which about 
 $6,000,000 was paid to the factory employees. 
 
 A very important and favorable condition of 
 affairs in regard to freedom from labor controver¬ 
 sies has been brought about by the general adop¬ 
 tion of arbitration agreements between the manu¬ 
 facturers and the labor unions, so that to-day the 
 best of feeling exists, and in the event of any misun¬ 
 derstanding or disagreement no interruption of 
 business is permitted. There have, in fact, been 
 scarcely any occasion for even a reference of troubles 
 to the Board of Arbitration for many months. 
 
 Brockton was one of the first cities in the State 
 entirely to abolish grade crossings within its limits, 
 the work having been completed five years ago. 
 The successful system of sewerage disposal is con¬ 
 stantly attracting delegations of engineers and 
 municipal authorities to the city from all parts of 
 the country and abroad. The schools, fire depart¬ 
 ment, police, highway and other municipal depart¬ 
 ments, rank high with those of other progressive 
 cities. 
 
 The Brockton Board of Trade, which was organ¬ 
 ized in 1897, has a membership of about 250, and 
 has done much good work through its committees 
 in labor matters, transportation and other directions 
 vital to the welfare of the city. At present the 
 matter of erecting large modern factory buildings 
 with central power plants for the economical gen¬ 
 eration of power, so as to supply the urgent demand 
 for additional factory accommodations is being 
 agitated. The city is the trade centre for about 
 100,000 people. The New York, New Haven and 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 59 
 
 Hartford Railroad Co. maintains numerous express 
 and accommodation trains to and from the city, and 
 frequent service is furnished to the dozen or more 
 towns in its immediate vicinity by an electric rail¬ 
 way system which radiates in all directions. 
 
 Brockton now stands twelfth in population among 
 the cities of Massachusetts, having moved upward 
 from the twenty-sixth position in 1870. It also ranks 
 eighth in value of its manufactured product. 
 
 Leather's part. 
 
 ONE OF NEW ENGLAND’S OLDEST AND CHIEF 
 
 INDUSTRIES. 
 
 The leather industry is one of the oldest in New 
 England. The sturdy settlers were practical as 
 well as religious, and early found it expedient to 
 look after the soles of their feet as well as their 
 spiritual welfare. Before shoes could be made the 
 leather had to be prepared, and for this purpose 
 crude tanneries were established in various places 
 in Massachusetts. Therefore the tanners of New 
 England were the pioneers of leather production of 
 the country. From the beginning the tanning trade 
 has been pursued by earnest, capable men. They 
 knew how to keep down the cost of production, and 
 at the same time improve the quality of the product, 
 which is really the secret of success in all business 
 enterprises. 
 
 As everyone knows the barks of trees are em¬ 
 ployed in the tanning process and this was available 
 in large quantities at the start, but in process of 
 time the trees became denuded and the tanners of 
 sole leather were compelled to migrate. It was 
 then thought necessary to send the hides where the 
 bark was and not bring the bark to the hides 
 Therefore the early tanners migrated to New York 
 State and to Pennsylvania, where they also used up 
 the supply of bark. The tanners of upper leather 
 did not leave New England at all until a much later 
 period, receiving their bark from Maine and Penn¬ 
 sylvania. This was found very expensive, but it is 
 said that they made up for the extra outlay by tan¬ 
 ning out superior leather. But eventually it was 
 found necessary to abandon many establishments, 
 owing to the disadvantages of locality and many of 
 those who had won a reputation for the excellence 
 of their product were obliged to go out of the busi¬ 
 ness. In certain sections of the West rivals sprang 
 up who were assisted in their enterprise by ex¬ 
 perienced men who forsook the Eastern houses for 
 more advantageous positions. 
 
 However, there are still to be found a few tanners 
 in New England, though that branch of the industry 
 is nothing to-day compared to what it was when the 
 country was in a more crude state. 
 
 This is not to be construed as meaning that the 
 leather industry has declined in this section. It has 
 increased to enormous proportions. A most ex¬ 
 tensive business is done in Boston in leather of all 
 descriptions and many of the individuals, firms and 
 corporations who do it own their tanneries; but 
 the tanneries are located outside of New England. 
 
 The leather and shoe industries are so inter¬ 
 dependent that it is not surprising to find that here 
 in Massachusetts, where the boot and shoe industry 
 is greatly in the lead, the leather business is also 
 very important. 
 
 The early tanneries of New England encountered 
 innumerable difficulties and many failed to survive 
 in the fierce struggle for existence. Many of their 
 reverses were’not the result of inefficiency. The 
 prices of hides and leather are subject to sudden and 
 violent fluctuations, and there have been instances 
 where the earnings of years have been wiped out in 
 a single, season by the shrinkage in value of leather, 
 which was lying in the vats unavailable, while the 
 prices were declining so rapidly that when finished 
 it would not bring enough to defray the original 
 cost of the raw material. 
 
 But the picture has a bright side. There have 
 been instances of advances within a brief time suffi¬ 
 cient to bring large profits to the stockholders of an 
 average-sized tannery. These incidents are com¬ 
 mon to all industries, not only early in their his¬ 
 tory, but at the present time. It was eminently 
 fitting that the small tanneries which of old dotted 
 the whole of New England should have disappeared 
 or have been removed to other parts of the country. 
 The great leather industry still remains dominant 
 in the business life of Massachusetts, is constantly 
 increasing and will without question continue to 
 increase. The conditions have changed, that is all. 
 
 Up to fifteen years ago it was proverbial for a 
 century that the tanning business, though variable 
 and subject to losses, was sure to be remunerative 
 in any series of five years, if well managed. The 
 conditions are even more favorable to-day, for pro¬ 
 duction has been cheapened, the expense of dis¬ 
 tribution lessened, materials utilized to the greatest 
 advantage, and economies practised which pervade 
 the entire mechanical world. Cattle growing and 
 cattle killing have increased in late years in far 
 greater ratio than the population, and there has 
 been all this time a surplus of hides. 
 
 In New England the tanning nowadays is chiefly 
 of raw materials of the lighter kinds—calf, goat and 
 sheep skins—and other materials besides bark are 
 used in preparing them for the market. Great 
 quantities of kid and calf of the very finest grade 
 are produced in various colors, textures and sub¬ 
 stances. It would seem as though the very goal of 
 
6o 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and Nciv England. 
 
 perfection had been reached, and it is said by good 
 authorities that there is nothing in the nature of 
 leather which cannot be and is not made in this 
 country equal in every respect to the products of 
 any other country. It is possible that patent leather 
 is the single exception to this rule, but the difficulties 
 which have stood in the way of progress in the pro¬ 
 duction of patent leather are gradually being re¬ 
 moved, and even now it is claimed that some Am¬ 
 erican patent leather rivals in excellence the historic 
 product of the foremost manufacturers in Europe. 
 
 The key to the very great success which has 
 crowned the efforts of New England leather makers 
 is their ability to adapt themselves to circumstances 
 and their aptitude for meeting emergencies. All 
 the knowledge which it was possible for them to 
 acquire, they immediately availed themselves of. 
 They have constantly improved their factories and 
 have been eager to seize every invention which 
 seemed likely to facilitate production or improve 
 the quality of their product. They have always 
 displayed the great American trait of being unsatis¬ 
 fied with finality and have always been on the sharp 
 lookout for something better. They have not only 
 kept in touch with pop¬ 
 ular tastes, but have 
 learned the great secret 
 of directing tastes, and 
 have managed their 
 affairs with such skill as 
 materially to broaden 
 the market for their 
 wares. It is by reason 
 of their indomitable will, 
 great skill and power of 
 seeing into the future 
 that they have flourished 
 so notably and hold such 
 high rank in the great 
 domain of wealth-creat¬ 
 ing industry. 
 
 An example of the 
 utilitarian tendencies of 
 the men of the leather 
 industry is found in the 
 i m po rtant prod u c t 
 known as scrap leather. 
 
 This business originated 
 in Boston in 185 7, prev¬ 
 ious to which date all 
 the cuttings in shoe fac¬ 
 tories. and skivingsof hide&in tanneries were thrown 
 away. The workshops were littered with these 
 supposedly useless scraps. Finally the larger pieces 
 were utilized and prepared for vamps for children’s 
 shoes. This trade was very gradually enlarged, 
 
 J o j o 7 
 
 pancake leather and soles were produced and by the 
 aid of paste, shoddy innersoling, slip soles and 
 counters were made. Upper leather pieces were 
 degreased with naptha and used for heels or linings. 
 Not long after the Civil War broke out an immense 
 stock of cartridge boxes and bayonet sheaths were 
 manufactured. The buyers made money. To-day 
 there are firms in every shoe centre who deal in this 
 stock. In the meantime tanners everywhere have 
 saved considerable money by selling what was prev¬ 
 iously waste material. By the census of 1890 it was 
 learned that the value of this material sold yearly 
 was about $21,000,000. 
 
 The record for the leather industry in Massa¬ 
 chusetts, as well as elsewhere, in 1901, was not ex¬ 
 celled in any previous year. There was a substan¬ 
 tial increase in the amount and value of the produc¬ 
 tion, and the majority of firms are reported as hav¬ 
 ing made money. The leather trade in all its 
 branches has been in close touch with the shoe busi¬ 
 ness in volume of sales, and though it has been con¬ 
 ducted on rather narrow margins by reason of high 
 prices on raw materials and the sharp competition 
 in business, there has been a remarkable freedom 
 
 from failures. In Boston the leather industry is in 
 a very healthy condition, and the heads of the leather 
 houses, both great and small, are in a very optimis¬ 
 tic state, predicting a continuance of the prosperity 
 which has marked the past year. The increasing 
 
 SUMMER STREET, BOSTON—SHOE AND LEATHER DISTRICT. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 61 
 
 export trade in American shoes affects the leather 
 business directly, and gives it a tone and a buoy¬ 
 ancy which it has never experienced before. 
 
 It is not impossible that the leather business should 
 surpass the shoe industry during the next year. 
 This statement seems at first inconsistent, but it is 
 explained by the rumor that in certain quarters 
 there has not been enough leather to go around and 
 not near enough to fill orders that have been lately 
 accumulating. This applies both to sole and upper. 
 H igh priced stock has lately been reported scarce 
 and at the same time there has been no plethora of 
 cheap grades. The leather dealers will have to 
 hustle to supply the demand. 
 
 Cottle Leather Co.— A recent addition to Mass¬ 
 achusetts leather houses is the Cottle Leather Co., 
 with salesrooms and offices at 48 and 50 South street, 
 Boston, and a tannery at Woburn, Mass. The 
 officers of the firm, which was organized in August, 
 1901, are William M. Richardson, President; and 
 F. E. Cottle, Treasurer. The firm is capitalized 
 under Massachusetts laws—which require that all 
 the capital be paid in—at $150,000. The Cottle 
 Leather Co. are tanners and curriers of upper leather 
 exclusively, and they have established a reputation 
 for thoroughly reliable work, which has placed them 
 in a prominent position among similar New Eng¬ 
 land business enterprises. That their business is 
 prosperous is evidenced by the fact that they 
 employ 200 men. 
 
 The C. Moensch & Sons Co. — One of the largest 
 leather-producing concerns in the world is The C. 
 Moensch & Sons Co., whose Boston store is 117-119 
 Beach street. Starting in 1865 with but one assist¬ 
 ant, Mr. Moensch has built up a business which 
 emp'oys 850 persons and operates four tanneries— 
 three making upper leather and one hemlock sole 
 leather only,—a hide-glue factory and two stores, 
 one in Boston and another in Chicago. The daily 
 product of the combined plants is about 3 300 sides 
 and ten tons of splits. The C. Moensch & Sons 
 Co. now includes Fisher & Gaensslen of Gowanda, 
 N. Y. and the Fisher Tanning Co. of Salamanca, 
 N. Y. 
 
 William F. Mosser & Co.-—One of the leading- 
 sole leather houses of the country is that of William 
 F. Mosser & Co., which has its main offices at 184 
 to 190 South street, Boston and a Western branch 
 at 184 La Salle street, Chicago. 
 
 The business was started February 15th, 1898, by 
 William F. Mosser and Harvey G. Ruhe, the latter 
 having charge of the Boston selling end. The 
 makeup of the concern continued thus until Novem¬ 
 ber, 1900, when a consolidation was brought about 
 with the large tanning firms of L. R. Gleason & 
 
 Sons and William Irvin & Son, the new firm owning 
 six large tanneries located in Pennsylvania, and in 
 addition handling the product of eight other tan¬ 
 neries, which gives it a total output of about 21,000 
 sides of sole leather every week. 
 
 Such an enormous production necessarily called 
 for a wider outlet, and not the least important in¬ 
 dication of Messrs. Mosser & Co.’s progressiveness 
 is to be found in its large and growing foreign trade. 
 In January, 1901, William F. Mosser & Co. opened 
 a Western office in Chicago, and all their domestic 
 hides are bought from this point. The Boston 
 establishment was originally located at 132 Lincoln 
 street, with one floor and a basement, but to-day it 
 occupies the whole of the large quarters at 184 to 
 190 South street, comprising twelve floors, two 
 basements and a large office space. 
 
 Ffides and Skins. 
 
 FOREIGN COUNTRIES AND THE GREAT WEST 
 CONTRIBUTE TO THE TRADE. 
 
 Remarkable changes have taken place in the raw 
 skin industry in the past decade. The demand for 
 hides, particularly calfskins, has wonderfully in¬ 
 creased, and there have been radical changes in the 
 methods of handling them. The old-time tanner 
 would meet with many surprises if he were to come 
 into the field again. Formerly the farmers of Mass¬ 
 achusetts and other New England States furnished 
 thousands of skins annually to the dealers. The 
 season came between March and July. Since the 
 advent of creameries all over the country it has 
 become necessary to secure a uniform supply of 
 milk, and the farmers have had to regulate the 
 coming of the calves at all seasons of the year. 
 This has relegated the raw hide industry, as far as 
 New England farmers are concerned, to the back¬ 
 ground. Still the farmers supply some skins, but 
 the demand is so great that the domestic supply is 
 entirely inadequate. 
 
 It must not be understood that the skin and hide 
 industry has lessened in volume. Great quantities 
 of raw hides are imported annually, South America 
 supplying the greater number. Thousands of these 
 hides enter Boston ports every year. The West is 
 also supplying hides in great numbers, particularly 
 the Chicago packing houses. The Boston houses 
 are doing many times the volume of business that 
 they did only a few years ago. It is probable that 
 there is twice as much business done to-day in 
 Boston, where the raw hide industry of the State is 
 now practically centred, as there was five or ten 
 years ago when smaller houses were more numer¬ 
 ous. The outlook is most encouraging. 
 
62 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 AMERICAN HIDE & LEATHER CO., 
 HIDES AND LEATHER, 
 
 17-21 EAST STREET, BOSTON. 
 
 NEW YORK AND CHICAGO. 
 
 THE UNITED STATES LEATHER CO., 
 
 NEW YORK OFFICES: 
 
 26 AND 28 FERRY STREET. 
 
 BOSTON OFFICES: 
 
 204-210 ESSEX STREET. 
 
 CINCINNATI OFFICE: 
 
 810-812 SYCAMORE STREET. 
 CHICAGO OFFICES: 
 
 RANDOLPH AND FRANKLIN STREETS. 
 CABLE ADDRESS: UNIT, N. Y. 
 
 N. W. RICE CO., 
 
 IMPORTERS AND EXPORTERS, 
 HIDES, WOOL, LUMBER. ETC., 
 
 ESSEX BUILDING, 
 
 683 ATLANTIC AVENUE, 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 
Che JMamifacture of Iron—JVew GnglancTs 
 Product of this ]Metal Sent to HU parts 
 
 of the Civilized <Horld. 
 
 METALS AND METALLIC GOODS AMONG THOSE SHOWING HIGHEST PERCEN¬ 
 TAGE OF PROFITABLE INVESTMENT—THE INGENUITY OF THE AMERICAN 
 MECHANIC—MILLIONS OF DOLLARS INVOLVED—PRO¬ 
 NOUNCED INCREASE EVERY YEAR. 
 
 0 
 
 1 f 1 RON, the king of metals, enters largely into 
 jvl'y manufacturing in New England. Metals 
 pjl (b anc ^ me tallic goods are among those show- 
 i n g the highest percentages of profitable 
 investment, and of these iron manufactures are 
 well in the lead. Iron and steel works and machine 
 shops are found in about every manufacturing cen¬ 
 tre in the East, and the number and products of iron 
 are infinite. In no other branch of manufacturing 
 has the proverbial ingenuity of the American me¬ 
 chanic been shown to better advantage and in no other 
 line has the influence of New England been more 
 widely felt. 
 
 Not only do the South and the West still look to 
 the East for their machinery, hardware and a great 
 number of other products of iron and steel, but 
 foreign countries are becoming more and more de¬ 
 pendent on this part of the United States for these 
 supplies, in the manufacture of which New England 
 has no superior. The amount invested in iron man¬ 
 ufactures in Massachusetts reaches many millions 
 of dollars and shows a pronounced increase every 
 year. 
 
 Iron and Steel. 
 
 NEEDS OF BOTH LAND AND SEA SUPPLIED. 
 
 It may be said with truth that iron and steel have 
 now come to be the basis of all material progress, 
 for there is practically no limit to their fields of use- 
 frdness. This is particularly true in New England, 
 which is noted for the number and variety of its 
 manufactured products. In these products iron and 
 steel predominate over all other metals. It is 
 difficult to know where to begin to mention even 
 
 the most prominent manufactures in iron and steel 
 in Boston and vicinity. But some of these which 
 command attention are agricultural implements and 
 the iron work of steamships, tow-boats, steam-yachts 
 and marine engines. 
 
 Eastern Massachusetts boasts of plants where all 
 this manufacturing is carried on. All have experi¬ 
 enced remarkable prosperity, and from a standpoint 
 of production the past year was a banner one. In 
 the matter of ship iron-work great progress has been 
 made, and there are those who prophesy that this 
 industry, already well advanced on the coast of 
 Massachusetts Bay, will, in a few short years, as¬ 
 sume proportions not inferior to some of the great¬ 
 est plants in the country. 
 
 Progress is also the watchword in the making of 
 agricultural implements. The day has passed when 
 the plowshare and simple hand-tools sufficed. The 
 most elaborate machinery for tilling the soil and 
 garnering harvests finds an increasingly large mar¬ 
 ket in all parts of the world. Boston is well to 
 the front in supplying the demand. Boston is now 
 the centre of a new process of steel making which 
 is quite likely to bring about something of a revolu¬ 
 tionary effect in some branches of the steel industry. 
 It is no less than a very high grade of steel made 
 entirely from wrought steel scraps with a liberal 
 mixture of certain other metals during the process 
 of melting. It is said that the exceptionally fine 
 steel which is a result of this process has been a 
 great surprise throLighout the steel world and has 
 attracted scientific attention in about every quarter 
 of the globe. The manufacture is carried on under 
 patents and the composition of the steel, the methods 
 of making it, the materials and the peculiar process 
 
64 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 of moulding', have resulted for the first time in the 
 history of the art, so it is claimed, in the production 
 of east steel which, in tests carried out in Boston, 
 have proved to possess qualities of strength and 
 ductility equal to those of forged steel. 
 
 It is stated by those who have seen the process of 
 this new steel’s manufacture that it seemed as if 
 some ingenious Yankee had been admitted into 
 some of the secrets for which the old alchemists 
 sought. An observer exclaimed: “ How Tubal Cain 
 would raise his thewy arm in amazement could he 
 know that the plowshare he hammered into shape 
 
 could now be cast in a mold without tempering or 
 forging and all ready for its work, save the sharp¬ 
 ening. ” 
 
 Every sort of steel scrap, borings from a gun 
 factory, clippings from boiler plate, broken wheels 
 and crank shafts, in fact, all kinds of waste and 
 junk are turned, by this process, into bright new 
 tools in a few hours, with only the furnace and the 
 mold as intermediaries. It is stated that these ex¬ 
 cellent results are obtained with but little sacrifice 
 of the high economy that distinguishes ordinary 
 steel east. Evidence of its remarkable qualities is 
 
 found in the fact that cold chisels and hatchets cast 
 in this steel will, after being put on the emery- 
 wheel, perform their work with perfect satisfaction. 
 
 In tests recently carried out by the Government 
 this steel showed a tensile strength of 67,300 pounds 
 to the square inch and an elongation of 25 per cent, 
 in eight inches,' while in the bending tests a one- 
 inch square bar of this cast steel was bent cold 
 through an arc of 93.5 degrees without fracture. 
 This steel has been used with great success by 
 Government and private shipbuilding firms in all 
 parts of the country. 
 
 Thk Lockwood Manufacturing Co.— The Lock- 
 wood Upright Rope Machine, a machine that is 
 used in some of the largest cordage plants in the 
 United States and Canada, is the special product of 
 the Lockwood Manufacturing Co. During the past 
 few years this company has built and installed a 
 quarter of a million dollars worth of cordage 
 machinery, and this business is rapidly increasing. 
 
 The plant of The Lockwood Manufacturing Co. 
 located, at 61 to 85 Summer street, adjoining the 
 North Ferry in East Boston, was established in 
 1880 by the late F. A. Lockwood, whose purpose 
 
 VIEW IN THE MACHINE SHOP OF THE LOCKWOOD MANUFACTURING CO. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 6 5 
 
 was to build a patent leather dressing machine, of 
 his own invention, and also to do a general marine 
 engineering business, both building and repairing. 
 The business developed most rapidly in the line of 
 marine engineering work. This concern built the 
 steamers “Longfellow,” “Ruth” and “Cymbria”; 
 the tugboats “ Channing ” and “ James Woolley 
 the ferry-boats “ Swampscott,” “Noddle Island,” 
 and others. During the Spanish-American War, 
 The Lockwood Manufacturing Co. made alterations 
 on the ferry-boat “ East Boston ” for the National 
 Government. Large repair jobs on ocean liners, 
 running to the port of Boston, are taken by this 
 company. From 150 to 200 men are employed. 
 
 Quincy A. Shaw is President of this great con¬ 
 cern; Quincy A. Shaw, Jr. is Treasurer. The 
 Agent and Manager is Arthur H. Fogler, and the 
 Mechanical Engineer is William L. Tobey. The 
 company is incorporated with a capitalization of 
 $300,000. 
 
 G. W. & F. Smith Iron Co.—There is no firm in 
 their line better known throughout New England 
 than the G. W. & F. Smith Iron Co., the shops and 
 foundry of which occupy six acres of ground on 
 Island, Gerard, Farnham and Reading streets, in 
 Boston. Structural steel and architectural iron 
 work is the specialty of this old and famous con¬ 
 cern, which was established by George W. Smith in 
 1837, and took its present name in 1859. Many of 
 the prominent structures of Boston were contracted 
 for by this concern. Among them were Harvard 
 College, Engineering Buildings, Massachusetts 
 Building, Institution of Savings, the Boston Elevated 
 railroad stations, Keith’s and Hollis Street Theatres, 
 residences of Moorfield Story, E. R. Thayer, Dr. 
 Wells, Charles F. Sprague and many others. 
 Among the present officers are: Elmer F. Smith, 
 President; Frank E. White, Secretary and E. L. 
 Wingate, Superintendent. The company is now 
 erecting a magnificent new building of iron that 
 will cover one hundred and sixty feet square. This 
 will be their new foundry on their present grounds. 
 In addition will be other new iron shops, which 
 will occupy 75x235 feet. These buildings are 
 going up fast, and when completed the works of 
 the G. W. & F. Smith Iron Co. will be the finest 
 and most complete of any like company in New 
 England. The company is a member of the Master 
 Builders Association. 
 
 United States Steel Co.—I n 1898 Charles S. 
 Miller and H. B. Whall associated themselves to¬ 
 gether and commenced to manufacture under a 
 secret process the now famous “ Jupiter ” steel cast¬ 
 ings. The business was conducted in the basement 
 of a small frame building 40x60 feet, and but four 
 
 men were employed. In one month the increased 
 business compelled them to seek larger quarters, 
 where they trebled their force, and shipped cast¬ 
 ings to the largest firms in New England. The 
 year following they organized the U. S. Steel Co., 
 with a capital of $3,000,000, to patent the process, 
 purchase land and erect buildings. The results can 
 best be ascertained by looking at the results in 
 Everett, where the company now employs 200 men, 
 own seventy-one acres of land and operate the 
 second largest foundry in New England. Some 
 idea of its growth can be obtained from the fact 
 that the contract has just been let to increase the 
 present 200 feet building to 150x500 feet, one of 
 the largest steel furnaces in the country. The 
 officers of this remarkably successful company are: 
 H. B. Whall, President; W. E. Pearson, Vice- 
 President; C. S. Miller, Treasurer and H. R. 
 Bradstreet, Secretary. The Boston office is at 145 
 Oliver street. The Eastern plant is situated at 
 West Everett, Mass. The demand for Jupiter cast¬ 
 ings is daily increasing. 
 
 A number of very prominent Boston business 
 men are stockholders in the U. S. Steel Co. 
 
 Blowers and JYIacblnery. 
 
 APPARATUS WHICH TAKES THE PLACE OF TALL 
 CHIMNEYS AND ABATES THE SMOKE 
 NUISANCE. 
 
 Mr. Pickwick admired the chimney pots of Lon¬ 
 don, and found in them an inspiration which aroused 
 his utmost enthusiasm. But Mr. Pickwick was 
 quixotic and a dreamer, and, had he known, only 
 admired the chimney pots through force of habit; 
 for modern Americans have demonstrated that not 
 only are tall chimneys unlovely, but are really of no 
 practical benefit to mankind. To be sure tall 
 chimneys still exist in all cities, both large and 
 small, but the chances are that they are doomed to 
 early destruction. As it is, many great mills and 
 factories which were formerly offset by brick struc¬ 
 tures that towered to the sky, have entirely done 
 away with the great smoking chimneys and their 
 works have not only not suffered but have been 
 vastly improved thereby. Mr. Pickwick was mis¬ 
 taken, for time has demonstrated that the chimney 
 pots were a disfigurement. 
 
 But practical utility and not considerations of the 
 esthetic has decreed the abolition of tall factory 
 chimneys, and this fact has been demonstrated by a 
 modern invention known as a mechanical draft ap¬ 
 paratus, which takes the place of the chimney and 
 at the same time greatly reduces the expense of 
 fuel. The manufacture of this mechanical draft 
 
66 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 apparatus is an important industry in the vicinity 
 of Boston. The concern which makes them has 
 taken down its tall brick chimney and substituted 
 an engine-driven fan and a short smokestack, which 
 does not extend above its lowest buildings, while 
 great volumes of smoke are no more. 
 
 The innovation is described as follows: “The 
 fan operates on the induced system; the gases pass 
 directly to it from the uptake and are discharged 
 through a short stack extending just through the 
 roof of the boiler house. There is absolutely no 
 smoke. The engine speed is automatically controlled 
 so that a very slight drop in steam pressure greatly 
 increases the intensity of the draft. The steam 
 pressure is thus maintained absolutely constant. 
 Comparative tests show an immense saving of fuel 
 by this contrivance. 
 
 This mechanical draft has been put into use in 
 many parts of the country with absolute success, 
 and the local company manufacturing the fans is 
 doing a large and increasing business. 
 
 The manufacture of all sorts of blowers is a large 
 industry in the environs of Boston. The firm which 
 puts on the market the great mechanical draft ap¬ 
 paratus outlined above, through industry, inventive 
 genius and the ability to forecast the needs of this 
 age of labor-saving devices, has built up a large 
 business in the manufacture of blowers and fans, 
 which have taken the lead, are used all over the 
 country, and are exported in large numbers to for¬ 
 eign lands. 
 
 The B. F. Sturtevant Co.—In 1857 the founda¬ 
 tions of the present big manufacturing firm of The 
 B. F. Sturtevant Co. were laid in Boston by B. F. 
 Sturtevant. The beginning was small, the quar¬ 
 ters then occupied were but a very little fraction of 
 what are now necessary. The business was a suc¬ 
 cess. Its growth was constant when its perfected 
 machinery began to travel throughout the country. 
 In 1878 the manufacturing business was removed 
 to Jamaica Plain where the several departments 
 were provided with ample room. 
 
 The company filed articles of incorporation in 
 1890. At the present time, E. N. Foss is the Gen¬ 
 eral Manager and Treasurer. 
 
 A little more than a year ago a severe fire threath- 
 ened to wipe out the entire plant with all of its valu¬ 
 able machinery. As it was, a considerable portion 
 of the plant was destroyed. It was a setback which 
 would have proven serious to a less substantial firm. 
 The B. F. Sturtevant Co. met the disaster with 
 characteristic business energy. 
 
 The burned portions of the buildings were cleared 
 away. Work was immediately commenced upon 
 others of an improved type, and now there is to be 
 
 seen near the Jamaica Plain station, on the line of 
 the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad, 
 well-nigh completed, manufacturing buildings that 
 are a worthy addition to Boston’s increasing busi¬ 
 ness. 
 
 The products of the Sturtevant Co. are numer¬ 
 ous. Each manufactured article is produced in its 
 own department. The several departments employ 
 the year round about 700 skilled mechanics and 
 artisans. The perfected products of their ingenuity 
 and skill are to be found in all parts of the United 
 States and Canada while at the present time there 
 is a considerable demand for Sturtevant Machinery 
 abroad. 
 
 It was as manufacturers of blowers that the firm 
 first became famous, but as the business has grown 
 other lines have been added. 
 
 Now there are turned out from the Jamaica Plain 
 shops exhaust fans, steam and hot blast apparatus for 
 heating, ventilating and drying engines of all kinds, 
 electric motors, electric generating sets, electric 
 fans of largest size, forges, exhaust heads and many 
 other mechanical appliances. 
 
 Every detail of the manufacture is prepared in 
 the works at Jamaica Plain. The plans are pre¬ 
 pared in the designing room for each department, 
 and when the appliance has gone through the vari¬ 
 ous processes of manufacture it is shipped aboard 
 cars that back into the midst of the busy plant. 
 
 The company has its Boston office and salerooms 
 at 34 Oliver street. 
 
 Cdirc Clotb. 
 
 A MODERN MANUFACTURE WITH A CONSTANTLY 
 WIDENING FIELD—ITS WONDER¬ 
 FUL GROWTH. 
 
 The wire cloth industry is comparatively modern, 
 the demand for wire netting in nearly all forms 
 having arisen during the last half of the past cen¬ 
 tury. Nearly all the firms manufacturing wire 
 cloth have come into existence since 1850. Within 
 the past twenty-five years the industry has grown 
 wonderfully, and to-day wire cloth is used in many 
 forms of manufacturing, in building, on railroads 
 and in countless other ways. 
 
 The kinds of wire cloth most greatly in demand 
 are those used for window and door screens. It 
 was not many years ago that people in moderate 
 circumstances could not afford anything better for 
 their windows and doors than cloth mosquito net¬ 
 ting. The poorer people went without either. It 
 was not that they liked flies and mosquitoes better 
 than the people of the present generation, but the 
 wire cloth cost so much that it was beyond their 
 means. To-day wire cloth is manufactured by 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 67 
 
 machinery, which turns out thousands of square 
 feet daily, and the prices are so low that the poorest 
 persons can have it in their windows and doors of 
 their homes. 
 
 Massachusetts is the home of several great wire 
 cloth factories, where the best goods are turned out 
 to meet all the latest demands. The constant 
 building of homes in all parts of the country creates 
 the leading demand for wire cloth designed for 
 window screens, but there is a large trade in gal¬ 
 vanized cloth which will stand atmospheric varia¬ 
 tions, bed springs, poultry netting, woven wire 
 fencing in several styles, wire door mats, which are 
 superior both from a utilitarian and sanitary point 
 of view, locomotive sparker cloth, mining or battery 
 wire cloth and other kinds. Meshes are made ex¬ 
 pressly designed to meet the requirements of the 
 mechanic arts. There is really no limit to the kinds 
 of wire cloth made right here in the vicinity of 
 Boston. 
 
 The Clinton Wire Cloth Co.- — The first practical 
 power loom for weaving wire cloth was invented 
 and patented by Erastus B. Bigelow, of Clinton, 
 Mass., in 1857. 
 
 In 1856 The Clinton Wire Cloth Co. was incor¬ 
 porated with Horatio N. Bigelow, Erastus B. 
 Bigelow and John C. Hoadley, with a capital of 
 $20,000. 
 
 Throughout its history, this company has kept in 
 advance in all mechanical improvements. 
 
 One is the hollow cop, which made possible an 
 increased speed. The output in 1875 was about 
 5,000,000 square feet, while to-day it is over 106,- 
 000,000 square feet of wire cloth and nettings. 
 
 The Clinton Wire Cloth Co. has the most com¬ 
 plete netting plant in the world. Last year their 
 output exceeded 200,000 bales. 
 
 About everything in the line of woven wire this 
 company manufactures. A growing industry is the 
 manufacture of electrically welded fencing, for 
 which this company hold valuable patents. 
 
 In 1893 the company suffered heavily from fire, 
 and a loss of over $150,000. With characteristic 
 energy, the burned mills were at once replaced, and 
 at the present time the industry at Clinton occupies 
 upwards of thirty-four buildings, with a floor space 
 of approximately six and one-half acres. 
 
 From 1856 to his death in 1879, Honorable Erastus 
 B. Bigelow was President of this company. 
 
 Honorable Charles H. Waters was President from 
 1879 until his death in 1883, James H. Beal 
 succeeded him in 1883. 
 
 Chas. H. Waters was Treasurer from 1858 to 
 1865, and Chas A. Whiting, until 1874, when Charles 
 F. Fairbanks was elected. 
 
 Hs to “"Che JVIetals.” 
 
 AN IMPORTANT ELEMENT IN INDUSTRY WHICH 
 FINDS A GOOD MARKET IN BOSTON. 
 
 The trade divides to products of the ore mines 
 into iron and steel and “the metals.” The latter 
 classification includes lead, antimony, copper and 
 the other outputs of the smelting plants, which are 
 regular commercial commodities as raw materials. 
 
 Boston is a large jobbing centre for the raw 
 metals. A year’s dealings in its market foot up an 
 amount somewhat more than half way between five 
 and six million dollars. Although the great mining 
 developments in the States to the south and west 
 of New England have given rise to the upgrowth 
 of numerous distributing centres in their own 
 vicinity, the steady increase of manufacturing in 
 this part of the country, and especially of the making 
 of those things in which metals are used as raw ma¬ 
 terials, has kept the business of this city good. 
 Each year it shows improvement and the men who 
 have money invested find ample cause for satis¬ 
 faction. 
 
 The importance of the metals in Massachusetts in 
 particular and their rank as a commodity is well in¬ 
 dicated in the statistics of manufacture issued 
 annually by the State. Metals and metallic goods 
 is the classification which covers the sources of de¬ 
 mand for the raw materials and they stand more 
 than half-way up in the list of the nine leading 
 industries. 
 
 Linotype Metal.— One of the greatest industries 
 in the country to-day is the manufacture of the metal 
 used in the linotype machines. After the feasibility 
 of the machine was established came the necessity 
 of a metal to meet its requirements. A number of 
 companies were established in different parts of the 
 country, which made various grades with more or 
 less success, but it fell to the City of Quincy, Mass., 
 a suburb of Boston, to produce an article that is 
 universally pronounced as an excellent material, as 
 made by A. B. Packard, for the use of linotype ma¬ 
 chines and used by newspapers generally. 
 
 hardware Jobbing. 
 
 A TRADE WHICH AMOUNTS TO SIX MILLIONS A 
 YEAR AND IS GROWING IN SPITE OF 
 NEW COMPETITION. 
 
 A conservative estimate sets the total yearly busi¬ 
 ness of Boston’s jobbers in the manufactures of iron 
 and steel classed commercially as light and heavy 
 hardware, at about $6,000,000. Slowly but surely 
 the trade is expanding, and, as in other lines, there 
 is a steady and normal growth, with a good tone and 
 consequent encouraging outlook. 
 
68 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 The circumstances in which hardware jobbers 
 here conduct their business have altered greatly in 
 fifteen or twenty years. Factories have been put in 
 operation near the raw material supplies, wherever 
 they may be, all over the country, and the result 
 has been the springing up of distributing points for 
 the trade in nearly every one of those localities. 
 Boston has the New England field to itself, how¬ 
 ever, with practically no molestation, and certain 
 of the agricultural implements which find this their 
 natural salesmart are in world-wide use. 
 
 There are still in the hardware trade some of the 
 real old-time Boston business men—more, perhaps, 
 than most mercantile lines can boast now. They 
 served their apprenticeship in days when young 
 men had to understand the goods they dealt in from 
 the raw material to the finished article. Their 
 firms were established on the foundation laid by 
 this kind of training and have been built up in 
 accordance with the solid New England prin¬ 
 
 ciples of fair dealing, “right goods and right 
 profits. ” 
 
 Bigelow & Dowse Co. — One of the famous old 
 concerns of Boston is the Bigelow & Dowse Co., 
 whose establishment on Franklin street is one of 
 the important centres of the hardware trade of the 
 United States. Under one style or another the 
 house has been in business since 1839, when it was 
 known as Horton & Cordis, and its history is one of 
 uninterrupted development, which still shows in an 
 increasing business each month. 
 
 Samuel A Bigelow, now the President, had been 
 in the hardware trade for ten years when, in 1864, 
 he first became connected with this particular con¬ 
 cern, with which Charles F. Dowse, the present 
 Treasurer, had begun his mercantile career four 
 years previous. 
 
 The Secretary of the corporation, which was 
 formed under the Massachusetts laws in 1894, is 
 Charles .King. 
 
 
 
 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 69 
 
 
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Che [Manufacturing Crade in General [Making 
 Great Hdvances in face of [Many 
 Obstacles in the Last Decade. 
 
 THE OLD BAY STATE IN THE FOREGROUND—AN INCREASE OF $ 200,000,000 
 IN TEN YEARS—MANY NEW MANUFACTORIES, IN VARIOUS PARTS 
 OF THE COMMONWEALTH—THE FOREIGN MARKET 
 AND HOME CONSUMPTION. 
 
 8 23 HE East is pre-eminently the manufactur- 
 ^ ing centre of the world to-day, and Mass- 
 ]WJ achusetts stands in the foreground with 
 others of the New England States, having 
 made a remarkable increase in all branches of man¬ 
 ufacturing in the last decade. Although the past 
 ten years has not been a period of unbroken ad¬ 
 vancement, Bay State manufactures increased about 
 $200,000,000, or about 30 per cent., while the num¬ 
 ber of establishments increased from 26,923 to 29,178. 
 There has been a corresponding gain in capital in¬ 
 vested in these ten years, and also in the value of 
 the product of Massachusetts industries. 
 
 All of the distinctively manufacturing cities in 
 the State have made satisfactory advances, but Bos¬ 
 ton still continues to be the centre from which 
 springs the business control of the whole Common¬ 
 wealth. New manufactures have been produced, 
 while the tendency has been to improve each year 
 on the quality of the old. Foreign markets are 
 being invaded as never before by Massachusetts 
 manufactures, and the home consumption is con¬ 
 tinually enlarging. The outlook for manufacturing 
 was never brighter than now. 
 
