BUSINESS
Prior to the 1880s "business" in Los Angeles had been confined primarily to
activities necessary to service the agricultural hinterland, which included
most of the land within the town's boundaries as well as large portions of the
county. This was true both in the Spanish-Mexican era and after the United
States acquired California. Prior to the Mexican War several Americans and
other foreigners had opened businesses in the pueblo, which became the economic
hub of Southern California. Transfer of the province to the United States did
not alter Los Angeles' role as an agricultural service center.
While saloons led the list of business establishments in the first decades
after American acquisition, J. Albert Wilson's compilation of prominent
Angelenos and their professions in his History of Los Angeles County revealed
that non-farming occupations had broadened considerably by 1880. Wilson's list
included attorney, banker, dentist, druggist, government official, grocer,
innkeeper, journalist, livery operator, lumber dealer, merchant - either
hardware or dry goods, physician and railway official. Perhaps foreshadowing a
later generation, he also included three "capitalists." While Wilson's summary
is glaringly incomplete in that he omitted some of the most prominent
businessmen in town, it offers a better review of economic activity in the city
than does the 1880 census compendium.
A) MANUFACTURING
Noticeably few in number were those entrepreneurs whom Wilson categorized
as "manufacturers." One made wine and brandy; another manufactured windmills
and pumps. He also found a brick maker and a woolen factory operator. The
eight carriage and car builders comprised the largest single group among the
leading citizens who conceivably could have been called "manufacturers."
The shallowness of the industrial segment of the city's economy is further
evidenced by Wilson's brief chapter on manufactures. As of 1880 the city had
one soap factory; one large carriage and wagon factory, owned by L.
Lichtenberger, that had been in operation since 1864, producing up to 300
vehicles a year; seven smaller carriage/wagon producers; one large brick
manufacturer; three breweries; a single woolen mill; pork packing; artificial
stone; two broom factories; a beet-sugar factory; gas manufactory; and a fruit
drying works.
Wilson also listed several other short-lived efforts that had produced
manufactured goods in Los Angeles: a match company, paper pulp factory {that
made paper out of cactus pulp!}; castor-bean mill to press oil; tannery,
cannery and a plant to process whales. All soon closed.
Wilson's chapter began with the notation that "manufactures have not been
very numerous in the county." That was a concern of Times editor Samuel
Mathes, who tried to stimulate an interest in manufacturing during his brief
term at the paper, and of numerous letter writers throughout the decade, who
also suggested ways to promote manufacturing. When Mathes initiated the
discussion on manufacturing and urged formation of an organization to promote
it in Mar., 1882, no formal business federation existed in the city. An early
Chamber of Commerce, also called the Board of Trade, had survived only a few
years after its founding in 1873 and was defunct when "G. T. H." and "E." wrote
their letters in support of Mathes' crusade.
{Times, Mar. 22, 1882, p. 3}
MANUFACTURES NEEDED.
A Correspondent Encourages the Formation of a Society.
Ed. Times:--Referring to your article on manufactures in
a recent issue, I wish to say I most heartily concur in the
sentiment expressed therein, that "manufactures constitute
the best possible balance wheel in such emergencies." Yes,
you may have added not only in a time of depression in trade,
but at all times--when the country is prosperous from other
resources manufacturing imparts a vital force that adds very
materially to the prosperous condition of any community. I
think it a good suggestion that a society be formed in this
growing city to promote all manufacturing industries--we all
know what manufacturing has done for the rich and populous
cities of the east, and there is no reason why the same may
not be done in many of the cities on this coast, particularly
is this the case of Los Angeles. I do not see how the monied
men of this city can remain inactive in this matter without
hindering their best interests. Now is the time to move in
such matters, and I am glad you are to act in the
"aggressive."
G. T. H.
{Times, Mar. 24, 1882, p. 2}
Promotion of Manufactures.
I have been much interested in reading the articles in
the Times on the establishment of manufactures, and on the
promotion and fostering of such interests by establishing a
society for that purpose, and I deem it proper that I, in
common with all others who feel an interest in this city of
our adoption, should express our views upon the subject, to
the end that the society referred to may be established.
Your call for a meeting of all interested is a good move in
the right direction, and in my opinion is made none too soon.
Let us by all means have the meeting, and let all who attend
do so with the object in view of doing something. Let us
incorporate with the power to buy and sell, and acquire
property, build and manage manufactures, railroads, etc., so
that parties from abroad can obtain their mill-sites,
franchises, etc., through our society, that it may not be in
the power of private holders of valuable sites to drive away
would-be manufacturers by charging them exhorbitant prices
for a location. It is safe to say that there has been more
manufacturing enterprises started in this city in the last
sixty days than ever before in a year's time. "And still
they come." What an immense amount of benefit the proposed
society could have been to these late acquisitions to our
public weal. In a word, "they help us, therefore, let us
help them."
E.
A year passed before the businessmen of Los Angeles were ready to
revitalize the Board of Trade. John Mills Davies, a reporter for the Times,
served as secretary at the Mar., 1883, organizational meeting and, upon
incorporation, became the organization's first executive secretary. His letter
to the Times, published over the signature of "J. M. D." a few days after that
meeting, indicated that Davies saw the function of the Board in much the same
light that "G. T. H." and "E" had suggested, with an aggressive advertising
campaign across the country to lure manufacturers to the city. Davies'
proposal reads like a late 20th century argument for a Community Redevelopment
Agency. A pamphlet similar to the one suggested here by Davies had been
published by the earlier trade organization in the mid-1870s and drew lavish
praise from Harris Newmark.
{Times, Mar. 24, 1883, p. 4}
WORK FOR THE BOARD OF TRADE.
The Promotion of Our Manufacturing Industries.
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: The organization of a
Board of Trade composed of the most experienced, intelligent
and substantial business men of Los Angeles, marks a new era
in the history of this rapidly growing young metropolis. It
is gratifying to note the universal good will of citizens
generally toward it, and they concede with one accord that it
will undoubtedly become a potent factor in the development of
the city and county of Los Angeles.
