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I








THE CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES
IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS
ERRATA SHEET
The cut of the map shown on page 36 should have been placed
oh page 59, instead of the map appearing thereon, and vice versa,
the titles remaining unchanged.
On page 34, column 2, lines 4 and 6-for "square foot"
read "front foot."
On page 47, column 1, line 4-for " 1917 "read " 1922."




The New Women's Garment Center Developed since 1921 North of the Pennsylvania Railway Terminal. (See page 66.)








Economic Series
Monographs Numbers
Sven, Eight, and Nine
REGIONAL PLAN OF NEW YORK
AND ITS ENVIRONS
ECONOMIC AND INDUSTRIAL SURVEY
ROBERT MURRAY HAIG, Director
ROSWELL C. MCCREA, Consultant
THE CLOTHING AND TEXTILE
INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK
AND ITS ENVIRONS
PRESENT TRENDS AND PROBABLE FUTURE
DEVELOPMENTS
~,  By
B. M? SELEKMAN, M. A.
Department of Industrial Studies, Russell Sage Foundation
HENRIETTE R. WALTER, B.A.
Formerly of Department of Industrial Studies, Russell Sage Foundation
W. J. COUPER, B. A.
Instructor in Economics, Yale University
REGIONAL PLAN OF NEW YORK
AND ITS ENVIRONS
130 EAST 22D STREET, NEW YORK
1925








REGIONAL PLAN OF NEW YORK
AND ITS ENVIRONS
Committee
FREDERIC A. DELANO, Chairman
ROBERT W. DE FOREST
JOHN H. FINLEY
JOHN M. GLENN 
DWIGHT W. MORROW 
FRANK L. POLK
FREDERIC B. PRATT
LAWSON PURDY          f '
General Director of Plans and Surveys
THOMAS ADAMS
ECONOMIC AND INDUSTRIAL
SURVEY
ROBERT MURRAY HAIG, Director
ROSWELL C. MCCREA, Consultant


Copyright, 1925
COMMITTEE ON REGIONAL PLAN OF NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS




6 -



FOREWORD
The Committee on the Regional Plan of New York and Its Environs contemplates the making of a comprehensive regional plan for an area of about 5,528
square miles with a resident population approaching 9,000,000. This region is
unique, not only in extent of area and density of buildings and population, but
also in the variety and complexity of its physical, economic and social conditions.
The problems that have to be dealt with in making the Plan are unprecedented
in their character and scale. The general object to be sought in dealing with
these problems is to make more adequate provision than has hitherto been made
for efficiency and convenience in connection with all forms of industry and
business, and for health and amenity in connection with living conditions.
The first part of the task of making the Plan consists of a survey of all conditions that have an important bearing on the development of the region. A
survey of many of the existing physical features has already been made and the
results shown on maps. The present use and the adaptability for future use of
lands within the region have been the subject of much study. Progress has been
made in the investigation of the problems of transit, transportation and traffic.
Studies of social conditions, in particular those relating to housing, recreation
facilities and public health, have been pursued and valuable data have been
accumulated. Legal and administrative problems have been investigated.
Architectural and engineering features have been considered and tentative plans
formulated for dealing with specific problems. All these surveys are important
in their relation to the general plan to be prepared, but probably none is more
so than the Economic and Industrial Survey which deals in this Monograph
with one of a group of industries that has been the subject of special study.
An investigation of economic conditions is essential as a preliminary in preparing a regional plan. Such a plan should be based on a knowledge of the
factors that promote or retard material welfare and on the recognition, that
comes from that knowledge, of the true economic standards that should guide
the regional planner in his operations.
This survey, as well as each of the others that has been made, may have
considerable value in itself as a contribution to knowledge of conditions and
tendencies in the New York region. The greatest value, however, of all these
inquiries will come after each survey has been studied in relation to all other
surveys, and the whole mass of information co-ordinatedas one comprehensive
study of the physical, economic, social, legal, and administrative problems of
the region.
THOMAS ADAMS
General Director of Plans and Surveys




I I r




0
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION......................................                        13
Purpose  of the  Investigation..........................................  13
Scope  and   M ethod...................................................  13
Criticisms and Suggestions.............................                14
GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS................................................    15
The Importance of the Industries and Their Peculiar Interest..............  15
Reasons for New York's Leadership and Some Implications..............  18
Fashions.......................................................     18
Jobber-Contractor System........................................   19
Immigrant Labor Supply.........................................19
Rapid  Transit and  the Labor Supply................................  19
Implications of the Spot Market.................................   20
Location...................2................                      20
Men's Wear-Summary of Conclusions................................. 21
Women's Garments-Summary of Conclusions........................        23
Textile Industries-Summary of Conclusions............................ 26
THE  M EN'S  W EAR  INDUSTRY..............................................  30
The  M en's  Clothing  Industry........................................  30
Location of Manufacturers, Contractors, and Home Workers.......... 32
New  York  a Center of Small Plants................................  34
Men's Clothing a Seasonal Industry............................34
Methods of Purchasing Raw Materials..............................35
Buildings and  Land  Values.......................................  35
Space Requirements............................35
Location  of Residences of W orkers.................................  35
Present Location  of Industry......................................  36
Movement of Industry...........................................  37
Explanation  of Trends...........................................   44
Miscellaneous Men's Wear............................................ 45
The  M en's Shirt Industry.......................................  45
M en's  H ats  and  Caps............................................  47
M en's  Furnishings...............................................  48
THE WOMEN'S GARMENT INDUSTRY........................................50
Significant Characteristics of the Women's Garment Industry.............51
The Jobber-Contractor Development............................... 51
Style and Its Influence on the Industry.............................54
P ow er..........................................................   57
The  Labor  Force................................................   57
Space  Requirements and  Rents....................................  60
Transportation  Problems.........................................   63
M arketing......................................................  64
Trends in Location in Women's Garment Industry....................... 66
Present Location..............................................  66
Movement Within the City...................................... 69
Movement in the Region Outside the City.......................... 76
Movement in Branches of the Industry............................   77
M otives  for M ovement...........................................  77
THE TEXTILE  INDUSTRY..................................................    78
The Place of New York and its Environs in the Textile Industry..........78
General Trends in  Region  as a W hole.................................. 78
Variation in Growth of Branches.................................. 79
Growth  in  the  Three  Zones....................................... 79
Trends  in  Center of City.........................................  81
Land  Values....................................................  81
7




8


CONTENTS


PAGE
K nit  G oods.........................................................  84
Silk  and   Silk   G oods...................................................  87
The Finishing Trades................................................  94
Small W ares........................................................  98
Miscellaneous Textile Products........................................ 98
W ool M anufactures..............................................  100
Cotton Manufactures........................................... 102
Manila, Hemp, Jute, and  Flax  Products............................  103
Oil Cloth  and  Linoleum..........................................  104
TABLES IN TEXT
I. Textiles and their Products Compared with Certain Other Industries
with Respect to Number of Wage-Earners, Value of Product, and
Value of Manufactures, United States, 1919.................... 15
II. Wage-Earners and Value of Product in Men's Clothing Industry in
New York City and in Certain Other Cities in 1899, 1904, 1914,
and   1919..................................................  16
III. Per cent of Value of Product of Women's Garments for the United
States Manufactured in the Four Leading Centers of the Country,
1869   to   1921...............................................  18
IV. Plants and Employes in the Men's Wear Industry in New York and
its Environs in 1900, 1912, 1917, and 1922 by Zones............ 30
V. Distribution of Manufacturers, Contractors, and Home Workers in
Men's Clothing Industry in Designated Districts...............  32
VI. Establishments Manufacturing Men's Clothing in New York and its
Environs in 1900, 1917, and 1922, Classified by Size of Plant and
by  Subdivisions of the Area.................................  34
VII. Fluctuation in Employment in Men's Clothing in New York City by
Branches of Industry, in 1919................................ 35
VIII. Places of Residence of Workers Engaged in the Manufacture of Men's
Clothing, According to Mailing List of Membership in the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, and their Work Places, According to the Factory Inspection Records for 1922, by Specified
Sections of New York and its Environs....................... 36
IX. Plants and Employes Engaged in the Manufacture of Men's Clothing in Designated Districts in New York and its Environs in 1900,
1917,  and   1922.............................................  37
X. Establishments Manufacturing Men's Shirts in New York and its
Environs in 1900, 1917, and 1922, Classified by Size of Plant and
by Subdivisions of the Area.................................. 44
XI. Plants and Employes Engaged in the Manufacture of Men's Shirts in
Designated Districts in New York and its Environs in 1900, 1917,
and   1922..................................................  45
XII. Establishments Manufacturing Men's Hats and Caps in New York
and its Environs in 1900, 1917, and 1922, Classified by Size of
Plant and  by Subdivision of the Area.........................  46
XIII. Plants and Employes Engaged in the Manufacture of Men's Hats
and Caps in Designated Districts in New York and its Environs in
1900,  1917, and  1922.........................................  47
XIV. Establishments Manufacturing Men's Furnishings in New York and
its Environs in 1900, 1917, and 1922, Classified by Size of Plant
and  by  Subdivision  of the Area...............................  48




CONTENTS


9


PAGE
XV. Plants and Employes Engaged in the Manufacture of Men's Furnishings in Designated Districts in New York and its Environs in 1900,
1917,  and   1922.............................................  49
XVI. Plants and Employes in the Women's Garment Industry in New
York and its Environs in 1900, 1912, 1917, and 1922 by Zones... 50
XVII. Plants and Employes in the Women's Garment Industry in New
York and its Environs in 1922, Classified by Branches of the Ind ustry.....................................................  50
XVIII. Size of Plants in Women's Garment Industry in New York and its
Environs in  1900, 1912, 1917, and  1922........................  54
XIX. Size of Plants in Women's Garment Industry in New York City, by
Branch  of Industry  in  1922..................................  55
XX. Places of Residence of Workers Engaged in the Manufacture of
Women's Garments According to Mailing List of Members of the
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and their Work
Places According to the Factory Inspection Records for 1922, by
Specified Sections of New York and its Environs................ 58
XXI. Plants of the Various Branches of the Women's Garment Industry
in Designated Districts in New York and its Environs in 1900, 1917,
an d   1922..................................................  67
XXII. Employes of the Various Branches of the Women's Garment Industry in Designated Districts in New York and its Environs in 1900,
1917,  and   1922.............................................  68
XXIII. Census Data Relating to Number of Wage-Earners and Value of
Products in Textile Industry in United States, New Jersey, and
New   York  City, 1899-1919..................................  79
XXIV. Plants and Employes in Textile Industry in New York and its Environs by Zones and by Branch of Industry in 1900, 1912, 1917,
and   1922..................................................  80
XXV. Plants in the Textile Industry in Zone I (Manhattan South of 59th
Street) Classified According to Size, in 1900 and 1922...........  81
XXVI. Plants and Employes in the Knit Goods Branch of the Textile Industry in New York and its Environs, by Territorial Subdivisions,
in  1900, 1912, 1917, and  1922................................  85
XXVII. Plants in the Knit Goods Branch of the Textile Industry in Brooklyn,
Classified by Size, in 1900, 1912, 1917, and 1922............... 86
XXVIII. Plants in the Knit Goods Branch of the Textile Industry in New
York and its Environs, Classified by Size, in 1900, 1912, 1917,
and 1922..................................................  86
XXIX. Plants in the Silk and Silk Goods Branch of the Textile Industry in
New York and its Environs, Classified by Size, in 1900, 1912, 1917,
and   1922..................................................  88
XXX. Plants and Employes in the Silk and Silk Goods Branch of the Textile
Industry in New York and its Environs, by Territorial Subdivisions, in  1900, 1912, 1917, and  1922...........................  89
XXXI. Plants and Employes in the Silk and Silk Goods Branch of the Textile Industry in Hudson County, New Jersey, Classified According
to Size of Plant, in  1900, 1912, 1917, and 1922..................  90
XXXII. Census Data Relating to the Number of Wage-Earners and Value of
Products in the Silk and Silk Goods Branch of the Textile Industry in the United States, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Paterson,
1899- 1921.................................................  93




10


CONTENTS


PAGE
XXXIII. Plants and Employes in the Silk and Silk Goods Branch of the Textile Industry in Passaic County, New Jersey, ClassifiedSAccording to
Size of Plant in  1900, 1912, 1917, and  1922.....................  93
XXXIV. Census Data Relating to Average Number of Wage-Earners in the
Dyeing and Finishing of Textiles in the United States and Selected
Sections Thereof, 1899-1921..................................  94
XXXV. Plants and Employes in the Finishing Trades Branch of the Textile
Industry in New York and its Environs Classified According to
Size of Plant in  1900, 1912, 1917, and  1922.....................  95
XXXVI. Plants and Employes in the Finishing Trades Branch of the Textile
Industry in New York and its Environs by Territorial Subdivisions,
in  1900,  1912,  1917, and  1922.................................  97
XXXVII. Plants in the Small Wares Branch of the Textile Industry in New
York and its Environs Classified According to Size in 1900, 1912,
1917,  and   1922.............................................  98
XXXVIII. Plants and Employes in the Small Wares Branch of the Textile Industry in New York and its Environs by Territorial Subdivisions, in
1900,  1912,  1917, and  1922...................................  99
XXXIX. Plants in the Miscellaneous Products Branch of the Textile Industry
in New York and its Environs Classified According to Size, in 1900,
1912,  1917,  and  1922........................................  100
XL. Plants and Employes in the Miscellaneous Products Branch of the
Textile Industry in New York and its Environs by Territorial
Subdivisions, in  1900, 1912, 1917, and  1922.................... 101
XLI. Plants and Employes in Woolen and Worsted Plants in the Cities of
Passaic and Garfield, New Jersey, Classified According to Size of
Plant in  1900, 1912, 1917, and  1922........................... 102
DIAGRAMS
The New Women's Garment Center Developed since 1921 North of
the Pennsylvania Railway Terminal.................. Frontispiece
I. New York and its Environs Divided into Zones for the Economic
and Industrial Survey. Employes in Clothing and Textile Industries  Classified  by  Zones.....................................  12
II. Location of Units in a Typical Men's Clothing Establishment..... 31
III. Location of Manufacturers and Contractors in Men's Clothing Industry, on Lists of Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America in
1922 and of Home Workers on File with New York State Departm ent of Labor in  1923......................................  33
IV. Place of Residence of Members of Amalgamated Clothing Workers
of America by Postal Districts in 1923........................ 36
V. Location of Plants in Men's Clothing Industry in New York and its
Environs  in  1900..........................................  38
VI. Location of Plants in Men's Clothing Industry in New York and its
Environs in 1922.............................................  39
VII. Location of Plants in Men's Clothing Industry in Portion of Manhattan  and  Brooklyn  in  1900....................................  40
VIII. Location of Plants in Men's Clothing Industry in Portion of Manhattan  and  Brooklyn  in  1922...................................  41
IX. Location of Plants in Men's Clothing Industry in Area of Greatest
Concentration in Manhattan in 1900.......................... 42




CONTENTS                                       11
PAGE
X. Location of Plants in Men's Clothing Industry in Area of Greatest
Concentration in Manhattan in 1922.......................... 43
XI. Place of Residence of Members of International Ladies' Garment
Workers' Union by Postal Districts in 1923.................... 59
XII. Location of Union Manufacturers, Jobbers, Contractors, and of
Resident Buyers and Supply Firms in Women's Garment Industry  in  Portion  of Manhattan  in  1923...........................  65
XIII. Location of Plants in Women's Garment Industry in New York and
its  Environs  in  1900........................................  70
XIV. Location of Plants in Women's Garment Industry in New York and
its  Environs  in   1922.........................................  71
XV. Location of Plants in the Women's Garment Industry in Portion of
Manhattan and Brooklyn in 1900............................ 72
XVI. Location of Plants in the Women's Garment Industry in Portion of
Manhattan  and  Brooklyn  in  1922............................  73
XVII. Location of Plants in the Women's Garment Industry in the Area of
Greatest Concentration in Manhattan in 1900 and 1912......... 74
XVIII. Location of Plants in the Women's Garment Industry in the Area of
Greatest Concentration in Manhattan in 1917 and 1922........  75
XIX. Location of Textile Plants with Twenty or More Employes in New
York  and  its  Environs in  1900................................  82
XX. Location of Textile Plants with Twenty or More Employes in New
York and  its Environs in  1922................................  83




NEWYORKAND ITs EivRnoNs
DIVIDED INTO ZONES FOR TiE.
ECONOMIC AND INDUSTRIAL SURVEY


~ i   t0   Q0N


0


0


ZONECI { 


1900-                                          104,426
1912                                        -                                 M187,382


I s




917


208,552




1922                                                                    178.148






ZONER1        9"       
I1900     M17,180
ZONEVlI       1912          22,618
1917      -        9,151
1922                35,967


-~ 72.211




145,054


M145,820


1167,740


EMPLOYES IN CLOTHING AND TExTILE. INDUSTRIES
Classified by Zones


DIAGRAM I
12




INTRODUCTION


This volume presents certain facts regarding
the clothing and textile industries in New York
and its environs which have a bearing upon the
problem of planning the area. It is one of a series
of similar monographs, a complete list of which
appears at the end of this pamphlet. It is published in the hope that it will be of interest not
merely to professional city planners but to several other groups as well: first, to the clothing and
textile industries because the facts regarding
trends in the industries should aid in arriving at
sound decisions on questions of location; second,
to city officials, utility companies, chambers of
commerce, real estate men and others interested in
the development of various sections of the metropolitan area because of the hints it gives regarding the character of the development for which
the area appears to be destined; and third, to
economists and to citizens generally because of
the light it throws upon the vexed problem of
urban land utilization.
Purpose of the Investigation
The investigation was undertaken primarily to
supply an economic foundation for a comprehensive plan of New York and its environs. The
determination of the width of streets and the size
of blocks, the provision of transportation facilities, bridges, and tunnels, the establishment of
restricted zones, the reservation of open spaces,
and many other problems of the regional planner
must rest upon assumptions regarding the economic character of the uses to which the various
sections of the area are to be devoted. To ask
the city planner to construct a plan without
making such assumptions is much like asking an
architect to design a structure without knowing
whether it is to be used as a cathedral or a locomotive plant. To increase the accuracy of these
necessary assumptions was the essence of the
problem of the Economic and Industrial Survey.
Scope and Method
Obviously the problem here is not susceptible
of a precise solution. The most promising way
to gain an idea of the future economic characteristics of New York and its environs seemed to


be to study (1) New York as it now is, (2) the
changes which have recently been taking place,
and (3) the forces which are causing those
changes, their character, strength, and probable
persistence. In other words, it was necessary to
gather significant data, to analyze those data
in the light of the recent past in the hope of
discovering trends, to appraise these trends, and
to draw any conclusions which might appear to
be justified. In gathering the facts and in analyzing them it seemed advisable in most cases to
proceed by industries or types of economic activity rather than by subdivisions of the area. The
most important single source of information
proved to be the records of the factory inspection
departments of the three states, New York, New
Jersey, and Connecticut, into which the area
under study extends. A card was prepared showing the character, location, and the number of
employes of each industrial establishment in the
area for each of the four years 1900, 1912, 1917,
and 1922.1 These data furnished the chief source
of information for nine of the twelve studies undertaken, those dealing with the various industries.2 It was found desirable in preparing the
studies for publication to combine in this single
volume the three studies dealing with the men's
wear industry, prepared by B. M. Selekman, the
women's garment industry, prepared by Henriette R. Walter, and the textile industry, prepared by W. J. Couper.
The industries selected for intensive study
were chosen on the basis of their size and their
importance from the point of view of the character of their space demands. Clothing and
metals employing roughly a quarter of a million
workers each obviously demanded attention. The
manufactures of food, printing, textile, chemical,
1 Originally the plan was to use the year 1907 in place of
1900, thus making all the intervals five years in length. A
lack of records for 1907, however, made it necessary to use
the year 1900.
2 The staff of the Economic and Industrial Survey desires to record its thanks to the officials in the labor departments in these states for the assistance they have rendered
in making available these records, often at the cost of considerable personal inconvenience. The New York data for
1900 were transcribed from the Annual Report of the Factory Inspector and for 1912 from the Industrial Directory.
13




14


INTRODUCTION


and wood products were all industries which
employed more than 50,000 workers. Tobacco,
although a relatively small industry, was selected,
nevertheless, because of the importance of the
trends revealed by a preliminary survey. The
industries which were not studied were either
relatively unimportant in size (e. g., power),
essentially similar to other industries which were
studied (e. g., millinery and miscellaneous sewing
as compared with clothing), or of a local service
character whose space demands were to a large
degree a mere function of population (e. g., laundries, cleaning and dyeing). Altogether the nine
industrial studies covered 71.9 per cent of all of
the plants and 79.5 per cent of all of the employes
listed by the factory inspectors for the area.
In addition to the nine industrial studies, investigations were made of the financial district,
the wholesale markets, and the retail shopping
districts. The sources of information for these
studies, which were widely scattered, are described
in the monographs dealing with these topics.
After the factory records had been transcribed
and sorted by industries, they were distributed
among    the  investigators.  Each   investigator
first worked out the particular classification of
the industry, the particular subdivisions of area
into sections, and the particular frequency groups
of employes which were most promising for the
purposes of the analysis in hand. The cards
were then classified according to branch of industry, section of area, and size of plant as measured
by number of employes.' All of this information
was tabulated and mapped. The character of
the maps can be seen from those reproduced on
pages 38 and 39 of this monograph. They were
prepared on transparent sheets, which could be
superimposed on colored land-value maps in such
1 The records of the departments of labor are not always
entirely accurate. Comparisons among the small plants
especially are often rendered difficult or impossible because of the incompleteness of the data.
Unfortunately the number of employes as given in the
factory inspection records does not represent the average
number of persons employed during the year, but the
number in the factory at the time of the visit of the factory
inspector. In a seasonal industry this may involve a wide
margin of error.
As census statistics are used to some extent in this
monograph, it should be remembered that the 1919
census included all establishments for the areas indicated
which reported products worth $500 or more, while the
1921 census (unless it is otherwise stated) included only
those reporting products worth $5,000 or more.


a manner that a count of the symbols yielded
data regarding the value of the land occupied by
the plants.
The analysis of these data in every case yielded
suggestions regarding trends of possible significance, and the investigators, by means of interviews with authorities in the various industries,
proceeded to check the information and to inquire into the forces lying back of the growth and
decline indicated by the statistics. The monographs now presented are the reports of the
findings of the investigators.
As has been pointed out, each investigator was
permitted to subdivide the area in the manner
best adapted to the analysis of his particular
problem. However, for purposes of general comparisons it was found desirable to adopt a standard subdivision of the territory into the three
zones shown on the map on page 12. All of the
factory inspection data, including that not made
the subject of special investigation, were sorted
according to these three zones as well as by
branch of industry, political subdivision, and size
of plant as measured by number of employes.
Tables setting forth these facts in detail are available at the offices of the Regional Plan of New
York and Its Environs. The diagram at the
bottom of the map on page 12 shows the number
of clothing and textile employes in each of the
three zones for each of the four years.
It should be noted that the studies were made
during the summer of 1923, and the facts presented are as of that date.
Criticisms and Suggestions
The monographs are presented in this particular form partly because of the opportunity it
affords for criticisms and suggestions. It is hoped
that the pamphlets will be considered tentative
working papers rather than final products. The
type is being held and readers are urged to communicate their comments and corrections in
order that these may be utilized in possible future
editions and be available for use in the general
volume which is now in course of preparation.
ROBERT MURRAY HAIG
ROSWELL C. MCCREA
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
July 5, 1925.




GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS


The Importance of the Industries and Their
Peculiar Interest
In a general way the importance of the
clothing and textile industries is understood
by everyone to be great. When one considers
their immense growth in New York, the racial, social, and economic factors to which that
growth is attributable, and the chaotic conditions
which have both attended and promoted it, then
it seems also that these industries are more than
ordinarily significant for students of New York's
growth and congestion. New York is an immigrant city; the clothing trades use almost no
other labor. Italians number about 400,0001 in
New York and Jews have come to be over
1,600,000.2 The idiosyncrasies of these newly
arrived people are expressed by the clothing
trades at almost every point. Their untiring
ambition, their intense individualism, their willingness to engage in cut-throat competition, their
readiness to embark themselves among the risks
of unstandardized and speculative enterprises,
have all been thoroughly exploited. Slums and
ghettos, obsolete and unsanitary working places,
congested selling districts, have been among the


ing success to the peculiarities of New York as a
consumers' Mecca. The United States turns to
its chief metropolis as the logical index market
for styles and fashions. The country comes here
to inspect and choose, because here it can profit
by New York's readiness to speculate on changes,
combined with New York's extraordinary labor
supply, and can obtain here what can be got
nowhere else so cheaply, in such prompt
abundance, and in comparable variety.   In
short, the American city-sometimes called a
foreign city-with its misery, its disorder, its
congestion, and at the same time its wealth, its
push, and its appeal to the taste and imagination of the spender, manifests itself intensely in
these industries. The sociologist and community
planner might almost consider them as a microcosm of New York problems.
According to the Census of Manufactures, the
group classified as Textiles and their Products,
shown in Table I, employs more wage-earners in
the United States than any other industry group,
and is exceeded in value of products only by the
Food and the Iron and Steel Manufacturing
groups.