 Rubber Belting. 
 
 OLDEST MANUFACTURERS IN THE COUNTRY 
 LOCATED IN BOSTON—GREAT 
 RECENT GROWTH. 
 
 It is possibly unknown to many persons that the 
 manufacture of rubber goods is an important indus¬ 
 try in Massachusetts, and is carried on extensively 
 in Boston. Several of the New England States con¬ 
 tain large rubber works, and Massachusetts is well 
 
 to the front in this line. Boston is the home of the 
 oldest rubber belting manufacturing concern in the 
 United States. This firm also has the record of 
 being the original makers of India rubber goods for 
 manufacturing purposes, having been established 
 three-quarters of a century ago and now being 
 capitalized with $1,000,000 paid in. The manufac¬ 
 ture of rubber goods in Massachusetts began, per¬ 
 force, in a small way, as the demands of seventy- 
 five years ago were very limited. 
 
 One of the earliest products of this line was fire 
 hose, but this has been greatly improved. Our an¬ 
 cestors were content to trust in Providence and let 
 the rain from the clouds water their gardens and 
 grass plots, but moderns are more impatient and use 
 city water drawn through a garden hose. 
 
 Improvements in railway mechanism have been 
 productive of the latest demand for rubber goods. 
 Up to date railroads now equip their trains with 
 three distinct hose attachments, the air brake hose, 
 steam car heating hose and air signal hose. These 
 are made of rubber and have greatly increased the 
 business of rubber goods manufacturers. 
 
 Another modern use of rubber is the manufacture 
 of air and steam drill hose for mining purposes. 
 
 Boston Belting Co.—The India rubber industry 
 in the United States was started in 1828, in Rox- 
 bury, by the Roxbury Rubber Co., and rubber man¬ 
 ufacturing developed its success when this original 
 company was merged into the Boston Belting Co., 
 a corporation formed in 1845. The Boston Belting 
 Co. was the first in the United States to manufac¬ 
 ture vulcanized rubber goods. At its factories the 
 process of vulcanizing rubber was perfected, and 
 there, also, the manufacture of all the various kinds 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 7i 
 
 of rubber goods was originated and developed. As the New England States and this naturally creates 
 
 the industry grew, rights to manufacture rubber a big market for the raw material. 
 
 boots, shoes, clothing, etc. were sold—The Boston The average person can hardly realize the millions 
 
 Belting Co. retaining the 
 right to manufacture me¬ 
 chanical rubber goods. 
 Much of the machinery 
 now extensively used in 
 the manufacture of me¬ 
 chanical rubber goods 
 was invented and per¬ 
 fected at the Boston Belt¬ 
 ing Co.’s plant. Mr. 
 James Bennett Forsyth, 
 who has been associated 
 with the company from 
 boyhood, and who is now 
 its Manufacturing Agent 
 and General Manager, 
 has been granted over 
 fifty patents relating to 
 rubber manufacturing 
 machinery and processes 
 of making rubber goods. 
 
 The factories of the 
 Boston Belting Co. are 
 located in Boston. They 
 give employment to 
 about 700 men. The 
 company operates stores 
 at 256-260 Devonshire 
 street, Boston, 100-102 
 Reade street, New York, 
 and 90 Pearl street, Buf¬ 
 falo. It has agencies in 
 all the important cities 
 
 of this country, and is 
 also represented in England, Germany, Switzerland 
 Australia and Japan. 
 
 Crude Rubber. 
 
 BOSTON THE EARLIEST HOME OF A TRADE 
 WHICH IS BECOMING MORE AND 
 MORE VALUABLE. 
 
 KING’S CHAPEL. 
 
 This is one of the most picturesque relics that the city 
 possesses. It has stood since 1754, having bee7i first used 
 in August of that year, after five years spent in building. 
 The design of the architect included a steeple , but none was 
 ever built. Through the siege of Boston it was the church 
 which the British officers regularly attended. 
 
 The burying ground at the side of the Chapel was the 
 first laid out in Boston. The exact date of its establish¬ 
 ment is not known, btit the first burial was in i6jo. The 
 church is still used every Sunday. 
 
 of pounds of rubber that 
 are required annually for 
 the production of these 
 goods. Popular stories 
 have been circulated 
 from time to time of 
 the probability of the 
 early exhaustion of the 
 rubber supply, the cause 
 ascribed being the im¬ 
 mense amount of rubber 
 imported in late years for 
 the making of rubber 
 tires for bicycles and 
 horseless vehicles. But 
 this alarm seems to have 
 been causeless. Great 
 quantities of Para, which 
 is the finest quality of 
 rubber in the world, 
 were imported in Bos¬ 
 ton and other ports dur¬ 
 ing the past year, as well 
 as tons of Congo rubber, 
 a more crude, but valu¬ 
 able variety. 
 
 The major portion of 
 crude rubber now comes 
 from Brazil and there is 
 every indication that the 
 rubber forests of that 
 country will not be ex¬ 
 hausted for a hundred 
 
 years to come. 
 
 Boston is the home of a large crude rubber im¬ 
 porting house, the manager of which said recently 
 that there was no indication that the rubber supply 
 would ever give out Business in this line was in 
 a flourishing condition throughout the past year, 
 showing a decided increase in the amount of rubber 
 imported. The outlook for 1902 is as bright as in 
 any industry in the country. 
 
 The handling of crude rubber is an industry car¬ 
 ried on in Boston to an extent not realized by the 
 majority of persons. There is every reason why 
 this business should occupy an important place in 
 the commercial world of the metropolis of the East. 
 The manufacture of rubber goods is an enormous 
 industry in Connecticut and not less so in Massa¬ 
 chusetts, the oldest firm of this nature in the coun¬ 
 try being located in Boston. Rubber footgear, 
 clothing, belting, hose of all sorts, bicycle tires and 
 hundreds of smaller articles are manufactured in 
 
 George A. Alden & Co.—Boston is represented 
 almost the world over by George A. Alden & Co., 
 importers, whose principal and main offices are at 
 170 Summer street, in the Wentworth Building. 
 The principal lines in which the firm deals are 
 crude rubber, gutta percha, shellac and cocoa, and 
 its business runs up in two figures of the millions. 
 
 This concern was started in 1855 by George A. 
 Alden, who began as a broker, and has grown 
 steadily until to-day it is represented in all of the 
 
72 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 foreign markets and maintains its own houses in 
 New York, in London and Liverpool, in Para and 
 Manaos, Brazil, in Paramaribo, Surinam and Trini¬ 
 dad, Port of Spain. In New York the rubber, shellac 
 and cocoa branches have each separate establish¬ 
 ments. The business of the firm and its various 
 branch houses and agencies amounts yearly to about 
 $16,000,000 in rubber alone. In shellac its annual 
 trade is a full million and in cocoa one and one-half 
 millions. 
 
 Besides these specialties Messrs. Alden & Co. 
 have a business in foreign gums amounting to 3,000 
 long tons every twelve months. 
 
 George A. Alden is one of Boston’s representa¬ 
 tives old-time merchants, the men who laid a good 
 share of the foundation of America’s present pros¬ 
 perous foreign trade. With him, in the firm, are 
 A. H. Alden and Arthur W. Stedman. They are 
 men of his own type. 
 
 fertilizer JYIaking. 
 
 HOW NEW ENGLAND’S NECESSITY HAS BENE¬ 
 FITED THE FARMERS OF THE WHOLE WORLD. 
 
 As the early New Englander wrested his liveli¬ 
 hood from the hardy soil, and as many of his 
 descendants are farmers to-day, it is only natural 
 that the interests of agriculture and the manufac¬ 
 ture and distribution of its aids and necessities 
 should engage the attention of some of the shrewd 
 and skillful men of the Pilgrim Commonwealths. 
 The efforts which personal needs first called forth 
 were, by degrees, broadened, and the Western 
 pioneer looked to his Eastern home for the means 
 of tilling the prairies and making fertile the great 
 wastes which have since his time become the fer¬ 
 tile gardens of the world. 
 
 From the axe which cleared the forests, the 
 plow which broke the ground and the various 
 implements which cultivated and harvested the 
 crops, the natural step was toward increasing the 
 fertility of the land. The New England soil was 
 rough and hard in places and needed encourage¬ 
 ment to do its best. Then science was called into 
 consultation with the farmer’s experience, and 
 experiment and practical test, patience and skill 
 established and built up, at length, a great fertili¬ 
 zer industry. Now it employs hundreds of men 
 and thousands dollars everv day. 
 
 Lowf.ll Fertilizer Co.— Few concerns in any 
 line of business have the facilities for producing 
 the best possible results that the Lowell Fertilizer 
 Co. has with its offices at No. 44 North Market 
 street, Boston, and its works at South Lowell, 
 
 Mass. It manufactures the highest grade of animal 
 fertilizers and imports and deals in the finest agricul¬ 
 tural chemicals, including in its specialties also a 
 food for cattle and several poultry foods. Its goods 
 have made its brand “ Lowell” known all over the 
 world. 
 
 The company is capitalized for a million dollars 
 and consists of E. C. Swift, G. F. Swift and J. F. 
 Lockwood. It was established in 1895 and the 
 great Swift’s packing establishment furnishes an 
 unequalled supply of many of its materials. 
 
 Glue and Curled F)air. 
 
 MATERIALS ONCE CONSIDERED WASTE NOW 
 VALUABLE IN COMMERCE—AN 
 INTERESTING HISTORY. 
 
 The average person is probably quite ignorant of 
 the origin of glue, and unaware how extensively 
 the substance is used in many branches of manu¬ 
 facturing. And yet the making of glue is an im¬ 
 portant industry in Eastern Massachusetts. One 
 firm, which has its headquarters in Boston, has a 
 large factory in the environs of this city and an 
 enormous plant in Philadelphia, employing in all 
 several hundred hands. Glue and curled hair are 
 turned out in great quantities annually. 
 
 BAEDER, ADAMSON & CO., 
 
 MANUFACTURERS 
 
 GLUE, CURLED HAIR, SAND PAPER, EMERY 
 CLOTH, HAIR FELTING, ETC. 
 
 FACTORIES: 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 WOBURN, MASS., 
 NEWARK, N. J. 
 
 STORES: 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, 
 NEW YORK, 
 BOSTON, 
 CHICAGO. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 73 
 
 The manufacture of glue is an industry which had 
 a very primitive origin. The glutinous substance 
 is extracted from the hides of cattle, and in the 
 ancient days, principally in Europe, the country 
 butcher used the odds and ends of his hides in 
 making glue, which he peddled about the country, 
 or disposed of to wholesalers. In the early days 
 of this country concerns were started which made a 
 business of buying up all the hide scraps from the 
 butchers and making them into glue, and very 
 shortly the country butcher found he could dispose 
 of the scraps in this way to a better advantage than 
 he could make the glue himself. In this way the 
 
 foundation stones were laid of an industry which 
 has steadily grown in importance and volume of 
 output. To-day the glue manufacturers look to the 
 tanneries mostly for their raw material. 
 
 The raw material for curled hair is principally 
 imported from South America. The hair is from 
 the tails and manes of horses which are raised in 
 great numbers on the plains of South America, the 
 horses being sheared every three years. The hair 
 is strong and wiry and is curled by a process of 
 braiding. Curled hair is used in upholstering furn¬ 
 iture and mattresses, and the amount consumed 
 annually for this purpose is constantly increasing. 
 
In the public Service—Cbe Celepbone System, 
 Gas and Ice Companies, wbicb Supply 
 Important and Accessary JNccds 
 
 of tbe people. 
 
 INTERESTING FEATURES AND RESPONSIBILITY OF THESE INVALUABLE INSTITU¬ 
 TIONS—THE MAGNIFICENT TELEPHONIC SYSTEM OF NEW ENGLAND — 
 BOSTON’S EXCELLENT GAS SERVICE IS UNSURPASSED ANY¬ 
 WHERE—EVERY FACILITY. IMPROVEMENT AND 
 CONVENIENCE GIVEN THE CITIZEN. 
 
 HERE are certain features of modern life 
 that are in such constant use that the 
 average person is apt to overlook their 
 importance. The magnificent telephone 
 system which extends all over New England is per¬ 
 haps one of these. But if it were discontinued for 
 a day consternation would ensue. Nowhere in the 
 world is the telephone system more complete or 
 better adapted to public needs than it is in New 
 England. 
 
 With the advance of electricity one is apt to for¬ 
 get gas, but it is indispensable. Gas to-day is em¬ 
 ployed for a hundred purposes where it was one a 
 few years ago. Its importance as a fuel is every 
 year becoming more apparent. Boston gas is sup¬ 
 plied from plants equipped with every modern 
 accessory. 
 
 It is said that Americans have to go to London to 
 appreciate what it is to be without ice. Certainly 
 Bostonians will never learn at home. Every facility 
 in the way of purity of quality, reasonableness of 
 price, and convenience in distribution is given to 
 the people of the Hub. 
 
 Telephones. 
 
 THE BINDING TIE OF ACTIVE MODERN LIFE. 
 
 The wonderful story of the telephone is thor¬ 
 oughly American. The little instrument which has 
 become such a common daily necessity and con¬ 
 venience that its marvels are seldom thought of 
 now practically owes its being to American genius, 
 
 and it has been brought to its highest state of per¬ 
 fection in this country. And men of Massachu¬ 
 setts—most of them men who lived within the circle 
 of “Greater Boston”—had large shares in its sug¬ 
 gestion and invention. 
 
 In 1837 Dr. C. G. Page, of Salem, Mass., drew 
 attention to the sound given forth by an electro¬ 
 magnet when the electric circuit is broken or 
 closed, and this is the first hint in the application 
 of electricity to the telephone. It was the basis 
 of the first experiments in the transmission of mu¬ 
 sic and speech. The earliest worker at the mod¬ 
 ern telephone, and the man to whom the present 
 great commercial importance of the instrument is 
 due was A. G. Bell. Prof. Dolbear, for so many 
 years at the head of the physics department of 
 Tufts College, made simultaneous experiments with 
 Bell, and practically simultaneous but independent 
 discoveries relating to the adaptation of the electro¬ 
 magnet to sound transmission. 
 
 Thomas Edison patented a peculiar and novel 
 transmitter and receiver in 1877, and Elisha Gray 
 of Boston performed experiments very similar to 
 Edison’s, which he reported in 1875 and 1878. Bell 
 in a patent and Gray in a caveat, which was, curi¬ 
 ously enough, filed but two hours after Bell’s papers, 
 recognized the principle on which the telephone in¬ 
 strument of to-day is constructed, and their idea 
 has been perhaps the most fruitful of any modifica¬ 
 tion of telephone apparatus introduced. Emile 
 Berliner and Edison were next in the field with 
 new transmitters, and in the early part of 1878 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 75 
 
 Prof. Hughes put forth the microphone, of which 
 some of the best modern transmitters are modifica¬ 
 tions. One of the most perfect transmitters, and 
 the one most commonly employed in this country 
 in particular, was contrived by Francis Blake, also 
 an American. 
 
 The telephone has then been in existence about 
 a quarter of a century, although it has been in gen¬ 
 eral use but little more than a score of years. Its 
 development has been one of the most remarkable 
 feats of an age of scientific wonders. From a mere 
 local convenience it has spread to a long-distance 
 service that is one of the elements which make pos¬ 
 sible modern business. The fact that it is instan¬ 
 taneous, that it permits of the discussion of a mat¬ 
 ter by two persons without the delay incident to 
 other means of com¬ 
 munication, and that, 
 at little cost, it makes 
 it possible to save the 
 expense and time 
 formerly necessary 
 for a personal inter¬ 
 view has not onlv 
 made the long-dis¬ 
 tance telephone pop¬ 
 ular, but has been 
 
 an incentive to its 
 extension and to 
 many improvements 
 in its working. The 
 result is an almost 
 ideal service 
 throughout the 
 United States, in 
 which New England seems to be most favorably 
 treated. 
 
 Long distance telephoning began in this country 
 in 1883, when New York and Cleveland, 650 miles 
 apart, conversed with each other. To insure dis¬ 
 tinctness over such a distance, especially fine in¬ 
 struments and wires were employed, and instead of 
 using the ground for a return conductor, as is done 
 in the local service, two wires of copper were used. 
 For several days after the great blizzard of 1888 
 the only direct means of communication between 
 Boston and New York was by long distance tele¬ 
 phone, its lines alone having withstood the force of 
 the storm. 
 
 In 1892 New York and Chicago were connected 
 by telephone. This was a great advance, for though 
 the distance between the cities is nearly a thousand 
 miles, communications were spoken and heard at 
 either end with as much ease as if they had been 
 neighborhood conversation. Questions whispered 
 into the transmitter were plainly understood and 
 
 BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY. 
 
 This is the largest library in the world for free circulation. The 
 present building was opened to the public in 189s, a?id has room for two 
 million volumes, beside ample space for students and readers. It 
 houses, too, world famous sculptures and pamtings, mcluding -work 
 from the chisel of St. Gaudens, and the products of the brushes of 
 Sargent, Abbey and De Chevamies. 
 
 answered in like manner. The New York-Chicago 
 line was twice as long as any that had been oper¬ 
 ated up to that time. The year after its opening it 
 was put to what was in that day considered the 
 supreme test. The wire was connected at New 
 York with the Boston lines, which increased the 
 distance traversed to 1,259 miles, and a program 
 of songs and recitations given in this city was 
 listened to by a distinguished company invited to 
 witness the triumph in Chicago. 
 
 Five years ago the longest telephone line in 
 operation anywhere was the one from Boston to 
 Memphis, Tenn., 1,600 miles away. Since then 
 another long step has been taken, and now Boston 
 and Omaha, Neb., or Kansas City, Kan.,—the latter 
 being the longest distance the telephone has yet 
 
 covered—chat daily 
 and as comfortably 
 and distinctly as if 
 they were on oppo¬ 
 site sides of a fifty- 
 foot street. These 
 results are due 
 largely to the metal¬ 
 lic circuit and the so- 
 called long distance 
 transmitter, the 
 receiver having been 
 altered but little 
 since its first intro¬ 
 duction. 
 
 The more general 
 understanding of the 
 advantages of the tel- 
 ephone have 
 brought, of course, a tremendous expansion of the 
 telephone service. The establishment of “pay sta¬ 
 tions ” for the use of the general public has been a 
 great convenience and has met with such a demand 
 that the growth of this branch of the telephone busi¬ 
 ness alone has been phenomenal, its usefulness being 
 made the more readily available by the addition of 
 telephone service to the long list of things which can 
 be had by dropping a coin in the slot. Individual 
 instruments which, set on a metal standard, may be 
 moved from place to place with ease are nowadays 
 a necessary part of the equipment of every well- 
 furnished business establishment, and progressive 
 hotels place in every room a telephone which con¬ 
 nects directly with the outer world. The most 
 recent innovation, installed only in the largest cities 
 as yet on account of its great expense, is the com¬ 
 mon battery system by which communication is 
 established with the central office when the receiver 
 is lifted from its holder, so that only one hand is 
 engaged in using the instrument. A little button 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 76 
 
 which, when pressed, isolates the transmitter so 
 that the listener at the other end of the wire can be 
 cut off for a moment without the necessity of dis¬ 
 connecting him altogether is one of the minor ad¬ 
 vantages introduced within a year or two. 
 
 This tells of the mechanical improvement in this 
 epitome of modernism, the telephone, and of its 
 increased value, to the cities and the business man, 
 but there is another chapter which is, in its way, 
 quite as interesting and important. It refers to the 
 use of telephones in factories and mines, in the 
 rural districts and on farms. Where in the old 
 days personal presence was the only way of super¬ 
 intending a 
 large manu¬ 
 facturing 
 plant, now 
 telephones 
 connect the 
 directing 
 head with his 
 1 ieu tenants 
 and puts him 
 in direct and 
 instant touch 
 with every 
 department 
 which comes 
 under his 
 manage¬ 
 ment. The 
 miner, hun¬ 
 dreds of feet 
 fro m d a y- 
 light and the 
 open air, used 
 often to be 
 cut off from 
 com m u n ica- 
 t ion with 
 those on 
 w h o m h i s 
 
 safety depended while he was at work. Now the 
 telephone links the furthest tunnel with the shaft 
 opening. The use of field telephones in military 
 operations is being rapidly developed, too. 
 
 The “country districts” are finding the telephone 
 a great boon, and as it becomes better known are 
 taking it up rapidly. It has done more than any 
 one other thing, unless it be the railroads, steam 
 and trolley, to take the comforts and progress of 
 modern life into the remote places. On the great 
 farms of the West it connects the headquarters at 
 the ranch house with distant fields and ranges even; 
 and saves the farmer the necessity of going to his 
 market to dispose of his crop by giving him direct 
 
 verbal connection with his customer. In the East, 
 where distances are less magnificent, it is of equal 
 value in the business intercourse of the farmer and 
 plays a prominent part in his social relations. It 
 has proved of extreme value in many an emergency. 
 
 The equipment of the long distance and local 
 telephone systems in New England includes every 
 improvement/ There in that part of the country 
 east of the Mississippi River 375,000 telephone sub¬ 
 scribers, and New England has perhaps a larger 
 proportion of them than any other one section when 
 its population is considered. 
 
 The American Telephone and Telegraph Co.— 
 
 Out of the 
 invention of 
 Alexander 
 Graham Bell, 
 which was 
 made known 
 to the world 
 a little more 
 than twenty- 
 six years ago, 
 has grown up 
 a great in¬ 
 dustry which 
 had its incep¬ 
 tion in Bos¬ 
 ton, and has 
 been control¬ 
 led by Mass- 
 achu setts 
 men and 
 M a s s a c h u- 
 setts capital 
 from the be- 
 g i n n i n g. 
 Through the 
 operations of 
 its local com¬ 
 panies, The 
 American 
 
 Telephone and Telegraph Co. represents a vast sys¬ 
 tem of telephonic intercommunication with nearly a 
 million subscribers in the United States. This 
 service involves the use of about two million miles 
 of wire, while the number of telephones now under 
 rental exceeds two million. It should be under¬ 
 stood that the word “telephone” is here used in 
 the strict sense, and that the equipment furnished 
 a subscriber, commonly called “a telephone,” real¬ 
 ly includes two telephones, a receiver and a trans¬ 
 mitter. 
 
 While the local telephone business within the 
 limits of the territory belonging to each local com¬ 
 pany is in its hands exclusively, the more extended 
 
 PUBLIC GARDEN AND WASHINGTON STATUE. 
 
 In one of the pleasantest spots in the famous Public Gardens is Thomas Ball’s 
 e(/uestarian statue of Washington. It represents Washington at the time of mid¬ 
 dle life , the countenance and attitude of the figure full of force and vigor. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 11 
 
 business, that commonly called “Long Distance,” 
 being that portion which extends from a point 
 within the territory of one company to a point 
 within the territory of another, is reserved by The 
 American Telephone and Telegraph Co., and is 
 conducted as a separate department. Its lines ex¬ 
 tend to and connect all the principal cities of the 
 United States east of the one-hundredth meridian, 
 which practically bisects Texas, Kansas, Nebraska 
 and the Dakotas. The company has nearly four 
 hundred offices in the cities and towns within these 
 limits, but its business comes, mainly, directly from 
 the homes and offices of the subscribers of the local 
 companies, the latter always having facilities for 
 connecting with the “Long Distance” lines. 
 
 An estimate, based upon the best information 
 obtainable, places the number of daily telephonic 
 conversations in the United States at three-quarters 
 of a million, and annual aggreg-ate of nearly nine¬ 
 teen hundred million. And it is an interesting fact 
 that, as time goes on, the amount of use of the 
 telephone increases steadily,-—not only because the 
 number of subscribers is greater, but also because 
 the whole body of subscribers use it more and more. 
 The telephone habit is a growing one. 
 
 The American Telephone and Telegraph Co. 
 owns and occupies a large nine-story building, cov¬ 
 ering the numbers 117 to 127 Milk street, in this 
 city. In this building are also the general offices 
 of The New England Telephone and Telegraph Co., 
 the “local” company doing business throughout 
 the greater part of New England. The upper story 
 contains the mammoth switchboard of “main,” the 
 central office which serves the chief business sec¬ 
 tion of Boston. This switchboard was installed and 
 put into operation about a month ago, its prede¬ 
 cessor having been condemned as out of date, be- 
 cause of the rapid advance in the art. In the great 
 room in which it and other auxiliary boards stand, 
 there are over 350 employed operators. For over 
 twenty years the service has been continuous, never 
 ceasing nights, Sundays or holidays. 
 
 Throughout the country, in the early days, learn¬ 
 ing to become an operator was a simple matter, but 
 with the change in apparatus, the enormous increase 
 in the number of subscribers, the great diversity of 
 classes of service, and the vastly increased use, it 
 takes time to become an expert. It is a mistake to 
 suppose that the operators become mere machines. 
 There is a great diversity of things to be done, and 
 they must be done on the instant. That takes 
 brains. It is the imperative rule that subscribers 
 must be treated with courtesy. It is not pretended 
 that this rule is never broken. There are few rules 
 of which that can be said. But it is fair to say that 
 if any one will visit one of these great hives of 
 
 steady and exacting work, and see what promptness 
 and accuracy are necessary, he will be disposed to 
 be a little lenient, and admit that some allowance 
 must be made for human nature. And he will gfo 
 away with the determination to be courteous, pa¬ 
 tient and good-natured on his side, when things tele¬ 
 phonic do not go just right; and so help out, rather 
 than complicate the difficulty,—whatever it may be. 
 
 The operators form but a portion of the great body 
 of employees that find employment because of the 
 telephone. There is a vast amount of outside work 
 in the construction and maintenance of lines over¬ 
 head and underground. There is, in every city, a 
 large force of inspectors constantly employed in 
 looking after apparatus and keeping it in proper 
 condition, and a very large office force is required 
 in the accounting departments. Actually employed 
 by The American Telephone and Telegraph Co. and 
 its allied companies, are about 35,000 persons, but 
 this is very far from representing the whole num¬ 
 ber to whom the coming of the telephone has given 
 work. There are several large manufacturing 
 establishments devoted very largely to the pro¬ 
 duction of apparatus for the use of the companies, 
 while a great number of concerns all over the 
 country, engaged in many lines of production, find 
 telephone companies among their largest custom¬ 
 ers. Like many another labor-saving machine, the 
 telephone has opened new lines of industry and 
 has benefited others already established. 
 
 Che 1Vew Bngland Celephone and 
 Celegraph Co. 
 
 What would this progressive age do without the 
 telephone—the means of bringing the commercial, 
 industrial, and social worlds together? In itself, the 
 telephone stands for progress; it enables business 
 to be carried on in different parts of the country, 
 with the same ease and dispatch as if in one room, 
 with the same satisfaction, of personal call. 
 
 To grasp some idea of the value of the telephone 
 service, think what would be the result if all the 
 telephones in the country should suddenly be re¬ 
 moved. Business would be immediately paralyzed. 
 Industries would come to a standstill, and the world 
 would practically stop. Thus is to be seen that the 
 telephone is in reality the mouthpiece of the country, 
 and through its service daily depends the govern¬ 
 ment of millions of dollars of invested capital. The 
 ending of the present century is finding the tele¬ 
 phone one of the leading factors of progress and 
 civilization, and its use could not be dispensed with. 
 The manufacturer, the lawyer, the doctor, by its 
 use are brought directly in contact with their inter- 
 
78 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 ests, their clients and patients. Government could 
 not be successfully carried on without this means of 
 communication, as it brings the heads of depart¬ 
 ments into close relations with subordinates. Even 
 the household finds the telephone an important 
 agency. 
 
 The New England Telephone and Telegraph Co. 
 is that branch of the great Bell system which man¬ 
 ages and controls the telephone service of New 
 England. The company’s headquarters are in the 
 magnificent building Nos. 117-129 Milk street, Bos¬ 
 ton. This company has the absolute control of 
 what is known as “local business,” which means 
 all subscribers in New England, and has in addition 
 direct connections with all principal points in the 
 States east of the Mississippi River. 
 
 The tariff is based in New England on a three- 
 minute rate, and a three-minute conversation will 
 comprise about 300 words. Night rates are one- 
 half the day rate. 
 
 The demand for residence phones is rapidly in¬ 
 creasing. People who have once had a telephone in 
 their house find it absolutely indispensable. It 
 saves a vast deal of money, labor and trouble, and 
 is a sort of insurance against worry and grave emer¬ 
 gencies. It is the most accommodating kind of a 
 member of the family, for it will do so much for so 
 little. 
 
 A “business house” can hardly earn the title 
 without a telephone, for the “phone ” does the “talk¬ 
 ing,” and usually the one who does the talking does 
 the business. A message by “phone” always 
 brings an immediate answer. The officers of The 
 New England Telephone and Telegraph Co. are as 
 follows: Thomas Sherwin, President; H. S. Hyde, 
 Vice-President; W. R. Driver, Treasurer; G. W. 
 Leedom, Secretary and Auditor; Jasper N. Keller, 
 General Manager and William J. Denver, General 
 Assistant Manager. 
 
 Gas Lighting. 
 
 AN ENORMOUS INVESTMENT AND GOOD SERVICE. 
 
 The lighting of a great city is not only a most 
 important public service, but it is a most difficult 
 one to perform satisfactorily, and to say that Boston 
 has cause for much gratulation is high praise for its 
 gas companies. They perform their duties to 
 consumers as well as the gas companies of any of 
 the big municipalities and for a much lower charge 
 than many of them. 
 
 There are ten gas companies in Boston, four of 
 them associated in each of two groups or combina¬ 
 tions and the other two entirely independent. These 
 latter have territory which is cut off from the city 
 proper by the harbor and by the Charles River, one 
 
 operating in East Boston exclusively and the other 
 only in Charlestown. The total capitalization of the 
 ten companies, including a certain amount in bonds 
 and coupon notes issued by one of them, is $12,- 
 529,600. 
 
 With such financial resources the gas companies 
 are in a position to render most efficient service at 
 reasonable cost, and that appears always to have 
 been their endeavor. Newly opened districts have 
 been promptly taken care of as the city has grown, 
 and that has been very rapidly at times. There has 
 been no niggardliness, but an apparent disposition 
 to deal fairly and even generously with the con¬ 
 sumer and with the municipality in many regards, 
 in return for which numerous valuable privileges 
 have been bestowed. The rivalry among the cor¬ 
 porations has been almost uniformly of the friendly 
 kind, which has benefited them and their patrons 
 alike in the end. 
 
 There has been an enormous increase, of course, 
 in both the territory and the population of Boston 
 since the first of the city’s gas companies began 
 business in 1823. Then its area was two or three 
 square miles, and the number of its people was about 
 50,000. The annexation of adjoining towns and 
 cities and the later growth of the enlarged city have 
 produced a municipality which to-day covers thirty- 
 eight and one-half square miles and has a population 
 of five hundred and sixty-odd thousands. Even 
 though the annexed districts had companies of their 
 own which are still in active existence, the business 
 of furnishing light for growing Boston was a tre¬ 
 mendous one and involved a great many difficulties 
 and considerable risks; but it has kept pace in 
 efficiency with the heavy demands made upon it. 
 
 Including the semi-rural fringe which hangs about 
 the edge of all large cities, sparsely populated and 
 not yet ready for all of the improvements of the 
 more built-up sections, there are upward of 500 
 miles of public highway in Boston, counting the 
 innumerable little alleys and avenues in the old 
 part of “ down town,” on which practically no build¬ 
 ings front. T-hrough these streets and byways run 
 841 miles of gas mains, forty-nine miles being in 
 Charlestown, twenty-two miles in East Boston, and 
 the remaining 770 miles covering the city proper 
 and the southern and western districts. These 
 pipes supply the illuminant which is measured by 
 98,211 metres. 
 
 There are, then, nearly 100,000 customers of the 
 various companies, and in the last fiscal year they 
 consumed the almost incomprehensible total of five 
 and a half billion—or, to be exact, $5,417,829,689— 
 cubic feet of gas. Coal gas and a mixture of coal 
 and water gases were the commodities supplied in 
 the period to which these figures refer. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 79 
 
 Many improve¬ 
 ments in the methods 
 of making and sup¬ 
 plying gas and of 
 measuring and using 
 it have been devel¬ 
 oped since its first 
 introduction to Bos¬ 
 ton, and the various 
 companies of the city 
 have been quick to 
 see their advantage 
 and to adopt them, 
 whether they were to 
 benefit the corpora¬ 
 tion or the consumer. 
 
 The quantity avail¬ 
 able has always been 
 
 abundant, and its quality has given general satisfac¬ 
 tion. There has always been a reserve supply, and 
 indeed of late years, extra plants, which could be 
 used in an emergency. Any kind of disturbance of 
 the service has been as quickly set right as detected 
 and the promptness shown in all manner of repairs 
 has been thoroughly commendable. 
 
 The work of laying mains and putting in connect¬ 
 ing pipes has been done thoroughly and carefully 
 in the beginning, with the result that, when unmo¬ 
 lested by outer influences, it has been remarkably 
 permanent. Boston has been happily free from the 
 extensive tearing up of pavements and digging up 
 of roadbeds, with the consequent interference with 
 traffic, which so sorely afflicts many large cities. 
 This is in itself reason for no little complacency. 
 
 The mechanism by which the amount of gas sup¬ 
 plied to the individual consumer is measured—the 
 metre, as it is commonly called—has been improved 
 in many ways since its original invention, and Bos¬ 
 ton gas users have benefited by all of them. The 
 most recent of them is the automatic purchasing 
 arrangement, by which the customer drops a coin 
 into the metre and is forthwith furnished the num¬ 
 ber of cubic feet for which the money he deposits 
 will pay. This avoids the trouble of being obliged 
 to have the gas cut off from premises which are va¬ 
 cated or are temporarily unoccupied and the annoy¬ 
 ance of having new connections made and a new 
 metre installed whenever it is desirable to have 
 the service recommenced, and has proved very 
 popular. 
 
 Since the use of gas as fuel became general the 
 various companies have been most liberal in afford¬ 
 ing facilities for its introduction for cooking and 
 heating. The quality of the supply has proved ex¬ 
 cellent for these purposes, and its general desira¬ 
 bility such that there is said to be no other city in 
 
 NORTH END WORKS. BOSTON GAS LIGHT CO. 
 
 the East, dependent on manufactured gas, in which 
 so much of the commodity is employed in other 
 ways than illumination. 
 
 The gas companies of Massachusetts are under 
 the supervision of a State board which tests at fre¬ 
 quent intervals the character and lighting power of 
 the illuminant being supplied and examines the 
 metres in use for their accuracy as occasion re¬ 
 quires. The matter of piping and of fixtures is 
 also subject to its constant inspection. This sys¬ 
 tem has proved of mutual advantage to the consum¬ 
 ers and the manufacturers, who co-operate earnest¬ 
 ly in the commission’s work. 
 
 The Boston Gas Light Co. —The Boston Gas¬ 
 light Co. incorporated in 1822. Dr. John W. 
 Webster, by whom the first experiments had been 
 initiated, became the principal Manager of the new 
 company. The first President was Bryant P. Tilden, 
 and among the stockholders were Charles P. Curtis, 
 John C. Gray, Francis C. Gray, Horace Gray, 
 Patrick T. Jackson, William Prescott, Franklin 
 Dexter and Nathan Hale. In spite of the fore¬ 
 thought and energy of these gentlemen the new 
 enterprise proved very successful, and some of the 
 stockholders gave away their shares, rather than 
 become liable for further assessments. 
 
 The manufacture was discontinued; but it was 
 soon resumed under the direction of Mr. Henry 
 Robinson, who had already established gas works in 
 Baltimore. He came to Boston, in 1827; and a 
 small lot was bought for the erection of new works. 
 Mr. Robinson was chosen President and the enter¬ 
 prise began to prosper. Since that time, the com¬ 
 pany has quietly pursued its own way. In no other 
 Atlantic city has gas been sold lower than in Boston. 
 In 1828 when the affairs of the company were first 
 put on a commercial basis, the price of gas was 
 
8o 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 fixed at $5.00 per thousand feet, with an annual 
 meter-rent. Soon the meter-rent was abolished, 
 and by successive steps the price of gas has been 
 reduced to $1.00. The Boston Gas Light Co. prob¬ 
 ably possesses the best administrative force of any 
 gas company in the country. It has always led in 
 applying modern appliances and the best of modern 
 manufacturing methods to the manufacture and 
 distribution of gas, and at the present time no city 
 in the country is so well equipped in this direction 
 as Boston. 
 
 BOSTON GAS LIGHT CO.’S OFFICE 
 BUILDING, 
 
 24 IVest street , Boston. 
 
 Boston, being built largely on made land with its 
 crooked, narrow streets, presents many problems to 
 the gas manufacturer. But in spite of all the dif¬ 
 ficulties The Boston Gas Light Co. has made a record 
 that stands almost unique for furnishing a high 
 quality gas at a minimum of cost and leakage. 
 
 The company’s offices are at No. 24 West street, 
 (shown in cut) and adapted to the use of the com¬ 
 pany. The company manufactures a large part of 
 
 its gas at its North End Works, covering seven acres 
 of land, where it manufactures a high grade water 
 gas, its candle-power being nearly twenty-six 
 candles, which in quality and cheapness is the best. 
 
 Boston has reason to be proud of the fact that one 
 of its most successful corporations is also one of its 
 most progressive and has been among the first in 
 the country to adopt the most improved modern 
 methods. The Boston Gas Light Co. to-day stands 
 as perhaps the most representative of solid Boston 
 institutions, old in years, conservative in methods, 
 and always among the first to adopt and adapt 
 modern improvements. 
 
 That the sales of gas are constantly increasing is 
 shown by the following: 
 
 i8 99 
 
 1,066,948,430 
 
 cubic feet. 
 
 1900 
 
 1,097,648,750 
 
 ( i 
 
 i 6 
 
 1901 
 
 r , 1 36,2 IO , 980 
 
 i i 
 
 i i 
 
 Brookline Gas Light Co.— It wason February 19, 
 1853 almost half a century ago, that a charter was 
 granted to the Brookline Gas Light Co. At that 
 time gas was a novelty, and it was a number of years 
 before the manufacture of gas by this company was 
 met by a large demand. The company has now a 
 capital stock of $2,000,000 and assets that were 
 quoted in 1899 as amounting to$q,627,907. Its sales 
 for the same year were 690,110,000 million feet of 
 gas. This company sells gas in all parts of Boston 
 and Brookline, Mass., although until 1893, its field 
 was confined to Brookline and that part of Boston 
 known as Brighton. 
 
 The development of electricity demonstrated to 
 the managers of the Brookline Gas Light Co. that, 
 in the sparsely settled communities like Brighton 
 and Brookline, there would be greater economy in 
 the use of electricity for illuminating purposes than 
 in the use of gas. As a business policy, therefore, 
 this company extended its plant and proceeded to 
 manufacture electricity for these communities, and 
 now sells electric current in all parts of Brookline 
 and Brighton. Its electric plants are valued at about 
 $113,000 and its electric lines are valued at about 
 $162,000. 
 