In order to attain the best results, however, the work
must be systematized and placed in charge of at least half a
dozen different committees; then we can expect an active,
vigilant organization, persistently working to promote the
best interests of the community--in short, the leading
influence in the city and county. There is a vast amount of
work to be done which has heretofore been sadly neglected,
and pre-eminently that of inaugurating new and fostering
existing
MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.
It is now universally conceded that the permanent growth
and prosperity of any community, however favorably located
geographically and otherwise, it may be, depends mainly on
the extent and prosperity of its manufacturing interests.
Los Angeles has enjoyed an unprecedented boom for the past
two years; building operations have been more active than
ever before; real estate has advanced, on an average, from 50
to 75 per cent. during the above time; the population of the
city and county has nearly doubled, and the city is rapidly
expanding into its destined position as the second city in
the State.
The growth of our manufacturing interests, however, has
not kept pace with our development in other respects. Hence
many clear-headed, practical citizens entertain grave doubts
regarding the permanency of our present prosperity, believing
that the serious decline in our vast produce trade with
Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, which a possible dry year may
entail, will cause a sudden collapse in every department of
business, especially in building operations and real estate
transactions, and a consequent serious falling off in the
number of new settlers.
The question arises, is it possible to introduce a new
factor in the development of our vast and varied resources
which will set as a balance wheel to tide over the temporary
depressions that may occur from time to time, thus insuring a
steady condition of prosperity? Yes, most assuredly, and
that balance wheel is manufactures.
The long list of raw materials throughout the country
tributary to Los Angeles, now comparatively valueless, which
could by means of manufacturing enterprises be rendered
commercially valuable, is too universally known to need
mention in detail, and with the recently invented appliances
for utilizing crude petroleum as fuel (of which Los Angeles
and Ventura counties have an inexhaustible supply) the oft-
quoted argument of no fuel cannot be advanced any longer.
Two or three large manufacturing establishments in this city
now use crude petroleum as fuel at a saving of about one-
third as compared with coal. By means of flumes conveying
water from the Los Angeles river, a few miles above the city,
a water-power could thus be developed sufficient in magnitude
to operate scores of manufacturing industries, and without in
the least reducing the volume of water needed for irrigating
purposes. These are questions which vitally concern the
interests of the community and should command the prompt and
serious consideration of our Board of Trade.
The low rate of interest at which money is now
obtainable constitutes another important argument in favor of
establishing manufacturing enterprises, and with the
admirable position of Los Angeles as the natural distributing
center for the new southwestern country, including Northern
Mexico, now being gridironed with railroads, a remunerative
market is assured beyond all reasonable doubt.
Our merchants should also bear in mind that the extent
of territory which can be rendered tributary to the commerce
of Los Angeles depends upon their ability to furnish goods at
lower prices than Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis, and other
Eastern cities, hence the importance of building up home
manufactures.
The Board of Trade can accomplish incalculable good by
appointing a
COMMITTEE ON MANUFACTURES,
whose duty it shall be to ascertain what manufactures are now
in operation--the lines represented--the number of persons
employed--and the amount of capital invested; then ascertain
what new enterprises can be safely inaugurated, with data
showing the reason therefor, the extent of market which the
proposed new industries could command, the profits that could
with proper management be reasonably expected, the fuel
facilities, with suggestions as to possible improvements in
that respect, the advantages of soil and climate, and any
other practical statistics bearing on the subject of
manufactures.
The next step should be the publication of a few
thousand circulars to be distributed judiciously throughout
the country, conveying full information as suggested,
regarding the advantages of Los Angeles as a manufacturing
center.
The Board of Trade as a body could supplement the good
work by means of petitions to the railroad companies for
reductions in freights on certain lines of manufactured
goods; also secure concessions from the city in the remitting
of taxes, and when advisable secure bonuses for important
manufacturing enterprises which could thereby be induced to
locate here.
Another important factor in the upbuilding of our
manufacturing industries, whether new or old, is the
disposition to give the home-manufactured article the
preference whenever possible. These suggestions are
respectfully submitted to the Board of Trade.
J. M. D.
The pamphlet Davies had suggested was published, but it drew negative
reviews both from editor Otis, a strong supporter of Davies' intent but a
severe critic of an ineffectual pamphlet, and from "M." Otis dismissed the
publication, Los Angeles City and County: Resources, Climate, Progress, and
Outlook, as "cheap and trifling in appearance, without a speck of style about
it." As to its content, "the work cannot stand comparison for an instant with
publications of the same character sent out by other California cities." He
urged Davies, "the compiler and father of this abortion of a pamphlet," to
correct the many factual errors found throughout the publication. The few
remaining copies of the 1883 edition contain no errata slips. Revised editions
were printed in subsequent years.
{Times, July 18, 1883, p. 4}
That Incorrect and Misleading Pamphlet.
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: Your criticisms on the
Board of Trade pamphlet are none too severe.
A more illogical and incorrect compilation of hog-wash
never before appeared in print about Los Angeles, and your
suggestion that its brilliant author ought to "rustle around
and have some errata slips printed and pasted in," does not
meet the case--the publication ought to be absolutely
suppressed! Take one or two more samples in addition to what
you have given:
On page 20--"For Los Angeles and the five ADJOINING
counties," etc., he includes Tulare! Fresno! and Merced!!
neither of which "adjoins" Los Angeles. Again: on page 17,
this ass-toot author says: "Five lines of railroad radiate
from Los Angeles city," giving names and direction to each,
including "one southeast, thirty miles to Orange!" This
will be news to Orange, as well as to the people hereabouts,
and those of Santa Ana, who are not mentioned in any manner,
though enjoying railroad privileges for a long time, and
being one of the most enterprising and prosperous towns in
the county. Let it be suppressed as incorrect and
misleading.
M.
Los Angeles enjoyed a modest boom in the early 1880s, but would it
continue? "Re Vera" thought it could but might not, and suggested to Angelenos
how they might avoid the recurrence of the depressed conditions of the late
1870s.
{Times, Aug. 8, 1883, p. 3}
Shall Our Boom Continue?
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: To the above
inquiry--We say, Yes! if we so will it, and act, as well as
talk.
