HF5487.A4T904 nlVerSi,yLibrary W | wmiK^S,^!?." 8 '^ in the u "'«ed State 3 1924 013 947 233 WAREHOUSING INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED STATES. - t*N INQUIRY INTO ITS GENERAL CONDITIONS AND ECONOMIC RELATIONS, INGLUDIHG STATISTICS I;-; '■.' OF STORED COMMODITIES, TIffi STRUCTURAL FEATURES, INTERNAL ECONOMY, AND EXTEKNAL RELATIONS OF WAREHOUSING. ; m $&&"-•> i- -fvE-KOM THE SgMMArVoF COMMERCE, ANp.FlNAKCE FOK OCTOBER, 1903.] ^!' -C^' ~ .»'' Department of Commerce and Jjjabor, Bv,rm%of Stati$$,cgy r . V O. P.'AUSTIN,. Vhigf'of .Bureau. The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013947233 WAREHOUSING INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED STATES. AN INQUIRY INTO ITS GENERAL CONDITIONS AND ECONOMIC RELATIONS, INCLUDING STATISTICS OF STORED COMMODITIES, THE STRUCTURAL FEATURES, INTERNAL ECONOMY, AND EXTERNAL RELATIONS OF WAREHOUSING. CONTENTS WAREHOUSING INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED STATES. Page. Storage of surplus resources in civilized society 1035 Maximum and minimum value of stored goods at given dates 1037 Scope and object of the inquiry 1040 Classification of warehouses 1042 A. — General storage 1043 B. — Bonded warehouses 1043 0. — Cold storage or refrigerating warehouses 1046 D. — Household storage 1049 E. — Implement storage and transfer 1049 F. — Railway and wharf storage 1051 G. — Special storage (grain, cotton, tobacco, wool, whisky, etc. ) 1052 H. — Field storage (grain, cotton) 1059 I. — Yard storage (pig iron) 1059 J. — Private warehousing (raw materials, finished products) ^. 1060 Progress and present state of warehousing 1061 History of conditions in New York , 1061 Growth of storage since 1893 1063 Storage capacity in foreign trade 1064 Structural features of warehouses reporting 1065 Kinds of construction in 626 warehouses ,. 1065 Height of stories in 297 warehouses 1065 Cost of buildings and present value compared 1068 Floor space occupied by walls, shafts, and passageways 1071 Internal economy of warehousing 1072 Storage rates on selected articles 1073 Cost of handling a ton of goods 1082 External relations of warehousing 1083 Location of warehouses of 280 firms reporting 1083 Cost of cartage to and from shipping or receiving point 1085 Attitude of banks toward warehouse receipts as collateral 1086 Percentage basis of collateral loans 1087 Collective activity among local warehousemen 1087 Reported tendencies in warehousing 1088 Suggested legislation relating to warehousing 1089 Railway warehousing and storage charges 1090 DIAGRAMS. No. 1. — Countries with wheat surplus and countries with wheat deficit 1038 No. 2. — Weekly volume of stocks of cotton at interior towns at given dates 1055 No. 3. — Stocks of cotton at New York, Liverpool, etc., at specified periods 1060 No. 4. — Floor plan of modern warehouse 1068 No. 5. — Plan of Bush Terminal Company's warehouses, etc., New York City 1084 in WAREHOUSING INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED STATES. The problem of caring for the commercial surplus of the annual output of industry and of keeping in custody that reserve of storable utilities not required at any given time by the community has, within the last decade, become an increasingly important feature of business in the United States. This division of enterprise is generally spoken of as the warehousing industry, including storage, transfer, and cognate activities. The progress of cold storage has given a technical turn to warehousing which was entirely foreign to it twenty-five years ago, but which has done more than anything else to put the warehousing industry on a scientific basis. It is not too much to say that every other branch of storage has been favorably affected by the systematic methods of refrigeration. The development of this mode of preserving perishables is, however, probably due as much to the transporter as to the warehouseman. Commerce seems first to have seen the necessity of discovering some method of preserving food supplies in the course of transportation between the most favorable areas of production and the best markets for consumption. , This solution, resulting in increasing the place- values of the output of distant lands, was a commercial achievement due to the application of science to transportation. The other feature of the problem was that of giving time-values to perishables which could not be consumed in the season of production, but could be carried over into the seasons of least supply. This has been the achievement of the warehouseman, aided by the application of the principles of science to the conditions of this industry. Whether warehousing be regarded as a commercial institution or as an industry, its internal organization seems to involve a fourfold economic service, including (1) the renting of space, (2) the performance of labor, (3) the preservation of property from deterioration . and injury, and (4) the taking of risks. In its external relations warehousing comes inic r^ost direct contact with transportation, with trade, with banking, and with insurance. It has already become the subject of a considerable ood" -of law, and some of the pivotal questions of governmental relations to trade have arisen in connection with the endeavor of courts to determine tue responsibility of warehousemen. The industry has, therefore, not only a prominent place in the constitution of our own times, but it has ilLowise performed an essential function in the "history of human progress. THE STORAGE OF SURPLUS RESOURCES IN CIVILIZED SOCIETY. A definite portion of the resources of civilization is always, so to speak, "in storage." The surplus wealth which in nation, city or community has accummulated and is put into organized forms of utilities is never utilized at any one time to the utmost extent, but one portion or another is, as it were, on the reserve list for a greater or less time out of each year. There is constantly going on a process of accummulating resources more rapidly than the demands of the time being require. This excess is husbanded by being intrusted to the fiduciary control of institutions or agencies devised expressly for the purpose. The custodians of this part of the economic resources of society appear upon the scene after a community has put itself beyond the mere struggle for existence to get a supply of the necessaries of life. In new communities and small communities, they have no part or parcel. As the margin between production and consumption begins to widen, the function of warehouses, in caring for the various forms of products of industry, begins to appear, first in an incidental way and then as an entirely distinct business. One sees this process work itself out between the time at which the frontier community begins its work and the time when a well-to-do society finds itself in position to share many of the higher benefits of modern life. The warehousing function appears not only in the storage of material goods, which are for the time being not required for daily needs, but it includes in its scope, so far as the community is concerned, such agencies as the public library, the school, the college, and the university, and even the church, with its dispensation of moral and spiritual ministry. All of these draw upon the resources of experience, on a higher plane, it is true, than the warehousemen operate, but nevertheless in much the same line of development. The central and common idea running through all such institutions is that of the trusteeship of the resources of the individual, the family, the commuity, the nation, or the race. It is thus seen that this feature of the economic life of peoples is not only occupied- with preserving the accumulations of the past. Warehousing must also have had its beginning originally in society's necessity to provide" for future wants. It must have received an epoch-making stimulus when storing of surplus goods for purposes of future trade became a factor in industry. As soon as tribe began to trade with tribe, as soon as city began to exchange with city, as soon as national fairs began to draw traders from all nations, then could man first have had sufficient inducement to engage in continuous labor by storing the present product of his labor in view of supplying future wants elsewhere. "And this," says a recent writer, "introduces a most important step in advance; when men engage in labor, not for the sake of satisfying their own wants by the things they produce, but with a view to exchange, their labor results not only in chattels for their own use, but in wares for the market as well. There is a further change to be noted. While there is no oppor- tunity for exchange, there is little inducement for anyone to preserve a surplus; a very abundant harvest is more likely to be prodigally used within the year, and so with all other supplies; but the existence of opportunities for trade makes it well worth while to gather a store that far exceeds any prospective need and to store in warehouses for sale all that need not be used by the producers to satisfy their immediate wants; the conditions are present which still further favor the accumulation of wealth." a a Cunningham's Growth of English Industqy and Commerce, pages 80 and 81. 1035 1036 THE WAREHOUSING INDUSTRY. [October, The great storage centers of antiquity lay on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. The Venetians wrested the supremacy of trade with the Orient from Constantinople by their liberal warehousing policy. Among other things, they granted privileges to the traders of northern Europe, whose imports were received at the head of the Adriatic from the east by ship, stored in Venetian warehouses till called for by the demands of trade, and then carried overland via Nuremburg to the north. In mediaeval times mercantile storage was prominent on the Italian coast. In Venice a bonded warehouse or custom-house was accorded to the Germans, where they were allowed to offer their wares for sale, though only to Venetian dealers. Similar privileges were granted to the Armenians, Moors, and Turks, but not to the Greeks, against whom a strong animosity prevailed.* Throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in England a system of city granaries prevailed, whereby the municipal authorities bought up and stored food stuffs, chiefly grain, in order to forestall the necessity of the inhabitants paying exorbitant prices during months of scarcity. This system, however, broke down in the seventeenth century in England, as soon as trade had developed to the point where individual competition could be relied upon to bring an adequate supply at a reasonable price. 6 But on the Continent, at Geneva, for instance, the practice of the city's storing to avoid extortion and destitution from scarcity prices, was continued to the beginning of the last century. THE STORAGE OF NATIONAL RESERVES OF FOOD SUPPLIES. The relation of warehousing to future welfare is brought out sharply in connection with the dependence of populous nations upon outside sources of food supplies. Not a few of the older nations of Europe are deficit nations as regards their bread and meat requirements. The subject of the storage of food supplies has recently assumed a world-wide prominence through the appointment of a royal com- mission to inquire into the conditions affecting the importation of food and raw material into the United Kingdom in time of war and into the amount of reserves of such supplies existing in the country at any given period, and to advise further whether it is desirable to adopt any measures in addition to maintaining a strong fleet by which such supplies can be better secured and violent fluctuations of prices avoided. This inquiry, as is apparent from the above statement of scope, has a bearing on the whole question of the source of supplies of products on which the population of a nation depends for its subsistence. It not only involves the question of the regularity and security of supplies from outside, but also the equally important question of whether it is desirable to increase the proportion of such supplies by encouraging the home production of food stuffs. The policy of France, as well as of Germany, has been to put a premium on main- taining the productive efficiency of home lands in order to render the country less dependent upon foreign supplies. Great Britain has depended, more generally, on the capacity to obtain in the world's market, as she might need, the greater proportion of her annual requirements, depending more on the •"f^matic operations of commerce than on the provision of large quantities in stock. The amount of food supplies oiJk>"'' in-gfieat Britain usually does not exceed the normal requirements of the population for a period of six weeks. The quef + *"' ^or the Parliamentary inquiry to consider will consequently include that of the advisability of making larger provisions for t te"storage of food supplies. This phase of the subject would appear to be quite as important as that of the capacity of the navy to keep open the channels of trade between the United Kingdom and the various surplus-grain countries. These few references to the history and to the political bearings of this subject serve to place it in the class of great national interests whose study is a suitable topic for official attention. In this report warehousing has been viewed from the general standpoint as a branch of industry having vital commercial relations with other portions of national and international trade. Taking the country as a whole, warehouses in the trade are like a nexus of reservoirs, accumulating stocks in seasons of maximum supply and feeding the demand of tributary sections of country as the periodical requirements of the community arise. What is true of a country in relation to tjie storage of its own resources is true also in its control over nature. In various parts of the world it has become a part of public policy to apply the principle of storage of natural resources to economic development. In. Egypt the construction of the Assouan dam on the upper waters of the Nile makes storage of the water supply during seasons of super- abundance, for the purpose of supplying moisture to the land lying within the basin but beyond the flood-level of the Nile. What was once known as the "Great American Desert" is, by the storage of the rainfall and of the waters arising from the melting of the snow, being converted into fertile tracts of land. A similar development on possibly the most extensive scale known in the world has been carried out in India in those portions of the country under British control. TIDAL MOVEMENTS OF STORED GOODS. The warehouse business arises from the existence of stocks of surplus commodities at a given time and place in excess of what the individual owners are prepared to care for; hence, the necessity of a public institution or establishment which provides this service and assumes the responsibility involved in the care and keeping of such property against future needs. Storage is subject to tidal movements of varying volume in the course of each year. Latitude, climate, seasons, social events, changes in style, customs, tastes, and manners all contribute to influence the demand for storing facilities. Most of these influences, at least the more important ones, are recurrent at regular intervals, and can therefore be anticipated as to the time or periods of their recurrence, and also to some extent as to their relative intensity with reference to preceding periods. There is what may be called a moving stock of goods earning an income for the establishment, but which remains in storage but a comparatively short time. On the other hand there is a permanent stock which remains on hand a comparatively long time. These two factors may be called, respectively, the/010 and the fund. The flow corresponds to the transient guests at a hotel and the fund corresponds to the permanent guests of the hotel. It has been said that no hotel could be successful by relying wholly upon its permanent tenants for an income; that permanent guests serve to pay fixed charges, but transient guests must be relied upon to furnish the margin necessary for profits. Generally speaking, warehousing is influenced by seasons more than by all other influences combined. Crops and climatic changes determine the greater volume of business. The harvest seasons of cotton and and grain fill the storehouses and keep them compara- tively full for from three to six months; then the process of depletion of the reserve stock begins and reaches its minimum by the opening of the following crop year. In cotton the new year begins September 1; in the winter wheat belt, July 1; in the spring wheat belt, August 1, and in the corn belt, November 1. o Yeats, Growth and Vicissitudes of Commerce, page 99. b Ashley, English Economic History, II, pages 37 and 38. 1903.] THE WAREHOUSING INDUSTRY. 1037 MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM VALUE OF STORED GOODS AT GIVEN DATES. Nineteen cold-storage establishments estimated the maximum value of their stock at any given date in the course of the year to be $12,337,000 and the minimum value $3,203,500. Only one establishment reported "always full," with stores valued at from $150,000 to $200,000. Another establishment reported "We take no note of values, only of tonnage," but failed to note the tonnage. The question whether a warehouseman can be strictly master of the factors involved in his business and wholly ignoring the sub- ject of value of the goods in his keeping is at least worth considering. Warehousing is rental of space, and about the space he should know everything; h^is necessary also for him to know the volume of goods handled in tons in order to calculate cost of handling, In addition to value, space and cost of handling a third element enters, namely, that of risk. Eisk involves the whole question of economic responsibility for property in custody, and there is no other basis of estimating risk scientifically than by values. In damage claims and in insurance relations, knowledge of values is the keystone of the equitable adjustment of interests. In fact, it is difficult to see how warehousing can expect to build itself up securely in the public confidence without giving at least that degree of attention to values which common carriers generally give. . In certain commodities it is a question as to whether there is any date or dates which may be regarded as the maximum and mini- mum dates in the storage of such commodities. The production and withdrawals of spirits, it is said, is to a great extent regulated by trade conditions and consumptive, demand, and for that reason it is difficult to place any exact date when whiskys are at their minimum or maximum, but under usual circumstances the maximum is reached about June 1 and the minimum about December 1. From returns received from warehousemen the table below was made to show the wide variation in values of stocks. Maximum and Minimum Valuation of Stored Goods in Sixty AVabehouses at Given Dates. State. Kind of warehouse. Date. Maximum value. Date. Minimum value. Alabama Do Do Arkansas Do California Do Do Do Do Do Connecticut Florida Georgia Do Do Do Do Jowa Illinois Indian Territory . Kentucky Kansas Louisiana Do Do Massachusetts — Do Michigan Do Minnesota Do Mississippi Do Missouri North Carolina . . . New York Do Do Do Do Do New Jersey Ohio Do Pennsylvania . . Rhode Island... South Carolina . Do Tennessee Texas .