 In 1893, the Brookline Gas Light Co. had a capi¬ 
 tal stock of $500,000, total assets of $1,111,985.36, 
 total liabilities of $1,068,116.67, showing a surplus 
 of $43,868.69, and it was selling about 66,000,000 feet 
 of gas. In less than ten years its assets have been 
 more than quadrupled, and its sales increased more 
 than ten-fold. There was a reason for the great 
 advance outside of the ordinary growth of business. 
 Owing to a contest between the Standard Oil inter¬ 
 ests of New York, and Mr. Addicks, the controlling 
 spirit of the Bay State Co., the Standard Oil party 
 bought the controlling interest of the Brookline Co. 
 and entered into the Boston field. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England 
 
 81 
 
 This action was the beginning - of a spirited com¬ 
 petition which continued from 1893 to 1896. On 
 May 2, 1896 a contract was made between the Bos¬ 
 ton Gas Light Co. and the Brookline Gas Light Co. 
 This contract had the effect of putting an end to 
 the struggle for possession of the Boston field. The 
 Brookline Gas Light Co. by the force of new capital 
 and by the enterprise and financial ability of such a 
 man as Henry M. Whitney, had developed in a few 
 years to one of the controlling factors in the gas 
 situation of the great City of Boston. 
 
 The officers and directors of the Brookline Gas 
 Light Co. are: Directors, Henry M. Whitney, of 
 Brookline, President; Wm. L. Elkins, Jr., of Phila¬ 
 delphia; George H. Finn of Brookline; Vice-Presi¬ 
 dent, R. W. Lord of Boston; F. Tudor, Jr., of 
 Brookline, Treasurer and General Manager. 
 
 The head office of this company is at 24 West 
 street, Boston, Mass. Its works are located in Brook¬ 
 line and Allston, Mass. 
 
 Z.bc Supply of Xcc. 
 
 WHOLESOME, PLENTIFUL AND ECONOMICAL—A 
 PUBLIC NECESSITY CAREFULLY MET. 
 
 In a climate of sudden changes, involving in the 
 summer months periods of considerable heat, ac¬ 
 companied by extreme humidity, the public health 
 and comfort are not a little dependent on a whole¬ 
 some and plentiful supply of ice, and in this respect 
 Boston is well looked after. Not infrequently in 
 so large a city sickness has been found directly 
 traceable to the ice distributed among its people, 
 but Boston has never been troubled in such a way, 
 a fortunate condition, doubtless arising directly from 
 the extreme care with which the sources of supply are 
 constantly guarded from pollution and the judgment 
 used in cutting, shipping and handling the com¬ 
 modity itself. 
 
 Boston’s ice comes very largely from waters 
 owned outright by the companies with which the 
 consumer has his dealings. Thus the “crop” can 
 
 be carefully watched and kept in condition to de¬ 
 velop the best quality, and the “harvesting” and 
 distribution are accomplished at the least practicable 
 expense. It is noteworthy in this connection that 
 the consumer derives his due benefit from all of 
 these things, obtaining excellent ice at a very reason¬ 
 able cost. 
 
 The ice which is furnished to Bostonians is pri¬ 
 marily a product of the pure springs and swift run¬ 
 ning streams which feed New England’s ponds and 
 lakes. Much of it is cut in Massachusetts and much 
 more in New Hampshire and Maine. 
 
 The Boston Ice Co.—I t was in May, 1866, almost 
 thirty-six years ago, that The Boston Ice Co. was 
 established for the purpose of conducting a whole¬ 
 sale and retail ice business in Boston, and in the 
 neighboring cities and towns. Previous to that 
 time, the ice business had been carried on in a 
 somewhat primitive fashion, without organization, 
 and lacking the economical advantage of large 
 operations. With the establishment of The Boston 
 Ice Co. there began a change in the ice business, and 
 it is this company which, by the adoption of sys¬ 
 tematic methods, and through the courage to under¬ 
 taking large operations, it has developed the pres¬ 
 ent perfection of the ice-trade, and thus made 
 itself and its product a necessity to the public. 
 
 The business of this company has grown to the 
 extent that about seven hundred employees are re¬ 
 quired to meet the demand of its customers. The 
 main office of The Boston Ice Co. is situated at No. 
 66 State street, Boston, Mass. Its branch offices 
 are in Charlestown, South Boston, Roxbury, Brook¬ 
 line, East Boston, East Cambridge, Chelsea and 
 Winthrop. 
 
 The Board of Directors of The Boston Ice Co. is 
 constituted as follows: Reuben W. Hopkins, Presi¬ 
 dent; Frank J. Bartlett, Treasurer; Horace O. 
 Bright, Nelson Bartlett, William G. Peck, James 
 H. Reed, Nathan B. Prescott, Nathan G. Smith, 
 Joseph N. Palmer, Charles Russell and Jeremiah 
 Flanders. The company is capitalized at $500,000. 
 
Che Glectric Car Systems of Boston and JVew 
 Gngland—Great Changes in Cranspor- 
 tation ^drought by electricity 
 and Motive force. 
 
 REMOTE AND ISOLATED VILLAGES BROUGHT INTO PROMINENCE AND IMMED¬ 
 IATE RELATIONS WITH THE LARGE CITIES—THE BENEFIT OF THE 
 RAPID TRANSIT TO THE MERCHANT—BOSTON'S MAG¬ 
 NIFICENT ELEVATED ROAD SYSTEM. 
 
 & 
 
 jl^yV^LECTRIC street railway lines have wrought 
 I - I 2 great social and industrial changes in both 
 rural and urban life in New England. 
 
 - Heretofore remote and isolated villages 
 and towns have been brought into immed¬ 
 iate relations with the larger cities; real estate in 
 suburban localities has been vastly increased in 
 value, to the advantage of the rural property owner, 
 and the retail trade in the larger cities, particularly 
 Boston, has received a great impetus. 
 
 The merchants of to-day have learned to count 
 upon a great share of their trade coming in from 
 the country by means of the trolley, and as a result 
 the department stores, city grocers and other mer¬ 
 chants have been enabled to so increase their selling 
 capacity that prices have been lowered and mutual 
 benefits have therefore been reaped by all. Elec¬ 
 tric transportation systems in Boston, and all over 
 Massachusetts, have been brought to a high state of 
 perfection, travel thereby is cheap, and it is now 
 only a matter of a few minutes’ ride for the suburb¬ 
 anite to reach the city or the merchant to arrive at 
 his country home. The trolley has benefited rich 
 and poor alike as scarcely any other modern inven¬ 
 tion has done. 
 
 6levated Roads. 
 
 BOSTON’S PIONEER LINES AN UNQUALIFIED 
 
 SUCCESS. 
 
 Half a century ago Bostonians and their subur¬ 
 ban neighbors had only omnibuses to accommo¬ 
 date the street passenger business; to-day they 
 have the nearest practical approach to a line 
 of airships, the Elevated Railroad, Then their 
 
 way was illuminated by the faint rays of splut¬ 
 tering candles, and warmed with damp straw; now 
 the handsome cars are bright with electric lights 
 and warmed by electric heaters. Then it cost from 
 fifteen to twenty-five cents to journey three or four 
 miles; now a fifteen-mile ride is given for five cents, 
 and three pennies more will extent the trip half as 
 far again. 
 
 In its progress during the last fifty years Boston 
 has forged ahead faster in the matter of street 
 transportation than in any other one thing. The 
 first horse car in Boston was run on the Cambridge 
 line in 1856, and thirty-four years later the first 
 trolley car—one of the first in the country it was, 
 too—appeared. The Subway was opened in 1897 
 and 1898, and the first regular train on which the 
 public could ride passed over the Elevated Road 
 last year. As were the other methods of transpor¬ 
 tation in their time the Elevated is the most solidly 
 built and perfectly equipped institution of its kind 
 in the world. 
 
 The construction of the Boston Elevated Railway 
 was authorized by the Legislature in 1894, but the 
 act provided that it must be built on the plan known 
 as the Meigs system or according to some other plan 
 approved by the Railroad Commissioners, except 
 that it must not be like the system used in New 
 York. The construction of the Subway intervened 
 before anything further was done about the Ele¬ 
 vated Road. In 1896 the Meigs charter was bought 
 by interests which had the use of the Subway at 
 their disposal, and the following year the Great and 
 General Court so amended and added to the original 
 act that the restrictions on the plan of construction 
 c>f an elevated road were removed, except that no 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 «3 
 
 system could be adopted which did not have the 
 approval of the Railroad Commissioners, of course. 
 Locations for tracks and stations were granted and 
 the use of the Subway for operating elevated trains 
 legalized. 
 
 Using the Subway for passage through the con¬ 
 gested parts of the city, where the streets are 
 sometimes narrow and not always straight was a 
 very great advantage in many ways and the public 
 has much reason to be grateful for, as well as to 
 admire, the whole scheme of the Elevated Road as 
 it was finally adopted and is now in practical, daily 
 use. A speed which would be unattainable by any 
 other device, absolute safety, a degree of conven¬ 
 ience and perfection of service which is to be found 
 in no other city in the United States, and the least 
 possible obstruction 
 and disfigurement 
 of the streets, are 
 only its most notic- 
 able good features. 
 
 The fact that Bos¬ 
 ton’s transit facili¬ 
 ties have always 
 kept pace with the 
 most enterprising 
 progress and have 
 often pointed the 
 way to other munic¬ 
 ipalities, promises 
 that the future will 
 offer only improve¬ 
 ment, extension and 
 liberality. 
 
 The method of 
 construction of the 
 elevated railway 
 was decided upon 
 only after the most 
 careful investiga¬ 
 tion, followed by constant tests while the work 
 was going on. It embodies the very best that 
 engineering and railroad experience, added to the 
 lessons taught by years of handling street passen¬ 
 ger traffic under the somewhat peculiar and trying 
 conditions which obtain in Boston, could devise. It 
 includes a loop at either end of the line, so that 
 trains may be kept in constant motion without the 
 necessity of complicated switching to start them 
 back from the termini at the completion of the trip, 
 a dip down into the Subway at its northern and 
 southern entrances and the crossing of a river on a 
 two-story drawbridge, the lower part of which ac¬ 
 commodates the surface cars and the regular street 
 traffic of teams and pedestrians. Indeed, the first 
 real work on the Elevated was done when founda¬ 
 
 tions for its trestle work were put into the draw, 
 which was built two or three years before the 
 railway. 
 
 The Elevated structure is of steel, put together 
 in the sort of lattice design known as open web, 
 and painted a light green. Steel posts, resting on 
 iron bases which are set in concrete foundations 
 sunk ten feet below the street surface, support it, 
 and near the water front piles were driven first of 
 all to give the foundations added firmness. Thus 
 it avoids ugliness, and is perfectly stable. Every 
 part of the work was severely tested from time to 
 time and will bear at least five times the strain that 
 will ever be put upon it. On its lengthwise girders 
 are laid the cross-ties, to which the rails are 
 spiked, guarded on both sides by large timbers 
 
 and on sharp curves 
 by steel guard-rails. 
 For nearly its whole 
 length the Elevated 
 runs above lines of 
 trolley cars, the 
 power wires for 
 which are attached 
 to the underside of 
 the structure. The 
 motive power is 
 electricity, which is 
 supplied by a third 
 rail placed at one 
 side of the tracks 
 and carefully insu¬ 
 lated. 
 
 The cars used on 
 the Elevated Road 
 are much like those 
 used on steam rail¬ 
 roads, except that 
 they are smaller and 
 each is equipped 
 with motors, a controller and air-brake mechanism. 
 While they are commonly run in trains of two, three 
 or four cars, they can be operated independently if it 
 is desirable. As a matter of fact, each car is pro¬ 
 pelled by its own motor, the power being all con¬ 
 trolled from the front end of the first car. In that 
 way the strain and load are divided, and in case the 
 machinery of an individual car should give out 
 temporarilv the others could easily share its burden 
 and carry it along “dead.” The seats run along 
 the sides of the cars, as in the ordinary street car, 
 and are cane-covered as a sanitary measure. There 
 are doors at the ends and on both sides to make the 
 transfer of passengers easy at the busier stations 
 and during the rush hours. 
 
 NEW RIDING CLUB. 
 
 This organisation is devoted to good horsemanship. The house is well 
 placed within a few paces of the Fens , which is a favorite exercising 
 ground for riders. It has all the conveniences of a first-class riding 
 school and its arena is 163 x 100peet. 
 
 Its membership is limited to 175. 
 
8 4 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England . 
 
 The Boston Elevated Railroad.— Probably no 
 enterprise within the last generation has so inter¬ 
 ested the vast population whose homes are within a 
 radius of ten miles of Boston, as the construction of 
 the L road. Nearly ten years before the starting 
 of the present system there were suggested many 
 plans by which the people of Boston and vicinity 
 could obtain the boon of rapid transit. Among them 
 the question of an L road came in for general con¬ 
 sideration. In almost every case there was objec¬ 
 tion raised to the construction of the road by those 
 who held charters permitting it; to the minds of 
 the general public there appeared to be an open 
 question that there were not enough substantial 
 men behind the scheme to create the impression 
 that the traveling public would be best served. 
 When, however, the Boston Elevated Railway offic- 
 ials took up the matter and took steps toward the 
 formation of a company to construct an L road, the 
 character of the men behind it gave the public con¬ 
 fidence. The charter of the old Meigs Co. 
 was purchased, and suitable amendments secured. 
 The West End system was leased, and and an ele¬ 
 vated road became an assured fact. 
 
 Of the building of the road much could be said; 
 its start and completion are well known; but the 
 one most familiar with the active preliminary oper¬ 
 ations, the Chief Engineer, George A. Kimball, 
 tells a story that is decidedly interesting. Writing 
 of the system with which he has been connected 
 from start to finish, Mr. Kimball said in the New 
 England Magazine for July last, “the original, or 
 Meigs, charter, of 1894 authorized the construction 
 of an elevated railroad through the congested part 
 of the city, through some of the principal streets, 
 many of which are narrow and bounded on either 
 side by valuable real estate. To make use of the 
 subway for passing trains through the congested 
 portion of the city would avoid the erection of an 
 elevated structure in these crowded and busy streets, 
 and, with this in view, a system of elevated roads 
 was laid out and completed from Dudley street, 
 northerly through the subway, to Sullivan Square, 
 Charlestown, except a loop on the easterly side of the 
 city via Atlantic avenue, passing the South Ter¬ 
 minal Station, and along the water front by the 
 ferries and steamboat lines. The distance from 
 Dudley street to Sullivan Square is 4.9 miles via 
 the subway, and 5.4 miles via Atlantic avenue. 
 There are in all eighteen stations, of which twelve 
 are on the elevated portion and six in the subway. 
 The average distance between stations on the ele¬ 
 vated is six-tenths of a mile, and in the subway, 
 one-fourth of a mile. In making the return trip 
 from either terminal, the trains run around a short 
 
 loop, thereby saving the time and inconvenience of 
 reversing the trains. 
 
 “The elevated structure is built of steel, and the 
 design for the most part is what is known as the 
 open web or lattice girder. It is supported on steel 
 posts, most of which are fifteen inches square. In 
 the narrow streets the structure spans the roadway 
 with the posts on the edge of the sidewalk, while in 
 the wide streets the posts are set in the roadway on 
 either side of the surface tracks. The foundations for 
 the posts are of concrete made of broken stone, sand 
 and cement mixed in the proportion of six, two and 
 one. The foundations begin about ten feet below 
 the surface and average about nine feet square at 
 the base, gradually diminishing in size to the cast 
 iron bases on which rest the steel posts supporting 
 the structure, which are firmly anchored to the 
 foundation by long steel bolts imbedded in the 
 concrete. Near the water front most of the con¬ 
 crete foundations rest on piles which are driven in¬ 
 to the ground for a distance of twenty to fifty feet. 
 Some of the foundations were very expensive, 
 owing to the soft material in which they were 
 constructed and also on account of the larger 
 number of underground structures which were 
 encountered, manv of which it was necessarv to 
 change. 
 
 “The first work of construction in a small way 
 was the building of the foundations for the posts in 
 connection with the new Charlestown bridge over 
 the Charles River, in 1898. The first active work 
 of constructing the foundations for the elevated 
 structure in the streets was begun near Dudley 
 street, Roxbury, on January 23, 1899; the honor of 
 removing the first shovelful of earth was given to 
 little William Gaston, then two years of age, the 
 son of the then President of the Boston Elevated 
 Railway Company, and grandson of the late Gov¬ 
 ernor Gaston. The first steel structure was erected 
 on Charlestown bridge on March 30, 1899, and com¬ 
 pleted on that portion of the line near Guild street 
 on May 31, 1901. 
 
 “ The steel structure runs for nearly the whole 
 distance over a line of trolley cars. By reason of 
 the large amount of travel in the city streets and 
 the danger which would be incurred in working 
 over live wires, the erection was carried on at 
 night, the surface cars were transferred to other 
 routes, and the wires removed. The posts and 
 girders were completely assembled and riveted at 
 the bridge shops, delivered in Boston on the steam 
 cars and hauled to the site on large trucks. A 
 traveler or derrick was erected on the completed 
 parts by which the posts, girders and other members 
 of the framework were hoisted from the street to 
 their proper positions. On the straight portion of 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 85 
 
 the line the work was carried on with great rapid¬ 
 ity; in one instance twelve spans or 643 feet were 
 put up in a single night. 
 
 “ The elevated cars are much like those used on 
 steam railroads but smaller, and the general dimen¬ 
 sions are practically the same as those of the cars 
 now in use on the New York elevated. On one 
 truck of each car are installed two electric motors, 
 each with a nominal capacity of 150 horse-power. 
 The current for these is taken from the third or 
 conductor rail through the contact shoe which slides 
 along it. The third rail is connected at different 
 points along the line with the electric feeder system, 
 which in turn is conneted with the power house. 
 The third rail is laid just outside of the two running 
 rails and rests on insulated supports which stand on 
 top of the ties and is about five inches higher than 
 the running rails. The insulated supports are so 
 constructed as to prevent the electric current from 
 reaching the structure. 
 
 “ The entire road is provided with an electric- 
 pneumatic system of block signals, by which a train 
 will not be allowed to pass into any section until 
 its predecessor has passed out of it. This feature 
 of the system is similar to that in use on steam 
 railroads, but in addition to the general custom, 
 provision is made so that in case if any reason 
 the motorman should run by a signal set at danger, 
 an arm which at such times projects above the track 
 engages a valve in the brake system, applies the 
 brake and automatically stops the train. 
 
 “ There is to some extent a popular feeling that 
 an elevated railroad is not as safe as one that runs 
 on the surface, but the figures show that the con¬ 
 trary is true. 
 
 “ The construction of the Boston Elevated Rail¬ 
 way has been carried out on a very broad and liberal 
 basis, particularly in regard to safety. The founda¬ 
 tions were designed and built to carry at least five 
 times the weight which will probably ever be 
 placed upon them. The supporting piles were tried 
 by heavy loads to at least four times the amount 
 which they will be called upon to carry, while the 
 concrete was tested by the United States Govern¬ 
 ment at the Watertown Arsenal, and found to be 
 up to six times its load. The specifications for the 
 steel work were very rigid, requiring that samples 
 be taken from each melt of steel and broken in a 
 testing machine, and if forind unable to resist a 
 certairf strain without break they were rejected. 
 
 “ The Boston Elevated Railway consists of about 
 seven miles of elevated structure equipped with 
 third rail, and 370 miles of surface tracks equipped 
 with overhead trolley. The tracks are laid in twelve 
 municipalities, and the road serves a population of 
 about 1,000,000 people; it carried 201,124,710 passen¬ 
 
 gers during the year ending September 30, 1900. 
 The surface lines are equipped with 1,538 box elec¬ 
 tric cars, and 1,442 open electric cars; and the ele¬ 
 vated lines with 100 box cars. The elevated division 
 is designed as the express system, the surface lines 
 acting as feeders.” 
 
 Every safety appliance known to the railroad 
 business is employed on the Elevated, and several 
 which it uses are quite new. The entire system is 
 provided with electro-pneumatic block signals, and 
 as an additional protection there is a device at 
 every signal post which would, if the motorman 
 should for any reason fail to stop when danger was 
 indicated, catch an arm projecting from the air¬ 
 brake mechanism and bring a train to a stop auto¬ 
 matically. There is also attached to each controller 
 an arrangement which would instantly shut off the 
 power if the motorman should become disabled and 
 let the handle go. The cars are partially vestibuled 
 and are enclosed at the openings by iron gates, to 
 keep the heedless from falling from platforms or 
 between cars. Motormen are carefully trained at 
 the company’s school before they are allowed to 
 
 take cars out, and there are men on the platforms 
 
 * 
 
 of the various stations to watch over the safety 
 of people entering or leaving trains. In general, 
 experience has shown, here and in other cities, 
 that there is no safer mode of travel than an Ele¬ 
 vated Railway. 
 
 By a system of transfers to the surface cars it 
 is possible to get to any point in Boston or its 
 suburbs quickly, comfortably and economically by 
 the Elevated. The latter is intended for express 
 service with the trolley cars as feeders. At pres¬ 
 ent two divisions of the Elevated are in opera¬ 
 tion—one from Sullivan Square, Charlestown, to 
 Dudley street, Roxbury, which runs through the 
 Subway and dp Washington street; the other a 
 circuit line on which trains are started from Sul¬ 
 livan Square and sent through the Subway, then 
 turned across the city to Atlantic avenue, by which 
 they skirt the water front with its ferries and pass 
 all of the steam road stations, and so brought back 
 to Sullivan Square. The Roxbury route is not 
 quite five miles long and the other is about five and 
 one-half miles in length. There are eighteen sta¬ 
 tions in all, one-third of them being in the Subway. 
 Those on the Elevated are architecturally neat, easily 
 reached from the sidewalk and conveniently located. 
 
 The satisfactory working of such a system of 
 rapid transit as the Elevated Railway demands that 
 passengers shall be handled quickly, and perhaps 
 no feature of the Boston road has more impressed 
 the public than the manner in which this has been 
 managed. Civility and gentleness have been char¬ 
 acteristics of the methods used and stood out most 
 
86 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 strikingly in the earlier days when the whole ex¬ 
 perience was an unaccustomed one to travelers and 
 employees alike. 
 
 Street Railways. 
 
 THE REVOLUTIONS IN LOCAL TRANSPORTATION. 
 
 When the first click of the telegraph instruments 
 drew continents together an event occurred of great 
 importance to the world, but it was no more signifi¬ 
 cant than the first trip of an electric car. Elec¬ 
 tricity is the power that annihilates distance and 
 makes the world grow small, and while the trolley 
 cars have not yet scudded under the ocean and 
 thus linked continents together, they have been an 
 all important factor in drawing together the 
 villages, towns and cities of the country, and have 
 entirely revolutionized both country and city life. 
 We have become so accustomed to the trolley cars 
 to-day, along with other marvelous improvements, 
 that unthinking ones hardly realize the changes 
 that have been wrought in methods of travel by the 
 introduction of the electric system, and yet it was 
 only thirteen years ago that cars were pulled through 
 the streets of Boston by horses, the first line having 
 been equipped for electric power in 1899. How 
 odd it would seem to see a car pass down Washing¬ 
 ton street drawn by a pair of jogging horses! It is 
 probable that this sight will never be met again. 
 The records show that in 1891, two years after the 
 first electric car started there were 10,640 horses 
 employed on street cars in the State of Massachu¬ 
 setts. Every year the number employed became 
 less until in 1900 only 455 horses were in use on 
 street cars in the whole State. 
 
 Massachusetts was among the first to boast of elec¬ 
 tric car lines, atid since the very first the progress in 
 constructing lines has been remarkable, until to-day 
 the State is covered with an electric system which 
 connects cities and towns like a gigantic spiders’ 
 web. This is particularly true of the eastern part 
 of the State, though Western Massachusetts has 
 several systems which are not surpassed anywhere 
 in the world. To-day there is no county in the 
 State which is not cut through by several trolley 
 lines. Every year sees the completion of new lines, 
 and before another decade has passed away it is 
 probable that the most isolated districts will have 
 been reached in some direction by the trolley. 
 
 The effect of all this has been entirely to revolu¬ 
 tionize New England life. Villages and towns that 
 were formerly difficult of access, and, although but 
 a few miles distant from Boston, were practicallv 
 isolated, are now brought into close touch with the 
 throbbing life of a great city, through being con¬ 
 nected by a trolley line. There is not a city nor a 
 
 town of importance within twenty-five miles of 
 Boston which is not now connected with the 
 greater city by means of the trolley. The changes 
 wrought and the benefits derived have been shared 
 alike by Boston and the smaller cities and towns. 
 The facility by which the rural and suburban popu¬ 
 lation is now brought to the larger centres to pur¬ 
 chase their goods has stimulated and increased trade 
 and the merchants have thus derived great advan¬ 
 tages. On the other hand, the trolley has infused 
 Pew life into the dwellers in country towns. Wher¬ 
 ever the trolley goes property is increased in value. 
 
 Some idea of the extent to which the trolley sys¬ 
 tems in the State have grown may be gained by 
 consulting the last reports. The Massachusetts 
 street railway companies now own 1,662 miles of 
 street railway line, 251 miles of second main track, 
 and 124 miles of side track, making a total length 
 of track owned 2,037 miles. The increase over the 
 previous year was 192 miles. Back in i860 there 
 were twenty companies in the State with a total 
 length of main track of eighty-eight miles; in 1889, 
 when the lines were first equipped for electric 
 power, there were forty-six companies and 574 
 miles of main track. Ten years ago the number of 
 companies had increased to fifty-six with mileage of 
 672. From that date to the present time the 
 increase in the number of companies and mileage 
 has multiplied greatly as shown by the following 
 figures: 1892, sixty-one companies, 754 miles; 1893, 
 sixty companies, 874 miles; 1894, sixty-eight com¬ 
 panies, 928 miles; 1895, seventy-five companies, 
 1,077 miles; 1896, eighty-three companies, 1,276 
 miles; 1897, ninety-three companies, 1,413 miles; 
 1898, 103 companies, 1,537 miles; 1899, 116 compa¬ 
 nies, 1735 miles; 1900, 118 companies, 1,913 miles. 
 In other words between 1889 and 1899 the number 
 of new companies formed was 13; between 1899 and 
 1900 two new companies came into existence. The 
 increase in the number of miles equipped for elec¬ 
 tric power has been proportionally large. In 1889 
 only 50 miles of track were equipped for electric 
 power, while there were 523 miles on which horses 
 were used. In 1900 the number of miles equipped 
 for electric power was 1908, while only four miles of 
 horse railway remained in the State. 
 
 The total capital investment (capital stock and 
 net debt) of the street railway companies of the 
 State advanced in 1900 from $68,758,800 to $77,226,- 
 214. In 1888 the total was only $17,237,100, which 
 shows that the capital investment has more than 
 quadrupled since the introduction of electricity as a 
 motive power. In 1900 the gross assets were $98,- 
 700,075 ; the gross liabilities, including capital stock, 
 $95,062,946; the surplus of the companies $3,637,129, 
 and the percentage of surplus to eapital stock 4.22. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and Flew England. 
 
 87 
 
 The total number of passengers carried during 
 1900 on the railways of the 118 companies was 395,- 
 027,198, an increase of 38,302,985 passengers over 
 the previous year. The total number of miles run 
 by street cars was 81,750,768, an increase of 8,383,- 
 533 miles over the previous year. The total num¬ 
 ber of round trips run was 7,812,427, an increase of 
 713,584. The average number of passengers car¬ 
 ried per round trip was 51, which was one more 
 than in 1899. The increase noted above shows 
 satisfactory progress, but in order to realize more 
 thoroughly the increase it is necessary to look back 
 ten years. In 1891 the total number of passengers 
 carried over street railways was 176,090,189, the 
 total car miles run 27,670,166, and the total round 
 trips run 3,958,455. This shows an increase in 1900 
 of 219,937,009 passengers carried, 54,080,602 car 
 miles run, and 3,859,972 round trips run. 
 
 The average number of passengers carried in 
 1900 per mile of main track operated was 200,262, 
 and the average number per round trip was 51. 
 
 Ten of the 118 railway companies represent 66 
 per cent, of the entire capital investment, operate 
 55 per cent, of the total railway mileage, and carry 
 82 per cent, of the whole number of passengers 
 carried on all of the Massachusetts street railways. 
 
 One distinct advantage of the vast increase of 
 street railway companies and the mileage operated, 
 which is commonly lost sight of, is the number of 
 persons who are now given employment. In 1891 
 6,449 persons were employed on street railways in 
 Massachusetts; in 1900 the number of employees 
 was 12,766, an increase of 6,317, or the number has 
 about doubled. 
 
 In 1891 the number of cars run was 3,494, and in 
 1900 it was 6,531, an increase of 3,040. 
 
 An excellent illustration of the comparatively 
 small number of casualties resulting from the use 
 of electric cars is shown by the fact that in 1900 
 only one out of 21,945,955 street railway passengers 
 received fatal injury, and only one out of 233,054 
 received any injury whatever; and cars were run 
 on an average over 31,300 miles without accident 
 of any sort to passenger, employee or other per¬ 
 son. 
 
 Boston & Northern Street Railway Co.— 
 The street railwav business of Massachusetts is 
 
 J 
 
 developing by leaps and bounds, and with the in¬ 
 crease in the number of companies operating elec¬ 
 tric cars, and the radiation of the trackage through 
 city, village and country hamlet, there has come 
 increased population and prosperity of the commu¬ 
 nity in which the “broomstick trains” find their 
 complement of passengers. 
 
 Boston is to-day “the Hub” in more senses than 
 
 that ironically suggested by Dr. Holmes, for from 
 it run lines of electric cars to all parts of the Com¬ 
 monwealth. The Boston & Northern Street Rail¬ 
 way Co., which enters Boston from the north, 
 serves a very large and densely populated territory, 
 including the busy manufacturing communities of 
 Lynn, Reading and Wakefield, and the mill centers, 
 Haverhill, Lowell and Lawrence. This line is the 
 connecting link between the metropolis and the 
 smaller towns and cities through which its cars are 
 operated, and as a consequence its business is con¬ 
 stantly increasing, and millions of passengers are 
 carried yearly. 
 
 The officers of the Boston & Northern Street 
 Railway Co. are; President, P. F. Sullivan; 
 General Manager, E. C. Foster; Treasurer, J. H. 
 Goodspeed; General Auditor, D. Dana Bartlett; 
 General Superintendent, H. C. Page. The com¬ 
 pany is incorporated, and its capital stock is $6,143,- 
 000. Its principal business office is at 14 Kilby 
 street, Boston. 
 
 Some idea of the scope of the company’s business 
 can be gained from the list of the several cities and 
 towns in which the railways operated by the concern 
 have their tracks. They are as follows: Andover, 
 Arlington, Beverly, Billerica, Boston, Chelmsford, 
 Chelsea, Danvers, Dracut, Essex, Everett, Glouces¬ 
 ter, Groveland, Hamilton, Haverhill, Hudson, 
 Ipswich, Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn, Lynnfield, Mal¬ 
 den, Marblehead, Medford, Melrose, Metheun, 
 Nashua, Newburyport, North Andover, Peabody, 
 Reading, Revere, Rockport, Salem, Saugus, Stone- 
 ham, Swampscott, Tewksbury, Tingsboro, Wake¬ 
 field, Wenham, West Newbury, Wilmington, Win¬ 
 chester and Woburn. 
 
 The miles of track operated by the company are 
 437,178, and on the payrolls are the names of 1,855 
 employees. During the year ending September 3, 
 1901, the total number of revenue car miles made by 
 the company was 10,646,538, and the total number 
 of passengers carried aggregated the splendid total 
 of 54,821,850. Since this date monthly reports have 
 shown a most satisfactory increase, and the showing 
 at the end of the next fiscal year cannot but be still 
 better. 
 
 The equipment of the roads operated by this con¬ 
 cern is modern and up-to-date in every respect, 
 including modern, high-powered cars of the latest 
 type, good roadbed and heavy rails. 
 
 The company’s equipment included 433 box (or 
 closed) passenger cars, and in the summer months 
 it puts on 627 open cars for the largely increased 
 traffic. During the winter months it has ready for 
 use 148 snowplows for keeping the lines open, and 
 a serious delay in the time scheduled very rarely 
 occurs on account of snow. 
 
88 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 Old Colony Street Railway Co. —In the devel¬ 
 opment of South Eastern Massachusetts the Old 
 Colony Street Railway Co. has been an important 
 factor, since its 378 miles of track operated lie 
 in the important cities and towns of Abing- 
 ton, Avon, Braintree, Bridgewater, Brockton, 
 Boston, Dedham, Dighton, Easton, East Bridge- 
 water, Freetown, Fall River, Hanover, Hingham, 
 Holbrook, Hull, Hyde Park, Lakeville, Milton, 
 Middleboro, Middletown, Needham, New Bedford, 
 Newport, Norwell, Norwood, Portsmouth, Quincy, 
 Randolph, Rehoboth, Raynham, Rockland, See- 
 konk, Somerset, Stoughton, Taunton, Tiverton, 
 Walpole, Westwood, West Bridgewater, Weymouth 
 and Whitman. 
 
 The great prosperity and earning power of the 
 Old Colony Street Railway Co. can be traced 
 directly to two principal causes. In the first place, 
 this railway is a direct trunk line from the City of 
 Boston to the prosperous and thickly settled manu- 
 turing and residential communities lying to the 
 south of “the Hub,” and its network of tracks makes 
 interurban communication available to mechanic, 
 farmer and business man, while the accommodating 
 time schedule and graded fares have gained for it 
 an enormous patronage, which is constantly in¬ 
 creasing. 
 
 The car service itself is of the highest class, for 
 the cars are high-powered with an available high 
 speed, and are constructed after the latest models 
 of heavy vestibuled street railway coaches, in which 
 jar, dust and danger are minimized. It is, there¬ 
 fore, possible to run the cars between the towns of 
 
 this system at a high rate of speed with perfect 
 safety, and without subjecting the passengers to 
 discomfort. 
 
 The officers of the company are P. F. Sullivan, 
 President; E. C- Foster, General Manager; J. H. 
 Goodspeed, Treasurer; D. Dana Bartlett, General 
 Auditor; Robert S. Goff, General Superintendent. 
 The company is capitalized for $5,777,700, and its 
 principal business office is at 14 Kilby street, 
 Boston. 
 
 An idea of the magnitude of the company’s busi¬ 
 ness can be gained from the fact that in the opera¬ 
 tions of its 377,085 miles of roadbed and trackage 
 1,538 employees are given occupation, while during 
 the year ending September 30, 1901, the number of 
 revenue car miles run by the company’s cars was 
 7,778,747. During this same period the total num¬ 
 ber of passengers carried by the road was 38,883,546. 
 
 The equipment of the company is of the most 
 modern type, and includes 284 box (or closed) pas¬ 
 senger cars of the modern vestibuled pattern and 
 408 open cars for warm weather travel, of which 
 latter there is a great deal during the summer 
 months, during the “open air excursion season,” as 
 it has been termed. With the winter equipment of 
 the road must be considered eighty-seven high- 
 powered snowplows, a very essential portion of the 
 rolling stock of a New England Street Railway. 
 
 The company is progressive in its policy, and 
 with its opportunities for increased trackage and 
 traffic, may be depended upon to meet the demands 
 which will be made upon it by a constantly increas¬ 
 ing population. 
 
Steam Cransportation 5dbicb Contributes 
 Unsurpassed Railway Systems and 
 Service in JVew Bngland States. 
 
 THE WONDERFUL TERMINAL FACILITIES OF BOSTON—COMMERCIAL AND 
 FINANCIAL SUCCESSES THAT ARE DUE TO THE RAILROADS—THE 
 SPLENDID PASSENGER SERVICE—CHEAP FREIGHT RATES— 
 
 . FEW TOWNS THAT ARE NOT REACHED BY 
 THE STEAM RAILWAYS. 
 
 * 
 
 8 0 ST 0 N is the centre of steam railway traf¬ 
 fic in New England, its terminal facilities 
 being surpassed in no city in the United 
 States. It is not going too far to say that 
 Boston’s commercial and financial importance is 
 largely due to the magnificent system of railroads 
 which bind the East in bands of steel and lead di¬ 
 rectly to this city. 
 
 The equipment of its passenger service, which is 
 admirably adapted to both long distance travel and 
 local needs, is of the highest order, and, similarly, 
 the freight service is such as to encourage trans¬ 
 portation, local and long distance, through this cen¬ 
 tre. The freight rates are cheap and the facilities 
 rapid and complete. The railway systems of New 
 England are remarkable for the manner in which 
 every demand of the territory and a growing popu¬ 
 lation has always been met. Obstacles which at 
 first appeared insurmountable have been overcome 
 in the construction of new roads, and there are now 
 few towns that are not reached in some way by a 
 steam railway. These systems have contributed 
 to make Boston a cosmopolitan centre, as well as 
 the centre of trade and industry in this part of the 
 country. 
 
 Good public Servants and 
 Good Investments. 
 
 For its area Massachusetts has very large railroad 
 interests, and their headquarters are practically all 
 in Boston. Forty-five corporations, doing business 
 wholly or in part in the Commonwealth made re¬ 
 
 turns to the State Board of Railroad Commissioners 
 last year, but only eleven of them operate actively. 
 Among these eleven are the companies which, by 
 lease or contract, operate the other thirty-four, and 
 three of them have 97 per cent, of the total mileage 
 and nearly 99 per cent, of the traffic. 
 
 One chapter of the story of Massachusetts rail¬ 
 roads it would be hard to find an equal for. During 
 the twelve months covered by this year’s reports 
 there were no serious disasters, not a single passen¬ 
 ger was killed in a train accident, and but three em¬ 
 ployees met their deaths in collisions. This keeps up 
 the good record established the previous year. The 
 number of persons injured on railroads was less than 
 two-thirds of the previous year’s list, and of those 
 fewer than one-twentieth were passengers, a very 
 much smaller number than in any of the last twenty 
 years. Many were trespassers, or persons who 
 were unlawfully on the tracks. . Grade-crossing ac¬ 
 cidents numbered only about half as many as in 1900, 
 and curiously enough, most of them occurred at 
 “ protected crossings, ” where every precaution for 
 the public safety had been taken, and only the vic¬ 
 tims themselves could be responsible for what hap¬ 
 pened. The number of employees hurt was below 
 the average for the last ten years. 
 
 This showing is the more remarkable when con¬ 
 sidered together with the figures of travel. In all, 
 87,014,642 passengers were carried in Massachusetts 
 during 1901, and they journeyed over a total distance 
 of 1,486,602,603 miles, requiring the services in one 
 way and another of 53,564 employees. These figures 
 the tremendous development of the railroads of the 
 State in a few years tell plainly, for nine years ago 
 they needed but 44,784 employees and the number 
 
9 ° 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 last year was an increase of more than 500 over the 
 force of the year previous. 
 