TABLE I.-TEXTILES AND THEIR PRODUCTS COMPARED WITH CERTAIN OTHER INDUSTRIES WITH
RESPECT TO NUMBER OF WAGE-EARNERS, VALUE OF PRODUCT, AND VALUE OF MANUFACTURES,
UNITED STATES, 1919
Number of          Value of           Value
wage-    Rank    products  Rank   added by   Rank
earners          products         manufacture
Textiles and their products............................ 1,611,309  1st  $9,216,103  3d   $3,834,024  2d
Iron and steel and their products...................... 1,585,712  2d   9,403,634  2d    4,587,749   1st
Food and kindred products............................  684,672   3d    12,438,891  1st   2,327,344   3d
~~~~~~~~~~~~~.........


building materials with which the immense local
structure of the clothing trades has been reared.
Looked at with this in mind, these trades seem
to be peculiarly characteristic fruits of New
York's human jungles. Looked at in another
way they emerge in the forefront of the industries which have adapted themselves with strik1 Census of Population, 1920.
2 American Jewish Year Book, 1924-25; data for 1920.


The manufacture of men's wear, considered
first in this monograph, is one of the chief industries of New York and its environs. In this
industry, for the purpose of the present study,
are included (a) the manufacture of men's
clothing' (men's and boys' suits and overcoats),
which employs 61.4 per cent of all the workers
engaged; (b) shirt making, which employs 14.4
1 For explanation of use of terms, see page 30.


15




16 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


per cent; (c) the making of hats and caps, which
engages about 16.1 per cent of the employes; and
(d) miscellaneous furnishings, which account for
the remaining 8.1 per cent. According to the
census of 1919,1 the value of the men's clothing
manufactured in New York City amounted to


Furthermore, an examination of Table II will
show the extent to which New York is and for
years has been the leading center in the manufacture of men's wear. It outdistances the other
principal centers-Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Rochester-by a long lead.


TABLE II.-WAGE-EARNERS AND VALUE OF PRODUCT IN MEN'S CLOTHING INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK
CITY AND IN CERTAIN OTHER CITIES IN 1899, 1904, 1914, AND 1919a
Number or amount                 Per cent of total for United States
1899       1904      1914      1919      1899     1904     1914     1919
Wage-earners
United States.............  120,927   137,190   173,747     175,270  100.0    100.0     100.0    100.0
New York City............   30,406    40,707     48,930     47,311    25.1     29.7     28.2      27.0
Chicago...................  13,855     18,924    31,908     30,822    11.5     13.8     18.4      17.6
Rochester................    4,672      6,161     8,585      9,100     3.9      4.5      4.9       5.2
Baltimore................    9,690     8,555     15,770      9,066     8.0      6.2      9.1       5.2
Philadelphia...............  6,463     5,458      6,511      7,393     5.3      4.0      3.7       4.2
All others..................  55,841   57,385    62,043      71,578   46.2     41.8     35.7      40.8
Value of product (in thousands)
United States............  $276,717   $355,797  $458,211  $1,162,986  100.0    100.0    100.0     100.0
New York City............ 103,220     137,105   162,854    480,597    37.3     38.5     35.6      41.3
Chicago...................  36,094     53,230    83,394    190,017    13.0     15.0     18.2      16.3
Rochester................   11,138     14,949    19,760     40,392     4.0      4.2      4.3       3.5
Baltimore..............     17,291     19,565    34,860     59,838     6.3      5.5      7.6       5.2
Philadelphia..............  18,803     18,078    21,977     54,075     6.8      5.1      4.8       4.7
All others..................  90,171  112,870   135,366    338,067    32.6     31.7     29.5      29.0
a Data are from United States Census of Manufactures for the specified years. The data for 1921 may not be used for
these comparisons because New York suffered from a strike during that year which extended over a six-months' period;
1914 was also a year marked by a long local strike.


$480,596,385.   In the same year 47,311 wageearners were engaged in the industry. This was
exceeded only by the women's garment industry.2
1 Fourteenth Census of Manufactures, Vol. IX, pages
1060-1061. The corresponding figures for men's clothing
in 1921 are as follows: value of product, $362,837,000;
numberof wage-earners, 32,571. The decline is attributed
to a long strike in New York during this year.
2 See page 17. The above ranking of men's clothing in
New York holds true only according to the present census
classification. If, however, all the various branches of the
metal industry, or the printing industry, or food industry,
were grouped together, each of these latter industries
would exceed men's wear in importance. There are serious
difficulties in appraising the present importance of the
men's clothing industry in New York City. It has been
more seriously affected by the present depression than
Rochester and Chicago, with their inside shops.


Speaking in terms of the value of product,
41.3 per cent of all men's clothing was manufactured here in 1919, as compared with 37.3
per cent in 1899. Chicago ranks second; in
1919, 16.3 per cent and in 1899, 13.0 per cent of
the men's clothing in the United States was
manufactured there. In 1919 Philadelphia manufactured 4.7 per cent, while in 1899 it manufactured 6.8 per cent. In 1919 Baltimore manufactured 5.2 per cent, and in 1899 it manufactured 6.3 per cent. In 1919 Rochester manufactured 3.5 per cent of the men's clothing of
the country and in 1899 it manufactured 4.0
per cent. In other words, judged by this stan



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS


17


dard, New York has shown a larger growth than
any other clothing market in the country,
Chicago ranking second.  Rochester has remained comparatively stationary, while both
Philadelphia and Baltimore have decreased in
relative importance. Furthermore, the growth
of New York City's lead has been constant. In
1899 it manufactured 37.3 per cent of all the
men's clothing of the country; in 1904, 38.5 per
cent; in 1914, 35.6 per cent (this was a year of
depression marked by a long local strike); and
in 1919, 41.3 per cent.
In terms of wage-earners employed, New
York has also held the commanding position in
this industry. In 1919, 27 per cent of all wageearners engaged in manufacturing men's clothing
worked in New York, as compared with 25.1 per
cent in 1899. Chicago, again, comes second
with 17.6 per cent of the total number of wageearners engaged in 1919, as compared with 11.5
per cent in 1899. Baltimore employed 5.2 per
cent of all workers in 1919, as compared with
8.0 per cent in 1899. Philadelphia employed
4.2 per cent in 1919 as compared with 5.3 per
cent in 1899. Rochester employed 5.2 per cent
in 1919 and 3.9 per cent in 1899.
The centers outside the New York region in
which men's clothing is manufactured in quantity have acquired a trade in what are relatively
standardized products-articles for which the
changes of fashion and season matter comparatively little. New York, on the contrary,
is a spot market to which buyers from all over
the country resort for quick deliveries of novelties or modified fashions or less expensive grades
of goods. This characteristic of the New York
market for men's clothing affiliates it locally to
the women's garment industry, which is everywhere conducted with deference to style and
changes in style.
In the women's garment industry, the second
industry here considered, New York's preeminence is even more marked than in the men's
wear industry. Seventy-four per cent of the
total production of the country' was accounted
for in New York in 1921. Furthermore, it is to
1 Furs and women's headgear are not included in this
study, and knit goods are included under textile manufactures.


be noted that the garment industry is a recent
development, for it was relatively insignificant
before 1900. It is not only the leading industry
in the Borough of Manhattan today, but by
virtue of its size in the New York region is also
the leading industry in the State of New York.
In the United States as a whole it ranks eleventh
in value of product and thirteenth in number of
wage-earners employed among the industries as
classified by the census.
The annual product of the garment trade made
up, according to the 1919 Census of Manufactures, over a sixth of the more than five billion
dollars' worth of products of all the industries of
the entire city of New York. A total of $896,604,000, the product of this single industry, was
nearly twice that of its nearest competitor, the
men's clothing industry, and outdistanced even
further such important manufacturing activities
as printing and publishing, the metal trades, the
food industries, and textiles.
Not alone was the women's garment industry
preeminent in the value of goods produced, but
it gave employment to a greater number of
persons than any other industry in the city:'
126,7002 were engaged in the manufacture of
women's clothing. Of all the workers engaged in
manufacturing industries in 1919 in the five
boroughs of New York City, nearly one in every
six was at work on women's clothing.
These figures indicate the magnitude of this
industry's contribution to the city's transit congestion and to the complexity of its problems as
a central market for the country's needs. An
industry which daily draws 126,700 people to its
factories is a considerable factor in the crowding
of subways, elevated trains and sidewalks. And
an industry which produces clothing to a value
of nearly a billion dollars is responsible for a
noticeable share in the jamming of the streets
with trucks, in the crowding of hotels and
terminals by those who come to buy its product,
and in the erection of buildings wherein its varied
products are made and sold.
The following table shows how steadily New
1 Note that this statement refers to the City of New York
alone, not including the environs.
2 f these, 101,395 are wage-earners; 7,369 are proprietors and firm members; 4,830 are salaried officers and
managers; and 13,149 are clerks.




18 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


York's lead has increased in relation to the volume
of business in other centers. The years covered
by the figures in the table mark the period during
which the making of women's garments has
become more and more a factory industry.
TABLE III.-PER CENT OF VALUE OF PRODUCT
OF WOMEN'S GARMENTS FOR THE UNITED
STATES MANUFACTURED IN THE FOUR LEADING
CENTERS OF THE COUNTRY —1869 TO 1921a
PhiladelYear   New York     phia    Chicago   Cleveland
1921b     74.3      4.9       4.2       2.5
1919      71.7      5.8       5.4       2.9
1914      71.7      7.2       4.1       3.4
1909      69.3      7.8       4.1       3.3
1904      68.0      5.2       4.7       3.0
1899      64.5      5.9       5.8       2.6
1889      65.4      5.0       9.6       3.4
1879      61.4      7.7       5.0.c
1869      32.1      7.6       6.2..c
a Data are from United States Census of Manufactures
for the specified years.
b The 1921 census includes only the figures for plants
whose product was in excess of $5,000. In the earlier years
the corresponding figure was $500.
c Not listed in these years.
The third industry included within the scope
of this monograph, textile manufacture,' is an
important element in the industrial structure of
Zones II and III;2 in Zone II it utilizes the
services of 96,420 employes, more than any
other industry except metals; in Zone III it
has 15,924 employes, making it the largest employer of any of the industries in this zone. In
Zone I, Manhattan south of 59th Street, the
manufacture of cloth is insignificant, but it
must be remembered that the marketing of
textiles and textile products is one of the very
important economic activities in this central
area.3
From this summary statement it will be seen
not only how important relatively to other industries are clothing trades and textile manu1 Under this designation are included the manufacture
of knit goods, silk goods, "small wares" (braids, bindings,
trimmings, and the like), cotton goods, woolens and worsteds, jute, hemp and linen products (bagging, rope, twine,
and thread), and the processes of dyeing and finishing.
2 See Diagram I, page 12.
3 See Monograph Number 11, pages 15-30.


facture in the New York region, but that,
broadly speaking, there are two opposite tendencies in their geographical distribution. The
manufacture of silk goods, the heavy bleaching
and finishing trades classed under "textiles,"
and a few standardized processes in the clothing
trades tend to be driven into the outer parts of
the area, particularly into New Jersey. On the
other hand, the clothing trades, more or less in
proportion to their dependence on fashion markets (and the allied knitting, finishing, and
small wares trades of the "textile" group), concentrate toward a highly congested center.
Reasons for New York's Leadership and Some
Implications
Without going into details, which will be dealt
with more fully in the following pages, it is possible to say broadly that the power of reconciling
the clothing industries to frequent and sudden
changes of style and fashion, the value of convenient access to an immense market which
demands quick delivery, and the presence of a
volume of immigrant labor with special peculiarities adaptable to the needs of a fickle and exacting market, have all been of great importance to
the local development of these industries. New
York now decrees the fashions for America very
much as Paris does for the world, especially in
women's garments. This applies particularly to
the later stages of fabrication; but all down the
line, even to the weaving and dyeing processes,
fashion may be seen to exert a constant pressure.
New York is also the dominant center for jobbers, wholesalers, converters, commission agents,
manufacturers' agents, and buyers for large retail stores. Here these can establish contact with
a consuming public which is not merely local, but
also representative of the whole United States.
Here, further, owing to the immediate proximity
to the port and its railway terminals, is a convenient concentration point for raw materialswool, silk, linen, cotton, hemp, jute.
Fashions.-Evidence of the influence of New
York as a fashion market appears at almost
every point in the investigations, and is emphasized throughout the following pages. It
not only shows itself in such phenomena as the
striking concentration of women's garment




GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS


19


trades in the small area which lies between 14th
Street and 38th Street and Fourth and Eighth
Avenues in Manhattan (two-thirds of the labor
force employed in the women's garment industry
works in this district, which is less than 4 per
cent of the total area of Manhattan), but in the
fact that those particular industries and processes
that do not have to be conveniently accessible to
buyers or located where changes in style can be
quickly and accurately reflected are the ones
which tend outward toward cheaper land.
Changes in style boom or depress whole subindustries. They cause long periods of unemployment followed by periods of work under
great pressure and nervous strain. They make
the chief branches of the women's garment
industry highly speculative. They make efficient
business methods difficult, if not impossible.
They require, because of the seasonality they
create, a large reservoir of labor. Success in
marketing clothing, especially some sorts of women's clothing, has become so highly speculative as sometimes to be comparable to playing the stock exchange.
Jobber-Contractor System.-The women's garment industry has both fostered and been promoted in New York by such a division of the
functions of marketing and manufacturing as is
not paralleled in any other industry. This jobber-contractor system has given scope to free
economic competition in its most exaggerated
form.   Whether this will continue will depend
largely upon whether women's dress tends to
become more standardized and upon whether
large units of production which market their
own wares can be successfully organized and
operated. On neither point is it possible to make
a forecast. The question whether larger units
of production can be developed is a storm center
in the industry just now. The women's garment
industry has been undergoing a veritable revolution from the point of view of internal organization.  In the course of this the type of
manufacturer who carried through the entire
process of making garments in his own establishment has tended to give way to the so-called
jobber who buys raw materials, determines
designs, stores and sells the product, and to the
contractor who fabricates the materials, often


suggesting designs as well. This development
has resulted in a relative increase in the number of small shops and in a generally chaotic
condition within the industry.
Immigrant Labor Supply. —In both men's and
women's clothing the backbone of the industry
has been the influx of immigrants from Russia
and Italy. These immigrants have furnished not
only the workers but the employers. Much that
is chaotic in the clothing industries can be
traced back to the psychological peculiarities of
the predominant racial group which has provided
both wage-earners and manufacturers. It seems
to be true that the flexibility of the New York
clothing industry represents a capitalization of
the ambition of the Jewish worker and small
contractor to improve his economic condition.
It can be readily seen that these industries will
be seriously affected by a close restriction of
immigration. The new immigration policy introduces a considerable element of uncertainty
into forecasts for the future. The effect of
the continued restriction of immigration will
be different in different branches of the industry.
Its immediate effect will be less marked in the
cloak and suit branch of the women's garment
industry, ranking second, because it employs
predominantly men. Here it is estimated that
the continuance of restriction for a considerable
period to come may not result in a serious reduction in the available labor supply. The
effect is likely to be felt much more quickly in
the other branches of the industry.
The character of this labor supply adapts it
particularly to the needs of such enterprises, as
they expand and contract readily in response to
variations in the character and volume of the
demand for clothing. The clothing trades in
New York have been organized on the basis of
small production units and an unusual distribution of risk among many specialized enterprises
which contribute to the final product.
Rapid Transit and the Labor Supply.-A further point to be noted before the structure of the
industries is examined in detail is that New
York's transportation system has enabled a
large part of the processes of fabricating and
merchandising to concentrate near the shopping
district in Manhattan and to follow its move



20 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


ments at short notice and by frequent steps
(from below 14th Street to its present location)
without losing touch with a huge labor pool. In
earlier times the industries seem to have been
located to a considerable extent with reference
to the homes of the workers in the old ghetto.
But with the transportation developments of
the last twenty years no less than 40 per cent of
the women's garment workers now employed on
Manhattan Island have gone to live in the
boroughs of Brooklyn and the Bronx, whence
they travel daily to the Manhattan workshops
(53,000 persons). From 15,000 to 16,000 workers travel daily from upper to lower Manhattan. Translated into terms of subway trains,
this means that to bring these workers to the
garment district requires no less than 41 tencar trains carrying 1,700 people each (which,
according to the Transit Commission, is the
average rush hour capacity of the trains). In
addition, there are about 12,000 people engaged
in the men's clothing industry who travel to their
daily work in the subways. The women's
garment industry and the clothing industry contribute heavily to street congestion, as well as to
congestion on the rapid transit lines, and the
jobber-contractor system of production involves
more transportation through the streets than
would be involved under an alternative system
of "inside" production. In this connection, it
should be noted further that the character of the
transportation system has been peculiar. It has
consisted to a very considerable extent of radial
rapid transit lines and has been marked by an
almost complete absence of circumferential lines.
So it is not improbable that the development of
belt lines of rapid transit passenger transportation may accelerate a trend toward fabrication
in the periphery rather than in the center of the
region. However, there is no reason to believe
that this movement will develop with any great
speed.
Implications of the Spot Market.-From the
point of view of city planning, the fact, already
alluded to, that New York City is a spot market
for men's and women's clothing, has a double
significance. In the first place, it means that
New York satisfies a country-wide need by supplying the last minute demands of both retailers


and consumers. This fact gives these industries
a special reason for existing in New York; they
render a special service to the country as a
whole. In the second place, the fact that New
York is a spot market means that there must be
a large reserve of labor and that living and
transportation facilities must be provided for
a larger number of workers than would be required if New York were reasonably sure of a
constant demand.
Methods of shipping goods by the manufacturers of clothing in New York vary. Large
orders are sent by freight and smaller orders by
express or by parcel post. If sent by freight or
express, the clothing is trucked from the office
or plant of the manufacturers to the railroad
terminals. Parcel post packages are sent to
certain designated stations in the city. This
method of shipping adds to the traffic congestion
of New York, for the boxes and packages are
trucked along routes already heavily congested.
The fact that New York is a spot market means,
moreover, that shipments are frequent and, consequently, congestion of traffic is increased.
Location.-The most striking change in the
location of plants in these industries during the
past few decades has been that of the women's
garment trades from the area below 14th Street
to the district between 23d and 39th Streets.
The more recent movement is that westward to
Seventh Avenue and beyond. The development
of plants in the area outside of Zone I-Manhattan south of 59th Street-has been relatively
rapid as compared with the aggregate development within that zone, but these outlying developments are quantitatively unimportant as
compared with the principal development on
Manhattan. They have also been unimportant
as compared with similar developments in the
men's clothing industry.
In women's garment plants as well as in men's
clothing factories there is a very interesting
tendency to establish out-of-town plants for those
lines of work in which the style and seasonal
factors are relatively unimportant and where it is
possible to put out a more or less standardized
product on a fairly large scale. In so far as this
is due to an effort to escape from the influence
of the unions it is expressed in a movement that




GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS


21


carried shops outside the region entirely; e. g., to
Pennsylvania or parts of New York, New Jersey,
and Connecticut which are more than 50 miles
away. In so far as it is due to a trend toward
cheaper land it is unimportant; for the industries' space requirements are not great. The following chapters on the textile industries furnish
additional illustrations of these inward and outward tendencies.
On the whole, it seems likely that the women's
garment industry will be one of the last industries in which fabrication will be forced to
abandon Manhattan. As the community grows
the rate of growth in the fabricating trades will
probably be greatest in the suburban or near
urban areas in which the labor supply finds
housing space. But, speaking absolutely, not
relatively, Manhattan will probably contain
many workshops for as long as one dares predict.
The investigations on which these studies are
based have necessarily gone into great detailinto more than it is appropriate to rehearse in
this monograph. The structure of the industries
and certain points which deserve to be stated
fully will be considered in Part II. Before reaching Part II certain generalizations and conclusions that have emerged from the investigations may be set down here. They can be
given clearly and can be collated easily with the
relevant portions of Part II if they are listed in a
series of numbered paragraphs grouped under
Men's Wear (Mr. Selekman), Women's Garments
(Miss Walter), Textiles (Mr. Couper).
Men's Wear-Summary of Conclusions
1. Historically the men's clothing industry has
been developed by immigrants. In the early
days of the industry, Germans and Englishmen
constituted the bulk of employers and employes.
These races were superseded by Jews and Italians
who began to come in large numbers in the
eighties. These races control the industry at
present. Jews probably constitute the larger
proportion of employers, while Italians probably
constitute the larger proportion of employes,
with Jews second. The industry is comparatively recent in its development for it was not
until the Civil War that a considerable demand
arose for men's ready made clothing (see page 37).


2. New York City is the leading center for
manufacturing men's clothing in the country
today. Over a period of thirty years it has
grown in importance as the chief clothing center.
Approximately one-half of the men's wear industry is located in Zone I, that is, Manhattan
south of 59th Street,' with the great concentration below 14th Street (see page 37).
3. As a clothing center, New York City is
characterized by the fact that it is a contract
market as distinguished from  Chicago and
Rochester, where "inside" factories predominate.
In New York City, the manufacturers, so called,
are in reality the designers and distributors of
clothing. Contractors are in reality the manufacturers. The manufacturers buy the cloth,
design the garment, cut the cloth, and parcel it
out for sewing, pressing, and finishing, to contractors. In addition a large proportion of the
work is given out to home workers for the finishing processes. The development of the contracting system is fundamentally due to the constant
stream of immigrants, especially Jews and
Italians. These races are ambitious. Jews and
Italians wish to be their own employers and
inasmuch as little capital is required to establish
a contract shop, they leave the bench before long,
gather a few friends and relatives about them,
solicit orders from manufacturers, and establish
contract shops. Many contractors in turn become manufacturers. There is thus a constant
flux among workers, contractors, and manufacturers. Mushroom plants spring up and disappear every year. Jews and Italians, moreover,
settle in the large cities of this country, and
especially New York. Hence the industry has
had a large and ready labor supply to draw upon
(see page 32).
4. Men's clothing is a seasonal industry (see
page 34).
5. Manufacturers have their establishments on
Broadway, roughly between Houston and 14th
Streets. This is a debilitated section, land values
are high, but the buildings are obsolete. This
district was the retail center in the middle
nineties. Since that time few buildings have
been improved or rebuilt. The manufacturers
maintain stock and sales rooms and cutting
1 See Diagram I, page 12.




22 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


rooms in this Broadway district. The contractors, who are in reality the manufacturers of the
industry, have their establishments on the lower
East Side and in Brooklyn. A lesser number are
located in New Jersey. Thus fabrication is
carried on on sites having a lower land value (see
page 32).
6. The men's clothing industry requires very
little space. Seventy-five square feet per operative is a fair estimate. Theoretically, the entire
industry could be housed in about three city
blocks measuring approximately 800 x 200 feet,
assuming the buildings to be twelve stories in
height (see page 35).
7. The largest proportion of the workers live
in Brooklyn, with the lower East Side second and
the Bronx third. Approximately 12,000 employes have to travel in subways to reach their
work places (see page 36).
8. New York City is a spot market. Retailers
buy their last minute demands here and expect
immediate delivery. The manufacturer is in a
position to guarantee immediate delivery because
the contract system and the presence of a large
reserve of skilled labor render it easy to manufacture on short notice. New York City manufactures cheap and medium grades of clothing as
contrasted with Rochester and Chicago, where
quality clothing is made. It is easy to make this
type of clothing on short notice. New York
manufacturers do not make for stock to any
extent. They sell from samples, both through
traveling salesmen and in their New York offices.
Cloth is usually bought after the orders come in
and the product is shipped promptly to the retailer. Hence there is no important storage
problem in the manufacture of men's readymade clothes (see page 35).
9. Over the period of twenty-two years for
which data were secured for this study, three
trends are visible: (a) Smallestablishments have
been increasing in importance. This is due to the
contract system and the desire of manufacturers
to escape the necessity of dealing with the union.
Moreover, inasmuch as this is a seasonal industry,
it is an advantage to the manufacturer not to
maintain a factory of his own, for, by farming
out his work to contractors, he avoids overhead
costs. (b) Zone I has decreased in importance as


a center of manufacture for men's wear while
Zone II has increased in importance. The industry has been leaving lower Manhattan and
establishing itself in Brooklyn and other outlying sections. The selling offices, however, have
remained in Zone I. (c) A slight movement
northward has taken place since 1917 on the part
of the selling offices of clothing manufacturers.
Prior to 1917 they were all located below 14th
Street. In recent years some of the leading
manufacturers have moved beyond 14th Street
and a new center seems to be developing around
18th Street and Sixth Avenue (see page 37).
10. Beginning with 1916 a movement to establish plants in "country towns" was initiated
by some New York manufacturers. It is said
that these have increased in proportion in the
last two years. It is impossible to get any quantitative measure of this movement. It seems,
however, that shirt factories have been established in large numbers in the small industrial
communities of Pennsylvania in recent years.
Men's trousers and boys' knee pants are also
being manufactured in increasing quantities in
small country towns. These branches of the
industry can be moved more easily than others
because production can be standardized and
very little skill is required of the workers.
This movement has not yet been very considerable, however, and is bound to be limited in
the immediate future by the following factors.
(a) Inasmuch as the industry is seasonal, it is
desirable to be in a large city where a reserve of
labor is always available. New York City has
such a reserve in recently arrived immigrants.
(b) The tendency has been for the contract shops
to increase rather than decrease. Large inside
factories have proportionately decreased in the
last few years. (c) Only large manufacturers
having adequate capital and a regular demand
for their products can afford to move. Contrary
to conditions in New York City, the manufacturer in a small town assumes large overhead
costs. He must keep his personnel intact so far
as possible and therefore it is necessary for him
to have a demand sufficiently regular to enable
him to operate his plant throughout the entire
year. There are only a few such large manufacturers in New York and, therefore, the recent




GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS


23


country-town movement cannot have been very
large. In addition, the successful establishment
of a plant in a small community requires a technique of management including a type of supervision and accounting which is absent in present
managerial practice in New York City. (d)
Rentals are not a large item in the direct cost of
manufacturing men's clothing. Hence factories
will not be moved in order to secure lower rentals.
The chief motive for moving, therefore, is the
desire to escape from the union, and to secure
cheap and docile labor, but the union maintains
a large staff of organizers who constantly solicit
members in small-town factories. Hence manufacturers may not succeed in accomplishing the
main objective of their moving and may, therefore, be deterred from doing so on a large scale.
(e) New York City is a spot market and in order
to make quick deliveries it is necessary to be in
a place where labor can be easily secured (see
page 44).
11. If the various factors continue to operate
in the clothing industry as they have in the past
New York City may continue to be the leading
clothing center of the country. But the manufacturing end of the business, as distinct from the
selling end, will continue to move from Zone I
to Zone II. If the financial district moves northward or if some other economic activity that can
afford to pay higher rents than the men's clothing industry should demand the sites where
manufacturers have their establishments at present, the movement to Zone II will be greatly accelerated (see page 37).
12. Immigration policy must be taken into
consideration in evaluating any future tendencies.
If the present policy of restriction is pursued,
manufacturers will no longer be able to depend
upon a constant stream of Jews and Italians to
provide their personnel. Small contractors may
thus be gradually eliminated and large factories
maintaining steady work throughout the year
may be established in increasing proportions.
The source from which these establishments will
secure their workers is uncertain. It is certain
that a high wage scale and good working conditions will prevail in the industry. The union
will see to that and it is, therefore, possible that
native Americans may enter the industry.


Chicago and Rochester, already provided with
large factories and facilities for turning out large
quantities of clothes, may absorb an increasing
proportion of the industry. The other possibility
is that as the large factories develop they will be
established in small communities in New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, and
other states instead of in New York City. The
selling offices, however, will remain in New
York. This movement would be accelerated if
New York City were to become more exclusively
a financial and commercial center, in which
clerical employments would outbid the clothing
industry for the labor supply available within
the city (see page 44).
Women's Garments-Summary of Conclusions
1. It should be emphasized at the beginning
that this is an industry which, because of its
concentration, its traditions, its small space requirements, its seasonality, and its past dependence on an immigrant labor supply, is already
adapted to urban conditions.  Positive advantages of a movement away from Manhattan
will have to be demonstrated before any large
part of this industry will be inclined to leave its
present location. Such being the case, it seems
likely that the women's garment industry will be
one of the last industries to evacuate and make
way before the increasing space demands of the
marketing and financial activities of the metropolis (see page 50).
2. The selling activities of the industry will in
any case remain in much their present degree of
concentration, near whatever section of the city
contains the hotels and terminals. The terminals
will undoubtedly remain where they are for many
years to come, and will tend to hold the hotels
and theatres where they are. Accordingly, the
salesrooms of the industry will probably gather
in increasing numbers in the new Garment
Center district (see page 53).
3. Another conclusion that can be reached
with some degree of definiteness is that the highest grade of women's clothing in the style industries-dresses, waists, cloaks, suits-will, in
all probability, remain in the city in the same
district as the salesrooms. The necessity of protecting exclusive and high-priced styles makes it




24 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


impossible for plants making garments of this
grade to give out their work to contractors.
Style is so much a factor for this group that the
actual manufacturing process must be kept in
close touch with style changes and market demands. The highest grade of skill is required and
experiments with cheap or untrained labor cannot be risked. The profit per garment is great
enough to make differences in rent relatively
unimportant (see page 54).
4. The future movement of the cheaper grades
in the style industries and of all the minor
branches will be affected by factors about which
it is impossible to prophesy. What will happen
if the present policy of immigration restriction is
maintained? Will style fluctuations become less
violent and seasonality decreased? Will the
jobber-contractor system give way to a revival
of the inside shop, or will it continue under
regulation by the contractors' associations and
the union? Will the plants tend to be large or
small? Will control by the union of the nonunion contractor who is pulling down standards
and bringing chaos to the industry be effective?
Will the union continue to campaign against any
out-of-town movement and will such a campaign
be effective? (see page 52).
5. The labor force in the industry is made up
chiefly of Jewish and Italian workers with the
former predominating. Women form from 80 to
90 per cent of the employes in all branches of the
industry but the cloak and suit trade, in which the
proportion of men is very high. The present labor
supply for the cloak and suit industry should
be able to hold out for some time against the
present immigration policy.  In the womenemploying branches of the garment industry, on
the other hand, the turnover is high and it seems
likely that here employers would have to draw
on other groups than the Jewish and Italian
women who have in the past afforded a sufficient
labor supply. It is doubtful whether the second
generation of these races will enter the industry,
but the probability is that they will not to any
great extent. If the colored migration to New
York continues, colored women, who have already entered the industry, may provide the
necessary supply (see page 57).
American white girls in New York have a


prejudice against factory work, and especially in
what have been known as immigrant industries,
and prefer clerical work at low wages to the high
wages of the needle trades. This prejudice
among native girls does not seem to hold as
strongly in small towns where the industry has
not been associated with immigrant workers,
and where opportunities for employment are
more limited. These facts would seem to point
to a future need for a considerable part of the
garment industry to seek a labor supply outside
New York. If, however, immigration restrictions
are removed, or if the supply of negro women
becomes adequate, or if the prejudices of native
white girls are wiped out, this need would be
removed (see page 58).
Another interesting question raised by the
immigration policy of this country is its effect on
the employers of the garment industry. The
manufacturers, jobbers and contractors are almost all Jews. The more prosperous of the
manufacturers and jobbers are very frequently
American Jews of two or three generations standing. Many of them, however, are first generation
immigrants from Russia, Poland and other central European countries; and the contractors are
drawn almost entirely from this immigrant group.
Restriction of immigration may cut off the
supply of contractors as well, and so affect the
entire constituency of the employing group in this
industry. Such an event would, without much
doubt, ultimately have an influence in altering
the present system of production by contractors
and jobbers (see page 58).
6. The question as to whether style changes
will become less dominant is one on which the
boldest would hesitate to prophesy. One may
consider, however, what might happen in that
eventuality. The character of the competition
would change; the separation of production and
marketing would become less difficult; and
seasonality, which creates the necessity for a
large reservoir of labor, would decline. All these
things would tend to release the hold which the
City of New York now has on the garment industry. But a marked decrease in the importance of the style factor does not seem likely,
although a decrease in style gambling and manipulation of consumer demand may be looked for,




GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS


25


provided the extreme competition of the present
jobber-contractor system is brought under control, and business methods become standardized
(see page 54).
7. The future movement in the two leading
branches of the garment industry is tied up with
the future of the jobber-contractor movement.
Manufacturers are giving up their factories and
becoming jobbers. These jobbers, contrary to
the usual understanding of the term, control
production in the industry. They give out the
materials to a contractor or sub-manufacturer
who makes up the garment in its entirety, often
providing the design also. The jobbers are
relatively few in number, and the contractors
who bid for the jobbers' orders numerous. The
result is intense competition among contractors
with consequent reduction in prices sometimes
even below production cost. The chaotic conditions resulting in the industries affected have led
to a revolt of contractors against jobbers which
is now in a state of adjustment (see page 51).
The contractors' association, the union, and the
better element among the jobbers are now attempting to work together in the belief that
present methods will spell the ruin of the industry unless they are changed. With regulation
of the relations between the jobbers and contractors, and between the inside shops and their
contractors, will come a cessation in the mushroom growth of "social" shops and other nonunion contracting shops in the less congested
sections of the city and in the district outside the
city. This will promote larger shops and a consolidation of the garment district rather than its
decentralization. With regulation will come also
a decrease in competition among contractors, and
the possibility of the larger union contractors
locating at greater distances from their market,
the jobbers. A tendency toward larger shops,
both in the major and minor branches of the
garment industry, would mean increased possibility of separating selling and fabrication, which
is difficult when the small shop is prevalent.
Small establishments cannot afford dual supervision, for the additional overhead for maintaining separate salesroom and factory is costly. Until the industry again adopts larger units of production, geographical separation of selling and


manufacturing functions, except under the chaotic system of jobber and non-union contractor,
will be difficult (see page 53).
8. The strength of union control in the industry is a very real factor in the future movement of the garment factories. Undoubtedly a
continuance of the present condition in the jobbercontractor movement would mean weakened
control for the union. If it is checked and regulated, the union will without question have been
in large measure responsible, and will thus acquire increased prestige.  The situation has
created at least a temporary alliance between the
contractors and the union, in the past more often
foes than friends. The policy of the union toward an out-of-town movement in the garment
industry doubtless will be one of opposition as it
has been in the past, unless the movement be a
concerted one, within ready access of the sections
where its members now live. The social appeal of
a workplace situated in the heart of the city as
opposed to one in Brooklyn, the Bronx, or Long
Island City is one that is of especial importance to
the group making up the major part of the organized labor force of the garment industries. With
Jewish workers especially, the cultural and communal advantages of the City of New York have
great weight, and these social influences quite as
much as union control will tend to preserve the
union's opposition to an out-of-town movement
and to keep the workers from following the industry on any such outward move (see page 58).
9. The workers in the garment industries have
influenced the location of these industries in two
different ways: First, through the emphasis
which their union activities have placed on
sanitary conditions in the factories, they have
stimulated the movement to new buildings,
which is synonymous with a movement uptown.
Second, through their concentration in racial
colonies they, in the early days, caused the
industry to grow up near their homes, and now,
in the days of the jobber and contractor, they are
causing the small contracting shops to grow up
near the racial colonies (see page 58).
10. The garment firms' present habit of buying in small quantities makes difficult their
separation from the dealers who provide them
with materials and supplies. Without a con



26 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


certed movement of the industry, the dealers
could not follow them and they would also be
cut off from such service trades as the embroidery
industry (see page 53).
11. The women's garment industry as a whole
does not show a marked movement from the City
of New York to the metropolitan district outside
the city from 1900 to 1922. In 1900, 98.2 per
cent of the plants and 89.5 per cent of the workers for the entire region were in the city; in 1922,
94.2 per cent of the plants and 88.6 per cent of
the workers were in the city. The tendency is
evidently not so much to move actually outside
the city as to develop the less congested sections
within the city, although a high degree of concentration in one central district is still maintained (see page 66).
12. The women's garment industry contributes heavily to the street traffic congestion of
the main business sections of Manhattan. The
present system of production by contractors
augments this contribution since two extra hauls
-of piece goods to contractor from jobber and
of finished product back to the jobber-have
been added (see page 63).
13. More and more retailers are buying
women's wear by sending their buyers into the
market rather than from salesmen sent on the
road by garment manufacturers. They are tending also to buy frequently in small quantities
rather than twice a year to cover the season's
needs. These two tendencies have a marked
influence on the location and space requirements
of the garment industry. The industry tends to
locate near the hotels and terminals to meet the
convenience of the buyer. The jobber must
carry large stocks requiring considerable space in
order that the buyer may select his goods himself for immediate delivery (see page 64).
14. With all these factors complicating the
situation it seems possible nevertheless to predict that, with the increasing cost of space on
Manhattan Island and the decreasing need of
fabricating at the point where goods are sold, the
more staple branches will tend to establish their
factories outside the city in New Jersey and New
York State. This trend is already discernible,
although the trades are at present still centered
in New York. There seems no valid reason why


a proposition such as the Degnon Terminal plan
in Brooklyn, or Long Island City, with proper
transportation facilities, is not feasible as a
production center for these industries, while the
marketing center remains in the new Garment
Center district (see page 69).
15. The movement of the industry within the
city in the past twenty-two years has been from
the section on and around Broadway, between
Canal and 14th Streets, northward to the present
main district of concentration for the industry, on
the cross streets between 23d and 39th, on Madison Avenue and on Seventh Avenue. The newest
of these districts in the Seventh Avenue section
gives promise of greater permanence than have
other districts in the past, since the fine buildings
which have been and are being erected there
represent an unusually large investment, and
much of the money invested in them comes from
the pockets of the garment manufacturers who
occupy them. In the past they have always been
tenants; now many of them are landlords (see
page 69).
Textile Industries-Summary of Conclusions
The textile industry in the region of New York
and its environs comprises several distinct
branches: the manufacture of knit goods (which,
along with "small wares" such as braids, bindings, and trimmings, has a great deal in common
with the women's garment trades), silk goods,
cotton goods, woolens and worsteds, jute, hemp,
and linen products (bagging, rope, twine, and
thread), and the processes of dyeing and finishing.
1. In this region there were in 1922, 2,834
plants using the services of 123,761 workers,
about ten per cent both of the total number of
textile employes in the United States and of the
total number of employes in all the industries in
the region. This represents an increase since
1900 of 365 per cent in the number of plants,
from 610, but of only 69 per cent in the number
of employes, from 73,409 (see page 80).
2. The industry is concentrated chiefly in
Zone II' where there are 96,420 employes-more
than any other industry except metals, and in
Zone III, where its employes number 15,924 -the largest number in any industry in this zone,
See Diagram I, page 12.




GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS


27


with further local concentration roughly as
follows: knit goods in Brooklyn, silk goods in
North Hudson county and Paterson, woolens in
Passaic and Garfield (see page 77).
3. Zone I, Manhattan south of 59th Street, is
not important as a textile manufacturing center,
although one of the chief economic activities of
this central area is the marketing of textiles and
textile products. In 1900 there were 257 plants
with 9,774 employes. By 1922 these had increased to 766 plants with 11,417 employes, and
the industry in its expansion had crept up, along
with the clothing trades and the marketing centers, from below 14th Street, where it was originally located, as far as 33d Street. This growth
has taken place, despite the removal of the larger
plants, because of the rapid increase in the number of the very small plants (see page 81).
4. Of the two major divisions of the knitting
trades-knitted underwear (including hosiery)
and knitted outerwear-the first is of little importance in this region. Its products are capable
of standardization and large-scale production.
A location near New York appears to possess no
advantages sufficient to offset higher labor and
other costs (see page 84).
5. New York City, on the other hand, is a
leading center for the manufacture of knitted
outerwear (sweaters, bathing-suits, and miscellaneous novelties). Like much that has been
grouped under the women's garment industries,
this is highly seasonal, is subject to the vagaries
of changing fashion, is carried on on a small
scale, and is altogether in a state of almost
chaotic flux. This is the newest and most rapidly
growing branch of the industry. In the area of
the survey there were in 1900 only 48 plants with
3,024 employes, but in 1922 there were 794 plants
with 20,046 employes-an increase in plants of
over 1,500 per cent and in employes of more than
500 per cent (see page 84).
6. Small plants which manufacture knit goods
are increasing much more rapidly than large
plants. In 1900 those with less than twenty
employes numbered less than one-half of the
regional total. In 1922 they numbered more than
three-quarters. In 1900 plants of this size employed only seven per cent of the workers. In
1922 they employed 22 per cent (see page 86).


7. The knit goods industry is concentrated
chiefly in New York City (in 1922 it had 88 per
cent of the plants in the area and 77 per cent of
the employes). Zone I, Manhattan south of
59th Street, is growing, but less rapidly than the
region as a whole (in 1922 it had 125 plants and
2,827 employes). Brooklyn and Queens are the
most important centers (in 1922 they had 501
plants-63 per cent of the total, and 11,001
employes-55 per cent of the total) and are
growing most rapidly. This trade will continue
to grow in these sections, although as order
develops out of chaos, as large-scale production
and standardization become possible, and as the
fabricating and marketing functions become differentiated, there is every reason to believe that
lower rents, land values, and labor and fuel costs
will draw many of the more highly-developed
establishments entirely out of the region (see
page 85).
8. In the whole region, in 1922, there were 536
plants employing 10,014 workers in the manufacture of such products as braids and bindings,
trimmings, passamentaries, and kindred products-a growth since 1900 of 87 per cent in the
number of employes. In this branch of the
textile industry only is Zone I (Manhattan south
of 59th Street) the most important section of
the area (in 1922 it had 68 per cent of the plants
and 46 per cent of the employes). This can be
explained because of the small plants' dependence on close contacts with their immediate
market, the jobbers, buyers, and the cutting-up
trades. There seems to be little prospect of
change and there is every reason to believe that
the moderate growth will continue throughout
the region (see page 99).
9. Compared with knit goods the growth of the
silk industry in this region has been very moderate. In 1900 the whole region had 165 plants
with 25,361 workers. By 1922, although there
were 918 (more than five times as many) plants,
the employes had increased only to 36,306 (see
page 89).
10. A few silk plants still linger in Zone I and
in upper Manhattan and the Bronx. Both these
latter sections are definitely declining. In them,
despite the increase in the number of plants, the
number of employes has decreased. In Brooklyn




28 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


(in 1922 there were 18 plants and 1,453 employes)
and in Queens (in 1922 there were 24 plants and
2,035 employes) there has been a rapid growth,
but this is very certain not to continue if the
evidence of at least two important removals and
the testimony of the manufacturers about costs
are significant (see page 90).
11. In north Hudson County, an old established silk center, the industry is definitely on the
decline. The leading manufacturing firms have
transferred their production of plain goods to
other parts of the country, and, despite their
specialization on goods in the production of which
neither Paterson nor Pennsylvania compete, the
number of their employes since 1912 has decreased by one-third. The reason is found in
higher costs of all sorts and in a wholly inadequate labor supply (see page 90).
12. Paterson has long been the silk city of
America, chiefly because of the suitability of the
water from the Passaic River for dyeing and
because of the earlier abundance of cheap female
labor. The situation there, however, is now
quite unsatisfactory, and the industry has grown
here much less rapidly than in Pennsylvania.
The crux of the situation lies in the labor problem. The growth of the heavy man-using industries did not keep pace with the growth of the
light women-using silk industry. This is substantiated by the fact that whereas in Pennsylvania 60 per cent of the weavers are women, in
Paterson 60 per cent are men. Competition for
labor has increased wages, and facilitated the
development of trade-unionism. Friction between opposing unions has further complicated
the situation. Now, in eastern Pennsylvania,
Paterson's chief competitor, there is plenty of
unorganized female labor, wages are lower, hours
of labor are longer, and the weavers operate two
ribbon or three or four broad-silk looms (as
compared with one ribbon or two broad-silk
looms in Paterson) with resulting increased
productivity. In the manufacture of plain fabrics, therefore, Paterson manufacturers cannot
compete with those of Pennsylvania. Many of
them have for this reason transferred all or part
of their production to Pennsylvania (see page 91).
13. In spite of the removal of many plants the
silk industry in Paterson has suffered no absolute


decrease but has changed its character. Paterson
is now a city of small plants. In 1900 in Passaic
County 85 per cent of the workers were engaged
by plants employing 100 or more workers; in
1922 only 39 per cent of the employes were working in plants of this size. Many of the new small
plants exploit an unfair advantage over the
larger manufacturers by failure to observe many
union rules that are regarded as unreasonably
restrictive (see page 93).
14. Paterson and the neighboring sections of
New Jersey enjoy, nevertheless, many distinct
advantages as a location for silk plants (nearness
to New York City, traditional skill of the workers, and closeness to several ancillary industriessuch as dyeing and finishing) and will probably
continue as important silk centers. The extent
to which they will grow will depend upon such
factors as the success of the effort to introduce
new man-using industries, and the equalization
of competitive conditions between Paterson and
other districts, either by the introduction of the
plural-loom system in Paterson or by the unionization of the Pennsylvania field (see page 92).
15. Unlike those branches of the industry previously considered, the dyeing, bleaching, and
finishing trades may be classed as heavy manufactures. In the whole region plants with 250
employes or more, 5 per cent of the total in the
industry, employ 54 per cent of the workers.
This branch demands considerable space per
employe, uses large quantities of water and fuel,
and finds railway or water transportation facilities highly desirable. Fixed capital requirements
are large and, once established, the plants are
very reluctant to move. The industry is highly
concentrated in the environs of New York,
largely because of the softness and chemical
purity of the New Jersey water. This concentration is important as one of the factors serving
to explain why so much of the finished textile
product, marketed in New York, is also brought
into and shipped from Manhattan Island. In
the whole region, in 1900, there were 105 plants
with 10,762 employes, and in 1922, 323 plants,
with 18,530 employes. There has been, therefore, a steady growth. This is likely to continue. Zone I is relatively unimportant. Here
are employed only less than 9 per cent of the




GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS


29


total number of workers in the region. The
plants here are mostly of a service character
(cloth sponging, shrinking and examining) the
future of which is contingent on that of the
clothing trades. The remainder of the plants are
found near adequate water facilities throughout
Zone II and Zone III, chiefly in Bergen and
Passaic counties (see page 95).
16. In addition to the branches discussed
above, the textile industries include the manufacture of woolens and worsteds, cotton goods,
and jute, linen, and hemp products, all alike in
that they are "heavy manufacturing industries"
and in that in each separate branch there are
only a few very large plants, all of which are
likely to remain in their present locations,
Brooklyn, Passaic, Paterson, Jersey City, and
Yonkers. There is little cotton manufacturing
in the area, the most important plants in Passaic
being devoted to the special manufacture of
heavy tire fabrics and similar products. There
is little prospect of change save in the (quantitatively unimportant) decline in the manufacturing
of bagging, and in the growth of the woolen
industry in Passaic and Garfield-for which expansion most of the leading manufacturers have


already made adequate provision (see page
100).
In the whole region between 1900 and 1922 the
number of these miscellaneous plants increased
from 140 to 263 and the number of employes
from 28,921 to 38,865. Zone I, with 22 per cent
of the total number of plants in 1922 employed
only less than 3 per cent of the workers, and the
industry here is declining rapidly, leaving only
those small plants of a service nature.  In
Brooklyn and Queens, also, the industry is declining. In the other widely scattered and less
highly developed sections of the region, the industry seems to promise a slow but steady growth
(see page 101).
17. In general the textiles do not rank high in
their ability to command sites of high value. On
Manhattan, for instance, the plants are located
without respect to size or type on land valued at
from $501-$5,000 per front foot. The rentals are
fairly low, generally less than $1 per square foot
of floor space, because of the utilization of obsolete buildings. There is a clear-cut tendency for
the plants, as soon as production on a large scale
becomes possible, to seek cheaper land or lower
rents outside the congested areas (see page 81).




THE MEN'S WEAR INDUSTRY


The structure and location of the men's wear
industry, the women's garment industry, and the
textile industry will now be considered in some
detail, each industry being dealt with by itself in
the pages which follow. In the men's wear
industry, the first to be dealt with, the terms
require a word of explanation. " Men's clothing"
is used in a restricted sense, to describe that important portion of the men's wear industry which
is devoted to the manufacture of men's and boys'
suits and overcoats. Consequently in the discussion, the minor branches of the men's wear
industry, those producing shirts, hats and caps,
and furnishings, are not included within the
scope of the term  "men's clothing" but are
treated separately.1
Before considering the various branches of
men's wear, attention should be called to certain
facts regarding trends in the industry as a whole
revealed by the figures in Table IV. Although
in New York and its environs there were more
than twice as many employes in the industry in
1922 as in 1900, the number was practically no
greater than in 1912 and considerably less than in
1917. In Manhattan south of 59th Street, which
lSee pages 45 to 48.


is Zone It the 35,471 workers located there in
1900 represented 87.3 per cent of all the men's
wear workers in the region, while the 52,670
located there in 1922 represented only 58.6 per
cent. Moreover these 52,670 workers mean that
there has been an absolute decline in the number
of workers in the heart of the city for the corresponding figure in 1912 was 63,181 and in 1917
was 70,119. The remainder of the region, Zones
II and III,1 has increased tremendously since
1900. Brooklyn alone accounts for nearly half
of the growth but there has been a large development in New Jersey as well.
The Men's Clothing Industry
As an industry, the manufacture of men's
clothing in New York City is a curiously complicated one.  It combines characteristics of
home and factory systems. In Chicago clothing
is made in factories. Thousands of workers are
employed in one plant. The entire garment is
cut, sewed, pressed, and finished on the premises.
Not so in New York. In reality there are very
few actual manufacturers here. The so-called
manufacturers usually do not operate factories,
1 See Diagram I on page 12.


TABLE IV.-PLANTS AND EMPLOYES IN THE MEN'S WEAR INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS
IN 1900, 1912, 1917, AND 1922 BY ZONESa
Plants                                         Employes
Year
Zone I      Zone II    Zone III      Total      Zone I      Zone II     Zone III     Total
Number
1900       1,951         249         35        2,235       35,471      10,045       4,580       50,096
1912       3,527       1,544         53        5,124       63,189      37,024       7,015      107,228
1917       3,501       1,788        149        5,438       70,119      36,516       8,545      115,180
1922       3,415       2,233        182        5,830       52,670      43,110      12,119      107,899
Per cent
1900        87.3        11.1        1.6        100.0         70.8        20.1         9.1        100.0
1912        68.8        30.2        1.0        100.0         58.9        34.5         6.6        100.0
1917        64.4        32.9        2.7        100.0         60.9        31.7         7.4        100.0
1922        58.6        38.3        3.1        100.0         48.8        40.0        11.2        100.0
* Data from factory inspection records.
30




THE MEN'S WEAR INDUSTRY'


31


or "inside shops" as they are termed. They are
rather salesmen-merchants whose primary business is to sell clothing. But in addition to selling,
they maintain designing and cutting rooms. The
actual fabrication is farmed out to contractors.


manufacturers agree that at least two-thirds of
all clothing is manufactured in this manner.
Finally a large amount of home work prevails in
the industry, that is, women take garments both
from contract shops and from inside shops, per

DIAGRAM II
Location of units in a typical men's clothing establishment


Coats, pants, and vests are made by separate
contractors. One manufacturer estimated that
as much as 95 per cent of all clothing manufactured in New York City is made in contract
shops. This estimate is probably high but most


form certain finishing operations in their homes,
and then carry the work back to the shop.
Diagram II illustrates the manner in which a
typical concern in New York is organized. The
administrative offices, selling and store rooms are




32 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


located in Broadway in the heart of the market
for the industry. The cutting room is located
on a side street in the vicinity of the administrative office. The company has one "inside shop,"
that is, a shop which it operates itself. This is
devoted to the manufacture of coats and is
located in Queens. A number of contractors
make coats, pants, and vests for this concern.
The shops of these contractors are scattered.
Most of them are in Manhattan; seven are in
Brooklyn and one is as far away as Newark, New
Jersey. Finally, a considerable number of home
workers are engaged. They live in the lower
East Side and in Brooklyn.
Location of Manufacturers, Contractors, and
Home Workers.-The data shown in Table V and
Diagram III are of particular value in that they
make it possible to contrast the manner in which
the clothing manufacturers, contractors, and the
home workers are distributed throughout the
metropolitan area.
The significance of this table is two-fold. In
the first place, it shows, from the viewpoint of
TABLE V.-DISTRIBUTION OF MANUFACTURERS,
CLOTHING INDUSTRY IN


city planning, the transportation problem involved in the making of men's clothing. If 75
per cent of the manufacturers are located on