Let us only imagine. What are all those hundreds of
mechanics, who are now building up houses in all parts of our
city going to do when the building boom checks up a little?
which it will do most assuredly at some future time.
We answer, make Los Angeles a manufacturing town and she
will soon become a great city. Put our surplus capital into
manufactures.
Who can compute the amount that is yearly paid out, and
sent out of our State, for farming implements alone? Let us
look for a moment at the one article of carriages. Why is
it that this article cannot be made here nearly as cheaply as
in the east?
Most certainly the freight would be less on raw
material, than on the manufactured goods--which we think
would counteract the difference in labor. But our carriage
makers say--The eastern carriage is a "Cheap John" affair.
We admit all that, and yet they seem to find ready sale, as
all will admit. Also, we see they seem to give pretty fair
satisfaction to both the consumer and maker. Why force a
better article on a man than he is willing to pay for? Why
not keep two qualities--first and second rate--and sell them
as such? If a man is bound to buy a cheap article, make it
for him. Don't force him to go two or three thousand miles
away from home to buy it. We believe the Eastern carriage
can, very nearly, be duplicated in this city at Eastern
prices, plus the freight, by using the same material, the
same quality of workmanship and the same advantages taken in
the manufacturing as is taken in the East, by having ample
capital, etc. We all very well know the fools are not all
dead yet, as some will buy Eastern work at the same price as
they would pay for the same article made by their own
neighbors--yes, in some cases 25 per cent more. But, we are
glad to say, such consummate asses are scarce. There is some
little excuse for a poor devil who has only got $100 to spare
for a buggy, for preferring an Eastern-made vehicle to ride
in to that of footing it or of staying at home. But there is
no earthly excuse for that same unfortunate "lean-pocketed"
mortal in buying an Eastern vehicle, when he can do as well
at his own door and thus patronize home industry and home
people. Unless our mechanics are set at work in large
manufactories, we will, in the near future, have them howling
around our ears and cursing the country because they cannot
get work. Capital thus expended will pay, in our opinion,
better than in tenement houses; as rents may not always keep
as now, especially if our mechanics have to leave for want of
work.
Now we believe our people are somewhat at fault in this
matter. When the masses show a disposition to patronize home
manufactures we believe our capitalists will come up to the
work promptly and invest their means in that direction, and
not till then. So we see, we all have something to do in
this matter.
Let us, then, make a strong pull, a long pull, and a
pull altogether--"Home-made implements" our motto, and Los
Angeles will become a manufacturing city in the best climate
God ever made, and in the near future the capital of glorious
Southern California.
Re Vera.
In a lengthy letter that will remind readers of a time when eastern
manufactured goods sold in California carried a disclaimer "Slightly higher
west of the Rockies," an official at the Hutton Bros. commission house, a major
shipper of Southern California's agricultural produce, alerted Angelenos to
discriminatory freight rates that priced local products out of other markets.
At the same time, the writer joined the growing chorus calling for increased
local manufacturing, although one might speculate that Hutton's interest was
primarily in finding new commodities to ship from the city. Las Vegas, New
Mexico, was a major center for the Santa Fe Railroad.
{Times, Aug. 2, 1883, p. 3}
California Producers in the Toils with Eastern Competition.
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: When, through the
Times of Tuesday, we spoke of the fact of our Los Angeles
producers of potatoes being prevented, by Kansas competition,
from selling to advantage in the markets of New Mexico and
Colorado, we were fully aware of the truth of our assertion,
and, instead of endeavoring to injure our farmers on the
potato question, we were simply giving a reason for a cause.
Now, the writer of this knows exactly what he is talking
about when he declares that California cannot hope to compete
successfully with Kansas, so long as the present monopoly and
discriminating freight rates remain the programme of the A.
T. & S. F. Railroad Company. The potatoes of this section
are admitted to be the finest in quality that enter New
Mexico or Colorado. Of that there can be no dispute, but,
since it is a fact that the Southern Pacific charge 60 cents
per 100 pounds to Deming, a distance of 716 miles, the A. T.
& S. F. charge $1.25 from Deming to Las Vegas, only 363
miles. Now the distance from Kansas City to Las Vegas is 786
miles, with a freight rate of 90 cents per 100 pounds; but,
if you take Dodge City, which is the Kansas central shipping
point, the freight is proportionately lower, Dodge City being
117 miles from Las Vegas; and this enormous disparity of
figures, of course, is accounted for by the fact that the A.
T. & S. F. R. R. is actually entirely controlled by Boston
and other eastern capitalists, who are to a man manufacturers
of all kinds of articles which float this market, and all the
outlying districts between this coast and the range of the
Mississippi river. And as Colorado is the natural
continental water divide, so is it made the objective point
to stem the tide of Californian produce, and we cannot shut
our eyes to these stubborn facts. Although Californian
potatoes are of more intrinsic value, as per quality, than
the watery, waxy potatoes of Kansas, or even the enormous
quantities grown in the Stonewall valley underlying the
Sangre de Christo range, it is not quality, but quantity,
unfortunately, that succeeds in realizing the largest
profits. In these outlying districts a potato, on the
boarding-house tables, regardless of its quality, is still a
potato, and pays the boarding-house keeper better.
Las Vegas, for all New Mexico, Southern Colorado, and
the Panhandle of Texas, is an objective shipping point for
all produce, and consequently it is held by the A. T. & S. F.
R. R. Co. for the sole benefit of her stockholders.
And now comes the severe part of the lesson, which must
be learnt by the people of this coast. San Francisco has
foolishly ignored it; it remains to be seen whether Los
Angeles will continue so to do--whether she will continue, as
at present, to ship all her raw produce, in the shape of
hides, skins, wool &c., to Boston and Buffalo, to be made
into shoes and clothing and reshipped here with an enormous
double rate of freight attached; and the worst part is, that
the profits are returned there, and form the eastern floating
capital stock, which is the life's blood in a common weal.
Without it, the prosperity of our commercial enterprises do
materially depreciate.
The fuel problem is solved, there can now be no excuse.