 There are now in Massachusetts some 2,107 miles 
 of railroad track, but the Massachusetts corporations 
 own 7,500 miles and operate 9,164 miles altogether. 
 The whole number of miles which trains of all kinds 
 ran over these great stretches of steel was 61,041,881 
 —an increase of more than a million miles, by the 
 way—and they carried 108,758,528 passengers in all. 
 In addition to this, 39,463,814 tons of freight were 
 
 protected by every modern safeguard, provided with 
 every known comfort. The average rate of speed 
 compares most favorably with that of railroads in 
 other sections, being far above the usual. The rates 
 of fare and fre-ight transportation charges are of 
 wide repute for their reasonableness. 
 
 The “ local service ” which the Massachusetts rail¬ 
 road companies afford the length and breadth of their 
 territory is most noteworthy, and is the best possible 
 indication of the spirit of the corporations in their 
 
 THE SOUTH STATION. 
 
 This is the largest railroad station in the world , and accommodates all divisions of the New York , New 
 Haven and Hartford Road which touch Boston , as well as the Boston and Albany 
 
 Division of the New York Central. 
 
 handled. This splendid service was carried on with 
 2,169 locomotives, 3,255 passenger coaches, 33,801 
 freight cars and nearly 20,000 other cars of various 
 kinds. 
 
 Figures are dry, but these give some idea, in a 
 concise form, of the greatness of the work which 
 these public servants perform each year and with 
 what degree of care. The roadbeds and rolling 
 stock are maintained in well-nigh perfect order, 
 
 dealings with the public. While of perhaps the great¬ 
 est general public convenience, the short hauls with 
 frequent stops are in the nature of things least prof¬ 
 itable to the railroads, yet nowhere in the country 
 is such accommodation of this particular kind given 
 as in New England, especially, of course, in the 
 vicinity of the large cities. The introduction of 
 “ cab ” train service—a time schedule which pro¬ 
 vides numerous trains at short, regular intervals for 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 9 1 
 
 suburban travel— and of wonderfully low-priced 
 strip tickets and special rates of transportation for 
 school children and working men, are the most 
 complete developments of the kind anywhere. 
 
 Similarly, the freight service is exceptional for its 
 quickness and completeness, as well as its cheap¬ 
 ness. The refrigerator cars which are now in uni¬ 
 versal use were first made possible by Boston 
 enterprise, and many other of the features of 
 modern transportation which make for the safety 
 and wholesomeness of live or perishable property 
 have found their sponsors here, and have been 
 promptly taken up by the railroads of New England. 
 The many advantages offered by the various lines 
 to freight shippers have, no doubt, had not a little 
 to do with Boston’s steady rise as an export 
 point. 
 
 The terminal facilities are extensive, convenient 
 and well equipped, and are so arranged as to permit 
 of very easy transfer from one to another. The 
 whole process of shipping goods abroad, or even 
 from place to place in this country, has been made 
 a particularly economical one if Boston is employed 
 as the central point. The excellent connections 
 and advantageous exchange arrangements which 
 the several lines have established at numerous 
 places throughout the six States, are another im¬ 
 portant factor to be considered. 
 
 The cheapness of railroad transportation for both 
 passengers and freight in New England makes a 
 remarkable showing in a table compiled by the 
 Massachusetts Railroad Commissioners. The aver¬ 
 age passenger fare in 1871 was something more than 
 2 y-2 cents per mile. Now it is something less than 
 1 24 cents per mile, a reduction of about 30 per 
 cent., or 1 per cent, a year. The reduction on the 
 five principal lines since 1865 has been 32 per cent, 
 in the average. 
 
 Freight rates show an even more startling dimi¬ 
 nution. In 1871 it cost 3.11 cents to transport a 
 ton one mile. Thirty years later the same service 
 was performed for 1.22 cents. This decrease of 61 
 per cent, began with a very rapid fall in charges 
 during the first ten years of the period and con¬ 
 tinued steadily with but slight fluctuations. The 
 four leading railway lines cut their freight charges 
 71 per cent, from 1865 to 1900. Nonetheless, the 
 income and the profits increased steadily. 
 
 An important feature of New England’s railway 
 systems is the completeness with which they cover 
 their territory. Wherever there is the demand to 
 justify it they go if it is physically possible, and 
 where insurmountable obstacles to construction in¬ 
 terpose themselves, connections by stage or trolley 
 are arranged. The number of towns in the six 
 States which are not in direct touch with the steam 
 
 roads in one way or another is certainly very small, 
 and this is especially true of Massachusetts. The 
 railroads have made possible the remarkable in¬ 
 dustrial development which continues year after 
 year here, and have helped in large measure to 
 retain the reputation of this group of Common¬ 
 wealths as the finest home section of the whole 
 country. 
 
 Under discreet management the companies have 
 beautified their paths where they could, and dis¬ 
 figured them no more than needs they must. Sta¬ 
 tion buildings and their surroundings have been 
 planned with due consideration of both their pur¬ 
 poses and their appearance, and the old idea that 
 the “depot” was of necessity an unsightly place 
 has been put out of countenance. The relations be¬ 
 tween employers and employed have been marked 
 by few misunderstandings, and no serious diffi¬ 
 culties have clouded them. 
 
 Financially the showing of the Massachusetts 
 railroad corporations is most flattering. It has 
 always been so, and each succeeding year gives 
 promise of increased prosperity, in which the pub¬ 
 lic has a share, through the constant improve¬ 
 ments and extensions in the equipment and con¬ 
 struction, in train service and traffic rates. Grade 
 crossings are being done away with wherever they 
 can be supplanted by some other arrangement; 
 great viaducts have been built for the approaches 
 to the larger cities, and the adoption of every 
 new device for safe transit which is shown to be 
 practicable is immediate. The construction of two 
 great terminal passenger stations in Boston within 
 a few years—two of the finest, most perfect build¬ 
 ings of their kind in the world—is a fair example 
 of the spirit shown. The consideration of expense 
 has never retarded the forward movement for a 
 moment. 
 
 Doubtless it is these facts which make the rail¬ 
 ways such satisfactory property to their share¬ 
 holders. The combined capital stock of the forty- 
 five companies represents $210,305,885.72, the net 
 decrease of not quite $6,000,000 since last year 
 being accounted for by absorption. On this enor¬ 
 mous sum dividends to the amount of $13,049,- 
 306.39 were declared, there being an increase in 
 this respect of $550,859.48. The total income for 
 the year was $94,307,564.70, and the total expendi¬ 
 tures came to $93,827,244.19, including the divi¬ 
 dends. This left a net surplus for the twelve 
 months, to be added to the surplus account, of 
 $480,320.51. 
 
 The gross debt, funded and unfunded, of all 
 the corporations in aggregate is shown by the re¬ 
 cent Commissioners’ report to be $175,111,401.20. 
 The gross assets, when the various statements were 
 
92 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 drawn up by the companies June 30 last, were 
 $ 4 i 9 > 743 * 5 2 i - 2 3 j an increase of $14,555,191 net. At 
 the same time the gross liabilities figured $385,- 
 417,286.92. This was also an increase, but so 
 slight by comparison that a balance of $6,146,795 
 in favor of the assets account remained. The net 
 earnings were $25,091,995. 
 
 In treating the subject of railroads, mention 
 should be made of the steamer lines in which sev¬ 
 eral of them are interested in connection with their 
 train service. A large fleet of the finest of the 
 Long Island Sound steamers are under the man¬ 
 agement of one; another operates a number of the 
 Lake steamers which are such important factors in 
 many summer outings; a third has close relations 
 with what are probably the most famous river 
 steamers in the country. These great railroads 
 and their connections furnish the means of reach¬ 
 ing every part of the United States and its neigh¬ 
 bors to the north and south in the speediest pos¬ 
 sible way, by the shortest routes, most com¬ 
 fortably—luxuriously it would be called in any 
 but this age of luxury—and at the least expense. 
 Transportation is one form of modern progress for 
 which New England may well look to the repre¬ 
 sentatives within her own borders. They have be¬ 
 come a standard and an object lesson in all that is 
 best. 
 
 The Boston and Albany Railroad.— The Bos¬ 
 ton and Albany Railroad which is now under lease to 
 the New York Central Co., is one of the impor¬ 
 tant lines in New England, for it furnishes the most 
 direct route for freight and for passengers between 
 Boston and the principal New England cities, and 
 the West. The Boston and Albany Railroad has 
 long been famous for the excellence of its equip¬ 
 ment, the splendid character of its railway stations 
 and the thorough manner in which its business has 
 been carried on, showing great care in the smaller 
 details of providing conveniences and even luxury 
 for the public which it serves, as well as guarding 
 zealously the larger interests and safety of its pas¬ 
 sengers and freight. Its service has always been 
 first-class and will continue so, for it is the purpose 
 and policy of the New York Central Co. not only to 
 maintain the high standard of the past, but under 
 its liberal plans to make large and constant im¬ 
 provements. The Boston and Albany Railroad has 
 in the past done much to build up the import and 
 export trade of Boston. It was the first company 
 to engage in foreign business, to and from the West, 
 via. Boston, a business that has since grown to 
 great proportions. Boston by reason of this foreign 
 trade has become a great commercial centre, second 
 only to New \ ork. It is the growth of foreign 
 
 trade that has emphasized the agricultural and in¬ 
 dustrial supremacy of the United States, and this 
 trade has been added to a great extent by the pos¬ 
 sibility of cheaply transporting agricultural pro¬ 
 ducts from the-West and manufactured goods in the 
 East to the Atlantic ports for shipment abroad. 
 The Boston and Albany Railroad was a pioneer in 
 this commerce. The New York Central, having con¬ 
 trol of the Boston and Albany, will spend$2,ooo,ooo 
 in terminal facilities at East Boston. This export 
 trade is supplemented by an import trade of con¬ 
 siderable importance. The new docks will furnish 
 accommodations for the largest steamships and 
 it will be possible to handle freight with greater 
 convenience and rapidity. These improvements 
 are required to keep pace with the growth of trade 
 and will be particularly necessary when Boston 
 harbor channels are deepened and widened to ac¬ 
 commodate the largest ocean carriers. This ex¬ 
 penditure of $2,000,000 will be of direct benefit to 
 the merchants of Boston and to the manufacturers 
 throughout New England, and, by providing ade¬ 
 quate docking facilities, will prove of almost as 
 great advantage in building up the commerce of 
 Boston as the harbor improvements that are now in 
 progress. Every plan that increases the facility of 
 shipment of manufactured goods or the landing of 
 imported goods must always benefit manufacturers 
 in their trade, and prove of vast importance to the 
 industrial welfare of a great many people. 
 
 The shippers of perishable freight and live stock 
 in the middle and Western States like to send their 
 freight by The Boston and Albany for various rea¬ 
 sons. It is the most direct route to begin with, but 
 another and more important consideration is the 
 fact that there is no delay in the delivery of goods 
 from the cars to the vessels, and besides in the 
 transfer of goods they are not exposed to the vary¬ 
 ing conditions of the weather. The tracks of The 
 Boston and Albany Railroad run to the wharves 
 where the' vessels discharge their cargoes and where 
 they receive the products of this country for ship¬ 
 ment. That is why there are no delays and why 
 goods are handled not only with promptness, but 
 also with the greatest safety, and these same ad¬ 
 vantages which have won The Boston and Albany 
 Railroad its prestige in the transportation of freight, 
 are those which it is the policy and purpose of the 
 New York Central as lessee to further develop and 
 and improve. 
 
 The facilities furnished by The Boston and Albany 
 and New York Central lines for passenger travel, 
 between Boston and the West, are unequalled. No 
 other railroad is able to provide so well for the 
 traveller in respect to comfort, convenience, rapid 
 transportation and close connections. Fast trains 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 93 
 
 with sleeping - cars and dining cars attached, are run 
 at convenient hours, making connection at Chicago, 
 St. Louis and Cincinnati with the various lines to and 
 from the West, Southwest and South. This enables a 
 passenger on The Boston and Albany and New York 
 Central line to reach practically any point in the 
 country with all the comforts that railroads are able 
 to supply, and without loss of time. An advantage 
 
 ests of Boston and of New England, and the lease 
 of The Boston and Albany to the New York Central 
 will undoubtedly prove to be very advantageous to 
 New England, both in freight and passenger service. 
 
 The fact is realized that Boston is destined to be¬ 
 come one of the greatest commercial ports of the 
 world, that New England will maintain its supre¬ 
 macy in manufactures, and that, with the rapid 
 
 THE NORTH STATION. 
 
 T/iis is the Boston terminal of the great Boston and Maine Railroad system , and is used by all the divisions 
 of that road which touch the city. From here all trains which leave Boston for any part of New 
 England north of Boston start. The structure was completed in 1893-94. 
 
 that always interests the people who travel for 
 pleasure is the privilege that this line grants, in 
 connection w r ith all through tickets, of visiting 
 Niagara Falls without extra charge. Thousands of 
 passengers avail themselves of this privilege and 
 thus see that grand and magnificent spectacle. The 
 management of the New York Central lines is 
 always ready to do what it can to advance the inter¬ 
 
 growth of this country’s trade in the markets of the 
 world, the progress of Boston and other cities that 
 have great harbor advantages, will continue with 
 even greater rapidity than in the past. With these 
 things in view, it is readily seen that a great rail¬ 
 road company will do well to prepare for larger 
 business so that it may secure a large share of the 
 increased commerce. The management Qf the New 
 
94 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 York Central lines believes in New England, and 
 has determined to share in its glorious future. 
 
 The Boston and Maine Railroad System.— In 
 New England there can be found any locality that 
 the vacationist desires—mountains, seashore, in¬ 
 land lakes and beautiful country villages, but which¬ 
 ever is chosen, the visitor will find everything that 
 he anticipated in the way of beautiful scenery, 
 rocky coasts, pleasant harbors, wild mountains, 
 peaceful valleys, gay resorts and quiet country. 
 To all of these The Boston and Maine Railroad Sys¬ 
 tem and its tributaries extend. They penetrate to 
 the quiet of rural New Hampshire to the crowded 
 seashore and the beautiful White Mountains and 
 Crawford Notch. 
 
 The Boston and Maine Railroad routes lead from 
 Boston to all parts of the White Mountains region. 
 The Eastern route leaves The Boston and Maine 
 seacost line a few miles beyond the City of Ports¬ 
 mouth, N. H., reaching Mount Pleasant and Fabyan, 
 the heart of the White Mountains, via Ossipee, 
 North Conway, Bartlett, the Crawford Notch and 
 the Crawford House. 
 
 Ossipee is a paradise for those who desire the 
 purest of air, delightful mountain scenery, where 
 most excellent accommodations and facilities for 
 enjoyment are afforded. 
 
 Another beautiful highland section is that sur¬ 
 rounding Lake Winnipesaukee. The railroad 
 almost overhangs the Western side of this Queen of 
 inland waters. The trip about the lake is a revela¬ 
 tion, and is a distinctly attractive feature of the 
 country. Northward may be found Plymouth lying 
 near the lower entrance of the Pemigewasset 
 Valley. 
 
 Pursuing the main line of The Boston and Maine 
 Railroad northward from Plymouth the route finally 
 touches the Connecticut River. Then swerving to 
 the eastward the railroad follows the course of the 
 Ammonoosuc from its mouth to its source, a 
 picturesque, delightful ride. Within the first few 
 miles after making departure from the Connecticut 
 River, some bustling New England towns are 
 reached. 
 
 Those whose ideas of the White Mountains have 
 been derived wholly from the viewpoint of Beth¬ 
 lehem, Fabyan or Crawford Notch have little con¬ 
 ception of the beauty and grandeur that gladdens 
 the eye of him who looks upon the Presidential 
 Range from the northern side of the Mountains, 
 which locality is reached by the Whitefield and 
 Jefferson branch of The Boston and Maine Railroad. 
 Randolph, about seven miles from Jefferson, is an¬ 
 other growing resort. 
 
 An uphill ride of little more than a half dozen 
 
 miles from Bethlehem Junction on The Boston and 
 Maine Railroad carries one to the head or entrance 
 from the northward of Franconia Notch, or to the 
 diminutive plateau situated about half way between 
 Profile and Echo Lakes, and within the very shadow 
 of Mount Cannon, whose southerly face presents 
 that curious rock formation known as “The Old 
 Man of the Mountain. ” LTpon this plateau is situated 
 the Profile House. The scenery roundabout, as 
 viewed from the piazzas of the hotel, is of the 
 wildest, most primitive character. Profile and 
 Echo Lakes are beautiful sheets of water, and the 
 latter the home of the pickerel and black bass. 
 The praise continually uttered about this section 
 by distinguished visitors is always without the 
 slightest tinge of disappointment. 
 
 The tourist leaving the North station in Boston 
 for the longest all-rail journey that can be taken 
 eastward,—to the shores of Cape Breton—will be 
 charmed with the scenic attractions. That portion 
 of it which takes him through the interior of Maine 
 will have its compensation, while that which lies 
 beyond will abundantly repay him for any possible 
 disappointment. The more fortunate traveller 
 possibly is he who can leisurely visit Cape Ann, 
 Hampton, Rye, Newcastle, York Harbor, Wells, 
 Scarbaro and Old Orchard beaches, not to mention 
 the poetic Isles of Shoals, Kennebunkport, Port¬ 
 land, Bath, Mount Desert, St. Andrews and the 
 numerous other resorts that are caressed by the 
 salty waves of Old Atlantic. 
 
 The summer resorts of the North Shore, within 
 easy reach from Boston are peopled very largely by 
 a sojourning population, representing the most in¬ 
 telligent and well-to-do classes of the social and 
 domestic life of the country. The first evidence of 
 what may be called cottage life is to be found at 
 Swampscott, which abounds in beautiful villas and 
 summer residences owned by men of wealth and 
 high social position. The Swampscott situation 
 upon the Bay shore is exceptionally fine. Not many 
 miles northward lies ancient Marblehead, occupying 
 a rockbound, primitive shore, overlooking the bay. 
 It is famous as the headquarters for yachtsmen, 
 who annually gather in its beautiful harbor from all 
 parts of the world. Now comes Ancient Salem, 
 sixteen miles from Boston, once the centre for a 
 large East Indian trade. It was the home of 
 Nathaniel Hawthorne. The city has an attraction 
 for every class of visitors in its historic associations 
 and monuments united to its unusually fine natural 
 endowments. Close at hand is the quaint little City 
 of Beverly, near the point of junction with the main¬ 
 land of the promontory known as Cape Ann. In the 
 extreme beauty of its natural scenery, it must be 
 regarded as the gem of the North Shore. From 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 95 
 
 Beverly the Gloucester branch of The Boston and 
 Maine Railroad runs from end to end of Cape Ann. 
 This region is one of the great summer parks of 
 New England. Montserrat, Hospital Point, Beverly 
 Farms, Manchester-by-the-sea, Singing Beach, 
 Eagle Head, Thunderbolt Rock, Magnolia is a list 
 of local names of the Beverly summer resorts that 
 suggest all that is enjoyable in summer-time upon 
 the New England shores. The Cape Ann “settle¬ 
 ments ” include, beside the Beverly sections, the 
 City of Gloucester on the South, Rockport, which 
 occupies the extreme point of the Cape, and Essex 
 holding the same position on the North, with re¬ 
 lation to this promontory, as does Beverly on the 
 South. At the northerly point of New Hampshire’s 
 seacoast lies the City of Portsmouth. 
 
 The historic associations of the Isles of Shoals 
 antedate Plymouth by nearly two score years. They 
 are now as when the De Monts sailed past them in 
 1605, bare, cragged, seamed, and ocean-washed 
 masses of rocks. The modern sojourner at the Isles 
 of Shoals finds an endless delight in the bracing sea 
 air, the isolation from the outside world, and the 
 wealth of recreative employment and enjoyment at 
 hand. 
 
 Kennebunkport nestles charmingly not far from 
 the mouth of the placid Kennebunk River. This 
 place and Kennebunk Beach are two of the most 
 popular shore resorts in all Maine. 
 
 Old Orchard, in summer, is certainly one of the 
 most populous resorts in the United States, and it 
 is claimed by its enterprising hotel keepers to be 
 the most popular seaside rallying place on the coast 
 of Maine. It is twelve miles from Portland and 
 one hundred and four miles from Boston. Gaiety 
 is also the watchward at Old Orchard, and sombre¬ 
 ness never reigns until the season ends. 
 
 The grandest of all the summer resorts of the 
 Northern New England coasts, the Newport of the 
 Maine shores, without question, is Mount Desert. 
 The name is not exactly descriptive since Mount 
 Desert—or the resort so-called—is an island, and 
 the name belongs rather to an extended group of 
 upheavals than to any individual mountain elevation. 
 It is a very popular resort for Europeans. 
 
 Until, recently Bar Harbor stood for the Ultima 
 Thule of the sea-loving vacationist whose wander¬ 
 ings took him over The Boston and Maine System. 
 Now St. Andrews and contiguous sections of the 
 New Brunswick coast are added to the “ Down 
 East ” list, then comes Nova Scotia, its Cape Breton 
 continuations, and Prince Edward Island and New r - 
 foundland. 
 
 Everywhere in the Provinces the tourist finds 
 scenes and localities worthy of his attention. There 
 are St. John, the land of Evangeline, Digby, Hali¬ 
 
 fax and Yarmouth, all easily reached by means of 
 a first-class railroad or steamship service. 
 
 What other section, save one—of North America, 
 can equal New England, in grandeur and impres¬ 
 siveness of the lake system that includes Moose- 
 head and the Aroostook waters; the Rangeleys, 
 Megantic and Parmachenee, Memphremagog, 
 Willoughby, and the Connecticut Lakes; Winne- 
 pesaukee, Winnisquam, the Squam Lakes, and the 
 great body of lesser formations that make up the 
 lake system of Central New Hampshire; Champlain 
 in Vermont; and the multitude of forest lakes and 
 ponds that distinguish the Central and Southern 
 New England territory. And what other section 
 of the “States” can be so fittingly described as a 
 “ Paradise ” for the sportsman. Through this terri¬ 
 tory the lines of The Boston and Maine Railroad and 
 its connections extend in all directions, reaching 
 into the primitive wilderness and opening to the 
 traveller the delights of this great country. 
 
 Of Lake Winnipesaukee volumes could be written, 
 but the highest praise comes from those who annu¬ 
 ally spend their vacations on its shores. On every 
 side there is a series of summer resorts, superlative 
 in quality, Alton Bay, Wolfeboro, Centre Harbor, 
 and the Weirs. The mountain scenery is superb. 
 Just below Winnepesaukee lies Lake Winnesquam, 
 with the thriving city of Laconia occupying almost 
 the whole of its eastern boundary. It abounds in 
 fish and the winter fishing is an occasion of great 
 merriment. 
 
 Sunapee Lake is finely situated on or near the 
 Concord and Claremont branch of The Boston and 
 Maine Railroad. 
 
 Newfound Lake lies about six miles north from 
 Bristol, on a little branch line of the “Northern 
 Railroad,” a member of The Boston and Maine 
 Railroad System. 
 
 The Squam Lakes are the most beautiful inland 
 waters to be found in New England, and the scenery 
 about them is the finest and most varied within this 
 region. An excellent road winds completely around 
 these waters, and the highway leading from Ash¬ 
 land (on the main line of The Boston and Maine 
 Railroad) to Red Hill and Centre Harbor passes 
 along their shores. 
 
 Willoughby Lake and Lake Memphremagog are 
 found in the extreme northern part of the State of 
 Vermont, the last named, indeed, lying both in 
 Vermont and in Canadian territory. Willoughby 
 Lake is reached by stage ride for six miles from 
 West Burke on the Passumpsic Division of The Bos¬ 
 ton and Maine Railroad. This lake occupies a 
 primitive locality—a great gap taking place among 
 the beautiful and impressive mountain heights. 
 Within recent years the fame of Lake Willoughby 
 
96 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 has been sounded in all sections by people who have 
 made summer pilgrimages to its situation. The 
 whole section presents scenes of the wildest and 
 grandest natural features. In short, here is a sum¬ 
 mer resort presided over by Dame Nature herself. 
 
 The principal “settlement” of the Lake Mem- 
 phremagog region is the town of New Port, Ver¬ 
 mont, at the far end of the Passumpsic Valley and 
 directly upon the line of that division of the Boston 
 and Maine Railroad. Its shores are rockbound and 
 forest clad, with scattered estates, hamlets and 
 villages on either side, and with government light 
 houses and assistants to navigation. Only about one- 
 fourth of its waters lie within United States 
 territory. 
 
 Lake Champlain is situated between the States 
 of Vermont and New York. The lake and its sur¬ 
 roundings formed once a theatre for most significant, 
 and often tragic, performances of Indian tribes, 
 who occupied the regions for years. The beauties 
 of the lake can scarcely be exaggerated in descrip¬ 
 tion, having elements of majestic grandeur and 
 impressiveness, as well as of extreme pictur¬ 
 esqueness. 
 
 The chain of six lakes known as the “ Rangeley 
 Lakes” lie near the boundary line between the 
 States of Maine and New Hampshire. They are 
 often called the “Androscoggin Lakes” because 
 their connected waters finally drain into or form, 
 the river of that name. Upon their shores are to 
 be found hotels and clubhouses with “camps” and 
 private dwelling places, in which entertainment for 
 visitors and sojourners may be easily obtained. 
 
 Moosehead Lake is the largest of the New Eng. 
 land lakes east of Lake Champlain. Its surface is 
 about one thousand feet above the sea level and in 
 some portions is declared to be one thousand feet 
 deep. In all parts may be found natural fishing 
 places. 
 
 The Fitchburg Division of the Boston and Maine 
 Railroad passes through the beautiful Deerfield 
 Valley and the Hoosac Country. And yet before 
 
 if 
 
 reaching that western part of Massachusetts, the 
 road covers a stretch of country not many miles 
 distant from Boston, that has beauty of scenery and 
 is rich in historical interest. Waltham, Watertown, 
 Roberts, Stony Brook, Concord, Silver Hill, Lin¬ 
 coln and such places, contain the homes of men of 
 wealth and social prominence, where farming is con¬ 
 ducted on a scientific scale. Then there is the town 
 of Sudbury containing the famous “Wayside Inn’’ 
 made known to the world by Longfellow. 
 
 Fitchburg is known as a manufacturing city and 
 yet in its vicinity there are found sources of amuse¬ 
 ment and pleasure lacking in many more pretentious 
 places, A few miles farther on and the pretty, 
 
 elevated town of Ashburnham is reached. Two 
 attractive sheets of water, the Upper and Lower 
 Naukeag Lakes, invite the tourist to enjoy the 
 pleasures of boating and fishing. Watatic Moun¬ 
 tain, rising 2,000 feet above the sea level, stand 
 gurdian over " the whole Ashburnham country. In 
 the surrounding covers is to be found an abundance 
 of small game in the shooting season. 
 
 The Cheshire branch is one of the most interest¬ 
 ing of the whole Boston and Maine system, skirting 
 as it does, the glorious Monadnock country, the 
 Ashuelot Valley, the Connecticut River Valley and 
 other picturesque sections. Winchendon and West 
 Rindge are favorite summering places. Bellows 
 F'alls, 114 miles from Boston, is reached after cross¬ 
 ing the Connecticut River, and is one of the most 
 important gateways of Vermont as regards tourist 
 travel. 
 
 At this point the Rutland Railroad system carries 
 tourists into the mountainous Vermont country to 
 Lake Champlain. 
 
 Returning over the main line of the Fitchburg 
 Division to Winchendon, around and about are many 
 of the prettiest of New England towns. Worcester, 
 with its attractive park system and famous Lake 
 Quinsigamond, is worth a visit. Otter River, Bald- 
 winville and Royalston give way to Athol where the 
 fast trains usually stop for a minute. Nearby are 
 Lake Pleasant, the summer headquarters of the Bos¬ 
 ton spiritualists, Greenfield, Deerfield and Shelburne 
 Falls, from which point Ashfield and Coleraine are 
 accessible. This romantic section is in the very 
 heart of the Hoosac Mountains. 
 
 Now comes the famous Hoosac Tunnel, twenty- 
 four years in completion. The ride through this 
 long chamber cut from the solid rock of old 
 Hoosac is one of the most unique experiences that 
 can be enjoyed by the patrons of the Boston and 
 Maine System. Emerging from the great “bore” 
 the train soon stops at North Adams, the “Tunnel 
 City.” From this point, the great western part of Mas¬ 
 sachusetts is accessible in all directions. Williams- 
 town, Stanford and Sandawga Springs, reached by 
 stage, Pownal, Vt., Hoosick Falls, in New York 
 State, Rotterdam Junction where the Fitchburg 
 Division connects with the West Shore Railroad and 
 other points in the three states are all easily 
 attained. 
 
 Ten thousand sportsmen from outside the State 
 fish and hunt in Maine alone each year. The true 
 sportsman does not crave the luxuries of civilization 
 in the wilderness, but he does demand them on the 
 train. In the Boston and Main train service, he 
 assuredly gets all that money can purchase in this 
 respect, and he can nowadays travel from Boston 
 to the very shores of Moosehead Lake, 330 miles 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 97 
 
 distant, with the same parlor car luxuries as he would 
 enjoy during a run from the Hub to New York or 
 Albany. 
 
 The opening up of Washington Country by the 
 new railroad bearing its name had added a large 
 and attractive territory to the devotee of both rod 
 and rifle. 
 
 New Brunswick is now as popular in a way with 
 moose and deer hunters as in Maine itself. Quebec 
 is regarded in many respects as the real home and 
 nursery of the nobler type of antler game, and hun¬ 
 dreds of sportsmen annually visit it. Nova Scotia in¬ 
 cluding that part of it known as Cape Breton, is 
 popular with many Yankee sportsmen. Lastly 
 comes Newfoundland, which has been opened up to 
 the sportsman and tourist. It is a fascinating and 
 almost virgin territory. 
 
 Of course, the State of Maine is, for many years 
 will continue to be, the great objective point of 
 most New England fishermen and hunters. For 
 every outsider who visits the Pine Tree State to 
 shoot there are three who go to fish. Yet in 
 the line of game there is also every species that the 
 Canadian provinces can boast of. There is one part 
 of the State where more moose are reported to have 
 that local habitation than in any similar area in the 
 world. Thousands of deer are killed every year. 
 Partridge, woodcock, quail, duck, geese, plover and 
 snipe abound. Of the more assertive class of sports¬ 
 man’s quarry, there are bears, wolves and wildcats, 
 and of other fur bearing animals mink, muskrat, 
 sable, etc. It’s a wonderful State, is Maine ! 
 
 Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad Co.— 
 When the Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Rail¬ 
 road was completed it came like a “Godsend” to 
 the people of Boston, both in a business and pleas¬ 
 ure way. For five cents you can get rapid transit 
 railroad accommodations from Boston to Lynn, to 
 Winthrop and all intermediate stations, and to Re¬ 
 vere Beach. It is natural, then, that everybody 
 likes and patronizes this up-to-date railroad, which 
 connects with first-class ferry-boats for single fare. 
 Next year they will run trains every ten minutes 
 from Atlantic avenue station. The officers are Mel¬ 
 vin O. Adams, President; John A. Fenno, Superin¬ 
 tendent and H. L. Hoyt, Agent. In the summer 
 months the road carries enormous crowds to “Re¬ 
 vere Beach,” which is a pleasure resort established 
 and supported by the State. Last year the road 
 carried over 6,500,000 of people, and it is estimated 
 that with the additional trains and improved ser¬ 
 vice, over 8,000,000 persons will patronize this road. 
 Trains will be run every ten minutes the coming 
 season. On Labor Day of 1901 the number of peo¬ 
 ple carried was over 25,000. The people get the 
 
 best railroad service for the same price as a common 
 street car, and they seem to appreciate it. The 
 road at present has fourteen locomotives, seventy 
 passenger cars and three first-class ferry-boats in 
 service. 
 
 New York, New Haven and Hartford Rail¬ 
 road Co.—N ext August the New York, New Ha¬ 
 ven and Hartford Railroad Co. will have been in 
 existence thirty years, during which time it and 
 the railways which have become component parts 
 of its present great system have had much to do 
 with the growth and the enriching of some of the 
 busiest and most prosperous sections of New Eng¬ 
 land, and with the wonderful development of Bos¬ 
 ton’s importance as a mercantile centre. From an 
 almost local line, operating in practically only one 
 State, it has become a great transporting agent, 
 operating, besides nearly 5,000 miles of tfack, nine 
 water-routes, including several of the famous 
 Long Island Sound Steamer lines and auxiliary 
 trolley lines. 
 
 The capital of the New York, New Haven and 
 Hartford Railroad Co. is $54,685,400 and its shares 
 are in the hands of some 9,600 stockholders. Since 
 its small beginnings in August, 1872, it has ac¬ 
 quired by purchase or by lease the Old Colony 
 Railroad, which before its absorption had come to 
 include the old Boston and Providence and the 
 New England Railroad. So its own lines now 
 cover the whole of eastern Massachusetts and the 
 territory from Boston to Fishkill and Newburgh on 
 the Hudson River, where connection to the West is 
 made with the Erie Railroad. Perhaps the most 
 important short-distance traffic in the United States 
 is that between Boston and New York, and two of 
 the three all-rail routes—those via. Willimantic 
 and New London, Connecticut,—are under control 
 of the New Haven road. The third passes over 
 its tracks between Springfield, Mass., and New 
 York. 
 
 Although originally a railroad corporation, the 
 New York, New Haven and Hartford controls and 
 operates several very important water-routes. The 
 four great lines of steamers on Long Island Sound 
 which have won the reputation of affording the 
 finest steamboat service in the world are its—one 
 between New York and Providence, R. I.; one be¬ 
 tween New York and Stonington, Conn.; a third, 
 the Norwich Line, between New York and New 
 London, Conn., and the fourth, the most famous 
 water-route in any country, without doubt—be¬ 
 tween New York and Fall River, Mass. At their 
 New England termini all of these lines are con¬ 
 nected directly with Boston—and so with the whole 
 East—by rail, the car service being of the most 
 
98 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 luxurious and perfect kind. In addition to the 
 Sound steamers, the New Haven road runs boats 
 between New York and New Haven and New York 
 and New Bedford, Mass., and, over what is called 
 the New London Line, between New York and 
 New London, Conn., and Block Island, R. I. 
 
 Such a tremendous business as is handled by this 
 corporation requires immense equipment and facili¬ 
 ties, of course, and at its principal terminals in 
 South Boston, at Fishkill and on the Harlem and 
 East Rivers, New York, as well as at its lesser ter¬ 
 minal points, it has enormous freight yards, located 
 just away from the passenger stations that there 
 may be the least possible interference between the 
 two kinds of traffic and the greatest possible con¬ 
 venience to both of them. The requirements at 
 New York are such that the company maintains a 
 line of car-floats for the transportation of freight in 
 New York Harbor, between Jersey City, Pier 50 on 
 the East River, the Harlem River and Oak Point, 
 which makes for speed and economy in transferring 
 cars to and from both West and East. 
 
 This is but one development growing from the 
 progressive and liberal policy which the New Ha¬ 
 ven road has always pursued. Its rolling stock, its 
 roadbed and the safety equipment of its lines, its 
 stations—both at the important junctions and ter¬ 
 mini and at the smaller points of less consequence 
 —the arrangement of its service, both passenger 
 and freight, are as nearly perfection as ingenuity 
 and generosity can make them. Without compul¬ 
 sion, and for the welfare of the passing public as 
 much as for its own convenience, it has built great 
 viaducts in and out of the larger cities through 
 which its trains pass, has done away with the 
 “blind” and grade crossings which were former¬ 
 ly so terrible a menace to the general safety and 
 has afforded every protection against such dangers 
 as can be guarded against. It has in use the most 
 complete block system of signals which experience 
 and forethought have devised and its cars and loco¬ 
 motives are provided with all possible appliances 
 for safety, comfort and convenience. 
 
 These three important elements, with the addi¬ 
 tion of speed, have each been given due considera¬ 
 tion in the arrangement of the New Haven’s time 
 schedules. Its limited express service between 
 Boston and New York is model in its way; the fast 
 trains of a more local character are none less care¬ 
 fully equipped nor satisfactorily managed; in accom¬ 
 modation and suburban service few railroads in the 
 country can compare with the New Haven. In a 
 territory so thickly settled and with so many impor¬ 
 tant towns and cities as that through which it passes, 
 this means much. Its trains are run with frequency, 
 its fare charges are low, and for “commuters ” are 
 
 particularly moderate, and its schedule is adhered 
 to with commendable and unusual exactness but 
 with due regard to safety, always. The same is 
 true of its transportation of freight, which is a most 
 important consideration for a great shipping centre 
 for manufactures and natural products, such as New 
 England is -becoming more and more each year. 
 The New Haven road in all of its relations with the 
 public has always shown itself reliable, liberal and 
 fair-minded. 
 
 That position it maintains toward its employees, 
 too. The number of them in all the various depart¬ 
 ments is close to 30,000 and by their efficiency they 
 have had no small share in making the road’s repu¬ 
 tation as a desirable and worthy public servant. 
 The character of the relations between the corpora¬ 
 tion and its men tells in the freedom which the road 
 enjoys from labor difficulties and from misunder¬ 
 standings that become a public annoyance. 
 
 The use of electricity on some of the New Haven 
 road’s shorter branches—that which runs from Bos¬ 
 ton to Nantasket Beach and the one between Provi¬ 
 dence, Warren and Bristol, for example - has been 
 eminently satisfactory and has pointed the way for 
 anew development of local railroad service. Speed, 
 safety and cleanliness have all been attained in the 
 best possible proportion and the company’s progres¬ 
 siveness has been shown at every step. The repu¬ 
 tation of the various lines of steamers is such as to 
 need no repetition or comment. 
 
 Some of the figures set forth in the New York, 
 New Haven and Hartford Railroad Co.’s annual 
 report of June 30 last are very interesting. They 
 show a total income of $12,646,392, the deductions 
 from which leave a balance applicable to dividends 
 of $4,658,287. During the year four dividends 
 aggregating $4,294,738, were paid, so that the sur¬ 
 plus for the twelve months was $363,549. The total 
 gross earnings of both rail and water lines for the 
 same time were $44,295,541. The funded debt was 
 reduced $300,000. The division of the cost of oper¬ 
 ating a great railway system is interesting. The 
 maintenance of its way and structures was an ex¬ 
 pense of $5,476,464 to the New Haven in the year 
 the report covers, the maintenance of equipment 
 cost $9,924,539 and the expense of conducting trans¬ 
 portation was $17,163,880. 
 
 The public service which this railroad rendered 
 from June, 1900 to June, 1901, is best described, 
 perhaps in the traffic figures given. They show 
 that 53,051,460 passengers were carried an average 
 distance of not quite eighteen miles; which is as if 
 949,079,966 passengers had been transported a mile 
 each. In the same way, 15,436,435 tons of revenue¬ 
 earning freight were taken over an average of 
 83.72 miles a ton, making the equivalent of 1,292,- 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 99 
 
 378,364 tons hauled a single mile. Passenger trains 
 ran 13,898,315 miles, freight trains 5,969,950 miles 
 and mixed trains 239,667 miles, which, adding the 
 distance covered by switching, construction and 
 other trains makes a total train mileage of 25,802,941. 
 