• Do Virginia...: Do Do Do Washington — Wisconsin Cotton do do do do do Meats and butter Grain Wool Grain General Cold storage Field storage Household goods Cotton do do General Cold storage Meats and butter Cotton Tobacco Fruits, meats, and butter. Cotton do Grain (field) Fish. Meats and butter Fruits, meats, and butter Household goods Butter and eggs do Cotton only Cotton, field storage Fruits, meats, butter, and eggs Cold storage Fruits, meats, butter, and eggs do Fish and poultry Fruits, meats, and poultry ....do Lumber, etc Meats and poultry General Fruits, meats, butter, and eggs Fruits, meats, eggs, and poultry Cold storage Household goods, cotton, and grain do Grain - Cotton (field storage) and cotton-seed products . Cotton ■ ....do Tobacco ....do Fruits, meats, butter, and eggs General Fruits and vegetables September to December. December January 1 November January October 1 July 15 October 1 November September December July November January January 10 November to January . . . November 15 May August December November July November November to February.. January 14 March March 1 September do : July* September 1 November December do July to August November September September 1 December August . •- September July November August . . . ; do.. July 31 December .' March ....do August to March November March . . : December June : June to October November ....do Summer and fall Dollars. 3,000,000 1,710,000 350, 000 75, 000 75,000 60, 000 450, 000 160, 000 1, 500, 000 300,000 79,672 400,000 100,000 270.000 345, 000 150, 000 120, 000 10,000 600,000 32, 000 200,000 285, 000 140, 000 700, 000 900, 000 3,500,000 20,000 200, 000 125, 000 20,000 80,000 200,000 1,000,000 96,000 40,000 2,500,000 400, 000 200,000 400, 000 3,000,000 250, 000 25, 000 5, 000, 000 20, 000 1, 100, 000 800, 000 4,000,000 600, 000 400,000 50,000 500, 000 1,250,000 2, 000, 000 50,000 750,000 50, 000 350, 000 30,000 April to August August September 1 July September June 1 February 1 June 1 do June do January April to August September August 31 January to August ... August 15 July February April July March April 1 May to September September 3 September Julyl March '. do November December 31 May August September February to March. . . March March 15 Mayl April March April do March '. February .' March March 31 April August March . . .'. June to July July August do January October to January. . . June to August October January to February . Dollars. 10,000 225, 000 10, 500 Nil. 100 Nil. 75, 000 5,000 200, 000 20, 000 2,489 60,000 Nil. 90, 000 26, 000 5,000 4,000 Very little. Nil. 4,000 Nil. 112,500 7,500 Nil. 65, 000 2, 000, 000 Nil. 40, 000 25,000 15,000 5,000 200, 000 40,000 3,420 1,000 1, 750, 000 5,000 5,000 1, 500, 000 25, 000 15,000 1,000,000 Nil. 150, 000 350, 000 1,000,000 50, 000 50,000 5,000 Nil. 200, 000 50, 000 3,000 150, 000 10, 000 Nil. 1,000 ' Storing on the most extensive scale takes place in the endeavor of surplus countries to supply deficit countries. This is best illus- trated by the world's grain trade, particularly in the case of wheat. The scale on which this takes place may be illustrated by grouping the countries most directly concerned. 1038 THE WAREHOUSING INDUSTRY. [Octobbr, The geographical scope of the problem of wheat concentration and distribution is indicated by the following list of countries involved in these two groups and by their location on the map accompanying, designated as diagram No. 1: Countries with wheat surplus. Countries with wheat deficit. Canada. Argentina. Chile. Uruguay. United States. A ustria- Hungary. Bulgaria. Roumania. Russia. Turkey. British East Indies. Australasia. North Africa. From which distribution is made to the follow- ing: "Belgium. Denmark. France. Germany. Greece. Italy. Netherlands. Portugal. Spain. Norway and Sweden. Switzerland. Great Britain. Japan and China. DIAGRAM NO. I.— MAP SHOWING INTERCONTINENTAL RELATION OF SURPLUS WHEAT COUNTRIES AND DEFICIT WHEAT COUNTRIES. THE SCOPE OF WAREHOUSING ENLARGES WITH PROGRESS. The business of providing storage and warehousing, instead of contracting with the progress of wealth, is found to have an ever-widening application to branches of business which were formerly regarded as being entirely separate from it. An illustration of this is seen in the description of the assets which make up the Imperial Bank of Germany. This institution has among its 330 offices and branch establishments 14 warehouses for merchandise deposited with it. More and more banks are obliged to take into account the fact of the existence of large stocks of commodities which for the time being are not required by the consumer nor needed for daily use. With the increase in the facilities for manufacturing on a large scale, and with the growth in the value of the possessions of any community, such utilities must remain as dead value unless it is made possible to use them as collateral for loans. Banking institutions, on the other hand, accumulate the cash and credit of individuals, industrial and commercial establishments of the community, just as. the warehouses accumulate and care for the products of industry. The utilization of these products, which are for the time being out of the current of trade or the requirements of the community, for the purpose of serving as a basis of credit, makes it possible to inject into the circulating system a much larger element of credit, based on property, with a degree of security entirely consistent with the financial safety of all interests concerned. This condition or relation between the monetary interests and the warehousing establishments presents a problem which banking officials have recognized as being capable of solution to the great advantage of the lender and the borrower. There are, indeed, those who go so far as to say that in the right handling of the stores of surplus commodities may be found the balancing factor between supply and demand which must in wise hands prevent the possible recurrence of industrial depression, and, therefor", commercial crises. The economic uses of storage have by no means reached the limits of their possibilities in the commercial world. « As a general proposition it may be said that any commodity of definite grade whose quality can be kept from deteriorating without any considerable expense can be made to contribute to the world's stock of known supply and add to the supply of storable goods as a basis of credit. Under the first condition, manufacturing enterprises could be given a degree of continuity which would go far toward making depres- sion in productive enterprise unnecessary. a Stored Goods as Collateral for Loans, Special Consular Reports, Department of State, 1902. 1903.] THE WAEEHOUSING nTDUSTEY. 1039 Under the second condition, the products of industry could always be used as collateral for cash loans made by financial institutions, thus converting latent values (stocks of products in reserve) into active capital for productive use. This policy is identical in principle with that followed by banking institutions which lend to corporations on the basis of the cor- porate securities deposited as collateral. Considering some of the further consequences of such a system, it would tend to increase the stability of values of hypothecated products, and thus give to the cost of production, so far as these materials entered into the cost, a more stable character. It would forestall such occurrences as the dependence of industries on scarcity conditions of materials. The development of commercial credit has always been a problem in which the banker as well as the merchant has an equal interest. The banker is interested in enlarging the, opportunities for placing well-secured loans of cash, thus increasing the earnings of his estab- lishment. The merchant is concerned in obtaining credit on the stocks or supplies of commodities accumulated to meet future demands, but for carrying which stocks of goods he has not sufficient free capital of his own. The surplus funds of the bank are thus used to carry the surplus stock of goods over the period which elapses between the time they pass out of the producer's hands into the market and the time they pass out of the market into the consumer's hands. This period includes the time during which the commodities are in the course of transportation by rail or water; for a train of freight or a ship laden with goods is, in either case, simply a warehouse in motion. The normal place of warehousing in our economic system seems to be determined by these four relationships — with the transporter, with the merchant, with the manufacturer, and with the hanker. On these corner stones he must build his house; and if he works on correct economic principles. and uses properly the right means and methods his future is assured. More and more the attitude of irresponsibility of the warehouseman has had to give place to one of quite clearly defined responsibilities. The development of ware- housing law and the stress of competition have served as upper and lower millstones, so to speak, to grind out a much finer grade of fiduciary efficiency. The progressive warehouseman of to-day is, for all essential purposes, a trustee of the industrial and commercial interests of society. He is the keystone to the arch by which property stored may be converted from a dead asset of the community to quick capital, by insuring to the borrower and the lender alike that he will discharge his trusteeship of stored property with entire fid elity to both. The fiduciary character of the warehouseman is well expressed in the paragraph following: A warehouseman is the custodian of values just as much as is a banker. The honorable banker has no objection to his integrity being safeguarded, and there are no doubt many warehousemen who would welcome similar safeguards being placed around their busi- ness. The knowledge that a warehouse receipt -represents exactly what it purports to represent, and the elimination of all possible chance for the issue of fraudulent receipts would inure greatly to the benefit of the warehouseman as well as others interested. There are times when production greatly exceeds consumption. At such . times there are large quantities of goods in store. It behooves the warehouseman, therefore, to establish some system under which absolute security is assured to the holder of his warehouse receipts. If such a system can be established the warehouse receipt should become one of the most desirable forms of collateral, and the warehousing industry be placed on a higher plane by the elimination of the present possibilities for fraud. a Warehousing as it relates to banking and commerce is older than modern times; yet in the United States there has not been the development in this direction which the recent consular report of the State Department on "Stored goods as collateral in foreign countries" shows has been made abroad. The shortsightedness of one branch of business not being able to appreciate the position of other branches results in reducing the level of efficiency of the economic resources of trade and finance as a whole. What we need most here is to widen the function of stored goods as collateral. The first requisite of good collateral is convert- ibility; hence, securities which are quoted daily on the stock markets make an attractive collateral on which banks lend money readily, knowing that these securities are immediately convertible into cash in liquidation of debt, if necessary. In the second place, good collateral property must be insurable. The American Warehousemen's Association Report of 1892, page 44, states that with many of the large warehouses it is impossible to secure enough insurance to protect the property submitted to their charge, and on that account heavy risks were assumed by those making advances on merchandise, owing to its being impossible to cover the value of their interests within hundreds of thousands of dollars. Should such a condition of things continue, it would very much reduce the collateral value of stored goods. The relation of warehousing to insurance is, therefore, far from being worked out to a satis- factory basis. Instead of narrowing the collateral availability of stored merchandise, it would appear that the opposite tendency affords a much safer development in view of certain relations prevailing between the banks and merchants in large centers of the country. Changes in mercantile methods have greatly enlarged the credit feature of trade without apparently enlarging the security underlying advances of credit. The growth of credit is to be welcomed, provided it is not based too largely on individual character, or too little on the control of the collateral by the lender. Any change in business practice which unduly divorces collateral from the lender's control is apt to result in the doing of too large a volume of business on a given cash capital and to the substitution of credit paper for cash to an unsafe extent. Speaking of this general tendency, Mr. A. B. Hepburn, vice-president of the Chase National Bank, of New York, says: A few years ago the merchants all over this country, annually or semiannually, or oftener, gathered into the business centers and purchased their stocks of goods and gave their notes in payment therefor, and the wholesaler or manufacturing company who wanted money offered his bills receivable at a discount to the banks. That situation has all changed. Instead of the retailer seeking the wholesaler or the manufacturer, the manufacturers and the wholesalers are looking for the retailers all over the country with brass bands and chromos and every other inducement to get their trade. Instead of asking them to give their notes in payment of their obligations, they sell them on thirty, sixty, and ninety days, or four months' time, and date the bills ahead if it is necessary to make the sale. The result of this is that when these wholesalers want to borrow money they have absolutely nothing except their personal credit upon which to borrow. They can not pledge their books, they can not assign their accounts, and therefore they sit down and write out their single-name paper, and we banks have to buy it. In this country there is imposed a tax of 10 per cent upon any note or obligation wuTch^a bank might put out to circulate as money — to circulate for commercial purposes among the community — and yet these indi- viduals sit down and use their notes, which pass according to their credit throughout the land, and against the credit thus obtained they draw checks, and 95 per cent of the currency of this country is just that, gentlemen, based upon that simply. WAREHOUSING IN RELATION TO THE EXPORT TRADE. There is one line of credit connected with warehousing that has not been sufficiently developed in this country, but which, if developed rightly, might do much to promote our export trade. The practice of banks making advances on exports, just as they do on imports, deserves to be extended. In the domestic trade a shipper can generally borrow from bank on credit of his bill of lading and insurance receipt attached to his draft on the consignee; but when shipments pass out of domestic trade into foreign commerce, there a From The Investigator, quoted in American Warehousemen's Bulletin, August, 1903. 