We have fuel in abundance in the shape of oil for generating
motive power, and the overcrowded population of our
manufacturing eastern cities are longing for an opportunity
to throw their surplus labor into a market that should
commence right here at Los Angeles.
Bear in mind, these railway freight monopoly companies
do employ all the agencies in their power, (including the
majority of the newspaper editors of the Western and interior
districts, which their lines traverse, whose eyes are filled
with the "dust" of patronage, in the shape of a sly "tip," or
a railway "pass") to discountenance and discourage as much as
possible any attempt to manufacture or produce anything which
may or does affect eastern competition.
These are matters which our Board of Trade will do well
to study, and as much as possible prevent, in whatever shape
it may be found, either in monopoly or unfair discrimination,
and on the other hand increase and foster every desire and
determination apparent amongst the people to manufacture. We
have a home market which eastern cities have not; they are
materially depending upon us.
The Herald may strain at a gnat of advice--perhaps it
will more willingly swallow a camel of facts.
HUTTON BROS.
Seeking yet another argument to convince Southern Californians that
manufacturing was essential to the economic health of the southland, "Re Vera"
compared the sale of eastern goods in California to the damage that a great
many Angelenos thought Chinese labor had caused. The anti-Chinese movement was
at a fever pitch in 1883 when "Re Vera" sent this letter to the Times. The
concluding paragraph, regarding taxes, reflected the view held by Davies and
others who urged incentives for manufacturers as a means to entice
industrialists into the city.
{Times, Aug. 14, 1883, p. 3}
Stubborn Facts--A Word for John.
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: We are told that the
Chinese are the greatest scourge of our country. Let us see
about that: John comes to our country, without money, and
quickly goes to work. He invests nothing in land, but rents.
He is generally a peaceable, industrious specimen of flesh
and blood, if not a citizen. What money he gets he literally
digs out of the soil. He earns his money by hard labor; and
when any man does that, he can't be said to be a very bad
man. He commits a great crime by living on what would starve
an American. He will take small wages if he can't get more.
He is sharp enough to get all he is worth, however, as a
rule. He comes in direct contact with common laborers, and
is charged with bringing down wages. This is better than
hanging around some grogshop, or third-class boarding house,
waiting for an easy job with big money. His great offence,
however, is that he sends away some of his hard earnings to
that heathenish native country of his--impoverishes the
country. Poor John! As he is the only one in the country
who sends money away, he ought to go! Well, perhaps and
perhaps not. But this is not our purpose to discuss John.
Now, there are certain articles necessary to our comfort
and convenience here in this lovely country which we cannot,
ourselves, manufacture. These articles (which are very
numerous) we must necessarily send away our money to
purchase. But those articles which we can manufacture here
successfully should all be made here, and every good and
sensible citizen will purchase and use such articles, in all
cases where possible, as are made here. Who else, besides
John, sends away money? How about our agricultural
merchants? How much annually do they send away? O! no! not
much, only about nine-tenths of all their cash receipts. He
comes here, like John, with but little actual cash. His
money is all invested in cheap implements. He pays some to
the railroad monopoly for freight and a little rent and clerk
hire, and grub for family, &c.; the balance goes back to pay
Eastern mechanics. He is flooding the country with cheap
stuff in direct opposition to the interests of our best
population--the mechanics. He, like John, invests no money
in lands, as a rule. He, like John, comes in direct contact,
not with the common laborer, but with the mechanic. He, not
like John, does not dig his money our of our soil, but
chooses to let the rancher do that, and he sells him a cheap
bed, and makes his profit and sends the proceeds East by
return mail to buy more stuff of the same kind. If he does
not bring down wages in the same way that John does, he does
worse. He floods the country with stuff that should be made
here, and thus he gives labor to the Eastern mechanics and
takes the bread and butter out of the mouths of our own
mechanics.
Who will tell us how many mechanics might be given
steady employment in manufacturing the agricultural
implements that are sold here annually? No! John is not the
worst man in the country. Not half so bad as he who presists
in buying Eastern-made goods to the exclusion of our own.
NOW ABOUT THE TAX.
No sane man will deny the fact that the future
prosperity of our country greatly depends upon the amount of
manufacturing done here. This proposition certainly needs
no proof. Then, is it not suicidal in the extreme to put any
tax on this home industry? This tax seems to us "Penny wise
and pound foolish." There ought to be a large premium
offered to the largest manufacturer in the county, instead of
this tax, and impose a heavy tax on sales of imported goods.
Any man who would suggest the taxing of manufacturing
enterprise in our county we should say was either a fool or
an enemy to the country. This is a serious matter, and
unless this wrong is righted, the country will be the loser.
RE VERA.
As the decade progressed and business was further stimulated by the opening
of additional rail routes into the Los Angeles area, it became apparent that
discriminatory freight rates and eastern competition were not the only problems
facing the city's fledgling manufacturers. The problem was compounded, "A
Manufacturer" suggested, by other local economic interests, including some
manufacturers already in business.
{Times, July 28, 1885, p. 3}
We Must Have More Manufacturers.
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: This is an almost
daily topic, both with the press and people. What
inducements are there for capitalists to invest their money
in manufacturing? Last fall there was a "combination" of the
sash, door and blind dealers and manufacturers, the instant
effect of which was to rob the people of from 25 to 33 per
cent. additional to the already extortionate prices. Now
where is the inducement to capitalists to come here and build
industries and give our idle hands the much-needed work? It
is about time for our people to look at more vital issues at
home, and rise in their might and crush out all combinations,
such as the above, that curse our fair city. We should be
willing to grant licenses for a term of years to all
manufacturing enterprises, free of all taxes. Put down these
rings, and then something might be done, while now it is a
notorious fact that merchandise and stocks of goods of all
kinds are assessed at about their full value, while real
estate is assessed at one-third or less of the actual value.
Let all property, both real and personal, be placed on the
same basis, with no partiality to ringsters or tricksters.
