Morning journal and courier., 1880-02-21

Transgression.
 Rise from disaster and defeat
 The stronger,
 And conscious still of the divine
 Within them, lie on earth supine
 No longer.
 H. ". LoNeFELLow, in Harper's Magazine. A Gigantic Corporation that
 Takes in the Habitable Globe. Startling Statistics of 8 Colossal Busi-
 ness.
 A business that gives employment to 10, 900 persons and furnishes living to 50, 900 :; that does twenty millions of trade yearly :; that extends the penetrating ramifcations of it's colossal work over the habitable globe, and that amid host of competitors in this active age has been able to distance com petition, and that stands to-day the grand est scheme of financial success and consum- mate business management not only in its own line, but in all the business enterprises of the world certainly occupies a fattering and exclusive pre-eminence, and deserves the preservation of the historians genius. In looking at the business to which allusion is made, the vast mechanism of the Singer Manufacturing Company, the most casual ob- server is struck with the fact that, as it is an exceptional thing that any combination of men should in any business enterprise pursue an unwavering course of successful manage ment, the steady, uniform sagacity of admin istration of the Singer company is an unpre- cedented and romantic marvel in the record of great business ventures. From the begin ming in 1852 to the present time, period of 27 years, the progress of this enterprise has been up and forward. It has seen many powerful rivals, as apparently strong and with the same or even better seeming chances of success, fall by the wayside. Others success : ful to a considerable degree have had their ups and downs. But the Singer company has rejoiced in 8 continuing wisdom and energy of government, that, while ittestifies eloquent ly to the sagacity of brain and integrity of principle of the men who have managed it, has given to the company the most brilliant prestige of progressive prosperity ever enjoy ed by a union of business men in a practical enterprise.
 The most difficult things to manage are those covering large arear of territory, with important agencies at long distances from headquarters. It matters little how large 8 business is, like grand scheme of factories, or mines, or mercantile houses, if the opera tions are all together under the eye of one manager. It does increase the trouble of successful management 8 hundred fold to have the work of the enterprise. as in the case of the Singer, ramify the whole civilized world. Agents and sub-agents are far re- moved from the constant supervision of the head management, errors are less easy of cor rection and success is a greater triumph of administrative skill.
 The sewing machine business has been a peculiarly capricious one There have been so many candidates for favor, so many pow erful combinations of capital for good ma chimes, so long awaiting for investment for returns on account of the long time sales, so many new patents constantly springing into use for the improvement of machines, and so much embarrassment raised in running the business from the inferior class of men who have taken refuge in it, that continuous success in it is both difficult and an excep- tional thing. In spite of all these impedi- ments the Singer company has steadily moved onward until it stands to-day one of the most powerful and exalted corporations in the world, with future before it that no man can measure. Its success has been phenom- enal. It has practical monopoly of the sew ing machine business of the world. And its increase is so rapid as to make the prepara- ton to meet it an embarrassment.
 In 1874 it's sales of machines were 241, ,679, and in 1878 356, 432, an increase of 114, 753. This fact tells the tale of triumphant progress more eloquentIy than any words The sales of 1879 will run perhaps 100, 000- more than in 1878. The Singer company is now manu- featuring 1,5OO machines daily at it's two factories in New Jersey and Scotland. Its mammoth factory at Elizabethport, New Jer sey, is working night and day. The orders are larger than the supply. The prospects are that next year the sales will run to 5OO.OO0 machines, something simply unparalleled in the records of the machine sales.
 The details of the work at Elizabethport read like a romance. Forty tons of iron are used day. Three hundred and seventy-five thousand pieces of iron are moulded every week. There are eight acres of floor covered with machinery operated by 2,00o workmen. The various parts of the machine, between fifty and sixty in number, pass through three hundred different hands. The buildings are being constantly enlarged to meet the grow ing business. Railroad tracks net the grounds for receiving the vast materials and delivering the completed machines. Some idea of the immense capital employed may be gained from the fact that the stock of all sorts in the factory at one time runs to three millions of dollars, while the other property of the com pany sums up over ten millions. The single item of boxes for shipping machines takes 300, 900 feet of lumber month. The coal used is thirty tons day, which would aggre- gate 10, 900 tons year. During the long years of it's growing business, the highest ex- ercise of skilled labor has been employed in perfecting inventions of tools and machinery, to make the various parts of machine. And some of the automatic machines are wonders of inventive skill. Take for instance some of the complicated screws in use in a sewing ma chine; the large wire self feeds itself to the automatic builder of screws and out drops the completed screw, having gone through a doz- en unerring processes in the unbreathing but yet intelligent automaton and this without the necessity of 8 watching hand. It is some- to see the thousands of these miraculous intelligences, not human, but metallic, forging with faultless precision, under the throbbing inspiration of one of the great engines, the shining segments of that blessed benefactor of womankind, the sewing machine. All these automatic marvels are made in the factory And 1t once illustrates the labor saving value of these inventions, and tho su- perior facilities of the company to make bet ter machines at the same cost than any other factory, that to-day 1000 workmen can make with these better tools twice as many sewing machines as 8, 900 workmen made six years ago. This looks like something unreal, but it, incredible as it may seem, is true to the let ter, and the great fact enables the company to sell better machines for less money, an advantage to every user of the sewing ma- chine.
 In these works are also manufactured 3O0,- 900 needles week, the creation of these mense department itself; the needles, sim pie as they are, passing through the hands of dozen classes of workmen and work women.
 One of the most remarkable facts to be mentioned is that every part of the machine,
 
 tested with careful accuracy, and when the beautiful machine has been finished it is run for hours to got it to harmoniously working, and corps of girls give each one thorough trial in sewing. So when a machine leaves the factory on it's benefcient mission into the world, the purchaser may know it is prepared to do it's important work.
 The walnut castings for sewing machines are all made at the vast establishment for this purpose in South Bend Indiana. Millions of feet of this costly lumber are worked up there. And these castings are sent to this factory, where large force polishes and puts the parts together. As an illustration of the method of doing things at this factory, may mention that though hundreds of thousands of feet of lumber are dressed, not bit of lit ter is to be seen. large tin funnel over the suction carries them directly to the fire that feeds the engine. There is no iabor-saving invention that ingenuity can frame out that is not used in this wonderful establish