 The directors of the New Haven road are: William 
 D. Bishop, Bridgeport, Conn. ; Joseph Park, New 
 York; Chauncey M. Depew, New York; Henry S. 
 Lee, Springfield, Mass.; William Rockefeller, New 
 York; Leverett Brainard, Hartford, Conn.; J. Pier- 
 pont Morgan, New York; George Macculloch Miller, 
 New York; John M. Hall, New Haven, Conn.; 
 Charles F. Choate, Boston; Nathaniel Thayer, Bos¬ 
 ton; Royal C. Taft, Providence, R. I.; Charles F. 
 Brooker, Ansonia, Conn.; Carlos French Seymour, 
 Conn.; George J Brush, New Haven; I. De Ver 
 Warner, Bridgeport, Conn. ; Arthur D. Osborne. 
 New Haven; Frank W. Cheney, South Manchester, 
 Conn., and Hon. Edwin Milner, Moosup, Conn. 
 
 Its principal officers are: John M. Hall, Presi¬ 
 dent; William D. Bishop, Vice-President of the 
 Board; W. F. Merrill, First Vice-President; Percy 
 R. Tood, Second Vice-President; William E. Bar¬ 
 nett, Third Vice-President; Fayette S. Curtis, 
 Fourth Vice-President; W. D. Bishop, Jr., Secre¬ 
 tary; Wm. L. Squire, Treasurer; H. M. Kocher- 
 sperger, Comptroller. 
 
 Comfort in Cravel. 
 
 NOWHERE ELSE ARE THE NECESSITIES AND 
 COMFORTS OF THE SOJOURNER SO 
 WELL LOOKED AFTER. 
 
 Asceticism seems not to have been one of the 
 cherished heritages from the Puritans, for nowhere 
 in the world are the personal necessities and the 
 minor comforts of travelers more carefully or satis¬ 
 factorily looked after than in New England. Its 
 railroad restaurants are known all over the country 
 for their excellence, and the news service, in all of its 
 branches and departments, both on trains and at 
 stations, is complete and efficient. So well are both 
 regulated, that they have become an unconscious 
 
 part of the wayfarer’s life, most appreciated when 
 he goes into other less favored regions. 
 
 On this particular side of railway service nothing 
 has been overlooked. The business was early of 
 establishment, and has always kept a little in ad¬ 
 vance of expressed demand, introducing new feat¬ 
 ures without waiting for the public to cry for them, 
 and in many cases pointing out to travelers ways in 
 which the unavoidable tedium and discomfort of 
 long journeys might be largely relieved by furnish¬ 
 ing the relief in a complete form and unobtrusive 
 way. 
 
 It is characteristic of the people of this section of 
 the country that what is offered them must be of 
 the best and must be offered in the best way and at 
 fair cost. Under such an influence the results which 
 everybody who travels in New England knows so 
 well have come about and will be maintained. 
 
 The G. W. Armstrong Dining Room & News 
 Co.—There is not a traveler in New England, 
 probably, who has not owed many comforts when 
 away from home to The G. W. Armstrong Dining 
 Room & News Co., which controls and oper¬ 
 ates the train and station news service and the sta¬ 
 tion dining rooms on the lines of the Boston & 
 Maine, Boston & Albany and Boston, Revere Beach 
 & Lynn Railroads. The company was established 
 in 1865 by the late George W. Armstrong, and was 
 one of the first, as it has always been one of the 
 most efficient and satisfactory institutions of the 
 kind in the country. It overlooks no necessity nor 
 convenience, no comfort, nor pleasure. It supplies 
 the best of everything. It is unobtrusive in its 
 methods, but without thrusting itself upon the pub¬ 
 lic seems always at hand to be of service. Its 
 organization is well-nigh perfect. 
 
 The great business which Mr. Armstrong built up 
 so successfully was incorporated last May with 
 $100,000 capital. The President of the company is 
 A. C. Ratshesky, and Edward E. Smith is its Treas¬ 
 urer and General Manager. It employs more than 
 250 persons, and has its main office at 78 Utica 
 street, Boston. 
 
 / 
 
 I, 
 
Che Great Steamship and Sailing Vessel Lines 
 that Connect the Seaports of the 
 (florid with JVew 6ngland. 
 
 BOSTON THE SECOND PORT IN THE WORLD IN THE COMMERCIAL IMPOR¬ 
 TANCE-SHIPPING INTERESTS THAT HAVE GROWN TO MAMMOTH 
 PROPORTIONS — THE STEADY INCREASE OF EXPORTS 
 AND IMPORTS—THE NUMBER OF SHIPS 
 
 IMPROVES EACH YEAR. 
 
 « 
 
 B OSTON’S port is now second only to one in 
 , the country in point of commercial im- 
 ) portance. Boston is the natural distribut¬ 
 ing centre of New England and is the 
 headquarters of so many great importing houses in 
 all branches of trade that it is not strange that its 
 shipping should have grown to such great propor¬ 
 tions. Time was when the port of Boston was su¬ 
 preme in the continent, but with the growth of the 
 country other ports developed trade and for a time 
 local shipping was eclipsed. But during the past 
 twenty-five years it has been steadily regaining 
 ground lost in the middle of the past century, and 
 now bids fair once more to become the great port 
 that it was of old. Steamship lines are now running 
 from Boston to nearly every port in the world, and 
 the exports and imports of recent years have been 
 steadily increasing in volume and importance. 
 Every year sees an increase in the number of ships 
 which enter and clear in Boston Harbor. 
 
 Boston the Second port of 
 tbe Ornted States. 
 
 Boston’s port is the second in size in the countrv 
 in point of commercial importance, therefore its 
 shipping interests are so vast that it is extremely 
 difficult to give even an outline of their history and 
 present day standing within a brief space A 
 volume might well be filled with the story of the 
 city's origin and development into a great commer¬ 
 cial centre and shipping point- 
 
 Boston is rightly proud of her shipping, which 
 has had an immense growth within the past quarter 
 of a century. It seems all the more marvelous when 
 its humble origin is considered. 
 
 It was in 1630 that the city was founded, and 
 within a year from that date the pioneer of Boston’s 
 great shipping fleet was launched upon the waters 
 of the Mystic. The date of the launching of this 
 vessel, which was named the “ Blessing of the Bay,” 
 was July 4. 1631. 
 
 It is learned from the records that the ship was 
 of 30 tons, and built by Gov. Winthrop. When she 
 glided from the stocks to the water the history of 
 Boston’s shipping was begun. There is no doubt 
 that the venture proved a success from the first, for 
 it is recorded that within a brief period the “ Re¬ 
 becca,” a vessel of sixty tons, made a trip to Narra- 
 gansett Bay and brought back a cargo of corn which 
 was purchased from the Indians. Next she made a 
 voyage to Bermuda and returned with a cargo of 
 limes, oranges and potatoes. In 1641 commerce was 
 begun with the Isle of Sable which supplied the early 
 settlers with walrus teeth and oil. 
 
 The year following considerable trade with Eng¬ 
 land was carried on, pipes staves and produce being 
 brought back in some quantities. During the year 
 1642 ten ships sailed for the ports of the mother 
 country. In the same year a cargo of wine and 
 sugar was imported from Madeira. The Trial sailed 
 from Boston in 1643, for Fayal, laden with pipes 
 staves and codfish and bringing back cotton, sugar 
 and wine. As Boston began her manufactures in 
 1644 that year was one of great progress. Her coast- 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 lot 
 
 wise trade was extended and many raw materials 
 were imported from Barbadoes. 
 
 After commercial relations were established with 
 the Dutch in New 
 York and Delaware, 
 the Trial made her 
 first voyage to Spain 
 in 1645 and on her 
 return was accom¬ 
 panied by eleven 
 ships from England 
 with cargoes of lin¬ 
 en, woolen goods, 
 shoes, wheat, rye 
 and pease. In the 
 same year the ex¬ 
 port of cereals was 
 begun and vessels 
 with greater ton¬ 
 nage were intro¬ 
 duced. One of these 
 was the Scaforth, of 
 400 t-ons. It was at 
 this time that Eng¬ 
 land made an at¬ 
 tempt to curtail the 
 commerce with the 
 colonies, but this 
 effort was success¬ 
 fully combated by 
 Boston’s mer¬ 
 chants, who were 
 even then remark¬ 
 able for their perse¬ 
 verance, and the 
 city’s foreign trade 
 was constantly ex¬ 
 tended and by the 
 end of the seven¬ 
 teenth century con¬ 
 siderable commerce 
 was carried on with 
 Virginia, the West 
 Indies, Great Brit¬ 
 ain, Portugal, Spain 
 and Maderia, the 
 imports being 
 fruits, wines and 
 manufactured 
 goods. 
 
 Docks and 
 wharves were con- 
 structed, Long- 
 Wharf being the 
 
 OLD NORTH CHURCH. 
 
 The original building, reproduced in the present structure, was the 
 church of the Mathers — Samuel, Increase, Cotton and Samuel, the 
 son of Cotton. This is the church which the British troops tore down 
 and used for firewood one hundred years later during the siege. 
 Story has it, though history does not verify it, that it was in the tower 
 of the North Church that the lanterns which warned Paul Revere 
 were hung. 
 
 recorded that by 1740 forty vessels were on the 
 stocks at one time, with an average of 7,000 tons, 
 There seems to have been a temporary check to the 
 
 city’s trade shortly 
 after that time, as 
 well as at the close 
 of the Revolution. 
 The sea otter fish¬ 
 eries gave a fresh 
 impetus to Boston’s 
 commerce and her 
 ships were soon 
 making long voy¬ 
 ages, which includ¬ 
 ed Oregon, China, 
 V a 1 p a r a s i o an d 
 England. In 1790, 
 455 vessels entered 
 Boston Harbor 
 from abroad and 
 1,200 coastwise 
 craft entered the 
 port in that year. 
 It seems incredible, 
 but it is true, that 
 in one day in 1791 
 seventy vessels 
 cleared Boston Har¬ 
 bor, bound for all 
 parts of the world. 
 
 The wars of Na¬ 
 poleon seriously 
 disturbed the mari¬ 
 time commerce of 
 the New World and 
 Boston’s port suf¬ 
 fered, but at the 
 conclusion of the 
 wars trade was re¬ 
 sumed and soon be¬ 
 came extraordinar¬ 
 ily active. During 
 the period between 
 1820 and 1840 Bos¬ 
 ton’s commerce by 
 sea was probably 
 proportionally the 
 greatest in her his¬ 
 tory, and by 18-40 
 her packet and clip¬ 
 per service was ac¬ 
 knowledged to be 
 the best in the 
 world. From 1838 
 
 first (1710), and extending 1,800 feet into the sea to 1846 the Sirius and Great Eastern plied between 
 and containing seventy-six warehouses. It is Boston and Great Britain. In 1840 postal steam 
 
 4 
 
102 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 communication was established between this coun¬ 
 try and Great Britain. 
 
 After 1848 other ports in the New World began to 
 increase in importance, and from that time foreign 
 commerce with America was divided, the period 
 between i860 and 1870 being a particularly dull time 
 for Boston. 
 
 But Boston’s shipping was only temporarily eclip¬ 
 sed, for in 1870 the value of the cotton exports was 
 $135,000, which in 1880 rose to $7,500,000. In 1871 
 there were 126 steamship entries with tonnage of 
 184,798, and 68 clearances with tonnage of 49,789 
 in the port of Boston. In 1885 there were 522 
 steamship entries with tonnage of 740,924, and 438 
 clearances with tonnage of 622,736 in the port of 
 Boston. In the year 1886 the entries were 555 Amer¬ 
 ican vessels of all classes, with aggregate tonnage 
 of 254,697, and 2,092 foreign vessels with tonnage 
 of 1,003,827. The clearances for that year were: 
 American, 617 vessels, with tonnage of 262,317,and 
 1,967 foreign vessels with tonnage of 824,368. 
 
 The authentic records of the Boston Chamber of 
 Commerce, in regard to shipping date from i860, 
 when New Orleans as the port of the South took 
 the position next to New York in importance. At 
 that time Boston’s trade totalized $54,534,575 
 annually. 
 
 The quinquennial reports show that, with the ex¬ 
 ception of the period of the war, when every port 
 suffered in like manner, Boston has shown steady 
 progress. In 1880 she took second place, and every 
 year since her hold on that position has grown 
 stronger. So vigorous and stable has the growth 
 been that her figures for 1895 show an increase of 
 i $ l8 >3 1 5)7°4 over those for 1890, although each of the 
 five other large ports, New York included, suffered 
 a considerable falling off. The growth has been 
 as follows: i860, $54,534,575! 1870, $61,661,274; 
 1880, $127,741,477; 1890, $134,078,610; 1895, $152,- 
 394 , 3 M! 19°°, $192,608,536. 
 
 A decrease in exports in 1900, due to a scarcity of 
 ocean tonnage, was so far offset by an increase in 
 imports that a net gain of $2,093,403 over 1899 
 resulted. But to the direct foreign trade should be 
 added the “intransit and transshipment” trade 
 which passed through this port during the year, 
 amounting to $10,226,099, giving a total of $202,- 
 834,635. This does not include $2,091,403 in mer¬ 
 chandise received at Boston and forwarded to inter¬ 
 ior points without appraisement. 
 
 The exports of iron and steel and manufactures 
 increased, in 1900, 30 per cent, over 1899, and of 
 cotton and manufactures 100 per cent. The imports 
 of iron and steel and manufactures increased simil¬ 
 arly 50 per cent., and of wool 100 per cent. Boston 
 leads the rest of the country in the shipment of live 
 
 cattle, 112,868 head having been exported in 1900. 
 This pre-eminence is due to the lower percentage of 
 loss on shipboard of animals sent from Boston—.145 
 per cent, of cattle against .24 per cent, from all 
 United States ports. The loss of sheep is but .282 
 per cent, from Boston as compared with . 71 per 
 cent, from all other ports. 
 
 The arrivals of vessels in the coast-wise trade 
 show a continual and satisfactory increase. This 
 important factor is another of Boston’s strongholds. 
 She is credited with 10,436 arrivals representing a 
 tonnage of 8,244,860, or a total tonnage in and out 
 of 16,489,720. Her closest competitor is New York, 
 with 9,016 arrivals and an estimated tonnage of 
 7,122,640, or a total tonnage in and out of 14,245,- 
 280. 
 
 It is interesting to note the number and variety 
 of craft that entered and cleared in Boston Harbor 
 during the year 1901. According to the records of 
 the Custom House there were 219 American vessels 
 of all sorts, and 1,604 foreign that entered the har¬ 
 bor during the year. Of the American craft 134 
 were steamships with an aggregate tonnage of 170,- 
 680. The number of foreign steamships to enter 
 was 940, with a total tonnage of 2,175,835. The 
 next in order were schooners of which 59 were Amer¬ 
 ican with tonnage of 19,564, and 631 foreign with 
 tonnage of 2,175,835. The other ships to enter 
 were as follows: Barques, American 23, tonnage 
 17,150; foreign 17, tonnage 15,683; brigs, American 
 3, tonnage 1,003; foreign 13, tonnage 2,297; ships, 
 American none, foreign 3, tonnage 4,618. 
 
 The vessels that cleared during the year 1901 were 
 as follows: Steamships, American 135, tonnage 164,- 
 550; foreign 866,tonnage 1,904,089 ; schooners, Amer¬ 
 ican 143, tonnage 51,206; foreign 601, tonnage 
 61,743; barques, American 18, tonnage 12,925; for¬ 
 eign 12, tonnage 9,087; brigs, American 6, tonnage 
 2,091; foreign 12, tonnage 2,166; total American 
 302, tonnage 230,7723 foreign 1,433, tonnage, 
 I > 979 > 9 1 4 - 
 
 But the above figures do not represent the actual 
 number of vessels to enter and clear Boston Harbor 
 during the year 1901. Vessels which first touched 
 at some other port and then came to Boston were 
 not included in the above lists. The actual arrivals 
 and clearances for the year 1901 were as follows: 
 Arrivals, coastwise, 10,415, with gross tonnage of 
 8,724,118; foreign, 1,957; total, 12,372; from South¬ 
 ern ports, 6,280, with tonnage of 6,115,381, from 
 Eastern ports, 1,218, with tonnage of 2,608,737. 
 Clearances, coastwise, 2,141; foreign, 1,824; total, 
 3 , 965 - 
 
 Steamships sailing to foreign ports were as fol¬ 
 lows: Liverpool, 172; London, 70; Glasgow, 24; 
 Hull, 18; Bristol, 14; Antwerp, via Baltimore, 19; 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England 
 
 o 
 
 103 
 
 Rotterdam, 23; Hamburg, 15; Havana, via Phila¬ 
 delphia and Baltimore, 8; Copenhagen, 17; other 
 ports, 11; total, 391. 
 
 Dominion Line—Richards, Mills & Co.—The 
 well-known Dominion Line, the fast twin screw ser¬ 
 vice from Boston to Liverpool, via. Queenstown, 
 and to all the principal ports of the Mediterranean, 
 is represented in the City of Boston by the firm of 
 Richards, Mills & Co., with headquarters at the 
 company’s office at No. 77 State street. 
 
 The Dominion Line steamers are notable among 
 the ships that sail from this port. Among them are 
 the New England, the Commonwealth, Merion and 
 Haverford. For both freight and passenger serv¬ 
 ice, the rates are reasonable. 
 
 One of the magnificent twin-screw steamships of the 
 Dominion Lines , British and Mediterranea7i services. 
 
 The Mediterranean service of the Dominion Line 
 is most popular, as it carries passengers to ports of 
 Gibraltar^ Naples, Genoa, Alexandria, Egypt. 
 
 The new steamer Alexandrian will shortly be 
 added to the fleet of the Dominion Line in conjunc¬ 
 tion with the Cambroman to keep up the Mediter¬ 
 ranean service. 
 
 With the addition of the Alexandrian, the com¬ 
 pleteness of the Mediterranean service is assured. 
 
 The other four steamers will sail regularly on 
 Saturdays for Liverpool. 
 
 The Dominion Line also sails from Portland, Me., 
 to Liverpool, and from Montreal and Quebec. 
 
 Passengers disembarking at Queenstown are 
 landed at the railroad terminal for all points in Ire¬ 
 land. From Queenstown the steamers proceed di¬ 
 
 rect to Liverpool, where they meet a special train 
 for London. 
 
 Passengers leaving United States and Canadian 
 ports for London and the Continent will find this 
 service of great convenience. 
 
 Furness, Withy & Co., Ltd. —The well-known 
 firm of Furness, Withy & Co., Ltd., shipbuilders 
 and owners, was incorporated in 1890. The capital 
 is $5,000,000, with a reserve fund of over $2,000,000. 
 The headquarters are in West Hartlepool and Lon¬ 
 don, with branch houses in Boston, New York, 
 Newport News, New Castle, Eng., Montreal, Hali¬ 
 fax, St. John, etc. Sir Christopher Furness, the 
 head of the firm, is one of the best known financiers 
 in England. The company owns a large number of 
 steamships, that are among the “finest craft that 
 float,” and the service is unexcelled between the 
 seaports of Europe, the United States and Canada, 
 where the company has connections, to which points 
 though bookings are make. The vessels of the 
 Furness-Withy Co. are fitted up in the most luxuri¬ 
 ous style, with all modern conveniences for the 
 comfort of passengers. The saloon and state-rooms 
 are airy and well ventilated. 
 
 The steamers have a handsome ladies’ music room, 
 and gentleman’s smoking room, all of which are 
 lighted by electricity, and fitted with electric bells. 
 They carry Doctor, Stewardess and a good staff of 
 stewards. 
 
 The vessels are fitted with bilge keels, so that the 
 rolling motion which is so disagreeable at sea is re¬ 
 duced to a minimum. 
 
 Excellent accommodation is provided for Second- 
 class passengers. The Boston offices are located 
 at 85 Water street. 
 
 John G. Hall & Co.—The firm of John G. Hall 
 & Co., 114 State street, ship and steamship brokers 
 and commission merchants, was established in 1842, 
 under the firm name of Ladd & Hall. The present 
 name was adopted in 1865. Since the death of Mr. 
 Hall, in 1881, the business has been carried on by 
 his sons, Herbert C. and Irving G. Hall. In 1897 
 the firm became agents of the well-known Elder- 
 Dempster Line. Originally the business of this old 
 and reliable form was done almost entirely with the 
 Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. 
 The firm was also agents for many ships owned in 
 the provinces. 
 
 Fred’k Leyland & Co.—Fred’k Leyland & Co. 
 (1900) Ltd., steamship owners, is generally known as 
 “ The Leyland Line,” the head office of which is in 
 Liverpool, England, with branches in Boston, New 
 York, New Orleans, Montreal and Quebec. Regu¬ 
 lar sailings for both passengers and freight are 
 
104 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 made between Liverpool and Boston, Liverpool and 
 New York, Liverpool and New Orleans and West 
 Indies, London and New Orleans, London and 
 Boston, London and Quebec. The particular ad¬ 
 dresses are as follows: London England, 38 Lead- 
 enhall street; Liverpool, 27 St. James street; 
 Boston, 92 State street; New York, 24 State street; 
 Montreal, 11 St. Sacrament street; Quebec, 81 St. 
 Peter street ;• New Orleans, Cotton Exchange Build¬ 
 ing. Messrs. F. O. Houghton & Co. are the pas¬ 
 senger agents in Boston, with headquarters at 115 
 State street, in the heart of the business district and 
 convenient to all the leading hotels. 
 
 “The Leyland Line ” owns over 50 steamships, 
 and with the steamers now building and lines 
 recently acquired the company has one of the most 
 extensive businesses of the kind in the public ser¬ 
 vice. All steamers are admirably equipped for the 
 general comfort and accommodation of the com¬ 
 pany’s patrons. Their new and immense steam¬ 
 ships are among the finest sailing from Boston. 
 The staterooms are large, commodious and have the 
 best of ventilation. 
 
 One of their more recent acquisitions to the ser¬ 
 vice is the steamship “Devomain,” which is of 
 11,000 tons gross and is the largest single screw 
 steamer in the world. Among others are the Wini- 
 fredian, 10,500 tons; Bohemian, 9,500; Armenian, 
 Certrian and Victorian, of 9,000 tons, and Lan¬ 
 castrian, 6,000 tons. The sign of the solid red flag, 
 which is the flag of “The Leyland Line,” is a 
 familiar one to ocean travelers. The service is the 
 
 best and rates are very reasonable on “The Ley- 
 land Line.” 
 
 Patterson, Wylde & Co.—There is no more im¬ 
 portant element in commercial success than the 
 shipping agent, and in these days of foreign trade 
 expansion the steamship agents and brokers play a 
 most important part. It is to enterprising, active 
 concerns of this kind, such as Messrs. Patterson, 
 Wylde & Co., of 102 and 104 Chamber of Com¬ 
 merce, Boston, that many of the opportunities of 
 getting into the foreign markets economically, 
 promptly and efficiently are to be credited. 
 
 The first day of the new century saw the launch¬ 
 ing of Patterson, Wylde & Co. as a firm, though 
 both partners had had many years of experience in 
 their line of business. They took over then the 
 business of William Johnston & Co., Ltd., who had 
 been in Boston since 1889. Mr. Charles Campbell 
 Patterson, of the new firm, was manager for Messrs. 
 Johnston & Co. from 1889 to 1894 and Mr. John 
 Wylde, his present partner, held the same position 
 from 1895 to 1901. 
 
 Messrs. Patterson, Wylde & Co. are agents for 
 Messrs. Johnston & Co.’s business and also for the 
 Hamburg American Line, which is doing a large 
 and increasing business between thi-s point and 
 Hamburg, Germany. They load every month two 
 steamers o: about 7,000 tons burden which sail di¬ 
 rectly to Hamburg. They also send an occasional 
 Hamburg American liner to Emben, Germany. 
 
General Blectrical Hdvance, and the Remark¬ 
 able Improvements ^drought by Glect- 
 rlcal Gngmeers and Skilled 
 
 jMecbamcs. 
 
 THE STATES OF THE MAYFLOWER'S LANDING TURNS OUT VAST NUMBERS 
 OF EXPERTS IN THIS SCIENCE-BOSTON THE HEADQUARTERS OF MANY, 
 AND THE CITY'S PLANTS CONCEDED TO BE THE BEST—EXPERT 
 ELECTRICAL AND SUPERIOR MECHANICAL GENIUS. 
 
 * 
 
 natural law of sequence decreed that 
 » New England, and particularly Boston, 
 ]WJ should occupy a place in the very front 
 -—^ rank in the march of electrical achieve¬ 
 ment. Boston is the home of great technical insti¬ 
 tutions, and has turned out an army of men who are 
 working in the electrical field to-day. This city is 
 also the headquarters of many great electrical ex¬ 
 perts, and their knowledge and practical experience 
 is demonstrated by Boston’s electric lighting plants, 
 universally conceded to be the best in the world, 
 and other admirable electrical systems. 
 
 In the same line comes electrical machinery. 
 Expert electrical training and superior mechanical 
 genius have combined to produce in this State elec¬ 
 trical machinery which is not only adequate to the 
 needs of the rapidly developing science of electric¬ 
 ity, but is the equal if not the superior of any ma¬ 
 chinery of its kind in the world. One hears repeat¬ 
 edly that electricity is yet in its infancy, but when 
 one looks about and witnesses the achievements of 
 the electrical engineers and sees the mechanical 
 wonders which their work has made possible, it 
 almost seems as though the limit had been reached. 
 But they say they will do much more. 
 
 By Olcctriclty. 
 
 BOSTON FURNISHED WITH LIGHT, HEAT 
 AND POWER. 
 
 Nature’s greatest force, electricity, has been 
 brought to its highest state of usefulness in Boston. 
 Not content with simply keeping abreast of what 
 
 has been done in other places, the companies which 
 furnish the inhabitants of this city with the “ force 
 of modern magic,” as it has been called, have built 
 the finest plants in the world, have employed the 
 newest devices and adopted the best regulated and 
 most satisfactory system of public service to be 
 found anywhere. And their growth has been 
 according to their merits—healthy, constant, lasting. 
 
 For many years Boston has been looked upon as 
 the best lighted city in the world. That is, in 
 itself, saying much for the electric light companies, 
 for the municipality covers a very large area—35 
 square miles, or thereabouts—and many of the 
 streets in the older section are narrow, crooked and 
 difficult to illuminate. The reputation extends 
 beyond street lighting, though, for there are few 
 places where arc and incandescent lamps are in 
 such general “commercial” use as they are in 
 Boston. Besides the important service of lighting 
 the city, electricity is furnishing heat and power 
 more extensively every year, and the wonderful 
 progress in the various applications of its mysterious 
 energy has developed an enormous business in an 
 almost unbelievably short space of time. 
 
 It is less than twenty years since electric lighting 
 came into general use. Boston was among the first 
 cities to take it up, and her peculiarly advantageous 
 position in electrical engineering, and in what is 
 best described as the expansion of the whole science 
 of electricity, has kept her far forward in the pro¬ 
 cession of modern advancement. What were mod¬ 
 est innovations seventeen or eighteen years ago are 
 now great plants, which have cost millions of dollars 
 
io6 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 and are doing millions of dollars’ worth of work. 
 Every year has seen the extent of their usefiilness 
 increased, their business multiplied and their plans 
 broadened. Their prosperity is built upon the 
 excellence of their accomplishment. 
 
 Nearly nine million dollars is invested in the two 
 great corporations which supply Boston with most 
 of its electricity, and their combined yearly income 
 is, in the gross, in excess of two and a quarter mil¬ 
 lions. Their plants alone have an assessed valuation 
 of six and a half 
 millions or more, 
 and they are being 
 constantly added 
 to. They have a 
 combined dynamo 
 capacity of 275,340 
 lamps of 2,000 and 
 16 candle power, and 
 are furnishing pow¬ 
 er for between three 
 and four thousand 
 motors requiring 
 upward of 14,000 
 horse-power alto¬ 
 gether. Close to 
 3,000 ‘‘public” 
 lamps and more 
 than 4,000 “com¬ 
 mercial” lights are 
 supplied with illum- 
 inant regularly. 
 
 The central pow¬ 
 er station which 
 generates the cur¬ 
 rent for practically 
 all of the street 
 lights and for many 
 of the others is con¬ 
 sidered the finest 
 establishment of 
 the kind in the 
 world. When it 
 
 was built, two or three years ago, it took the place of 
 what was at the time considered a large and well- 
 equipped plant which had long been overtaxed to 
 keep up with the increased requirements it had to 
 meet. Every improvement which was known to 
 electrical science was embodied in this model sta. 
 tion, and many contrivances for safety, convenience 
 and better service were invented and first con¬ 
 structed to make it complete. 
 
 Almost the same may be said of the newer sta¬ 
 tions of the other great electric company. Beside 
 the three plants where light and power are gene¬ 
 rated it has a like number of “ battery plants ” in 
 
 BOSTON ART CLUB. 
 
 This organization was founded in 1834, and was reorganized 
 on its present basis in 1870. Its regular exhibitions are prominent 
 features of the art year of Boston. Its social side is by no means 
 subordinated to its devotion to Art. 
 
 auxiliary stations which not only serve as reserves 
 in case of accident, but help to relieve the load put 
 upon the main establishments and to economize to 
 the utmost loss by transmission of the current over 
 long distances.'- These sub-stations have proved of 
 great value in the outlying districts of the city, and 
 have been so arranged that the present facilities 
 should be able to handle any normal growth in the 
 company’s business for some time to come. 
 
 Several years ago it was provided that all elec¬ 
 trical wires in cer¬ 
 tain districts of the 
 City of Bos to n 
 should be laid in 
 conduits under¬ 
 neath the pave¬ 
 ment. Then the 
 area which the com¬ 
 panies covered was 
 somewhat con¬ 
 stricted and the un¬ 
 derground wiring 
 was put in without 
 much inconve¬ 
 nience or disturb¬ 
 ance. With a fore¬ 
 sight which is too 
 often lacking in 
 such matters, the 
 possible future de¬ 
 mands upon the 
 conduits were con¬ 
 sidered then, and 
 there has resulted 
 a happy immunity 
 from obstructed 
 streets and gaping 
 excavations, while 
 the service has 
 grown to many 
 times its original 
 proportions. As 
 new circuits were 
 added in thoroughfares which had before been with¬ 
 out electric wires, conduits were built for them, so 
 that now there are no overhead lines, practically 
 speaking, yet no section of the city need go with¬ 
 out electricity. 
 
 Some of the figures in the last report of the Gas 
 and Electric Light Commissioners give an idea of 
 the remarkable extent to which Boston is supplied 
 with electricity. The two principal companies have 
 a total of more than 1,900 miles of wires, of which 
 length one-half or thereabouts is stretched in the 
 140 miles of conduits beneath the city’s streets. 
 Neither is reported as having any wires on poles 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 107 
 
 above the ground. The advantages which led to 
 the installation of conduit system are, of course, 
 familiar by reason of frequent repetition. They 
 have been especially apparent in the light of the 
 fact that no storm, however severe, has ever inter¬ 
 fered with the city wires, even momentarily, since 
 the plan was adopted, and the danger of accident 
 from disarrangement or broken wires has been re¬ 
 duced to practically nothing. 
 
 In every respect the equipment of these great com¬ 
 panies has been kept up to the highest possible stand¬ 
 ard. New models of lamps.have been introduced 
 as soon as they have shown advantages over old ones, 
 every mechanism which would insure steadiness of 
 .light and uniformity of current has been adopted, and 
 the consumers’ convenience and advantage have 
 never been neglected on any pretext. The com¬ 
 panies decline to furnish a current for any purpose 
 in a building, the wiring of which is not in accord¬ 
 ance with the standard established by the fire under¬ 
 writers. 
 
 The next service to be taken up after lighting 
 was power. Very limited in its field at first, this 
 has come to be an important item in the business of 
 supplying electricity and one which is growing 
 rapidly. Many elevators in buildings where the 
 necessary plant for other means of operation is, for 
 one reason or another, undesirable, are run by elec¬ 
 tricity now, and a great many of the smaller manu¬ 
 facturing establishments receive all the power for 
 moving their machinery on the wires of the electric 
 light companies. The most modern plants of larger 
 size are now fitted with an individual motor for each 
 machine to avoid the disadvantages of shafting on 
 some premises and in some circumstances, and they 
 are supplied with power in the same way. The 
 minor uses to which the lighting company’s currents 
 are put by the professions are almost innumerable 
 in this day of electrical instruments and mechanisms. 
 
 The most recent invasion of electricity is into 
 the field of heating. It has, for some time, been 
 used to warm public conveyances, which were run 
 by motors, of course, but its introduction into the 
 home and into buildings of every kind, in fact, as a 
 substitute for fuel of one sort and another, has come 
 about lately. The possibilities for extending this 
 side of its work are seemingly unbounded. Heaters 
 were the first innovation, and they have undergone 
 the same marvelously rapid improvement that all 
 electrical devices have in the last few years until 
 now they are recognized as having reached an 
 eminently satisfactory state, where they perform 
 their function efficiently and with great convenience 
 and not too great expense. 
 
 Not the least interesting or useful purpose to 
 which electricity is now put is the supplying of heat 
 
 for cooking. This is its newest field of operation 
 and its cultivation has called forth great ingenuity 
 and skill. All manner of “ hot plates ” and ranges 
 have been put upon the market, and they have been 
 well received and have proved their worth now by 
 the test of constant use. The advantages of ease 
 of operation and of cleanliness and safety are claimed 
 for them and have won them considerable popu¬ 
 larity where they are known. Although a dis¬ 
 tinctly new idea, they have made their way fast and 
 their scope is being widened and their working per¬ 
 fected more and more all the time. 
 
 A feature of the service which the Boston Electric 
 Companies give is that the same current may be 
 used for any purpose. That is to say, wires origi¬ 
 nally installed for lamp connections are capable of 
 supplying sufficient electricity for power for heat¬ 
 ing or for cooking, and the change from one use to 
 the other can be made easily and quickly. On the 
 whole, no city is better served by its electric com¬ 
 panies than is Boston. 
 
 The Boston Electric Light Co.— The manu¬ 
 facture and sale of electric current for light, heat 
 and power is an important, though modern industry. 
 Electricity enters into almost every other industry 
 in one form or another, and has become so essential 
 in the various departments of life that the State has 
 come to regard these concerns which supply elec¬ 
 tricity as quasi-public corporations. One of the 
 greatest of these corporations is The Boston Electric 
 Light Co., which was established in 1888. This 
 company is capitalized at $3,000,000 and conducts a 
 business which requires the employment of 235 
 regular men, besides 100 street laborers. It sup¬ 
 plies from its stations, currents for the illumination 
 of a great many private concerns and business 
 enterprises in Boston, besides furnishing electricity 
 for power and heating purposes. 
 
 The officers of The Boston Electric Light Co. are: 
 President, E. B. Maltby; Vice-President, I. T. 
 Burr; Treasurer, S. S. Sias; General Manager, Sid¬ 
 ney Hosmer; Auditor, L. M. Wallace; Directors, 
 E. B. Maltby, I. T. Burr, S. S. Sias, E. Henry 
 Barnes, W. M. Butterfield, C. L. Lovering, Chas. 
 Lowell, E. W. Burdett and W. A. Paine. 
 
 The main office of the company is in the Ames 
 Building, Boston, Mass. Its operating offices are 
 at No. 50 Ferdinand street, Boston, and it has sta¬ 
 tions at the corner of L. and E. First streets, South 
 Boston, and on Condon street, East Boston. 
 
 The Edison Electric Illuminating Co. —The 
 Edison Electric Illuminating Co., of Boston, was 
 organized December 26, 1885, with a capital stock 
 of $100,000, which included the payment of $35,000 
 to the Edison Electric Light Co., the parent com- 
 
io8 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 pany, the license rights under the Edison patents. 
 This contract limited the operations of the company to 
 an area of about seventy acres in the business center 
 of the city, almost directly surrounding what is now 
 the first district station of the company. To-day 
 the company is capitalized for $7,102,700, employs 
 700 men and its service is to be obtained in almost 
 any part of Boston. The right was given under the 
 first contract to extend over the entire Citv of 
 Boston or any part of it on equitable conditions, and 
 the corporation has taken advantage of that right. 
 
 At first, the company adopted the policy of free 
 wiring for customers, and it was not long before the 
 capacity of the first plant on Head Place was tested 
 to its utmost capacity. At the end of six months 
 the capital stock was increased to $250,000, and 
 work was commenced on a new building adjoining 
 the old one on Head Place. 
 
 This station in Boston was probably the first 
 power station in the world, as previous to this time 
 there is no record of more than one or two motors 
 being operated from a single plant, while this 
 Boston station in the latter part of 1887 was supply¬ 
 ing current for ninety-two motors. Later on mo¬ 
 tors were run on the outside wires of the three-wire 
 system, this company being the first one to adopt 
 this system of power transmission. 
 
 Business advanced by leaps and bounds, so rap¬ 
 idly in fact that from time to time it was necessary 
 to make still further additions to the company’s 
 equipment or construct new stations, and these fol¬ 
 lowed one another so rapidly that there was but a 
 short interim between the successive additions. In 
 June, 1887, the capital was increased to $500,000, 
 and a new district was opened between Tremont 
 and Washington streets as far north as Bowker 
 street. 
 
 On December 21, 1887, the second district station 
 from Hawkins to Bowker street was started. Dur¬ 
 ing this year the company began to abandon its 
 everhead system of distribution, and about ten 
 miles of three-wire underground tube was laid. 
 During the summer of 1890 the Head Place plant 
 was again enlarged, and ample office room for a few 
 years was provided. 
 
 But, business still increased and Mr. Edgar of the 
 company visited Europe and thoroughly investi¬ 
 gated the subject of station buildings, types and 
 size of units employed, and modern electrical gen¬ 
 eration and distribution. The result was the com¬ 
 pany s third district station on Atlantic avenue on 
 the site of the old “Tea Party Wharf,” with its 
 triple expansion, vertical condensing engines, to 
 which were coupled direct driven generators. 
 
 I hese slow speed vertical engines were the first 
 built on this side of the water, and the direct 
 
 connected units were among the first in the history 
 of the business. 
 
 In 1893 Mr. Edgar again visited Europe to in¬ 
 vestigate the subject of storage batteries as auxili¬ 
 aries to large central stations. The use of the stor¬ 
 age battery in this connection recommended itself 
 so highly that a trial plant was installed in March, 
 1894, at the third district station on Atlantic ave¬ 
 nue, the first of its kind in this country. Although 
 looked upon with some misgiving by electrical en¬ 
 gineers it soon proved its worth. 
 
 Then followed another period of development. 
 A second battery plant was installed at Head Place, 
 and this was followed by the building of the fourth 
 district station, consisting of a battery plant, on 
 Scotia street in the heart of the Back Bay. This 
 was in August, 1896. 
 