Manhattan south of 14th Street and west of
Lafayette, while 36.5 per cent of the contractors
are in Manhattan south of 14th Street and east
of Lafayette, and 40.4 per cent are located in
Brooklyn, it means that the cloth, after being
cut, must be trucked from the manufacturers to
the contractors; and that the finished clothing
after being fabricated must be trucked back to
the manufacturing establishments. Indeed, a
fleet of trucks and expressmen are kept busy
transporting cloth and garments to and from
manufacturers and contractors. Similarly home
workers crowd the streets while carrying bundles
between their houses and the contractors and
manufacturers. The second point of significance
in this table is that the fabrication, as distinct
from the selling of the garments, is carried on on
land having a smaller value than the choice selling centers along Broadway. A comparison of
the Manhattan map showing the concentration
CONTRACTORS, AND HOME WORKERS IN MEN'S
DESIGNATED DISTRICTS


Number                          Per cent
District            Manufac- Contract-     Home     Manufac- Contract-    Home
turersa     orsb    workersb    turers      ors     workers
City of New York
Manhattan:
Below 14th Street east of Lafayette.........   54        401       312         8.7      36.5       47.7
Below 14th Street west of Lafayette.........  468       149        18        75.5       13.6       2.8
14th Street to 23d Street...................  82          3        17        13.2.3        2.6
23d Street to 42d  Street....................1                  24...1        3.7
42d  Street to  59th  Street....................     1         4...1.6
59th Street to 96th Street.....................               12....                 1.8
North of 96th Street........................          4        19...4        2.9
Brooklyn...................................    14        444       227         2.3      40.4       34.7
B ronx......................................    2          9        11.3.8        1.7
Territory~ outside City of New York
New  Jersey................................         86        10..       7.8        1.5
Total.................................    620       1,098      654       100.0      100.0     100.0
a Data for manufacturers and contractors were derived from lists, as of August, 1922, of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America. This union requires every manufacturer with whom it has a trade agreement to file the names and
addresses of every contractor engaged by him.
b These data are from lists of the Home Inspection Department, New York State Department of Labor. Every manufacturer is required by law to file with this department the names and addresses of all home workers employed by him. The
total is incomplete because names were being filed while the study was in progress.
c Territory included within scope of Regional Plan but lying outside City of New York.




I
&


LEGEND. MANUFACTURERS
o CONTRACTORS
~ HOME WORKERS


O A
oh
00A
0 0
^ t


A
A




0          OO
a a


A
*   0
o 0


A          o
~ o                 A
o 


c 0
00 0


~o
o
0, 
00


a
o
oo    o
0
0 0
og
o oo


DIAGRAM III
Location of manufacturers and contractors in men's clothing industry, on lists of Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America in 1922 and of home workers on file with New York
State Department of Labor in 1923




34 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


TABLE VI.-ESTABLISHMENTS MANUFACTURING
MEN'S    CLOTHING     IN  NEW    YORK   AND   ITS
ENVIRONS IN 1900, 1917, AND 1922, CLASSIFIED
BY SIZE OF PLANT AND BY SUB-DIVISIONS OF
THE AREAa
Number of         Number              Per cent
employes
per plant   1900   1917  1922   1900   1917  1922
New York City
1-4.......   388  1,801  1,921  22.8   43.4   47.1
5-9.......   333    574    586   19.6  13.8   14.4
10-19......   553    666    685   32.5  16.0   16.8
20-49......   355    830    685   20.9  20.0   16.7
50-99......    44    208    151    2.6   5.0    3.7
100-199.....    19     47     28    1.1   1.1.7
200-499.....     6     25     17.4.6.5
500 and over.    2      3      4.1.1.1
Total..... 1,700  4,154 4,077   100.0  100.0  100.0
Portion of New Jersey included in Region
1-9.......    2     15    38    16.7  15.6   19.3
10-19......    2     31    47    16.7  32.3   23.9
20-49......    4     37     86   33.3  38.6   43.7
50-99......     2     10     22   16.7  10.4   11.1
100-199.....     1      3      4    8.3   3.1    2.0
200 and over.     1....    8.3
Total....      12    96    197  100.0  100.0 100.0
Portion of New York State included in Region (exclusive
of New York City)
1-9........     76    24..   87.4   55.8
10-19.......      2     5..    2.3   11.6
20-49........     6      9..   6.9   20.9
50-99......                   2....    4.7
100-199.......     2      1..   2.3    2.3
200 and over...     1      2..   1.1    4.7.
Total..    87     43..  100.0  100.0
Portion of Connecticut included in Region
1-9.......3..                       100.0   27.3
10-19........      2....   18.2
20-49.........      3....   27.3
50-99..........      2....   18.2
100-199.,.......
200 and over.....      1....    9.0
Total.....1                11.   100.0  100.0
a In this study where the source of the data is not specified, it is to b~ assumed that they come from the records
of the factory inspectors of the states of New York, New
Jersey, an.'Corinecticut.


of men's clothing industry with a land value
map brings this fact out vividly. Thus, most of
the manufacturers, so-called, are located on land
having a value of $1,001 to $5,000 per square foot,
while the contractors are located on land ranging
in value from $201 to $1,000 per square foot.
New York a Center of Small Plants.-Table VI
shows how largely the industry in New York and
its environs is taken care of by small plants.
There is no plant here which compares in size
with the Chicago plant of the Hart, Schaffner and
Marx Company, with its 8,000 workers, or even
with the Rochester plant of the Hickey-Freeman
Company which employs about 1,300 workers.
In 1922 almost one-half of the plants in New
York City employed less than 5 workers and
only 200 out of the total of 4,077 plants employed more than 50 workers, the size ordinarily
attained by a plant which attempts to manufacture the entire garment. The plants which
lie in the region outside the city limits are usually
larger in size than the city establishments.
The figures confirm the testimony of the manufacturers and workers that the contracting system has been on the increase in New York City
within the last few years. Thus, in 1917 6.8 per
cent of the plants employed more than fifty workers. In 1922 only 5 per cent of the plants were of
this large type. Testimony by those conversant
with conditions in the industry would indicate
that the growth of large inside shops reached its
peak in 1919.
Men's Clothing a Seasonal Industry.-The
manufacture of men's clothing is highly seasonal.
Clothing for fall and winter consumption is
usually made during June, July, August, and
September, and for spring and summer consumption during December, January, February, and
March. Table VII shows the fluctuation in employment in 1919. Although this was an unusually prosperous year, the variation in the
labor force was very great, particularly in the
contract shops. When orders become scarce, the
manufacturer first cuts off his supply of work to
the contractors, thus throwing upon them most
of the burden of expansion and contraction.
From the point of view of city planning, seasonality means that the community must provide housing, transportation, and other facilities




THE MEN'S WEAR INDUSTRY


35


for a sufficiently large labor force to permit the
industry to operate during its peak season.
TABLE VII.-FLUCTUATION IN EMPLOYMENT IN
MEN'S CLOTHING IN NEW       YORK CITY BY
BRANCHES OF INDUSTRY, IN 1919a
Number of
wage-earners  Per
Average  on the 15th  cent
number    day of    miniBranch of industry  of     _  _       mum
wage-      - M   -  is of
earners Maxi- Mini- maximum   mum   mum
month month
Regular factories:   28,066.
Men's and Youths'... 18,873 23,018 14,294  62.1
Boys'..............  5,895  6,671  4,647  69.7
All others..........  3,298  3,618  2,981 82.4
Contract work:      19,245.
Men's and Youths'... 14,345 17,615  8,568  48.6
Boys'..............  4,507  5,443  2,975  54.7
All others...........  393  501   249  49.7
a Preliminary Report, Fourteenth Census of Manufactures, 1919, New York, page 95.
Methods of Purchasing Raw Materials.-In this
respect, the New York market may be described
as being one of extremes-the men's clothing
manufacturers buy either very narrowly or very
liberally. During periods of prosperity and in
anticipation of large orders, New York manufacturers sometimes buy large quantities of
woolens and store them, but during periods of
depression and when a poor season is in prospect,
they buy very closely and usually wait until their
orders are all in before acquiring their full supply
of woolens.
Buildings and Land    Values.-Allusion has
already been made to the fact that the clothing
trades use obsolete buildings. For example, the
Greenhut-Siegel-Cooper Building on 6th Avenue
and 18th Street, which once housed a department
store, stood vacant for several years until in 1921
clothing concerns took loft space in it. The
character of the Broadway district between
Canal Street and 14th Street is well known.
Contract-jobbers in the East Side, Williamsburg,
the Bushwick section, and East New York are
located in converted tenement houses and other
old loft buildings. As a consequence of the willingness of the industry to occupy such premises,


it is generally found on land of which the market
value ranges above the capitalized value of the
rentals being currently received.
Rents in lofts housing the establishments of
manufacturers on Broadway ranged, according
to a prominent real estate firm, from 75 cents to
$1 per square foot; and on side streets adjacent
to Broadway, from 60 to 80 cents a square foot.
Rentals are, however, not a significant factor as
an item in the direct cost of production of men's
clothing. Taking regular factories and contract
shops together, rent constitutes, according to the
1919 census data,' only one per cent of the total
cost of the finished product.
Space Requirements.-The estimates of the
average space required per worker, given by most
manufacturers interviewed, ranged from 50 to
75 square feet; 75 square feet is probably a
generous estimate and allows for store room,
sales room, and office space in addition to factory
space.2 In 1922, 66,281 workers, according to
factory inspection districts, were engaged in the
clothing industry in the area embraced in the
Plan of New York and its Environs. Allowing
75 square feet per worker, a total floor space of
4,971,075 square feet is needed to house the
industry. The standard block in New York
measures 800 feet by 200 feet, or has an area of
160,000 square feet. Assuming that each building
had the same dimensions as a block and was only
one story high, 31 blocks would be required to
take care of the clothing industry. But factory
lofts having twelve stories are common in New
York. Hence the men's clothing industry, if it
were all concentrated in modern factory buildings
in one district, could probably be housed in an
area occupying somewhere between two and onehalf and three blocks. This estimate, however,
may serve only for speculative purposes regarding the future of the clothing industry. For, as
has already been shown, the tendency in recent
years has been for the small shops to increase in
number and for the large inside shop to decrease.
Location of Residences of Workers.-Incomplete data obtained from the mailing list of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
1 Preliminary Report, Census of Manufactures, 1919,
New York, page 94.
2The Singer Sewing Machine Company estimates that
an operator's machine requires only 16 square feet of space.




36 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


throw some light on the question as to where the
clothing workers live in relation to where they
work. The place of residence of the members of


spection records in Table VIII. It would appear
from this that about four-fifths of the workers
live near their places of work. Those living on
the East Side may walk to their shops or may
take surface cars. The same may be true in
Brooklyn. On the other hand 22.7 per cent or
over one-fifth of the workers have to use the
rapid transit facilities to go to work and a good
portion of these use the subways. That is to say,
about 8,000 workers coming from Brooklyn and
the Bronx to work in lower Manhattan probably
use either the facilities of the Interborough
Rapid Transit or the Brooklyn Rapid Transit
Company.


TABLE VIII.-PLACES OF RESIDENCE OF WORKERS   ENGAGED    IN   THE   MANUFACTURE       OF
MEN'S CLOTHING, ACCORDING TO MAILING
LIST OF MEMBERSHIPa IN THE AMALGAMATED
CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA, AND THEIR
WORK PLACES, ACCORDING TO THE FACTORY
INSPECTION RECORDS FOR 1922, BY SPECIFIED
SECTIONS OF NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS
Distribution of  Distribution of
workers by place workers by place
of residence      of work
Districts
Per             Per
Number    Pe    Number    Pe
cent            cent
Manhattan......... 15,824    40.0   40,198   62.7
Brooklyn and Queens  17,770   45.0   17,212   26.8
Bronx.............   3,659    9.3    1,238    1.9
Newark, New Jersey.   1,793    4.5    3,397    5.3
All other New Jersey.  485     1.2    2,132    3.3
Total...........  39,531  100.0   64,177b  100.0
a This list does not include all the members of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.
b This figure does not include the 1,320 workers listed
by the factory inspection records in New York State outside New York City and the 784 workers listed in Connecticut.


DIAGRAM IV
Place of residence of members of Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America by postal districts in 1923
the Union are plotted by postal districts on
Diagram IV, and these data are compared with
the work-shop statistics from the factory in

Present Location of Industry.-The series of
six maps, appearing on pages 38-43, show the
location of the men's clothing plants in New York
and its environs in 1900 and in 1922, and Table
IX distributes both the plants and employes in
the years 1900, 1917, and 1922 among certain
specified geographical subdivisions of the area.
It will be observed that more than half of the
plants employing more than half of the workers




THE MEN'S WEAR INDUSTRY


37


TABLE IX.-PLANTS AND EMPLOYES ENGAGED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MEN'S CLOTHING IN
DESIGNATED DISTRICTS IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS IN 1900, 1917, AND 1922a
Number
Plants                       Employes
1900      1917       1922      1900      1917      1922
Total City of New York.......................  1,700   4,154     4,077     29,180    71,690     58,648
Manhattan south of 14th Street............  1,345     2,069      1,799    23,196     42,874    30,493
Manhattan 14th to 42d Streets.............  139        483       487       1,435     8,589     7,736
Manhattan north of 42d Street..............   60        276       325        323       872      1,969
Brooklyn and Queens.....................     155     1,256      1,208     4,216     19,264    17,212
Bronx...................................       1        70       258         10        91      1,238
Total territory outside City of New York..........  12   184       251        782     3,870      7,633
New Jersey..............................      12        96       197        782      2,762     5,529
New York State.............................       87        43..      1,103     1,320
Connecticut.................................            1        11..         5       784
Total New York and its Environs...........  1,712     4,338     4,328     29,962     75,560    66,281
Per cent
Total City of New  York.......................  99.3    95.8      94.2       97.4      94.9       88.5
Manhattan south of 14th Street.............  78.6      47.7       41.6      77.4       56.7      46.0
Manhattan 14th to 42d Streets..............   8.1      11.1       11.2       4.8       11.4      11.7
Manhattan north of 42d Street.............    3.5       6.4        7.5       1.1        1.2       3.0
Brooklyn and Queens.....................     9.0      29.0       27.9      14.1       25.5      26.0
B ronx.....................................1       1.6        6.0.0.1       1.8
Total territory0 outside City of New York.........7    4.2       5.8        2.6       5.1       11.5
New  Jersey...............................7       2.2       4.6        2.6        3.7       8.3
New  York  State............................       2.0        1.0..        1.4       2.0
Connecticut..................................0.2...0       1.2
Total New York and its Environs...........  100.0    100.0      100.0      100.0     100.0     100.0
a Data from records of state factory inspectors.
b Including an insignificant number on Staten Island.
a Territory included within scope of the Regional Plan but lying outside the City of New York.


are concentrated in Manhattan south of 42d
Street. The district of greatest concentration is
an area of approximately one-sixth of a square
mile, bounded on the north by 14th Street, on
the south by Bleecker Street, on the east by
Lafayette Street, and on the west by Broadway.
In this district most of the plants are found on
Broadway. More than half of the remainder of
the plants and employes are located in Brooklyn
and Queens, the centers of concentration being
Williamsburg, Bushwick, East New York, and
Brownsville.
Movement of Industry.-During the twentytwo-year period covered by the maps and statistics a very perceptible movement has been in


progress in the course of which lower Manhattan has declined and all of the outlying sections
of the area have increased in relative importance.
The number of plants outside the City of New
York is yet, however, negligible. In 1900 Manhattan south of 42d Street contained 86.7 per
cent of the plants and 82.2 per cent of the employes. As has been pointed out above, in 1922
in this district these figures had dropped to approximately 50 per cent.' During this period
there was, nevertheless, a large absolute growth
in plants and employes in this section. The
other sections grew much more rapidly —Brooklyn
52.8 per cent of the plants and 57.7 per cent of the employes.




PAT~ER$ON I-                      HUON        i
*0
> f
" —""" ' '- "         i^ J       i t   ^^     ^^
Ji^^   STATEN ISLAND  J    fc  ^^.AINFIELD*
w MARKET.     UNION                   i1900
D BANK.-                                               MEN'S    CLOTHING.... J'      ~iSL   '~' '      SCALE 0  1!2  3  4.  5 MILES
DIAGRAM V
Location of plants in men's clothing industry in New York and its Environs in 1900
38




I
I
I
I
I




7 -,  ~*  $ ~ g  >  -
~ W *e o g 5  0t. 0   La a
L  z  fE  ~ I
Co.:(


S
3 Z


BRIDGEPORT
*0*
NEW CANAAN.
STAMFORD
*o *o 


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PLAINFLELD
* 00.
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NE BRUNSWICK
SOUTH RIVER o.
MATAWAN.
RED BANK
LONG BRANCeH,
ASBURY RARK o


I


71


/>            0*                             >
ESSE      WESTd HeSTER jR     (,,
IB                    cl           ROXX.          |r~~A.._.  ':,~ '
BEREN                            BRONX  p      U
'*o                F         1922
UNON       \.      MEN'S CLOTHI NG
$  / 
LEGEND
J|/.J  1      _ ~  iEMPLOYES PER PLANT 1-19 20-49 50-99 100-199 200AND OVER,/r,c f, O, ' '~,,, '.....SCALE'O  I  3  4  5 MILES


_.,,.I,,,


ii


E.PORTCHESTER
PORT CHESTER
GREEN PORT.
HUNTINGTON
OYSTER BAY.
HICKSVILLE.
PATCHOGUE.
SAYVILLE.
BAYSHOREo...
HEMPSTEAD.
BABYLON.
COPIAQUE o
LYNBROOK~ 
ROCKVILLE CENTER
FREEPORT..
LAWRENCE..
LONG BEACH.


t


)RADLEY DEACH 


I


-


DIAGRAM VI
Location of plants in men's clothing industry in New York and its Environs in 1922
39


I I I




*V '* "<  ':' ~  I                       /I  /  '"'~'                         1900
>*;!t '-I  *' l///         /    I[                                      MEN'S CLOTHING
JO<  <  <  ^   ^   j  \j   ^ /   n ~~~~~~LEGEND
-~~~~~4ZND- -- -' ---Y. *"  /*.~I\~~~~ ^'^''llR~ ~..~  *~:~ ~EMPLOYES PER PLANT 1-19 20-49 50-99 100-199 00ANOOVER
tt"  L-LI.. o; 
34TH              STREET::         ' ~         '~~,     ~' ~.,o 4.  H                 -          f 
FOR THIS AREA SEE                                                  -
DIAGRAM IX  1                                                        '-"
0d ~     2' ~30ELAE.


DIAGRAM VII
Location of plants in men's clothing industry in portion of Manhattan and Brooklyn in 1900




1922


MEN'S CLOTHING


LEGEND
EMPLOYES PER PLANT 1-19 20-49 50-99 100.199 ZOOANDOVER
o         0        *


DIAGRAM VIII
Location of plants in men's clothing industry in portion of Manhattan and Brooklyn in 1922








1900
SCALE TN FEET
0      50o    1000


* a..
TOMPKINS
*   SQUARE.


0* *




%0 o*
a *~  00 
* 0
~o ~


~o
0.a0....0'
C~,o
*.0
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0 0
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e~


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* *0 e 
- 0,. 0  0
0 
00


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0**


EMPLOYES PER PLANT: 1-19. 20-49 o 50-99 ~  100-199 O  200 AND OVER 0
DIAGRAM IX
Location of plants in men's clothing industry, in area of greatest concentration in Manhattan in 1900
42






I I _. _ -
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1922
SCALE IN FEET
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0    


44444400*
44.1.  0   0
*         0.0
00


0oo0


EMPLOYES PER PLANT  1-19. 20-49o 50-99     100 -1990  00 AND OVER ~
DIAGRAM X
Location of plants in men's clothing industry in area of greatest concentration in Manhattan in 1922
43




44 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


and Queens, for example, having increased in
number of employes more than four times over,
while lower Manhattan was increasing only
55.2 per cent. On Manhattan Island itself there
has been a gradual movement northward since
1900, but in 1922 the greatest area of concentration was still south of 14th Street.
Explanation of Trends.-The motive behind
the movement northward on Manhattan Island
is the desire to enter a more desirable marketing
district. One manufacturer described the district
below 14th Street as a "sharpshooting" district
where the buyers of better grades of goods would
not care to go.
Whereas the rapid growth of plants in Brooklyn
is ordinarily explained in the trade by the large
settlements of Jews and Italians which have
developed there in recent years, particularly in
the neighborhood of Williamsburg and Brownsville, it is an interesting question as to whether
these settlements would have developed had it
not been possible for the contractors to follow
and establish their shops at points conveniently
near at hand. It seems probable that this development has considerable significance in relation to the problem of the future of the industry
in the area.
The trend which is arousing the greatest
interest in the industry at the present time is
that which is described as the movement to the
"country." As has been pointed out,' there is
little evidence in the statistics that this movement to places in the environs lying outside the
city limits has yet reached a stage where it is
making serious inroads. Examples of this movement, however, have been the occasion of considerable comment. The reason usually given
by the manufacturers for this change of location
was the desire to escape from working conditions
demanded by the union. No attempt can be
made in this place to determine the extent to
which the manufacturers are justified in criticising
union practices, but there is no question as to the
existence of a feeling of irritation regarding the
labor situation.2
1 See page 23.
2 The problem which must be faced by the manufacturer
who moves from New York to the country is well summarized by an article in the Daily News Record of February 24, 1922.


TABLE X.- ESTABLISHMENTS MANUFACTURING
MEN'S SHIRTS IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS IN 1900, 1917, AND 1922, CLASSIFIED BY
SIZE OF PLANT AND BY SUBDIVISIONS OF THE
AREAa
Number of         Number              Per cent
employes
per plant   1900   1917  1922   1900   1917  1922
New York City
1-9.......   50     76    159   28.2   29.9   42.7
10-19......   52     42     70   29.4   16.5   18.8
20-49......   55     75     96    31.1  29.5   25.8
50-99......    15    40     33     8.5  15.8    8.9
100-199.....    4     15     12    2.3    5.9    3.2
200 and over.    1     6      2.5   2.4.6
Total.....  177   254    372   100.0  100.0  100.0
Portion of New Jersey included in Region
1-9........      2      5..    7.2    7.9
10-19.......          3      6..   10.7    9.5
20-49......    3      7     23    16.7  25.0   36.5
50-99......    6      9     20   33.3   32.1   31.8
100-199.....    4      4      6   22.2   14.3    9.5
200 and over.   5      3      3    27.8  10.7    4.8
Total.....   18    28     63   100.0  100.0  100.0. 


Portion of New York State included in Region (exclusive
of New York City)
1-9...............  9.1
10-19.......          1      5..    9.1  21.8
20-49......     2     3     13    40.0   27.3   56.5
50-99......     1     4      5    20.0   36.3   21.7
100-199......      1....    9.1
200 and over.    2      1..    40.0    9.1
Total.....    5     11    23   100.0  100.0  100.0
Portion of Connecticut included in Region
1-9.......    2      2      3    50.0   66.7  33.4
10-19......1                1..   33.3  11.1
20-49..........              2...  22.2
50-99......     1.      1    25.0..    11.1
100-199...........     1....  11.1
200 and over.    1..     1    25.0..    11.1
Total.....     4     3      9   100.0  100.0  100.0
a Data from records of state factory inspectors.




THE MEN'S WEAR INDUSTRY


45


TABLE XI.-PLANTS AND EMPLOYES ENGAGED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MEN'S SHIRTS IN DESIGNATED
DISTRICTS IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS IN 1900, 1917, AND 1922a
Number
Plants                       Employes
1900      1917      1922      1900      1917      1922
Total City of New York.......................  177     254       372      4,309     9,569     9,219
Manhattan south of 14th Streetb............  142     132        152     3,397     3,889     2,459
Manhattan 14th to 42d Streets..............  20       27        49       649        539       779
Manhattan north of 42d Street.............   2         9        53        33        476     1,556
Brooklyn and Queens......................   12        80       101       206      4,301     4,001
Bronx....................................     1         6        17        24        364       424
Total territoryc outside City of New York........  27   42        95      5,129     4,028     6,282
New  Jersey...............................  18        28        63      3,351     3,057     4,739
New York State..5.........................   5        11        23      1,263       940       791
Connecticut...............................   4         3         9       515         31       752
Total New York and its Environs...........  204      296       467      9,438     13,597    15,501
Per cent
Total City of New York.......................  86.8   85.8      79.7       45.7      70.4      59.5.Manhattan south of 14th Street.............  69.6   44.6      32.6      36.0       28.6      15.9
Manhattan 14th to 42d Streets..............  9.8      9.1      10.5       6.9       4.0       5.0
Manhattan north of 42d Street.............  1.0       3.1      11.4.4        3.5      10.0
Brooklyn and Queens......................   5.9      27.0      21.6       2.2      31.6      25.8
Bronx....................................5       2.0       3.6.2       2.7       2.8
Total territoryc outside City of New York.........  13.2  14.2  20.3      54.3       29.6      40.5
New  Jersey...............................  8.8       9.5      13.5      35.4      22.5      30.6
New  York State..........................  2.4       3.7       4.9      13.4       6.9       5.0
Connecticut...............................  2.0       1.0       1.9       5.5.2       4.9
Total New York and its Environs...........  100.0   100.0     100.0     100.0      100.0    100.0
a Data from records of state factory inspectors.
b Including an insignificant number on Staten Island.
c Territory included within scope of the Regional Plan but lying outside the City of New York.


The general conclusions which may be drawn
from the study of the local situation are summarized on page 21. It seems fairly obvious that
for a considerable period to come New York will
continue to be the center of manufacture for
men's clothing. It seems highly probable that
while the marketing of the product will continue
to be done on Manhattan, the processes of fabrication will tend more and more to be centered in
Brooklyn and other outlying sections of the city.
Miscellaneous Men's Wear
This section deals briefly with the three minor
branches of the men's wear industry-shirts,


hats and caps, and furnishings. Since, with the
exception of felt and straw hats, these branches
of the industry possess in general the same characteristics as the men's clothing branch, already
discussed, they may be dismissed with very brief
comment.
The Men's Shirt Industry.-The factory inspection records show that the shirt industry
employed 15,501 workers in New York and its
environs in 1922. This is less than one-fourth as
many as men's clothing.' Census data indicate
that New York City with only 12.2 per cent of
the country's wage-earners (average number)
1 Men's clothing employed 66,281.




46 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


in the industry, produced in 1921 34.9 per cent
of the shirts of the country, measured in terms of
value of product.' Clearly New York makes
shirts of relatively high quality. It is also of
interest that outside of New York the men's
shirt industry is not a city industry, the plants
being located, for the most part, in small communities rather than in the larger metropolitan
centers.
An examination of Table X will reveal several
significant facts regarding the size of the plants
devoted to shirt manufacturing in the different
sections of New York and its environs. While
the plants run somewhat larger than the men's
clothing establishments, the typical shirt factory
in New York is small-smaller than in the environs. Moreover, the small plants are increasing in proportion in New York City while they
have been declining in the environs.
Shirt manufacturers interviewed by the investigator were unanimously of the opinion that
the industry was rapidly leaving New York City
and establishing itself in small towns in New
Jersey, Maryland, upper New York State, and
especially in Pennsylvania. The data given in
Table XI show that there is no marked gain in
the immediate environs of New York City.
Movement away from lower Manhattan there
certainly has been. There has been an absolute
decline in the number of employes below 14th
Street, but this loss has been made up many
times over by gains in other sections of the city.
The most rapid growth has been in Brooklyn and
Queens. These boroughs in 1922 accommodated
4,001 workers, whereas in 1900 they contained
only 206.
Shirt factories possess many of the qualities
which enable an industry to supplement the extractive and heavy fabricating industries, such as
coal mines and steel mills. The manufacturers
testify that the work is easily standardized and
essentially unskilled; that untrained women can be
taught to perform the operations in a very short
time. The census figures show marked gains
in the position of Pennsylvania in the industry.
1 The corresponding figures for 1919 were 16.4 per cent
of the wage-earners and 40.8 per cent of the value of product and those for 1899 were very similar to the 1921 figures,
12.3 per cent of the wage-earners and 30.2 per cent of the
wage-earners.


TABLE XII.- ESTABLISHMENTS MANUFACTURING MEN'S HATS AND CAPS IN NEW YORK AND
ITS ENVIRONS IN 1900, 1917, AND 1922, CLASSIFIED BY SIZE OF PLANT AND BY SUBDIVISION
OF THE AREAa
Number of        Number              Per cent
employes
per plant   1900  1917   1922  1900   1917  1922
New York City
1-9.......   90   204    345    36.2  45.8  67.7
10-19......   73   140     91    29.3  31.5   17.9
20-49......   51     60    49    20.5  13.6    9.5
50-99......  21     27    16     8.4   6.1   3.1
100-199.....   11    10      6     4.4   2.2   1.2
200 and over.   3     4      3     1.2.8.6
Total..... 249    445   510   100.0 100.0 100.0
Portion of New Jersey included in Region
1-9.......    2     7     11    11.1  21.9  20.4
10-19......    2      1     8    11.1   3.1   14.8
20-49......    6      3    17    33.4   9.4   31.5
50-99......    2      7     6    11.1  21.9   11.1
100-199.....    4     6     10    22.2  18.7  18.5
200 and over.   2      8     2    11.1  25.0    3.7
Total....   18     32    54   100.0 100.0 100.0
Portion of New York State included in Region (exclusive
of New York City)
1-9.........     4      4..   20.0   26.7
10-19......          I....      5.0 
20-49........      6     2..  30.0   13.3
50-99........        3      1..  15.0    6.7
100-199.....          2      5..   10.0  33.3
200 and over.   1     4      3   100.0  20.0   20.0
Total....    1     20    15   100.0 100.0 100.0
Portion of Connecticut included in Region
1-9.......         3      2    25.0  10.0    5.1
10-19........     5    25.0..   12.8
20-49......   3     6      9    25.0  20.0   23.1
50-99......    3     13    10    25.0  43.4   25.7
100-199.......     4      8..   13.3  20.5
200 and over...     4      5.   13.3   12.8
Total.....  12     30    39   100.0 100.0 100.0
a Data from records of state factory inspectors.




THE MEN'S WEAR INDUSTRY


47


TABLE XIII.-PLANTS AND EMPLOYES ENGAGED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MEN'S HATS AND CAPS
IN DESIGNATED DISTRICTS IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS IN 1900, 1917, AND 1922a
Plants                       Employes
1900      1917      1922       1900      1917       1922
Number
Total City of New York.......................  249        445       510      7,151     9,201      7,460
Manhattan south of 14th Streetb............   234       380       438      5,498      7,160     5,183
Manhattan 14th to 42d Streets..............   2         12        13         5        509        276
Manhattan north of 42d Street...           2          3         6        62         13         19
Brooklyn and Queens.....................      11        49        42      1,586      1,517     1,807
Bronx...................................               1        11..         2        175
Total territory0 outside City of New York........  31     82       108      2,282     9,569      9,937
New  Jersey...............................     18        32        54      1,450      3,711     3,014
New  York State...........................      1        20        15       476       1,987     2,521
Connecticut...............................     12        30        39       356       3,871     4,402
Total New York and its Environs.............   280       527       618      9,433     18,770    17,397
Per cent
Total City of New York.......................  88.9      84.4      82.5       75.8      49.0       42.9
Manhattan south of 14th Street.............  83.6      72.0       70.9      58.2       38.1      29.8
Manhattan 14th to 42d Streets...............7       2.3        2.1.1         2.7       1.6
Manhattan north of 42d Street.............    7.6.9.7.1.1
Brooklyn and Queens......................     3.9       9.3        6.8      16.8        8.1      10.4
Bronx.......................................2                1.8. 0      1.0
Total territory0 outside City of New York........  11.1  15.6     17.5       24.2      51.0       57.1
New  Jersey...............................    6.4       6.1        8.8      15.4       19.8      17.3
New York State............................4        3.8        2.4       5.0       10.6      14.5
Connecticut...............................    4.3       5.7        6.3       3.8       20.6      25.3
Total New York and its Environs.............  100.0    100.0      100.0     100.0      100.0     100.0
a Data from records of state factory inspectors.
b Including an insignificant number on Staten Island.
o Territory included within scope of the Regional Plan but lying outside the City of New York.


Men's Hats and Caps.-Men's headwear which,
according to the factory inspection records, employed 17,397 workers in New York and its
environs in 1917, is divided into three fairly
distinct branches: cloth hats and caps, felt hats,
and straw hats. The first, cloth hats and caps,
belongs to the needle trades and is highly concentrated in New York City, approximately onehalf' of the country's output, measured in terms
of value of product, being manufactured within
the limits of the five boroughs. The felt and
1 47.6 per cent, according to the Census of Manufactures
of 1919. This figure compares with 56.6 per cent in 1914
and 54.9 per cent in 1909.


straw hat branches are organized in a quite
different manner and are more widely scattered.'
The three branches really should receive individual treatment but the factory inspection records do not distinguish among them at all and
the census data are unsatisfactory both because
they do not distinguish between men's and
women's hats and because they are not classified
according to desired geographical areas.
Tables XII and XIII, based on the factory inspection records, present certain facts regarding
1 14.2 per cent of the value of product in the case of furfelt hats and 36.9 per cent in the case of straw hats (men's
and women's) were credited to New York City in 1919.




48 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


TABLE XIV.-ESTABLISHMENTS MANUFACTURING MEN'S FURNISHINGS IN NEW YORK AND
ITS ENVIRONS IN 1900, 1917, AND 1922, CLASSIFIED BY SIZE OF PLANT AND BY SUBDIVISION
OF THE AREAa
Number of         Number             Per cent
employes
per plant   1900   1917  1922   1900   1917  1922
New York City
1-9.......    9    117    206   25.7   44.3   57.5
10-19......   12     54     70   34.3   20.5   19.6
20-49......    7     55     53    20.0  20.8   14.8
50-99......    5     23     22    14.3   8.7    6.2
100-199....    2     14      6    5.7    5.3    1.7
200 and over..      1      1...4.2
Total....    35    264    358   100.0  100.0  100.0
Portion of New Jersey included in Region
1-9.........               3....     8.6
10-19......    1      1      5   33.3   25.0   14.3
20-49.........      1     18..    25.0   51.4
50-99......   1..      7    33.3..    20.0
100-199.....    1      2      1   33.4   50.0    2.9
200 and over.....      1....     2.8
Total.....    3      4     35   100.0  100.0 100.0


the establishments making all three types of men's
hats and caps in New York and its environs.
The general trends are similar to those observed
in the case of the shirt factories. In the city
itself the plants are small and are becoming
smaller. In Connecticut, where the felt hats are
important products, the plants are becoming
larger. Manhattan has fewer hat makers than
in 1900, but all other sections of New York and
its environs show gains, Danbury, Connecticut,
having experienced the greatest expansion. The
figures are not to be interpreted as indicative of
Connecticut's participation in the prosperity of
the felt hat industry, which has grown rapidly
since 1900.
Men's Furnishings.-This is a miscellaneous
group of plants, two-thirds of which are necktie
factories.' New York, according to the Census
of Manufactures of 1919, produced 46.6 per cent
of the men's furnishings of the country (value of
product), and employs 27.8 per cent of the wageearners in the industry. The factory inspection
data, summarized in Tables XIV and XV, show
that here again the typical plant in the city is small
and growing smaller. Compared with the shirt
and hat factories, the figures indicate that the
plants cling more persistently to the center of the
area. The section which has made the largest
gain in employes since 1900 is Manhattan between 14th and 42d Streets. The explanation of
this appears to be the advantages which arise
from close contact with the market, the color and
design of the fashionable necktie being a highly
variable element. Many of the factories are
located on very high-priced land immediately
adjacent to the salesrooms.
1 68 per cent. The remainder of the plants make suspenders, garters, belts, and cloth underwear.


Portion of New York State included in Region (exclusive
of New York City)
1-9.......     1       1      4   100.0   11.1   28.6
10-19........          1      1..    11.1     7.2
20-49......         3      6..    33.3   42.8
50-99.......            4      3..    44.5   21.4
100-199........
200 and over.......
Total.....     1       9     14   100.0  100.0   100.0
Portion of Connecticut included in Region
1-9...........       2....    22.2
10-19..........         2....    22.2
20-49.......      3....    33.4
50-99........          1....     11.1
100-199.........            1....     11.1
200 and over......
Total........       9....   100.0
B Data from records of state factory inspectors.




THE MEN'S WEAR INDUSTRY


49


TABLE XV.-PLANTS AND EMPLOYES ENGAGED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MEN'S FURNISHINGS IN
DESIGNATED DISTRICTS IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS IN 1900, 1917, AND 1922a
Plants                        Employes
1900      1917       1922      1900       1917      1922
Number
Total City of New York.......................   35       264        358      1,046     6,759      6,339
Manhattan south of 14th Streetb............   31        152       168       857      2,920      1,969
Manhattan 14th to 42d Streets..............    2         78       113       170      3,156      2,701
Manhattan north of 42d Street..............    2          2        10        19         39       112
Brooklyn and Queens......................   32         58..        644       748
Bronx...................................                 9..                 809
Total territoryc outside City of New York........  4      13         58       217        664     2,381
New Jersey.......35....................  3         4         35       212        310      1,544
New York State...........................      1         9         14         5        354       431
Connecticut................................          9....       406
Total New York and its Environs.........     39       277        416      1,263     7,423     8,720
Per cent
Total City of New York......................  89.7       95.3      86.1       82.8      91.1       72.7
Manhattan south of 14th Streetb............   79.5      54.9      40.4       67.9      39.4       22.6
Manhattan 14th to 42d Streets..............   5.1      28.2       27.2      13.4      42.5       31.0
Manhattan north of 42d Street..............    5.1.7       2.4        1.5.5        1.3
Brooklyn and Queens.......................       11.5      13.9..        8.7        8.5
Bronx...........................................       2.2....        9.3
Total territoryc outside City of New York........  10.3   4.7      13.9       17.2       8.9      27.3
New  Jersey..............................  7.7    1.4       8.4       16.8       4.2       17.7
New York State...........................     2.6       3.3       3.4.4        4.7        5.0
Connecticut................................            2.1....        4.6
Total New York and its Environs.........  100.0     100.0     100.0      100.0     100.0     100.0
a Data from records of state factory inspectors.
b Including an insignificant number on Staten Island.
~ Territory included within scope of the Regional Plan but lying outside the City of New York.




THE WOMEN'S GARMENT INDUSTRY


The women's garment industry is not only
much larger than the men's wear industry but it
is also much more completely concentrated in the
center of the city.1 Whereas a scant half of the
men's wear employes worked in Manhattan south
of 59th Street in 1922, the figures show more than
three-fourths of the women's garment workers to
have been located there. Moreover, although
this percentage has decreased slightly since 1900,
the decline has been much less rapid than in the
case of men's wear. Such decentralization as has
taken place seems to have been due in part to
the influence of the development of contracting
shops in the cloak and suit and dress and waist
branches and in part to a movement toward less
congested areas on the part of some of the more
standardized branches of the industry. The factory inspection data for the women's garment
industry are summarized in Table XVI by zones.2
In grouping the branches of the women's garment industry for purposes of analysis, an effort
I See Table IV.
2 For a description of the zones see Diagram I, page 12.


has been made to follow the usual divisions accepted in the trade. Table XVII classifies the
1922 factory inspection figures according to these
divisions.
TABLE XVII. —PLANTS AND EMPLOYES IN THE
WOMEN'S GARMENT INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK
AND ITS ENVIRONS IN 1922, CLASSIFIED BY
BRANCHES OF THE INDUSTRYa
Plants      Employes
Branches of industry
Num-   Per   Num-    Per
ber   cent   ber    cent
Cloaks and suits......... 2,985  33.2  43,781  29.1
Dresses and waists....... 4,149  46.2  62,562  41.7
Children's wear..........  742   8.3. 14,197   9.5
Underwear..............  527    5.9  12,651   8.4
Corsets.................  98    1.1   7,721   5.1
Housedresses and kimonas.  349   3.9   6,196   4.1
Neckwear...............  129    1.4   3,087   2.1
Total................. 8,979 100.0 150,195 100.0
Reports of factory inspectors for 1922.


TABLE XVI.-PLANTS AND EMPLOYES IN THE WOMEN'S GARMENT INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK AND ITS
ENVIRONS IN 1900, 1912, 1917, AND 1922 BY ZONESS
Plants                                        Employes
Year
Zone I      Zone II     Zone III     Total       Zone        Zone II    Zone III      Total
Number
1900      1,701         139         16         1,856       59,181      6,911       4,220       70,312
1912      4,724b        948b        26         5,698      112,756     20,510       3,931      137,197
1917      4,864       1,436         92         6,392      128,108     26,364       7,662      162,134
1922      6,720       2,089        170         8,979      114,061     28,210       7,924      150,195
Per cent
1900       91.6         7.5.9         100.0       84.2          9.8         6.0        100.0
1912       82.9        16.6.5        100.0        82.2         15.0         2.8        100.0
1917       76.1        22.5         1.4        100.0       79.0         16.3         4.7        100.0
1922       74.8        23.3         1.9       100.0        75.9         18.8         5.3        100.0
a Data from factory inspection records.
b Distribution of plants of less than 20 workers between Zone I and Upper Manhattan in Zone II in 1912 has been estimated on the basis of location of plants of this size in 1900 and 1917, as the records were incomplete.
50




THE WOMEN'S GARMENT INDUSTRY


51


The cloak and suit division,' the oldest branch
of garment manufacture, was also the largest
during the first forty to fifty years of the development of the ready-to-wear industry. In the past
five or ten years it has been outdistanced by its
newer rival, the dress and waist branch.2 Since
these two branches together include over fourfifths of the garment plants in New York and its
environs and employ nearly three-fourths of the
workers of the industry, they form the crux of
the problem of finding the place of the garment
industries in a plan for the New York region.
The five minor branches3 may be dismissed with
a few words. With the exception of neckwear,
fashion plays a relatively insignificant r6le in
all of them. Children's and infants' wear and
housedresses and kimonas are very recent recruits to the industry. The corset branch of the
industry is insignificant in New York City proper
but is important in the environs. There are
large corset centers in Newark and in Bridgeport
and other Connecticut towns. This branch, in
contrast with the other divisions of the industry, is composed of large plants and utilizes
native rather than immigrant labor. Contract
work has never been a feature of its production
system.
Significant Characteristics of the Women's Garment Industry
The trends and probable future of the women's
garment industry may be intelligently considered
only when certain characteristics of the industry
are understood. These are the method of production under the jobber-contractor system which
has been increasingly dominating the industry in
recent years; its dependence on the style factor
with the attendant seasonality; and the type of
labor force on which it has drawn in the past.
The Jobber-Contractor Development.-In the
early days of the garment industry, contracting
of the type still prevalent in the manufacture of
1About 18 per cent of the "cloak and suit" plants in
New York City in 1922 were devoted to the manufacture
of skirts.
2 Waist factories comprise only 15 per cent of this branch
in New York City.
3 In addition to these five branches, there is also the
embroidery industry, which in 1922 employed 20,372
workers in 2,289 plants. This is a service industry to
several of the garment trades, the dress trade especially.
Its movement is tied up with that of the garment trade.


men's clothing was common.' This type of contracting is still found to a certain extent in the
cloak and suit industry, some of the inside shops
giving out part of their product, after cutting,
to be made up by contractors. Production in
this branch, however, as well as in the dress industry, is now more largely in the hands of a
functionary known as the "sub-manufacturer"
in cloaks and suits, and the "contractor"2 in the
dress trade.
The use of the terms "contractor," "sub-manufacturer," "sub-contractor," "jobber" "stockhouse," and "inside shop" in different senses
in different branches of the trade and even at
times by different persons in the same branch
is a source of utter confusion to the uninitiated,
and it is difficult to get a set of definitions from
varied sources which will have any general agreement. As far as it has been possible to give precision to their meanings, these terms are defined
in the following discussion.
The terms "jobber" and "stockhouse" are
used interchangeably, the former being the more
common. The word "jobber" is not used in its
usual sense and it is because dress and cloak jobbers do not perform the same function as the
ordinary jobber that an effort has been made to
substitute "stockhouse" in common usage for
"jobber," though neither term is accurately
descriptive. The jobber in the ordinary sense
has no direct connection with production; in
the garment trades he controls production. Jobbers are found chiefly in the cloak and suit and
dress industries, but these industries form so large
a part of the garment trades as a whole as to
color the complexion of the entire group.
A jobber in the garment trades is one who sells
dresses or cloaks and suits to the retail trade,
carrying large stocks on hand for immediate deliveries. He does not buy his stocks from manufacturers in job lots already made up, but contracts with a sub-manufacturer in cloaks and
suits, or with a contractor in dresses, for the
manufacture of such goods as he wishes to carry
in stock or such goods as he has sold to a retail
customer from samples for future delivery. He
1 See page 31.
2 As a matter of convenience in the subsequent discussion, the term "contractor" is sometimes used for both
industries.




52 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


usually gives to the sub-manufacturer or contractor, on consignment, the materials from which
the garments are to be made. Sometimes the
jobber also employs his own designer who prepares his styles and has a staff of sample makers
who make up the samples under supervision.
This sample is then given to the contractor as a
model or pattern, together with the piece goods,
and often the linings and trimmings to be used
in making up the garments contracted for. In
the majority of cases, however, the contractor or
sub-manufacturer creates his own designs and
submits them to the jobber in soliciting orders.
The contractor, in the dress industry, or the
sub-manufacturer, in cloaks and suits, then, is
really a manufacturer without an elaborate selling organization designed to reach the buyers for
the retail stores. He manufactures the goods
completely from the cutting to the final "finishing" and pressing, and often designs them as
well. There are in general two classes of contractors. One is the group located in the center
of the city in close proximity to the jobbers.
They run shops of fair size, according to the
present standards in the dress and cloak industries,-averaging from 20 to 60 workers. They
usually create their own styles. A considerable
proportion of them belong to associations of contractors or sub-manufacturers in their respective
industries, and regulate their relations with the
jobbers and their employes through joint agreements with jobbers' associations and the union.
Some of this group do not belong to the associations, and operate under individual union agreements. The second class of contractors is anything but a cohesive group. They have but few
employes; they are scattered in all parts of the
city; and the conditions under which work is
carried on hark back to the days of the sweatshop. They are housed in old buildings or even
in tenement houses. One union official interviewed in this study termed them "rat-holes."
A great majority of these are what are known as
corporation (a corruption of co-operation) or
social shops. These have been well described in
a recent study published in the Monthly Labor
Review:'


"A corporation or social shop is a small unit
of production in the ladies' garment trades
owned and operated by a few workers, who
divide among themselves the earnings of their
work as well as the profits made on other workers they employ. Such additional workers,
employed on a wage basis, are usually drawn
from their nearest relatives, or in other words
from their family circles, hence the name
social shop.
"The workers and employers alike work
unlimited hours. Having no overhead expenses
and working in family groups these shops
become a menace and danger to the employers
as well as to the workers of the legitimate shops,
where standards of wages and hours are enforced. These shops, by the nature of their
composition, are difficult to organize on the
part of the union. It is the contention of the
union, as well as the employers who have
agreements with the union and are running
bona fide shops, that in most instances, the
organization and maintenance of these shops
is encouraged and financed by the jobber for
the purpose of getting cheap labor.
"The success of such shops has been small,
since hundreds of them are going out of business and the so-called 'employers' finally
return to rejoin the union in order to be able
to make a living as 'workers.'"
Nevertheless, although the mortality rate
among the small contractors and especially
among the social shops, is high, there seems to
be an unending reserve supply of those who are
waiting to step in and take the places of those
who drop out. The manager of one of the con- 
tractors' associations estimated that there is
about a 50 per cent turnover each year among
the small new shops. Although social shops may
at present be decreasing, the small contracting
shop is still holding its own.
The development of jobber and contractor in
these two leading industries has been gathering
force and momentum during the past six or seven
years, though before 1917, there were, of course,
representatives of each group. However, up to
that year, the major part of the manufacturing
was carried on in large or medium-sized "inside
shops," i. e., shops in which the garment was cut
and made in its entirety. Now the majority of
former manufacturers have become jobbers, and
distribute their production among a large number of contractors or sub-manufacturers. Others


1 U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; Monthly Labor Review, June, 1923, pages 138-9.




THE WOMEN'S GARMENT INDUSTRY


53


who still maintain inside shops send out a considerable proportion of their product to contractors. One man in close touch with conditions
in the cloak industry stated that even in the new
Garment Center district most of the so-called
manufacturers do not make more than 20 per
cent of the product they sell. It is commonly
said by men in the industry that no one is left in
the dress and cloak trades who makes in his own
shop all the goods that he sells, with the possible
exception of those who are termed creators in the
industry, the firms making the very high-grade
dresses and coats who cannot afford to let their
work go to contractors where styles become common property.
It is difficult to get any figures representing
accurately the entire number of contracting
firms in the two leading branches of the garment
industries. It has been estimated that about
75 per cent of the total output of cloaks and suits
in the city of New York is produced in small contracting shops.' According to the best available
figures, there were in July, 1923, 1,405 union contractors in the dress and waist industries, both
association and independent. In the cloak and
suit industry, union association sub-manufacturers alone numbered 843. Neither of these
figures includes the large number of non-union
contractors in both industries, small shops which
have sprung up all over the city, so ephemeral
in character that they elude both factory inspector and union organizer. An official of the
dress contractors' association estimates that
there are probably 2,500 dress contractors in
New York City, only 800 of whom are in the
association. In 1917, he said, there were about
500. The ratio of jobbers to contractors was
placed at one to eight, but this is undoubtedly
low. Some of the larger jobbers keep as many as
80 and 90 contractors busy2 at the height of the
season and at least one was reported to have 125
contractors at work on his orders. Union figures
show one union jobber in dresses to about 15
union contractors.
Diagram XII (page 65) presents data bearing
on the location of jobbers and contractors. Con1 Women's Wear, February 25, 1922, page 3.
2 One of these jobbers had 90 contractors with 900 employes.


tractors are found in every borough and every
section of the city, and even in outlying sections,
such as Jersey and Westchester. The jobbers
were found almost entirely between 23d and 42d
Streets in both cloaks and dresses, the majority
still being in the older section east of Seventh
Avenue. The dress trade has a larger proportion
in the new Garment Center district. The tendency is for the jobber to locate in the newer,
high-rental areas, and for the contractor, because
of the keen competition for the jobber's business
and the need for quick deliveries, to locate as
near the jobber as he can afford.
The most important cause of the phenomenal
growth of this jobber-contractor system has been
the desire of the garment merchant-manufacturer
to rid himself of his difficulties in handling labor
problems. Another cause lies in the seasonal
nature of the industry. With a large number of
contractors to draw on during the busy seasons,
a jobber can expand his business to the utmost of
his selling capacity without having to expand his
space at all or his organization permanently. In
busy season he gives work to contractors; in dull
season he does not. There is no problem of laying off a large part of his labor force twice a year,
and recruiting it again when business starts up at
the beginning of the season. All these responsibilities are passed on to the contractor or submanufacturer.
The majority of the present contractors were
formerly foremen, cutters or designers in inside
shops, which have gone out of existence as
factories. The glowing representations of their
ex-employers, now jobbers, the small capital necessary to set up a contract shop, and the characteristic desire of the Jew to have his own business have all contributed to the transformation
of these ex-foremen into sub-manufacturers or
contractors. It is possible to start a business of
this kind with a few hundred dollars' savings:
machines may be bought second-hand or on the
installment plan, power is rented, the materials
are supplied by the jobber, so that all that is
needed is a few months' rent ahead and possibly
cash to cover the payroll, although in some instances, especially for the small contractor, the
jobber advances this also. Once launched in his
career as a contractor, he must remain in busi



54 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


ness because his savings are tied up in it and his
profits are seldom large enough for him to retire
without sacrificing these savings. Moreover,
with the decrease in inside shops opportunities
for employment at the work to which he is accustomed are rare, and, as the majority of these men
are no longer young, they must stick it out short
of actual bankruptcy.
The jobber-contractor development has resulted in a reduction in the size of plants in the
main branches of the industry. It has been
claimed that all the needle trades have passed
through several cycles from small to large units
of production and back again. Census figures on
this point for women's clothing do not support
the contention. The federal census data show a
falling off in the size of plants with only one
break1 in continuity from 1879 to 1921 in both
the City of New York and the entire United
States. The drop has been especially marked
from 1914 to 1919 and 1921, the years which have
witnessed the growth of the jobber-contractor
system. In 1914 the average New York City
plant had 28 employes. In 1921 it had only 18.
Moreover, every census since 1889 shows the average plant in New York City to be somewhat
smaller than the average plant outside of the city.
Table XVIII summarizes the factory inspection data according to the size of the plants in
the industry as a whole in New York and its
environs for the four years 1900, 1912, 1917, and
1922. Table XIX gives the details for New York
City alone in 1922 by branches of the industry.
TABLE XVIII.-SIzE OF PLANTS IN WOMEN'S
GARMENT INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK AND ITS
ENVIRONS IN 1900, 1912, 1917, AND 1922
Number of  NumLer of plants  Per cent of plants
employes
per plant 1900 1912 1917 1922 1900 1912 1917 1922
1-19....  898 3,828 3,933 6,920 48.4 67.2 61.5 77.1
20-49..... 617 1,2021,711 1,653 33.2 21.1 26.8 18.4
50-99.....211 464 534 311 11.4 8.1 8.4 3.5
100-499.... 125 199 207   89  6.7 3.5 3.2.9
500 and over  5   5   7    6.3.1.1.1
Total.... 1,856 5,698 6,392 8,979 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1This break, in 1899, was too slight to indicate a cycle.


The predominance of the small plant in all
branches of the garment industry in New York
City is evident.
The trend from large to small plants, the tendency most marked in the two leading branches
suggested by the census data, is confirmed by the
factory inspection figures.' There was a marked
increase in plants of less than 20 employes from
1917 to 1922 and also in the longer period from
1900.2
The present situation is chaotic and some
observers are of the opinion that its continuation will spell ruin to the industry. At all
events the outcome will have an important bearing on the location and movement of the industry. Under present conditions the larger contracting shops have to remain near the jobbers in
the heart of Manhattan in order to meet competition. Small underbidding non-union shops
will continue to spring up in outlying sections
of the city and in Jersey and Westchester. If
then the bulk of the contract work remains near
the jobbers in the congested centers, no advantage will accrue from the separation of selling and
manufacturing functions. Under a regulation of
the present system, or even under a return to
large inside shops, it would seem to be in line
with normal economic development, as the city
grows in the years to come, for selling offices of
the garment trade to remain as at present in the
heart of the city and for the plants where the
garments are made to tend to locate in the less
congested sections of the city and the region,
leaving space for such functions of the metropolis
as must be housed in its center.
Style and Its Influence on the Industry.-The
influence of style and style changes on the garment industries is of two kinds. In some branches
uncertainty as to what fashion will "take" in
each successive season makes it impossible to
manufacture goods much in advance of the demand. Twice each year for these branches occur
periods of slack time when business and production are practically at a standstill. These
1This fact is confirmed also by the findings of the
Governor's Advisory Commission in Cloak, Suit, and Skirt
Industry, New York City, 1925.
2 The embroidery industry shows an even greater proportion of small plants than the women's garment industry.




THE WOMEN'S GARMENT INDUSTRY


55


TABLE XIX.-SIZE OF PLANTS IN WOMEN'S GARMENT INDUSTRY IN
INDUSTRY IN 1922


NEW YORK CITY, BY BRANCH OF


Number of plants
Number of
employes       Cloaks     Dresses   Children's                          Houseper plant       and        and      Childar     Underwear    Corsets   dresses and  Neckwear    Total
suits      waists      wear                              kimonas
1-4.........      648         817        103          96         39          74          22       1,799
5-9.........      703         991        154          86          13         63          27       2,037
10-19........      925       1,402        201         118          9          84         38        2,777
20-49........      488         606        159         116          10         87          23       1,489
50-99.......     87          89         37          26          5          11          12        267
100-199.......       16         27           8           6          3           3           2         65
200-499.......        3          12..           3......         18
500 and over...       1....                       1...                     3
Total.......    2,871       3,944        662         452          80        322         124       8,455
Per cent of plants
1-4.........     22.6        20.7        15.6       21.3        48.8       23.0        17.7        21.3
5-9.........     24.5        25.1        23.2        19.0       16.2        19.6       21.8        24.1
10-19........    32.2        35.5        30.4       26.1        11.2       26.1        30.7        32.8
20-49.......      17.0       15.4        24.0       25.7        12.5        27.0       18.5        17.6
50-99........     3.0         2.3         5.6        5.7         6.2         3.4        9.7         3.1
100-199.......       6.7         1.2        1.3         3.8.9         1.6.8
200-499........1.3...7......2
500 and over...0.....2         1.3....1
Total.......     100.0      100.0       100.0      100.0       100.0       100.0      100.0       100.0
~~~~~~~~.....