Our reputation as a city of extortionate charges is becoming
too well known and is having its effect. It then behooves us
all, and particularly our guardians, the press, to battle
with all monopolies and "combinations" until strangers can
feel that they dare engage in business enterprise without
being imposed upon. This feeling is widespread and deep, if
not loud. Truly yours,
A MANUFACTURER.
While the Times continued to press for development of manufacturing in
Southern California, one reader thought the efforts of the existing business
organization, the Board of Trade, insufficient to overcome the difficulties
hindering industrialization and offered a suggestion that editor Otis would, in
the mid 1890s, act upon. The city's Manufacturers Association would be
organized in 1895, merging the next year with a companion Merchants Association
to become the powerful, Otis-led Merchants and Manufacturers Association, a
major force in the coming battle with organized labor.
{Times, June 15, 1888, p. 6}
Stimulate Manufactures.
Los Angeles, June 8.--[To the Editor of The Times.]
Your recent prediction that we are on the eve of a
manufacturing boom every loyal citizen hopes to see realized
in the near future. Would it not be well to go about this
matter systematically? Say, to organize a manufacturers'
exchange, through which those now most actively engaged in
such enterprises can make their influence most effective in
working up new enterprises, or expanding present industries,
to the great advantage of both labor and capital now seeking
opportunity. I find upon inquiry, there are many skilled
mechanics here unemployed. Again, there are many enterprises
just starting here that are greatly cramped for means to
expand their facilities for manufacturing according to
demand. At the same time, capital is vainly seeking
profitable employment, and even leaving this city under the
erroneous impression that desirable opportunities here are
not now offering. Is not this a strange state of affairs,
and does it not point to defective organization? At any
rate, is it not worth an organized, systematic effort to find
out where the difficulty is, and remedy it if possible?
SUGGESTION.
While the content of these letters would lead the reader to assume that
most were written by businessmen, though not necessarily by manufacturers, the
authors acknowledged the importance to the economy of workingmen - "mechanics"
- particularly in terms of their spending to support merchants and others. The
mechanic's point of view was largely missing from the debate but was well
expressed here in a call for development of local manufactures. In a related
editorial printed a month later, Otis chided the Historical Society of Southern
California for having its proceedings printed in San Francisco:
Why go five hundred miles away to have printing done which
can be well done at home? We suppose the society will expect
help from Los Angeles printers.
A brief reply by Henry D. Barrows of the Historical Society may reflect the
views of other Angelenos who were guilty of the practice about which "Mechanic"
and Otis had complained.
{Times, July 7, 1888, p. 3}
Local Manufactures-Why They Do Not Flourish.
Los Angeles, July 5.--[To the Editor of The Times.]
After a residence in your beautiful city for nearly two
years, I am sorry to say I will have to bid you good-by. I
am a mechanic, and to live must go where I can get work. I
simply go to San Francisco to work on a job for Los Angeles.
While men were getting rich on selling real estate they did
not mind paying a small percentage more for having iron
wrought, books printed, etc., here in Los Angeles. But now,
a slight dullness having overtaken the citizens, those
parties who are having contract jobs done are taking the bids
from parties in every city, town and village in the Union, to
see who will do the work a dollar or two cheaper. I would
like to know when your city can become a manufacturing place,
when your citizens are getting all their work done in other
places? It is the number of mechanics and laborers employed
in a place that makes it prosperous. The weekly and monthly
wages of the employed is what keeps business brisk. Just now
Los Angeles misses the money of the mechanics. That is the
cause of the scarcity of money; and yet some of the citizens
are helping to make money scarce by having work done
elsewhere.
Los Angeles can do as good work, in any department, as
any other city, and very near as cheap--sometimes cheaper.
Take book printing and jobbing. This city can do work as
quickly, neatly and cheaply as San Francisco, and yet the
citizens send their work to the Bay City to have done.
Several books of late were printed there; and there is one
now about to be printed with the advertisements of our
business men, and all saying, of course, that they can do all
kinds of work as cheaply and well as any other city. What a
falsehood and mockery it will appear when that same book is
printed in San Francisco! The matter of where a book is
printed lies with those who patronize the work, and they
should see that the book is printed in this city. Every
dollar paid for wages here goes into the various stores;
every dollar paid for work done elsewhere is so much out of
the pockets of our home storekeepers. Suppose all the iron
work of the business houses lately put up, and now going up,
was manufactured here: What a host of mechanics you would
have employed in Los Angeles! If you want your city to
become a manufacturing and prosperous place you must have
home work done in the city. Suppose you do pay a trifle more
(and all young cities must charge a little more than old-
established places, as work shops, etc., have to be put up),
you get it back twice over in the shape of a healthy business
in the stores.
Citizens of Los Angeles, be men, and lovers of your
wonderful and beautiful city, and have your work done here.
"To be a manufacturing city" ought to be the watchword
of every citizen. What can a city amount to if you have to
send away your money to other places for eatables, clothing
and manufactured articles? Business men who advertise in a
book about the glories of your city, see that your book is
printed here; and citizens who put up houses, see to it that
the material is made and manufactured in Los Angeles.
MECHANIC.
{Times, Aug. 19, 1888, p. 5}
Protection to Foreign Industries.
Los Angeles, Aug. 16.--[To the Editor of The Times.] In
reply to your criticism of the Historical Society for getting
its annual publication printed in San Francisco, permit me to
say, in behalf of the society, that our numbers are not large
and our financial resources are modest, and we were compelled
to get our pamplet printed where we could get it done the
cheapest.
H. D. B.
It was not an idle choice that "Mechanic" made when he cited iron works as
an example of how consumption of locally produced goods would benefit the city.
Milo S. Baker, who arrived in Los Angeles in the mid-1870s, headed one of the
city's foremost industrial families, one that was engaged in manufacturing iron
products. In 1889 the Baker Iron Works produced the first locomotive built in
the city, designed by Baker's son Fred, vice president of the firm. Years
later the company would be one of the participants in the founding of
Consolidated Steel. Writing after the real estate boom of the mid-'eighties
had collapsed, Milo Baker offered his insight into the city's failure to become
a manufacturing center. Baker shared the belief that industrialists were
entitled to tax incentives, but his view on the role of fuel differed from that
of earlier commentators and his enthusiasm for the prospect of Los Angeles as a
great industrial city was considerably less than that expressed by other
observers. The Manufacturers' Association referred to by Baker was a short-
lived organization created in July, 1885.