 In September, 1897, a storage battery was in¬ 
 stalled in the second station on Hawkins street, and 
 and in August, 1898, a storage battery was put into 
 commission in the fifth district station on West 
 Canton street. In September, 1900, another bat¬ 
 tery was placed in the sixth district station on 
 Pittsburgh street, in South Boston, thus covering a 
 district previously supplied by means of a subma¬ 
 rine cable across the channel. 
 
 In March, 1900, a large addition was built to the 
 company’s Atlantic avenue station, the wharf was 
 extended out to the Harbor Commissioners’ line 
 and modern coal handling machinery installed. 
 This addition to the latest station has so increased 
 the capacity of the system that a natural growth of 
 the company’s business can be handled without ad¬ 
 ditional building for some time to come. The 
 engine equipment of the Atlantic avenue sta¬ 
 tion consists of four 660-hp. vertical triple expan¬ 
 sion engines, each driving two 200-kw. generators; 
 one 1,200 hp. engine driving two 400-kw. generat¬ 
 ors; two 1,200-hp. engines, each driving one 
 800-kw. generator, and two 2,400-hp. engines, each 
 driving one 16-kw. generator. 
 
 About fifty-three miles of the street in Boston are 
 covered by the underground system of the com¬ 
 pany, consisting of mains, feeders, etc. Edison in¬ 
 candescent lamps are used on the system, there be¬ 
 ing connected the equivalent of some 250,000 16-cp. 
 lamps.. About 2,509 arc lamps are also connected 
 to the incandescent circuit. The motors on the 
 system vary in size from 1-16-hp. to 100-hp., with 
 an aggregate of 10,500-hp. 
 
 In addition to the current distributed for ordinary 
 commercial and lighting purposes, the company is 
 making a specialty of electrical appliances and ap¬ 
 paratus for the use of electricity in a domestic way, 
 for cooking, heating and other home purposes, and 
 in the office at the Head Place station a very inter- 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 109 
 
 esting and instructive exhibit of this class of elec¬ 
 trical appliance is shown. 
 
 By the three-wire system of this company it is 
 claimed a current of killing force cannot be taken 
 from one of their pieces of apparatus for domestic 
 use, and with their liberal inducements to custom¬ 
 ers there is little doubt but that electricity will soon 
 assume a most important part in the domestic side 
 of daily life. 
 
 €>lectric bonders. 
 
 THE MANUFACTURE OF ELECTRICAL 
 MACHINERY AND SUPPLIES. 
 
 As New England has always been among the 
 first to seize upon Nature’s forces and turn them to 
 practical advantage, and as the uses of electricity 
 have been de¬ 
 veloped here 
 to their ut¬ 
 most, it is not 
 strange that 
 the making of 
 electrical ma¬ 
 chinery and 
 suppl i e s 
 should have 
 attracted the 
 Yankee mind, 
 always keen 
 for invention, 
 and that there 
 should have 
 risen from it a 
 great industry 
 with one of its 
 chief centres 
 still in Mass¬ 
 achusetts. For 
 many things 
 electrical the 
 world depends 
 almost entire¬ 
 ly upon Amer¬ 
 ica, and the 
 products of the 
 great works in 
 one city among Boston’s neighbors go to the utter¬ 
 most parts of the earth. 
 
 There is nothing necessary for the generation, 
 transmission and utilization of electricity for light, 
 heat or power which this factory does not make. 
 Inasmuch as no other country is so far advanced as 
 this in the employment of electricity that simple 
 statement means something which is almost incoip- 
 prehensible to anybody but the expert. The United 
 
 States has reached a point where it can not only 
 compete with the foreigner in his own country, but 
 can beat him in the markets of South America and 
 the East, which are but just opening. It is because 
 of the excellence and economy of the American 
 product that this is possible. 
 
 The marvelous development of electrical ma¬ 
 chinery have all come within a quarter of a century. 
 The arc light was first shown as an experiment at 
 the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876, 
 and came into commercial use two or three years 
 later. There were a few incandescent lamps used 
 in 188 r, but they were in the homes of one or two 
 millionaires, and it was not until the next year that 
 they made their appearance in public buildings. 
 The first place of that sort in which they were 
 installed was a theatre in the City of Boston. Now 
 
 electricity 
 lights not only 
 residences, 
 public build¬ 
 ings and fac¬ 
 tories, but the 
 highways and 
 the deep tun¬ 
 nels of mines. 
 
 The next 
 step in the 
 march of this 
 new force was 
 its employ¬ 
 ment as a mo¬ 
 tive power. 
 Street cars 
 have been pro- 
 p e 11 e d by it 
 for some years 
 now, and it has 
 r e placed 
 steam on sev¬ 
 eral railroads. 
 It turns the 
 propellers of 
 boats and 
 moves the 
 wings of air¬ 
 ships. It is, by 
 degrees, replacing the horse in business and pleas¬ 
 ure traction. It moves the machinery of great 
 mills,and factories. 
 
 It is this latter development which now engages 
 not a little of the electrical engineer’s attention. 
 The new system by which each machine in a large 
 plant is run by an individual motor of its own is 
 rapidly spreading. Cumberson and annoying shaft¬ 
 ings are avoided by means of it, and only a steam 
 
 BOSTON ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION. 
 
 This is one of the largest and best equipped structures of the kmd in the coun¬ 
 try. Besides tennis and hand-ball courts , fencing and boxing rooms , bowling 
 alleys and billiard rooms , a great gymnasium and a swimming tank , it has also 
 all the regular features of a modern club. The members number about two 
 thousand. 
 
no 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 plant sufficient to operate the generator, which 
 makes the current, is necessary. In mines, where 
 it is difficult to conduct steam-power, electricity is 
 made of great value for running drills, and it has 
 replaced the traditional mule to a great extent on 
 mine railways. 
 
 The general use of electricity for heating is com¬ 
 paratively new, and has not, as yet, become very 
 widespread. Electric heaters have for some time 
 warmed vehicles which had electric motive power, 
 but they have been put into a form convenient for 
 buildings only very recently. They have so many 
 advantages for this particular service, however, that 
 their use is increasing very fast and the time is near 
 when they will be considered as indispensable in 
 the comfortable home as the incandescent light is 
 to-day. The same may be said of the contrivances 
 for cooking by electricity, the latest turn which this 
 most practical of the sciences has taken. 
 
 The transmission of currents of electricity over 
 long distances in such a way that they may be 
 efficient and economical at the end of their journey 
 is another problem of recent solution, and it is a long 
 stride in progress. For years after the plan of 
 making electricity at a central point and distributing 
 it to considerable distances suggested itself, no 
 means of successful accomplishment could be found. 
 The loss of power and the cost were the great obsta¬ 
 cles. These have been overcome now, though, and 
 in some parts of the country light and power are 
 employed satisfactorily 200 miles from the place in 
 which they are generated. 
 
 This only outlines the application of electricity to 
 daily practi¬ 
 cal use at the 
 present time. 
 
 The branches 
 and ramifica¬ 
 tions of each 
 of the de¬ 
 partments of 
 utility men¬ 
 tioned are 
 well-nigh in¬ 
 numerable 
 Each cares 
 for its special 
 machinery 
 and fittings, 
 
 all different in detail from each other, and the man¬ 
 ufacture of each is a process evolved by expert ex¬ 
 perience and experiment. No doubt one secret of 
 the remarkable advance in electrical mechanism and 
 its various requirements lies in the drawing together 
 of every process connected with them into one great 
 establishment, which gives opportunity for com¬ 
 
 munity of work. The result of such a combination 
 has, at any rate, been the upbuilding of a wonder¬ 
 ful business in which New England takes great 
 pride. 
 
 Manufacture seems to have been carried to its 
 ultimate in' the making of electrical machinery and 
 supplies. This concern which fashions every minut¬ 
 est detail of any electrical mechanism makes en¬ 
 tire plants, for electric lighting, for example, fur¬ 
 nishes the equipment for electric roads from begin¬ 
 ning to end, constructs any kind of an electrical 
 machine to order and “to measure,” so to speak, 
 and installs them all wherever they may be located. 
 
 The foreign branches of the great establishments 
 which make American electrical machinery are of 
 increasing importance, and the growth of their 
 business is by leaps and bounds. American motors 
 keep many of the utilities of the continental cities 
 in motion, and it has been reported that London’s 
 new electric train system is to have an American 
 equipment. In South and Central America the 
 opening up and development of the various coun¬ 
 tries is being carried on largely by machinery im¬ 
 ported from this country. The Orient seems likely 
 to achieve its future by the same means, and wher¬ 
 ever civilization penetrates it finds American pro¬ 
 gress as represented by its mechanical inventions, 
 among which electrical machinery stands near the 
 top, a most powerful instrument. 
 
 General Electric Co.—T he Thomson-Houston 
 factory of the General Electric Co., situated at West 
 Lynn, is in itself the largest electrical works in New 
 
 Engl and, 
 though its 
 capacity is 
 little more 
 than half that 
 of the main 
 shops of the 
 General 
 Electric Co. 
 at Schenec¬ 
 tady, N. Y. 
 The Lynn 
 plant covers 
 fortv -three 
 
 j 
 
 acres of 
 ground, eight 
 of which are utilized for the factories of the 
 West Lynn Works proper, while the remainder 
 is covered chiefly by the steel casting plant and 
 abuts on the Saugus River, being hence known 
 as the River Works. These two plants now give 
 employment to about 4,500 men. The chief pro¬ 
 ducts of the West Lynn Works, the floor space 
 
 THE THOMSON-HOUSTON FACTORY OF THE GENERAL ELECTRIC CO., 
 
 WEST LYNN, MASS. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 11 1 
 
 of which is 446,000 square feet, are arc lamps, of 
 which nearly half a million have already been ship¬ 
 ped; Thomson Recording Watt Meters, which are 
 used for measuring direct and alternating current 
 in all parts of the world; Brush arc light machines; 
 electric automobile motors, small motors, varying 
 in size from those required for driving desk 
 fans to those which work the heaviest cranes, ma¬ 
 chine tools or printing presses; street railway mo¬ 
 tors of various sizes; electric instruments, such as 
 volt meters and ammeters and controllers for eco¬ 
 nomically feeding current to the motors. At the 
 River Works, huge steel castings up to 40,000 
 pounds are made, and steel gears and pinions are 
 cut by automatic machinery. The floor space of 
 the River Works is 272,000 square feet, making a 
 total manufacturing area for the two plants of 717,- 
 000 square feet. 
 
 The immense variety of articles turned out at the 
 works may be gathered from the fact that they are 
 made under some 25,000 different specifications. 
 These cover apparatus varying in size from genera¬ 
 tors weighing 130 tons to the smallest electrical 
 measuring instrument, weighing only a pound or 
 two, but having almost as many separate pieces as 
 the large generator. Moreover the nature of elec¬ 
 tricity is such that it infallibly puts its finger upon 
 bad or careless workmanship or upon inferior ma¬ 
 terials. Thus inferior insulation breaks down when 
 the current is turned on, while impure copper or 
 improperly selected iron or steel is detected by the 
 failure of the machine to give its rated output under 
 factory testing with instruments of precision. This 
 necessitates the employment of the highest grade 
 of workmen and the largest amount of professional 
 skill and ability on the part of the factory manage¬ 
 ment and engineers. 
 
 In 1892, the Thomson-Houston Co. of Lynn, and 
 the Edison General Electric Co. of New York were 
 consolidated to form the General Electric Co., Mr. 
 C. A. Coffin, then Vice-President of the Thomson- 
 Houston Co., becoming President of the new com¬ 
 pany. No large electric manufacturing company 
 in the world has confined its attention so strictly 
 to the manufacture of electric apparatus and sup¬ 
 plies or has had such success in the quality and 
 quantity of its electrical work as the General 
 Electric Co. It has sold more - generators, more 
 street railway motors, more arc lamps, more electri¬ 
 cal meters and more motors for power purposes 
 than all the other electrical manufacturers in the 
 United States put together. Its present output 
 of incandescent lamps is 12,000,000 per annum, 
 more than three-fifths the total output of the 
 United States. The receipts for electrical appa¬ 
 ratus and supplies made in its own shops, for the 
 
 last financial year ending February 1st, 1901, was 
 $28,783,275.75. 
 
 Glcctrical Engineers. 
 
 BOSTON MEN SOUGHT THE WORLD OVER 
 —THEY HAVE THE BEST OF TRAIN¬ 
 ING AND EXPERIENCE. 
 
 Between its great technical schools and its great 
 interests in the evolution of electricity, the con¬ 
 struction of electrical machinery and the introduc¬ 
 tion of the spark into almost every phase of the life 
 of a great city, Boston is splendidly equipped with 
 electrical engineers. She provides not only the 
 most thorough education and preliminary training, 
 but the best opportunity for practical experience 
 and the greatest encouragement to invention and- 
 progress. The result is that her electrical engineers 
 stand at the very head of their profession and are 
 sought far and near when important and difficult 
 work is to be done. 
 
 The various services which electricity performs 
 for the public in Boston and throughout New Eng¬ 
 land have drawn the attention of contractors and 
 capitalists everywhere, and when an electrical ex¬ 
 pert has been required this has been one of the first 
 places in which he was sought. Electric railways 
 have reached as near perfection as modern skill and 
 invention can devise hereabouts, and in their in¬ 
 troduction into new places Boston’s electrical 
 engineers have been in great demand. Their field 
 extends all over this continent and South America, 
 and many European enterprises have had the benefit 
 of their advice and direction. 
 
 In acknowledgment of the prominence which 
 electrical engineering has assumed comparatively 
 recently the technical and scientific schools of Bos¬ 
 ton have enlarged their facilities for instruction in 
 the intricate branches which are necessary to a 
 thorough training in every department of the pro¬ 
 fession and the high standard they have set for 
 years is being constantly raised. The advantages 
 of such an extension to the practising engineers are 
 apparent, for they have at hand the means of con¬ 
 tinuing their studies and keeping their knowledge 
 abreast of the latest information and are in a posi¬ 
 tion to secure the best lieutenants and assistants in 
 the world. 
 
 Lockwood, Greene & Co.—One of the leading 
 firms of architects and engineers for industrial 
 plants in New England is the well-known house of 
 Lockwood, Greene & Co., whose offices are at 93 
 Federal street, Boston The death last November 
 of Stephen Greene, the President, caused that posi¬ 
 tion to be assumed by his son, Edwin F. Greene. 
 
I I 2 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 Frank E. Shedd is Vice-President; Joseph Harris, 
 Treasurer; William S. Church, Mechanical En¬ 
 gineer and Frank W. Reynolds, Architect. 
 
 A brief sketch of this fine old house was recently 
 published showing that David Whitman commenced 
 as a mill engineer in 1830, and in 1859 chose Amos 
 S. Lockwood as his successor. Stephen Greene 
 entered the service in 1879. Lockwood, Greene & Co. 
 formed partnership in 1882, J. W. Danielson being 
 a partner. In 1884 Mr. Lockwood died. Frank W. 
 Reynolds was employed in 1885. Frank E. Shedd 
 in 1887. Joseph Harris in 1889. Mr. Danielson 
 retired in 1890, Wm. L. Church was employed by 
 Lockwood, Greene & Co. in 1900, concluding with 
 the succession of Edwin F. Greene to Stephen 
 Greene in 1901, and the incorporation last January 
 of the present firm. 
 
 The modern engineering office includes a wide 
 diversity of practice, and to this end Lockwood, 
 Greene & Co. employ the best specialized skill, and 
 at all times maintain a permanent force sufficient to 
 promptly execute work of any magnitude and char¬ 
 acter, and to meet the constantly increasing busi¬ 
 ness. 
 
 Stone & Webster.— Combining the practical 
 scientific work of electrical engineers and experts 
 with the skill and shrewdness of experienced busi¬ 
 ness men and well-schooled promoter of great enter¬ 
 prises, Messrs. Stone & Webster of 93 Federal 
 street, Boston, hold an almost unique position in a 
 
 field which is becoming of more importance to pro¬ 
 gress and civilization every day. 
 
 Charles A. Stone and Edwin S. Webster organized 
 the firm in 1889, when the employment of electricity 
 in the public services, such as lighting and rail¬ 
 ways, was still comparatively undeveloped. Their 
 qualifications as electrical engineers and experts 
 were well established. Their ability as organizer 
 and conductors of large undertakings was promptly 
 recognized. Now they have 152 employees, and 
 are general managers and financial agents for these 
 companies, which have their executive offices and 
 headquarters in the office of Messrs. Stone & Web¬ 
 ster; Lowell Electric Light Corporation, Seattle 
 Electric Co., Seattle-Tacoma Interurban Railway, 
 Columbus Railroad Co., Cape Breton Electric Co., 
 Edison Electric Illuminating Co., of Brockton, 
 Edison Electric Illuminating Co. of Savannah, Ga., 
 Brockton and Plymouth Street Railway Co., Hough¬ 
 ton County Street Railway Co. of Houghton, Mich., 
 Blue Hill Street Railway Co., Fort Hill Chemical 
 Co., Tampa Electric Co., Terre Haute Electric 
 Co., General Electro Chemical Co., El Paso Electric 
 Co. of El Paso, Texas and Houston Electric Co. of 
 Houston, Texas. 
 
 The consolidation of all the electric railway and 
 lighting interests of Savannah, Ga., has also been 
 entrusted to Messrs. Stone & Webster, and they 
 have in proces's'of organization an electric railroad 
 for Ponce, Porto Rico. 
 
J'fotable Industries that protect the Interests 
 of HU—Life Insurance—jVIercantile Hgen- 
 cies—and publishing Rouses. 
 
 DIVERSITIES OF NEW ENGLAND ENTERPRISES ALMOST BEWILDERING—DEVEL¬ 
 OPMENT OF THEORIES. THAT PRACTICE HAVE MADE PERFECT—MASS¬ 
 ACHUSETTS CAN CLAIM THE GREATEST IN THE UNITED 
 
 STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 M 
 
 a ;HE number and diversity of our industries 
 is almost bewildering. Life insurance has 
 ' been developed in theory and practice until 
 "=5=-" it is one of the most important features 
 of the modern business world, Massachusetts boast¬ 
 ing of several of the largest companies in the coun¬ 
 try. With the marvelous increase of modern liter¬ 
 ature, which is the beneficent result of our great 
 educational systems, the publishing business has 
 become a great industry. Boston is the literary 
 centre of the country, and its great publishing 
 houses are the natural outgrowth of such an enlight¬ 
 ened condition of society. 
 
 The mercantile agency, at first frowned upon, is 
 now an indispensable factor in the business world, 
 its branches extending into every channel of indus¬ 
 try, and its roots being thoroughly grounded in 
 utilitarian soil. 
 
 Life Insurance. 
 
 A SYSTEM OF SUPERVISION WHICH IS MODEL. 
 
 The Massachusetts system of supervising the 
 methods and conditions of the organizations which 
 insure the lives of the citizens of the Common¬ 
 wealth is the recognized standard of efficiency. 
 Thoroughness and fairness to both insurers and 
 insured. Under it an unequalled degree of con¬ 
 fidence and reliability, which inspires confidence, 
 has been reached, and the single fact that no regular 
 life insurance company incorporated in Massachu¬ 
 setts has ever failed is a vivid illustration of its 
 value. 
 
 The supervision includes not only companies and 
 
 “ orders ” incorporated or formed in this Bay State, 
 but outside organizations which do business here as 
 well. Its purpose is purely to protect the citizens 
 of this Commonwealth, of course, but one of its 
 results has been to safeguard, in an indirect way, 
 the interests of all the policy-holders of every 
 company active within the jurisdiction of the Com¬ 
 missioner. While there is no question of the inten¬ 
 tions of the life insurance companies of recognized 
 worth and standing there have been cases in which 
 an unsatisfactory state of affairs of some minor 
 outside company w r hich had passed unnoticed 
 through a less rigid examination, has been revealed 
 by the searching investigation which the Massa¬ 
 chusetts officials make, under the law, each year. 
 The high character of the men who bear so great 
 responsibility for the Commonwealth has always 
 been a guarantee of the utmost watchfulness, hon¬ 
 esty and justice, and the insurance companies have 
 been ready in willing co-operation and generous in 
 appreciation of the value of the work from their 
 own standpoint. 
 
 The scheme of the present laws regulating the 
 business of life insurance companies in Massachu¬ 
 setts had its origin thirty odd years ago with Elizur 
 Wright, who was an Insurance Commissioner at the 
 time. He saw the possibilities of the tremendous 
 business which he developed from the little known- 
 and less understood beginning of his day, which 
 was the infancy of the present great institution. 
 It early occurred to him that a business of such 
 vast possibilities, based upon such unique and 
 intricate theories, was especially easy of perversion. 
 His keen mind, shrewd in reasoning and apt in 
 suggestion, supplied the plans from which to-day’s 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 114 
 
 strict but satisfactory and successful system of 
 control was constructed. 
 
 The accounts of every insurance organization 
 doing busi¬ 
 ness in Mass- pgr 
 achusetts ate 
 thoroughly 
 audited every 
 year and full 
 publicity giv¬ 
 en by State 
 authority to 
 the relations 
 b e t w e e n 
 company and 
 policy hold¬ 
 ers. This is 
 accomplished 
 by actual ac¬ 
 counting and 
 com putation 
 in the case 
 of every in¬ 
 dividual pol- 
 i c y . The 
 periodical 
 exhibits of 
 the compa¬ 
 nies are 
 checked for 
 absolute ac¬ 
 curacy and 
 completeness 
 by a dupli¬ 
 cate set of rec¬ 
 ords held by 
 the Commis¬ 
 sioner where 
 t h'e y are 
 wholly be¬ 
 yond the in¬ 
 fluence or 
 control of 
 the organiza- 
 t i on s. At 
 first this was 
 not difficult, 
 but the total 
 business of 
 that day was 
 less in vol- 
 u m e and 
 
 value than that of a single small company is now, 
 and the present scope of the work is of almost 
 inconceivable magnitude. 
 
 In simple terms the liabilities and the assets of 
 
 
 - 
 
 HOME OFFICE OF THE JOHN HANCOCK MUTUAL LIFE INS. CO., BOSTON 
 
 every insurance company in business here are 
 proved by the Commissioner in the most thorough 
 manner at stated intervals. That is to say, each 
 
 company 
 must show 
 him not only 
 what it owes 
 at the time of 
 its report, 
 but what it 
 maybe called 
 upon to pay 
 at any mo¬ 
 ment, which 
 means the 
 amount of 
 money neces¬ 
 sary to settle 
 all of its poli¬ 
 cies in full; 
 and it must 
 be prepared 
 to have every 
 item of its as¬ 
 sets examin¬ 
 ed by the 
 Commission¬ 
 er in person, 
 for he can 
 leave noth¬ 
 in g t o the 
 word of any- 
 body, how¬ 
 ever reliable 
 he may know 
 the man and 
 his company 
 to be. To ac¬ 
 complish this 
 a duplicate of 
 every life in¬ 
 surance pol¬ 
 icy written in 
 Massachu¬ 
 setts, giving 
 the details 
 necessary to 
 make clear 
 all of the ob¬ 
 ligations for 
 present or 
 future which 
 
 the company issuing it takes upon itself, is filed 
 with the State Commissioner. So the authorities 
 are constantly aware of the exact condition of 
 every company in the State, the surplus which it 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 “5 
 
 has for the protection of those who hold its policies 
 and its financial ability in general. 
 
 The results of this seemingly severe supervision 
 have been most excellent in every way. Not only 
 has no Massachusetts life insurance corporation 
 ever failed, but the public has been rescued from 
 the danger of loss through the few outside com¬ 
 panies which have at times given such evidence of 
 an unsatisfactory condition that they have been 
 denied the right of doing business here. The fact 
 that a company is- allowed to operate in the State 
 has become a high recommendation, and, in a way, 
 a guarantee of its soundness and honesty to the 
 insured. 
 
 John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co. —In 
 April, 1862, a charter was issued to Nathaniel Har¬ 
 ris, James P. Thorndike and Gerry W. Cochrane 
 incorporating the John Hancock Mutual Life Insur¬ 
 ance Co., of Boston, Mass. This corporation began 
 business with a guaranteed capital of $100,000, 
 which was retired in 1873, carrying out the inten¬ 
 tion of making the company a purely mutual one. 
 The first President was George P. Sanger, and its 
 first policy was issued on December 27, 1862. It 
 was intended to be an exponent of the Massachu¬ 
 setts Non-forfeiture Law of 1861, and was the first 
 company to pay a claim under the terms of that 
 law. The John Hancock has continued to work 
 under the law as amended and approved in later 
 years, notably at the suggestion of Mr. Stephen H. 
 Rhodes, who had been Insurance Commissioner of 
 Massachusetts since 1874, and who resigned that 
 office in 1879 to become the President of the John 
 Hancock. It may be said with truth that the sub¬ 
 stantial and vigorous prosperity of the company dates 
 from the time Mr. Rhodes assumed its guidance. 
 
 Although the youngest of the Massachusetts life 
 insurance companies that were started on the old- 
 line plan, the magnitude of its transactions and the 
 vigor of its growth have given it a very prominent 
 position. 
 
 During the thirty-eight years ending with De¬ 
 cember 31, 1900, the John Hancock had returned to 
 its members $21,340,389 in death claims, $3,417,579 
 in dividends, $3,267,304 in surrender values and 
 $t,815,758 in matured endowments, making total 
 cash payments to policy-holders, during the period 
 adverted to, amounting to the splendid sum of 
 $29,841,030. At that date the company also held 
 the sum of $14,369,278 to the credit of its policy¬ 
 holders as a legal reserve or sinking fund against 
 the maturity of its policies. Its home office build¬ 
 ing at 178 Devonshire street, Boston, is a splendid 
 structure and has been occupied by this company 
 since February, 1891. 
 
 Booh publishers. 
 
 BOSTON’S SPLENDID EQUIPMENT AND 
 INFLUENCE. 
 
 The first printer in America made his home in 
 Cambridge, the principal suburb of Boston, and 
 several of the leading “presses” of the United 
 States have their homes in the same city, and have 
 for years been located there. So the Greater 
 Boston has been most prominently identified from 
 its small beginnings with the great printing and 
 publishing business of this country, where the pro¬ 
 duction of books has developed most rapidly and 
 startlingly. 
 
 There was a time when an American book was 
 scarcely heard of in Europe, unless foreign editions 
 of it were issued. The “ older culture ” had a mild 
 contempt for the literary and scientific pretensions 
 of the young nation, and showed them but scant 
 courtesy. The generation of poets, essayists and 
 novelists which the Bay State produced in the mid¬ 
 dle of the last century, most of whom made their 
 abode in the vicinity of Boston, altered this state of 
 affairs, however. 
 
 It was largely by the circulation of their works, 
 issued by Boston concerns, that American publish¬ 
 ers and their product, American writers and their 
 work, first took their proper rank in the eyes of the 
 outer world. They first won for the city its repu¬ 
 tation for high intellectuality, and its name as the 
 “Athens of America.” To-day the name of Boston 
 has come to be recognized almost as the hallmark 
 of mechanical excellence in a book trade which ex¬ 
 tends across all the seas. 
 
 Famous individual volumes and famous editions 
 innumerable have come from these great “presses.” 
 American science, American history, American 
 pedagogy have been exploited by them, and have 
 in turn made the reputation of the American author, 
 editor and publisher. The American ideas and 
 methods which have in this way been taught to the 
 world are becoming the guides of other nations— 
 the means to the newer and better civilization, the 
 great leavening power in distant countries and 
 among almost unknown peoples. 
 
 By reason of its close association with great seats 
 of learning, perhaps, Boston became the natural 
 birthplace of books of instruction in particular.. 
 Just as everybody had learned to look in this direc¬ 
 tion for the best educational methods, so all expec¬ 
 tation was bent this way for text books. The 
 “ New England school ma’am ” took her place as the 
 type of all that was efficient and desirable in her 
 line of work; the Boston school book followed her 
 and passed beyond her to regions she could not 
 penetrate. The American publisher became an im- 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 116 
 
 portant factor in general literature by reason of his 
 taste and judgment and skill; the Boston publisher 
 gained recognition in the particular and important 
 field of educational works because of his enterprise, 
 his accuracy and his integrity. 
 
 One natural consequence of this was the selection 
 of one or another of the Boston houses as their pub¬ 
 lishers by many of the best-known writers of stand¬ 
 ard school books and of such scientific and histori¬ 
 cal works as were intended to serve, among other 
 purposes, as text books in the preparatory schools 
 or the large scientific and professional schools and 
 the colleges. There is scarcely a man or woman 
 grown in any part of the country, it is safe to say, 
 but has studied from a Boston-published school 
 book of one kind or another, and the number of 
 those who owe their entire acquaintance with “the 
 three R’s ” and their later knowledge of more ad¬ 
 vanced subjects to volumes from the same centre of 
 production is beyond computation. 
 
 The equipment of the Boston publishing houses 
 is unsurpassed anywhere. Their work has always 
 been a source of pride and satisfaction to them and 
 its quality has been no small item in their capital. 
 Especially in text books have they pointed the way 
 to others. Those who have devoted their entire at¬ 
 tention to this branch of the business have been 
 liberal and progressive, 
 adopting every im¬ 
 provement in book¬ 
 making as soon as its 
 application to the pecu¬ 
 liar necessities of their 
 specialty became prac¬ 
 ticable. They recog¬ 
 nize the desirability of 
 making the subject 
 matter, and indeed the 
 whole volume, attrac¬ 
 tive to the student, and 
 use lavishly the best 
 illustrations which can 
 be procured, reproduced 
 in the most perfect 
 manner possible. 
 
 Without detriment to 
 their stability they have 
 added artistic quality to 
 the bindings they use, 
 and to the typograph¬ 
 ical embellishments. 
 
 Above all, great improvement has been wrought in 
 the size and clearness of the type in which the 
 reading matter is set, and the quality of the paper 
 on which it is printed. 
 
 1 he remarkable extension and development of 
 
 the text book publishing houses has given Boston 
 one unique distinction. It is said that the city is 
 better supplied than any other place in the country 
 with the type faces of foreign languages, both 
 ancient and modern. The missionary institutions 
 which have their headquarters and their seminaries 
 in New England have been the cause of the making 
 of some of these strange characters. 
 
 been second to none in the educational value of its 
 books, and in the short space of little over a quarter 
 of a century has grown to be the largest single 
 schoolbook house in America. 
 
 A large number of their publications are edited by 
 
 GINN & CO., PUBLISHERS, BOSTON, MASS. 
 
 Ginn & Co.—The well-known publishing house 
 of Ginn & Co. was established in the City of Boston 
 
 in the year 1867, 
 and to-day is 
 known through¬ 
 out the world as a 
 powerful factor in 
 educational mat¬ 
 ters. 
 
 It has been the 
 aim of this house 
 to make a careful 
 study of the problems of education, and it has 
 spared no pains to secure the best editorial talent 
 possible. Its list now includes books by the leading 
 educational men all over the country, and in almost 
 every town in the United States some of its publi¬ 
 cations are used. The house has for many years 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 ii 
 
 Cambridge men. Their first book, Craik’s English 
 of Shakespeare,” edited by Professor W. J. Rolfe, 
 the well-known Shakespearean scholar, was pub¬ 
 lished about the year 1867. 
 
 Then followed the well-known series of Latin 
 books by Allen and Greenough; the Greek Gram¬ 
 mar, by Professor W. W. Goodwin; Greek Lessons, 
 by Professor J. W. White; the “Harvard Shakes¬ 
 peare,” by Dr. Henry 
 N. Hudson; the math¬ 
 ematical works of Pro¬ 
 fessor J. M. Peirce and 
 Professor W. E. Byerly, 
 and many others. 
 
 Among books most 
 widely known and most 
 extensively used of the 
 1,000 now published by 
 this house are the Wentworth Series of Mathematics, 
 the Educational Music Course, Athenaeum Press 
 Series, Collar and Daniell’s Latin Books, Young’s 
 Series of Astronomies, International "Modern Lan¬ 
 guage Series, College Series of Greek Authors, 
 College Series of Latin Authors, Blaisdell’s Physiol¬ 
 ogies, Cage’s Physics, the series of Classics for 
 Children, Cyr’s Readers, Montgomery’s and Myers’s 
 Histories, and Frye’s Geographies. 
 
 They have recently added the “Trade Depart¬ 
 ment ” which issues publications of a general 
 character. 
 
 Their great plant is located on the Charles River, 
 Cambridge, within a radius of one mile from the 
 State House. Here the company obtained land 
 with abundant light, which is so essential in their 
 business for the best quality of work. This loca¬ 
 tion affords them the best advantages in shipping 
 to all points of the compass. 
 
 The “Athenaeum Press,” as Ginn & Co. style 
 their building, is a model one for manufacturing 
 purposes, with a front¬ 
 age of 200 feet on each 
 street, and a depth of 
 70 feet. It is lighted 
 by 800 incandescent 
 and 30 arc lights. The 
 different depart¬ 
 ments occupy about 
 three acres of floor 
 space. The output of 
 this great establishment is 10,000 books per day. 
 
 The Boston offices of Ginn & Co. have recently 
 been changed from Nos. 7-13 Tremont Place to 
 splendid new quarters—No. 29 Beacon street, two 
 doors west of the State House—on which site stood 
 the home of John Hancock of Revolutionary fame. 
 Ginn & Co. have offices in New York, London, 
 
 Chicago, San Francisco, Columbus, O. ; Atlanta, Ga.; 
 Dallas, Tex., and depositories in San Francisco and 
 New Orleans. The members of the company are 
 Edwin Ginn, Geo. A. Plimpton, F. B. Ginn, L. Park- 
 hurst, O. P. Conant, T. W. Gilson, F. M. Ambrose, 
 H. H. Hilton, R. S. Thomas and A. H. Kenerson. 
 
 Something Hbout 
 ]New Gngland JVIagazincs. 
 
 New England famous for its Institutions of learn¬ 
 ing, naturally as a result of its great educational 
 facilities, produces remarkable literary talent, and 
 it all tends toward the natural outlet—the magazine. 
 
 There are hundreds of magazines published in 
 New England, many of which have not only a 
 national, but a world-wide reputation, and their com¬ 
 bined circulation reaches well up into the millions. 
 In the United States these publications reach the 
 homes of the most intelligent reading classes. A 
 large number of these are devoted to special fields 
 of science and art in their many branches, while the 
 stories of fiction that originate, in Boston and the 
 States of the Pilgrims, are sufficiently historical to 
 teach something to their readers so that their time 
 is not altogether lost. 
 
 Prominent in the field is the New England Mag¬ 
 azine and its readers cannot be otherwise than well 
 posted, upon the current events of the day, and are 
 well stocked with the works, of the best of the modern 
 writers, not only of America, but of the world. 
 
 The present New England Magazine is almost 
 wholly responsible for the many new writers that are 
 making literary reputation. This was brought about 
 by the encouragement offered to “unknown writers. ” 
 
 It is on record that a single publication issued 
 monthly showed that nearly four hundred writers 
 contributed to its columns in one year. 
 
 Cbe fruit 'Crude. 
 
 BOSTON, WITH ITS EXCEPTIONAL FACILITIES 
 FOR MARKETING, IS ONE OF THE 
 CHIEF CENTRES. 
 
 Boston is one of the chief centres of the fruit 
 trade of the LInited States. It has long held a lead¬ 
 ing position in this particular branch of commerce, 
 and each year sees it extending its scope by increas¬ 
 ing its facilities, broadening its relations and enlarge 
 ing its market. 
 
 One special advantage which Boston has in the fruit 
 trade is direct communication with the districts 
 where much of the imported product is grown. A 
 line of steamers, fitted especially for the purpose, 
 makes regular trips to and from this port, in addi¬ 
 tion to the usual complement of miscellaneous ves¬ 
 sels engaged in the traffic, which insures a constant 
 
 The 
 John Hancock Housi 
 
 *737 - ,86 !3 
 
n8 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 supply of the freshest available fruit, kept in the 
 best possible condition. The big fruit companies 
 own plantations of their own and contract by the 
 term for the whole yield of other large estates, so 
 that they have, directly or indirectly, supervision 
 over the growing, picking and handling of their 
 merchandise. In Boston are also the home offices of 
 several of the concerns which own or control other 
 plantations, and thus, in double way, the city is in 
 the closest touch with the chief sources from which 
 the American and Canadian markets are furnished 
 with the choicest of the fruits which cannot be raised 
 here in sufficient quantities or which conditions of 
 climate and of soil make it impossible to cultivate 
 profitably, as yet, on this continent. 
 
 For dealing in the fruit crops of the North, South 
 and West, Boston is exceptionally equipped. Coast¬ 
 wise shipping is represented in its harbor by a large 
 number of vessels, both steam and sailing, and its 
 railroad connections extend by the most direct 
 routes to the Pacific coast. The apple orchards of 
 New England and Canada are its immediate neigh, 
 bors, and the peach raising territory of the East lies 
 close at hand. 
 
 In this, as in every commercial line, Boston is the 
 natural trade centre of New England, and it is 
 rapidly assuming the 
 position of head¬ 
 quarters for many 
 large mercantile in¬ 
 terests beyond that. 
 
 The great transpor¬ 
 tation lines which 
 have their termini in 
 the city lay a vast 
 territory tributary 
 and supply it with 
 what it uses of nec¬ 
 essities and luxuries 
 alike. Fruit is be¬ 
 coming a more im¬ 
 portant item in the 
 nation’s food supply 
 every year, and the 
 exceptional facilities for marketing it possessed by 
 the New England metropolis are increasing its an¬ 
 nual business in this particular commodity at a 
 very rapid rate. 
 
 Such has been the pace of this growth in fact, 
 that the fruit companies of Boston have found it 
 necessary to keep a sharp lookout for every oppor¬ 
 tunity to extend their purchases. They are credited 
 with obtaining the best in quality that goes to any 
 market in the country and to maintain this reputa¬ 
 tion and at the same time meet the tremendous de¬ 
 mands upon them has been no easy matter, yet it 
 
 has always been done successfully. Some idea of 
 what that means is conveyed in the statement that 
 one concern alone is bringing here and distributing 
 within the New England States 100,000 stems of 
 bananas every week; and the New England States 
 are but one corner of the market and bananas but 
 one of many fruits. 
 
 Summer in Winter-time. —To go away from the 
 cold climate of our New England Winter-time to a 
 land where Summer is continual, is the fond ambi¬ 
 tion of everyone; an ambition which is limited only 
 by the opportunity and the ability to undertake 
 such a change of scene. At such times the land of 
 Jamaica, that snug little British island in the Carib¬ 
 bean Sea, comes to mind, and the good offices of 
 the United Fruit Company are offered to make real 
 the dreams of “ Summer in Winter-time.” 
 