seasonal fluctuations occur chiefly in those industries which make women's outerwear-cloaks,
suits, dresses and waists.
Sometimes the style influence acts over a
longer and a continuous period, causing a general
depression in the industry. For example, the
styles in women's underwear have been changed
and simplified in recent years with the result that
fewer different articles are needed and the total
consumption of underwear has decreased. In
addition, simple handmade inderwear has become
popular and manufacturers have found that they
can supply this demand at the same price as
cheap machine-made underwear, by giving it out
on a contract system to Porto Rican women in
their homes. The industry in New York is, therefore, according to one estimate, operating at
present at only 60 per cent of its former capacity.
This kind of long-term effect of style occurs in
all branches of women's wear. One type of
garment displaces another in the popular fancy.


Thus dresses have pushed into the background
both waists and skirts; cloaks have crowded
suits; and fur coats have crowded cloaks. When
dresses are worn which require the adornment of
collars and cuffs, ruffling, or guimpes, the neckwear industry booms; when fashion decrees that
they shall be unadorned the neckwear industry
suffers temporary eclipse. Plants must, therefore,
adapt their product to the demand of the market,
and often change their product entirely.
While the long period style changes are serious
in their influence on the industry, the most
spectacular and far-reaching effects are those
resulting from the season-to-season, and even
month-to-month, fluctuations in fashion. For a
considerable proportion of the labor force they
bring three to four months of unemployment
during the year and other months when they
work under tremendous strain in order to turn
out goods on time. For manufacturers they
bring heavy carrying charges on idle plant and




56 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


machinery and, worse than that, risk of financial
loss and dependence on a gambler's luck to
achieve business success. The keen desire to
have a style that will "take " has led to unethical
practices like style pirating, which is indulged in
by both jobbers and contractors. The semiannual disrupting of the factory organization
makes standardized and efficient production
methods practically out of the question.
The industry in the garment group which has
the most marked seasonal fluctuation is the cloak
and suit industry. Seasons in this branch have
been further shortened by the decline in the
vogue of the suit. The demand for cloaks starts
later in the fall than the demand for suits. When
both were made in the same plant, the season for
the two dovetailed. Representative cloak manufacturers and jobbers placed the present length
of the spring season at from two and a half to
three months, and the fall season at about four,
a total of a little more than half the year.
The dress industry has somewhat longer seasons, running eight to ten months in length, with
the fall peak in August and the spring peak in
January or February. The white goods industry
on the other hand is practically a 50-week industry. The manufacture of corsets is also not subject to any important seasonal fluctuation. The
kimona and housedress makers and the makers of
children's wear have a slack period during the
summer months, but are busy all the rest of the
year. The industries showing the greatest irregularity are those in which the greatest skill is required and the most expensive materials used.1
The jobber-contractor development has led to
an increase in seasonal irregularity. The jobber,
because he must carry a large stock on his racks
from which his customers select their goods for
immediate orders, carries much of the risk incurred by style vagaries. The retailer commonly
pursues a hand-to-mouth purchasing policy and
needs his goods at once when he needs them, so
the jobber must have them on hand for delivery.
With the risks as they are, it is natural that the
jobber should wait as late as possible to place his
order with contractors. Every day's delay in1See U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 183,
1915. Regularity of Employment in the Women's Readyto-wear Garment Industries, pages 25-26.


creases his opportunity to sense style trends. As
a consequence the contractor's season is short
and hectic. In the dull season the smaller contractors disappear, to reappear at the beginning
of the new season. The inside shops, on the other
hand, sell less from stock than from sample,
since they make for the most part the more expensive grade of goods. Their seasons are therefore somewhat more prolonged.'
It is difficult to get further evidence from which
to generalize on the proportion of the labor force
which is retained in dull season in the leading and
most seasonal branches. Of two manufacturers
of high-grade dresses, one said he kept 50 per
cent, the other that he kept 25 per cent of his
force during dull time. A maker of "popularpriced" dresses drops his entire force of 50 workers in the slack season. A man prominent in the
waist industry stated that the practice in that
trade is rather generally to retain the force intact during the two or three months' slack time
during the year. It is evident that the practice
varies considerably from plant to plant, but it is
clear that large numbers of the workers engaged
in the garment trades are idle for considerable
periods during each year. In 1925 the Governor's Advisory Commission in the Cloak, Suit,
and Skirt Industry found that the average number of full weeks of employment per year is 40
for inside shops and 31 for sub-manufacturers,
leaving 12 and 21 weeks of employment, respectively, for workers in this important branch of
the garment industry. The union has made
efforts to secure the division of work among its
members during slack times when there is not
full-time work for all. It also required that
union workers laid off at the end of the season
shall be re-engaged at the beginning of the new
one before any new workers are taken on. These
measures help to divide the burden of unemployment, but do not remove it.2
1 The census figures show a much more marked drop in
the labor force in slack season in contract shops than in
regular factories. See Census of Manufactures, 1919, New
York Supplement, page 94.
2Since this study was made the union has made efforts
to establish unemployment insurance for workers in the
cloak and suit industry. The principles have been accepted
by employers but the period and rate are among the things
which the Governor's Commission in this industry is to
determine.




THE WOMEN'S GARMENT INDUSTRY


57


Workers in these seasonal trades seek employInent in other trades during their slack season only
to a slight extent. They make high wages' during
the busy season and accept these as compensation
for slack times. The men, even less than the
women, seek slack season jobs. In the federal
study of irregular employment referred to above,2
inquiry among a group of cutters and pressers disclosed that 75 per cent of them spent their slack
seasons in comparative idleness.
Style influences in the garment industry and
its seasonal character have a significant relation
to the location and movement of the trade in the
city. Because of seasonal needs the industry
must be near a large reservoir of labor, and of
labor, moreover, which has been brought up in
the tradition of seasonal unemployment. A
waist plant in a small New Jersey city wrote
that its location had proved unfavorable because labor in that section was not accustomed
to seasonal fluctuations, and preferred employment at lower wages in more regular occupations.
Since style is so important a factor, it also makes
difficult the location of the factory at any great
distance from the salesrooms, for manufacturing
must keep in the closest possible touch with the
demands of the market. Style furthermore helps
to keep conditions in the industry chaotic.
Many of the abuses under the jobber-contractor
system are traceable to the terrific tension caused
by the uncertainties of style. And, finally, it is
the style factor which primarily determines that
74 per cent of the women's clothing for the entire
country is made in New York.
Power.-Practically all sewing machines used
in the industry are driven by electric power.
The change from foot power to electric power
took place chiefly since 1900, when according to
the census3 64.8 per cent of the women's clothing
factories still used foot power.  In 1911 the
Joint Board of Sanitary Control found 20 per
' For example, in the summer of 1923, the minimum
weekly union wage scale for operators in the cloak and
suit industry was from $48 to $50; for cutters $44; for
coat finishers $41; the lowest scale being for skirt basters
at $25 and skirt finishers at $20.50. This scale has since
been raised. Moreover, the majority of workers make well
above the minimum scale, 67 per cent, according to the
report of the Governor's Advisory Commission, 1925.
2 See page 56.
3 Census of Manufactures, 1900, Vol. IX, pages 300-301.


cent of the factories investigated still using foot
power,' but after 1914 none is recorded in their
reports. The power used by the garment industry throughout the city and very largely in small
towns in the region is rented. The Garment
Center Capitol is said to be the greatest single
consumer of electric power served by the New
York Edison Company. This, however, is due
not entirely to the motive power needed for its
factories but also to the large number of elevators
it uses.
The Labor Force.-The majority of workers in
all branches of the garment industries are drawn
from immigrant groups, with Russian and Polish
Jews in very considerable preponderance, followed
in importance by Italians. These two nationalities probably form together about 90 per cent of
the labor employed in the industry. The remainder is made up of mixed nationalities, colored
women, and a few native born Americans.
Colored women began to enter the dress and
waist industries, as well as some of the minor
branches of the garment trades, during the war
when the labor shortage opened to them opportunities for employment that had hitherto been
closed. They seem to have remained since that
time and to have further increased in number.
Except for the cloak and suit industry, the
labor force in the garment trades is made up
chiefly of women. According to census figures,2
77 per cent of the force in the dress and waist
industry, 89 per cent of that in the underwear
trade, and 81 per cent of that in the manufacture
of housedresses is made up of women. For
cloaks and suits, on the other hand, only 22 per
cent is composed of women, as this is the branch
which requires the most highly skilled workers.
In relation to the particular problem of this
study-the composition of the labor force has a
real significance. As has already been pointed
out, New York as the greatest center of immigrant population has the particular groups in
greatest numbers which have grown up in the
tradition of the garment industries. However,
the present restrictive immigration policy of this
country may, if continued, make it necessary for
1 Joint Board of Sanitary Control, Annual Report, 1912,
page 21.
2 United States Census of Manufactures, 1919.