{Times, Oct. 18, 1888, p. 6}
Voice of a Manufacturer.
Los Angeles, Oct. 15.--[To the Editor of The Times.] It
is not strange at all that now the wild schemes to get rich,
one off from the other, without producing anything, have had
their day, and the sober reality dawns upon the popular mind
that a law of Nature cannot be violated with impunity any
more by communities than by individuals, without suffering
the penalty--I say it is not strange that some of our people
begin to look about to see what can be done to pay this
penalty and to ward off as far as possible its effects.
The above thoughts were suggested by an article in
yesterday's Times calling a meeting in the interest of
manufactures. Being asked to give my opinion as to what can
be manufactured here successfully, and what are the principal
requisites, I will say:
Five or six years ago, before the boom, this question
was agitated, and quite a lively interest was taken. All
sorts of inducements were offered, or purposed to be, by the
"Manufacturers' Association," to induce capital to engage in
manufacturing in Los Angeles. But just as soon as people
commenced coming here with money the price of real estate
commenced to go up, so that buying and selling dwarfed all
other business, and the man that had started out in
manufacturing was looked upon as a very useless encumbrance,
and instead of encouraging him and making his taxes light, as
he had been led to suppose would be done from resolutions of
the Manufacturers' Association that all capital invested in
manufacturing should be exempted from taxation for ten years,
an extra tax was imposed. The license tax, that had been
left uncollected, was again enforced, and made double what it
formerly was, and if per chance the manufacturer was
compelled to leave a piece of machinery in the streets, and
did not keep his walks swept and garnished for the real
estate boomers to pass and repass without being even reminded
that it was necessary in Los Angeles for a man to work for a
living, an officer was at once sent for him, and he was
walked up to the Judge's office to pay a fine.
Well, now, to get at what I started out to say about
manufacturing. I have never been one to think that Los
Angeles would ever become a great manufacturing city, for
reasons that are apparent to ever one who has given the
subject any thought. The want of fuel, the want of the raw
material and a limited market--these are the chief obstacles.
To build up a large city here, I don't think it is altogether
dependent on manufacturing, in view of the many other
resources we have. And as they are developed, manufacturing
will grow with them. There are many kinds of goods that can
be shipped here in a semi-manufactured state, such portions
as require much machine work being done before shipping.
This would be manufacturing to the same extent as many of our
eastern manufacturers do. There are carriages sold here in
Los Angeles from eastern manufactories that use no machinery
at all; they buy their stock ready to put together. This is
true of many other kinds of goods. I see no reason why
manufacturing of this kind cannot be done quite extensively
when labor gets settled down to business, which will be as
soon as laborers can live as cheaply here as at the East.
This brings up a question for some one to answer: Why
they cannot so live; is it the fault of the producer, or does
he make great profits? It is just the same with the producer
when he sells as when he buys; he drives the best bargain he
can. The idea of importing home manufactures to enable the
farmer to sell his produce to a better advantage he leaves
for his neighbor to do. Then, as I said before, it will take
time to regulate these things.
And the man that could not afford to be one to bring
about these results slowly and surely but jumped into the
real-estate whirl, good to grab a fortune that he saw
floating about for any one to take, and went down just before
he got his hand on it, gets but the penalty of the fixed law
I referred to. But, should he be possessed of the proper
grit, he will come out and shed his speculating suit and don
that of a granger, and think it best to make haste slowly.
He will in a short time come out a prosperous farmer, with
all the comforts of life about him, in one of the most
glorious countries the sun ever shone on; or should he be a
good mechanic and settle down to business he will meet with
like results. Then, and not till then, may we expect capital
to be invested in manufacturing.
M. S. BAKER.
Whether due to the encouragement of these boosters for manufacturing or
simply the result of economic forces, the number of manufacturing
establishments increased markedly during the 1880s. At decade's end Luther
Ingersoll counted 600 manufacturers in the city. In addition to those cited by
Wilson in 1880, the city now boasted 12 planing mills, 9 iron foundries, 6 soap
factories, 3 flour and feed mills, several brick makers, and plants for the
production of candy, coffee, crackers, ice-cream, soda and mineral water,
vinegar, cigars, shirts, hats, mattresses, furniture, cooper shops, boxes,
tin-ware, street railway cars and artificial stone. Despite that growth, city
booster Walter Lindley, writing in 1888, conceded that "Los Angeles is not what
would be called a manufacturing city." It was, however, on its way to becoming
one.
B) BUSINESS LICENSES
Throughout the decade businessmen grumbled about costly business licenses
newly imposed as a tax by both city and county governments. Milo Baker saw the
city's collection of license fees as a betrayal of those induced at an earlier
date to locate their businesses in Los Angeles. Other critics, writing about
county licenses, were more concerned with the inequity in the fee schedule than
in the government's decision to levy such a tax.
{Times, June 26, 1883, p. 4}
Sharp Criticism of the License Ordinance.
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: As a subscriber to your
valuable paper, may I question the justice of the ordinance
adopted by our Supervisors June 4th? It seems to me that
they are not competent to fill the position which they
occupy, at least as far as justice is concerned.
Section 19 taxes the artist for taking or painting
pictures for compensation, $10 per quarter.
I am no photographer, but it seems to me that this
section is out of all reason, as there are many young artists
who are struggling for a footing that are not able to pay
such a tax. I am not referring alone to photographers, but
to those who paint pictures.
I consider it a shameful act to discourage our arts in
such a way, in place of encouraging them.
Now, compare this with Section 33, "Any person, etc.,
engaged in bottling and selling beer or ale shall pay as such
license tax the sum of $5 per quarter."
Our honorable Board, in their wisdom, give preference to
the persons who deal out the abominable stuff called beer and
ale over the artist in his glorious work of perpetuating the
faces of our loved ones and other laudable subjects, while
the rum-seller--well, what does he perpetuate? Our prisons,
misery in our homes- things too many and too horrible to
mention.