 This dream is realized by means of the two twin- 
 screw steamers “Admiral Dewey ” and “Admiral 
 Farragut,” which run weekly from Boston to 
 Jamaica, leaving Boston on Wednesday at 10 a. m., 
 and arriving off this most beautiful of the West In¬ 
 dian Islands four days and twenty hours from the 
 day of sailing. These steamers are of recent 
 model; thoroughly equipped; supplied with all the 
 
 conveniences which 
 contribute to the 
 comforts of the pas¬ 
 sengers, and officered 
 and manned by men 
 of tried abilities. 
 They carry the 
 United States Mail 
 and are fast and safe. 
 In one day they have 
 left behind the Win¬ 
 ter’s cold, the next 
 are in Summer seas, 
 and the following 
 days of the trip are 
 spent in cruising 
 through the islands 
 of the Caribbean 
 Sea to the island where hill and mountain and 
 valley and plain are covered with the rich ver¬ 
 dure of the tropics; where the skies are bright 
 by night as well as day; where fruits and flow¬ 
 ers combine to make the experiences of the tour¬ 
 ist novel and delightful. A letter to the United 
 Fruit Company, Long Wharf, Boston, will be 
 answered with all the facts and information, de¬ 
 scribing the vessels, the accommodations, the 
 bill of fare, and all that the tourist would know of 
 this inexpensive and delightful way of avoiding 
 Winter. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 119 
 
 Vea and Coffee. 
 
 TWO STAPLES OF GENERAL USE, FOR WHICH 
 THE COUNTRY HAS ALWAYS LOOKED 
 TO BOSTON. 
 
 There was a time when tea got Boston into much 
 trouble, but that was partly because Boston took so 
 much interest in tea and because her merchants 
 were the great tea importers of the colonies. To¬ 
 day the interest is unabated, and a goodly part of 
 the country still turns in the same direction for its 
 cup of consolation. 
 
 Although coffee never had such historical import¬ 
 ance here as tea, Boston is the chief market of the 
 country for the higher grades in roasted form. 
 This means a good deal when it is considered that 
 although it can claim but a little more than one- 
 twentieth of the world’s population, this continent 
 consumes almost one-half of the world’s coffee pro¬ 
 duction. In one branch of this trade Boston is es¬ 
 pecially well known. From her storehouses and 
 mills are sent out a large percentage of the 
 “ br :nded ” coffees, which have become so popular 
 within the last few years on account of their con¬ 
 venience and the known quality of their blending. 
 
 The position which Boston occupies in the tea 
 and coffee trade is a heritage from her old-time 
 merchants. There have been many changes in 
 methods, in men and in the territory looking this 
 way for its distributing centre since the days when 
 vessels lined the south side of State street as far up 
 as the Custom House, but in spite of them all there 
 has been a healthy growth, which continues from 
 year to year. 
 
 Chase & Sanborn. —Boston is the home office of 
 Chase & Sanborn, the largest distributors of high- 
 grade tea and coffee in the world, and it is their 
 large transactions (amounting to over $5,000,000 a 
 year) which have brought Boston the unique dis¬ 
 tinction of handling and selling more high-grade 
 roasted coffee than any other city in the United 
 States. Everybody who attended the World’s Fair 
 in Chicago remembers the delicious coffee served 
 on the exposition grounds. The managers of the 
 Fair were determined to make this a great attrac¬ 
 tion to the thousands of visitors, and they chose 
 Chase & Sanborn’s coffee above all others as the 
 best for this end. 
 
 The firm of Chase & Sanborn has a famous his¬ 
 tory, for the business dates back nearly half a 
 century. At present the managing owners are 
 Caleb Chase, James S. Sanborn, Charles D. Sias, 
 Charles E. Sanborn, John Moir, Benjamin S. 
 Palmer, William T. Rich, and, for the Montreal 
 house, Daniel Gillmor; for the Chicago house, 
 
 Carleton Moseley and Henry T. Brown. Under 
 these active managers there is a trained working 
 force of over 500, each man educated for the 
 special work. 
 
 The business has been wonderfully systematized, 
 and the maxim of the house has long been that 
 there is nothing too good in product or service for 
 its patrons. The establishment is representative in 
 its line all over the world. 
 
 Hs to Sugar. 
 
 BOSTON PLANTERS AND GRINDERS MAKE THE 
 FINEST QUALITY AND IMPORT IT. 
 
 One of the few independent sugar refineries in 
 the country is located within the limits of “ Greater 
 Boston, ” and one of the leading planting and im¬ 
 porting concerns on this side of the ocean has its 
 headquarters in the city. Boston as a port of entry 
 does not do such a business in sugar as New York, 
 but its importance in the market is not inconsider¬ 
 able, for Boston planters supply the great refining 
 centres with some of the best of their raw material. 
 
 The peculiar interest which Cuba has to all Amer¬ 
 icans just now and the improved conditions which 
 obtain there since its industries have begun to re¬ 
 cover from the blight accompanying Spanish rule, 
 have turned general attention to what Yankee en¬ 
 terprise has been doing on the island for some time, 
 and nothing stands out to greater advantage than 
 the work of Boston capitalists among the sugar 
 planters and mills. They are largely interested in 
 cane which they do not themselves raise or own, 
 but they have prospered splendidly where they 
 have themselves engaged in planting and grinding. 
 As is to be expected of a business based on New 
 England energy and conducted in accordance with 
 New England commercial traditions and precepts, 
 the product is as fine as can be made and finds a 
 ready market. It has all the advantages which the 
 most advanced ideas and improved machinery for 
 sugar making can give it, and is a distinctly Amer¬ 
 ican commodity. 
 
 E. Atkins & Co.—One of the old line mercantile 
 firms of Boston, and one which in the palmy days 
 of the import trade was recognized as a leader in 
 its line, is that of E. Atkins & Co., sugar importers 
 and manufacturers of sugar in Cuba. Established 
 in 1840, when the sugar carrying trade from the 
 West Indies to Boston was one of the principal 
 factors in the city’s commercial prosperity, this 
 company has remained, despite the competition of 
 competitors, in the column of what may be termed 
 “old Boston merchants.” The only surviving 
 partner is Edwin F. Atkins, but he has carried out 
 
I 20 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 the plans of the firm along original lines, and as a 
 consequence it is recognized as one of the best 
 sugar houses in New England. In addition to the 
 firm’s trade as sugar importers, it has the advantage 
 over many modern houses in that it owns and oper¬ 
 ates large sugar plantations in Cuba and imports 
 the products of its own sugar houses and boiling 
 vats, as well as the output of high class foreign re¬ 
 fineries. The manufacture and refining of sugar as 
 a branch of commercial industry has seen many 
 changes during the sixfy-two years that E. Atkins 
 & Co. have been in business, but this has not altered 
 the firm’s position in the trade, except that it has 
 developed with the business of handling and making 
 cane sugar in quantity. The offices of the company 
 are at 35 Broad street, Boston. 
 
 CClbolesale Drugs. 
 
 CHANGES AND DEVELOPMENT IN ONE OF BOS¬ 
 TON’S OLDEST COMMERCIAL LINES. 
 
 The wholesale drug business is one of those in¬ 
 dustries that contributed to the commercial fame of 
 Boston in its earlier days. It, therefore, has its 
 romantic as well as practical side, and appeals to 
 the imagination quite as strongly as the mercenary 
 spirit. In Revolutionary days the drug wholesalers 
 were counted among Boston’s merchant princes. 
 The whole country and the West Indies were sup¬ 
 plied with drugs exclusively through Boston ports, 
 and never a ship came into Massachusetts Bay 
 without a consignment of drugs often more precious 
 than gold or jewels. The local pillpounder in these 
 days filled a humble position, for the art of com¬ 
 pounding drugs was mainly carried on over the 
 seas and shipped all ready for use to this country. 
 This state of things continued a great many years, 
 and enormous fortunes were made by the drug 
 importers of the olden time, who had only to await 
 the arrival of the ships and then send their goods 
 into every civilized part of the new world. 
 
 Eventually other great importing centres came 
 into existence and the business was divided, but 
 the wholesale drug business in Boston, while 
 changed in character, as are nearly all great indus¬ 
 tries to-day, still maintains an important place in 
 the commercial world, and has increased in volume 
 in proportion to the development of the country. 
 The vast majority of drugs are still sought from 
 foreign countries, but now many drugs are manu¬ 
 factured in the United States. 
 
 The development of American drug-making has 
 brought about one of the greatest changes that 
 have been wrought in the industry. Proprietary 
 medicines and drugs in innumerable tablet form 
 
 are manufactured in such great quantities in all 
 sections of the country that a list would fill volumes. 
 All this increases the great business of the whole¬ 
 salers who, in handling both American and foreign 
 drugs, are doing an immense business, which grows 
 annually and yields a handsome profit. Boston 
 wholesalers found the past year a good one, and 
 say that 1902 has open 2d auspiciously. 
 
 Carter, Carter & Meigs. —The well-known 
 wholesale drug'house of Carter, Carter & Meigs is 
 one of the most popular in New England, and com¬ 
 mands an extensive trade. The firm was established 
 by Solomon Carter in 1837, the present firm succeed¬ 
 ing Carter, Carter & Kilham, in 1897. The firm 
 members are: Fred. S. Carter, Herbert L. Carter 
 and Joseph E. Meigs. 
 
 Fred. S. Carter and Herbert L. Carter are the 
 sons of Solomon Carter, the founder of the house. 
 Being in the business all their lives, they have re¬ 
 ceived that business training so essential to the 
 success of a large and growing business. Mr. 
 Joseph E. Meigs also grew up in the business. 
 They employ in the daily routine of the house nearly 
 100 employees. Among their travelling repre¬ 
 sentatives are some of the oldest and most popular 
 wholesale drug salesmen on the road. 
 
 This house conducts a general wholesale drug 
 business, making a specialty of the sale of pro¬ 
 prietary medicines. It is the oldest house in its 
 line in Boston, with a constantly increasing trade. 
 The present members of the firm have been con¬ 
 nected with the business for thirty-four years. For 
 the past eight years the firm have occupied the 
 present location, numbers 20 to 38 Merrimac street, 
 corner of Friend street, Boston. 
 
 Hn educational Centre. 
 
 BOSTON THE HOME OF SOME OF THE COUNTRY’S 
 GREATEST SCHOOLS—ITS EXCEPTIONAL 
 FACILITIES. 
 
 No other part of the country is so well equipped 
 for the education of its people as is New England. 
 Its reputation in this regard is world-wide and has 
 increased as its-years have grown, until it has become 
 a model for civilization everywhere. And this is 
 particularly tru$ of the institutions of higher learn¬ 
 ing. 
 
 In less than two and three-quarters centuries the 
 spirit which brought the forefathers to Plymouth 
 Rock has fostered and increased in this little band 
 of States to a degree which no other time or place 
 has ever equalled, the desire to progress by know¬ 
 ledge and to help others on in the same path. The 
 original purpose was to educate young men for the 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 1 2 i 
 
 ministry, but this was soon developed along general 
 lines, with New England, and Massachusetts in 
 particular, ever the leader of the vanguard. 
 
 Boston at once became the centre of intellectual 
 activity in the Western Hemisphere, and no in¬ 
 fluence in other parts of the country has been able 
 to shake its position for a moment. Possessed of 
 one of the finest public libraries of the world, 
 supplemented by great semi-public collections of 
 books, which are generously at the disposal of the 
 students of the great classical, scientific and technical 
 schools, it has facilities for educational work such 
 as are obtainable nowhere else on this continent. 
 The natural result is that its student population is 
 steadily increasing and the institutions which attract 
 it are growing in ability and strength accordingly. 
 
 The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 
 —The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was 
 incorporated in 1861 
 by the State. Its 
 aims are to provide 
 instruction in the sci¬ 
 ences and their appli¬ 
 cation to the arts, in 
 combination with such 
 general studies as are 
 essential for a liberal 
 education. Thirteen 
 distinct courses are 
 offered, each of four 
 years’ duration, viz. : 
 
 Civil, mechanical, 
 electrical, chemical 
 and sanitary engineer¬ 
 ing, mining engineer¬ 
 ing and metallurgy, 
 architecture, chemis¬ 
 try, biology, physics, general studies, geology and 
 naval architecture. Thirty-four classes have grad¬ 
 uated, numbering about 2,500 persons. For the sat¬ 
 isfactory completion of any one of these studies the 
 degree of Bachelor of Science is conferred by the 
 Institute. 
 
 While primarily a school of applied science, its 
 curriculum has by no means neglected literary, his¬ 
 torical and economic study. Students are accepted 
 at eighteen years, with such preparation as can be 
 obtained in public High Schools, and all the States 
 in the Union are represented in its classes. 
 
 The inception of this school dates back to the 
 foresight of William Barton Rogers, a professor at 
 the University of Virginia, who went to Boston in 
 1853, and presented plans for the foundation of an 
 institute of technology to the members of the 
 Legislature, which would afford opportunities to 
 
 the public at large for instruction in the leading 
 principles of science as applied to the arts to pro¬ 
 vide for the means of a continuous and thorough 
 training. 
 
 The tuition fee is $200 a year, which is much less 
 than the average cost to the Institute for each 
 student. The location is at No. 491 Boyleston 
 street, Boston. 
 
 Dotcl Hospitality. 
 
 NEW ENGLAND TRADITIONS MORE THAN 
 CARRIED OUT TO-DAY—THE FAMILY 
 HOTEL IN ITS PERFECTION. 
 
 From the earliest days New England hospitality 
 has been proverbial for its wholesome comfort, 
 whether sought in the homes of the people or at a 
 place of “ public entertainment.” Many of the old- 
 time taverns are still famous, but their great worth 
 
 to the modern guest 
 lies in the lessons they 
 handed down to the 
 host of to-day. The 
 precepts have been 
 carefully learned and 
 scrupulously regard¬ 
 ed, it would seem. 
 
 No other city of its 
 size has such hotel ac¬ 
 commodations for the 
 temporary visitor or 
 for the permanent res¬ 
 ident as Boston can 
 boast. The utmost 
 care has developed 
 perfection of service 
 to the smallest detail, 
 comfort and conven¬ 
 ience being the prime considerations. The arrange¬ 
 ments for street travel are such that it has been possi¬ 
 ble to combine accessibility with desirability of loca¬ 
 tion, and sites on the great avenues and parkways 
 which are famous the world over have been utilized. 
 
 In the matter of home or family hotels Boston is 
 particularly fortunate. Their establishment has been 
 regulated by the demand of conservative and exact¬ 
 ing people, and so has kept pace well with the most 
 modern methods of construction and furnishing. 
 Luxury, good taste and reasonable cost have been 
 considered alike important, and the result is that 
 happiest of combinations which leaves nothing to be 
 asked for, nothing that is not generously provided. 
 
 The Hotel Somerset. —The Hotel Somerset, 
 of Boston, located on Commonwealth avenue and 
 Charlesgate East, is certainly “an artist’s dream.” 
 
 •‘LOOKING ON THE CHARLES.” 
 (From the Hotel Somerset .) 
 
122 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 Situated in the prettiest part of the city with pic¬ 
 turesque and wealthy surroundings, it stands alone 
 as the finest hotel structure in the city. Under the 
 personal management of its proprietor, Mr. C. A. 
 Gleason, it offers its patrons the best accommoda¬ 
 tions and attention. To the Hotel Somerset an ad¬ 
 dition is about being completed, which includes ioo 
 more rooms, magnificent ball room, finished in the 
 style of Louis XV. Added to the former equip¬ 
 ment, of banquet hall, palm room, Dutch room and 
 Imperial dining hall, etc., with connecting dressing 
 and reception rooms, it constitutes one of the most 
 sumptuous hotel properties in the world. It is but 
 natural that Hotel Somerset should be selected as 
 the stopping place for Prince Henry of Prussia dur¬ 
 ing his visit to Boston. It is simply an “ Imperial 
 Alliance. ” 
 
 Business Safeguards. 
 
 THE EFFICIENCY OF THE MERCANTILE AGENCIES, 
 
 THEIR POPULARITY AND THEIR 
 ACCOMPLISHMENTS. 
 
 The old Boston merchants and their fellow busi¬ 
 ness men in other parts of New England have ever 
 borne a reputation for integrity and straightfor¬ 
 ward dealing, and for enterprise which has made 
 them the ideals of the world of trade and commerce. 
 Strict and scrupulous methods, and a spirit of 
 broadminded progressiveness which not only had 
 ideas of its own, but is not too narrow to adopt 
 those of others which seem worthy or useful, have 
 been their characteristics always. 
 
 As a matter of course the mercantile agencies, 
 the great clearing houses of business credit, found 
 a place among such men from their inception and 
 have been important factors in their dealings every 
 day since. They have been welcomed as valuable 
 institutions, and their work has been worth pro¬ 
 portionately more on that account, for they have 
 been able to attain to an extraordinary degree of 
 
 accuracy without any disturbance of business con¬ 
 ditions. 
 
 Indeed, it is doubtful if the service of the mer¬ 
 cantile agencies is more valuable or more valued 
 anywhere than in New England. In no other sec¬ 
 tion of the country is its information more complete 
 or exact, and nowhere is it more generally made 
 use of. It is unquestionable that the mutual bene¬ 
 fits of the mercantile agencies should be given no 
 little credit for the business stability of the six 
 States and their immunity from commercial dis¬ 
 asters. 
 
 R. G. Dun & Co.—The greatest of mercantile 
 agencies in the country, R. G. Dun & Co., was or¬ 
 ganized in the year 1841, and continued to grow 
 with marked rapidity until to-day it stands at the 
 head of their line of business, having offices in all 
 the great cities and represented wherever business 
 is transacted throughout the world. It has as its 
 patrons the leading manufacturers, wholesale and 
 jobbing houses and bankers of the United States 
 and Canada, besides the business of its European 
 offices. The expenditure of some two millions of 
 dollars yearly enables the company to keep under 
 constant revision over 1,300,000 traders of the Con¬ 
 tinent, making a fund of information which is con¬ 
 stantly at the service of its patrons. The main ele¬ 
 ment of the strength of the R. G. Dun Mercantile 
 Agency is in the great number of its subscribers, 
 exceeding those of all competitors combined. This 
 is so well known that it has long been accepted as 
 evidence of its superiority, as it represents the pub¬ 
 lic verdict of its greater merits. It follows as a 
 logical result that its close relations with its sub¬ 
 scribers brings about an exchange of opinions, and 
 discussions and analysis of its reports and ratings 
 which is productive of much more .correct and reli¬ 
 able conclusions than if its business was not so ex¬ 
 tensive. 
 
 The Boston office is at 3 Winthrop Square and 36 
 Otis street. W. B. Powell being the district 
 manager. 
 
)V[cn <JIbo arc Leaders and Sons of the Bay 
 State have been Conspicuous in tMstory, 
 and are Still to the front. 
 
 A UNIVERSALLY RECOGNIZED TRUISM—FLESH AND BLOOD OF NEW ENGLAND 
 THE BACK BONE OF THE NATION—IN WAR. IN PEACE. IN BUSINESS. 
 
 IN INTELLECT—THEY ARE AMONG THE FIRST 
 
 OF THE LAND. 
 
 is a universally recognized truism that 
 Massachusetts men have always been the 
 backbone and sinew of the American na¬ 
 tion. From primitive Colonial days to the 
 present time of remarkable achievement, the sons 
 of the old Hay State have gone forth to battle with 
 the intellectually strong of other parts of the coun¬ 
 try—in the business world, the political arena, 
 among the professions, and in the field of art and 
 letters, and have always shown themselves worthy 
 adversaries. History is fruitful of instances where 
 the men of Massachusetts have demonstrated their 
 superior attainments and intellectual acumen. In 
 no profession has this eminence been more marked 
 than in that of the law. Many members of the 
 Massachusetts Bar have not only become celebrated 
 in jurisprudence, but have entered the larger field 
 of politics and contributed to the building of the 
 State and the nation. Their names are now given 
 a conspicuous place on the pages of history. 
 
 But not alone has this State produced scholars 
 and statesmen; its practical business men and 
 financiers, while conservative in their tendencies, 
 have continually demonstrated their ability to climb 
 the ladder of success. And the men of conspicuous 
 ability are not all dead. Leaders do not stand out 
 to-day as they did a half century ago, but it is because 
 there are so many of them, and because of the pres¬ 
 ent greatness of our country. 
 
 Albert S. Bigelow. —Many men are known by 
 what they do for their country, their State, their 
 place of residence and their fellowmen. In the 
 world of letters many men are known only by their 
 works; in politics by their shrewdness, and general¬ 
 ship in the army and navy solely because they have 
 
 gained wonderful victories. Countries have their 
 heroes made in a day, but the men behind them all, 
 the men who make nations, are the solid legitimate 
 business men. The world moves on, and in these 
 modern days Princes cross the seas to meet and 
 wine and dine with the men of business. 
 
 The real Prince of to-day is the Prince of finance. 
 The men who build up great financial and commer¬ 
 cial institutions. They who pay the taxes and em¬ 
 ploy labor. 
 
 In the foremost rank of the business men of the 
 old Bay State, is Albert S. Bigelow born in the 
 town of Hanover, this State, the ancestral home of 
 the Bigelow family. Mr. Bigelow’s business inter¬ 
 ests are many. As President of the great Boston 
 and Montana Consolidated Copper and Silver Min¬ 
 ing Co. before it was absorbed by the Amal¬ 
 gamated, he was a prime factor in all its many im¬ 
 portant deals. 
 
 His residence is at 21 Fairfield street, and he has 
 a, beautiful summer home at Cohasset. He is a 
 member of the .Somerset Club and the Country Club 
 of Brookline. 
 
 Joseph A. Coram.— Men of business—men who 
 have achieved name and fortune by their business 
 tact and foresight, seldom gain it except after years 
 of hard work. The business man must wait and 
 work. His brain must be constantly alive to each 
 and every situation. His competition is great, 
 other men of brains are always ready to oppose his 
 every act. For these reasons a man who has made a 
 success of life by honorable and strictly legitimate 
 business means is indeed worthy of the highest com¬ 
 mendation. 
 
 In this respect Mr. Joseph A. Coram, of Boston 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 124 
 
 has won for himself name and fame. Mr. Coram is 
 a man whose great business interests comprise no 
 less than twenty companies and who stands practi¬ 
 cally among the leaders of those handling mining 
 interests. It is stated that he has bought and sold 
 $40,000,000 of mines. He has controlling interests 
 in lead, silver, copper, zinc, iron, coal and gold 
 mines. 
 
 Mr. Coram is at present President of the Bingham 
 Copper and Gold Mining Co., the Cochiti Gold Min¬ 
 ing Co., the Kalispeel Water and Electric Light 
 Co. and the Montana Coal and Coke Co., and is a 
 Director in the Consolidated Mining and Smelting 
 Co., the Navaho Mining Co., the Pennsylvania Fur¬ 
 nace Co. and the Middlesex Safe Deposit and Trust 
 Co. 
 
 The Boston offices of Mr. Joseph A. Coram are at 
 No. 60 State street. 
 
 Hon. Thomas N. Hart.— Thrice Mayor and 
 for almost half a century a leading business 
 man and financier, Hon. Thomas Norton Hart 
 is certainly entitled to be called one of Boston’s 
 most prominent and most valuable citizens. Mr. 
 Hart’s active connection with city politics, in 
 which he has always been an ardent Republican, 
 dates back to 1878, when he was chosen as a party 
 candidate for the Common Council. He immed¬ 
 iately sprang into prominence in that body and 
 was untiring in his efforts for good government. 
 Active and aggressive, he became a leader in all 
 important debates, and had the city’s interests 
 thoroughly at heart. His record and his ceaseless 
 and conscientious work, prompted his election for a 
 second term, and after the second term expired he 
 was urged to accept a third. 
 
 He became a power in the party and went into 
 the Board of Aldermen, where he served for seven 
 years. 
 
 In 1886 and also 1887, Mr. Hart was the candi¬ 
 date for the Mayoralty, and in 1888 he was elected 
 to that office. After an enterprising and successful 
 term he was again nominated and elected. 
 
 In the year 1891 he was appointed Postmaster of 
 Boston, and in 1893 was again selected Mayoralty 
 candidate. 
 
 It was six years before Mr. Hart reappeared in 
 politics, when he defeated Patrick A. Collins for 
 the Mayoralty in 1899. The term of the chief 
 municipal magistrate had been extended meantime 
 to two years, and at the end of that time he was 
 renominated. 
 
 Hon. Isaac P. Hutchinson.— At a time of life 
 when most men are but starting their career, Hon. 
 Isaac P. Hutchinson, of Boston, has attained a 
 position in business and in politics which few men 
 
 reach at all. He was born in Cambridge and was 
 educated in the public schools of his native city and 
 at the Maine Wesleyan Seminary. 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson’s interest and activity in politics 
 began as soon as he came of voting age. From the 
 first he identified himself with the Republican party, 
 and he has always been one of its faithful support¬ 
 ers. In 1890 he was elected to the Boston Common 
 Council from Ward 17, and the following year was 
 sent to the Legislature as one of the representatives 
 of the same district. He was a candidate for the 
 lower branch of the General Court again in 1894. 
 Later he served two years in the State Senate. 
 
 After the resignation of Jesse Gove from the 
 Presidency of the Republican City Committee last 
 spring Mr. Hutchinson was chosen to the office, and 
 this year he was re-elected. Six or seven years ago 
 he was very earnest in the exposure of registration 
 frauds, and. largely through his efforts a thorough 
 investigation of the peculiar election methods of 
 certain sections of the city, which resulted in a 
 prompt reform of the evil, was begun. 
 
 He is a member of the Republican Club of Mass¬ 
 achusetts, the Lincoln Republican Club, the Mar- 
 ketman’s Club, and the Grand Lodges of the Odd 
 Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. 
 
 G. M. Hyams. —G. M. Hyams is a young man 
 who has worked his way to success through the 
 sheer force of his own energy, pluck and persever¬ 
 ance, and his ability to see opportunities and to 
 take advantage of them when they were offered. 
 He started with little or nothing and has accumu¬ 
 lated a fortune, and to-day is regarded as a strong 
 factor in the mining world. He is bright, quick, 
 progressive, and withal a fighter, as many who have 
 been pitted against him can testify. 
 
 Mr. Hyams’s success dates from the starting of 
 the great Montana smelter. At that time the cop¬ 
 per mines were not working well, and Mr. Hyams 
 was sent West to investigate the difficulties and 
 apply remedies if possible. Success crowned his 
 efforts, and from that time he began to gather a 
 great reputation as a mining and metallurgical ex¬ 
 pert. 
 
 In the great political fight between F. A. Heinze 
 and W. A. Clark on one side and the Amalgamated 
 on the other, which took place in Montana nearly 
 two years ago, Mr. Hyams managed the campaign 
 for the Amalgamated in an aggressive manner. 
 Since resigning his position in the Boston and Mon¬ 
 tana Mining Co. he has been connected with 
 Lewis & Bros., or the United Smelting Co. Mr. 
 Hyams is regarded as more of a practical mining 
 man than a financier, and does not enter promi¬ 
 nently into speculative affairs. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 I2 5 
 
 Edwin B. Rice.— Edwin B. Rice is one of the 
 young- men of Massachusetts who has every neces¬ 
 sary quality to become a leader among his fellows. 
 Not yet twenty-five years of age, he takes hold of 
 enterprises with the 
 dash and determin¬ 
 ation that mean 
 success. 
 
 Taking a keen in- 
 terest in matters 
 pertaining to the 
 turf, he bought the 
 famous pacing 
 horse Anaconda 
 from James Butler, 
 of New York, for 
 which he paid $6,- 
 500. Anaconda 
 was foaled in 1893, 
 b. g., by Knight, 
 dam Haggin Mare 
 by Angora. Last 
 August he beat Joe 
 Patchen at Brigh¬ 
 ton Beach, and a 
 few days later he 
 beat Prince Alert, 
 making his famous 
 record of 2.01^. 
 
 Previous to that, 
 and in 1900, Ana¬ 
 conda successfully 
 met the cracks of 
 the turf and was 
 heralded as the 
 coming pacing won¬ 
 der. 
 
 Edwin B. Rice is 
 a shrewd business 
 man as well, and it 
 is said he has added 
 considerably to the 
 large fortune left 
 him by his father some three or four years ago. 
 His home is in Boston, though he spends consider¬ 
 able of his time looking after his numerous busi¬ 
 ness interests in the City of New York. 
 
 Lawyers. 
 
 BOSTON’S HIGH PLACE IN JURISPRUDENCE. 
 
 A cursory glance at history is enough to convince 
 anyone that from the earliest days of the country to 
 the present time the Massachusetts Bar has occupied 
 a most eminent and honored place in the legal pro¬ 
 fession of this country and has at all times con¬ 
 
 stituted an important factor in American juris¬ 
 prudence. Boston has been the home of many legal 
 luminaries and judicial minds whose reputations 
 have been coextensive with the country and who 
 
 have left their im¬ 
 press upon its laws. 
 
 The Massachu¬ 
 setts Bar of to-day 
 is unquestionably 
 the peer of any, 
 with many individ¬ 
 ual representatives 
 who have demon¬ 
 strated legal know¬ 
 ledge, ability and 
 character of the 
 rarest kind. * 
 
 The lawyers of 
 to-day point with 
 commendable pride 
 to the fact that Dan¬ 
 iel Webster, while 
 born in New Hamp¬ 
 shire and of an old 
 family of that State, 
 studied law in Bos¬ 
 ton with Christo¬ 
 pher Gore,and pass¬ 
 ed many of the 
 formative years of 
 his life within the 
 precincts of this 
 Commonwealth. 
 The man who rep¬ 
 resented this dis¬ 
 trict in Congress 
 and several in the 
 Massachusetts 
 Senate was prop¬ 
 erly a Massachu¬ 
 setts man. One of 
 the greatest ora¬ 
 tions he delivered 
 was at the laying of the cornerstone of Bunker 
 Hill Monument in 1825. Webster is commonly 
 spoken of to-day as an orator, but that he was 
 an equally great lawyer was evidenced by the 
 remarks of Judge Wayne of the Supreme Court of 
 the United States. In the famous case of Gibbon 
 v. Ogden, which involved the constitutional right 
 of the State of New York to grant monopolies to its 
 tide waters, Webster appeared and Judge Wayne 
 said that his argument “ released every creek and 
 river, every lake and harbor in the country from the 
 interference of monopolies.” 
 
 The next greatest name among the famous law- 
 
 UNION AND MAYFLOWER CLUBS. 
 
 The Union Club is a representative organization of the Bench and 
 Bar, though other professions than the Bar are worthily represented 
 in its membership. It was organized during the Civil War, and had 
 as its first president Edward Everett. 
 
 '1 he Mayflower Club, close by, is a social down-town club of Boston 
 women organized in iSgj. The rooms are furnished with periodicals, 
 and conveniences for writing, and the restaurant is especially inviting. 
 Its membership numbers about joo. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 126 
 
 yers of the Massachusetts Bar was that of Rufus 
 Choate. This eminent advocate and orator was a 
 native of this State, was educated here and practised 
 law here. After his death he was acknowledged to 
 have been the leader of the Massachusetts Bar. 
 Lemuel Shaw was another whose judicial reputation 
 was second only to Theophilus Parsons. Shaw was 
 the man who drafted the original charter of the 
 City of Boston. Moses Parsons and his son, The¬ 
 ophilus Parsons, were both great jurists in their 
 times. Theophilus was the Dane professor of law 
 at Harvard, and wrote many legal works which are 
 regarded as authorities to-day. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin Butler, who was distinguished 
 in Democratic politics of the State and nation, was 
 the “greenback” candidate for President in 1884, 
 and won an admirable record in the Civil War, was 
 a member of the Massachusetts Bar. Benjamin 
 R. Curtis was a true product of this State. He was 
 one of the counsel who defended President Johnson 
 on his trial before the Senate. 
 
 Joseph Storey, the celebrated jurist and con¬ 
 stitutional lawyer of the school of Marshall, was 
 born in Massachusetts and admitted to its Bar. He 
 was a noted writer and became Associate Justice of 
 the Supreme Court of the United States. The name 
 of Richard H. Dana, lawyer and writer, is another 
 to be added to the list of famous men of the Mass¬ 
 achusetts Bar; also that of Caleb Cushing, jurist, 
 scholar, diplomat and Justice of the Supreme Court 
 of Massachusetts. 
 
 Many names could be quoted of lawyers who ac¬ 
 quired great fame in this State and who were the con¬ 
 temporaries of many now practising law in this city. 
 John Lowell was appointed Judge of the District 
 Court of the Massachusetts District by President 
 Lincoln, in recognition of his great ability as a 
 jurist. His father and grandfather before him held 
 the same position. In the department relating to 
 bankruptcy he was the most distinguished Judge in 
 the United States. Sydney Bartlett, who died at 
 an advanced age, in 1899, was a leader of the Suf¬ 
 folk County Bar, and for many years was recog¬ 
 nized by the Supreme Court of the United States as 
 the ablest lawyer in the country who appeared before 
 that tribunal. Nathan Morse, Henry Sweetzer, 
 Robert (). Smith, Henry W. Merwin and Henry W. 
 Paine were Boston lawyers whose names are spoken 
 reverently by the legal lights of to-day; and there 
 were others who were a great credit to the profession. 
 
 Many changes and developments have come about 
 in the practice of law to-day. The tendency has 
 been to specialize. 
 
 Elder, Wait & Whitman.—A law firm that has 
 attained great prominence in Boston through re¬ 
 
 markable success in the trial of important cases is 
 Elder, Wait & Whitman, which includes Mr. 
 Samuel J. Elder, Mr. William C. Wait and Mr. Ed¬ 
 mund A. Whitman. This firm was established in 
 1890, and since then has been engaged in general 
 law practice and copyright. The offices are located 
 in the Pemberton Building in Pemberton Square. 
 Mr. Samuel J. Elder was chairman of the Republi¬ 
 can State Convention in 1901. He was counsel for 
 Prof. Eastman in the famous murder trial in Cam¬ 
 bridge, and defended the interests of Rev. Mary 
 Baker G. Eddy in the trial of a suit brought by Mrs. 
 Josephine C. Woodbury. 
 
 Gaston, Snow & Saltonstall.— Among the rep¬ 
 resentative legal firms of Boston which make a 
 specialty of mercantile and corporation business is 
 the association of Gaston, Snow & Saltonstall. 
 This firm was originally established in the year 
 1893 under the name of Gaston & Snow, which suc¬ 
 ceeded to the business of the old Boston legal firm 
 of Gaston & Whitney, the senior members of which 
 were William A. Gaston’s father, ex-Governor 
 William Gaston and Charles L. B. Whitney. Will¬ 
 iam A. Gaston, the head of the present firm, was 
 the junior member of the old firm of Gaston & 
 Whitney. Subsequently Mr. Whitney retired, and 
 Mr. Frederic E. Snow was taken into partnership. 
 In 1891 William Gaston, Sr., retired from active 
 practice, and later Mr. Richard M. Saltonstall was 
 associated with Messrs. Snow and Gaston. The 
 practice of this firm has been of the highest char¬ 
 acter, and their clientele is drawn from the largest 
 and most representative business men and firms of 
 the New England States. Col. William A. Gaston 
 holds a high place among Boston’s most influential 
 citizens. As Director of the Massachusetts Na¬ 
 tional Bank in Boston, as Trustee of the Proprietors 
 of Forest Hills Cemetery, and as President of the 
 Boston Elevated Railway, Col. Gaston distinguished 
 himself. 
 
 During the three terms of Gov. Russell he was 
 Assistant Adjutant General on the Governor’s staff. 
 
 Herbert Parker.— No man in the State is more 
 deservedly popular or numbers more warm personal 
 friends than Herbert Parker, the new Attorney 
 General for Massachusetts. 
 
 Mr. Parker was born fifty-six years ago in Charles¬ 
 town, Mass. After graduating from Harvard in the 
 class of ’78 he studied law with George F. Hoar, and 
 subsequently practised in Clinton and Worcester. 
 He has devoted most of his life to the practice of 
 his profession, but the few political offices he has 
 held have been administered well. He is a Di¬ 
 rector of the Citizens’ National Bank of Worcester, 
 and holds other positions of trust in that city. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 127 
 
 Thomas W. Proctor.— An able and brilliant law¬ 
 yer and a genial man personally, Thomas William 
 Proctor has developed a large clientage and a wide 
 circle of friends. He was born in Hollis, N. H., No¬ 
 vember 20, 1858. His early education was obtained 
 in the public schools of his native town, and he was 
 prepared in the Lawrence Academy, Groton, for 
 Dartmouth College, from which he was graduated 
 in the class of 1879. After a short service as Prin¬ 
 cipal of the Groton High School he entered the 
 Boston Law School, where he studied for one year 
 and was admitted to the Bar of Suffolk County in 
 October, 1883. He practised law until July, 1884, 
 when he was appointed clerk to District Attorney 
 Stevens. After four months he resigned, and with 
 Samuel J. Elder and John H. Hardy formed the 
 law firm of Hardy, Elder & Proctor. 
 
 In December, 1886, he was appointed Second 
 Assistant District Attorney, and a year later was 
 made First Assistant. He resigned May 1, 1891, 
 and was appointed Assistant City Solicitor. This 
 office he resigned in February, 1894, and after prac¬ 
 tising law alone until October 1 of the same year 
 formed a partnership with Robert W. Nason, under 
 the style of Nason & Proctor. Their offices were 
 located at 246 Washington street until last March, 
 when they moved to Barristers’ Hall, where they 
 are now located. Mr. Proctor is a general practi¬ 
 tioner and spends most of his time trying cases. 
 Mr. Proctor is a Democrat of the old type. He is 
 a member of the University Club, the Curtis Club 
 and the Beacon Society. , 
 
 Wright, Brown & Quinby.— The firm of Wright, 
 Brown & Quinby, patent lawyers, whose offices are 
 
 in the Exchange Building at 53 State street, is now 
 composed of Charles F. Brown and William Quinby, 
 the former third member; Col. Carroll D. Wright 
 having retired in 1880 to become United States 
 Commissioner of Labor at Washington, D. C. The 
 firm was established in 1866, and was then Wright 
 & Browm. In 1885 Arthur W. Crossley was taken 
 into partnership, and the title of the firm was 
 Wright, Brown & Crossley until 1894, when Mr. 
 Crossley withdrew and William Quinby took his 
 place. 
 
 Mr. Brown is now the senior. He was born in 
 Hampden, Me., October 21, 1848. He received his 
 early education in the common schools and the 
 academy of his native city. He studied law in the 
 office of an important law firm in Washington, and 
 practised law in the national capital, making a 
 specialty of patent rights, until 1874, when he came 
 to Boston. 
 
 Mr. Quinby is a native of Sandwich, N. H. He 
 was graduated from Dartmouth College and the 
 Law Department of Columbia University in Wash¬ 
 ington. After leaving college he was for several 
 years Examiner of Patents in the Patent Office at 
 Washington. He resides in Cambridge. 
 
 The early careers of both Mr. Brown and Mr. 
 Quinby were such as to equip them well for looking 
 after the interests of patentees, and a long and 
 wide experience and ripe erudition placed them 
 among the leading patent lawyers of the State. 
 They are retained by large manufacturers and 
 great corporations, and in recent years have had to 
 do especially with boot and shoe machinery, textile 
 machinery and automobiles. 
 
Lowell, JVIasQ., a progressive, prosperous and 
 famous City in the Universe of Business, 
 as a pioneer in Cotton Manufac¬ 
 turing she has no Peer. 
 
