The New York herald., 1873-11-12
SHACKLED INDUSTRY.
Position and Prospects OF LABOR
in the Country.
CAPITAL AND LABOR.
The Panic and It's Effects on Trade in
New York. Connecticut, Penn
sylvania and Michigan.
NEW YORK.

Tho situation In Rochcster-The Manu-
facturcrs Curtailing Their Forces and
Reducing Wagcs-Workmen Anxious
Prospects for the Future.
ROCHESTER, Nov. Q, 1878.
There is PROBABLY no city In the State Of New
York where the laboring class-the mere day la
borcr at al work as well as the skilled mechanic
fares as prosperousy as in this city OF Rochester
and Its immediate neighDorhood. lido not mean 10
say that laborers are paid any better than In other
cities or that work is more plentiful at all times,
but the fact that nine tenths OF the mechanics ana
laborers own their own houses and have each, as
general thing. q snug little sum In bank "against
. rainy dayn certainly justiies the assertion tnat
in no other city in the state Is tnere y
more general wel-to-do class OF working
men than there Is here. Land Is cheap ana
in good times the rich men OF the country who
are numbered by the hundreds, are ever ready to
give the poorer classes helping hand. There is
no such thing In the city as block OF tenement
houses and this OF itself shows conclusively that
there is q something about the laborers hereabouts
that places them lar above
THE GENERAL SCALE OF LABoRERs.
at least II one looks at their surroundings, COM
pared with those OF the workingmen In New York.
have It on very good authority that four niths OF
the men who gain their daily bread here by the
most ordinary kind OF day by day labor are on the
tax lists being worth all the way from $4,000 70
$5000 II not In hard cash. at least in property free
Of encumbrances. Each one has home OF his own
and knows not what it is to have an agent or
landlord calling upon him for a months rent. This
fortunate circumstance has thus far, In q great
measure, proved barrier to the terrible depres-
sion which the financial crisis has brought upon
the laboring classes In other sections OF
but very few evidences OF distress on account
OF the strIngency in the money market were at all
visible. When the crisis was at rs height IN New
York, and the metropolitan banks were founder
ing about so wildly to save themselves, the banks
here continued their business every day, undis-
turbed by the general confusion, and were enabled
TO 60 through the storm without asking for q dol
lar OF assistance from outside. The savings banks,
too, stood firm, or, rather, the confidence or the
people who had their savings in them was such
that at no time was run attempted, or the slight
est alarm manifested by the depositors. But not
withstandng all this. the depression has come at
last, and despite the best endeavors OF the great
mass Of the workingmen to put q good face on 1t,
the crisis is beginning to cripple them badly.
Years ago Rochester was known all over the coun-
try the Flour city," but that day has long gone
by, and now her -four mills only do a retail bus
ness, and are SO few that they are no longer num-
bered among her great industries Many OF the
old mills have been burned and many others have
been turned into
MANUFACTURERS OF VARIOUS KI Nps
This great change need scarcely add has been
brought about by the rates OF transportation adopted
by the railroads, by which a dealer in Chicago can
grind his wheat there and ship his nour to New
YORK cheaper than II ne were to send 1t from here.
Rochester, however, has by no means been rem
dered destitute OF trade and manufacturing business
by reason OF the loss OF her nour mills. There is
large business done mere In furniture the machine
han arr a "A la fra no
in shoes Is the third largest OF any city in the
Union. The city has population proper of $1,000
side the city limits are, as they ought 10 be, con-
sidered as part OF the town, the population all
told Is about go 900. or this number IL Is estimated
tnat from 10000 10 Il, 900 persons belong to the
laborlng classes-that Is are either skilled me-
chancs or workmen or persons who depend for
living on manual labor OF some kind. As l said
before this large number OF workingmen are gen.
orally well to do, but there are many among them
VINO can III aflord to remain idle for an entire win
ter and the present outlook would 90 TO show that
there will be before next January. II there is no
sudden turn In the tide, no small amount OF dis
tress and suffering among them.
But now let me give you some solid facts:-The
wholesale clothing business OF the city in 1872
$4,000 o0o furniture to $S,ooo 900 and the grocery
business to $a5oo,ooo. Beside this 1t is
THE CENTRE OF TRADE
for the counties Of Ontario, Niagara, Livingston,
Seneca, Wayne, AIegany, Genesee, Wyoming.
Monroe and Orleans, which together have a popu-
lation OF 100000 1t will be seen, therefore, tnat
once the depression caused by the financial panic
has fully set in upon the city Its effects will be very
Widespread and VIII not be confined 70 the clty
ture makers, whose establishments here cover
entire blocks, employ from 400 to 600 men In their
FORE fore the pressure, as some Or or them viii
soen be compelled to- the distress Will
not only reach the 400 or COO men ln tne lac.
tories, but will spread out to villages ana
small places remote from here, where the estab-
shments secure their timber, &c. Tor be 1t under
stood that some OF them own large tracts OF TIM
Der land, and have in their employ men who cut
the trees down, teamsters to cart IL away, men to
place the logs Tor seasoning and SO on till in the
shape OF prepared timber, ready to be turned into
furniture, the material Is lodged in the factories.
All this necessltates the employment OF very
factories and, when the blow falls 1t viii be felt
from one end or the line to the other must con-
men generally do not seem 10 be- as yet, very
much alarmed. They are, it Is true, anxious, and
are looking forward to the winter with
CONSIDERABLE DOUBT AND MIs0IvIsG,
for the sky Is by no means clear and although the
storm has not extended all rotnd as yet no one Is
hopeful enough to believe tnat he can iully escape
1ts effects when IL does come. But two firms OF
any Importance have thus far succumbed to the
general depression; one Of them, Wegmar Co.,
ruptcy, and the other, Shantz, Mlnges Co., In the
same line OF business, has stopped manufactur-
ing, ng, altneugn they are sun selling their goods on
~ WIN De seen that even this slight weakness In
the trade must have already caused great deal
OF sunerinR among the workmen suddenly de-
prived OF work, and who had nothing saved for the
winter. The feeling among all the manufacturers
IN all the departments OF trade fnd TO be, as
have already Unlimited, far from panicky As a
rule they seem TO be anxious TO keep as many men
In employment as they can without incurrng
heavy losses TO themselves, and yet the outlook Is
at present 80 bad that they AFRAID TO keep on
manufacturing goods. They don't want TO ..plIe
upu stock, knowing that they will not be able 10
dispose OF 1t, and that unless they can keep up
their sales tney cannot keep their workmen.
THERE'S NOTHING LIKE LEATHER.r
The shoe trade, strange to say, seems to be bet
ter now than 1t was at this time last year ana as
q general thing the demand Is greater than the
supply. The dealers say, however, that this is one
OF the effects OF the epizooty OF last spring That
disease cut on the interior villages and SETTLE
shoe trade here has Immense dealings, from con-
tact with the outside world so to speak the horses
being sick, there was no means OF transportation
and orders could not be forwarded. Since the
xubsdence OF the disease OF course, the orders de-
Aayed by it have been received IN lump and,
added TO more recent ones, have made the trade
quite active. / occupied all day yesterday In o
sort Of house to- house visit among the various