58 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


the garment industry to look elsewhere for its
labor supply. In the underwear industry at the
present time it is reported that a shortage of
labor would arise if the industry were operating
to capacity. It is said that the sons of cloak
makers do not become cloak makers, but clerks,
lawyers, or business men. If this is the case,
what will happen when the present generation in
the industry passes away and the stream of immigration is shut off is problematical. American
workers in New York and other large cities have
a prejudice against factory work in what have
been known as the immigrant industries, and
prefer to work at low-waged "white-collar" jobs.
The increase in number of negro women in the
industry in recent years indicates one possible
solution of the problem of future labor supply.
Another consideration in regard to the labor
force is that these are largely skilled industries.
Compared with almost any other of the large
women-employing industries, such as candy,
tobacco, and paper boxes, the garment trades far
outbid them in wages. The invention of new
machinery can never, as one man put it, make
the garment trades "Robot" industries. In a
short labor market they therefore will crowd
their competitors for woman labor. On the other
hand, it will be more difficult to find the skill
they need, and training of a new labor force will
always be a considerable problem for them.
Because the major part of the labor force is made
up of women in most of the branches, there is
a higher turnover, since women workers, when
they marry, usually leave the industry. More
especially is this true of Jewish women, who
predominate.
The garment industry began on the lower East
Side because of its proximity there to a large
immigrant labor supply. Although this district
is still the largest single residence section for
workers in the garment trades, there has been a
strong tendency to move out to Harlem, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. The place of residence of the
52,000 members of the International Ladies'
Garment Workers' Union in New York City is
compared with their place of work in Table XX.
The location of racial colonies in the city is a
factor of especial importance in considering the
location of the labor force in this industry. The


TABLE XX.-PLACES OF RESIDENCE OF WORKERS
ENGAGED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WOMEN'S
GARMENTS ACCORDING TO MAILING LIST OF
MEMBERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL LADIES'
GARMENT WORKERS' UNION AND THEIR WORK
PLACES ACCORDING TO THE FACTORY INSPECTION RECORDS FOR 1922, BY SPECIFIED
SECTIONS OF NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS
Distribution of Distribution of
workers by    workers by
place of      place of
Districts        residence        work
Num-    Per    Num-    Per
ber    cent   ber    cent
Manhattan.......... 25,475   49.0  117,643  88.6
South of 59th Street... 17,863  34.4  114,061  85.9
North of 59th Street... 7,612  14.6  3,582  2.7
Bronx................  11,470  22.0  1,901   1.4
Brooklyn and Queens... 14,970  28.8  13,225  10.0
Richmond............   125.2     272.0
Total.............. 52,040  100.0  133,041 100.0


two predominant nationalities-Jews and Italians-are strongly inclined to colonize, and these
colonies, especially among the Jews, furnish their
cultural centers. Those who know the East Side
well say that only the most revolutionary change
in the entire section would uproot the chief
Jewish colony of the city, with its many traditions, its theatres, its newspapers, its restaurants, and its meeting places. It is true that
some of the more prosperous East Side Jews and
many of those of the second generation have
moved out to the Bronx or to Brooklyn, but here
too they have colonized. The desire of racial
groups to stick together makes labor less mobile
and tends to keep workers from these groups
from following their industries out of town.
The movement which has taken place in plants
and workers means that instead of walking to
work as in former years the majority of the
garment workers have to travel to and from their
daily work on the subways, elevated, and surface
cars. Diagram XI shows graphically the factory
center for the garment trade and the distance at
which it lies from the homes of the majority of
the workers. In the small section lying within
the heavy black line are employed two-thirds of
all the workers engaged in the garment industry




THE WOMEN'S GARMENT INDUSTRY


59


in New York City.l While 88.6 per cent of the
workers are employed in Manhattan, only 49 per
cent live in that borough. This means that
nearly 40 per cent of those employed in the industry in the entire city, or about 53,000 men and
women, have to travel from other boroughs to
Manhattan for their daily work. In Manhattan,
14.6 per cent of the workers reside in the section
north of 59th Street, but only 2.7 per cent are
employed there. The diagram shows that most
of those living above 59th Street are far uptown.
In terms of numbers, then, about 15,000 to
16,000 men and women travel from upper to
lower Manhattan daily to work in garment
factories. A total of nearly 70,000 persons must
come to a small central section of the city
where most of the women's garments for the
entire country are made. Translated into terms
of subway trains, it would take about 41 ten-car
trains, packed to rush-hour capacity,2 to bring to
this manufacturing center the 70,000 workers
who have found it necessary to live at a considerable distance from their work. Running on a
three-minute headway, this traffic alone would
keep a single subway station busy for over two
hours.
The effect of the distance at which the majority
of garment workers live from their work on the
transit facilities of the city is a matter of common
knowledge to those who travel daily on the subways and certain of the surface lines. Traffic
statistics for the number of persons using the
subways, elevated lines, and Hudson Tubes at
the leading cross streets from 8th to 42d Streets
in 1920 show very heavy congestion all along the
1 The mailing lists of the International Ladies' Garment
Workers' Union give separate figures on the place of
residence of members reading the Yiddish and of those
reading the Italian editions of its weekly. Some of the
Jewish and Italian members of course read the English
edition, but the figures on the readers of the two foreign
language editions indicate where workers of these two nationalities live. Sixty-four per cent of the Italians lived
in Manhattan as compared with 44 per cent of the Jews,
45 per cent of the former being below 20th Street as compared with 30 per cent of the latter. Practically no Jewish
workers were in the midtown district, where 7 per cent of
the Italians lived. The Jews had a much larger proportion
in the Bronx and Brooklyn on the other hand. Twentyfive per cent of the Jews and 13 per cent of the Italians
lived in the Bronx, and 31 per cent of the Jews and 23 per
cent of the Italians lived in Brooklyn.
2 Figures furnished by the New York Transit Commission place the average number of passengers per ten cars
at the rush hour at 1,700.


line. The congestion is heaviest at 42d Street,
and second in importance at 34th Street, where
over 89,000,000 people passed in and out of the


DIAGRAM XI
Place of residence of members of International Ladies'
Garment Workers' Union by postal districts in 1923
subway and elevated stations during the year.
At 14th Street the figure was 54,000,000; at 23d
Street 39,000,000; at 8th Street 30,000,000; at




60 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


28th Street, 21,000,000; and at 18th Street,
13,000,000. This congestion is due of course to
the stream of shoppers, of travelers arriving and
leaving from the railroad terminals, of office
workers, as well as workers in other trades and
industries; but undoubtedly the garment workers make a material addition to the existing congestion. There have already been complaints
that the workers in the new Garment Center
district jam the Times Square subway station at
just the time that matinee crowds are going
home from the theater. Increasing concentration of the industry in this new district will make
an increasing tax on the Seventh Avenue and the
B. M. T. subways, which carry workers from both
the Bronx and Brooklyn, as well as upper Manhattan. The Lexington Avenue subway is also
used extensively by garment workers; and the
Seventh Avenue, Fourth Avenue, and other surface lines carry many workers who are employed
in the midtown district but who live on the
lower East Side or other districts below 14th
Street. The garment industry is obviously one
of those which contributes substantially to the
enormous overtaxing of New York's transit
facilities.
Space Requirements and Rents.-An important
fact about the garment industry in relation to a
city plan is its small space requirement in proportion to the volume of its product. Thus, high
rent is less apt to influence movement of the
industry from the center of the city to the outlying sections of the region than in the "heavy"
industries. Furthermore, it can be housed in a
comparatively small area. Because of the tendency of the industry to crowd together in one
section, even at the present time the bulk of the
industry occupies a relatively small space in the
city. Over half of the plants and two-thirds of
the employes of this the largest industry in New
York are concentrated in four per cent of the
entire area of Manhattan and in three-tenths of
one per cent of the area of the greater city; and
these plants by no means occupy this small area
to the exclusion of all else. Included in this
section are all the leading department stores, the
leading wholesale districts, office buildings, and
factories in other industries.
That part of the industry which is located in


the chief area of concentration is housed largely
in modern loft buildings, ranging from six to 24
stories in height, with the space per floor of
usually 20,000 square feet. In the Garment
Center Capitol, the group of buildings around
which the new Seventh Avenue district is growing up, the floors are larger (33,000 to 38,000
square feet). As this building houses some of the
most important cloak and dress houses in the
trade, many of them occupy entire floors, but
this is considered a large amount of space for a
single shop in this industry. Many of these
plants have from 250 to 300 workers. These
floors are in some cases subdivided, but four
firms to a floor is the maximum. In the loft
buildings in some of the older sections, single
floors often house a number of plants. In 1922,
in the dress and waist industry, inspectors of the
Joint Board of Sanitary Control found as many
as fifteen shops on a floor.' Eighty-one per cent
of the plants occupied a whole or half a floor, but
for six per cent a sixth of a floor or less had to
suffice. This subdivision often interferes with
exits and increases the fire hazard.
Of all the buildings in which cloak and dress
plants were located, 53 per cent were six stories
or more in height and 18 per cent 12 stories or
higher.2 These buildings undoubtedly house the
majority of the plants in these industries, the
buildings of less than six stories being largely
those located away from the chief districts and the
newer developments.
Although the inside shops and the larger contracting shops are located in modern fireproof
buildings, there are still a number of plants, increased recently by the present tendency toward
decentralization in the industry, which are in
non-fireproof buildings and in buildings without
properly guarded elevators or even without
elevators of any kind. These are chiefly those
buildings located in sections from which the
greater part of the industry has withdrawn
because of the obsolescent character of their
buildings.
An attempt has been made in this study to
reach an estimate of the amount of space re1 Joint Board of Sanitary Control, Annual Report, 1923,
page 62.
2 Ibid., Annual Report, 1922, page 31.




THE WOMEN'S GARMENT INDUSTRY


61


quired per employe. According to data furnished by representative firms, the space per
worker in manufacturing varies all the way from
55 square feet in a high-grade dress plant which
gives a large proportion of its space to showroom,
to 140 square feet in an underwear factory
located away from the congested district where
space is plentiful. About 100 square feet per
worker would seem to be a fair average, this
figure taking into account space required for
stock, shipping, and an adequate showroom, in
addition to that needed for strictly factory purposes.
The jobber needs no space as a rule for manufacturing or only occasionally a very small space
for his designer and sample makers. The greatest proportion-about two-thirds to three-fourths
-of the jobber's space is given to stock. In
inside shops, making high-grade goods, about
half of the space is given to manufacturing. In
those making cheaper goods, about 75 per cent is
so used. The space given to stock for finished
goods also varies with the grade of product made.
Comparatively small space is required for the
storage of materials. Space for showrooms varies
according to the sales policy of the firm and the
grade of goods they sell, but the amount used for
this purpose is increasing, especially in the cloak
and suit and dress and waist trades. The contractor or sub-manufacturer gives his entire
space to manufacturing except for a small office,
and the smallest contractors dispense with offices
entirely.
To gain an approximate idea of the total
amount of space needed to house the industry in
its present dimensions in up-to-date loft buildings
of the type which are being erected in the new
Garment Center district, the estimate of 100
square feet per worker has been applied to the
total number of persons found to be engaged in
the industry in 1922 in the City of New York.
According to this calculation, it would take
13,304,100 square feet of factory, stockroom,
and showroom space to house the shops which
employ this number of workers. The average
modern loft building occupies a ground space
of 20,000 square feet; and the city blocks in the
7th Avenue district have an area of 160,000 square
feet. This means that eight such buildings might


conceivably be put in a city block 200 feet by 800
feet. In order to make the estimate more conservative, seven instead of eight buildings were calculated to the block. The tendency is to make the
new loft buildings at least 12 stories in height.
Thus each building of 12 stories would have a
total floor space of 240,000 square feet. The industry could then be housed in 56 buildings of
the type described, or in eight city blocks. In
other words the district, bounded on the south by
35th Street, on the east by 7th Avenue, on the
north by 39th Street, and on the west by 9th
Avenue, would be sufficient, if developed in modern loft buildings, to accommodate the entire
present productive industry of the city.
Another way of putting it would be to say that
it would take 11 Garment Center Capitol buildings, with their 1,500,000 square feet of floor
space, to house the entire industry, since about
12,000 persons work in these buildings during the
height of the busy season. These estimates do not
include the jobbers who take a large amount of
space in proportion to the number of their employes, but who are on the other hand relatively
few in number. The two to three hundred union
jobbers in the city, who include practically all of
any importance, could surely be housed in the
blocks between Broadway and 7th Avenue, 35th
to 39th Streets.
This estimate, rough as it is, is not designed as
a prophecy that some day such absolute concentration of the industry will take place, although
to a less comprehensive degree some such idea
was undoubtedly in the minds of the leading
spirits in the development of the Garment Center
District. The estimate is designed to emphasize
how small the space requirements of the industry
are. It is based on what might be rather than
what should be. It would be possible only with
fairly large units of production and an abolition
of the small contracting shop.
The chief district of concentration in the garment industry is located almost entirely on land
valued at $1,001 to $5,000 per foot front.1 A few
plants on 5th Avenue between 26th and 32d
Streets, jobbers on Broadway between 23d and
1 For lots 100 feet deep. The district of concentration
here referred to is that from 14th to 23d Streets, 4th to 7th
Avenues, and from 23d to 39th Streets, 4th to 8th Avenues.




62 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


26th, 30th and 39th Streets, and the de luxe dressmaking district along 57th Street and 5th Avenue
in the 40's and 50's are located on land valued at
more than $5,000 per foot front. The outer
fringes of this main district of concentration,
where there are comparatively few plants, include
somewhat cheaper land, valued at from $501 to
$1,000 per foot front.
The old garment section adjacent to Broadway
between Spring and Bleecker, where the industry
spent its early years and which still retains a
quota of women's clothing plants, and the University Place district are located on land valued at
$501 to $1,000 per foot front. On Broadway itself in this section the land value is $1,001 to
$5,000. The lower East Side with its contracting
shops contains little of land exceeding $1,000 per
foot front in valuation and some of it running as
low as $201 per foot front. The Harlem contracting and embroidery shops are on low-priced
land ranging in value from $201 to $500 per foot
front.
A comparison of land values in 1914 and 1923
in the districts of importance to the garment
industry shows a depreciation in the lower Broadway section in the blocks lying immediately east
and west of Broadway, and also in the University
Place district. Both of these sections were of
greater importance for the garment industry in
1914 than in 1923, and the movement of the industry away from these districts undoubtedly had
a part in this depreciation.
Market values have boomed in the new Garment Center district in the past year or two. The
old State Arsenal at 35th Street and Seventh
Avenue for which the State could not get a purchaser at $650,000 a few years before, sold in July,
1923, for $1,350,000. An old brownstone house
adjacent to the Garment Center Capitol on 38th
Street is said to have sold during the summer of
1923 for $255,000 although it was assessed for only
$28,000. Because of the type of building which
is going up in this section, as well as because of its
prestige as the newest district for the industry,
rents are higher here for loft space than in the
other districts in the trade. Space, at the time
this study was made, was about $1.50 to $2.00
per square foot in the Seventh Avenue district
as compared with $1.00 to $1.50 per square foot


in the Madison Avenue section, from which most
of the Garment Center firms moved to their
present location. During the peak of business
rentals, in about 1920, lofts in the 30's and
Madison Avenue brought as much as $2.00 and
$2.50 a square foot, but only the leading garment
manufacturers could stand this scale over a long
period.1
According to a leading real estate firm, the
cloak and suit industry can stand higher rentals
than any other branch of the garment trades,
followed closely by the dress industry and the
waist manufacturers. In cloaks and suits and
dresses, space for manufacturers and jobbers
brings $1.25 to $2.00 per square foot, and for
contractors $.60 to $.75. White goods comes next
in the rent scale, followed by children's wear and
neckwear. In the minor branches in which style
is less a factor, the advertising value of new and
luxurious establishments is not important, and
the majority of the plants in these industries content themselves with quarters in the less newly
developed and therefore lower rental sections.
A feature of the New York City garment industry is that it is almost entirely housed in buildings
rented by the manufacturers rather than owned
by them. Census figures on the distribution of
the expenses of production in the women's clothing industry, however, reveal that rent involves
only 1.45 per cent of the total operating expenses.
No one interviewed in the course of this study
was of the opinion that high rental was an important enough factor in production cost to influence garment manufacturers to move from the
center of Manhattan to the outlying sections of
the city or of the region. Rents have tended to
keep contractors in the older and less highly developed sections, since the competition among
them is strong and no great advantages can be
reaped from superior locations. Most of the
1 Rents per square foot for loft space have been quoted
by a leading real estate company as follows for other important sections in the garment industry: Broadway
between Canal and 14th, $.75 to $1.00; streets adjacent
to Broadway in this section, $.50 to $.75; University Place
section, $.60 to $.80; cross streets, 14th to 23d, $.75 to
$.90; Broadway, 23d to 39th Streets (chiefly jobbers),
$1.00 to $1.50; cross streets between 23d and 29th Streets,
east of 6th Avenue, $.85 to $1.05; 30th to 33d Street,
east of 6th Avenue, $1.00 to $1.25; cross streets, 23d to
39th Street, between 6th and 8th Avenues, $1.10 to $1.50.
It should be noted all rental figures are as of the summer of
1923.




THE WOMEN'S GARMENT INDUSTRY


63


large plants outside Manhattan, such as the large
corset plants in Bridgeport, Newark, and Norwalk, own their plants, but plants with 100 workers or more form only a negligible proportion of
those located in Brooklyn, the Bronx, or the rest
of Zone II and Zone III, and most of the small
plants in the outlying sections rent their space
also. Undoubtedly cheaper rentals can be secured away from Manhattan and outside the city
limits,' but low rentals alone are not a sufficient
attraction to lure many garment manufacturers
away from their present location.
Transportation Problems.-The industry's contribution to street traffic congestion in New York
City has been greatly increased by the growth of
the jobber-contractor system. Instead of simply
hauling piece goods from the dealer or the mill to
the garment factory and then carrying the finished
garment from the factory to the shipping terminal, two more hauls have been added. In the
cloak and suit and dress industries, piece goods
which have already been delivered by the textile
firm to the jobber must be carried from the jobber
to the contractor, and back again in finished form
to the jobber. Inside shops which have part of
their product made up outside also have these
two extra hauls, and it is said that the majority
of inside shops do give out part of their product.
Hand trucks are used extensively, especially in
the dress trade, for the hauls between jobber and
contractor, although they can be used only by
the contractors located near the jobbers and inside shops. Some of the larger jobbers have
bought their own trucks fitted with racks to collect goods from their contractors. Local express
companies are used by others. Contractors with
their samples over their arms or stacked in private automobiles and taxicabs are also seen
around the streets in the heart of the garment
district, soliciting orders from the jobbers.
Piece goods are frequently shipped directly to
the jobber or garment factory from the textile
mill by express or freight in case of large orders
and trucked from the terminals. Materials from
the Paterson-Passaic district are brought in
chiefly by truck. The larger textile firms maintain sufficient stock on hand in their city offices to
make deliveries from stock. There is little doubt
1 Census data indicate this strikingly.


that the location of the textile district in the city
has been very definitely influenced by a desire for
proximity to the garment trades. Other supplies
needed in the manufacture of garments, such as
braids, trimmings, buttons, and the like, are provided by small supply firms or manufacturers
located, some of them near the garment manufacturers and jobbers; and some near the contractors.' The paper box firms, which supply the
boxes in which the goods are shipped, are located
in the section where the garment industry began,
Mercer and Greene, Canal and Prince Streets,
from which they deliver by wagon and truck.
They require considerable space and find it unnecessary to locate in the high-rent district.
Nearness to shipping terminals has never been
an important consideration in the location of this
industry. Shipping of finished goods in the garment industry is done almost entirely by the
American Railway Express, except for city retail
trade, which is covered by local express companies. Small and special orders are frequently
sent by parcel post. Most of the packages for
shipment are collected by the express company
on a round made at about 5:30 P. M. All the
goods that have been prepared for shipping during
the day are brought down to the sidewalk, and
stacked and sorted there before putting them in
the express wagons or trucks. The result is congestion of both street and sidewalk at the time
when home-going throngs of pedestrians and of
motors alone would provide sufficient crowding.
The new Garment Center Capitol and other new
buildings in this district have been equipped
with chutes through which express packages are
sent from all plants in the building to a central
assembly room in the basement where they are
sorted. Runways for the trucks to drive into the
building and load direct from the sorting room
relieve the street congestion. If the manufacturers and jobbers tend to move into buildings
which provide such facilities, and enough of them
are built, the traffic jam which blocks the crossstreets in the 20's and 30's east and west of Fifth
Avenue will be greatly relieved. One man prominent in the cloak industry said he would advocate
a building ordinance requiring that all new buildings, to be erected to house firms which have con1See Diagram XII, page 65.




64 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


siderable shipping of this type, be provided with
such facilities as those furnished in the Garment
Center Capitol.
Marketing.- In the garment industries, for the
most part, goods are sold by those responsible for
manufacturing directly to the retailer. The nearest approach to a middleman is the "jobber" or
stockhouse in the dress and cloak industries and,
as has already been pointed out, he controls production. The majority of manufacturers, even in
the minor branches, sell direct to retail buyers.
Jobbing in the ordinary sense is found only to a
very limited extent in some of the cheaper lines of
the more staple goods such as underwear.
In formerdays most of the product in the garment industry was sold by traveling salesmen
sent "on the road." Now many houses do not
send out any salesmen, and especially when the
style factor is very important, garments are being
increasingly sold in the New York showrooms.
Out-of-town manufacturers find it necessary to
maintain salesrooms in New York.
The institution of resident buyer has grown up
also in recent years. These firms are buyers'
representatives, with a clientele including retail
stores all over the country. Some of the larger
ones represent 100 stores or more.' They maintain offices for the most part in close proximity to
the centers of garment manufacture. While they
buy goods of various kinds needed by the department stores of the country, undoubtedly the
largest proportion of their purchases consist of
women's attire. These resident buyers' offices
are used as headquarters for visiting buyers while
they are in the city, and between their trips to
New York the resident buyer selects goods which
are needed immediately and keeps his clients in
touch with market developments. The location
of resident buyers' offices is undoubtedly determined in large measure by nearness to hotels and
railroad terminals, but convenience to the showrooms of firms selling women's wear is also an
important factor, just as convenience to buyers'
offices as well as to hotels and terminals is a factor
in the location of the garment trades.
The competition for business in the various
1 One of the largest of these establishments represents
159 firms, employs a staff of 43, and bought, in 1922,
$411,000,000 worth of goods.-American Magazine, April,
1923, page 67.


branches of women's wear, and especially in the
dress and cloak and suit industries, has become so
keen that catering to the convenience and comfort and pleasure of buyers is the keynote of the
selling policy of most garment houses. This
policy accounts for the movement of the industry
to the neighborhood of the hotels and railroad
stations. There is no concern about nearness to
freight terminals, but very much concern about
nearness to passenger terminals because buyers
arrive and depart from them. This policy also
accounts for the large and elaborate showrooms.
Diagram XII1 shows the influence of the buying
centers on the location of the different groups
in the main branches of the garment industry.
The resident buyers are located almost entirely
in the center of the city, between 23d and 42d
Streets, near the Pennsylvania and Grand Central
Terminals and the hotel district. The jobbers or
stockhouses and the manufacturers who sell their
own product directly to the retailer are also
largely in this buyers' district. As near to the
jobber and manufacturer as high rents will permit
come the contractors and the supply firms.
The prevailing policy among retailers is to buy
from hand to mouth, and as a consequence the
jobber is compelled to carry large stocks of garments on hand in order to make immediate deliveries. Some of the largest dress jobbers carry
as many as 25,000 to 35,000 dresses on their racks
at a time, as buyers like to select the actual goods
they are to receive. Lack of confidence between
buyer and seller, arising from cancellations on the
one hand, substitutions on the other, and various
questionable ethics in their dealings with each
other, are in part responsible for this practice.
This fact of increased space requirement because
of retailers' buying policies applies chiefly to the
cheaper grades of goods in the style industries,
and these form the major part of the business
done. In the selling of expensive garments, such
as coats and dresses, orders are taken from samples for delivery in three or four weeks, and hence
such goods do not require much space for stock.
1 This diagram is based on data for the different groups
secured from the former Joint Board of the Dress and
Waist Makers' Union, the Joint Board of the Cloak, Suit,
and Reefer Makers' Union, from Fairchild's Directory and
from membership lists of the associations of jobbers, contractors, manufacturers, sub-manufacturers, and supply
firms.




A


V:  \   ' ^4.........:
1\~~ ~-.........
And\ *@ ---e- \  EWASHINGTN
\                   i6~_                                            1'..:.SQUARE
|z [ ^ L -.           ~e
0
LEGEND
*MANUFACTURERS                  ~
0 JOBBERS. CONTRACTORS              7\                               *
RESIDENT  BUYERS       \   \.     I                         *:
| O   J 0    \         \ 0*                        *   * dXX
DIAGRAM XII
Location of union manufacturers, jobbers, contractors, and of resident buyers and supply firms in womens garment
industry in portion of Manhattan in 1923
65




66 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


Quantity production or selling is not the object
in high grade garments, and their advance styles
make time less of a factor in delivery.
The extreme to which the policy of narrow buying is sometimes carried is illustrated by the case
of one large corset house with a factory in a
nearby Connecticut town which maintains 23,000
square feet of floor space on Broadway, chiefly
for stock, because some retail stores order four
and five times a day, rather than assume the risk
of carrying a full stock of styles and sizes.
Trends in Location in Women's Garment Industry
The factory inspection data are distributed
among territorial subdivisions of the area by
branches of the industry in Tables XXI and
XXII.1 These data are graphed in the series of
six diagrams2 which appear on pages 70-75.
1 The following table gives data for the embroidery industry corresponding to those given in Tables XXI and
XXII for the women's garment industry:
Number of       Number of
plants         employes
1900 1917 1922 1900 1917 1922
Total City of New York........ 171 792 1,750 3,619 8,795 14,927
Manhattan south of 14th Street 122  137  150 2,378 1,329 1,215
Manhattan 14th to 23d Streets.  13  225  471  792 3,270 5,179
Manhattan 23d to 42d Streets..  15  297  563  154 3,093 4,425
Manhattan north of 42d Street.  7  24  280   56    96 1,882
Brooklyn and Queens........    3   90  168   31   906 1,076
Bronx.....................   11   19  118  208   101 1,150
Total territory outside City of New
York.....................  2  419   539   42 5,905 5,445
New Jersey..................   352  452.. 4,964 4,446
New York State.............    2   67   87   42   941   999
Connecticut.................
Total New York and its Environs................. 1731,211 2,289 3,661 14,700 20,372
Per cent of     Per cent of
plants         employes
Total City of New York......... 98.8 65.4 76.5 98.9  59.8  73.3
Manhattan south of 14th Street 70.5 11.3  6.6 65.0  9.0  6.0
Manhattan 14th to 23d Streets. 7.5 18.6 20.6 21.6  22.2  25.4
Manhattan 23d to 42d Streets.. 8.7 24.5 24.5  4.2  21.0  21.7
Manhattan north of 42d Street. 4.0  2.0 12.2  1.5.7    9.2
Brooklyn and Queens........ 1.7   7.4  7.4.9    6.2   5.3
Bronx...................... 6.4   1.6  5.2  5.7.7    5.7
Total territory outside City of New
York..................... 1.2 34.6 23.5  1.1  40.2   26.7
New  Jersey...................  29.1  19.7..  33.8  21.8
New York State............. 1.2    5.5  3.8  1.1   6.4   4.9
Connecticut.................
Total New York and its Environs.................. 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
2 The 1912 map in Diagram XVII shows only plants
with 20 or more workers, since records of the location of
the small plants were, unfortunately, not available. It
nevertheless serves to indicate the general location of the
industry at that time.


Present Location.-The present areas of concentration are easily located from an inspection
of the 1922 maps. The most important section
lies between 24th and 38th Streets. This district
has developed very rapidly during the past decade until the cross streets, especially west from
Fifth Avenue to Seventh Avenue, are almost
solid with garment factories. A new section is
being developed on and west of Seventh Avenue
between 34th and 39th Streets, which gives
promise, in the opinion of those in close touch
with the industry, of being its center for a number
of years to come. Its nucleus is a group of two
huge buildings known as the Garment Center
Capitol, which together cover a ground space of
about 38,000 square feet. They were put up as a
co-operative venture by 32 leading cloak and suit
manufacturers. These two buildings are the last
word in luxurious appointment and adequate
facilities for manufacturing. No firm is permitted
to occupy space in these buildings which does not
do at least part of its manufacturing on the
premises. Some of the leading firms in the dress
and cloak trades are housed in the Garment
Center Capitol, especially those making the very
expensive grade of goods. Since the opening of
these buildings in 1921, a number of other buildings of the same high type of construction have
been put up in this district to house garment
plants. In many of these undertakings the firms
themselves have had a financial interest and it is
thought for this reason that they will be less
ready to move to another district than they have
been in the past.
The section along Broadway from Spring
Street north to Bleecker is of greater relative
importance for the underwear and children's
clothing industries than for the major branches
of the trade. There is also some concentration
of plants around University Place between Washington Square and 14th Street.
A considerable number of contract shops are
scattered throughout the lower East Side and
near the birthplace of the industry on East
Broadway and Division Street.
In Manhattan north of 42d Street there is the
exclusive dressmaking district along Fifth Avenue
below 59th Street and on 57th Street, and most of
the less important cross-streets of this section.




TABLE XXI. —PLANTS OF THE VARIOUS BRANCHES OF THE WOMEN'S GARMENT INDUSTRY IN DESIGNATED DISTRICTS IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS
IN 1900, 1917, AND 1922a




Number of plants
Cloaks and suits  Dresses and waists  Children's wear    Underwear         Corsets      Housedresses     Neckwear            Total
and kimonas
1900  1917   1922  1900  1917  1922  1900 1917   1922  1900 1917 1922 1900 1917 1922 1900 1917 1922 1900 1917 1922 1900       1917   1922
Total City of New York....  831 2,850 2,871   472 1,966 3,944   156   547   662    93   316  452    46   51   80   86   241  322  139   98   124 1,823  6,069  8,455
Manhattan south of 14th
Street..............   778   896    748   259   343   350   139   185   153    76   131   113   22    3    2    79   85   94  128    16   15 1,481  1,659  1,475
Manhattan 14th to 23d
Streets..............  12   507   662     32   401   983     6    91   144     3    52   108   11    9    9..   46   46    5   70    85   69   1,176  2,037
Manhattan 23d to 42d
Streets..............   3   810   851     96   737 1,528     1    80   119     2    68   97     6   16   14..   58   71         8    12  108   1,777  2,692
Manhattan north of 42d
Street.............    10   151    222    67   225   586     5    17    52     3     4   31     6   16   43          5   17    2    2     6   93    420    957
Brooklyn and Queens.      28   472   359     16   233   376     5   171   176     9    54   81     1    7    5     7   45   86    4     2    6   70    984   1,089
Bronx................          10     27     2    21   118..     1    16..     5    18              6          2    7                    2     39     192
Richmond.............           4      2..     6     3..     2     2..     2    4..    1.... 1..     4      13
Total territory outside City
of New Yorkb             1   116    114     4    78   205     4    45    80    10    44   75    14   16   18         16   27         8     5   33    323     524
New Jersey.............    83     89..    43   102     3    26    49     7    28   56     8    7    9..   12   18          7    5    18   206    328
New York State........    28     21..    31    96..    18    27     3    11    14.....          4    7...             3     92     166
Connecticut........        1     5      4     4     4     7     1     1     4..     5     5    6    9    8..         2          1..   12     25      30


I

I


OC


-    Total New York and
its Environs.......


832 2,966 2,985


476 12,044 14,1491 160


592


67


742


1031 360


527


60


981 861 257


349


1391 1061 1291 1,856 1 6,392


8,979


Per cent of plants


Total City of New York....
Manhattan south of 14th
Street..............
Manhattan 14th to 23d
Streets............
Manhattan 23d to 42d
Streets..............
Manhattan north of 42d
Street..............
Brooklyn and Queens...
Bronx................
Richmond.............
Total territory outside City
of New Yorkb........
New Jersey...........
New York State.......
Connecticut...........
Total New York and
its Environs.......


99.9
93.5
1.4.4
1.2
3.4.1.1
'i 


96.1
30.2
17.1
27.3
5.1
15.9.4.1
3.9
2.8.9.2


96.2
25.0
22.2
28.5
7.5
12.0.9.1
3.8
3.0.7.1


99.2
54.4
6.7
20.2
14.1
3.4.4.8.8


96.2
16.8
19.6
36.1
11.0
11.4
1.0.3
3.8
2.1
1.5.2


95.1
8.4
23.7
36.8
14.1
9.1
2.9.1
4.9
2.4
2.3.2
100.0


97.5
86.9
3.8.6
3.1
3.1
2.5
1.9.6


92.4
31.3
15.4
13.5
2.9
28.9.1.3
7.6
4.4
3.1.1


89.2
20.6
19.4
16.0
7.0
23.7
2.2.3
10.8
6.6
3.7.5
100.0


90.3
73.8
2.9
1.9
2.9
8.8
9.7
6.8
2.9


87.8
36.4
14.4
18.9
1.1
15.0
1.4.6
12.2
7.8
3.0
1.4


85.8
21.4
20.5
18.4
5.9
15.4
3.4.8
14.2
10.6
2.7.9


76.7
36.7
18.3
10.0
10.0
1.7
23.3
13.3
10.0


76.1
4.4
13.4
23.9
23.9
10.5
23.9
10.5
13.4


81.6
2.0
9.2
14.3
43.9
5.1
6.1
1.0
18.4
9.2
1.0
8.2


100.0
91.9


93.8
33.1
17.9
22.6
1.9
17.5.8
6.2
4.6
1.6


92.3
26.9
13.2
20.3
4.9
24.7
2.0.3
7.7
5.1
2.0.6


100.0
92.1
3.6
1.4
2.9


92.5
15.1
66.0
7.6
1.9
1.9
7.5
6.6.9


96.1
11.6
66.0
9.3
4.6
4.6
3.9
3.9..I


98.2
79.8
3.7
5.8
5.0
3.8.1
1.8
1.0.2.6


94.9
26.0
18.4
27.8
6.5
15.4.6.2
5.1
3.2
1.5.4


94.2
16.4
22.7
30.0
10.7
12.1
2.1.2
5.8
3.6
1.9.3


8.1i


100.0 100.0 100.0


100.0 100.0


100.01 100.0


100.01 100.0 1100.0


100.0 100.0


100.01100.0 100.0 100.01100.01100.01100.0I 100.0 1100.0 I100.0


' Data from factory inspection records for the three states.
b Territory included within scope of the Regional Plan but lying outside the City of New York.




TABLE XXII.-EMPLOYES OF THE VARIOUS BRANCHES OF THE WOMEN'S GARMENT INDUSTRY IN DESIGNATED DISTRICTS IN NEW YORK AND ITS
ENVIRONS IN 1900. 1917. AND 1922a


3


Number of employes
Housedresses      Neckwear
Cloaks and suits   Dresses and waists  Children's wear      Underwear          Corsets      dHo ski    as      Neckwear             Total
1900  1917  19220      1917  1922  1900 117   1922   19001917         and kimonas922 190019171922 1900        17     1
1900   1917  1922   1900  1917   1922  1900  1917  1922   1900 1917   1922  1900 1917 1922 1900 1917 1922 1900 1917 1922 1900        1917   1922




Total City of New York....
Manhattan south of 14th
Street..............
Manhattan 14th to 23d
Streets..............
Manhattan 23d to 42d
Streets..............
Manhattan north of 42d
Street..............
Brooklyn and Queens...
Bronx................
Richmond.............
Total territory outside City
of New Yorkb........
New Jersey...........
New York State.......
Connecticut...........
ch
00    Total New York and
its Environs.......


23,753
21,991
756
367
138
501
20
20


50,488
8,921
12,102
24,352
830
4,246
26
11
2,136
1,570
385
181


41,989
7,053
10,514
19,307
1,634
3,342
106
33
1,792
1,489
261
42


17,922
11,288
1,458
3,204
920
663
389
533
533


57,195
7,881
10,626
29,167
3,833
5,215
360
113
2,752
1,307
1,261
184


58,238
4,743
13,250
26,673
8,505
3,992
996
79
4,324
2,226
1,742
356


4,829
4,342
258
20
103
106
190
140
50


15,272
4,211
2,460
3,683
432
4,397
3
86
1,234
793
423
18


11,996
2,140
2,882
3,177
653
2,949
170
25
2,201
1,359
609
233


5,611
5,040
- 189
45
337
1,787
1,165
622
~..


11,868
3,836
2,443
3,984
20
1,531
22
32
2,387
1,600
518
269


9,751
2,250
2,258
2,553
429
1,624
558
79
2,900
1,895
522
483


1,142
822
79
40
34
167
4,844
1,877
2,967


1,931
64
1,484
211
89
83
6,059
1,733
4,326


2,603
73
1,742
173
407
150
15
43
5,118
1,831
10
3,277


3,085
2,744
341


6,301
1,383
1,202
2,552
38
1,105
21
858
780
78
~.


5,457
993
1,143
2,000
115
1,137
56
13
739
497
184
58


6,596
5,682
350
50
514..


3,558
372
2,858
283
18
27
95
90
5


3,007
186
2,549
152
89
31
80
80


62,938
51,909
3,090
3,676
1,245
2,629
389
7,374
3,182
622
3,570


146,613
26,668
33,175
64,232
5,260
16,604
432
242
15,521
7,873
2,665
4,983
162,134


133,041
17,438
34,338
54,035
11,832
13,225
1,901
272
17,154
9,377
3,328
4,449
150,195


23,773 52,624 43,781 18,455 59,947 62,562 5,019 16,506 14,197


14,255


7,398


12,65115,98617,99017,7213,085


7,1596,196


3,087 70,312


6,596 3,653


Per cent of employes


Total City of New York....
Manhattan south of 14th
Street..............
Manhattan 14th to 23d
Streets.............
Manhattan 23d to 42d
Streets..............
Manhattan north of 42d
Street..............
Brooklyn and Queens...
Bronx...............
Richmond.............
Total territory outside City
of New Yorkb........
New Jersey...........
New York State.......
Connecticut.........
Total New York and
its Environs.......