 FEW INDUSTRIAL CENTRES HAVE SUCH A REMARKABLE RECORD—NONE HAVE 
 BRIGHTER PROSPECTS IN THE FUTURE—HOW THIS CITY CAME BY 
 ITS NAME—IT SUPPORTS ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY 
 DIFFERENT KINDS OF INDUSTRIES. 
 
 * 
 
 S EW industrial cities have such a remark¬ 
 able record for development as has Lowell, 
 the fourth city of Massachusetts and one 
 of the greatest cotton manufacturing cen¬ 
 tres in the United States. Fewer have a brighter 
 prospect in their future. 
 
 Scarcely a year ago Lowell celebrated the seventy- 
 fifth anniversary of its birth as a city. It first took 
 its present name in 1826 as an honor to Francis 
 Cabot Lowell, the pioneer to whom the place owes 
 the establishment of its great cotton-making indus¬ 
 try Previous to that it had been a part of the town 
 of Chelmsford. Francis Cabot Lowell, Nathan Ap¬ 
 pleton and Patrick T. Jackson had been associated 
 in a cotton manufacture enterprise at Waltham. In 
 1820—three years after Lowell’s death—Appleton 
 and Jackson looked into the possibilities of the 
 Merrimac River as a water power for large factories, 
 and within three years the nucleus of the vast mills 
 of to-day was building. 
 
 Some years before Appleton and Jackson, who 
 had associated Kirk Boott with themselves, went on 
 their prospecting expedition, a canal had been 
 built around the Pawtucket Falls to open naviga¬ 
 tion to and from the towns on the upper part 
 of the Merrimac. In this these pioneer spinners 
 saw their opportunity, and they promptly bought 
 out the owners of the canal and organized the first 
 cotton manufacturing company, which was incor¬ 
 porated eighty years ago this month and began ac¬ 
 tive operations a year and a half later. Nine other 
 mills and the great machine shops, which became a 
 
 necessary adjunct, followed rapidly within the next 
 score of years, and to-day not less than $15,000,000 
 are employed in this one of the city’s 150 different 
 kinds of industries. 
 
 'Che Uremendous Cdatcr 
 power. 
 
 The wonderful water power which has played 
 such a part in Lowell’s growth and accumulation of 
 wealth is now distributed through five different 
 canals, which aggregate as many miles in length. 
 They furnish 25,000 horse-power all told, the privi¬ 
 leges being leased to the various concerns which use 
 them. The ownership is in the hands of the corpor¬ 
 ation known from its early days as the Proprietors of 
 the Locks and Canals on the Merrimac River, which 
 has a Directorate composed of the Treasurers of the 
 various mill companies. Incorporated in 1792 with 
 a capital of $50,000 this important factor in the 
 Spindle City’s prosperity is now capitalized at 
 $600,000. 
 
 Besides the cotton products which are its staple, 
 Lowell makes a startling array of things. Not 
 counting the great cotton mills, it boasts some 800 
 different maniifacturing concerns, all of them flour¬ 
 ishing in steady growth and prosperity. 
 
 Lowell’s greatest growth has been in the last quar¬ 
 ter-century, during which time the population 
 doubled, being now in the neighborhood of 100,000. 
 Its wealth has nearly doubled in the same time. 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 129 
 
 Since it was founded its territorial area has been in¬ 
 creased from four square miles to eight, until now 
 its total valuation is more than $70,000,000, an in¬ 
 crease of $10,000,000 in ten years. The per capita 
 wealth has been computed as $815 and the per capita 
 debt as $33. 
 
 Of the people of the Spindle City 22,000 are mill 
 employees, many of 
 them French Cana¬ 
 dians. The popu¬ 
 lation is somewhat 
 cosmopolitan, in¬ 
 cluding many Irish, 
 
 English, Swedes, 
 
 Armenians and 
 other foreigners. 
 
 As far back as the 
 early forties, when 
 Charles Dickens, 
 the great novelist, 
 visited this country 
 and made a stay in 
 Lowell, the city 
 was noted for the 
 intelligence and 
 good conduct of its 
 working people, and 
 it is one of its proud¬ 
 est boasts that there 
 is no mill commu¬ 
 nity in the country 
 where there have 
 been fewer labor 
 disturbances and 
 where the average 
 of morality, intelli¬ 
 gence, industry and 
 thrift of the opera¬ 
 tives is higher. 
 
 The good name and prosperity of the city are in no 
 small measure attributable to these enviable con¬ 
 ditions. 
 
 With its mercantile development, Lowell has, of 
 course, become a more active shipping point every 
 year. Its railroad facilities have, however, kept 
 pace with its necessities and an immense amount of 
 traffic, both passenger and freight, is handled at its 
 two stations. It was one of the first places to be 
 connected with Boston by rail, in 1835, and now it 
 is one of the most important distributing points on 
 the great trunk line system which runs to the North 
 and East and West. 
 
 Fortunate in many ways, Lowell is more fortunate 
 in none than in its civic government and the de¬ 
 partments included under its management. Its 
 police and fire departments have won noteworthy 
 
 commendation and its public school system is quite 
 up to the high New England standard of education. 
 Its public buildings are handsome and commodious 
 and are all of them modern. A public library of 
 60,000 volumes and a memorial hall filled with 
 patriotic and historical relics and commemorative 
 tablets have a fine building which was especially 
 
 erected for their ac¬ 
 commodation. The 
 city has many fine 
 examples of church 
 architecture, and 
 several of the pri¬ 
 vate residences and 
 estates will com¬ 
 pare favorably with 
 those to be seen in 
 the suburbs of much 
 larger places. 
 
 An attraction of 
 which Lowell is 
 very proud, and 
 with much reason, 
 is her park system. 
 The principal park 
 is at Fort Hill, 
 which gives a beau¬ 
 tiful, far reaching 
 view that includes 
 the mountains of 
 New Hampshire 
 and those which lie 
 to the south and 
 west, and passes 
 over the splendid 
 valleys of the Con¬ 
 cord and Merrimac, 
 crowded with his¬ 
 tory and legends. 
 It is easily and quickly reached from the heart of 
 the business quarter of the city by electric cars. 
 
 The social life of the Spindle City is much more 
 attractive than is usual in a manufacturing com¬ 
 munity. Club and other social organizations are 
 numerous, the fraternal organizations being par¬ 
 ticularly well represented. The public charities are 
 splendidly conducted and nowhere can there be 
 shown a better record for generous efficiency. 
 
 The city is well supplied with modern homes— 
 houses and apartments—and considering the lively 
 demand which results from its rapid growth rentals 
 are exceedingly moderate. Home influences are 
 excellent All of the leading Protestant denomi¬ 
 nations, the Roman Catholic faith and the Jewish 
 sects are represented in the church life. The great 
 associations which are the allies of the religious 
 
 CITY HALL, LOWELL, MASS. 
 
I 3 ° 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 bodies everywhere are vigorous and have done much 
 for the city’s good. The broad-mindedness and 
 liberality which the great corporations have always 
 shown in all their dealings with their employees are 
 recognized as having no mean share in the general 
 well being, too. 
 
 The municipality, the Board of Trade and the 
 citizens at large stand ever ready for any service 
 which might make Lowell attractive to the new¬ 
 comer. Generous inducements are offered to capital 
 to seek locations there, and to the spirit of friend¬ 
 liness and helpfulness which is characteristic of the 
 place in all its dealings, is owing in some part, 
 certainly, its prosperous increase in every way. 
 
 With such a history of constant growth, of virile 
 strength, of worthy achievement, with such natural 
 advantages and such modern facilities, it is not to 
 be wondered at that Lowell is growing in popu¬ 
 lation at the rate of about 4,000 a year and that its 
 fame as a manufacturing centre has spread to the 
 utmost ends of the earth. 
 
 patent JYIediclms. 
 
 There is one line of business in which Lowell is 
 pre-eminent—the manufacture of patent medicines. 
 The great establishments which have made the city 
 their home since its young days have grown up 
 with it astoundingly, and there is not a country on 
 the face of the earth to which they have not pene¬ 
 trated. 
 
 The J. C. Ayer Co.— It was way back in the early 
 forties when Dr. J. C. Ayer, the founder of the J. 
 C. Ayer Co. of Lowell, Mass., first began com¬ 
 pounding his Cherry Pectoral. He was a young 
 druggist at the time, but increased sales of his 
 medicine soon required his entire attention, and in 
 1848 he started a factory of his own. 
 
 The business moved from place to place as its 
 increasing volume required greater room, until in 
 1857 it settled in its present location, which has been 
 enlarged and remodeled time and again. Dr. Ayer 
 was a born advertiser. In 1852 he began the pub¬ 
 lication of the now famous almanac, a novelty at 
 that time, to increase the fame of the Cherry Pec¬ 
 toral. Taking into partnership his brother, Fred¬ 
 erick Ayer, in 1855, the doctor found more time for 
 experimental work, and in a short time other medi¬ 
 cines—Ayer’s Pills, Ayer’s Sarsaparilla and Ayer’s 
 Ague Cure—were perfected and placed upon the 
 market. In 1869 Ayer’s Hair Vigor was first pro¬ 
 duced, and the business grew, waxed strong, and 
 the advertising became more extensive, and besides 
 a large amount of poster and newspaper advertising, 
 an average edition of eight millions of almanacs 
 were distributed annually. 
 
 The ceaseless activity in which Dr. Ayer lived 
 had naturally begun to tell upon his health, and 
 though he had abundant leisure in his latter days, 
 his crowding care told upon his vigorous consti¬ 
 tution, and he died in 1878, at the age of sixty. He 
 was a man of indomitable energy, pluck and per¬ 
 severance, and built up an establishment which has 
 become famous throughout the world. 
 
 The present General-Manager and Treasurer, Dr. 
 Charles H. Stowell, is eminently fitted, both by 
 education and experience, to take up and continue 
 the great work begun by Dr. Ayer. Dr. Stowell 
 was graduated from the medical department of the 
 University of Michigan in 1872, and after practising 
 medicine for three years in Syracuse, N. Y., was 
 recalled to his alma mater to fill a professorship, 
 where he remained for thirteen years. During this 
 time he held three professorships, one each in the 
 medical, literary and law departments. He is the 
 author of a number of books, some of which have 
 been extensively used as text-books, and are so 
 known to-day. 
 
 The main office covers considerably over 7,000 
 square feet, and is a fine example of the convenient 
 business office of to-day. No expense has been 
 spared in its equipment. Nearly one-half of this 
 great room is devoted to the advertising department. 
 
 The percolating room, where the first step in 
 compounding the Ayer remedies is taken, is a great 
 room the same size as the main office four stories 
 below it, and seems to typify the cleanliness and 
 wholesome methods which characterize the Ayer 
 process. This room has a series of great copper 
 stills, and a tankage capacity of over 28,000 gallons. 
 
 Slcctric Lighting. 
 
 The electric lighting system of the Spindle City 
 includes, of course, both arc and incandescent 
 lamps, and into its service every improvement is 
 introduced promptly upon its appearance. The 
 plant which furnishes the current is one of the best 
 equipped of those in the smaller cities in the coun¬ 
 try. 
 
 Lowell Electric Light Corporation.— The 
 Lowell Electric Light Corporation was organ¬ 
 ized in 1881. The company is capitalized at 
 $400,000. Since January, 1899, the company has 
 been under the management of Stone & Webster, 
 who made extensive additions to the equipment, 
 and the plant is now capable of the best of service. 
 It gives Lowell the lowest meter rate in Massachu¬ 
 setts. The officers are: F. R. Hart, President; 
 Russell Robb, Vice-President; H. B. Sawyer, 
 Treasurer and B. H. Dibblee, Secretary. Besides 
 Messrs. Hart and Robb, the members of the Board 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 x 3 1 
 
 of Directors are: E. S. Webster, G. W. Lee, R. T. 
 Paine, 2d, L. S. Webster and C. A. Stone. The 
 company employs nearly three score of people in 
 the City of Lowell, and is giving their patrons in 
 that city the most satisfactory service. The main 
 offices are located at 28 Bridge street, and their 
 magnificent and excellently equipped power sta¬ 
 tion is on Perry street. The following statement 
 shows the progress that has been made by the 
 Lowell Electric Light Corporation in the past three 
 years: 
 
 
 Gross 
 
 Station 
 
 No. inc. 16 
 
 No. arc 
 
 H. P. 
 
 
 receipts 
 
 cap. in 
 
 c. p. equiv. 
 
 lamp 
 
 motors 
 
 
 for year. 
 
 K. W. 
 
 con. 
 
 con. 
 
 connected. 
 
 1899 
 
 • $136,000 
 
 1 > 55 2 
 
 22,940 
 
 1,013 
 
 I , 2 53 
 
 1900 
 
 . 158,000 
 
 2,203 
 
 28,966 
 
 1 ? 2 33 
 
 1,788 
 
 1901 
 
 . 179,000 
 
 CO 
 
 32,788 
 
 L 3 W 
 
 1,869 
 
 Gas Light Service. 
 
 The public service of this progressive city is ad¬ 
 mirable. It is splendidly lighted by gas, the mains 
 for which have been so extended as to make the 
 illuminant available to all of its people. The gas 
 is of excellent quality and is so supplied as to be 
 most economical. All the modern devices for heat¬ 
 ing and cooking by gas are made easily available to 
 the consumer. 
 
 Lowell Gas Light Co.—No firm or corpor¬ 
 ation has a firmer place in the business world 
 than a long-established lighting company, and the 
 Lowell Gas Light Co., with its record of fifty- 
 two years of efficient service of the citizens of 
 Lowell, Mass., is no exception to the general rule. 
 Established in 1849 as manufacturers of illuminat¬ 
 ing gas, coke, coal-tar and ammonical liquor, this 
 company has been uniformly successful in its busi¬ 
 ness life, and has grown with the city which it sup¬ 
 plies with light. To-day it employs some 150 men, 
 and its pipes form a veritable network beneath the 
 streets of Lowell. It is capitalized for the sum of 
 $650,000. The affairs of the corporation have 
 always been in the hands of business men of con¬ 
 servative, yet progressive tendencies, and as a result 
 this company is firmly established as one of the 
 business institutions of this bustling mill city. Its 
 present management is in the hands of a president, 
 treasurer and board of seven directors, as follows: 
 President, Jacob Rogers; Treasurer, George S. 
 Motley; Directors, S. G. Mack, Levi Sprague, A. 
 G. Cumrock, Jacob Rogers, George S. Motley, 
 Edward M. Tucke and Edward N. Burke. Modern 
 appliances and modern methods characterize the 
 large plant of the company, and the output is a very 
 high quality of illuminating gas and the by-products 
 which enter into so many other manufacturing in¬ 
 dustries of the day. 
 
 Banking facilities. 
 
 Lowell’s banking facilities are exceptional, for 
 employers and employed have always been alike 
 prosperous. The nine national banks have a com¬ 
 bined capital of $2,300,000 and undivided profits of 
 $1,250,000, and beside them there are two trust 
 companies and seven savings institutions. 
 
 The Traders’ National Bank of Lowell, Mass. 
 —As an illustration of success, developed within a 
 few years, in a conservative business, there is sel¬ 
 dom found a more remarkable case than that of the 
 Traders’ National Bank of Lowell, Mass. This 
 bank opened for business on July 1, 1892. Its de¬ 
 posits on December 31, 1892, amounted to $299,- 
 021.98. Eight years later the deposits had increased 
 to $2,988,870.80, or nearly tenfold. Such a result 
 as that could only have been accomplished with the 
 best of management, the wisest judgment and the 
 most careful business methods. 
 
 With these facts in view, it is interesting to note 
 the names of the officials who are responsible for 
 this success. They are: President, Chas. J. Glid- 
 den; Vice-President, William F. Hills; Cashier, 
 Frederic A. Holden; Directors, John C. Burke, 
 Michael Corbett, Solomon K. Dexter, Chas. J. 
 Glidden, Othello O. Greenwood, William F. Hills, 
 James H. Mills, Clarence H. Nelson, AsaC. Russell, 
 Robert Simpson and Jesse N. Trull. 
 
 The Traders’ National Bank has a central and 
 convenient situation on Middlesex street and Post 
 Office avenue, Lowell, Mass., a site which is next 
 door to the Post Office. This bank makes a spec¬ 
 ialty of bank collections in Lowell, Lawrence and 
 Haverhill, Mass., and Nashua, N. H. It has a For¬ 
 eign Exchange department, also a Savings depart¬ 
 ment, and a suite of elegantly appointed rooms for 
 lady patrons which enables this bank to make a 
 specialty of handling women’s accounts. 
 
 JMaking Stockings. 
 
 An interesting branch of Lowell’s textile indus¬ 
 tries is the manufacture of stockings. The setting 
 up of knitting machines marked a decided advance 
 on America’s part in furnishing the world with its 
 styles and with the means of meeting fashion’s ex¬ 
 acting requirements. The Lowell stocking mills 
 have had their weight in disproving the old-fash¬ 
 ioned idea that to be good fine articles of personal 
 wear must be imported, and in establishing the fact 
 that no goods can be better than those “ made in 
 New England.” 
 
 Shaw Stocking Co. —The trade mark, “Shaw- 
 knit,” is a familiar one to almost everybody in New 
 
13 2 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 England, and it is known throughout the country. 
 Hosiery bearing the “ Shawknit ” trade mark is the 
 product of the mills of the Shaw Stocking Co , a 
 corporation established on October 16, 1877, under 
 a Massachusetts charter, with a capital of 8360,000. 
 Of the three mills operated by this concern in 
 Lowell, Mass., two are devoted to the manufacture 
 of hosiery, including cotton, wool merino, linen, 
 worsted and lisle. The third mill, which is a re¬ 
 cent addition, having been started in May, 1901, is 
 used for the manufacture of fine-combed Egyptian 
 yarns from which the hosiery is made. These mills 
 employ 550 operatives. By making its own yarns 
 this company is enabled to see that only the finest 
 grades of cotton are used and also to determine 
 that none but skilled operatives be employed in 
 producing the yarns. This concern also dyes its 
 yarns, using a variety of colors, and thus it is pos¬ 
 sible to insist upon fast and safe colors. About 100 
 different styles are shown. 
 
 The officers of the Shaw Stocking Co. are: Presi¬ 
 dent, Frank J. Dutcher; Treasurer and Manager, 
 William E. Hall; Superintendent, Chas. F. Libby; 
 Directors, Frank J. Dutcher, E. W. Thomas, Amasa 
 Pratt, John Scott, E. A. Thissell, F. R. Shedd, O. 
 H. Moulton, George A. Draper and George S. 
 Motley. 
 
 Hmmunition. 
 
 Every sportsman in the country knows the am¬ 
 munition which comes from the Spindle City, no 
 doubt, and foreigners have been making its ac¬ 
 quaintance rapidly and with much mutual satisfac¬ 
 tion in the last few years. Indeed, it would be 
 hard to find another place so generally known and 
 so well thought of for what it supplies the rest of 
 mankind with as Lowell. 
 
 famous Bunting. 
 
 Prominent among Lowell’s manufactures is bunt¬ 
 ing. Lowell bunting is as widely known as the city 
 itself, almost, and for the same standard qualities— 
 strength, brightness and permanency. It has car¬ 
 ried the national colors all over the world, and with 
 them the fame of the place of its production. 
 
 UNITED STATES CARTRIDGE CO., 
 LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ESTABLISHED 1869. 
 
 -I MANUFACTURERS OF 
 
 AMMUNITION, BRASS AND COPPER GOODS. 
 GOVERNMENT CONTRACTORS. 
 
 AGENCIES: 
 
 U. T. HUNGERFORD BRASS AND COPPER CO., 
 
 121 WORTH STREET, NEW YORK, N. Y. 
 
 CHARLES SONNTAG & CO., 
 
 116 MARKET STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA. 
 
 CHARLES W. DIMICK, 
 
 216 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 U. S. BUNTING CO., 
 
 MANUFACTURERS 
 
 FANCY WORSTEDS, SURGES AND DRESS 
 
 GOODS, 
 
 LOWELL, MASS. 
 
 W. H. AND W. H. LEWIS & CO., 
 
 BOSTON AGENTS, 
 
 76 BEDFORD STREET. 
 
 NEW YORK, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
Che Boston 'Journal's JVcw Building, a Million 
 Dollar, Bleven Story Structure, and a 
 
 Model plant. 
 
 IT WILL BE THE NEWEST AND MOST ATTRACTIVE FEATURE OF NEWSPAPER 
 ROW—SOMETHING ABOUT THE PAPER THAT HAS BEEN AN IMPOR¬ 
 TANT FACTOR IN NEW ENGLAND FOR NEARLY 
 
 FOUR SCORE YEARS. 
 
 HE erection of the largest and finest news- 
 W paper office in New England on the busi- 
 
 wj/wj est and costliest corner of Boston is 
 simply another mark of the rapid strides 
 which the Boston Journal has been making. It is 
 the crown wrought by nearly seventy years of 
 enterprise, of constant progress, of the conservat¬ 
 ism on which is built confidence and respect, and 
 the building itself will typify the newspaper which 
 it is to house. 
 
 The new Journal Building will cover not only the 
 site where the Boston Journal's home stood for 
 forty years, but the large corner plot next to it. 
 
 The magnificent structure rising on this magnifi¬ 
 cent site is to be eleven stories high, rising well 
 above all of its surroundings. It will be finished to 
 the minutest detail with all of the marvelous per¬ 
 fection of the modern skyscraper and of the most 
 complete establishment for the publication of a 
 daily newspaper. Its total cost is set at $1,000,000. 
 
 As the great Republican newspaper of Republi¬ 
 can New England the Boston Journal long ago at¬ 
 tained a growth which made its former five-story 
 home, in its time the finest building of the kind in 
 the six States, seem cramped. When the necessity 
 for more room became urgently pressing it was evi¬ 
 dent that the enlargement of the ground area to in¬ 
 clude the old structure and the building next to it, 
 a part of which the Journal had used for years, 
 would require the complete demolition of every 
 wall, and extensive excavation. Without the disar¬ 
 rangement by a minute of the exacting schedule of 
 a great daily the Journal plant was moved to tempo¬ 
 rary quarters and the work of tearing down and 
 building up began immediately. 
 
 The new Journal Building will be typical of what 
 might be called “the commercial skyscraper” in its 
 most modern form, and will crown the third era of 
 high buildings in Boston. For the first class of 
 buildings whose tops reached up into the sky above 
 their neighbors was the churches, with their pierc¬ 
 ing steeples. Following this religious type came 
 the Governmental, illustrated by the shining dome 
 of the State House and the lofty Federal building. 
 
 Of the commercial type the Ames Building may 
 be said to be the pioneer, but, although its frame is 
 of steel, yet the science of building had not at that 
 time so far progressed as to depend upon this frame 
 for the strength and stability. The walls were, 
 therefore, made of great thickness, and space thus 
 lost which in the building of to-day is carefully 
 utilized. 
 
 Besides the eleven stories of the Boston Journal 
 Building towering above ground there will be three 
 stories wholly under ground. So great is the value 
 of land on a site such as that of the Journal Build¬ 
 ing that it is desirable to construct as many stories 
 as possible. The Massachusetts law limits the 
 height above ground. The alternative is subter¬ 
 ranean construction, and modern invention and in¬ 
 genuity make it possible to fashion there comfort¬ 
 able and healthful quarters. 
 
 Going forty feet below the level of the street 
 the Journal's new home will provide unequalled 
 accommodations for the paper’s heavier machinery. 
 Modern construction will make it possible for the 
 direct light to penetrate the depths of the three 
 stories below the level of the street, and improved 
 ventilating apparatus will keep the air pure and of 
 comfortable temperature. In the lowest basement 
 
i 34 
 
 The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 
 JOURNAL- BUILDING 
 
 
 JOUrnT 
 
 the boilers and dynamos are to be placed; above 
 them will be the press and stereotype rooms; and 
 then, directly beneath the ground floor, are located 
 .the mailing room and distribution department. 
 The stereotype room will be connected with the 
 composing room 
 150 feet above it by 
 a novel compressed 
 air form lift, by 
 means of which the 
 locked pages may 
 be sent up and down 
 in a matter of a few 
 seconds. 
 
 The first two 
 stories of the new 
 Journal Building 
 will be unique in 
 Boston. The walls 
 will be of polished 
 granite, a material 
 to be found in no 
 other bui 1 ding in 
 the city. More¬ 
 over, the lower 
 story of that stone 
 will have a still 
 further distinction, 
 in that it will be a 
 beautiful bronze 
 green granite, of 
 which no other 
 specimen exists in 
 a New England 
 building, and only 
 one or two speci 
 mens in the coun¬ 
 try. 
 
 This bronze gran¬ 
 ite has a little his¬ 
 tory of its own. It 
 seems that Mr. Mc- 
 Kim, the architect, 
 discovered a quarry 
 of the stone up on 
 Mount Ascutney, 
 near Windsor, Yt. 
 
 Its beauty and grain 
 delighted his artis¬ 
 tic taste, and noth¬ 
 ing would satisfy him but that Mr. Norcross, the 
 big contractor, should travel with him up into the 
 Green Mountain State, climb 500 feet up that 
 precipitous hill and look at the wonderful stone. 
 The quick and practiced eye of Mr. Norcross saw 
 at once its ornamental value, and his firm, who are 
 
 BOSTON JOURNAL'S NEW BUILDING. 
 
 now constructing the new Journal Building, will use 
 it on this lower story. 
 
 When the Trustees of Columbia College were 
 looking for a handsome marble for inside decoration 
 of their new library, they could find no marble 
 
 from which they 
 could get a stone 
 large enough for 
 the big pillars in 
 the hall. Then it 
 was that they were 
 attracted bv the 
 
 j 
 
 polished bronze 
 granite, and they 
 substituted it for 
 the planned mar¬ 
 ble. It has given 
 a very beautiful 
 effect. In fact, 
 scarcely any one 
 who enters the 
 library is able to 
 tell that its columns 
 are not of marble 
 instead of granite. 
 
 The location of 
 the Journal Build¬ 
 ing is the most cen¬ 
 tral point in the 
 business district of 
 Boston, which 
 makes it the very 
 heart of New Eng¬ 
 land’s life. It is an 
 ideal situation for 
 an ideal newspaper 
 office, and the 
 eleven stories of 
 the new J ournal 
 Building, towering 
 above all that sur¬ 
 rounds it, will be¬ 
 come the most strik¬ 
 ing landmark in 
 twentieth century 
 Boston. 
 
 The recent devel¬ 
 opment of the busi¬ 
 ness section of the 
 metropolis of New 
 England as it has been outlined by the erection of 
 many large office buildings, circles about this cor¬ 
 ner of Washington and Water streets, and the Jour¬ 
 nal Building will stand in its very midst. The site 
 is close to the most important mercantile and gov¬ 
 ernmental interests in the city. A few steps away 
 
 EVERETT &MEAP 
 ARCHITECTS - 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 i 35 
 
 is the Federal Building - , in which the general Post 
 Office and the direct representatives of the National 
 Administration are housed. Half a block distant 
 in the other direction stands the City Hall, and back 
 of that the old Court House, now the headquarters 
 of many of the important municipal departments, 
 with the registry of deeds close at hand. 
 
 The Court House where the State and city judic¬ 
 iary sit is convenient of access to the west, and 
 just beyond it, crowning Beacon Hill, is the State 
 House, the political heart of the Commonwealth. 
 In the other direction, toward the harbor, are the 
 Chamber of Commerce and the Custom House, the 
 centres of maritime and commercial importance for 
 the New England States, not far from them the water 
 front, with its great piers and docks, the birthplace 
 of American shipping. 
 
 State street on the north, and Milk street on the 
 south, a block in either direction, mark the bound¬ 
 aries of the great banking centre of Boston. Here 
 are the Trustees of interests mounting into millions, 
 the representatives of wealth and commercial posi¬ 
 tion, the institutions which guard the finanical well¬ 
 being of the municipality and its citizens, among 
 them the famous Stock Exchange. The North and 
 South Union Stations, from which Boston stretches 
 out its hands to the whole continent, are about 
 equidistant from the site of the new building, also. 
 So all of the highways to and from the chief points 
 of a great city’s strength lead to the Journal's corner 
 and to a newspaper for which they are sources of 
 important information. This means much. 
 
 Many places of historical importance, which visi¬ 
 tors to Boston delight to see, are near this central 
 point, too. The Old State House and the Old South 
 Meeting House are but a step or two on either side. 
 The scene of the Boston massacre, Faneuil Hall, 
 King’s Chapel, the old Granary Burial Ground and 
 Boston Common are all within a short distance of 
 this corner. Indeed, ever since Boston was 
 founded in 1630, the site of the Journal Building 
 has always been a centre of action. In the early 
 days of the settlement of Boston the inhabitants 
 passed close to this spot to obtain drinking water 
 from the old spring. Thus from early times to the 
 present time, the people of Boston have looked upon 
 this locality as the most familiar part of the city. 
 
 Naturally enough, so favored a situation has a 
 large value from a commercial standpoint, and it is 
 not surprising that in the recent transfer of this 
 
 property the enormous price of $170 per square foot 
 was paid, a larger price than has ever been paid for 
 a parcel of that size since Boston was founded. A 
 layer of silver dollars over the entire area of the 
 Journal Building site would represent barely one- 
 third of the total value of that land. 
 
 The Journal's offices on the ground floor of the 
 building have been sumptuously planned by Messrs. 
 Everett and Mead, the architects. At one side of 
 the counting room the advertising department is to 
 have a handsome reception room connected with 
 the offices, and the solicitors’ desks find place in a 
 gallery above. Back of the advertising manager’s 
 room will be the business manager’s, and back of 
 that the general manager’s. 
 
 The eleventh floor—which, by the way, touches 
 the limit set by law upon the height of buildings 
 in Boston—is set apart for what is planned as the 
 most perfectly appointed composing room in the 
 country. A balcony will run about its four sides, and 
 there the proof-readers will be located. The great 
 cut cabinet, containing the 20,000 and more plates 
 which have brought to the Journal the name of “ the 
 paper with the photographs,” and the various card 
 catalogues, which are its keys, are to find place in 
 this same balcony, so that all of the departments on 
 which the typographical and illustrative features 
 depend will be in close touch. 
 
 The floor below is to be occupied by the various 
 news and feature departments. The city and tele¬ 
 graph rooms, Sunday, sporting and magazine edi¬ 
 tors, art department and reference cabinets and 
 library have been grouped about the managing 
 editor’s room so as to make for the greatest possible 
 practical convenience. 
 
 The offices of the publisher of the fournal are to 
 be a specially finished suite on the first floor of the 
 building above the counting room. Concentration 
 of energy and ease of control have been kept in 
 mind throughout, while the space is everywhere 
 generous, and the proportions are large. 
 
 Such a perfectly equipped establishment is the 
 natural home of a newspaper like the Boston Journal , 
 which has already passed three score years and ten— 
 indeed,its seventy-fifth birthday falls in the next year. 
 Its record of usefulness, enterprise and sound judg¬ 
 ment, its political stanchness and its reliability have 
 won it a high place among the great dailies of the 
 country and have secured to it the second largest 
 home circulation among New England newspapers. 
 
\goi 
 
The Finance and Commerce of Boston and New England. 
 
 i 37 
 
 PANORAMA OF THE BACK BAY DISTRICT OF BOSTON .—From the Common. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Aetna Mills. 
 
 Alden, George A. & Co. 
 
 American Hide & Leather Co. 
 
 American Loan & Trust Co. 
 
 American Telephone & Telegraph Co., The . . . 
 
 American Woolen Co. 
 
 Amory, Browne & Co. 
 
 Armstrong, G. W. Dining Room & News Co., The 
 
 Atkins, E. & Co. 
 
 Atlantic Cotton Mills. 
 
 Ayer, J. C. Co., The. 
 
 Baeder Adamson & Co. 
 
 Bigelow, Albert S. 
 
 Bigelow Carpet Co. 
 
 Bigelow & Dowse Co. . 
 
 Bliss, Fabyan & Co. 
 
 Boston Belting Co. . . . . 
 
 Boston Electric Light Co., The . 
 
 Boston Elevated Railroad, The ... . . 
 
 Boston Gas Light Co., The. 
 
 Boston Ice Co., The. 
 
 Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad Co. . . . 
 
 Boston and Albany Railroad, The. 
 
 Boston and Maine Railroad System, The. 
 
 Boston & Northern Street Railway Co. 
 
 Bright, Sears & Co. 
 
 Brookline Gas Light Co. 
 
 Carter, Carter & Meigs. 
 
 Catlin & Co. 
 
 Central National Bank. 
 
 Chase, L. C. & Co. 
 
 Chase & Sanborn. . 
 
 Clinton Wire Cloth Co., The . 
 
 Continental Mills, The. 
 
 Converse, Stanton & Co. . . 
 
 Coram, Joseph A. 
 
 Cottle Leather Co. 
 
 Dominion Line,—Richards, Mills & Co. 
 
 Draper Co., The. 
 
 Dun, R. G. & Co. 
 
 Page. 
 
 29 
 
 71 
 62 
 18 
 76 
 82 
 47 
 99 
 
 119 
 33 
 
 130 
 
 72 
 123 
 
 36 
 
 68 
 
 47 
 70 
 
 107 
 
 84 
 
 79 
 81 
 97 
 92 
 94 
 87 
 21 
 
 80 
 
 120 
 
 48 
 15 
 
 30 
 119 
 
 67 
 
 36 
 
 48 
 
 123 
 
 61 
 
 103 
 
 41 
 
 122 
 
 Page. 
 
 Edison Electric Illuminating Co., The. 
 
 Elder, Wait & Whitman. 
 
 Eliot National Bank of Boston, The. 
 
 Estabrook & Co. 
 
 Farwell Bleachery, The. 
 
 Faulkner, Page & Co. 
 
 Federal Trust Co. 
 
 Fillebrown, C. B. & Co. 
 
 Furness, Withy & Co., Ltd. 
 
 Gaston, Snow & Saltonstall. 
 
 General Electric Co. 
 
 Ginn & Co. 
 
 Goodnow, Nathan B. & Co. and South End National Bank. 
 
 Grover, R. B. & Co. 
 
 Haight & Freese. Co.. . . . 
 
 Hall, John G. & Co. 
 
 Hamilton Woolen Company, The. 
 
 Harding, Whitman & Co. 
 
 Harris, N. W. & Co. 
 
 Hart, Hon. Thomas N. 
 
 Hornblower & Weeks. 
 
 Hotel Somerset. 
 
 Hutchinson, Hon. Isaac P. 
 
 Hyams, G. M. . . •. 
 
 John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co. 
 
 Joy, Langdon & Co.• ... • . . • .... 
 
 Keith, George E. Co.• . 
 
 Keith, Preston B. Shoe Co.•. 
 
 Kidder, Peabody & Co.• . . . . 
 
 Lawrence & Co. .. 
 
 Lawson, Arnold & Co. • . . . . 
 
 Lee. Higginson & Co. 
 
 Les'.er-Shire Manufacturing Co., The. 
 
 Leyland, Fred’k & Co. 
 
 Linotype Metal. 
 
 Lockwood, Greene & Co. . . 
 
 Lockwood Manufacturing Co., The. 
 
 Lowell Electric Light Corporation. 
 
 Lowell Fertilizer Co. 
 
 Lowell Gas Light Co. 
 
 107 
 
 126 
 
 16 
 
 25 
 
 36 
 50 
 19 
 50 
 
 103 
 
 126 
 
 110 
 
 116 
 
 21 
 
 56 
 
 21 
 
 103 
 
 37 
 50 
 25 
 
 124 
 
 22 
 
 121 
 
 124 
 
 124 
 
 115 
 
 49 
 56 
 
 56 
 25 
 
 50 
 22 
 25 
 
 57 
 103 
 
 67 
 
 111 
 
 64 
 
 130 
 72 
 
 131 
 
Page. 
 
 Luce & Manning. 
 
 Mackintosh, Taft & McKenney. 
 
 Macullar, Parker Co. 
 
 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The. 
 
 Massachusetts National Bank. 
 
 Mauger & Avery. 
 
 Merchants’ National Bank. 
 
 Mitchell, Knapp & Co. 
 
 Moensch. C. & Sons Co., The. 
 
 Mosser, William F. & Co. 
 
 National Bank of Redemption, The. 
 
 National Shawmut Bank. 
 
 Nevins Co., The.. 
 
 New England Magazine, The. 
 
 New England Telephone & Telegraph Co., The . . . . 
 New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Co., . . 
 
 Old Colony Street Railway Co. 
 
 Old Colony Trust Co. 
 
 Packard, M. A. Co. 
 
 Paine, Webber & Co. 
 
 Parker, Herbert. 
 
 Parker, Wilder & Co. 
 
 Patterson, Wylde & Co. 
 
 Pepperell Manufacturing Co. 
 
 Plant, Thomas G. Co., The. 
 
 Proctor, Thomas W. 
 
 Rice, Edwin B. . . 
 
 Rice, N. W. Co.• . . . . 
 
 Richardson, Hill & Co. 
 
 Rollins, E. H. & Son. 
 
 Royal Worcester Corset Co. of Worcester, Mass., The . 
 
 37 
 
 51 
 
 52 
 121 
 
 16 
 
 35 
 
 16 
 
 22 
 
 61 
 
 61 
 
 17 
 
 16 
 
 49 
 
 117 
 
 97 
 
 88 
 
 19 
 
 57 
 
 22 
 
 126 
 
 51 
 
 104 
 
 33 
 
 57 
 
 127 
 
 125 
 
 62 
 
 23 
 
 23 
 
 53 
 
 Page 
 
 Saco & Pettee Machine Shops. 42 
 
 Security Safe Deposit Co. 19 
 
 Shaw Stocking Co. 131 
 
 Shuman, A. & Co. 52 
 
 Smith, G. W. & F. Iron Co. 65 
 
 Smith, Hogg & Co. 51 
 
 State National Bank of Boston, The. 17 
 
 State Street Trust Co. 19 
 
 Stoddard, Haserick, Richards & Co. 44 
 
 Stone & Webster. 112 
 
 Sturtevant, B. F. Co., The. 66 
 
 Tower, Giddings & Co. 23 
 
 Towle & Fitzgerald. 23 
 
 Traders’ National Bank of Lowell, Mass., The .... 131 
 
 Tucker, F. M. & Co. 24 
 
 Tucker, Anthony & Co. 24 
 
 U. S. Bunting Co. 132 
 
 United Fruit Co. 118 
 
 United States Cartridge Co. 132 
 
 United States Leather Co., The. 62 
 
 United States Steel Co. 65 
 
 Walker-Stetson Co., The. 49 
 
 Waltham Bleachery and Dye Works, The. 37 
 
 Weld, Stephen M. & Co. 37 
 
 Wellington, Sears & Co. 49 
 
 White, Frank E. Co., The. 57 
 
 Whitin Machine Works. 42 
 
 VVhitinsville Spinning Ring Co. 43 
 
 Woodbury, E. S. & Co. 58 
 
 Wright, Brown & Quimby. 127 
 
 York Manufacturing Co. 33 
 
I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

BOSTON COLLEGE 
 
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