1040 THE WAKEHOUSIKG INDITSTEY. [October, the banker is prone to stop, except when exports go to destinations where they have receiving agencies to receive, store, and take general charge of the goods until they get into the proper hands and are paid for. This requires a transfer warehousing system in close relation with a.banking system, with agencies throughout the world market. This need of a world-wide system of warehousing and banking has not escaped the attention of bankers. In his address to the American Warehousemen's Association, at the New York meeting, Mr. A. B. Hepburn likewise called attention to this need in the following words: Instead of loaning money as we do here in New York upon incoming cargoes, which we can meet at the wharf and follow into the warehouses, watch the disposition thereof, and get our money back, we have got to do as they do in England— loan money upon the outgoing cargoes— and we have got to have agencies and instrumentalities in the ports of consumption, in the various great ports of the world, whom we can trust to see that when these goods arrive they are held or disposed of for our benefit and in satisfaction and in liquidation of the amount of money we loan against them. . In other words, the banks of the.country have got to furnish the lifeblood to the gentlemen in active business in order to help sell their wares all over the country, and we have got to come to know the value of it and to appreciate and recognize what a bill of lading is and what it represents, as they do in other countries, and when we have reached that point, then we will be in position to compete with other countries, and not until then. SCOPE AND OBJECT OF THE INQUIRY. In the preparation of this report an effort has been made to bring together such facts as were available'on each of the leading classes of warehouses peculiar to the American branch of the industry. In some cases very little information seemed to be available, while in others there appeared to be no lack of essential data. For instance, so much has been written recently on cold storage in its different phases as to fill volumes. On other phases of the subject, such as railway storage, little information could be obtained, aside from the rate schedules and such brief statements as came by correspondence with railway authorities. As will be noted throughout this docu- ment, frequent use has been made of the contents of the Proceedings of the American Warehousemen's Association, at the instance of which organization this inquiry was undertaken and by whose cooperation its preparation has been constantly facilitated. This inquiry was especially directed to learn the status of public warehouses. Time was insufficient to cover the field of private warehousing, which has greatly increased by consolidations in industrial and commercial enterprises. In general, the public warehouse is one which receives compensation for the storage of commodities at public rates of charge. The line between public and private ware- houses is differently drawn in different States. There has, however, been a series of decisions by the highest judicial authorities of the country in which the field of public warehousing has been more or less definitely defined. Quoting from the report of the American Warehousemen's Association, 1902 (page 149), on the subject of public warehouses, the following statement is probably sufficiently clear to cover the definition : In some States, although a warehouse or elevator is considered private property, yet, as it is a connecting link between great water and land carriers, it is regarded as for public use and as having a public trust attached to it; hence, such a warehouseman can not discriminate between customers. The lease of a public wharf to him is not void as a use of public property for private purposes; and the legislature has the right to regulate his charges for storage. This naturally brings to mind the three great cases wherein the consti- tutionality of statutes of the States of Illinois, North Dakota, and New York prescribing rates of storage for public warehousemen within their respective States were upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The scope of information sought may best be indicated by the schedule of inquiry which was used. The data supplied by warehousemen who answered the questions on the schedule of inquiry comprised the chief source of information relied upon in the preparation of this document. Much correspondence of a supplementary nature had to be resorted to for supplying deficiencies. Supplementary inquiries were made use of in the case of implement storage and transfer, of tobacco warehousing, and of railway storage. Current discussions in trade periodicals furnished much timely information. A copy of the main schedule sent to 1,800 different addresses, of which 125 were returned unclaimed, is given herewith, to indicate the number and nature of questions asked. Warehouse Systems in the United States. 1. Name of firm? . 2. Street, city, and State? . 3. To which of the following classes does your establishment belong? [Check thus (X) your lines of business.] a. General merchandise warehouses. 6. Bonded warehouses: Internal revenue or customs? e. Cold storage or freezing warehouses— (1) State whether bonded or free. (2) What commodities stored [designate by check (X)]— Fruits and vegetables. Meats. Butter and eggs. Furs and fabrics. d. Household goods storage. e. Field storage (wool, grain, cotton, etc.). /. Yard storage (pig iron, etc.). g. Please mention any other species of warehousing in your locality. 4. A brief history of your firm and its predecessors, outlining the main features of the development of the warehousing business in your locality in this period would afford acceptable material for this report. (Newspaper clippings, printed circulars, or other published material desired. ) . 5. Number of buildings in your plant? . 6. Number of stories in each, and height of each story? 7. Kind of structure (frame, brick, stone, concrete, or steel)? -. 8. Area— ground space covered by each building? . 9. When built? . 10. Present market value of plant, including land? ■. 11. Cost of each building at time of building? . 12. Insurance rates on building? . 13. Number of square feet of floor space? . 14. What per cent of floor space is occupied by— a. Division walls and pillars? • . b. Elevator shaft and stairways? . c. Passageways? . 1903.] THE WAEEHOUSMG WDUSTBT. 1041 15. Maximum carrying capacity of your floors above ground floor (weight per square foot)? — 16. Describe the more important devices you have in use tor the economical handling of goods. 17. Location— at railroad tracks or on water's edge: Tracks? . Water? . Neither? . 18. If on a railroad, is switching charge made? 19. If on water's edge, is lighterage charged, or is delivery free? . 20. If not on a railroad, what cartage is charged between railroad and warehouse? . 21. Average distance hauled? . 22. Is separate charge made for [abort If so, give average charge per ton. (Household and bulky goods rated at 40 cubic feet per ton.) 23. Storage rates per package per month on following commodities: Alcohol, wines, and liquors. . Drugs. . Bagging and burlap. . Dry goods. . Butter (60-pound tubs). . Eggs. -. Coffee. . Fish. . Cotton. . Flour. . Crockery and glassware. . Fruits. . Hides and skins. - Household goods. Matting. . Meats and poultry. Metals. . Paper. - Sugar. - Tobacco. Tea. — Wool. - 24. Is separate charge, other than storage, made for- a. Obtaining insurance? . d. Negotiating loans? . 6. Postage? . . c. Sorting and packing? . . c. Marking? . 25. To what extent is your rate of charge for storage based (1) on value of goods?- 26. Are charges payable at delivery, monthly, quarterly, or in advance? ■. 27. Give, If possible, the cost of handling a ton of the following commodities: Molasses. /. Cooperage? g. Repiling? - h. Inspection? Interest on overdue charges? (2) on space occupied? Alcohol, wines, and liquors. Bagging and burlap. . Butter (60-pound tubs) . — Coffee. . Cotton. . Crockery and glassware. — Dry goods. Drugs. Eggs. Fish. Flour. Fruits. — Hides and skins. — Household goods. ■ Matting. . Meats and poultry. Metals. . Molasses. . Paper. - Sugar. - Tobacco. Tea. — Wool. — 28. What has been the total cost of operating your establishment in 1901, including salaries, wages, insurance, damages, and all other expenses of an operative character? . 29. In whom is the title to stored property vested during a loan of funds? . 30. On what conditions are these loans made? . 31. Are the banks favorably disposed to the use of stored merchandise as collateral? . 32. What is your method of securing to banks stored merchandise as collateral? ■ . 33. Do you make advances or negotiate loans on goods in your own warehouse? . 34. To what percent of the value of the goods stored are loans made? ■ . 35. Have the warehousing interests in your locality organized for the purpose of mutual benefit in the way of enlisting legal services, promoting legislation, etc.? . 36. Is the practice of using freight stations for storage purposes increasing or decreasing in your locality? . 37. Give any figures showing the growth of the volume of warehousing business during recent years. . 38. What general tendencies have you noticed prevailing in the more recent development of the warehousing business? . 39. What legislation is, in your opinion, needed to protect interests concerned in warehousing? . 40. At what date in 1901 did your warehouses carry the largest value of goods? . 41. At what figure do you estimate that value? • . 42. At what date in 1901 did your warehouses carry the lowest value of goods? . 43. At what figure do you estimate the latter value? . Forty-three political divisions of the United States participated in furnishing data from which this report has been prepared. Within these divisions 204 different places have sent replies on the blank form sent out. The number of warehouses reporting for these places was 461. The table giving these facts in detail follows herewith: States, Towns, and Number of Warehouses Reporting. STATES. NAMES OF TOWNS. Ware- houses. Number. Alabama , Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Illinois Indiana Indian Territory . . . Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Mississippi — Minnesota Michigan Massachusetts Maryland Maine Missouri Nebraska New Jersey New York Number. 6 1 6 9 Birmingham, Marion, Mobile, Montgomery, Salmon, Tuscaloosa Tucson , Bentonville, Fort Smith, Helena, Newport, Pine Bluff, Siloam Springs Decoto, Los Angeles, Livermore, Oakland, Pleasanton, Port Costa, Pasadena, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo. Denver, Pueblo Hartford, New Haven, Waterbury .....'. Wilmington Washington " " Jacksonville, Pensacola, Tallahassee Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, Macon, Rome, Savannah " Alton, Aurora, Bloomington, Centralia, Chicago, Decatur, East St. Louis, Flora, Olney, Sheibyvilie" Kockford, Springfield. Anderson, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Lafayette, Logansport, Marion, South Bend Ardmore Council Bluffs, Davenport, Des Moines, Dubuque, Mount Pleasant, Sioux City Arkansas City, Concordia, Parsons, Topeka \" Louisville '_ Arcadia, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Shreveport Greenville, Holly Springs, Summit ; Duluth, Hutchinson, Minneapolis, New Paynesville, St. Paul Detroit, Grand Rapids, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Port Huron " ] [ ' Cambridge, Chelsea, Boston, Gloucester, Holyoke, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn Springfield Somerville, Salem, "Worcester. tea, Bal timore Portland _ '_]] Carthage, Kansas City, Sedalia, St. Louis, St. Joseph Lincoln, Hastings, Omaha " ' Camden, Elizabeth, Hoboken, Jersey City, Newark, Paterson Albany, Albion, Auburn, Binghamton, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Geneva, Gloversviile, LockporV Locke Little Falls, Loweville, Middletown, Niagara Falls, New York, Oswego, Rochester, Syracuse Sara- toga Springs, Troy, Utica. ' 1 7 27 6 7 2 9 3 10 24 11 1 9 6 6 11 3 18 9 22 2 20 10 13 72 No. 4- 1042 THE WAEEHOUSING DTDUSTEY. States, Towns, and Number op Warehouses Reporting — Continued. [October, STATES. North Carolina North Dakota . Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania . Rhode' Island.. South Carolina Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington ... West Virginia . Wisconsin Total.... Towns. Number. 1 2 12 1 1 10 2 1 B 11 1 1 4 3 2 2 204 NAMES OF TOWNS. Charlotte Fargo, Jamestown .'•jV^m'V'i' Akron, Canton, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Limn, Dayton, Hamilton, Newark, Springfield, Toledo Norman Portland - ■ - - - - Allegheny, Harrisburg, Newcastle, Linfield, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Beading, Scranton, Wyncote, York Providence, Newport -■ Columbia Chattanooga, Humboldt, Knoxville, Nashville, Memphis Alvarado, Benham, Cameron, Cleburne, Bayou, Galveston, Houston, Lagrange, Dallas, Martin, Min- eola, Amarillo, McKinney, Sulphur Springs. Salt Lake City Rutland ■ Norfolk, Newport News, Petersburg, Richmond Everett, Seattle. Tacoma ■ Huntington. Wheeling ■ Milwaukee, Oshkosh Ware- houses. Number. 1 2 25 1 5 40 4 2 8 18 2 1 12 6 3 4 461 CLASSIFICATION OF WAREHOUSES. An outline of the classes of establishments engaged in warehousing is given to show the degree of specialization to which this business has attained, as well as the difficulty of covering minutely all of the varieties with equal detail. A. — General warehouses (merchandise). B. — Bonded warehouses (imports). 0. — Cold-storage or refrigerator warehouses (perishables). D. — Household goods warehouses (furniture). E. — Implement storage and transfer houses (farm implements, machinery, and vehicles). F. — Railway and wharf storage (traffic). G. — Special warehouses: (1) Grain elevators and warehouses. (2) Cotton storage. (3) Tobacco storage. (4) Wool storage. (5) Whisky storage. H. — Field storage (grain, cotton). I. — Yard storage (pig iron). J. — Private warehouses (raw materials for manufacturing, or finished products lor distribution). It was found impossible from the returns received to make classification of warehouses which would in any sense be mutually exclusive of the different items. This difficulty is apparent from the fact that a great majority of warehouses are not simply general warehouses or engaged in any particular branch of the business, except, possibly, the cold-storage or freezing warehouses. At any rate, it was thought best to put the returns in such a shape as to show how the leading classes were represented. The following tabulation brings out these results: General merchandise 211 Bonded internal revenue or customs: Internal revenue, bonded 4 Customs, bonded r 9 General merchandise, bonded 4 Customs 3 Cold storage or freezing 154 Bonded 13 Free 95 Bonded and free „ 20 Fruits and vegetables 10 Meats _ 5 Butter and eggs 1 Furs and fabrics 6 Two or more of above _ 99 Household goods only ■_ I59 Wool, grain, cotton, etc., only 77 Yard storage 7 Other in locality 7 Two or more of above 34 Total, three main classes ,. 524 From the above it appears that 211 establishments were engaged in storing general merchandise, 154 were cold-storage or freezing plants, and 159 household goods only. Of cold-storage and freezing plants 59 were free, 13 were bonded, and 20 included both bonded and free. 1903.] / THE WABEHOUSING INDUSTEY. 1043 A.— GENERAL STORAGE. Storage, like every other branch of industry, tends strongly to specialization, as soon as the volume of business becomes large enough and the effective demands of customers become specific enough to call capital and business management into the field of investment. On this account one need not be surprised to find that general storage is regarded as declining in certain large centers of trade where warehousing has received its most advanced development. At New York, for example, the committee on general storage reported in 1902 « as follows: During the past five or six years it is the opinion of the majority of warehousemen here in the port of New York, borne out by facts that are apparent to anyone in touch with the commerce of the port, that the demand for warehouse space has greatly decreased. It is a noticeable fact that there are fewer of the old warehouse buildings being operated as storage warehouses. Many have been and more are being torn down, notably along the Brooklyn water front. Piers, with railroad terminal facilities are being built in their stead, showing the demand is for extended pier accommodations which will enable prompt discharge and reshipment of cargoes to their destination throughout the country. Many things contribute to this condition of affairs. The extension of the cable systems, the change of the type of cargo vessels from sail to steam and their increased size and speed capacity. The merchant or manufacturer of to-day can keep in touch with the markets of the world and order his goods with the almost absolute certainty that they will reach his hands within a reasonable margin of time from a given date. Storage and insurance rates are much lower abroad than they are here, and this is notably the case at the French, English, and German ports. As a consequence the importer takes advantage of these conditions and buys to suit his own requirements and convenience. Manufacturers are rebuilding their plants on the water front, or on the various trunk railroad lines, storing the raw material in their own warehouses adjoining the factories, and the old-time importers and speculators in actual merchandise are pretty much a thing of the past. The modern method of speculating in options on cotton, grain, metals, or coffee, etc., on the various exchanges has superceded the older one. The storage of goods from China and Japan has largely fallen off [in the East] in consequence of the increased overland shipments by way of the Pacific ports. Large quantities of matting, tea, and other goods are being held at the ports of the Pacific and in the interior cities for distribution. This is, of course, a very satisfactory innovation to our members of these cities. The business of warehousing specific cargoes, such as grain, sugar, nitrate of soda, jute, etc., has fallen off at New York to an even greater extent than that of general merchandise. The storing of grain at this port is practically at an end. A number of elevators on the Brooklyn water front have been razed, dismantled, or not rebuilt after being burned down. Six or seven years ago there were 16,000,000 bushels of grain stored in the elevators of one company. To-day the amount does not exceed 200,000 bushels. Nitrate of soda used to form a large item in the warehouse business. To-day not 10 per cent of the nitrate cargoes received here are warehoused. The major part of each cargo is put over the ship's side into cars, lighters, canal boats, or schooners, and taken away direct to the factories. In some cases sailing vessels are even converted into free warehouses under the " custom of the port" rule which allows for the discharge of but 100 tons per day. It is probable that New York is gradually declining in the volume of the bulkier articles of import and export trade, but is increasing in the lighter and costlier articles of commerce, both domestic and foreign. There is no evidence to show that the sum of warehoused values has decreased. At large ports, such as New Orleans and San Francisco, there is no evidence, on the contrary, that general storage is declining. General storage is there still the rule. At New Orleans special stores, which make coffee and other specialties the feature of their business, accept general storage quite as readily. B.