99.9
92.5
3.2
1.5.6
2.1
100.0


95.9
17.0
23.0
46.2
1.5
8.1.1.0
4.1
3.1.7.3
100.0.

95.9
16.1
24.0
44.1
3.7
7.6.3.1
4.1
3.4.6.1
100.0


97.1
61.1
7.9
17.4
5.0
3.6
2.1
2.9
2.9
100.0


95.4
13.1
17.7
48.7
6.4
8.7.6.2
4.6
2.2
2.1.3
100.0


93.1
7.6
21.2
42.6
13.6
6.4
1.6.1
6.9
3.6
2.7.6


96.2
86.5
5.1.4
2.1
2.1
3.8
2.8
1.0


92.5
25.5
14.9
22.3
2.6
26.7.0.5
7.5
4.8
2.6.1


84.5
15.1
20.3
22.4
4.6
20.8
1.2.1
15.5
9.6
4.3
1.6


75.8
68.1
2.6.6
4.5
24.2
15.8
8.4..


83.2
27.0
17.1
28.0.1
10.7.1.2
16.8
11.2
3.7
1.9


77.1
17.8
17.9
20.2
3.4
12.8
4.4.6
22.9
15.0
4.1
3.8


19.1
13.7
1.3.7.6
2.8
80.9
31.3
49.6


24.2.8
18.6
2.6
1.1
1.1
75.8
21.7
54.1
100.0


33.7.9
22.6
2.2
5.3
1.9.2.6
66.3
23.7.1
42.5


100.0
88.9
11.1..


88.0
19.3
16.8
35.7.5
15.4.3
12.0
10.9
1.1
I *

88.1
16.0
18.5
32.3
1.9
18.3.9.2
11.9
8.0
3.0.9


100.0
86.1
5.3.8
7.8


97.4
10.2
78.2
7.8.5.7
2.6
2.5.1


97.4
6.0
82.6
4.9
2.9
1.0
2.6
2.6
I.1


89.5
73.8
4.4
5.2
1.8
3.7.6
10.5
4.5.9
5.1
100.0


90.4
16.4
20.5
39.6
3.2
10.2.3.2
9.6
4.9
1.6
3.1
100.0


88.6
11.6
22.8
36.0
7.9
8.8
1.3.2
11.4
6.2
2.2
3.0
100.0


100.0 100.0 100.0


100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0


100.0 100.0 000100.0100.0 100.0 100.0100.


a Data from factory inspection records for the three states.
b Territory included within scope of the Regional Plan but lying outside the City of New York.




THE WOMEN'S GARMENT INDUSTRY


69


Many of these establishments maintain wholesale departments, and this work, together with
extensive custom and retail trade, requires the
maintenance of large workrooms employing in
some cases anywhere from 150 to 400 workers.
They are not an integral part of the wholesale
garment industry, but are primarily retail stores
making on their own premises most if not all of
the garments they sell. Most of the work of
their wholesale departments is for the stage in
costuming entire productions. They also sell
models to the retail trade, much as do the Paris
couturiers.
In the district north of 59th Street a number of
small shops, largely contractors, are found in the
upper East Side and Harlem districts lying between 95th and 125th Streets.
Brooklyn shows two marked districts of secondary importance, in the Bushwick-Williamsburg
section and in the Brownsville-East New York
section. The plants in Brooklyn are for the most
part small contractors' shops working for jobbers
with showrooms on Manhattan.
The Bronx, which provides homes for a considerable number of garment workers, is practically negligible so far as plants are concerned.
There is scattering of small plants throughout
Westchester County, Mount Vernon, Yonkers,
and Port Chester having the largest number.
This is a fairly recent development, many of
these being branch factories of New York firms
which were started during time of strike in the
hope of escaping the influence of the union. New
Jersey has an even larger scattering of small and
medium-sized plants. The development in Newark of large plants which shows up so strikingly
is due to the presence there of a number of large
corset factories which have been located in that
city for a number of years. Newark has also a
considerable number of factories making underwear, children's wear, shirtwaists, and housedresses. Scattered in other cities of New Jersey
are a number of dress, waist, skirt, underwear,
and children's wear plants. This New Jersey
development is primarily a development of small
establishments, more than 90 per cent having less
than 50 workers. That part of Connecticut included in the region has comparatively few plants
in the garment industries as compared with either


New Jersey or Westchester County, but it includes some of the largest corset plants in the
country. Bridgeport is one of the leading centers
in this industry. South Norwalk has a large
corset and a large dress factory, and Stamford has
some dress and waist plants, as well as one or two
in other branches. Long Island outside of the
city is of slight importance. Altogether the outlying sections of the region are relatively insignificant in the industry.
Movement Within the City.- In 1900 almost the
entire industry was located south of 14th Street
on Manhattan; by 1912 the movement north of
14th Street was well under way. In 1900 nearly
three-fourths of the workers in the industry were
employed south of 14th, especially in the neighborhood of Broadway; in 19121 only a little more
than a fourth worked in that district while threefifths were employed in plants between 14th and
42d Streets, with by far the major part of this
group below 29th Street. In 1917 the section between 14th and 23d Streets had become of less
importance than the district lying immediately
north of it on the cross-streets and on Madison
Avenue between 23d and 38th Streets. By 1922
the cross-streets west of Fifth Avenue between
23d and 33d Streets had filled up even more with
garment plants, while a westward movement was
apparent north of 34th Street from the Fifth
Avenue district to Seventh Avenue. Each year
is adding to the number of large and important
plants moving into this new section.
From its inception this industry has displayed a
tendency toward concentration in one central district. This is due in part to the highly competitive
nature of the industry, and in part, it is claimed,
to the clannishness of the Jewish race, which
predominates among the manufacturers. It is
stated by real estate men that the movement of
garment plants in the city has sprung from an
instinct to "follow-the-leader," and undoubtedly
real estate men have played on this instinct in
developing new sections for the industry. This
instinct accounts for the shifting popularity of
different streets in the northward movement of
the industry. At one time 17th Street was "the "
street for the trade; a few leading firms moved to
21st Street and that acquired the prestige that
1 See diagrams, pages 70-75.




Iz
1


X    in


STATEN ISLAND


UNION


1900


WOMEN'S CLOTHING


SCALE 0     1    Z     3     4     5 MILES
_.,


DIAGRAM XIII
Location of plants in women's garment industry in New York and its Environs in 1900
70




~  ~  '   -  ~  e
Z     a
-So0 Oo~.-O~ WQ
Zux 2 QZ0 tac a
o, 12: CL o.


DAN8URY


STATEN ISLAND


1922


WOMEN'S CLOTHING


UNION


LEGEND
EMPLOYES PER PLANT 1-29 30-49 50-99 100-199 200AND OVER
o _         0 


DIAGRAM XIV
Location of plants in women's garment industry in New York and its Environs in 1922
71




1900
WOMEN'S CLOTHING
LEGEND
EMPLOYE$ PER PLANT 1-29 30-49 50-99 100-199 00ANDOVER.   ~    *    o      ~


DIAGRAM XV
Location of plants in the women's garment industry in-portion of Manhattan and Brooklyn in 1900




59TH              ST7 -I 1:  ~
C..~,                                                                1922
WOMEN'S CLOTHING
2N                                                                  LEGEND
4?NDo ~:       ST.
EMPLOYES PER PLANT 1-29 30-49 50-99 100-199 200ANDOVER
0 0   *
4,L~,: il '.,:  8,~-~:~;-~ i~ —,~ 4, ~'/'
~~~~~~~~~  -.. ',:.", i..:~~~i.~:;.~.:."~'.'~-:: -'.:  '~
34TH   /
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*...                        o  ~
23RC)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~...........
" -  -THIS AREA
z  r~~~~~~.1r
z~ ~~~~~                                                       ~
1j4ZT ~ < SEE    ETRE
Z               SP                                                     SA TREIN T A   F
L3~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ': ""i
z,                                                   0. "  
co       V Z  w  ~~C~'~.                    o                        1*
x~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                           ~
/~~~~~~~
DIAGRAM XVI
Location of plants in the women's garment industry in portion of Manhattan and Brooklyn in 1922
r   I                                     Oo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~e
PRSPCTSCLCimT~uSND                   O  FC
~t  _'   II#    c     z.~~~~~~~~~~~XRK0 i.:~ 
/   UI                            o~~~~~~IARM  V
Loaio  fplnsinte  oe'sgren  ndsr  i  otinofM nata  ndBoolnin12




*.
0o
~~


DIAGRAM XVII
Location of plants in the women's garment industry in the area of greatest concentration in Manhattan in 1900 and 1912
74




DIAGRAM XVIII
Location of plants in the women's garment industry in the area of greatest concentration in Manhattan in 1917 and 1922
75




76 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


had been 17th Street's. And so on, uptown, 25th
Street, then 27th, then 31st, then Madison Avenue, each in rapid succession has had its heyday
as the leading street for the garment trades,
until now the Garment Center has eclipsed them
all.
The beginning of the westward movement to
the Seventh Avenue district, however, was due to
somewhat different causes than previous moves
of the center of the industry. In 1916 the retail
stores in the Fifth Avenue section from 30th to
42d Street became alarmed at the effect on their
business of the growing congestion of the sidewalks in that section during the lunch hour.
This was caused by workers from the garment
factories which were moving into the district in
increasing numbers. A special group of Fifth
Avenue Association members formed themselves
into the Save New York Committee, whose aim
was to save Fifth Avenue as a retail district from
the invasion of garment workers. They secured
the support of retail stores all over the country.  The co-operation of some of the leading
cloak and suit manufacturers was enlisted and
these men seized this opportunity to plan a logical center for their industry and the other garment trades as a whole. After looking over
many possible sections, the present Seventh
Avenue location was selected as meeting the
needs of the industry for expansion and providing,
as well, accessibility for buyers and good transportation facilities for workers. The result is the
present growing development west of 7th Avenue
between 34th and 39th Streets which began in
1921. The district from 3d Avenue to 7th Avenue
and from midway between 32d and 33d Streets
to 59th Street was zoned against manufacturing.
Not more than 25 per cent of the space occupied
in this section can be used for factory purposes.
Recently the section west of 7th Avenue and
north of 39th Street has had the same zoning
restrictions applied in order to protect the theater district from a northward move of the garment trades. The direction of the movement of
the center of the industry then seems to be arbitrarily directed westward.
In 1900 the lower East Side shows a larger proportion of the entire industry than in later years
and a definitely greater proportion of large plants


than in 1917 or 1922. On Division Streetand East
Broadway there is still some concentration, but
their day of glory seems definitely to have passed.
The Brooklyn development, which is comparatively recent, has taken place where there are
large Jewish colonies which provide an ample
labor supply.
The large plants which are seen in 1900 in
considerable numbers between 23d and 42d
Streets on or near Fifth Avenue are custom
dressmaking establishments which occupied this
section at the time when the chief retail section
was on 23d Street or below. In 1917 and even
more markedly in 1922 the custom dressmaking
district was on or near Fifth Avenue between
42d and 59th Streets, with a special concentration
of large establishments on 57th Street. This
group of shops evidently leads the way uptown
for the retail district, which is again located just
to the south.
The small non-union and social shops of which
one hears so much in the industry are coming to
the surface chiefly in Brooklyn and Harlem,
rather than on the lower East Side.
Movement in the Region Outside the City.-In
1900, except for the corset factories in Connecticut and Newark, there were not a dozen and a
half women's garment plants in the entire metropolitan district outside the city. These corset
factories located where they did, many of them
forty-five or fifty years ago, because the communities offered them inducements. They have
been there so long that they have become traditional sources of employment in these communities and find no difficulty with labor supply.
Their location also is favorable for convenient
shipment of materials used in making corsets.
These plants, and a few others in New England
outside the 50-mile radius, produce, according to
one prominent manufacturer, about 75 per cent of
the output of the corset industry in the country.
New York City has only one plant of a size comparable to these Connecticut and Newark plants,
and this has already opened a branch factory on
Long Island and another in upstate New York,
so that in a short time there will doubtless be
no corset plant of large size on Manhattan.
Aside from the corset industry, there have now
developed in the environs of New York a con



THE WOMEN'S GARMENT INDUSTRY


77


siderable number of plants in all branches of the
garment industry. In Mount Vernon in 1912
there were two dress and one waist factories; in
1917 there were 29 garment factories; in 1922
there were 43. Yonkers has also gained a number of women's clothing plants, and a scattering
is found in 1922 in many towns in Westchester
County.
In New Jersey the industry was insignificant
until 1917, except for Newark with its corset
factories and a few other plants. By 1917 a
number of plants had been established in Hudson
County, Jersey City, Bayonne, and the Passaic
district. In 1922 the number of garment plants
in Jersey, scattered or in small groups throughout the district, had increased as compared with
1917. Undoubtedly part of this increase was due
to the development here of shops of small contractors who work for New York firms.
Movement in Branches of the Industry.-The
cloak and suit industry shows the most marked
tendency to remain in New York City of any
branch, with the single exception of neckwear,
which is so small as to be of little importance.
-The greatest tendency toward out-of-town movement is shown by the children's wear and housedress industries. The more important the element of style, the more reluctant the plants seem
to be to leave the city.
Within the city, both the major branches of
the garment industry show a dropping off in the
relative importance of Brooklyn for these branches
in the region, which is accounted for by the increasing importance of some of the uptown Manhattan sections. As 1922 was still a year of
marked depression in the garment trades,' an
1 Dun's Review, June 13, 1923, page 20, gives figures on
failures which show that the clothing trades led all others
in number of failures and were second in amount of liabilities involved in both 1921 and 1922-a marked change
from the figures for 1918-1920.


actual falling off in numbers of workers engaged
in any branch should not be taken as an indication of decreasing importance of that industry.
A marked increase in actual number of plants in
Brooklyn was shown only by the housedress and
kimona and the underwear industries.
Motives for Movement.-The incentive toward
movement out of town has admittedly been very
largely a desire to escape union domination, and
the things which go with union control-chiefly
high wages and short hours. Some employers
seem to find release from these things and stay
out of town; others do not and return to New
York. The development is still in the experimental stage, and until it passes this stage it
cannot be definitely called an out-of-town trend
for the industry as a whole.
Lower rent as a motive for out-of-town movement does not seem to have any great importance in the garment industries. The necessity of
having a city salesroom even if the plant is out
of town means that the overhead of maintaining
the two is greater than the saving in rent on the
factory itself for any but very large plants, of
which there are but three.
The tendency among those plants which move
out from the city or establish branch factories is
to locate in towns where there are few if any
other garment plants. Concentration of shops in
any part of the outlying districts is the last thing
desired, since it would make unionization easier,
labor scarce, and the question of low wages a
difficult one. A garment factory going into a
community where there are not other garment
plants can outbid other women-employing industries like tobacco factories and still pay less than
it must in New York City.
The conclusions regarding the probable future
of the industry are summarized on pages 23
to 26.




THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY


The textile industry is one in which the problems of style and fashion, convenient access to a
market which demands quick delivery, and an
adequate labor supply, are of very considerable
significance. Most branches of the industry can
be carried on on a small scale-especially since
the introduction of the small individual motor
for the transmission of electric power. The industry uses relatively little space per employe.
The product is small in bulk, light in weight, and
of relatively high value, and for these reasons
can be shipped either by freight, express, parcel
post, or truck. The problems of space and
adequate transportation facilities are, therefore,
of less striking importance than in such industries
as the manufacture of heavy metal and wood
products.
Certain branches of textile manufacturing,
further, started in this district in the nineteenth
century while the country was yet young and the
West was undeveloped. Now if an industry,
started in any one place either by mere chance or
after careful thought, meets with any measure of
success and achieves any considerable proportions, factors develop which operate cumulatively
to retain the industry in the original locality and
facilitate its growth. Specialists develop in certain branches (e. g., dyeing and finishing); a
group of ancillary industries grow up (e. g.,
harness- and reed-making and card-cutting);
and new enterprises are attracted to the old center where trained labor and expert services can
readily be obtained. This momentum of an
early start, combined with a certain hesitancy
about forsaking the well-trodden ways, is thus
a most potent factor in the localization of industries, and cannot be too strongly stressed in explaining the present concentration of textile
plants in the New York district. The localization
of the textile industries in New York and its
environs is due, therefore, not so much to intrinsic or positive advantages of their present
locations as to the fact that, once started, they
met with no disadvantages strong enough to offset the attractions of New York City.


The Place of New York and its Environs in the
Textile Industry
The census data relating to the textile industry
in New York and its environs have serious shortcomings. Figures for important New York centers within the environs, e. g., Yonkers, cannot
be obtained. Neither can they be obtained for
the Connecticut section of the area. Most of
New Jersey, however, is included within the
fifty-mile radius that limits the field of this
study. For these reasons, perhaps the best index
of the importance of New York and its environs
can be found by combining the figures for New
York City and New Jersey shown in Table XXIII.
These would seem to indicate that the region
employs about 10 per cent of the wage-earners,
produces about 12 per cent of the value of the
products, and is growing, if anything, a little more
rapidly than the United States as a whole.
General Trends in Region as a Whole
The study has brought to light no spectacular
developments in the textile industry of the region.
Nevertheless, since the major part of the discussion will be confined to an analysis of each
branch of the industry separately, some mention
must be made of the general trends in the industry, considered as a unit within the region as a
whole. Table XXIV, therefore, assembles the
factory inspection data to show the growth of the
industry as a whole and to permit comparison
of the sizes, relative importance, and rates of
growth by zones,' since 1900 of the different
branches. Each of these gives evidence of considerable growth. Between 1900 and 1922, the
total number of plants in the industry increased
364.6 per cent, while the number of employes,
perhaps a better index of the change, increased
68.6 per cent. Close inspection and analysis of
these changes might seem to reveal a decreasing
rate of growth, but complicating factors2 for
which no adjustment could be made prevent
drawing any but the most general conclusions.
For a definition of the zones, see Diagram I, page 12.
2 Such as seasonal fluctuations in the numbers employed
and the industrial depression of 1900-1922.
78




THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY


79


TABLE XXIII.-CENSUS DATA RELATING TO NUMBER OF WAGE-EARNERS AND VALUE OF PRODUCTS
IN TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN UNITED STATES, NEW JERSEY, AND NEW YORK CITY, 1899-1919 a
Wage-earners                      Value of product (in thousands)
United States  New Jersey   New York City  United States  New Jersey   New York City
1899            662,289       46,613b        15,610       $932,411      $71,846b       $28,347
1904            740,411       50,035b        17,603C      1,216,609      83,213b        34,323c
1909            879,108       66,119        22,145       1,676,836       140,176        47,843
1914            924,070       69,853         21,407       1,872,534      174,476        55,264
1919           1,026,451      80,076         20,342d      5,334,300      504,340       19,600d
Per cent of total for United States
1899                100         7.04           2.36            100          7.71          3.04
1904                100         6.76           2.38            100         6.84           2.82
1909                100         7.52           2.52           100          8.36           2.85
1914                100         7.56           2.32            100         9.32           2.95
1919                100         7.80           1.98           100          9.45           2.99
Per cent increase
1914-1919         11.08        14.64         - 4.98C         85.02        189.06        188.80
1899-1919         54.99        71.79          30.31         472.10       601.97         463.02
a In an attempt to get figures roughly comparable, there were included only the following items: Carpets and Rugs
(other than rag); Cloth Sponging; Cotton Goods; Cotton Small Wares; Cordage, Twine, Jute, Linen Goods; Dyeing
and Finishing; Knit Goods; Silk Goods, including throwsters; Woolens and Worsteds. Even for these the figures are
not wholly complete.
b Not including Cordage and Twine.
~ Not including Woolens (about 600 employes) and Cotton Small Wares (about 200).
d Not including Carpets and Rugs (about 150 employes) and Cordage and Twine and Jute and Linen Goods (about
4,000 employes).


Variation in Growth of Branches.-It is clear,
nevertheless, that not all branches' of the industry have increased at the same rate. The knitting
Sub-classification of the branches was attempted and
found impossible. It was discovered further that the chief
product manufactured by some firms was described in
different terms in different years. This difficulty involves
the possibility of a certain margin of error in the statistical
tables. For example, the same companies were described
in some years as "producing cotton goods" and in others
as "bleaching cotton goods.  This, in the absence of supplementary data, led to classifying the same plants differently in different years. A number of such errors were
discovered and corrected, but in many cases, even had time
permitted, this could not have been done. In addition, it
was discovered from time to time, in the course of the
study, that certain plants were missing from the records,
which errors were corrected wherever possible. No pretense, therefore, is made that the tables, as they stand, are
more than approximately accurate and the reader should
keep constantly in mind the imperfections which are admittedly present in the data due to the circumstances
above described. Thanks are due to the Davison Publishing Company for their Textile Blue Book and other directories which were of very considerable assistance in
checking and supplementing the factory inspection records.


industry, for example, is growing much more
rapidly than any of the others and its relative
importance in the region has increased. Whereas
in 1900 it accounted for only 4.1 per cent, it
represented 16.2 per cent of the total number of
employes in 1922. The least rapid growth has
come in the manufacture of silk and miscellaneous products.
Growth in the Three Zones.-The data are also
arranged so as to show the relative importance,
in each branch of the industry, of the three zones.
In every case, with the exception of small wares
and knit goods, Zone I is relatively unimportant,
and in the case of both silk goods and "miscellaneous products" its importance is definitely
decreasing. The textile industry, it will be seen,
is concentrated chiefly in Zone II and is spreading, as can be seen also from a comparison of
the accompanying maps, into Zone III.




TABLE XXIV.-PLANTS AND EMPLOYES IN TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS BY ZONESa AND BY BRANCH OF
INDUSTRY IN 1900, 1912, 1917, AND 1922b


Number                                              Per cent
Per cent increase or
decrease 1922
Plants                   Employes                    Plants                 Employes              over 1900
1900  1912  1917   1922  1900   1912   1917   1922   1900  1912  1917  1922   1900  1912  1917   1922  Plants  Employes
Knit goods
Zone I............  18    52    87    125    779    969  1,474  2,827 37.5   24.6  23.7   15.8  25.8  13.3   12.4  14.1   594.4     262.9
Zone I...........  26    155   271    656  2,084   5,510  8,626 15,363  54.2  73.5  73.6  82.6  68.9  75.7   72.7  76.6  2,423.1    637.2
Zone III..........   4      4    10    13     161    797  1,774  1,856   8.3   1.9   2.7    1.6   5.3  11.0   14.9   9.3   225.2   1,052.8
Total...........  48    211   368    794  3,024   7,276 11,874 20,046 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0   1,554.2    562.9
Silk goods
Zone I............  25    33    48     92  1,511   1,236  1,073  1,274  15.1  10.3  7.1   10.0   6.0   3.4    3.5   3.5   268.0    -15.7
Zone II........... 126   269   605    765 21,582  31,195 26,101 30,548  76.4  84.1  88.8  83.3  85.1  86.7   86.1  84.1   507.1      41.5
Zone III..........  14     18    28     61  2,268  3,563  3,141  4,484   8.5   5.6   4.1    6.7   8.9   9.9   10.4  12.4   335.7     97.7
Total........... 165    320   681    918 25,361 35,994 30,315 36,306 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0      456.4     43.2


Finishing
oo   Zone  I............
0    Zone III...........
Zone III..........


48
50
7


78
46
9


100
88
15


125
175
23


871
8,001
1,890


1,442
12,817
2,185


1,555
11,564
2,501


1,637
13,946
2,947


45.7
47.6
6.7


58.6
34.6
6.8


49.3
43.3
7.4


38.7
54.2
7.1


8.1
74.3
17.6


8.8
77.9
13.3


10.0
74.0
16.0


8.8
75.3
15.9


160.4
250.0
228.6


87.9
74.3
55.9


Total........... 105   133   203   323 10,762  16,444 15,620 18,530 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0    207.6     72.2
Small wares
Zone I............ 119   395   276   367   2,616  6,134  4,124  4,574  78.3  80.6  76.7  68.5  49.0  53.0  52.0  45.7    208.4     74.8
Zone II...........  27     82    71   146   2,194  3,824  1,951  3,291  17.8  16.7  19.7  27.2  41.1  33.1  24.6  32.9    440.7     50.0
Zone III..........  6     13    13    23    531   1,614  1,852  2,149  3.9   2.7   3.6   4.3    9.9  13.9  23.4  21.4    283.3    304.7
Total........... 152    490   360   536   5,341 11,572  7,927 10,014 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0    252.6     87.5
Miscellaneous
Zone I............  47   103   102    57   3,997  1,776  2,099  1,105  33.6  46.0  43.8  21.7  13.8   4.5   5.2   2.8     21.3    -72.3
Zone II...........  70    97   109   172 21,394 34,054 34,698 33,272  50.0  43.3  46.8  65.4   74.0  86.6  85.7  85.6    145.7     55.5
Zone III..........  23    24    22    34  3,530   3,513  3,676  4,488  16.4  10.7  9.4  12.9   12.2   8.9   9.1  11.6     47.8     27.1
Total........... 140    224   233   263 28,921 39,343 40,473 38,865 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0      87.9     34.4
All branches
Zone I............ 257   661   613   766   9,774  11,557 10,325 11,417  42.1  47.9  33.2  27.0  13.3  10.4  9.7   9.2    198.1     16.8
Zone II........... 299   649 1,144 1,914 55,255 87,400 82,940 96,420  49.0  47.1  62.0  67.5   75.3  79.0  78.1  77.9    540.1     74.5
Zone III..........  54     68    88   154  8,380  11,672 12,944 15,924  8.9   5.0   4.8   5.5   11.4  10.6  12.2  12.9    185.2     90.0
Total........... 610  1,378 1,845 2,834 73,409 110,629 106,209 123,761 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0  364.6     68.6
* o  dfntino heznsseDaga, ae1.                h dt nthstbl       n  lsweeuls seiieaeths           fhatoyispcos


a For a definition of the zones, see Diagram I, page 12.


b The data in this table and elsewhere, unless specified, are those of the factory inspectors.




THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY


81


On these maps (Diagrams XIX and XX), distinct symbols for each branch, drawn in five
sizes to indicate the number of employes in each
plant, have been used to show the location and
size of the establishments with 20 or more employes. The general complexion of the industry
can thus be seen at a glance: The plants are
widely scattered, but attention should be called
to the recognizable concentration in certain sections, as, for example, knit goods in Brooklyn,
silk goods in North Hudson County and Paterson, and miscellaneous products (chiefly woolens)
in Passaic.
Trends in Center of City.-Manhattan south of
59th Street has already been noted as a relatively
unimportant center of textile manufacture.
Nevertheless, since this section of the area is
what may be called the focal point of the whole
survey, it is interesting to observe the surprising
persistence and growth of small-scale manufacturing there.
TABLE XXV.-PLANTS IN THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN ZONE I (MANHATTAN SOUTH OF 59TH
STREET) CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO SIZE, IN
1900 AND 1922
Number       Per cent
Number of employes
per plant
per plant      1900   1922  1900   1922
1-4..............  43    230    16.7  30.0
5-9..............  57    207    22.2  27.0
10-19.............  61    169   23.7   22.1
20-49.............  57    110    22.2  14.4
50-99.............  23   41     8.9    5.4
100-249............  9      8     3.5    1.0
250-499............  4     1     1.6.1
500-999............  2...8
1,000 and over........  1...4
Total..............  257  766  100.0  100.0


than 20 employes hired only 14 per cent of that
number. In 1922, however, there was a record of
only one plant employing 250 or more, and the
small plants had so increased that their employes
numbered 36.2 per cent of the total. This tendency to small-scale production substantiates
the generally accepted conclusion that Manhattan is not found to be a desirable location for
any large textile mill. The mere fact, shown by
Table XXIV, that the number of plants in the
area as a whole is increasing more rapidly than
the number of employes, indicates that this trend
toward a smaller unit is not confined to Zone I.
Details are supplied in the sections dealing with
the branches of the industry.
In addition to the decrease in size of the average establishment, two other changes during the
same period, noteworthy from the point of view
of localization, are to be observed in the zone.
These can best be seen from a comparison of the
two maps. The relatively large plants, located
in 1900 on the west side between 42d and 59th
Streets, no longer appear on the map for 1922.
It will also be seen that the industry, originally
concentrated below 14th Street, has now spread
uptown nearly to 33d Street. Analysis of the
data proved this movement to be due not to
displacements of textile manufacture by some
other economic activity, but rather to the natural
growth in the industry, which in its expansion
drifted uptown along with the clothing trades
and buying centers of every kind. This interpretation of the movement is supported by the
fact that the total number of textile plants and
employes below 14th Street in 1922 (364 plants,
5,574 employes) was larger than in 1900 (263
plants, 4,699 employes).
Land Values.-A study was also made of plant
locations in relation to land values in Manhattan.
The industry clusters around Broadway and the
adjacent side streets from near Fulton Street up
to 33d Street, and the plants, therefore, are located, regardless of type or size, on land ranging
in value fron $501-$1,000 or $1,001-$5,000 a front
foot. It is surprising that the industry should be
able to meet the costs of operation on such expensive land, but it must be remembered that the
value of land is determined not only by its present usefulness but also by the anticipation of


Table XXV gives the size of plants for the two
years 1900 and 1922. The comparison reveals a
significant change in the scale of production. In
1900 seven plants, each with 250 or more employes, hired 39 per cent of the total number of
textile workers in the zone,l while plants with less
The distribution of employes among plants of different
size is on file at the offices of the Regional Plan but is not
published.




J- -           ~  +       z 
Z  V..  +,a Z       z              BRIDGEPORT
WESTPORT<NORWALK
BER3R*ENI {8sCM  9   *  S  g GLENVILLE +
EN
/  1
ROCKAWAYi 4 I
IDOVER '  -—. A           '" %:~ '...CKEMIN.- ' ||  H UDSTA N  ISLANDC 
UNION
PLUCKWEMIN S.TTEN ISQUEN
PLAINFIELD
RART7AN  |O
BOUND ROOK+                                                                11
*aI                  i:f1900
+.  i~!    &h'))     ~ i  i',~ a  m    kSCALE  MILES
DIAGRAM XIX
Location of textile plants with twenty or more employes in New York and its Environs in 1900
~~~~~~~:.,';{/-..,$-BOOKLN~,..~-'.+++e~r.o                i,
9~~~~IGA XI
Lctooftxieplants wt wnt o rmeeplysine or n     its Enirn in  19




82




MIDVALE a


\ /
/


POMPTON
LAKES ~
WESTWOOD.


ESSEX      A
A +


as
f.,5  


BROOKLYN


A


UNION


1922


LEGEND


EMPLOYES PER DAY
KNIT GOODS
FINISHING TRADES
SMALL WARES
MISCELLANEOUS
SILK GOODS


20-49
t


5(


0-99  100-249  250 -499,              a
w       O       L3


500 AND OVER
A
0
a


SCALE 0            2     3     4      5 MILES




DIAGRAM XX
Location of textile plants with twenty or more employes in New York and its Environs in 1922
83




84 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


future uses. It is possible, therefore, for a small
scale industry to get floor space at a fairly low
rental in tenements, abandoned residences, and
other obsolete buildings, which in the course of
time, as the land ripens to its more profitable
uses, will be replaced by buildings designed perhaps for higher economic purposes.
Knit Goods
Knitting as a relatively new and rapid growing'
branch of the industry stands out as one of the
great divisions of fabric structure and, despite
the fact that something may be said in favor of
distributing it among the cotton, wool, silk, and
other branches of the industry, it is believed to
merit separate classification.
The knitted fabric is used by two distinct industries: first, the manufacture of knitted underwear, including hosiery; and, second, the manufacture of knitted outerwear.
In New York and its environs, relatively little
hosiery and underwear is produced, the chief
centers of the national industry being in Pennsylvania and the Mohawk Valley. While it was
not possible to differentiate underwear from
outerwear in the factory inspection cards, there
is every reason to believe2 that the former branch
of the industry is not growing in this vicinity.
Such products are fairly well standardized and
large scale production with little fluctuation
is, therefore, possible. The products are sold
chiefly from sample in case lots. A location close
to New York has, therefore, no special advantages
to offset the higher rentals and labor costs.
One large plant founded in Brooklyn about
thirty-five years ago, because of cheap female
labor, which constitutes about 90 per cent of its
labor force there, finds the situation today very
unfavorable. It could use at the time of writing3
from 500 to 1,000 more American girls if they
could be obtained for between $20 and $25 a
week, but cannot get them for less than $30.
The business has so expanded that the company
now operates a dozen plants in different parts of
I The Census of Manufactures shows that the number of
wage-earners employed in this industry-in the United
States has increased from 83,691 in 1899 to 172,572 in 1919,
or over 106 per cent.
2 According to the secretary of the National Association
of Hosiery and Underwear Manufacturers.
August, 1923.


the country and it has recently moved its cotton
underwear department from Brooklyn to Bangor.
It continues to operate in Brooklyn primarily because of the very heavy fixed capital investment.
Another interesting case encountered was that of
a hosiery company which moved from New Brunswick to Norfolk. These two examples seem to
suggest the possibility of more economic fabrication entirely outside of this area.
Consequently, the manufacture of knitted outerwear is the dominant branch of the trade in this
vicinity, the products being such as sweaters,
bathing suits, neckwear, mufflers, gloves, fancy
novelties, and jersey cloth hats. It is marked by
the following characteristics:
1. It is the newest, most rapidly growing
branch of a new and rapidly growing industry.
It is impossible to get exact figures for this growth
as the census did not report knitted outerwear
separately until recently; but a fair idea of it
may be obtained by comparing the physical
quantity of the two chief products for which
information is available since 1904. The production of jersey cloth and stockinette in 1904,
3,354,026 square yards, was in 1919, 30,344,402
square yards, or more than nine times as large.
Similarly the production of sweaters, etc., increased from 811,629 dozen in 1904 to 2,132,581
dozen in 1919.
2. An industry engaged in producing many
different, quite unstandardized articles, differing
in yarns, colors, and styles, as well as articles like
sweaters and bathing suits in demand at different
seasons of the year, naturally tends to be highly
seasonal and irregular in character. The only
figures available on seasonality in knit goods
manufacture relate to the entire industry, including the more stable underwear, and thus understate the fluctuations of outerwear. For the
United States as a whole, according to the Census
of Manufactures for 1919, the minimum number
of wage-earners in the industry (March) is 73.3
per cent of the maximum (December). Much
greater seasonality in New York and its environs
is indicated by a recent bulletin of the Bureau of
Women in Industry of the New York State Department of Labor. After an investigation of
118 representative plants in the vicinity of New
York, the Bureau points out the variation in




THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY


85


TABLE XXVI.-PLANTS AND EMPLOYES IN THE KNIT GOODS BRANCH OF THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY
IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS, BY TERRITORIAL SUBDIVISIONS, IN 1900, 1912, 1917, AND 1922
Number                                     Per cent
Plants              Employes                Plants             Employes
1900 1912 1917 1922 1900 1912 1917   1922  1900 1912 1917 1922 1900 1912 1917 1922
Zone I...................    18   52   87 125   779   969 1,474 2,827 37.5 24.6 23.7 15.7 25.8 13.3 12.4 14.1
Zone II..................    26  155 271 656 2,084 5,510 8,626 15,363 54.2 73.5 73.6 82.6 68.9 75.7 72.7 76.6
Brooklyn................ 16     129 195 373    6684,510 6,132 9,039 33.3 61.2 53.0 47.0 22.1 62.0 51.6 45.1
Queens....................       6   20 128..  225   823 1,962..2.8     5.4 16.1..   3.1   6.9  9.8
Upper Manhattan and
Bronx................    6     7  15   77   321  334    410 1,692 12.5    3.3  4.0  9.7 10.6   4.6  3.5   8.4
Richmond.......................     3.....3........O
Metropolitan Westchester.......2          40.3.......    2
Bergen..................          1    1   2..   25    17     13...5.3.2...3.2.1
Metropolitan Passaic......        1    7  14..   40   443 1,005...5      1.9  1.8...5      3.7  5.0
Essex....................    8   14  23..   246   422   752..   3.8  3.8  2.9..  3.4   3.6  3.7
Hudson.................     1    3   17  34   160   130   334    701  2.1   1.4  4.6  4.3   5.3  1.8   2.8  3.5
Union.................      1..    1   2   105..    42   119   2.1.3.2   3.5...4.6
Metropolitan Middlesex...    2....   1   830....    40   4.2....1 27.4.....2
Zone III.................     4    4   10   13  161   797 1,774 1,856   8.3   1.9  2.7   1.7  5.3 11.0 14.9   9.3
Nassau......................       2  1....    43     51.6.1....    4.3
Suffolk......................     1   1....    18      2.3.....1.1  Oa
Outlying Westchester..........   2.....     35.....2..... 
Putnam......................   1......     56...3...  1......
Outlying Passaic................  1......     23..1..      1...... 
Orange......................    2    1....   343      5.5.1..      2.9.Oa
R ockland................    1......   15.....   2.1.....     5....
Morris..................     2    2    2   3   135   650 1,009 1,594   4.1.9.5.4   4.4  8.9   8.5  7.9
Outlying Middlesex............    1......     11.....2......   1
M onm outh................    1......   50.....     5......  7
Fairfield.................   1    1    3   2    11    97   361     79  2.1.5.8.3.4   1.4   3.0.4
Total................ 48     211 368 794 3,024 7,276 11,874 20,046100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
a Less than one-tenth of one per cent.


lengths of season from year to year, and the total
lack of standardization even in plants producing
thesame typeof goods. "Of those shops manufacturing sweaters and no other product, 27 claim
their shops worked under six months a year, 30
said their force worked from eight to ten months,
18 worked from ten to eleven months, and 4
claimed the full fifty-two weeks of work."'
3. The workers are of mixed nationalities, but
Americans and Jews predominate. Women form
70 per cent of the working force. The trade is
skilled, the average time of training required
ranging from three months to a year.
4. Employers are with few exceptions small
I Special Bulletin No. 117, March, 1923, page 18.