In Section 36 the manufacturer of soda water is taxed
equal to the rumseller in Section 35; from the wording it
means soda fountains.
Such is my understanding of the different sections
mentioned, and I would ask, Where can there be found any
justice in such dealings with the people?
Certainly, this tax is to defray county expenses, which
must be met, but should not these be more equally divided?
Which brings the greatest expense to the county in the
way of criminality--rum or soda water? rum or the artist's
brush?
I know nothing of the past lives of any of those wise
men, but their actions show us where they stand.
G. A. MILLARD.
Pomona, June 21.
{Times, Aug. 11, 1883, p. 3}
A Tax Embargo.
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: Are the merchants of
this county quietly submitting to this outrageous license tax
that is now being, or attempting to be collected by the
county of Los Angeles? This tax, sir, seems to be out of all
reason, especially in the case of manufacturers. I am a
manufacturer, and the collector has made demands on me for
twenty (20) dollars per quarter! Three and a half times more
than the same business pays in San Francisco. Is the
manufacturing business to be "nipped in the bud" by such
excessive burdens? Add the city license to that of the
county, together with other taxes, and I can assure you it
comes pretty heavy upon the manufacturer here, with so many
other disadvantages confronting him.
MANUFACTURER.
Los Angeles, Aug. 10, 1883.
"P. K. W.," looking at the license fees from the standpoint of the consumer
rather than the businessman, found them objectionable but for an entirely
different reason. The $500 circus license that "P. K. W." complained about was
actually half the fee that had existed until Sept., 1886.
{Times, Oct. 15, 1886, p. 3}
A Growl About That License.
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: I presume our City
Council think that the people of Los Angeles approve of their
charging $500 license for a circus; but I don't think those
who occupied reserved seats will approve of such high license
when they are informed that they were charged double the
usual price for their seats in order to make up for such a
high license. The result was that these people paid the $500
license and not Sells Bros. In fact, Sells Bros. are a few
hundred dollars ahead by the operation.
P. K. W.
Merchants were also dissatisfied with county license fees and found the
difference in the amount to be charged small businessmen when compared with
large, high dollar activities such as banking and insurance to be grossly
unfair. While these letter writers are primarily concerned with county
licenses, the fees charged by the city of Los Angeles were similar.
{Times, July 22, 1889, p. 4}
County Licenses.
Los Angeles, July 17.--[To the Editor of The Times.]
When you published the schedule of county licenses now
proposed by the supervisors, you said "it will raise quite a
breeze." It ought to raise a whirl-wind! Why, what can be
their ideas at such a time as the present? Is it possible to
create a fat office, $500 or up per month, for a collector at
10 per cent?
Even in the boom times, when every business and
occupation was good, yea flush, such a scheme was not thought
of; but boom times are long gone, severe reaction is having
its day, and giving us a hard deal, and every person in
retail and wholesale business is curtailing at all points,
trying to keep their heads above water. It is in fact patent
to every resident of this county that much business is at
present conducted without profit, and only kept going in
hopes of better things in the good time coming (only wait a
little longer).
How then, or where, are those extraordinary licenses to
be had from? Supervisors should explain! Their proposition
is not even low down or moderate. In fact, they are about
double the amount of city and county licenses levied in San
Francisco. I refer to licenses for mercantile pursuits.
Then as to differential licenses. Why, is a business of
$20,000 and over per month to pay only twice the sum i.e.
$30, that a business of $5000 down to $1300 is to pay i.e.
$15. Would not this be overwhelming the small trader with a
vengeance? Banking of $250,000 or over, or even if it is
$5,000,000 per quarter, to pay $50. Insurance companies, for
$5000 receipt of premiums per quarter, to pay $10, and yet
the retail business (with some capital invested) of $1300 per
month, or any $4000 per quarter, is to pay $15.
In the foregoing comparisons there is neither equity nor
propriety, and apparently not the proper conception of the
proposition as it is!
It seems most strange that such a tax should be
undertaken now, and to such an extraordinary extent, in view
of the fact that for five previous years, and the most
prosperous the county has ever had, it was not even thought
of. Most respectfully yours,
A RETAILER.
C) THE HIGH COST OF LUMBER
Construction was one of the major business activities in Los Angeles during
the boom decade as developers and contractors rushed to create housing for tens
of thousands of new arrivals. The residential portion of the city moved south
and west, spreading out over both lowlands and hillsides. Even after the real
estate boom collapsed new buildings went up throughout the city. "An Observer"
described the view from Pearl {Figueroa} street in what had been out in the
country less than a decade before.
{Times, Sept. 29, 1888, p. 6}
A Bright Lookout.
Los Angeles, Sept. 22.--[To the Editor of The Times.]
It is a bright lookout when you can stand at the second-story
window, as I have done this morning, and count 22 houses in
course of construction, and the most of them two-story
buildings, and situated west of Pearl st., between Tenth and
Pico sts.
AN OBSERVER.
A worried reader residing in one of the newly created towns along the Santa
Fe railway in the eastern part of the county expressed concern for what the
boom was doing to one of America's great resources. An environmentalist long
before that would become a fad in the Progressive Era of Theodore Roosevelt,
his letter indicated an interest not only in preservation of the nation's
forests but also recognized the impact that the boom had had on the price of
lumber.
{Times, Dec. 8, 1887, p. 6}
Forests.
Glendora, Dec. 6.--[To the Editor of The Times.]
Taking for my premises what I read periodically in the
eastern papers, there is certainly much anxiety in many parts
of the United States as to the destruction and disappearance
of our forests. Soon we must strain our wits in searching
for something to take the place of wood as far as possible.
How to protect the forests and prevent their destruction is
the question. I suggest that a law be introduced and passed
by the present United States Congress taking the tariff off
of all foreign lumber, wood, etc., and by so doing destroy
some other body's forests, keeping ours for a rainy day.
This might make a slight difference in the price of lumber in
Southern California. If cheaper, all right: it cannot be
much worse.
ALLEN POE.