— BONDED WAREHOUSES. The bonded warehouse business arises from the connection of public revenue with the import trade and with certain branches of the domestic industry from which excise taxes are derived. Imports are handled through custom-houses, and the customs service is one of the main divisions of the fiscal system of the Government. Under this branch of trade warehousing, as a private industry, has a very direct relation with the methods of raising revenue for the Government. The storing of commodities under the internal-revenue system is not so directly related to commerce as it is to manufacturing. The industries most prominently identified with this source of revenue are the manufacture of distilled spirits and the manufacture of tobacco. In both of these industries storage is closely affiliated with the system of production, and it is under this, part of the economic process that the warehousing of their product arises. The total value of merchandise in warehouses at the beginning of the month for the last two years or more has ranged between forty and fifty millions of dollars. The amount remaining in the warehouses at the close of any month coincides with that at the beginning of the month. Withdrawals averaged ten million dollars per month for the last ten years. In July, 1902, the value of bonded goods stored in Government warehouses was $40,822,601, and on January 1, 1903, it had risen to §50,257,136. These amounts include both free and dutiable imports. The object of putting imports into bond is to provide safe storage for them under Government control until the import duty is paid, or until it is determined whether or not they are dutiable. Free goods, unclaimed upon arrival at the custom-houses, are sent to gen- eral stores; so, too, are free goods which are a portion of a consignment not readily separated from dutiable goods. In that case both classes go into bond until the duty is settled. The payment of duty, together with the storage charges, releases merchandise thus bonded. In connection with the warehousing of imported merchandise, further mention may be made of the bonded railroad cars, which are, in a sense, warehouses on wheels. For the time being, while goods are in transit, they serve the purpose of bonded warehouses. During the fiscal year 1902, fifteen railroads and steamship companies were bonded for the transportation of appraised merchandise and ten railroads and steamship companies for the transportation of unappraised merchandise. At the end of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1902, there were 188 transportation companies bonded to transport appraised merchandise and 125 to transport unappraised merchandise. The names of these companies appear in the annual report of the supervising special agent to the Secretary of the Treasury, in which document also is a list of custom-houses, and interior ports can also be found so far as they relate to the customs system of the United States. The following table of values of imported merchandise warehoused, withdrawn from, and remaining in warehouses on dates men- tioned illustrates the volume of the business of the bonded warehouses: a Proceedings of American Warehousemen's Association, Washington, 1902, pages 71-73. 1044 THE WAKEHOTTSHra EtfDUSTKY. [OCTOBEB, Total Values op Imported Merchandise Warehoused, Withdrawn prom, and Remaining in, Warehouse on the last day of each Month peom July, 1900, to September, 1903, Inclusive. months. 1900 July August September. . October November.. December . . 1901 January February . . . March April May June July August September. . October November.. December . . 1902 January February . . . March April May June July August September. . October November.. December . . 1903 January February... March April May June July August September. . In ware- house at commence ment of month. Dollars. 45,383,522 46,643,272 45,428,202 45, 058, 952 47,203,225 47,067,194 47,913,128 47,082,698 47,726,926 46,918,713 46,469,685 46,252,554 48, 743, 890 49,556,084 48,647,143 46,975,597 46,050,147 44,292,737 43, 688, 362 42,259,536 39,975,772 41,836,768 42,323,345 42, 684, 859 40, 822, 601 41,841,965 41,988,504 42, 335, 348 44,141,963 47, 180, 259 50,257,136 38,553,397 39, 392, 108 41, 387, 515 44, 234, 868 46, 873, 214 48,553,011 47, 608, 541 45, 159, 382 WAREHOUSED DURING THE MONTH— Direct im- portation. Dollars. 12,177,570 10, 230, 144 10,315,480 13,310,890 10,236,720 10,435,260 12,168,025 10,717,501 11,067,860 10,940,561 11,578,066 12,003,025 12,282,179 10,448,432 9,233,644 11,491,300 9,026,659 10,850,939 10,845,804 7,668,259 12,162,580 11,008,949 10, 464, 217 8,805,116 11,026,174 11,361,541 11,153,932 13,693,530 13, 106, 964 13,805,503 10,103,194 10,603,649 13,604,813 12,851,145 12,571,068 12,004,578 10, 175, 367 10,415,635 10,162,036 From other districts. Dollars. 1,149,890 1,195,030 1,119,390 983,534 787, 256 899,856 1,446,903 577, 335 1,112,172 1,241,805 1,225,621 1,112,145 1,142,652 947, 293 977, 414 1,010,915 1,038,028 705,636 1,357,594 439,276 907,714 709,350 764,570 872,264 702,419 747,031 766,145 1,131,936 865, 778 1, 146, 887 1,207,935 913,727 434,837 434, 313 451, 917 436, 833 468,150 425,578 399, 738 Addi- tions by liquida- tion. Dollars. 891,520 507,905 711,051 382,874 101,210 160,386 144,811 110,605 167, 550 154,358 55, 458 132, 322 82, 345 84, 394 99, 662 52, 878 152,407 127,427 157,252 115, 775 110,344 102,331 113, 422 119, 665 226,945 226, 982 257, 461 268,209 155,056 175,005 1,001,136 176,722 143,259 154, 605 101,089 77,992 89, 591 68, 746 120, 124 Total remaining in, and entered warehouse. Dollars. 59, 602, 502 58,576,351 57,574,123 59,736,250 58, 328, 411 58,562,696 61,672,867 58,488,139 60,074,508 59,255,437 59, 328, 830 69,500,046 62, 251, 066 61,036,203 58,957,863 59,530,690 56, 267, 241 55,976,739 56,049,012 50,482,846 53,156,410 53, 657, 398. 63, 665, 554 52,481,904 52,778,139 54,177,519 54,156,042 57,429,023 58,269,761 62, 307, 654 70,569,401 50,247,495 53,575,067 54,827,578 57, 358, 942 59,392,617 59,286,119 58,548,500 55,841,280 To adja- cent British prov- inces. WITHDRAWN PROM WAREHOUSE DURING THE MONTH- For exportation. Dollars. 225,799 179,075 172,303 310, 675 259,129 372,580 280,712 210,726 603, 986 265, 908 228, 344 332,286 320,148 244,350 170, 546 255,279 347,620 199,006 252,101 212,977 193,783 228,714 154, 305 294,213 214,488 167,817 179, 312 384,100 201,991 207,752 160,440 263,380 221,191 171,490 229,760 196,410 252,726 258, 676 To Mexico Dollars. 11,067 8,189 6,659 11, 794 17,244 12,469 12,746 31,469 11,930 9,317 13, 166 24,766 10,790 10,592 8,862 22,733 15,020 18, 595 29, 336 18, 606 20, 697 17, 959 25,142 36, 965 22, 729 49,089 18,479 16, 282 10,499 17, 270 24,592 15,703 12, 293 11,018 12, 129 20, 534 20,947 21, 760 21,296 To other foreign countries. Dollars. 652,521 705, 998 674, 001 858, 546 657, 652 607,021 1,438,703 660, 082 1,098,351 1, 308, 288 1, 428, 909 859, 164 939, 798 435, 121 915,178 768,248 907,064 690,193 1,284,042 474,324 897, 266 1,063,482 940, 017 1,183,741 702,404 846,416 453, 948 1,078,297 515,174 561,293 689, 583 1,242,381 763, 952 577, 674 691,585 732, 052 557,307 535, 772 522,587 Total. Dollars. 889,387 893,262 852,963 1,181,015 934,025 892, 070 1, 732, 161 902, 277 1, 614, 267 1,583,513 1,670,419 1,216,216 1,270,736 690,063 1,094,586 1, 046, 260 1,269,704 907,794 1,565,479 705, 907 1,111,746 1,310,155 1,119,464 1,514,919 939, 621 1,063,321 651,739 1,478,679 727, 664 878,145 821, 927 1,418,524 1,019,625 809,883 775, 204 982,346 774, 664 810,268 802,659 For trans- portation to other districts. Dollars. 1,082,612 1,154,200 870,308 801,753 758,580 829, 640 1,336,391 468,769 755, 898 796,216 814,622 807, 929 937, 928 772, 773 521,217 625,065 905,341 796,062 624,390 490,191 492,544 402,203 377, 069 476,082 601, 843 440, 889 468, 649 609, 829 578, 761 1,508,939 601,977 413,777 421,933 326, 890 393,644 450,561 494, 336 486,843 289,063 For con- sumption. Dollars. 10, 589, 156 10, 595, 188 10,084,006 10, 170, 997 9,381,795 8,775,634 11, 299, 514 9,244,980 10,518,967 10,065,156 10,477,924 8,640,242 10,387,765 10,826,245 10,228,957 11,703,454 9,674,494 10,277,306 11,223,017 8, 891, 157 9,500,404 9,371,796 9, 210, 443 9,518,978 9, 179, 073 10,416,607 10,412,274 10,-845,498 9, 604, 110 9,515,408 21,560,296 8,802,829 10,517,382 9,288,321 9,077,562 9,011,623 10,209,122 11, 989, 991 11,676,405 Deduc- tions by liquida- tion. Dollars. 398, 075 505,499 707,894 379,269 186,817 152,324 222,103 145,187 266, 663 340,867 113,311 91, 769 98,553 99, 979 137,506 105,774 224,965 307,215 376,590 419,819 214, 948 249,899 273, 719 149,324 315, 637 268, 298 288, 032 353, 054 178,967 148,026 9,031,804 220,257 228,612 168, 616 239, 318 395,076 199,456 102,026 140,836 Remaining in ware- house at close of month. Dollars. 46,643,272 45,428,202 45,058,952 47,203,226 47,067,194 47,913,128 47,082,698 47,726,926 46,918,713 46,469,685 46,252,554 48,743,890 49, 556, 084 48,647,143 46, 975, 597 46,050,147 44,292,737 43,688,362 42,259,536 39,975,772 41,836,768 42, 323, 345 42, 684, 859 40,822,601 41,841,965 41,988,504 42,335,348 44,141,963 47,180,259 50,257,136 88,553,397 39,392,108 41,387,515 44,234,868 46,873,214 48,553,011 47,608,541 45,159,382 42,933,357 At the close of the fiscal year June 30, 1902, 498 bonded warehouses were in operation in the United States. During the year ending with the above date, 96 warehouses were bonded for the storage of imported merchandise in bond. Below is given a list of ports in which bonded warehouses are located: List of ports at which bonded warehouses are established. Apalachicola, Fla. Atlanta, Ga. Baltimore, Md. Bath, Me. Boston, Mass. Boothbay, Me. Bridgeport, Conn. Buffalo, N. Y. Cape Vincent, N. Y. Castine, Me. Chattanooga, Tenn, Chicago, 111. Cincinnati, Ohio. Denver, Colo. Detroit, Mich. Dubuque, Iowa, Duluth, Minn. Durham, N. C. Eagle Pass, Tex. Eastport, Me. El Paso, Tex. Erie, Pa. Evansville, Ind. Galveston, Tex. Gloucester, Mass. Grand Rapids, Mich. Great Falls, Mont. Greenbay, Wis. Hartford, Conn. Helena, Mont. Honolulu, Hawaii, Indianapolis, Ind. Kansas City, Mo. Key West, Fla. Laredo, Tex. Lincoln, Nebr. Los Angeles, Cal. Louisville, Ky. Minneapolis, Minn. New Haven, Conn. New London, Conn. New Orleans, La. Newport News, Va. Newark, N. J. New York, N. Y. Niagara Falls, N. Y. Ogdensburg, N. Y. Omaha, Nebr. Oswego, N. Y. Pensacola, Fla. Perth Amboy, N. J. Petersburg, Va. Philadelphia, Pa. Pittsburg, Pa. Plattsburg, N. Y. Port Huron, Mich. Portland, Me. Portland, Oreg. Portsmouth, N. H. Port Townsend, Wash. Providence, R. I. Provincetown, Mass. Richmond, Va. Rochester, N. Y. St. Joseph, Mo. St. Louis, Mo. St. Michael, Alaska. St. Paul, Minn. Salem, Mass. San Diego, Cal. San Francisco, Cal. San Juan, P. R. Savannah, Ga. Sioux City, Iowa. Syracuse, N. Y. Tampa, Fla. Toledo, Ohio. List of ports where the custom-home premises are used for the storage of imported goods in bond. Albany, N. Y. Bangor, Me. Cleveland, Ohio. Columbus, Ohio. Dubuque, Iowa. Jacksonville, Fla. Marquette, Mich. Memphis, Tenn. Milwaukee, Wis. Nashville, Tenn. Norfolk, Va. Peoria, 111. Providence, R. I. Richmond, Va. Sandusky, Ohio. Washington, D. C. Wilmington, Del. 1903.] THE WAREHOUSING INDUSTET. 1045 In the internal-revenue system of the United States there are three kinds of bonded warehouses known, respectively, as (1) distil- lery warehouses, (2) general bonded warehouses, and (3) special bonded warehouses. The relative importance of these three classes may be gathered from a particular year's statement of quantities of gallons of spirits remaining in bond at the beginning of the recent fiscal year. In that instance 136 million gallons were found in the first class, somewhat less than three million gallons in the second class, and somewhat more than two million gallons in the third class. From the following table, covering a period of twenty-five years from 1878 to 1902, inclusive, it will be seen that fruit brandy constituted a staple article of storage in special bonded warehouses, and that in the distillery warehouses the leading items were whiskies, alcohol, high wines, and spirits. An increasing quantity is put under the head of miscellaneous, which makes the table less satisfactory. A comparison of the figures in any given column for this series of years will show a considerable degree of irregularity in the quantities in store. Alcohol and rum appear to have been more or less constant in the size of the stocks. High wines have decreased from over 19 million gallons to a million gallons in 1902. A comparison of the total brings out as the most noteworthy feature the recurrence of high and low stages of stock. The high stages occur about ten years apart, and are followed by exceptionally low states of supply. It will be observed that the first maximum quantity on hand occurred in the years 1881 and 1882, which was followed by a minimum in the years 1883 and 1884. From this low basis the quantity increased, until nearly ten years later it reached a maximum in 1893. From that point it declined again until it reached the minimum in 1897, and from this level again began to increase to a maximum of 131 million gallons in 1902. If these maximum and minimum states of supplies of distilled spirits in warehouses be compared with the dates of industrial depression, it will be seen that the periods of prosperity correspond with the periods of largest quantities in store, and the acute periods of depression correspond with the minimum quantities in stock. Distilled Spirits Deposited in Special Bonded and in Distillery Warehouses during the Past Twenty-five Years. [From Report of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 1902.1 FISCAL YEAR ENL*- ED JUNE 30— 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887. 1888. 1889. 1890 1891, 1892, 1893. 1894. 1895. 1896. 1897. 1898. 1899. 1900. 1901. 1902. SPECIAL BONDED WAREHOUSES, Fruit brandy. Gallons. 178,544 69,340 129,086 240, 124 381,825 223,977 200,732 312,197 329, 679 673, 610 864,704 952,358 1, 137, 649 1,223,725 2,044,893 1,250,276 1,330,289 915, 677. 3 1,301,18S.3 620,780.8 918,246.7 1,237,681.2 1,498,208.9 1, 653, 457. 4 2,073,141 SPIRITS WAREHOUSED IN DISTILLERY WAREHOUSES. Bourbon whisky. Gallons. 6,405,520 8,587,081 15,414,148 33,632,615 29,575,667 8, 662, 245 8,896,832 12,277,750 19,318,819 17,015,034 7,463,609 21, 960, 784 32,474,784 29,931,415 29,017,797 40,835,873 15,518,349 18,717,152.7 16,935,862.4 6,113,726.2 13,439,458.9 17,256,330.8 19,411,829.1 26,209,803.6 20,336,250.2 Rye whisky. Gallons. 2, 834, 119 4,001,048 6, 341, 991 9, 931, 609 9,224,777 4,784,654 5,089,958 5,328,043 7,842,540 7,313,640 5,879,690 8,749,768 13, 355, 577 14,345,389 13,436,827 16, 702, 240 10,026,544 12,321,542.8 9, 153, 066. 6 4,269,220.2 8,818,240 10,792,825.1 14,296,568.1 18, 263, 709. 5 21,587,221 Alcohol. Gallons. 10,277,725 19,594,283 21,631,009 22, 988, 969 15,201,671 10, 718, 706 12,385,229 13,436,916 11,247,877 10, 337, 035 11,075,639 10, 939, 135 11,354,448 12,260,821 14,490,987 12, 250, 380 10,570,070 8,819,923.6 9,960,301.1 9,503,353.2 11,672,794.8 11, 974, 354 10,735,771 10,775,116.9 11,483,304.7 Rum. Gallons. 1, 603, 376 2,243,455 2,439,301 2, 118, 506 1,704,084 1,801,960 1,711,158 2, 081, 165 1, 799, 952 1,857,223 1,891,246 1,471,054 1,657,808 1,784,312 1, 956, 318 2, 106, 765 1, 864, 595 1,777,083.5 1,490,227.6 1, 294, 156. 9 1, 340, 546. 5 1, 494, 379. 3 1,614,513.6 1,724,582.2 2,202,047.3 Gin. Gallons. 364, 963 372, 776 394, 668 549,696 669,134 545,768 641,724 639,461 656,607 747,025 872,990 1,029,968 1, 202, 940 1,293,874 1,338,617 1,424,490 1,287,977 1,176,669 1,098,375.7 1,159,314 1,267,579.5 1,266,823.4 1,597,081.2 1, 636, 299. 4 1,752,280.5 High wines. Gallons. 19, 412, 985 18,033,652 15,210,389 14, 363, 581 10,962,379 8, 701, 951 6, 745, 688 3, 235, 889 2, 396, 248 2, 410, 923 1,016,436 1,029,495 555, 572 1,007,070 633,590 449,209 126,506 209. 699. 3 198,298.6 206,738.4 174,124.4 420,832.6 249,743.1 454, 626. 7 341. 222. 4 Pure,neutral, or cologne spirits. Gallons. 11, 108, 023 13,459,486 20,657,975 23, 556, 608 27,871,293 28,295,253 28,538,680 27,104,382 26, 538, 581 27,066,219 29,475,913 30,439,354 34,022,619 35, 356, 126 37, 690, 335 37, 577, 052 35,377,115 21,062,215.6 25,564,738.3 16, 877, 305. 6 20,613,205.3 25, 876, 228. 1 24,173,671.3 30,228,303.9 37,429,734.2 Miscella- neous. Gallons. 4, 096, 342 5, 600, 840 8, 265, 789 10,586,666 10,744,156 10, 502, 771 11,426,470 10, 811, 757 10,543,756 11,084,500 12,603,883 13,738,952 14, 652, 180 19,983,382 16,204,570 17, 305, 773 14,434,336 15,865,308.8 22,187,832.7 23, 041, 833. 3 23,436,264 27,984,781.4 33,405,522.4 35, 227, 657. 6 33,491,341.6 Total. Gallons. 56,281,597 71,961,961 90, 484. 356 117,968,274 106, 234, 986 74, 237, 285 75,636,471 75, 227, 560 80, 674, 059 78,505,209 71,144,110 90,310,868 110, 413, 577 117,186,114 116, 813, 934 129, 902, 058 90,535,781 80, 865, 272. 6 87,889,891.3 63,086,428.6 81,680,460.1 98, 304, 235. 9 106,982,908.7 126,174,057.2 130,696,542.9 The relative importance of spirits in warehousing, as between distilling warehouses and general bonded warehouses, is shown by the comparison of the stocks in these two classes of establishments. The storage of distilled spirits in bond outside of distillery ware- houses is thus shown to comprise only a minor feature of this branch of trade. The table given herewith shows the quantity in these two species of warehouses at the beginning of each quarter for the years 1900, 1901, and part of 1902. Quarterly Statement, by Months op Production, op Spirits Remaining in Distillery and General Bonded Warehouses. [From Report of Commissioner of Internal Revenue.] MONTHS OF PRODUCTION. 1900 January April July October 1901 January April July October 1902 January April June Stored in distil lery ware- houses. Gallons. 3,124,537.7 4,883,515.8 573, 908. 9 1,005,432.3 4,217,821.4 8,886,400.5 1, 180, 588. 6 1,474,097.6 6,449,417.2 8,166,408.5 3,877,181.6 Stored in general warehouses. Gallons. 38,986.7 24,766.1 2,793.7 40,586.1 24,830.6 24, 325. 1 34, 684. 6 217.9 6,315.7 6,557.6 51,027.4 Total. Gallons. 3, 163, 524. 4 4,908,281.9 576, 702. 6 1,046,018.4 4, 242, 652 8, 910, 725. 