Jewish proprietors who do contract work for
jobbers.
5. It is possible to start with very little capital.
Machinery can be bought on the installment
plan, and when work is done on a commission
basis, yarn and other materials are furnished by
the jobber. The space occupied is relatively
small.' When to these facts are added the lack of
standardization of the product, the well-known
1 A fully organized plant employing 150 to 200 workers,
doing its own winding, coneing, spooling, knitting, sewing,
finishing, and storage, needs with its executive offices only
about 50,000 square feet of loft space, which can be obtained for a rental of 50 cents a square foot. Less highly
organized plants with no differentiation of functions can,
however, occupy much less space per employe. In fact,
it is no exaggeration to say that it is possible to start a
knitting factory in a room of one's home.




86 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


enterprise of the Jewish workers who find here an
opportunity of getting into business for themselves, the use of hand or electrically driven
power machines, the small scale of production
requires no further explanation. It should be
noted, moreover, that the smaller plants with
less than 20 employes are steadily increasing in
relative importance.
Table XXVI shows, first of all, the marked
concentration in New York City, where in 1922
there were 88.4 per cent of all the plants in the
region employing 77.4 per cent of all employes.
Every borough, except Richmond, is of considerable importance. In Manhattan south of 59th
Street only about 16 per cent of the plants and
14 per cent of the employes are to be found.
During the last twenty years the industry has
grown considerably in this section of the city,
although less rapidly than in the region as a
whole. The most marked concentration occurs in
Brooklyn and Queens, which combined represent
63.1 per cent of the plants and 54.9 per cent of the
employes in the region. It will be observed from
TABLE XXVII.-PLANTS IN THE KNIT GOODS
BRANCH OF THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN BROOKLYN, CLASSIFIED BY SIZE, IN 1900, 1912, 1917,
AND 1922
Number
Number of employes 
per plant
per plant      1900   1912   1917  1922
1-19.............    6    95    149    296
20-49.............    6     17    36     59
50-99.............    3     11     5     10
100-249..............       3      3      6
250-499............    1     2      1      1
500-999..............
1,000 and over.........      1     1      1
Total..............  16   129    195    373
Per cent
1-19.............  37.5  73.6  76.4   79.3
20-49.............  37.5  13.2   18.5  15.8
50-99.............  18.7   8.5    2.6   2.7
100-249..............    2.3    1.5   1.6
250-499...........  6.3    1.6.5.3
500-999..............
1,000 and over...........8.5.3
Total..............  100.0  100.0  100.0  100.0


the table, again, that the most significant growth
in the industry has taken place in this section.
Because Brooklyn is as yet the most important
center of the industry in this vicinity, Table
XXVII is presented to give in greater detail the
development of the industry there since 1900.
The manifold multiplication of plants in the
industry during this period is evidently due in
the main to the large increase in the number of
plants with less than 20 employes. These small
concerns represent about 80 per cent of the total
number of plants, but employ only about 24 per
cent of the workers. A single large establishment which employs more than one-third of the
knit goods workers in the borough, and is engaged in the manufacture of knitted underwear,
somewhat obscures by its inclusion in the table
the high relative importance of the smaller plants
in the more characteristic knitting of outer wear.
Corresponding data for New York and its environs as a whole are presented in Table XVIII.
It should be noted that here again the smaller
plants with less than 20 employes are steadily
increasing in relative importance.
TABLE XXVIII.-PLANTS IN THE KNIT GOODS
BRANCH OF THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN NEW
YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS, CLASSIFIED BY SIZE,
IN 1900, 1912, 1917, AND 1922
Number of employes  1900  1912   1917   1922
per plant
1-19.............  21    139   260    599
20-49.............   11    41     72    127
50-99.............  8     21     17     40
100-249............   6      6     14     21
250-499............   2      2      3      5
500-999.............      1      1      1
1,000 and over..........       1            1
Total..............  48    211    368    794
Per cent
1-19.............  43.7  65.9  70.6  75.5
20-49.............  22.9  19.4   19.6   16.0
50-99.............  16.7  9.9    4.6   5.1
100-249............  12.5   2.8   3.8    2.6
250-499............  4.2    1.0.8.6
500-999..............5.3.1
1,000 and over.........5.3.1
Total.............. 100.0  100.0  100.0  100.0




THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY


87


No clear-cut explanation of the concentration
of the industry in New York City has been
obtained from any interview with manufacturers,
but the conditions that permit its continuance
here, if not the determining causes, have already
been implied under the study of the characteristics of the industry. It is an "imported" industry, the machines and the skilled workers coming
first from Germany, which still supplies a very
large proportion of the circular, Raschel, and
chain loom machines.1
The present chaotic condition-constant introduction of new machinery, methods and styles
resulting in a constant state of flux-renders the
prediction of future trends very difficult. The
industry promises continued growth, especially
in Brooklyn and the rest of Zone II, but is spreading throughout the region and throughout the
country.
One leading manufacturer suggests that as
plants, started on an experimental basis in rented
space with relatively little fixed capital invested,
develop to a size that permits large-scale production it is possible that they may move out
of the area to locations where rents, land values,
and labor and fuel costs are lower than in the
vicinity of New York City. This manufacturer
is transferring most of his production to a newly
built factory in Buffalo where electric power for
industrial purposes may be obtained more
cheaply than in Brooklyn and wages for the
type of labor employed are much less than the
wages paid in this vicinity. Movements of this
sort will probably continue, but whether this will
affect the size and growth of the industry in New
York and its environs will depend upon the conditions now encouraging the irregular, small-plant
development already indicated.
Silk and Silk Goods
The classification of silk and silk goods covers
all the processes, save dyeing and finishing, that
work the silk fiber into the woven fabric or
ribbon and thread. These include (1) the preliminary processes of throwing (i. e., twisting) the
raw silk into organzine or tram, spinning the
1 Memorandum of the National Association of Sweater
and Knitted Textiles Industry, to the Committee on Ways
and Means, House of Representatives, February, 1921,
page 13.


silk waste into yarn, winding and spooling, etc;
(2) the weaving of broad silks, ribbons, and
other fabrics.
Thanks to national prosperity and the protective tariff the United States has since 1905
held first place among the silk manufacturing
countries of the world. In view of this statement, the fact that the industry first started in
this vicinity and that all the imported raw silk
and practically all the finished silk products are
marketed in New York, is sufficient to indicate
the importance of silk manufacturing in this
district and to account for its rank as a leading
silk section of the country. In New York,'
Connecticut' and New Jersey' there was employed in 1919, 44 per cent of the wage-earners
and there was produced 53 per cent of the value
of the products of the American silk industry,
according to Census of Manufactures.
The general characteristics of the industry
may be summed up very briefly:
(1) Since silk is still the most luxurious of
textile fabrics, the industry is normally subject
to serious fluctuations. This uncertainty has
been accentuated of late by the extreme variations in the price of raw silk,2 the cost of which
forms the largest proportion of the cost of the
finished product. The irregularity of silk production is shown by the fact that in 1919 the minimum number of wage-earners was only 86 per
cent of the maximum. This figure of course is
only a suggestion, since it takes no account of
partial employment, and refers to the whole
industry, in which different fluctuations within
different branches (not indicated in the total
figures) are of very great significance.
These fluctuations can be traced in large part
to the influence of style. Three chief kinds of
looms are used in the weaving of broad silk:
plain looms for a plain weave, box looms with
several shuttles for different colors in the filling,
and Jacquard looms for the more intricate
1 Including, of course, some areas of silk production, in
Connecticut especially, not within the region studied.
2 Detailed statistics of raw silk prices in New York are
compiled by the Silk Association of America and published
in its Semi-Annual Review and its Annual Reports. The
most marked fluctuation occurred in 1919-1920, when the
price per pound of Japan Filature, No. 1 Shinshiu, for
example, rose from less than $6.00 in February, 1919, to a
little over $17.00 in January, 1920, and by June, 1920, had
fallen again to a little over $6.00.




88 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


figured designs. Under the dictates of fashion a
large proportion of one kind or other of these
looms is almost certain to remain idle at any one
time. Manufacturers hesitate to produce for
stock and the industry remains highly unstable.
This is true in even more marked degree for the
manufacture of ribbons, for which the demand is
even more variable than for silk goods generally.'
(2) The industry thrives best on a plentiful
supply of female labor with its relatively low
costs. For the United States as a whole, the
distribution of the wage-earners in the silk industry is approximately 40 per cent male and 60
per cent female. Women predominate in even
more marked degree in the throwing, spinning and
winding branches, for which the distribution is
roughly 26 per cent male and 74 per cent female.2
In weaving, a highly skilled trade, the sexes are
about evenly divided.
(3) Silk products, being of small bulk and high
value, are generally shipped by truck, express, or
parcel post. Waterfront facilities and private
sidings are unimportant.
(4) The raw material, originally imported
largely from Italy and France, is now imported
chiefly from Japan and China. It comes by
special express trains (in order to avoid loss of
interest) direct from the Pacific ports to New
York, and is generally trucked from the silk warehouses to the mill.
(5) In comparison with heavy manufacturing
industries the silk industry uses relatively little
space, only about 250 square feet per employe.
(6) The industry can be conducted on a small
scale and, in this vicinity at least, for reasons
later to be explained, the small establishments
'"When other silk goods are having a year of great
popularity, ribbons may be so out of style that few ribbon
looms are in operation. It is typical of the industry that
large numbers of looms are frequently idle. Broad-silk
weavers can readily become ribbon weavers, and with
changes in ribbon styles there is a considerable ebb and
flow of workers between the ribbon industry and the broadgoods industry. Because of this changing demand it is
difficult for ribbon mills to keep a large labor force over a
series of years. Proximity to a skilled labor market is
therefore more essential for ribbons than for broad goods,
and as a result, the industry is more concentrated at Paterson than is the broad-goods industry."-Silk Wearing
Apparel and Silk Small Wares, Tariff Information Surveys,
U. S. Tariff Commission, 1922.
2 It is for this reason that the thnowsters are now concentrated chiefly in the mining and heavy iron and steel
manufacturing districts of Pennsylvania.


are becoming of increasing relative importance
Table XXIX shows the variations in the size of
plants since 1900. A compilation of the employes shows that whereas plants with less than
20 employes hired less than one per cent of the
total number in 1900, they hired 12 per cent in
1922, and that while plants with 250 employes
or more hired 59 per cent of the total in 1900,
they hired only 31 per cent in 1922.
TABLE XXIX.-PLANTS IN THE SILK AND SILK
GOODS BRANCH OF THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY
IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS, CLASSIFIED
BY SIZE, IN 1900, 1912, 1917, AND 1922
Number
Number of employes
per plant
1900   1912    1917   1922
1-19.............     24     72    361     533
20-49.............     29     80     158    222
50-99.............     33     66      89     89
100-249............     44     63     53      49
250-499............     25     25      18     20
500-999............     10     10       1      4
1,000 and over..........      4       1      1
Total..............   165     320    681    918
Per cent
1-19.............  14.5   22.5    53.0   58.1
20-49.............  17.6    25.0   23.2   24.2
50-99.............  20.0    20.6   13.1    9.7
100-249............   26.7   19.7     7.8    5.3
250-499............   15.1     7.8    2.7    2.2
500-999............   6.1    3.1.1.4
1,000 and over.........     1.3.1.1
Total..............  100.0  100.0  100.0  100.0


The present localization of the silk industry in
America is closely bound up with its early
history,' which for present purposes can be recounted in very few words. Silk manufacturechiefly of silk small wares- started experimentally
in the early nineteenth century, either, for
evident reasons, in the larger cities, Philadelphia
or New York, or near the centers, in such places
as Connecticut, of the temporarily successful
attempts at the culture of silk. Although sericulture proved economically impossible, the long1 L. P. Brockett, The Silk Industry in America, 1876.




THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY


89


TABLE XXX.-PLANTS AND EMPLOYES IN THE SILK AND SILK GOODS BRANCH OF THE TEXTILE
INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS, BY TERRITORIAL SUBDIVISIONS, IN 1900, 1912, 1917,
AND 1922
Number                                    Per cent
Plants              Employes                Plants              Employes
1900 1912 1917 1922 1900  1912  1917  1922 1900 1912 1917 1922 1900 1912 1917   1922
Zone I................ 25    33  48   92  1,511 1,236 1,073 1,274 15.1 10.3   7.1 10.0  6.0  3.4  3.5   3.5
Zone II............... 126 269 605 765 21,582 31,195 26,101 30,548 76.4 84.1 88.8 83.3 85.1 86.7 86.1  84.1
Brooklyn............   5   27  10   18    289   471   685 1,453   3.0  8.5  1.5  2.0  1.1  1.3  2.3   4.0
Queens..............   5    9   15  24    866 1,513 1,834 2,035   3.0  2.8  2.2  2.6  3.4  4.2   6.1  5.6
Upper Manhattan and
Bronx............    7    6   2   10  1,086 1,326   495 1,009  4.3   1.9.3   1.1  4.3  3.7  1.6   2.8
Westchester.........   1    1   1    2     35    68    61    82.6.3.1.2.2.2.2.2
Bergen..............   1    4   4    9    500   605   530   582.6   1.3.6   1.0  2.0  1.7  1.7   1.6
Passaic.............. 88 195 539 629 15,060 19,687 19,314 20,059 53.4 60.9 79.1 68.5 59.4 54.7 63.7  55.2
Essex...............  2    1   1    5    135   150     5   139   1.2.3.1.5.5.4.0l.4
Hudson............. 14     23  29   58  3,151 6,912 2,675 4,962   8.5  7.2  4.3  6.3 12.4 19.2  8.8  13.7
Union.3                     3   4    9    460   463   502   220   1.8.9.6   1.0  1.8  1.3   1.7.6
Middlesex............1....... 1..                               7......  1....  7.0
Zone III.............. 14    18  28   61  2,268 3,563 3,141 4,484   8.5  5.6  4.1  6.7  8.9  9.9 10.4   12.4
Dutchess...........    1    2   3    2    137    79   120   126.6.6.4.2.5.2.4.4
Orange..............   1    3   5    8     99   361   449   236.6.9.7.9.4  1.0   1.5.7
Rockland.............    2   2    5..   386   374   363...6.3.6..  1.1   1.3   1.0
Bergen..............  4..   2    6    265..    33   159   2.4...3.7  1.0...1.4
Passaic.................  6   25....   307 1,065....       9   2.7....   1.0  2.9
Morris..............   5    6   6    8   980    686   398   447   3.1  1.9.9.9  3.9  1.9   1.3  1.2
Somerset...............   1    1....    93   176....     2.1....   3.5
Middlesex.................  1......   475.....  1......  1.3
Monmouth................  2......    90........3
Fairfield............  3    5   3    3    787 2,051 1,347 1,347   1.8  1.6.4.3  3.1  5.7  4.5   3.7
Total............. 165 320 681 918 25,361 35,994 30,315 36,306 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
a Less than one-tenth of one per cent.


continued attempts had engaged the attention of
the whole country and had encouraged, therefore, many manufacturing experiments. Skilled
operatives and manufacturers, attracted from the
old established silk centers of Europe,1 settled here
and started business in what then seemed to be
the most favorable locations. The silk industry
of today, grown from these first seeds,- especially
after the tariff of 1861 made it possible to compete with European manufacturers in the domestic market,-is still located in those places,
such as Paterson, New Jersey, or South Manchester, Connecticut, where it first met with
1 Especially from England, after the closing of the mills
at Manchester and Macclesfield, when the Cobden treaty
abrogated the silk duty.


success, or in such places as Allentown, or Easton,
Pennsylvania, to the advantages of which only
the pressure of adverse conditions elsewhere
directed the reluctant attention of the more
enterprising manufacturers.
The distribution of the silk industry in the
region of New York and its environs, shown in
Table XXX, is explicable on exactly the same
grounds, and will be considered in a discussion of
the more significant districts.
Lower Manhattan still retains 92 plants (10.2
per cent of the number in the region) employing,
however, only 1,274 or 3.5 per cent of the total
number of employes. These are engaged in all
branches of silk manufacture, but are steadily
decreasing in size and relative importance. This




90 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


is evidenced by the disappearance of the largest
plants located in 1900 on the upper west side,
and by the decrease-despite the increase in the
number of small plants-in the total number of
employes from 1,511 in 1900 to 1,274 in 1922. It
is safe to say that there is little economic justification for the continuance of the industry here.
The situation is similar in upper Manhattan
and the Bronx. Here ten plants give employment to 1,009 workers, 2.78 per cent of the
regional total, a slight decrease since 1900. One
of these, a large ribbon company, now employing
400 to 500 workers, transferred its plant, about
forty years ago, from 55th Street to West 132d
Street, where it continues to manufacture successfully only because of the fact that it specializes on the more expensive novelty lines which
can bear the higher costs of production in New
York City. It has built up a local labor supply
60 per cent of which lives within walking distance, but it is only a question of time before it
seeks the more advantageous location of Paterson or Pennsylvania.
Although the factory inspection records indicate continued growth in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, there is reason to believe that
this will not long continue. The first silk (ribbon)
mill was established at College Point in 1872;
others started in the '80's1 and a fairly important
center developed.  Cheap female labor was
abundant, land was cheap, and there were certain advantages in the close juxtaposition of the
mills to the Manhattan salesrooms, for the head
officers could, with little loss of time, supervise
personally both the producing and the sales
organizations. But even in this relatively uncongested section of Greater New York the
manufacturers are beset with the problems of
increasing taxes and higher labor costs. Within
the last year, at least two plants have moved
away. The Champlain Silk Mills, one of the few
large spinning companies in the country, closed
its Brooklyn plant last year in the interest of the
lower production costs possible, through cheaper
power and labor, in the locality of its other plant
at Whitehall, New York.
1 Brandes Manufacturing Co., College Point, 1885; Astoria Silk Works, Long Island City, 1888; Mallinson &
Co., Long Island City, 1885; and Manhattan Silk Co.,
College Point, 1890.


In like manner the Star Ribbon Company,
established at College Point in 1910, moved to
Pennsylvania because, it is said, of labor difficulties. These isolated examples suggest a possible more general movement of the industry
beyond the city limits, a possibility strengthened
by the fact that several of the large, wellestablished companies already have out-of-town
mills. It is improbable, certainly, that the industry in Brooklyn and Queens will appreciably
increase.
TABLE XXXI.-PLANTS AND EMPLOYES IN THE
SILK AND SILK GOODS BRANCH OF THE TEXTILE
INDUSTRY IN HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY,
CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO SIZE OF PLANT, IN
1900, 1912, 1917, AND 1922
Number
Number of
employes        Plants             Employes
per plant
1900 1912 1917 1922 1900 1912 1917 1922
1-19...   1   2   10   29    15   26   99  192
20-49...   2    3   7   10    58   96 290 299
50-99...   1    3   3    8    80 248 240 605
100-249..   5   8    6    7   791 1,260 895 1,127
250-499..   4   2    3    1 1,607  8501,151 463
500-999..   1   3..   2   600 1,681.. 1,230
1,000 and
over...         2..    1.. 2,751.. 1,046
Total.... 14   23   29   58 3,1516,9122,6754,962
Per cent
1-19...  7.2  8.7 34.5 50.0.5.4  3.7  3.9
20-49... 14.3 13.1 24.2 17.2  1.8  1.4 10.8  6.0
50-99...  7.1 13.0 10.3 13.8  2.5  3.6  9.0 12.2
100-249.. 35.7 34.8 20.7 12.1 25.1 18.2 33.5 22.7
250-499.. 28.6  8.7 10.3  1.7 51.0 12.3 43.0  9.3
500-999..  7.1 13.0..  3.5 19.1 24.3.. 24.8
1,000 and
over.....   8.7..  1.7.. 39.8.. 21.1
Total.... 100.0 100.0    100.0100.0 100.0 1 00.0 1 00.0100.


In Hudson County, especially in the northern
section, the same story of an early start and
probable future decline must be repeated. Its
development, under the leadership of French,
German, and Swiss interests, into a relatively
important center, dates from 1866, when the




THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY


91


Givernaud Brothers, with sixty weavers and
machinery brought from Lyons, started their
factory in West Hoboken. As they were followed
by others' a colony of skilled European workers
was built up and the section prospered. The
changes since 1900, as shown in the factory
inspection records for Hudson County, are set
forth in Table XXXI. Between 1900-1912 the
number of employes more than doubled. Since
1912, if the probable incompleteness of the
figures for 1917 be disregarded, it has noticeably
declined. The pressure of higher costs has
compelled the large manufacturers to transfer
their production of plain goods to other sections.2
As a result, the fair-sized plants have decreased
in number and relative importance. Those employing 250 or more employes in 1912 were 30.4
per cent of the total number in the county and
hired 76.4 per cent of the total number of
employes. In 1922 these represented only 6.9
per cent of the number of plants and hired only
55.2 per cent of the number of employes. Their
production-which continues only because of
their heavy fixed capital investment-is almost
entirely of the highest grade of merchandise, on
which there is practically no competition either
from Paterson or Pennsylvania.
Quite apart too from the question of costs, the
labor supply is wholly inadequate. Advertisements in the help wanted columns of the newspapers bring few, if any, applicants. Many of
the plants could not get labor to run at full
capacity if they so desired. This situation is
expected to grow worse because the higher wages
or greater security of other manual occupations
and the social prestige of "white-collar" jobs in
the city have so attracted the younger generation
that there are practically no apprentices or young
journeymen in the trade.
It is in Paterson and in the surrounding section
of Passaic County that the silk industry is most
highly concentrated and the situation there
merits detailed consideration.
1 R. & H. Simon, Union Hill, 1875, and SchwartzenbachHuber, West Hoboken, 1883.
2 Schwartzenbach-Huber, who used to have 1,500 looms
in Hudson County, now have only 500 and have established 16 other plants. R. & H. Simon have moved to
Easton, Pa., Carl Schoen Silk Corporation to Scranton, Pa.,
and Valley Falls, R. I.


Paterson was founded in 1791 by Alexander
Hamilton, who appreciated the industrial possibilities of the Passaic Falls, a seventy-foot
cataract.  He organized the Society for the
Establishment of Useful Manufactures, which
still controls the water rights and furnishes
power through a modern hydro-electric plant to
the industries of the city. Although it was
largely a matter of chance that the silk industry
started there in 1840, there were good reasons for
its successful growth. These are summed up
by Brockett1 as follows: "Paterson had been
favored from  the first with abundant waterpower, proximity to a great commercial port and
excellent facilities for transportation...
Water in large quantities and of fair purity
is absolutely required in the processes of silk
manufacture...   Paterson could from the
first supply pure water abundantly.    More
important than anything else, however, was
cheap labor.... Paterson had at an early
period drawn together a laboring population.
The men were employed in machine-shops and
on heavy work. Their wives and children needed
employment;... As a consequence Paterson
offered that greatest desideratum of the silkmaker, cheap labor."
Today its eminence in silk-making is threatened. Changes in the labor situation, it is claimed
by the manufacturers, are driving the silk industry from Paterson to eastern Pennsylvania. The
situation, briefly stated, is as follows.2 The silk
workers, unorganized as yet in Pennsylvania, are
organized in Paterson. The weavers belong to the
Associated Silk Workers-an independent union.
The loom-fixers and twisters-the most highly
skilled group-form a local of the United Textile
Workers of America, affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor. In Paterson wages are
about 40 per cent higher than in Pennsylvania,
and the working week is only 44 hours as compared with 50-54. In Paterson most of the
weavers operate only one ribbon or two broadsilk looms, but in Pennsylvania they operate two
See page 115.
2 Manufacturers' Report to the Silk Conference, Paterson Evening News, May 4, 1923. Through the courtesy of
the Paterson Chamber of Commerce it was possible to
consult also the unpublished minutes of this and other
meetings of the Conference.




92 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


ribbon or three or four1 broad-silk looms. Labor
costs are therefore much higher,2 and the manufacturers maintain that it is impossible on the
two-loom system to produce the plain, so-called
"bread and butter" fabrics in competition with
the multiple loom system in Pennsylvania.
In addition to such specific disadvantages the
manufacturers resent the vague menace of union
activity in any form, and particularly the uncertainty that results from friction between the
opposing unions, whose members on occasion
may not work with one another. Some complain,
too, of the high taxation on silk machinery.
Any extended discussion, from the point of view
of social welfare, of the merits of the cases for and
against the plural loom system, would be irrelevant to the purposes of this study. The manufacturers maintain that it would increase earnings
and through lowering prices, with the resultant
increase in a demand for silk goods, decrease unemployment in Paterson. They contend that
Paterson is used "to take up the slack," only
when their Pennsylvania plants (or competitors,
in the case of those who possess only Paterson
plants) are running to full capacity.3 The workers contentions are that the plural loom system
involves too great a nervous strain (especially
eye strain) on the weaver; that it would create
unemployment since one weaver could do the
work of two; that the manufacturers advocate
it as a device for the reduction of wages; and
that prices could be lowered by the elimination of
some of the wastes of management. This report
1 The number of looms that can be operated by a single
weaver depends of course on the character of the work.
Jacquard weaving, for example, is never done on the plural
system.
2 It has been impossible to get any generally applicable
estimate of the difference in costs. The manufacturers in
their report to the Silk Conference of May, 1923, maintained that the weaving, warping, winding, and quilling
costs for 1,000 yards of a specified crepe de chine, in Pennsylvania, total only $85.35 or less than half of the cost of
$175.67 in Paterson. The weaving prices of 16 other
described fabrics are also given and seem to show that the
Pennsylvania cost is about two-thirds of the Paterson cost.
On the other hand, the examination of the cost sheets of
another manufacturer shows that the difference in favor of
Pennsylvania is only about 10-20 per cent in certain lines.
Other lines, especially the better grades, cannot be produced in his Pennsylvania factory at all.
3 Again, sufficiently detailed statistics are lacking. The
Census of Manufactures for 1919, however, reports the
minimum number of wage earners in Pennsylvania as 87
per cent of the maximum, and in New Jersey as 81 per cent.


is concerned only with the already known and
probable future effects of the situation on the
growth of the silk industry.
It is true that many companies,1 in search of
"the greatest desideratum of the silk-maker,"
have moved entirely to or established annexes
in eastern Pennsylvania. It cannot be denied
that Pennsylvania has absorbed a larger proportion of the growth of the national silk industry. Table XXXII from the Census of Manufacturers shows the decreasing relative importance of both New Jersey and Paterson as compared with Pennsylvania. Nevertheless, it cannot yet be proved conclusively that the industry
will ever leave Paterson or New Jersey, where it
still continues to grow, though less rapidly than
in Pennsylvania.
It will be seen from Table XXXIII, which
shows the changes between 1900 and 1922 in
Passaic County, by far the most important silk
section in New York and its environs, that although the number of employes increased 33 per
cent, this growth has been much less rapid than
the phenomenal increase in the number of plants.
Paterson is steadily becoming a city of small
plants. Mills with less than 20 employes, which
in 1900 hired less than 34 of one per cent of the
total number of employes, in 1922 hired 16.1
per cent. Those with 100 or more employes have
declined in relative importance, as measured by
the number of employes, from 85.3 per cent in
1900 to 39.3 per cent in 1922. As large manufacturers have moved away, their places have
been taken by smaller establishments which can
be started very easily. A weaver, for example,
with little knowledge of any other processes than
weaving, can buy looms on the instalment plan,
rent space (if he does not start in his own home)
with heat, power, and watchman service, for
about 55 cents a square foot, and start business
with very little capital. He can buy silk on credit,
have it thrown, dyed, and warped on commission, and after having done the weaving himself,
have the finished fabric sold through a commission house. While the industry has not declined,
it has changed its character, and today is in a
very uncertain, highly dynamic state. Nevertheless certain general conclusions may be ventured.
1 The manufacturers cite 58 well-known cases.




THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY


93


TABLE XXXII.-CENSUS DATA            RELATING    TO THE NUMBER OF WAGE-EARNERS AND VALUE OF
PRODUCTS IN THE SILK AND SILK GOODS BRANCH OF THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED STATES,
PENNSYLVANIA, NEW JERSEY, AND PATERSON, 1899-1921
Number or amount
Year                       Wage-earners                          Value of products (in thousands)
United     Pennsyl-     New                   United     Pennsyl-      New      Pa
States      vania      Jersey       erson     States      vania      Jersey
1899         65,416     21,028      24,157     15,943     $107,256    $31,073     $39,967    $26,006
1904         79,601     36,915      25,481     14,624      133,288     39,334     42,863      25,433
1909         99,037     36,469      30,285     11,828      196,912     62,061      65,430     39,994
1914        108,170     44,755      28,263     16,992      254,011     86,939      75,706     44,672
1919        126,782     53,052      32,326     21,836      688,470    231,711     215,051    139,497
1921        121,378     51,690      27,182     16,666      583,419    224,196     145,508     87,333
Per cent of total for United States
1899          100.0       32.2        36.9       24.4        100.0       29.0       37.3        24.3
1904          100.0       33.8        32.0       18.4        100.0       29.5        32.2       19.1
1909          100.0       36.8        30.1       19.0        100.0       31.5       33.2        20.3
1914          100.0       41.4        26.1       15.7        100.0       34.2        29.8       17.6
1919          100.0       41.9        25.5       17.2        100.0       33.7       31.2        20.3
1921          100.0       42.6        22.4       13.7        100.0       38.4       24.9        15.0


TABLE XXXIII.-PLANTS AND EMPLOYES IN THE SILK AND SILK GOODS BRANCH OF THE TEXTILE


INDUSTRY IN PASSAIC COUNTY,
1912, 1917, AND 1922


NEW JERSEY, CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO SIZE OF PLANT, IN 1900,


Number
Number of employes                      Plants                                    Employes
per plant
1900       1912       1917       1922       1900      1912       1917       1922
1-19...............       4        21        306        383          52        293      2,788      3,409
20-49...............       18         65        129       168         577      2,015      4,174      5,254
50-99..............       22         49         68        62       1,585      3,165      4,647      4,161
100-249..............      25        40         33         29       3,978      5,474      4,810      4,293
250-499..............      12         12          8         12      4,569      3,740      2,577      4,007
500-999..............       7          7          1..      4,299      4,000        625
1,000 and over...........         1......                         1,000...
Total...........          88        195        545        654      15,060     19,687     19,621    21,124
Per cent
1-19...............      4.6       10.8       56.1       58.6.4        1.5       14.2       16.1
20-49...............    20.5       33.3       23.7       25.7        3.8       10.2       21.3       24.9
50-99...............     25.0       25.1       12.5        9.5       10.5       16.1       23.7       19.7
100-249..............     28.4       20.5        6.0        4.4       26.4       27.8       24.5       20.3
250-499.............     13.6        6.2        1.5        1.8       30.3       19.0       13.1       19.0
500-999..............     7.9        3.6.2..       28.6       20.3        3.2
1,000 and over..........5......                           5.1 
Total..............     100.0      100.0      100.0      100.0      100.0      100.0      100.0      100.0




94 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


If the manufacturers should succeed in their
endeavor to introduce the plural-loom system,1
there is every prospect of a large increase in the
industry in Paterson. Again, if the textile workers
of Pennsylvania become organized, the differential
advantage now enjoyed by Pennsylvania will be
largely lost. The work of organization is progressing under the auspices of the Amalgamated Textile
Workers and the United Textile Workers, but it
is impossible of course to predict the result of
anything so uncertain as labor organization in
any specific trade.2
One other possibility may work to retain and
stimulate the silk industry in Paterson, the success, namely, of the Chamber of Commerce in
its effort to attract male-employing industries to
the city. The highwater mark of prosperity in
Paterson seems to have been reached when the
locomotive and the silk industries balanced each
other in the employment of men and women. At
the withdrawal in about 1900 of the chief locomotive works, this balance was lost. The vigorous
growth of the silk and shirt industries kept the
increasing demand for female labor well ahead of
the supply, and its relative scarcity has operated
to increase wages and facilitate labor organization. While in Pennsylvania the weavers are
roughly 40 per cent male and 60 per cent female,
in New Jersey as a whole, the proportions are
reversed, 60 per cent being male and 40 per cent
female. The establishment of new industries
demanding a male labor force and attracting a
new labor population would vastly improve the
labor market from the point of view of the silk
manufacturers.
Quite apart from these considerations, while
the silk industry may not appreciably increase,
it is highly probable that the marked differentiation of functions (commission winders, warpers,
etc.), the craftsmanship of the workers, the convenience to the dyeing and finishing trades, to
1 The Chamber of Commerce estimates that 25 per cent
of the broad-silk looms is already operated on the pluralloom system. The system is most commonly used in
small non-union shops.
2 Both of these unions consider it inexpedient to reveal
statistics of membership. Each wishes to keep its rival
and the employers "guessing." It is known, however, that
the largest silk company in Allentown recently signed a
contract with the Amalgamated Textile Workers and it is
reported that about six locals have been recently organized
in Pennsylvania by the United Textile Workers.


the auxiliary industries, and to the market center, will all operate to maintain Paterson as
"the silk city," and it is possible that, by specialization on the higher grades of merchandise, Paterson may meet the competition of Pennsylvania
in the silk industry, very much as New England
is meeting the competition of the South in the
cotton industry.
The Finishing Trades
The finishing trades, so called, include for purposes of this study those processes on which,
given construction and material, depends the
final appearance, the coloring or surfacing, of the
product. Those comprise skein and piece-dyeing,
printing, bleaching, mercerizing, embossing, and
the like, and cloth sponging, examining and
shrinking-many of which are done by the same
concerns.
Table XXXIV suggests the relative importance of this branch of the industry in the New
York district and in the United States. The
concentration here of so large a proportion of the
TABLE XXXIV.-CENSUS DATA RELATING TO
AVERAGE NUMBER OF WAGE-EARNERS IN THE
DYEING AND FINISHING OF TEXTILES IN THE
UNITED STATES AND SELECTED SECTIONS
THEREOF, 1899-1921a
Number
Penn- Massa-        New
UJnited  NewNew     syl-  chu- Pater- New
States Jersey York vania  sets  oatr- 
1899 29,776  7,074 3,117  4,716  4,678 2,707 1,029
1904 35,565  7,597 3,586 4,585  7,508 3,074 1,224
1909 44,046 10,129 5,252  6,086  9,079 3,650 2,770
1914 48,467 11,683 5,514  6,389 11,437 3,472
1919 55,985 14,492 6,076  7,381  12,321 4,606 3,032
1921 51,510 12,709 6,290 6,511  13,318 4,792 3,241
Per cent
1899  100.0  23.8 10.5   15.8   15.7    9.1   3.5
1904  100.0   21.4 10.1  12.9    21.1   8.6   3.4
1909  100.0  23.0 11.9   13.8   20.6   8.3    6.3
1914  100.0   24.1 11.4  13.2   23.6    7.2 
1919  100.0  25.9 10.9   13.2   22.0   8.2    5.4
1921  100.0  24.7 12.2   12.6   25.9   9.3    6.3
a The 1921 data relate only to companies whose annual
product is in excess of $5,000. The corresponding figure
for the earlier years is $500.




THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY


95


TABLE XXXV.-PLANTS AND EMPLOYES IN THE FINISHING               TRADES BRANCH OF THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS, CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO SIZE OF PLANT IN 1900,
1912, 1917, AND 1922
Number
Number of employes                    Plants                                  Employes
per plant ________
1900      1912       1917      1922      1900      1912       1917      1922
1-19...............     47         67       113       192        459       591      1,044     1,666
20-49...............     25         24        43        64        771       778      1,292     1,832
50-99...............      9         13        14        29        621       832       959      1,721
100-249..............     10        12         19        21      1,434      1,712     2,720     3,327
250-499..............      6          5         7        10       1,803     1,460     2,280     2,978
500-999..............      7         9          5         5      4,630      6,171     3,834     3,508
1,000 and over.........      1         3         2         2       1,044     4,900     3,491      3,498
Total..............     105       133       203        323     10,762    16,444     15,620    18,530
Per cent
1-19...............   44.8      50.4      55.7       59.4       4.3        3.6       6.7       9.0
20-49...............    23.8      18.0      21.2       19.8        7.2       4.7       8.3       9.9
50-99..............      8.6       9.8       6.9        9.0        5.8       5.1       6.1       9.3
100-249.............     9.5       9.0       9.4        6.5       13.3      10.4      17.4      17.9
250-499.'............     5.7       3.7       3.4        3.1       16.7       8.9      14.6      16.1
500-999..............     6.7       6.8       2.4        1.6       43.0      37.5      24.6      18.9
1,000 and over..........9       2.3        1.0.6        9.7      29.8      22.3       18.9
Total..............    100.0     100.0     100.0     100.0      100.0     100.0      100.0     100.0


finishing trades as is indicated by the combined
figures for New York City and New Jersey (more
than 30 per cent of the workers) is of considerable
consequence from the point of view of regional
planning, since it serves in part to explain why so
many of the textile products, marketed in New
York City, are also physically brought into and
shipped direct from the city, even from Manhattan itself.'
The general characteristics of the finishing
trades may be summed up as follows:
1. The work consists chiefly of chemical processes or such simply described but highly technical physical operations as the application of
heat and pressure in calendering.
2. The requisite technical knowledge and the
relatively heavy, fixed capital investment necessary militate against small-scale production. A
group of specialists has, therefore, developed
whose business is conducted on a fairly large
1 See Monograph Number Eleven, Economic Series,
Filipetti, The Wholesale Markets, pages 20-23.


scale. Table XXXV shows the size of plants in
the industry for the years 1900-1922, and indicates the relative importance of the plants employing more than 250 workers. Such plants
hire 54 per cent of the number of employes, although representing only 5 per cent of the number of plants.
3. The dyeing and bleaching processes, especially, use more space per employe than is used in
this vicinity by any other type of textile plant.
For example, a silk ribbon mill of about 500 employes can be housed in a five-story building on
a ground space of about 300 feet by 75 feet,
whereas a bleaching and dyeing plant for the
same number of employes makes use of about
six acres.1
4. With the exception of some especially large
1 Chittick, James, Silk Manufacturing and its Problems,
1912. "Considerable space is required for dye-works purposes, as a variety of buildings are necessary, mostly onestoried... Ample coal storage space is required.and storage houses for the various acids, etc."
Page 106.




96 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


plants classified in the miscellaneous group, the
only textile establishments requiring rail or
water transportation facilities direct to the plant
are those of the finishing trades. Such facilities
are needed both for the transportation of fuel and
for the receipt and shipment of the product.
The problem of fuel transportation looms
larger in dyeing and finishing than in most of the
textile industry in New York and its environs.
An analysis of the census data shows that in
the United States the dyeing industry, with less
than half as many employes as silk manufacturing, uses more than twice as much coal, while in
New Jersey, again with less than half as many
employes, it consumes nearly six times as much.1
Transportation requirements, other than for
fuel, vary according to the type of work done.
The silk dyers receive their material in hampers
from the immediate vicinity and even from Pennsylvania, and ship their goods packed to New
York City for the most part either by express or,
more especially of recent years, by automobile
truck. The cotton dyers and bleachers who work
on commission for the New York converters2
usually receive the gray goods, from the south
primarily, in car-load lots, and then ship the
finished cloth direct to the converter's customers. These shipments are made, sometimes,
of course, by truck to New York and nearby
points, or by express, but most generally by
freight-the goods leaving the mill in car-load
lots and being split up if necessary into broken
lots at such points as Jersey City.
5. These trades require tremendous quantities
of soft, chemically pure water. Steam and water
are used everywhere in immense volumes. A
plant employing about 250 men for a day's work
of dyeing 20 to 25 thousand pounds of skein silk
would use about 7 million gallons of water.3
6. About 75 per cent of the labor force is male,
1 The different proportion in the United States and New
Jersey arises out of the fact that silk throwing, a heavy user
of fuel, is concentrated chiefly in Pennsylvania and that
most silk manufacturers outside of New Jersey generate
their own power, whereas in New Jersey the silk industry
rents 52.9 per cent of its power.
2 The term converter is applied to the middleman who
buys cloth in the gray, has it dyed, bleached, etc., and
sells it to the large retailer or wholesale dry-goods merchant.
3 Chittick, op. cit., page 106.


about 25 per cent female. Seventy-five to 85
per cent of the work is unskilled.
7. It is the only textile trade in this vicinity
which manifests any offensive features. These
arise from the disposition of dye-house wastes.
The distribution and growth of this branch of
the industry in the region are shown in Table
XXXVI.
The localization of the larger dyeing and
finishing plants in Zone II (the Twenty-mile
Industrial Zone) is readily explicable in the light
of the characteristic demands of this branch of
the industry for space and water. Some of the
larger plants started in New York City and later
moved out to New Jersey to get more and
cheaper space. In Greater New York, indeed,
the growth of the finishing trades has been possible only because the small plants here offer quickness of delivery at prices with which larger
firms outside the city cannot compete; and the
consensus of opinion seems to be against the
location.
The industry is found concentrated chiefly in
metropolitan Bergen and Passaic counties, where
58 per cent of the total number of workers is
employed. The explanation for this is found in
the water supply. "From time immemorial
dyers have settled in favored locations where the
water was of a superior character and to this day
the excellence of the work in such places is attributed in a large part to the qualities of the
water-supply." New Jersey is covered with a
network of rivers and streams that since the
early part of the 19th century have been famous
for dyeing and bleaching purposes. Such are
Weasel Brook (running through Passaic City),
Saddle River and the Passaic River. On the
banks of these or similar streams are still found
the large establishments of today. Throughout
the region, the very names of their locations,
Wappinger Falls, Dundee Lake, etc., explain
them.
Other factors affecting the localization and
growth of the finishing trades should not be overlooked. The presence of the dyeing and finishing
trades has facilitated the growth of the weaving
trades. Their expansion in turn has accelerated
the growth of the dyers. The convenience to
New York City afforded by automobile roads,




THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY


97


TABLE XXXVI.-PLANTS AND EMPLOYES IN THE FINISHING TRADES BRANCH                           OF THE TEXTILE
INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS BY TERRITORIAL SUBDIVISIONS, IN 1900, 1912, 1917,
AND 1922
Number                                    Per cent
Plants              Employes                Plants             Employes
1900 1912 1917 1922 1900  1912  1917  1922 1900 1912 1917 1922 1900 1912 1917 1922
Zone I.................. 48    78 100 125     871 1,442 1,555 1,637 45.7 58.6 49.3 38.7    8.1  8.8 10.0  8.8
Zone II................. 50   46   88 175   8,00112,81711,56413,946 47.6 34.6 43.3 54.2 74.3 77.9 74.0 75.3
Brooklyn..............   8   4   11  29    318   378   574 1,080   7.6  3.0   5.4  9.0  2.9  2.3  3.7  5.8
Queens................   5   4    5   10    66 1,096    172   288  4.8  3.0   2.4  3.1.6   6.6  1.1  1.6
Upper Manhattan and
Bronx...............   5   4    2  14    266   556   386    533  4.8  3.0   1.0  4.3  2.5  3.4  2.5  2.9
Richmond.............    2..    1    1   318..    95     22  1.9...5.3   2.9...6.1
Westchester...........   1..     1..   630            3..9.5..   5.9.0.
Metropolitan Bergen....   5   8    7  15   1,735 3,915 4,544 4,877  4.8  6.0   3.4  4.7 16.1 23.8 29.1 26.3
Metropolitan Passaic.... 22  25   55  73  4,568 6,836 5,358 5,942 21.0 18.8 27.1 22.6 42.4 41.6 34.3 32.1
Essex.................        1   4     50..  319    671.9...5   1.2.5..   2.0  3.6
Hudson...............    1   1    3  27     50    36    64    503.9.8   1.5  8.4.5.2.4  2.7
Union..................  2  2....   49     30..        1.0.6...3.2
Zone III................    7   9   15  23   1,890 2,185 2,501 2,947  6.7  6.8   7.4  7.1 17.6 13.3 16.0 15.9
Nassau................                                   1......  115.3.6
Suffolk....................   1.....             45.........3
Dutchess..............             1  1   1,044  556   639    600.9.8.5.3   9.7  3.4  4.1  3.2
Orange................        1    1   2..   295    124   313...8.5.6..  1.8.8  1.7
Rockland..............    1   3    2   3     36   889   970   923   1.0  2.3  1.0   1.0.3   5.4  6.2  5.0
Outlying Bergen........   1   2    2   2     40   130    145   120  1.0  1.5   1.0.6.4.8.9.7
Outlying Passaic.......   1   1    3   7    200    15   152    413  1.0.7   1.5  2.2  1.9.1   1.0  2.2
Morris...............    2   1    2   2    550   300   244    295  1.9.7   1.0.6   5.1  1.8  1.5  1.6
Somerset..............     1....   2     20....    22.9....6.2...  1
Monmouth...............                          16.....3.. 3...
Fairfield.................         3   2....   182   130..        1.4.6..1.2.7
Total..............105 133 203 323 10,76216,44415,62018,530 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0


railways or, for the New York counties in Zone
III, the entire transportation facilities of the
Hudson, combined with the favoring influences
already mentioned, bid fair to keep the industry
growing in Zones II and III.
Manhattan south of 59th Street, as may be
seen from the table, is relatively unimportant in
the industry. Although 125 plants, or 38.7 per
cent of the total number in the district, are
located here, their employes number only 8.8 per
cent of the regional total. Nevertheless they
merit brief consideration.
Of these plants only about one-half are engaged
in the business of dyeing and finishing, properly
so called. In these very small-scale establishments the work done consists either of re-dyeing


and re-finishing or of dyeing and finishing small
orders of the cheaper fabrics for the small mills.
With some exceptions these establishments are
not held in high repute by the large mills and
dyers and are relatively unimportant from the
point of view of the industry.
The remainder are engaged in the work of
cloth sponging, examining, and shrinking. This
work, done generally on a commission basis for
the cutting-up trade, consists simply in measuring the fabric, examining it for defects in weaving
or color, marking these defects in such a way
that the cutter may avoid them, and shrinking the
cloth by steaming process. This branch of the
finishing trades is a specialist group developed in
response to the demands of the clothing trade,




98 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


and properly a function of it. It will naturally
persist beside the clothing trade.'
The average cloth sponger and examiner employing about 35 to 50 employes requires from
7,500 to 10,000 square feet of floor space in a
building with live steam. He is generally considered an undesirable tenant because the escaping steam injures the plaster and the hand-trucking injures the floor and he is therefore put in a
second class building.
The work is very highly skilled. The employes,
usually men, are highly organized in a section of
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers. Six years'
training, two as helper, four as apprentice, are
required to enter as a skilled journeyman.
Small Wares
The term "small wares" has been applied to
such heterogeneous products as braids, bindings,
curtains, dress and other trimmings, passamenteries, and labels, because it serves to suggest the
outstanding characteristics of these branches of
TABLE XXXVII.- PLANTS IN THE SMALL WARES
BRANCH OF THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN NEW
YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO SIZE IN 1900, 1912, 1917, AND 1922
Number
Number of employes
per plant       1900   1912   1917   1922
1-19.............   85    373    259    412
20-49...............   45     63     68     84
50-99..............   13     33     24     26
100-249..............    4     17      6     11
250-499.............     4      3      1      1
500-999..............          1      2      2
Total..............  152   490    360    536
Per cent
1-19............   56.0   76.1    71.9  76.9
20-49...............  29.6   12.9   18.9   15.7
50-99...............  8.5   6.7    6.7    4.8
100-249..............  2.6   3.5    1.7    2.0
250-499..............  2.6.6.3.2
500-999...............7.2.5.4
Total.............. 100.0  100.0  100.0  100.0
1 Yet many mills, for example Forstmann and Huffmann,
do their own sponging and examining.


the textile trades. The products in most cases
are small, highly unstandardized, and subject in
very marked degree to the influence of fashion,
since (in the case of braids, bindings, trimmings,
and passamenteries) most of them are used for
reinforcing the edges of other fabrics and dresses
or decorating them.
Small establishments predominate, those with
less than 20 employes representing nearly 77 per
cent of the total number, although they employ
only 24.8 per cent of the total number of wageearners. Manhattan south of 59th Street, with
approximately 70 per cent of the total number of
small wares plants and over 45 per cent of the
total number of employes, is by far the most important section of the area. In no other branch
of the textile industry does this situation seem to
obtain, and it can be explained in large part by the
extreme dependence of the small wares establishments upon close contacts with their immediate market-the jobbers, buyers, and cutting-up
trades. In fact, the manufacture of dress trimmings and passamenteries in particular might
more properly be considered a subsidiary branch
of the clothing trades. For their manufacture
practically no fixed capital and very little space
are required. Home work and sweat-shop conditions too are not unknown. The same circumstances that determine the location of the clothing trades and miscellaneous sewing will likewise
continue to influence the location of the small
wares plants.
There seems to be little prospect of any change
in the character of the industry, and it is safe to
assume that its moderate growth throughout the
region will continue.
Miscellaneous Textile Products
Although this branch of the industry includes
the manufacture of wool,1 cotton,' hemp, flax
and jute products, and linoleums,-industries
that differ very much in character,-there are
certain considerations that make it seem expedient, for purposes of this study, to classify them
together as one group. In the first place, with
the exception of wool manufactures, no one type
of manufacture in the group is sufficiently imI Exclusive of cotton and woolen knit goods and small
wares.




THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY


99


TABLE XXXVIII.-PLANTS AND EMPLOYES IN THE SMALL WARES BRANCH OF THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY
IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS BY TERRITORIAL SUBDIVISIONS, IN 1900, 1912, 1917, AND 1922
Number                                     Per cent
Plants              Employes                 Plants             Employes
19001912 1917 1922 1900   1912  1917  1922 1900 1912 1917 1922 1900 1912 1917 1922
Zone I.................. 119 395 276 367 2,616     6,134 4,124  4,574 78.3 80.6 76.7 68.5 49.0 53.0 52.0 45.7
Zone II................. 27    82  71 146 2,194   3,824 1,951  3,291 17.6 16.7 19.6 27.2 41.2 33.1 24.7 32.7
Brooklyn..............   9   54  37   32 1,239   1,542 1,136   702  5.9 11.0 10.3   6.0 23.2 13.3 14.3   7.0
Queens................   1    2   3    7    10     99   143    165.6.4.8   1.3.2.9   1.8  1.6
Upper Manhattan and
Bronx...............   9   10   5   28   527    994   153   820   5.9  2.1   1.4  5.2  9.9  8.6   1.9  8.2
Richmond.............    2.       1      73..    45     27  1.3...3.2  1.4..6.3
Westchester.............      2   1    5..   254    25    137..4.3.9..  2.2.3   1.4
Metropolitan Bergen......         2    5..     35    13     73.2.5.9...3.2.7
Metropolitan Passaic....  3    6   7   15   165    408   155    354  2.0   1.2  1.9  2.8  3.1  3.5   2.0  3.5
Essex................         1   3    5    48    210    28     84.6.2.8.9.9   1.8.4.8
Hudson...............    2    6  12   47   132    282   253    906  1.3   1.2  3.3  8.8  2.5   2.5  3.2  9.0
Metropolitan Middlesex......   1.....     23...        2.....     2
Zone III...............    6   13   13  23   531   1,614 1,852  2,149  4.1  2.7  3.7  4.3  9.8 13.9 23.3 21.6
Nassau..............          1    24..            4.7....2.4.....   1
Suffolk................  1    1    1   2   350    650   740    728.7.2.3.4  6.5  5.6   9.3  7.3
Orange...........        1    1    1..    22    129    89...7.2.3...4   1.1  1.1
Outlying Bergen..1..............1
Outlying Passaic........     1    1   4..   200    18     83..2.3.7..   1.7.2.8
Somerset................           2    2....   149    103...    6.4..        1.9  1.0
Outlying Middlesex.........         1   1....   38      7...    3.2....      5.1
Monmouth............1......           21............2....
Fairfield...............  3   10    7  11   135    635   818  1,198  2.0   2.1  1.9  2.0  2.5   5.5 10.3 12.0
Total............... 152 490 360 536 5,341 11,572 7,92710,014100.0100.0100.0100.0100.0100.0100.0100.0


portant to warrant detailed consideration. In
the second place, the significant establishments
in each branch are all of considerable size and
may be described as "heavy manufacturing"
plants because their machinery is larger and
causes more objectionable vibrations and noises
than the looms or knitting machines of the lighter
textile industries, and because they demand considerable space and, in general, desire railroad or
water transportation facilities. They seek the
cheaper land in the relatively uncongested sections of the area.
The predominance of large plants in this
branch of the industry more than any other is
made evident by Table XXXIX. In 1922 ten
plants, each with 1,000 or more employes, represented only 3.8 per cent of the total number of
plants, but hired 53 per cent of the total number
of employes in the region. At the opposite end


of the scale those plants with less than 20
employes numbered 52 per cent of all plants, but
hired only 2.7 per cent of the total number of
employes.
These small unimportant plants are, many of
them, engaged in the essentially "service" work
of coneing and winding yarns of cotton and wool
for the local knitting trades.
Table XL shows that this branch of the industry is widely scattered, but there is noticeable
concentration in Zone II, especially in metropolitan Bergen and Passaic counties, where the
plants, though only 15.6 per cent of the total
number, employ 39 per cent of the employes in
the region.
The marked decline and relative unimportance
of Manhattan south of 59th Street are also clearly
evident from the table. The number of employes
in this section fell from nearly 4,000 in 1900 to




100 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


TABLE XXXIX.-PLANTS IN THE MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTS BRANCH OF THE TEXTILE
INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS,
CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO SIZE, IN 1900,
1912, 1917, AND 1922
Number
Number of employes
per plant        1900   1912    1917   1922
1-19.............. 45       122    112    137
20-49.............     17      25     42      40
50-99.............    20      17     25      24
100-249............     32     29      25     29
250-499............     12      11     14      18
500-999............      7      11      3       5
1,000 and over........    7      9      12     10
Total..............   140    224     233    263
Per cent
1-19.............  32.1    54.5   48.1    52.1
20-49.............   12.1   11.2    18.0   15.2
50-99.............    14.3    7.6    10.7    9.1
100-249............   22.9    12.9    10.7   11.0
250-499............     8.6    4.9     6.0    6.9
500-999..........       5.0    4.9     1.3    1.9
1,000 and over........  5.0     4.0    5.2     3.8
Total..............  100.0  100.0  100.0   100.0


Wool Manufactures.-Wool manufactures in
this region comprise the manufacture of felt, in
which there are only a few scattered plants of
little significance (Danbury, 35 employes; Newburgh, 180 employes, etc.), the manufacture of
carpets and rugs, and the manufacture of woolens
and worsteds.
In the manufacture of carpets, the Yonkers
plant of the Alexander Smith and Sons Carpet
Company (incorporated 1872), with its 6,000 employes, more than outweighs all the others. It is
highly integrated, doing everything from the
spinning of its own yarn to the dyeing and finishing of its product, and will undoubtedly remain
in its present location. A few other carpet
plants are found in Brooklyn and Queens where
the largest company reports serious consideration
of removal to cheaper land in some southern
state. It has been attracted by railroad offers
of cheap land, but hesitates, despite the disadvantages of its location, to "write-off" its
present plants. Others still are scattered in such
places as Firthcliffe and Newburgh, New York,
and Little Falls, New Jersey, but most of these
are old establishments with every prospect of
continuance in their present sites.
The manufacture of woolens and worsteds is
carried on in New Jersey in Bloomfield, Boundbrook, Nutley, and Raritan (all places as yet
relatively undeveloped), and in the cities of
Passaic and Garfield. The details of the development in Passaic and Garfield are presented in
Table XLI. Incomplete data and the depression
lasting into 1922 may be responsible for the
slight decrease in the number of employes between 1917 and 1922. It is safe to say, nevertheless, that the industry has tripled in size
since 1900. As can be seen at a glance, it is
characterized by very large plants, those with
less than 500 employes representing only a
minor proportion of the total number. The
choice of location here is explained by the
familiar reasons-water of the Passaic River and
transportation facilities.'
The development of the industry provides,
however, an excellent illustration of growth re1Scott, W. W.: History of Passaic, 1922, page 487.
Passaic Daily Herald, Fiftieth Anniversary and Business
Review, 1922.


1,105 in 1922; its corresponding decline in relative importance was from 13.8 per cent to 2.8
per cent. This decline is explained by the removal from Manhattan of such plants as the
Brighton Mills (cotton), which in 1900 went to
Passaic City to get more space on cheaper land.
It confirms the view that these industries are not
among those that utilize to best advantage land
in the center of a large city. The plants that
remain on Manhattan are chiefly those of a
"service" nature described   above, or small
plants started by enterprising immigrants in the
production of miscellaneous specialties.
Brooklyn and Queens, it will be seen, show no
clear-cut trends, but if not declining are certainly
not increasing in any marked degree.
The most noticeable growth has come in Hudson, Passaic, and Bergen counties.'
1 The reader should be warned, however, against drawing too definite conclusions from the figures. Growth in a
single establishment or addition of a single plant may
account for what seems to be a very rapid increase in any
given section.




THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY


101


TABLE XL.-PLANTS AND EMPLOYES IN THE MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTS BRANCH OF THE TEXTILE
INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS BY TERRITORIAL SUBDIVISIONS, IN 1900, 1912, 1917,
AND 1922
Number                                   Per cent
Plants              Employes                Plants             Employes
1900 1912 1917 1922 1900  1912  1917  1922 1900 1912 1917 1922 1900 1912 1917 1922
Zone I.................. 47 103 102     57  3,997 1,776 2,099 1,105 33.8 46.0 43.8 21.7 13.8   4.5  5.2  2.8
Zone II................. 70   97 109 172 21,394 34,054 34,698 33,272 49.7 43.3 46.8 65.4 74.0 86.6 85.7 85.6
Brooklyn.............. 22   20  30   55  4,785 2,834 5,260 3,467 15.8  8.9 12.9 20.9 16.6   7.2 13.0  8.9
Queens..............    5    4   5    9    587   289 ~ 259   453  3.6  1.8   2.1  3.4  2.0.7.6   1.2
Upper Manhattan and
Bronx.............     6   20   3   13   292   304     37   514  4.3  8.9  1.3  4.9   1.0.8.1   1.3
Richmond.............   2    1   2    2   969    808   530   679  1.4.4.9.8   3.4  2.1  1.3  1.8
Metropolitan Westchester  4   2   6    4  3,730 7,318 7,131 6,280  2.9.9   2.6  1.5 12.9 18.6 17.6 16.2
Metropolitan Bergen....  3    6   6    9   268 3,335 3,505 4,480   1.5  2.7  2.6  3.4.9   8.5  8.7 11.5
Metropolitan Passaic.... 13  26  29   32  5,627 12,761 14,129 10,850  9.4 11.6 12.4 12.2 19.5 32.4 34.9 27.9
Essex................   7    8   10  19  3,243 3,218   521 2,971  5.0  3.6  4.3  7.2 11.2   8.2  1.3  7.6
Hudson...............   4    8   14  26  1,256 3,037 2,492 3,324  2.9  3.6  6.0  9.9   4.3  7.7  6.2  8.5
Union...............    4    2   1    2   637    150   164   138  2.9.9.4.8   2.2.4.4.4
Metropolitan Middlesex....   3    1....    670   116....  1.3.4....   1.6.3
Zone III.............. 23     24  22   34  3,530 3,513 3,676 4,488 16.5 10.7  9.4 12.9 12.2   8.9  9.1 11.6
Nassau...............    2..  2    2     19..     4    12  1.4...8.8.1.0.0 
Outlying Westchester..  1    1   1    4    125   386   372   513.7.4.4   1.5.4   1.0.9   1.3
Putnam....................                1......    34......    4.....    1. 
Dutchess...............               1......    92.......4.4.....   3
Orange.............     8    6   8    9  1,396 1,157 1,652 1,850  5.8  2.7  3.4   3.4  4.8  3.0  4.1  4.8
Outlying Bergen........  1    1..   1     10    10..    11.7.5...4.0.0...0
Outlying Passaic.........              1......   10.......  4.......0
Morris...............  1    2....      5    13....    7.9....   0.0..
Somerset..............  3    4   3    3  1,207 1,275   633   817  2.2  1.8   1.3  1.1  4.2  3.2  1.6  2.1
Monmouth............    1    1   2    2    30    228   318   525.7.4.9.7.1.6.8   1.4
Fairfield.............  6    9   6   10    738   444   697   624  4.3  4.0   2.6  3.8  2.6  1.1  1.7  1.6
Total............... 140 224 233 263 28,921 39,343 40,473 38,865 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0


suiting from an early start. Several German
manufacturers in the period prior to the McKinley tariff, exported to the United States highgrade woolens and worsteds that were not then
manufactured in this country. In order to retain
their market, Stoehr & Company of Leipzig
decided to start manufacture inside the tariff
wall and in 1889 erected the Botany Worsted
Mills in Passaic. Christian Bahnsen of Gera
followed in 1899, founding the present Gera Mills.
From these, the first important plants, has sprung
the subsequent development. The New Jersey
Worsted Mills in Garfield were started as the
spinning branch of the Gera in 1905; the Passaic
Worsted Spinning Company was also founded by


the same interests in 1910. About 1900 Mr.
Julius Forstmann, of Forstmann and Huffmann
in Werden, Germany, became associated with the
Botany Mills, and after serving as a director and
vice-president for three years, resigned in 1907 and
erected the large mills nearby which bear his name.
In this fashion, as these leading mills expanded,
others were attracted and the industry spread
across the river to Garfield, where there is every
prospect of its continued development. Many of
the mills, in fact, have provided themselves with
adequate space for expansion-Forstmann and
Huffmann, for example, having about 125 acres,
and the Botany Mills about 100, of which more
than 32 are covered now with buildings.




102 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


TABLE XLI.-P      LANTS AND EMPLOYES IN WOOLEN AND WORSTED PLANTS IN THE CITIES OF PASSAIC
AND GARFIELD, NEW JERSEY, CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO SIZE OF PLANT, IN 1900, 1912, 1917, AND
1922
Number
Number of employes                      Plants                                   Employes
per plant ________ ____
1900       1912      1917       1922       1900       1912      1917       1922
1-99................                      1         6..          6         31        172
100-249..............       6          2          2..       864        345        443
250-499................         2          2....        710        900
500-999................         2..         3..       1,630..      1,922
1,000 and over.........      1         4          5          5      3,323      8,000     11,767      9,861
Total..............        7         11         10        14      4,187      10,691    13,141     11,955
Per cent
1-99..............   *   9.1       10.0       42.9...1.2        1.4
100-249..............     85.7       18.2      20.0..        20.6        3.2        3.4
250-499.................       18.2      20.0....         6.6        6.9
500-999...............        18.2..       21.4..       15.3..      16.1
1,000 and over.........    14.3       36.3       50.0      35.7       79.4       74.8       89.5       82.5
Total.............      100.0      100.0      100.0      10000.0   10.0       100.0      100.0      100.0


With no significant exceptions, every plant is
provided with railroad sidings, used chiefly for
incoming freight, of which two of the largest
plants receive, respectively, amounts estimated'
at 50,000 and 19,000 short tons per year. These
same plants, however, ship out by rail only 5,000
and 2,500 tons, respectively. This difference
between incoming and outgoing rail shipments is
accounted for by presence of fuel in the incoming
freight and the greater use of trucks for outgoing
shipments. Slight use of the Passaic River is
made for transportation purposes. Occasionally,
a shipment of raw material-obtained, through
New York, from every part of the world-is
lightered up to the mills. The manufacturers
look forward, however, to the time when the now
projected Passaic River improvements will permit them to make better use of its possible facilities for this purpose.
The labor situation requires little comment.
Until the outbreak of the war the mills were
adequately supplied by incoming immigrants,
with the result that the workers are of mixed
1 In answer to a questionnaire of the Passaic Chamber
of Commerce.


nationalities- Poles,


Italians, Slovaks, Hun

garians, and Germans, listed in the order of their
importance, together providing about 75 per
cent of the employes.' Several mills report a
present shortage of help, however, and attribute
it to the restriction of immigration or to the
inadequate housing accommodations in the city.
At least two manufacturers have experimented
with the provision of model homes for their own
workers as a solution of the problem, but they
have met with indifferent success. This shortage
of labor, however, is only of the sort that manufacturers complain about in every section of the
country and it is unlikely to cause any significant
change in the industry here.
Cotton Manufactures.-Cotton manufacture in
this region, in comparison with the New England and Southern States, is of relatively little
importance. Here is to be found none of the
great spinning or weaving mills which produce the
staple articles of the industry. The majority of
the plants in this vicinity are engaged chiefly
This is an estimate based on the nationalities of applicants at the employment office of the Industrial Council
of Wool Manufacturers.




THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY


103


in the manufacture of miscellaneous specialties
(auto robes, terry fabrics, towels, face-cloths,
etc.), and from the point of view of future space
demands are not very significant. There are,
however, in Jersey City, Newark, and Long
Island City scattered plants engaged in the
manufacture of thread, filter cloth, and bagging.1
One of the most important branches of the
industry seems to be the manufacture of solid
square weaves and cord fabrics for automobile
tire casings. The production of these has so
greatly increased in New Jersey that, according to
the Census of Manufactures, 1919, it accounts for
80.8 per cent of the value of cotton woven goods
in the state. The largest plants are located in
Passaic City. One of these, established in 1879 at
23d Street and 11th Avenue, New York City,
moved to its present location in Passaic in 1900
and some years afterward opened another plant
in Clifton nearby. The raw material, as might
be expected, comes usually by water from New
Orleans to the Port of New York and is thence
trucked to the factory. Since the products
are sold to rubber manufacturers all over the
country (especially in Akron, Ohio), it is estimated that perhaps less than 10 per cent of their
market lies within the region of New York and
its environs. It is hard to see, therefore, what
especial advantage a location in New Jersey
possesses in comparison with other sections of the
country. But although one manufacturer mentioned the tendency for cotton manufacturing to
move to the South, he seemed to believe that the
industry will not move from the New York area,
but will continue to grow at a moderate rate.
Manila, Hemp, Jute, and Flax Products.The manufactures of manila, hemp, jute, and
flax products may be divided into two main
classes —(1) the manufacture of yarns, threads,
and cordage and (2) the manufacture of bags
and bagging. In these branches of the textile
industry, again, there are found only a few large
plants the presence of which is explained primarily by the importation through New York of
raw materials from abroad2 and by the conSee below, jute and burlap bagging, as process of
manufacture and commercial uses are similar.
2 Manila from the Philippines; hemp from Russia and
Italy; jute from India; flax from Russia and Ireland.


venience of any location in New York and its
environs to the chief markets for the products,
which, for yarns especially, lie mostly within a
radius of 125 miles.
Nothing would be gained by a detailed discussion of the different subdivisions of these
branches of the industry,' especially since there is
no line of demarcation between them, each plant
producing many different products. In general
it may be said that these enterprises, most of
them long since established, give every indication
of remaining in their present sites (Brooklyn,
Newark, Jersey City, and Paterson, chiefly),
and that the industry is unlikely to increase or
decrease in any noteworthy degree.
Exception to this last statement might be
made in the case of bags and bagging. Cotton
and jute bags are used for the shipment of various
commodities as diverse as food-stuffs and building materials. Jute bagging is used chiefly,
however, for the baling of cotton, and if manufactured in this country on a large scale, will
probably be made in the southern states.
Although the small manufacturers and dealers
in second-hand burlap2 bags are likely to remain
in Manhattan and Brooklyn, the large plants are
showing a tendency to remove altogether from
the New York area. From Brooklyn and Queens
two plants moved away in 1921 "because mill
hands can be hired at ten to fifteen cents a day
in Calcutta and tariff protection here has been
lost."3 The American Manufacturing Company
opened a mill in Calcutta and ceased the manufacturing of bagging at its Greenpoint (Brooklyn)
plant. Its one large competitor, The Ludlow
Manufacturing Associates, had just previously
found it necessary to do likewise. One other
plant in Hunter's Point is moving two-thirds
(and may soon move the remainder) of its production to Camden, New Jersey, because of the
difficulty of getting cheap female labor in Queens
and because its ten-acre site on the East River is
too valuable for its present use of drying and
airing bags. Were the proprietor twenty years
younger, he too would move to India.
1For a full analysis, see Tariff Information Surveys,
1922, J-1 and J-9.
2A plain woven cloth of single jute yarn-all imported
from India or Dundee.
3 Quoted in Cordage Trade Journal, October 20, 1921.




104 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS


Oilcloth and Linoleum.-Oilcloth and linoleum
are built from cork and other ingredients on a
textile backing of cotton, burlap, or felt, usually
purchased from other mills. The manufacture of
these products in the United States as a whole


employed in 1919 only 6,544 wage-earners. Of
this number perhaps about 2,000 are hired in this
district, chiefly by one large plant at Linoleumville, Staten Island, and another at Kearney,
New Jersey. It promises little, if any, growth.




REGIONAL PLAN OF NEW YORK
AND ITS ENVIRONS
ECONOMIC AND INDUSTRIAL SURVEY
ROBERT MURRAY HAIG, Director
ROSWELL C. MCCREA, Consultant
economic Series
Dealing with Present Trends and Probable Future Developments in Land Utilization
in the Metropolitan Area
Monograph Number One
THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY, by MABEL NEWCOMER. (49 pages, 7 maps.)
Price $1.00 Net
Monograph Number Two
THE METAL INDUSTRY, by VINCENT W. LANFEAR. (49 pages, 8 maps.)
Price 75 cents Net
Monograph Number Three
THE FOOD MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES, by FAITH M. WILLIAMS.
(62 pages, 11 maps, I graph.) Price 75 cents Net
Monograph Number Four
THE WOOD INDUSTRIES, by MARK C. MILLS. (53 pages, 5 maps, 1 graph.)
Price 75 cents Net
Monograph Number Five
THE TOBACCO PRODUCTS INDUSTRY, by LUCY WINSOR KILLOUGH
(58 pages, 7 maps, 9 graphs.) Price 75 cents Net
Monograph Number Six
THE PRINTING INDUSTRY, by A. F. HINRICHS. (54 pages, 10 maps, 3 graphs.)
Price 75 cents Net
Monographs Numbers Seven, Eight and Nine (Combined)
THE CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES, by B. M. SELEKMAN, HENRIETTE
R. WALTER AND W. J. COUPER. (104 pages, 22 maps.) Price $1.00 Net
Monograph Number Eleven
THE WHOLESALE MARKETS, by GEORGE FILIPETTI
(69 pages, 35 maps.) Price 75 cents Net
The following are in preparation:
Monograph Number Ten
THE FINANCIAL DISTRICT, by R. W. ROBY
Monograph Number Twelve
THE RETAIL SHOPPING DISTRICT, by L. M. ORTON
jeneral Volume
SOME ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF THE REGIONAL PLAN OF NEW YORK
AND ITS ENVIRONS, by ROBERT MURRAY HAIG and ROSWELL C. MCCREA.
In Preparation.
Order from
REGIONAL PLAN OF NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS
130 EAST 22D STREET, NEW YORK




I ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




I




I








THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN


GRADUATE LIBRARY


DATE DUE


%-011, ~


I


9AlK 1 4 A


84


APR


3 198




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