"A Manufacturer" had charged the sash, door and blind makers with price
fixing. Now a builder found a similar conspiracy among the area's lumber
dealers. W. Wilson was one of a large number of recent immigrants from
Illinois and called upon his experience in home building there to bolster his
argument that home builders were overcharged in Los Angeles by the lumber ring.
{Times, April 1, 1888, p. 3}
The Cost of Building Here--Statement of a Chicago Builder.
San Diego, March 29.--[To the Editor of The Times.] I
saw in a recent issue of The Times an article on the lumber
question signed by a man who styled himself a seller of
lumber, in which the writer made the assertion that houses
can be built as cheaply in Los Angeles as in Chicago. He
stated that the extra "sheathing" required in a Chicago
building brought the cost up so as to equal the extra price
charged in Los Angeles for lumber. Now, I am a Chicago
house-builder and contractor, and have been for 16 years, and
I know that a house costing $2200 in Los Angeles, can be
built in Chicago for $1300. I know what I am talking about,
as I examined many buildings in course of erection in Los
Angeles and got the figures at which they are being built.
If any one doubts my word let him buy a few copies of the
Scientific American, carpenters' and builders' edition, where
plans and estimates are given for all classes of buildings,
and having selected the plan of a house let him submit it to
a Los Angeles contractor and get his figures. I came from
Chicago six weeks ago with five families, friends of mine.
They intended to settle in Los Angeles, and I was to build or
superintend the building of the houses. I found the prices
of lumber and brick so high that I advised them not to build
then and we came on to San Diego. Prices of all building
material are high here, but not so high as at Los Angeles,
and there are other circumstances here that make it much
cheaper and better to build here, so they have settled here.
When I was in Los Angeles I heard a great many people of
moderate means say that they wanted to build, but could not,
owing to the high price of lumber. I remember overhearing
Dr. Shaw of Spring street, there, telling a friend that he
knew 20 people who wanted to build in Los Angeles, and could
not because lumber and brick were so high in price. I know
from what I have heard people say here since I came that the
outrageous price of building material is driving thousands of
people away from Los Angeles. I have written to friends of
mine in Chicago who wanted me to advise them whether to come
to Los Angeles, to stay away from there. There is no
necessity for building material being as high as it is there.
A lumberman here told me that the lumber ring pay little
mills away up in British Columbia $12,000 apiece to agree not
to bid under them. When the lumber ring goes out of the
country to buy off the opposition of little mills hundreds of
miles away, their customers are in a bad way. You Los
Angeles people may as well awaken to the fact that the lumber
dealers have you by the throat and are strangling your life
and progress.
I was offered lumber to build a house at Inglewood for
$12.50 per 1000 feet less than the price asked me in Los
Angeles, and this was because the Inglewood men were not in
the ring. It would be interesting reading to your
subscribers if you would figure out for them how much the
$12.50 per 1000 on all the millions they use would come to in
a year. I don't suppose that the letter of a simple
carpenter will have any effect on the conscience of your
lumber dealers; but I write this to let you know that a
Chicago contractor cannot be fooled by such letters as those
of your correspondent to whom I have referred.
W. WILSON.
Not so, claimed "Lumber," who left the reader wondering who was right or
whether the figures cited were in fact correct or relevant.
{Times, April 8, 1888, p. 3}
A Lumber Dealer's Views.
Los Angeles, April 6.--[To the Editor of The Times.]
The writer has read a communication addressed to the Pasadena
Union, and also one of date of April 1st addressed to The
Times, from persons claiming that the price of lumber is from
$12.50 to $20 higher in Pasadena and Los Angeles than it is
in surrounding towns.
The writers are guilty either of gross ignorance or of
willful misrepresentation, they seeming to disregard the fact
that there are two grades of lumber, and that the difference
in price quoted is simply the difference between these two
grades. It is hardly a fair comparison to compare the price
of clear lumber in Los Angeles with that of common lumber at
other points, when the difference in the selling price is
$12.50 per 1000 feet.
As an actual fact, lumber is being sold at points in
Southern California back from the coast, at the uniform price
of $39.50 for common and $45 for clear; the excess in cost
for freight in towns east of here being offset by cheaper
rents, etc.
The difference in price between Los Angles and San Diego
($5 per 1000 feet) is the exact amount of freight from vessel
at San Pedro to Los Angeles. Any one acquainted with the
lumber business knows that the percentage of profit to the
dealer here is actually less now than at any time during the
last three years, the advance being about equally divided
between the freight men and the manufacturers. When the
freight on lumber is $13 per 1000 feet, it can readily be
seen by a person of any perception that the cost of lumber at
the mills, and the cost of handling the same here being taken
into consideration, the large profits to the dealer exist
only in the imagination.
If a person contemplating building will stop and figure,
he will find that the additional cost of the lumber necessary
to build a $2000 house, say 10,000 feet, between now and two
years ago, will not exceed $50. Will not the advance in
rents justify the additional expenditure?
We think the Los Angeles papers should endeavor to get
at the facts of the case before drawing people away from our
city by the false charges of exorbitant rates.
LUMBER.
D) THE HOUSEWIFE'S PERSPECTIVE
During the summer of 1882 letters to the editor raised questions about the
possibility of a hay shortage, a serious matter in a county with a large number
of horses and dairy farms. As farmers offered estimates regarding the size of
the hay shortfall - which did not materialize - one housewife humorously
implied that there was a need for an accurate system of weights and measures at
the city's grocery stores, where a different type of shortfall occurred.
{Times, Oct. 4, 1882, p. 3}
A Question of Addition.
To the Editor of The Times:
While the gentlemen are trying to find out how much hay
there is in the county, I suggest that the ladies endeavor to
ascertain how many rolls of butter, weighing two pounds each,
there are in the city. With butter higher than a Yuma
thermometer, the "thrifty housewife" naturally looks into her
Mirror to see if the Times will demand a roll of honor. We
have talked this matter over among ourselves long enough. My
sisters, let us "rush into print" and see how it is that a
"pound is a pound," and two pounds is one pound and three-
quarters.
M. D.
Pasadena, Cal., Sept. 27, 1882.