6 1,215.273.2 1,474,315.5 6,455,732.9 8,172,966.1 3,928,209 1046 THE WABEHOUSLWG DTOUSTBY. [OCTOBEE, C— COLD STORAGE OR REFRIGERATING WAREHOUSES. The policy of the cold-storage interests, so far as a definite policy has developed, seems to have been fourfold. First.in importance and the earliest to develop was the plan of storing such products as could not be disposed of satisfactorily on the markets. Storage was thus used as a last resort. The goods were not selected with storage in view, and frequently were entered in a condition far from favorable for good keeping. Coming out in bad condition, they sold poorly. Storage under this policy was a losing business to the producer or shipper and the receiver. The storage establishment and the transporters profited temporarily only by this use of storage. Shipments in the long run were discouraged, and it had little effect on prices, already depressed. In the second phase of its development cold storage plays a much more direct part in relation to prices. Prices are maintained by withdrawing from the receipts in any large market considerable portions especially selected for storage purposes. Hence storage interests represented a new kind of customer and competed with dealers on the same market. The presence of this new factor has helped, in some cases, to change the system of disposing of receipts from that of private consign- ment to public sales. The tendency has been toward the public auction rather than toward sales by commission houses (Cincinnati). The third phase of storage is that in which the storage establishments are not located immediately in the large centers of consump- tion, such as Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and the seaboard cities, but in conveniently located railway centers lying within easy reach of a large number of consuming centers. The policy apparent here is (1) to place the stored supplies at some such point as Springfield, Mass., within a few hours' access of New York, Boston, and many other less important points; (2) to get the advantage of the lowest railway rates between sources of production and centers of distribution, as in the case of storage establishments in New Jersey, located with regard to competitive trunk-line connection, and (3) to bring storage facilities nearer to the productive areas and primary markets, as in the case of the immense establishment at Indianapolis, to which much of the dressed poultry from other localities goes for keeping. The fourth phase is the development of centers of accumulation of stocks nearer to the sources of production. The plant projected at Dayton, Ohio, in the center of several interurban trolley lines, is a case of this kind. In the West one of the largest grain-buying firms has entered this field in connection with its packing-house business. Its collecting stations are located with reference to the areas of largest supply of poultry, butter and eggs, with which it furnishes freight for its refrigerator cars and trade for its central storage plants in eastern and western cities. The cold storage of meats at packing-house centers is a large item of this trade. But this commodity is largely in private storage. Chicago's stock of contract pork on the 1st of each month may be taken as representative of the course of the trade. Stock op "Contract" (Mess) Poke: in Chicago. [From Daily Trade Bulletin, Chicago.] MONTHS. 1903 1902 1901 1900 1899 1898 January February.. March April May June July August September. October November . December . Barrels. 19,197 27,501 26,438 24,492 19,213 19,061 24, 951 28, 459 24,044 34, 414 5,881 Barrels. 29,045 50, 788 50, 983 50,844 50, 976 51, 193 47, 680 42, 401 36,480 34,376 24, 423 16, 609 Barrels. 2,581 14, 914 28,891 56, 568 61,608 62, 114 62, 083 60, 818 51, 103 45,931 36, 126 39,259 Barrels. 31,366 39, 066 40,935 41, 936 43,072 42,945 43,167 42,808 41, 948 35, 193 29, 895 18, 609 Barrels. Barrels. 43, 908 12, 761 70, 962 26, 469 94,000 61, 739 96,900 72, 572 98, 683 73,099 98,991 74, 075 101,036 75,512 100, 688 76, 764 99, 801 75, 481 95, 460 76,546 87, 702 71,037 97,433 60, 701 The stocks of butter in cold storage, as reported to the Chicago Daily Trade Bulletin, in the States given below aggregate 1,409,458 tubs, against 1,297,378 tubs one year ago — an increase of 112,000 tubs, or little over &% per cent more than last year. The stocks include only those in storage up to August 1, and for a like period last year. Illinois shows the greatest increase, which, of course, is principally in the city of Chicago. Nearly all points show more or less increase. Although these figures are not complete, they have been prepared on the same basis for the terms of years given and are of value for comparison of States. Stocks of Buttee in Cold Storage in the Various States on August 1. [From the Daily Trade Bulletin, Chicago.] STATES. Wisconsin Iowa Michigan Minnesota Missouri Illinois Kansas Nebraska New York Rhode Island. Massachusetts Ohio Pennsylvania Maryland Delaware Connecticut . . Indiana Total ... 1903 Tubs. 21, 750 21, 000 6,000 53, 750 33,350 425, 295 5,325 42,500 349, 000 12, 000 272, 448 7,000 115, 040 25, 000 1,500 8,500 10, 000 1,409,458 1902 Tubs. 17,400 27, 800 4,200 34, 650 30, 500 384, 900 3,200 50,000 830,250 10, 000 262, 418 6,700 99, 160 18, 700 1,500 8,000 8,000 1,297,378 1901 Tubs. 20, 250 21, 200 4,875 21,200 23, 800 299,000 3,000 40, 500 851,450 15,000 227, 920 6,000 64,375 25,000 1,500 7,500 1,132,570 1900 Tubs. 21,520 25,200 3,250 37, 000 33, 400 243,000 3,200 15,500 316, 950 20, 000 210, 500 12, 000 40, 500 20,000 1,500 10,000 1,013,520 1903.] THE WAREHOUSING DTDITSTEY. 1047 The stock of eggs in cold storage at the various points reported to the Chicago Daily Trade Bulletin for the year 1903 aggregates 2,533,470 cases, against 2,551,966 cases one year ago— a decrease of only 18,526 cases, or practically the same as last year. The greatest decrease shown was in the State of Missouri, and next was New York and Nebraska. The greatest increase was in Illinois and Pennsylvania. Stocks op Eggs in Cold Storage in the Various States on August 1. [From the Daily Trade Bulletin, Chicago.] STATES. 1903 1902 1901 1900 Cases. 568, 616 50, 200 85, 550 95, 300 90,000 201,250 10, 500 125, 600 33, 700 286,614 238, 140 647, 500 46, 600 15, 000 4,000 15,000 20,000 Cases. 503, 810 46, 000 86, 850 77,100 102, 000 294, 250 13, 200 113, 700 23, 800 290, 056 196, 000 689, 500 46, 700 30, 000 4,000 16, 000 20, 000 Cases. 692. 900 59; 900 95,000 46, 000 128, 000 238, 275 21, 200 143, 100 41, 000 310, 388 187, 500 743, 000 45, 000 40, 000 4,000 30, 000 30, 000 Cases. 540,800 66, 700 78, 300 78, 500 108, 000 118, 200 6,000 149, 900 30, 000 214, 700 182, 500 564, 000 37, 000 35, 000 4,500 30, 000 30, 000 2,533,470 2,551,966 2,855,263 2, 274, 100 One of the difficulties in this inquiry has been that of obtaining statistics of the volume of commodities in cold storage at given localities for a series of periods throughout the year or for a series of years. The Boston Chamber of Commerce reports the weekly stocks of butter and eggs in cold storage, including stocks at the Quincy Market and at the Eastern Storage Company's plant. These combined stocks are compared for corresponding weeks in 1901 and 1902 in the following table. While they do not include all the stocks in the Boston market, they represent in all probability a large percentage of the total, and they serve to show how the stocks vary in this market, week by week, from the beginning to the end of the calendar year. • Weekly Stocks of Butter and Eggs in Store at Boston, Mass., 1901 and 1902. [From the Boston Chamber ol Commerce.] WEEK ENDING— Jan. 4 11. 18. 25. Feh. 1 8 15. 22. Mar. 1. 8. 15. 22. 29 Apr. 5. 12. 19. 26. May 3. 10. 17. 24. 81. June 7. 14. 21. 28. 1901 Packages. 72, 757 64, 814 57, 702 51, 715 46,456 40, 666 35, 500 31, 465 27,159 24, 867 22, 718 20, 742 18, 735 16,190 15,733 14,830 13,365 15,085 17,229 19, 616 31, 093 49, 657 75,194 99,474 123,001 145,974 1902 Packages. 105,238 95, 720 88,381 81, 180 72, 945 62, 326 51, 093 43,468 35, 564 27,869 20, 734 13, 053 7,833 4,275 1,707 904 310 294 320 249 7,703 16, 951 32,980 57, 304 82,249 109,181 1901 Cases. 18,453 15,144 13, 184 11, 075 .7,566 5,005 3,608 2,048 758 430 154 72 10,814 29, 594 50,941 68, 070 85,563 103,625 121,470 137,852 156, 722 171,215 194,526 204,274 207, 472 210, 298 1902 28, 525 23, 824 16,805 10, 670 5,220 941 302 173 9,816 21, 402 33, 459 50, 350 79, 833 100,794 118,229 132,415 144,841 162,183 171,752 180, 078 183, 712 WEEK ENDING- July 5, 12. 19 26. Aug. 2 9 16 23 30 Sept. 6 13 20 27 Oct. 4 11 18 25 Nov. 1 8 15 22 29 Dec. 6 13 20 27 1901 Packages. 164, 670 178, 306 195, 460 206, 425 210, 970 214, 584 215, 868 218, 485 220, 720 218, 786 218,358 217,145 210, 180 205, 698 202, 275 196,886 191, 126 185, 908 179, 923 172,340 161,083 151, 286 140, 759 131,650 120,024 112, 800 1902 Packages. 137, 718 165, 952 190, 735 214, 629 235, 618 249, 124 260, 172 268,261 273, 349 275, 685 274,412 271,042 269, 437 267,468 262, 737 260, 964 253, 815 247, 982 240, 505 231, 271 220, 410 209, 677 197, 059 181,172 165, 672 166, 223 1901 Cases. 212, 830 213, 257 214,434 211,366 204, 588 196, 773 189, 694 184,427 179,035 172, 472 164,499 159, 121 151, 636 145,561 139,049 131, 073 122, 080 113,760 104, 198 92, 203 83, 549 73,955 65,374 54,854 46, 012 38,890 1902 Cases. 184, 442 183, 512 182, 288 180,939 181, 056 181, 950 182, 576 183, 896 181,884 181, 764 179,«95 176, 829 172, 149 167, 683 163, 130 158, 682 153, 772 150,671 143,525 134,644 123, 984 114, 053 105, 362 95, 840 86, 254 76,494 For purposes of comparison, which any establishment may make, the volume and variety of business in •several leading lines of refrigeration may be a matter of interest to the public. A leading New England company reports that in a single year, not necessarily the same year, it stored 11,000,000 pounds of butter, 94,000,000 eggs, 5,500,000 pounds of poultry, 1,600,000 pounds of dried fruits, 35,000 boxes of pears, 1,725,000 pounds of fish, 1,500,000 pounds of frozen meats, 7,000 barrels of provisions, 21,000 barrels and crates of produce, 30,000 boxes of oranges and lemons, 70,000 barrels of apples, 2,000 barrels of beer, besides many tons of miscellaneous goods, such as nuts, canned goods, cereal foods, macaroni, bulbs, plants, trees, and furs. The volume of business for the calendar year 1902 is indicated in another way in the following table of articles of merchandise handled by the same company. 1048 THE WAEEHOUSMG INDUSTEY. [OCTOBER, All merchandise is stored by the package and not by weight, and these packages range in weight from 25 to 2,000 pounds; storage charges being made on space occupied: Classified List of a Year's Business. articles. Canned goods cases. . Coffee bags.. Tea packages- . Beans bags.. Nuts packages. . Dry goods eases and bales. . Dried fruit cases. . Apples and potatoes barrels. . Tapioca and sago bags. . Liquors packages.. Preserves barrels. . Oranges and lemons boxes. . Units. Nvmber. 142, 960 21,218 48, 952 6,325 10, 585 7,121 29,813 8,704 2,603 1,363 2,294 1,392 ARTICLES. Chemicals barrels. Leather packages. Wool do.. Cotton bales. Paper packages. Paper stock bales. Iron and iron pipe packages. Oil and grease barrels. General merchandise packages. Total packages ■ Units. Number. 4,848 8,311 64,929 9,281 1,933 4,645 8,831 11,394 21,890 419, 392 From a general knowledge of the field it would seem that the kind of storage which is increasing most rapidly is the refrigerating branch of the business. Whereas it was once applied principally to the preservation of meats, it has been extended to the transportation and preservation of fresh fruits, vegetables, orchard products, butter and eggs, and perishables generally. Latterly the branch of refrig- eration which has come prominently to the front is that of fur storage. In addition to these leading branches of business, some of which were novelties ten or even five years ago, the cold storage of materials for manufacture is another phase of increasing importance. The conservation of hops is an instance in its relation to brewing. In England cold storage of hops has come to be regarded as a perfect method of preservation. Two years' keeping at a temperature of from 28° to 30° F. have the effect of making it difficult to distinguish between old and new hops. The storage capacity for hops in England, as reported in August, 1903, was 150,000 pockets of one and three-fourths hundredweight (196 pounds) each. Hop culture in England is specialized almost entirely within the six counties, Kent, Hereford. Sussex, Worcester, Hants, and Surrey, the total area planted to hops in these counties in 1903 having been 47,756 acres, against only 182 acres in all other counties. The following statment shows the production of hops in England for the past ten years as estimated by the board of agriculture: Hop Ckop of England. YEARS. Hundred- weight. YEARS. Hundred- weight. 1903 421,068 311,041 649, 387 347,894 661, 373 1898 356,816 411, 086 453,188 553, 396 636,846 1902 1897 1901 1896 1900 1895 1899 1894 World's Hop Yield, 1901 and 1902. [From the Tacoma Evening News.] COUNTRIES AND STATES. European Continent hundred weight, . . England do New York bales. . Pacific coast States do Wisconsin do 1901 700,000 700,000 65,000 155,000 5,000 1902 800, 000 311,000 20,000 164, 000 5,000 Up to January 1, 1902, the exportation of hops from the United States were: To England, 30,000 bales, and to Canada and other foreign countries, 5,000 bales. Importations from Germany and other European countries were 20,000 bales. The explanation given for this interchange of hops is that there are many brewers in the United States who will use nothing but the German and Bohemian hops while on the other hand there are many foreign brewers who will use none but those grown in the United States, when they are to be had. In the annual review of the progress of refrigeration by the Ice and Cold Storage Trades Directory (London) conditions at the opening of 1903 were described as follows: Considerable attention has been given in this country and abroad to the many commercial applications of artificial refrigeration, and it is not surprising to find, therefore, that numerous companies have been inaugurated for the purpose of erecting cold stores and ice factories, or in which these processes are an important and necessary part of the scheme. In connection with the flotation of some of the companies there has been a tendency to excessive capitalization, and it can not be too strongly impressed upon everyone likely to be concerned in the industry that the gross profits are not sufficient to produce satisfactory results in such instances. There has also been a marked tendency toward excessive expenditure upon buildings for cold stores, and while this may be creditable to the owner's good intentions, it must in many cases have seriously handicapped him financially. Undertakings in connection with the refrigeration industry must be initiated and run on as sound, economic principles as any other if a proper return is to be made upon the capital invested. The multiplication of cold stores has caused an increased demand for suitable managers, and it is somewhat remarkable that while private firms and companies will pay from $1,250 to $5,000 per annum for such a man, corporations and other local authorities think they can get what is required for $500 to $750 a year. It may be safely laid down that it is absolutely impossible to get a properly experienced manager for a reasonable sized cold store at less than $1,250 per annum, because the necessary knowledge of the various businesses interested can only be obtained by a lengthy, practical experience. * * * 6 Marine refrigeration has made gigantic strides, not only in the size of the installations, but also in the number. Our list of such vessels, brought up to date as carefully as possible now numbers 382, against 357 in our last edition, but this does not represent the total increase as many given before have been omitted to make room for more important additions. In connection with this branch of the industry may be mentioned the fitting of the Elder-Dempster boats running between the West Indies and Bristol for bringing over 1903.] THE WAREHOUSING- INDUSTRY. 1049 bananas and other soft fruits. This trade has been a very successful one, and it is sure to expand rapidly. Chilled meat has also been transported with success from the Argentine and consequently the full effect on the markets, which would have been produced by the restrictions upon the landing of live cattle, has been modified. These regulations are likely to be removed very shortly, but in the meantime the cattle trade of the United States has been put under the same ban. Much greater advantage will therefore be taken of the system of bringing beef to England in a chilled state, and the enormous extensions and additions now being made to the cold stores in the Argentine plainly show what the future arrangement will be. Railway refrigeration is receiving more attention, and even the Trans-Siberian Railway is to be provided with improved wagons, fitted with cooling apparatus on the absorption system, to remove the difficulties experienced when using ice on long journeys. Denmark, Russia, Germany, Canada, and the South African colonies are also adding considerably to their railway facilities by introducing a large number of refrigerated vans. The importation of eggs, poultry, and game from Russia will assume much larger proportions as these wagons are provided. D.— HOUSEHOLD STORAGE. I One of the oldest forms of storage, and yet a kind which has received an extraordinary development incident to the growth of large cities, to the rise of a traveling class, and the changing conditions of domestic life, is that of household storage. In no branch of the industry has more progress been made than in the custody of household goods. In the earlier half of the century and down to the last quarter the people were as a rule householders. Their homes were furnished simply and comfortably, but not with that luxury which has come with the more general diffusion of surplus wealth. There was no such rich variety of possessions as now mark the homes not only of the wealthy but also the well-to-do and the industrious. In' those earlier times the place for surplus household goods was in some vacant building usually built for some other purpose. When the pioneer warehouses built for the purpose came, they were built of highly inflammable materials, and with the contents were almost sure to burn down, possibly every five years on the average. In the older warehouses household goods were piled in open lofts or basements without, in most cases, the protection of even a board partition from those of the next owner. This was rightly regarded by fire-insurance men as very hazardous, and was objectionable on account of vermin, dust, and for other reasons. The disastrous warehouse fires which are still in the minds of people in most large cities, and which resulted in the destruction of the structures and valuable contents, prompted the equipping of storage plants upon the modern plan of separate compartments with tight isolating partitions. In one of these modern structures which have displaced the old style of building in nearly all larger cities, both in the East and West, there are 840 separate fireproof rooms renting from $1.50 per month or more. Another in Philadelphia reports having 1,000 private rooms in a six-story building. Another of the same class describes its construction in detail. Its floors are divided into separate compartments of various sizes, from small bins holding a few trunks and renting at $2 per month to rooms renting at f 50 per month, with a capacity of 12 van loads. There are private art rooms arranged with skylights for the hanging of paintings; bins for the storage of wines and liquors; closets for the storage of bric-a-brac which, for various reasons, it might be undesirable to box; closets for the hanging of fine draperies; compartments for statuary, clocks, and bronzes, away from dust and the danger of breakage; compartments for the storage of valuable libraries, wherein books may be arranged on shelves; a separate room for the storage of pianos, and a special trunk room for the storage of trunks on iron racks, with an examination room adjoining. The cubical capacity of the largest furniture vans gives the unit of size in planning storage rooms. This unit has been accepted as the unit of size in the high-class storage houses of Washington, New York, Brooklyn, Boston, and Chicago. In New Orleans, as reported in 1902, there were but 40 buildings used as public warehouses, none especially equipped for receiving household goods; that is, the separate room system of storage of this class of goods had not as yet been applied to the needs of this locality." There is possibly not the relative importance in demand for household storage here as in northern or western cities, and its greater domestic stability of population may be one reason for the nonappearance of this type of structure. E.