March 11/1911.





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Vol.    LXXXVI.





MARCH   11,   1911.





No.   2240





OUTSIDE COMPETITION.

THE suit tbat has been brought by tbe American Anti-
Boycott Assoeiatiou in behalf of certain members repre¬
senting non-union manufacturers of doors, sash and other
wood trim, against practically all the employers aud union
representatives in tbe carpenter trades o£ Manhattan Bor¬
ough, strikes at one of the fuiulameutal principles of tbe
■working system in tbe metropolitan building trades. It
raises iu tbe most prominent way possible a question which
not only concerns the great carpenter trades of this city,
but indirectly the economic welfare of the metropolis. So
far-extending and intricate is the principle at issue in this
action that it is one rather to be perceived and experienced
than described. To the minds of many, especially of the
mechanics in tbe building trades, it amounts to this: can the
products of New York City mechanics compete in an open
market with tbe products of the mechanics of other cities,
as Oshkosh, Wis., and Williamsport, Pa.; for example, in
those lines where manufacturing costs are very much less
than they are here? Granted that our mechanics can com¬
pete in skill, but can they, without the assistance of some
protective principle, compete also in tbe items representing
cost of raw material and in wages, household expenses,
rents, taxes and the cost of living generally. The New
York City manufacturers of the wood trim used in the con¬
struction of our buildings virtually admit tbat they can¬
not, except in that kind of work which calls for a high
degree of manual skill and special construction, or something
different from the stock forms and materials which are
produced in the lumber districts of the Northwest and
elsewhere. Mechanics in the building trades claim that they
can no more live in New York City for the same wages as
are paid to mechanics in small towns and villages than can
any other class of city men. For tbat reason tbey have in¬
sisted, ever since the distinction between city living and
country living began to be formidable, on some measure of
protection, and to some extent this protection has been
secured through the intervention of trade unionism and the
trade agreements naturally resulting therefrom.





NEW INTERPRETATIONS OF LAW.

IF tbe courts should decide, in the case which tbe Ameri¬
can Anti-Boycott Association has brought against the
carpenters of New York City, that the preference and pro¬
tection which it is alleged by the plaintiffs are extended to
woodwork manufactured under union conditions over tbe
product of non-union shops, it would seem as if supposedly
essential principles underlying arbitration in the building
trades here would have to be revised, and for that reason
the arbitration convention that bad been determined upon will
very likely wait until tbe attitude of tbe United States
Court shall be made known. Within the past year or two
the views of the city and State courts on the subject of
trade agreements have appeared to the public to be chang¬
ing, and conseciuently the general association of employers
has been uncertain how to proceed. The ultimate object
of the Anti-Boycott Association is apparently the "open
shop," not only for materials but also for labor, since it
maintains tbat a strike for tbe closed shop is unlawful and
that sympathetic strikes are also unlawful and union offi¬
cers may be enjoined from inciting them. Purther, tbe
association claims that tbe closed shop is actually unlawful.





as we!l as mild forms of "boycotting." Some oC these seem
like new interpretations of the law, and if such interpreta¬
tions are to be affirmed and enforced iu this city, it will
mean changes in tbe building business the full effect of
which cannot be foreseen or measured. Not only lumber
products, but quarry products and all materials that are
required to bear the uuion label will be affected. Public
sentiment in New York was long ago crystalized in favor of
pure union principles, and in tbe year 1903 these principles
were supplemented by adopting a general arbitration plan
for the settlement of all disputes in the building trades.
When the present action at law is ended,-we shall prob¬
ably know if ibis way of ensuring peace and order is law¬
ful and proper as well as expedient. At least something
final aud incontestable is likely to be added to the law.





DOMESTIC TRADE.

WHATEVER loss New York has or wiil suffer iu its
ability to compete for the export trade, its ability to
more than bold its own in domestic commerce can hardly
be questioned. More than ever before in the history of the
country. New York is becoming far andaway the most im¬
portant center for the retail and wholesale distribution of
drygoods and clothing. Its retail stores are unrivalled for
tbe variety, tbe quality aud the prices of tbe goods offered,
and, consequently, in spite of the Improvement of local shops
all over the United States, more and more will well-to-do
people make their purchases in New York. But the growth
of the city as a wholesale distributing center is even more
remarkable. Buyers for retail stores in other cities use the
New York market more than they formerly used it, and they
are attracted to this city not merely by the opportunities it
affords to do business, but quite as much by the opportuni¬
ties it affords to have a good time. Hotels, theatres aud
restaurants multiply iu the same proportion as do new Ioft
buildiugs. There seems to be no limit to tbe number of
retail firms who can afford to pay the enormous rents preva¬
lent on Fifth avenue. All this retail and wholesale busluess
involves an increasing amount of light manufacturing.
Manufacturers can afford to pay high Manhattan rents and
make money, because of the other advantages they enjoy
by way of quick sales, concentrated management and abund¬
ance of labor. Tbey are not likely to lose any of these ad¬
vantages hereafter; on tbe contrary, these will probably in¬
crease. Hence it is that the business transacted iu New
York is tied to that of the wbole country In a peculiarly in¬
timate way, aud if it rises or falls it will be iu response to
conditions which affect the whole country. It will not, like
Chicago, undergo a sudden decrease in Its rate of expansion,
because of tlie small economic progress of a particular sec¬
tion of the country. Neither will it, like Detroit, undergo a
sudden but precarious expansion of population, owing to
the quick expansion of one manufacturing industry. It de¬
pends upon no one section or even on uo one industry. It
derives its business from all parts of the country and from
many branches of trade. Undoubtedly it wilt have to fight
an increasingly severe competition from local distributing
centers; but its merchants should be able to keep the ad¬
vantages they now enjoy. The general drift of population
and trade to tbe cities brings witb it as a corrollary a special
drift towards the biggest city in the country—the city which
can offer most of those pleasures and advantages whicb give
urban life its peculiar call upon human beiugs, both in
Europe and tbe United States.





MONTAUK POINT.

INTERESTING possibilities connected witb tbe future of
real estate in the Pennsylvania district are dependent up¬
on the development of Montauk Point as a shipping and laud¬
ing point for trausatlatic travel. It is still doubtful whether
the plans for building docks at Montauk Point will ever be
carried out; but its advantages for the Pennsylvania Rail¬
road Co. are so great that something of the kind will in all
probability eventually be done. It might pay the Pennsyl¬
vania Co., if necessary, to start a transatlantic service of its
own. Not ouly would it obtain the profitable job of carrying
the steamship passengers to Montauk Point, but it would be
able to compete much more effectually for passengers who
come to New York from interior poimts in order to take ship
for Europe. It could land such passengers In the heart of
Manhattan, put them up at an excellent hotel, and then
transport tbem to Montauk Point at a minimum of expense
aud inconvenience to the passenger, A traveller need have
uo more trouble either about bis baggage or his person after