— IMPLEMENT STORAGE AND TRANSFER. Implement storage and transfer has had its rise very largely with the progress of agriculture. In 1880, according to the census of 1900, the value of agricultural implements manufactured was 168,640,486; in 1890, $81,271,651, and in 1900, $101,207,428. In the commercial distribution of these values the implement storage trade had had the largest part. It is not easy to picture to one's mind the extraordinary growth of the domestic trade of the country without using such comparative figures as may serve to show advances from one period to another. Inasmuch as it was the expansion the great West that gave rise, in increasing volume, to the demand for implements during the decade from 1870 to 1880, the simple figures of increase in grain production will help one to realize why the transfer business grew so rapidly. The table below gives these facts: Increase op Grain Production in the United States, 1870 to 1880. KINDS. 1870 1880 Bushels. 760, 944, 549 287, 745, 626 282, 107, 157 29,761,305 Bushels. 1,754,591,676 459,483,137 407, 858, 999 43,997,495 Wheat 1,360,558,637 2, 665, 931; 307 From the above table it is evident that these four cereals increased nearly 100 per cent in ten years, from 1870 to 1880. These were the years of phenomenal expansion in farms and railroads- beyond the Mississippi and over the Northwest, and the burden of keeping up with the rate of development fell heavily upon the implement and vehicle trade. a Warehousing in New Orleans, Proceedings of American Association, 1902, page 81. No. 4- 1050 THE WAEEHOUSING INDUSTEY. [October, The implement transfer house appears to have had its beginning about 1880. -It place of origin was the central West, including the States of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. From this group of States it spread westward, eastward, and southward. Practically the entire country is now covered by this system of warehousing and shipping agencies. The development of such a piece of commercial mechanism reflects signal credit on the business generalship of those who conceived it and built it up from its beginning. Within the course of little more than twenty years the growing demands of agriculture and of that branch of transport which depends on vehicles have been met by the manufacturer on a scale and in a manner which is, with few exceptions, entirely complimentary to the adaptability of our commercial talent. Probably a still better statistical index to the increase of this phase of domestic commerce is to be found in the figures of implement and machinery values in the farm-property reports for the last three census years. Growth op Implement and Machinery Values on Farms in the United States by Divisions and Decades, 1880 to 1900. [From abstract of the Twelfth Census, 1900, page 291.] YEARS. Continental United States. North Atlantic division. South Atlan- tic division. North Central division. South Central division. Western division. 1900 Dollars. 749,775,970 494,247,467 406,520,055 Dollars. 152,805,090 116,868,252 107,083,426 Dollars. 53,318,890 36,444,018 30,812,107 Dollars. 364,062,060 252, 225, 315 206, 233, 272 Dollars. 126,692,285 58, 343, 772 46, 588, 624 Dollars. 52, 897, 645 30, 366, 110 15, 802, 626 1890 1880 From these figures it is seen that the value of farm implements and farm machinery increased from $406,520,055 in 1880 to ,775,970 in 1900, or 84.5 per cent. The increase was slower in the North Atlantic States, but in the South Atlantic States it increased 73 per cent; in the North Central States where the greatest gain in total values occurred the increase was 76 per cent; in the North Atlantic the rate of gain was nearly threefold, and in the Western division quite two and one-third times the value of 1880. A brief account of the early history and problems of this branch of mercantile enterprise will be of interest and value to the trade. The Farm Implement News, of Chicago, contained the following account of the subject, which is of permanent enough interest to reproduce, inasmuch as it appears fairly to reflect the conditions out of which implement storage and transfer took its rise: Success in manufacturing nowadays depends very largely on one's talent for devising and working out new methods and processes in factory work, but after the goods are finished and placed in the factory warehouse the manufacturer's task is only half done. The goods must be sold, and the manufacturer must get his money for them. In many lines the expense of distribution is far greater than the combined cost of the raw material and the labor in the factory, and he who assumes that on an average it costs as much to sell implements in general as it does to make them is not far out of the way. It is therefore equally as important to have economical methods in distribution as to have labor-saving machinery and methods in manufacturing. * * * Transfer and storage warehouses mark'the introduction of a new method in placing implements and vehicles on the market. That they are a useful factor in the implement and vehicle trade is shown by the success of these houses in the various trade centers of the country. The idea of special warehouses for the machine business may be said to have originated with James A. Green, who first put it in practice in 1882. For five years previous he had the mauagement of a large harvesting machine business, located in western New York, and selling largely in the States of Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. During these five years, while he was managing a branch remote from the factory, he realized the importance of having convenient stocks of goods to draw supplies from and also the unsatisfactory policy of depending upon sales agents or the average warehouseman to store goods and promptly All orders, as they were expensive, inaccurate, with no intelligent system for reporting shipments or for giving attention to matters of weight or freight classification. An individual branch house was too expensive. The cost of a house running twelve months to handle a harvesting machinery business, the requirements of which were met in three or four months, was far too great. The urgent demands of immediate trade had to be promptly met or not at all; for responsible dealers, who were always conservative, would not buy heavily or long in advance of uncertain needs. These difficulties existed. How could they be overcome? If some one with brains and experience could conduct an implement and machinery depot or branch house comprehending all the various lines of spring, summer, fall, and winter goods, with full lines of repairs, it would fill the want. Houses, side tracks, and docks could be especially constructed in advantagious locations at commercial centers, so goods could be handled with the maximum of dispatch and economy at the minimum of damage from drayage, chafing, and breakage. Such houses could- do everything for the manufacturers except selling, and that they would do themselves if they owned the warehouse. Every chance for any feeling of partiality or jealousy could be guarded against and great economy and satisfaction to the manufacturer and dealer would result. A system of daily reports would be necessary, advising each manufacturer in detail of the shipments of any goods on his account, so that he could at all times know the condition of his stock in trade. But there was no such house in existence, and no place to go to get suggestions or pointers, so it all had to be planned by sound judgment and experience and proven by the test of careful trial. During the summer of 1882 the pioneer transfer warehouse was built at Detroit, Mich. While the problem of providing special facilities for implement manufacturers was thus being worked out here from the machine man's point of view others were working from a. different direction toward a similar solution. As early as 1879 a Peoria firm known as the Peoria Transfer Company had begun a trucking business and soon extended it to embrace the distribution of carloads of implements consigned to them to be broken up and shipped out in local lots. Subsequently they rented a small warehouse and were then able to store a limited quantity of goods but did not engage extensively in the transfer and storage business until the summer of 1883, when the Peoria Transfer and Storage Company was organized and large warehouses erected. ' From this time forward other portions of the country began to avail themselves of the experience of pioneers in this line of business The company in Jackson, Mich., erected suitable buildings in 1884 for an extensive business and commenced receiving goods in January' 1885. At several points, including Eochester, N. Y., Indianapolis, Ind., and Columbus, Ohio, companies were organized to carry on the transfer and storage business. In the fall of 1883 the first transfer and storage company at Rochester, N7 Y., erected warehouses and began business on a large scale. The success of the Detroit enterprise led to the organization of the Columbus (Ohio) Transfer and Storage Company. At Indianapolis, in November, 1883, a warehouse was erected in eighty days by the same parties who had made a success of transfer work at Detroit. Soon after similar companies were organized at St. Louis, East St. Louis, Buffalo N Y Omaha Nebr., Minneapolis, Minn., and Pittsburg, Pa. In the fall of 1887 the transfer and storage company at Nashville, Tenn ' began business' As a result of these several years of expansion, the inevitable need of some associative action was felt among those identified with houses of this character. Consequently, in September, 1884, the Associated Transfer and Storage Companies was organized with the originator of the Detroit transfer warehouses as president. At the meeting of this association at Peoria, in September 1890 the question of enlarging the field so as to include different kinds of storage and the warehousing business generally was taken u'd but action deferred until the Chicago meeting on October 15, 1891. " ~ 1903 -1 THE WAREHOUSING INDUSTRY. 1051 This meeting of transfer representatives was made to coincide with the date of the general convention of warehousemen in all parts of the country, who were to meet for the purpose of organizing a national association of a comprehensive character, including all the leading branches of the warehousing business. This organization took the name of the American Warehousemen's Association, and included at the time thirty of the leading warehousemen from all sections of the country. On the subject of agricultural implement storage, the proceedings of the American Warehousemen's Association contains some valuable reports. From the proceedings of the St. Louis convention, 1900, page 112, the following extract is taken, which explains in an introductory way and briefly the essential features of the business: It is customary for the agricultural implement manufacturers who store to enter into written contracts, and these contracts are called transfer contracts, from the fact that the rate covers unloading the goods, free storage during what is known as the season, and delivery to depots. _ The season period differs with different goods, and with some goods there are two seasons. Speaking for a moment of goods that have only one season, six months is recognized as the season period, and this generally runs from January or February on certain goods, and from March or April on other goods. At the end of the season period there comes in what is called winter storage. It means storage out of season. The charge for this service is an amount equal to the transfer charge, and in some cases an amount equal to half of the transfer charge, and in yet other cases a monthly charge. The transfer charge is never collected until the goods go out, so that if goods are received during the season and are not transferred, but go into winter storage, the only charge that you would collect would be the winter charge, the transfer charge not being collectible until the goods go out. In the case of two-season goods, such as plows and goods that are used in the spring and the fall, it is customary on December 1 of each year to charge a winter charge equal to the transfer charge. In this case, as in the case of one-season goods, there is no transfer unless the goods go out. There are ehanges of moment going on in the implement trade. One of these is the reduction of the number of transfer warehous- ing centers, arising from the consolidation of several implement manufacturing concerns. An independent manufacturing concern establishing an agency for his line of implements in one locality might by vigorous pushing of sales make it necessary for a competing manufacturer to do the same thing for his own protection. A third firm and a fourth might find it equally advisable for similar reasons to have agencies covering the same field. When, however, two of these are consolidated, the discontinuance of agencies is one of the first steps in reduction of expenses. One of the consequences, therefore, of consolidations in the implement industry has been tho reduction of transfer points and a greater concentration of all large trade operations. F.— RAILWAY AND WHARF STORAGE.' A special inquiry among railroads as to the extent to which they maintain warehouses for the storage of goods at destination or for shipment brought out a series of answers, the substance of which is given below. It has been found by the analysis of these answers that in the great majority of cases railroads do not operate any storage warehouses as public warehouses, but have storage rules throughout the greater part of their territory, whereby a definite charge is made for all freight held in freight houses beyond the specified time limit of free freight. It has been noted by one company reporting that the matter of storage rules throughout the greater part of their territory is under discussion and being more or less agitated at the present time. The topic appears to be a live one, and the relations of the carrier to the public are not yet by any means fully enough defined for all concerned. The warehouseman is interested in the elimination of the railroad as a storer of goods, and has in a number of places succeeded in bringing about a stricter enforcement of the freight time limit. This was notably the case in Philadelphia, where, in decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission a few years ago, the question was brought to the front and decided in such a way as to prevent discrimination through an elastic use of the time limit allowed for freight remaining in stations. In a number of cases, however, it has been found necessary that railroads should operate warehouses for the storage of freight, to meet the convenience of consignees. In some instances it has not been the practice of the company to deliver freight for warehousing to commercial warehousemen. When freight is not removed from such warehouses within the freight time limit, a storage charge is assessed according to the rules of the car service association of the States through which the lines run. It would thus seem that commercial warehousemen are much interested in the trend of judicial decisions which have arisen out of cases where charges were imposed for failure to unload freight under the different car service associations in different parts of the country. The railroads themselves are, of course, equally interested in this effort to secure prompt unloading, owing to the fact that failure to do so makes it . necessary to supply a much larger number of cars for handling a given quantity of freight. In fact, one leading cause of the chronic car shortage in different parts of the country has been alleged to be the failure of consignees to unload freight promptly. At New York there are regular terminal warehouses to which freight is sent when not promptly removed. In this case a regular set of rules is prescribed governing such removal of freight to terminal storage. At St. Louis one of the largest railroads entering that city states that at some of their large terminals freight is delivered to public warehousemen for account of whom it may concern, but that the railroad is not interested financially in the storage business. When consignees call for their freight under such circumstances they are referred to the warehousemen in whose hands the property has been given upon payment of the accruing freight charges. In some of the cities of the Atlantic seaboard a practice more or less extended has grown up, under which the railroads and ware- houses operate through leased companies. One of the trunk lines with headquarters at Philadelphia reports that "certain arrangements exist in the cities of Philadelphia and Baltimore (but not elsewhere), of some years standing, under which we have in some cases leased property upon which buildings have been erected by warehouse companies, and have also erected warehouses which we have leased. Some of these warehouses are suitable for the storage of merchandise freight and others suitable for the storage of hay, etc. These warehouse companies operate independently, doing a general warehouse business and making their own charges therefor, except that we have certain contract relations with them in respect to requiring that their operations shall be satisfactory to the public and their charges be reasonable, the railroad company in turn agreeing to deliver to their warehouses such freight as they may have occasion to send to store, consignees not being ready to accept same. The interest to the railroad company in encouraging these warehouses, by the lease of property, is because of advantages secured in consolidating at such warehouses the delivery of freight of particular character principally flour and canned goods, which otherwise would be scattered through the city deliveries, thereby resulting in greater expense to the railroads in the matter of handling and congestion at their freight stations, the property being largely of a character which moves in large quantities and is not promptly taken away by consignees." i A Southwestern line reports as follows: So far as our line is concerned, the practice on our own account, or by contract with an outside company, of operating storage ' definite rates of charge at destination until called for by consignees is not extensive. warehouses for the holding of merchandise freight at definite : 1052 THE WAEEHOUSING ETDUSTBY. [October, There are many railroads that do furnish furniture and other warehouses for the storage of goods that have ; already been pipped over their lines or is to be shipped over said lines, and we have always considered this is in the nature of a cut in the tantt rate, ^j»J«*= !"£" charges are not provided for in the published tariff and may vary from time to time as between individuals l and as De ™ e ^ s °^„l"j - It seems to us that if anything beyond the customary free storage is to be given shippers by the railroads that it should oe pu uusueu. All shippers should be treated alike, and the matter should be thoroughly understood by everybody. In order to give an idea of what the practice in this respect is in different sections of the country, a few tables have been prepared (pages 1091-1095) showing the rates of storage, wharfage, and handling charges at representative points. It is, of course, understood that the charges vary very much with different localities, but the rates of charge can best be compared by reference to these tables. G.— SPECIAL STORAGE. Special warehouses, in this report, include those concerned with such commodities as grain, cotton, tobacco, coffee, wool, and whiskey. No complete account has been attempted, but such facts as the inquiry brought to hand, together with other data available, were used to indicate some of the more important aspects of this phase of the subject. (i)— GRAIN STORAGE. The importance of storage of annual products in the season of harvesting for continuous supply throughout the year is clearly brought to mind by the fact that fully three-fourths of the world's harvests of wheat occur in the months of June, July, and August. The total harvested in the other nine months amounts to but one-fourth of the total. To put this fact in figures, out of an annual supply of approximately 3,000 million bushels, 2,250 millions have to be cared for within the short space of three months and carried in diminishing stocks through the nine months intervening, before the next harvest occurs. The additional supply to be relied upon during this nine months' period is 750 million bushels. According to Bradstreet's reports the world's weekly wheat shipments average between 7,500,000 bushels and 8,000,000 bushels. The holding of the surplus for the weekly requirement of the world is certainly one of the enterprises fundamental to the welfare of every member of civilized society. More and more do transportation and warehousing in the grain trade tend to merge themselves under one general control. The best established instance of the tendency is seen in the grain trade of the North Central States, in which terminal elevators are now largely under the control of the railroads. Eithei this is the case, or large grain-commission houses operating on certain lines of railroad have acquired control of not only the terminal warehouse at primary markets, but also the greater proportion of line elevators, that is, those country elevators at local stations lying on the line of the railroads. These commission houses have their headquarters in primary markets, such as Chicago, Duluth, Minneapolis, St. Louis, and Kansas City, from which they buy and store grain in enormous quantities. One of these firms advertises an elevator capacity under its control of 20,000,000 bushels. At nearly all railroad stations throughout the west are located elevators and shovel houses ranging from 500 to 20,000 bushels capacity, and at all of them are buyers ready to take the grain and pay the market price therefor as it is delivered by the wagon load. These elevators are sometimes owned by the railroad companies, oftener by grain concerns located at the larger markets, and quite frequently by the individual buyers. They usually stand upon railroad ground which, as also is the case with the elevator when owned by the railroad, is leased to the operator at a nominal price. The shovel houses are also usually located on the railroad right of way under the same conditions. Storage of grain in the spring- wheat section along the lines of railroads as well as at terminals is principally in the hands of the line elevator companies. From the table given below of the Northern Pacific Railway's elevators it will be seen, in this instance, which is quite representative, how largely the grain companies figure in storage control. Summary of Grain Elevators on the Northern Pacific Railway in 1899. BRANCHES AND DIVISIONS. Stations. Line ele- vators. Capacity. Local dealers' elevators. Capacity. Fanners' elevators. Capacity. Minnesota Division ..:..-. Little Falls and Dakota Branch (Minnesota) Northern Pacific, Fergus and Black Hills Branch (Minnesota) Northern Pacific, Fergus and Black Hills Branch (North Dakota) Manitoba Division (Minnesota) Manitoba Division (North Dakota) Dakota Division (North Dakota) Fargo and Southwestern Branch ( North Dakota) Sanborn, Coqperstown and Turtle Mountain Branch (North Dakota).. James River Valley Branch (North Dakota) Jamestown and Northern Branch (North Dakota) In Manitoba Yellowstone Division (North Dakota) Montana and Rocky Mountain Division (Montana) Idaho Division (Washington) Central Washington Branch (Washington) Spokane and Palouse Branch (Washington and Idaho) Washington and Columbia River Rwy. Co. (Washington and Oregon) . Total Percentage of whole number . 831 72 595, 000 193,000 348,000 365,000 774, 000 969, 000 875, 000 '752, 000 423,000 217,000 744,000 1,423,000 135,000 100,000 230, 000 1,949,000 3,509,000 430 67.9 13,601,000 Bushels. 421,000 183,000 103,000 235,000 134,000 175,000 656, 000 155, 000 217, 000 50,000 232, 000 134,000 172, 000 1,922,000 935,000 1,456,000 3,338,000 631, 000 286 88.5 11, 149, 000 27 8.6 Bushels. 20,000 45,000 25,000 4,000 35, 000 15,000 190,000 10, 000 60,000 60,000 400, 000 230, 000 1, 094, 000 The grand total is 743 elevators, having a capacity of 25,871,000 bushels, averaging 34,819 bushels each. The railroad and warehouse commission of the State of Minnesota reports that the total number of elevators and their combined capacity at the terminal points, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Duluth, is 58, with a capacity of 53,500,000 bushels. The total number of grain elevators in the State outside of the terminal points mentioned is 1,581, with a total capacity of 32,080,430 bushels, or a grand total of 1,639 elevators in the State, with a capacity of 85,580,430 bushels. This information is correct to January 1, 1903, without any material change up to the present date. 1903 -J • THE WAREHOUSING INDUSTRY. 1053 In view of the demoralizing effects on the grain trade on the Pacific coast, owing to the failure of a storage company which had issued warehouse receipts in excess of stocks on hand, it is of public interest to point out the methods by which, elsewhere, such practices have practically been rendered impossible. To this end a description of the Minneapolis method of elevator storage control is given at considerable length. MINNEAPOLIS ELEVATOR SYSTEM. Minneapolis at the end of 1902 had storage capacity for grain amounting to 36,995,000 bushels. This does not include mill storage. The capacity mentioned is contained in 45 elevators, 25 being what are known as regular houses and 10 as private. The difference lies in the fact that receipts given by private houses are not considered as regular for delivery on contract sales. The elevator capacity operative under chamber of commerce rules, of what are known as regular warehouses, amounts to 29,320,000 bushels; capacity operated under State supervision amounting to 4,500,000 bushels, making a total regular elevator capacity of 33,820,000 bushels, compared with a capacity of private elevators of 3,175,000 bushels. The Minneapolis elevator system is probably the most complete representative of grain storage in the spring-wheat section of the Northwest. The coarse grain elevators are of small capacity, so that the system here serves the purpose primarily of the wheat trade. One excellent feature of the Minneapolis system is the control which the chamber of commerce exercises over the houses operating under its rules. These houses are carefully guarded against any sort of irregularity as to the grade of grain or quantity of it contained in these elevators. The methods, as described in the twentieth annual report of the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce, are as follows: No grain is allowed to be shipped from them until the registered receipts have been returned to the registrar and duly canceled. It would be almost impossible for any considerable amount of registered grain to be shipped out of these houses without the receipts being _ first canceled and destroyed. The registered receipts are used chiefly as collateral, in the way of obtaining money for the handling of the large stocks of grain that are carried in such houses. It is realized by the chamber of commerce, as an association, as well as by the elevator companies, that careful attention must be given at all times to these houses in order to maintain the high standing of the collateral, that it may serve the purpose for which the system is maintained. There is a very correct system of checks kept by the registrar's office, so that a full knowledge of the situation of the grain in all these houses may be known at a glance upon the records. The weighing is all done by the State weighmaster and the inspection by the State inspector. The reports of the elevators made to the registrar must at all times agree with the reports of the State inspector and State weighmaster, both in taking grain into store and in taking it from store. "When the elevator reports have been checked with the State weighing and inspection reports, they are entered in the grain ledger. The debit and credit columns of the grain ledger always show the balance of grain in the house, each grade and kind being kept separate. The registered receipts outstanding of any grade of grain can never exceed the quantity remaining in the house of that grade. Registered receipts carry the date when car receipts were taken into the house, and the car number, initial, bushels, and grade. Before a receipt is registered, the grain in the house of that grade has to be checked up, as explained, and if the grain is found to be in the house, the receipt is registered. . Receipts must be returned to the registrar and canceled before the grain can be shipped. It is recognized that all these safeguards thrown about registered receipts are necessary, and after all this has been done, it is to be believed that the receipts are rendered as nearly perfect as securities as anything that can be found. The total amount of wheat registered under the chamber of commerce rules for 1902 was 32,812,817 bushels, and the total for 1901 was 32,778,130 bushels. The total amount of corn registered in 1902 was 866,920 bushels; oats, 5,657,877 bushels; barley, 3,893,222 bushels; rye, 765,464 bushels; flax, 3,721,950 bushels, making the total of coarse grain and flax registered 14,905i433 bushels, with the total (including wheat) 46,531,618 bushels. This system of registering grain receipts has been in use here for many years, and it is believed to be in a verv perfect state. Since the method has become thoroughly inaugurated, and during all its existence, there has never been any trouble or dispute concerning a single receipt issued. The failure at San Francisco during the current year and the disclosures exposing the defects of the warehouse receipt system in vogue in that case, along with the litigation to recover for an alleged shortage in weight of 88,000 sacks of barley, impelled the San Francisco Merchants' Exchange to prepare a new set of rules for the better protection of holders of warehouse receipts. The five leading sections of these rules are substantially as follows, as reported by the American Elevator and Grain Trade: Section 1. All warehouse receipts shall be made out strictly in accordance with the State warehouse law. The receipts shall be descriptive and bear on their face a statement of all charges due. Section 2. Requires that the description shall be sufficiently exact to identify the particular grain for which the receipt is issued. Section 3. Requires that all receipts for inspected grain shall be registered when issued with the secretary of the exchange, who shall indicate the fact on its face; and he shall also stamp on its face the fact of its cancellation when cancellation takes place. Sections 4 and 5. Provide that no receipts for inspected grain or receipts of a regular warehouse shall be . registered until the chief inspector shall certify that the grain described by the receipts is actually in the place of storage and is marked as presented in section 2 of the rule. CONTEOL OP PUBLIC AND PRIVATE GRAIN WAREHOUSES AT DULUTH. When a proprietor of a grain elevator at the Head of the Lakes (Duluth) desires to bring his establishment under the class of elevators known as regular, he applies in writing to the Board of Trade which represents the grain trade, describing the location, name, and capacity of his elevator. The requirements which have then to be met by the applicant are to give bond of $100,000, with at least two good sureties on the bond, to insure compliance with regulation prescribed by the Board of Trade, as to registration of warehouse receipts and delivery of grain on demand, etc. In case of failure to comply with such regulation, suit is begun upon said bond. The board of directors are to be the sole judges of the failure to obey rules. Private warehouses are, however, not without adequate control. In the grain trade the security of the holder of the warehouse receipt is obtained by bonding the proprietor of a private warehouse (elevator), by registration of the receipt, as required by State law, and by means of daily reports under oath of the proprietor to the State registrar, giving the quantity of grain received and shipped, and by the authority of the local board of trade (Duluth) to examine into the amount of grain in any elevator (regular) under their control, a THE TERMINAL ELEVATOR SYSTEM AT CHICAGO. The key to the proper comprehension of grain storage lies in the terminal elevator system. These elevators are the receiving and storing places for the grain gathered into primary markets through the local line elevators and others. By far the larger portion of the visible supply of grain is stored in terminal warehouses operated on a stupendous scale. a Report of Duluth Board of Trade, 1901, page 39. 1054 THE WABEHOTTSMGr INDUSTBY. [October, The development of the terminal elevator as a feature of grain distribution is one of the most remarkable chapters in our commerc history. The history of the terminal elevator is the history of the primary market, and reveals in its main outlines the inner memo which commercial centers resort to in their effort to control the course of traffic. A primary grain market like Chicago— the storm center of the competitive conflict for control of the grain movement in the Mississippi Valley— knows very well that its supremacy as a distributing center for manufactured products going to rural consumers depends to no small extent upon its capacity to command t e raw materials which the agricultural districts exchange for these manufactured products. This far-reaching principle explains the consolidation of distributive agencies in handling grain, as described in the following account of the development of the terminal grain elevators at Chicago. The testimony is that of Mr. John Hill, jr., before the Industrial Commission: During the'period from 1871 until 1887 there was very little if any difficulty in the manner in which the grain was handled in these elevators. The public used them entirely. They were recognized as the terminal freight depots for grain received trom tne vanous roads in Chicago, and were so treated. They were handled by disinterested parties engaged solely in the warehouse business, ana uie independent shippers and receivers of grain in Chicago and at outside points owned and controlled the gram that was stored in ""«*= houses. The rate of storage was fixed at the beginning of each year, as provided by law. It was a published rate and the same to an persons. Following the enactment of the interstate-commerce law, the elevators during the next three or four years passed out oi tne hands of the people who had devoted their entire time to the warehouse business and passed into the hands of people who immediately embarked in the grain business in addition to doing a warehouse business. As this state of affairs progressed it gradually drove tne public out of the public warehouses, so that they could not handle the grain in the houses in competition with the people who operated the houses for the railroads, as the storage charge which the public had to pay made it impossible for them to compete with the operator of the public warehouse, who, if he paid any storage at all, paid it to himself. The entire method of handling grain in the elevators changed between the vears 1887 and 1892. * * * ., The proprietors of these public warehouses are the most extensive dealers in grain on the roads of which these houses are tne terminal depots, and own, to a great extent, all the grain that is stored in these houses. The public can not successfully handle grain against them, as the charge for storage which the public has to pay bars them as competitors of the elevator people, who pay storage to themselves. The grain-storage capacity at seaboard and Jake coast points of chief importance is given in the following table: Storage Capacity op Grain Elevators at Seaboard and Lake Shore Points. poets. PACIFIC coast. Portland Seattle Taeoma GULF COAST. Galveston Mobile Pensacola ATLANTIC COAST, Newport News New York Norfolk Storage capacity. Bushels. 8, 200, 000 a 712, 000 6,141,000 4, 000, 000 250, 000 500, 000 2,250,000 29,480,000 100, 000 GREAT LAKES. CDSTOMS-DISTKICTS. Buffalo Cape Vincent Chicago Cleveland Detroit Duluth Erie Milwaukee ■ Marquette Ogdensburg Oswego Port Huron Sandusky Toledo Storage capacity. Bushels. 18,500,000 200,000 6 53,470,000 2,600,000 3,215,000 16, 500, 000 1, 250, 000 c 9, 945, 000 18, 600, 000 d 1,030, 000 600,000 1, 000, 000 350, 000 8, 000, 000 a Tons capacity of wharves, warehouses, and elevators on water front. & Private warehouses, 25,320,000 bushels capacity included. c Milwaukee, 5,255,000; Green Bay, 1,610,000; Kewaunee, 180,000; Manitowoc, 2,800,000; Sturgeon Bay, 100,000. d Storage capacity of 130,000 bushels is private. The new water warehouses erected at Taeoma in 1900-1901, on the city waterway, are according to the reports of the chamber of commerce, among the largest in the world, being 2,300 feet in length and 148 feet in width and one story in height. These additions double the warehousing capacity for grain at this port, making the total capacity approximately 700,000 square feet of floor space. These elevators are reached on the land side by cars loaded with wheat and on the water side by vessels engaged in the foreign trade in wheat and flour. Two large flour mills are located on the water front together with two additional enormous grain elevators. It is seen that here, where the organization of grain handling and the flour trade had no uneconomical customs or methods to overcome, every unnecessary item of expense in handling has been eliminated. (2)— COTTON STORAGE. Cotton storage confines itself largely to southern territory, although it may be said that increasing provision is being made for this special line of storage. Cotton, along with sisal, hemp, and similar fibers, is entering more and more largely into storage in connection with manufacturing. Cotton storage is to a great extent a feature of the compressing business, and compressing has within recent years become more and more closely related to the handling of cotton by rail from the place of origin to the seaboard. Eailroads have central points at which cotton is accumulated for compressing purposes in order to reduce the amount of space occupied in transit. At the seaboard com- presses are in operation for the preparation of cotton for export, and at all such places, whether inland or from the coast, a certain amount of storage is incidentally connected with the business of compressing prior to reshipping. One may get an idea of the quantity of cotton available for storage at any given time by consulting the weekly statements of the cotton trade, showing the quantity held over at interior towns and the stocks on hand at seaports. These figures, of course, do not include stocks at mills or the amount of cotton en route to northern or foreign destinations. They show, however, that there is at all times, from the beginning of the cotton harvest to the beginning of planting the following year, a very considerable bulk of storage arising from the handling of the cotton crop. In order to show this graphically, diagram No. 2 has been prepared, in which the space between the top line and the second line from the top indicates the changing volume of cotton available for storage at interior towns in the course of the commercial year beginning with September 1, 1901, and ending with August 31, 1902. 1903.] THE WAEEHOUSHSTG INDUSTEY. 1055 8a/es. 700,000 600,000 500,000 400,000 300.000 200,000 Weekending Sept 6, 19oi. 100,000 Weekending Bales. "J w Sept 6,1901 25,000 /O, OOO 000 600,000 500,000 000 OOO OOO OOO 'Aud.29 T /S02. OOO DIAGRAM NO. 2.— WEEKLY VOLUME OF STOCKS OF COTTON AT INTERIOR TOWNS. The preceding diagram is intended to show the volume of stocks of cotton at interior points which are potentially available for storage week by week in the course of the commercial year beginning with September 1, 1901, and ending with August 31, 1902. It shows the course of the receipts movement and of the shipments movement. Eeceipts slightly exceed shipments for the first seven weeks of the year, when shipments take the lead and slightly exceed receipts, thereby gradually accumulating the stocks at interior towns. The space between shipments and stocks indicates the volume of stocks subject to storage in the course of the commercial year. Cotton warehousing has undergone a great deal of change in certain portions of the South, owing to the increase in grain and tobacco growing and the necessity of caring for the surplus portion of the crop. Take the case of a warehouse reporting from Nashville, Tenn. In this instance the cotton warehousing company was organized in 1875, and for the first few years of its existence handled cotton principally and grain incidentally. The business at that time was very prosperous, and Nashville, as a market, handled from 75,000 to 100,000 bales per annum. During the ten years following 1880 the compressing of cotton declined at this point to such an extent that by the beginning of 1900 it no longer paid to maintain a compress at this point. In 1881 the grain business began to develop to such an extent that it was thought a good investment to build for this purpose, and an elevator was erected with a capacity of 250,000 bushels. Grain is increasing in importance as a storable commodity, and in the last five or six years has grown to large proportions, while cotton and tobacco have ceased to figure as a prominent factor in the storage trade of that city. Plans for improvements in handling cotton have from time to time received the consideration of various branches of the trade, especially from the standpoint of the consumer, but not infrequently involving the interests of the producer in a system of warehousing which would enable him to hold a crop for more advantageous selling. Any such efforts must not only be based on sound financial management, but must likewise involve the most economical handling of this commodity through the agency of warehouses. The recent effort on the part of British mercantile and spinning companies to establish a dock and warehouse on the Manchester Ship Canal for the accommodation of American cotton has had its origin among consumers, but received much encouragement from American capitalists, who have seen opportunity for successful investment in the line of improving upon the existing system. The scheme proposed is based on this possibility. On this subject their report points to the well-known fact that "the business of handling* raw staple products in the United States has been brought to a considerable degree of efficiency in almost every staple product except cotton, and in this the physical handling of the product, as well as the financial methods of doing it, are crude." » The allied companies have united to change these conditions. To accomplish this a warehousing company has been organized which has warehouses at different points in the country which it either owns or leases. These warehouses are subject to the direct control of the representatives on the ground, and they are supervised by district managers who are again supervised by their superior officer at the central office, so that it makes a perfect system of checking as to the merchandise being in the warehouse. In addition to this, the guaranteeing company, which is a separate organization with a separate staff, checks it at different intervals, because it guarantees the quantity, quality, character, and delivery of the product. a New Orleans Picayune, November 22, 1902. 1056 THE WAREHOUSING BsTDUSTBY. [OCTOBER, This warehousing company proposes to receive cotton or other products from anybody, whether it is the planter, the factor, or the merchant, and issue against it the negotiable receipt; this receipt, coupled with the man's note, if he wishes advances, is then forwarded to the guaranteeing company, where the note is discounted and the proceeds sent to the borrower, the note being of the form that the necessary margin is always kept there, and if not, the holder of the note has the right to sell. After these notes are discounted by the guaranteeing company they resell them, if they desire, to different banks and bankers in the United States who desire that form of investment for their surplus funds. The final step in this plan is to establish foreign connections by means of warehousing facilities, thereby completing the chain of agencies requisite to warehouse, finance, and transport raw cotton from the interior of the United States to Europe, quantity, quality, care, and delivery being guaranteed. (3)— TOBACCO STORAGE. In the tobacco trade the warehousing end of the business is but incidental, the warehouse holding tobacco for those who do not car eto keep it in the country and at the same time wish to offer it later for sale. The few leading leaf tobacco companies at Cincinnati estimate that for this purpose there is storage capacity of 22,000 hogsheads at that market. The centers of the Burley tobacco ware- house business are at Louisville and Cincinnati. There are but three of these tobacco companies at the two points named. All of the companies sell tobacco on commission by sample drawn from the hogshead and hold public auction sales, where each hogshead of tobacco is sold to the highest bidder. An idea of the volume of this business and of the geographical location of the chief primary markets and distributing points may be obtained from the following table: Eeceipts and Stocks op Leaf Tobacco of the United States Markets. [Compiled by Western Tobacco Journal.] CITIES. EECEIPTS FROM JANUARY 1 TO DECEMBEI 31— STOCK JANUARY 1— 1902 1901 1800 1S99 1898 1903 1902 1901 1900 1899 WESTERN MARKETS. Hogsheads. 51, 638 124,213 21,791 11, 975 8,697 10,594 Hogsheads. 60, 318 123,279 22,322 12,465 7,273 9,780 Hogsheads. 56, 070 106, 827 20,501 14, 165 9,987 12,518 1,933 Hogsheads. 68,665 115,866 30,370 15,930 11,025 11, 892 2,054 Hogsheads. 50,205 69, 749 17,802 10, 335 7,234 5,282 1,877 Hogsheads. 10,084 12,266 1,533 381 1,211 1,624 Hogsheads. 12,287 15,627 531 808 221 222 Hogsheads. 9,391 13,031 2,662 3,124 824 1,597 Hogsheads. 10, 353 9,907 2,015 1,575 818 707 161 Hogsheads. 9,587 3,805 3,410 1,549 304 379 Total 228,908 235,437 222,001 255, 802 162,484 27, 099 29, 696 30,629 25,536 26,421 SEABOARD MARKETS. NewYork.N.Y 25,742 39,480 20,096 17,341 35,881 21, 522 30, 299 38,023 27, 663 25,593 38,708 28,328 19, 774 42,] 80 25, 577 2,641 4,989 9,326 1,992 5,521 9,839 7,150 5,425 12,020 6,503 9,245 12,300 6,451 11,490 13,417 85, 318 314,226 74,744 310, 181 95,985 317, 986 92,629 348,431 87, 531 250,015 16,956 44,055 17,352 47,048 24,595 55, 224 27,048 52,584 31,358 57, 779 Total United States An inquiry addressed to a, number of leaf tobacco centers in the South Atlantic States resulted in five markets reporting, the results of which are given in the table below, showing the number of warehouses used for selling leaf tobacco, quantity sold, the values involved, the number of storage warehouses, both public and private, kinds of structure, number of stories, rates of insurance, and rates of storage. It will be noticed by reference to the item under rates of insurance that identically the same rate prevails on building as on contents. Various other items of interest will be easily noted from the study of the table given herewith. Tobacco Warehouses, Sales and Storage, at Cincinnati and in Five South Atlantic Markets. ITEMS. Sales warehouses number. Floor space square feet. Leaf tobacco sold, 1902 pounds. Value . Storage warehouses number. Public do... Private do... Kind of structure: Brick do... Frame do... One story do... Two story do... Three story do... Combined storage capacity hogsheads. Eates of insurance: Building per $100. Contents do... Bates of storage: Per hogshead A.d valorem percent. Cincinnati, Ohio. (a) 60,000,000 85,000,000 12 61 11 20,000 SO. 90 $1.25 Richmond, Va. 4 "65,000 60,000,000 $5,000,000 22 14 22 4 2 16 60,000 $0.85 to $1.80 $0.85 to $1.80 $1.80 to $2. 80 Lynchburg, Va. 22,472,800 $1,400,000 2 1 1 1 1 3,000 $1.30, $1.65, $2. 10 $1.30, $1.55, $2. 10 $1.50 a Space to handle 1,000 hogsheads daily. 6 Five stories and more. Danville, Va. 11 253,000 46,710,547 $4,095,316 16 1 15 16 2 2 12 35,400 $0.50 to $1.60 $0.50 to $1.60 Oxford, N. C. 5 15, 000 7,500,000 $800,000 2 1 25,000 Wilson, N. C. 6 14,500 296,077 440,318 2 1 1 6,000 $0.75 $0.75 o For sale of loose tobacco at winter auction. 1903.] THE WAEEHOUSING INDUSTEY. 1057 STATE TOBACCO WAREHOUSES OF MARYLAND. The State tobacco warehouses located at Baltimore are something in the way of an anomaly in this industry. These establishments not only belong, but are operated by, the State of Maryland, and have been in existence for about sixty years. No other tobacco market is under State supervision to anything like the same extent. Up to the year 1888 the grower of tobacco in Maryland was required by law to send his tobacco to Baltimore, where the State tobacco warehouse is located, for inspection, but in that year the old law was so amended that both State and private inspection was allowed. The inspection of tobacco by State officials goes back many years. Originally the inspections were made at warehouses which were built on the banks of the rivers of southern Maryland, to which points boats came to load the tobacco, chiefly for foreign market. About sixty-five years ago the State built warehouses in the city of Baltimore, and the Maryland crop has been accumulated at this market ever since. The charges for inspection, storage, etc., as well as the salaries of the employees and their time of service, are all regulated by laws passed by the State legislature. The system is claimed to be one of the most liberal in the commercial world. It gives the grower free storage until his crop is sold and to the buyer six months' storage without charge. Tobacco warehousing is chiefly a private business in the South Atlantic States, much as it is in the Burley tobacco States in the Ohio Valley. Nevertheless the rate at which the leaf comes into the market requires considerable storing to be done before the material is worked up in the factories. The monthly sales at Danville, Va., as given in the following table, indicate the rate at which the market absorbs this commodity. The statistics show the sales made in the nine public warehouses for the year ending August 31, 1903, as reported by the Danville Tobacco Association: Monthly Sales op Leaf Tobacco at Danville, Va. MONTHS. 1902 September October November December 1908 January February March April May June July August Total, 1902-03 Total, 1901-02 Increase Sales. Pounds. 3,258,957 7,407,620 7,939,388 3, 419, 958 3, 534, 612 5, 003, 490 6,282,663 3, 678, 113 1,720,735 2, 344, 009 994, 801 1,136,201 46, 720, 547 33, 685, 062 13,035,485 Average value. Cents. 8.73 10.19 9.61 8.45 9.40 8.07 7.89 7.95 8.84 7.68 7.83 5.28 8.55 10.25 Price. Dollars. 284, 531. 70 754,733.42 762, 767. 12 299, 209. 10 332, 408. 30 404, 106. 81 495, 659. 66 292, 469. 68 152, 014. 61 179, 472. 20 78, 044. 84 60, 008. 59 4, 095, 326. 03 3,454,150.34 ( 4 )— WOOL STORAGE. Marketing wools at the producing end of the trade does not require much provision for storage, especially in the Territories. In Miles City, Mont., where the w'oolgrowers and merchants had built a large frame warehouse for storing wool, a fire occurred, in which the establishment was destroyed. In its place a large brick warehouse was erected the following spring and operated for two years, aiter which it was sold to the Northern Pacific Bailroad Company. Prior to this sale free storage was given during the wool season, and when the woolgrower had sold and the purchaser wished to ship his wool it was compressed for him, and the baled wool was loaded into cars ready for billing over the only road running into the city. Charges for baling and loading were 10 cents per hundred pounds, paid by the owner or the woolgrower insuring his own wool. Under the management of the railroad company the baling charges have been reduced to 5 cents per hundred pounds and the limit of free storage is reduced to ninety days. Here the storage is of course made the means of accumulating the stocks for freighting over the railroad, which affords such facilities for reaching market. -\s a rule, however, very little wool is stored in Montana. The buyers are eager to take it as soon after shearing as is practicable. At Great Falls and Billings wool is brought in from the shearing places, and buyers from the East bid on it. It is baled and made ready for shipment in order to save freight. In North Dakota the State decrees two or three points where sale days are announced. To these places the sheep men bring their wool, and buyers come and bid for it. In Wyoming the largest wool-selling point is Casper, and the buyers gather here about the time the wool is sheared and purchase as fast as it can be had. It is thus apparent that only a short time can elapse between the bringing of the wool upon the market and its shipment to outside points. Shipments are usually made to consignees or dealers who sell to manufacturers. Scouring mills have been started at several points in the West, but as a rule have not been a great success, the railroad companies preferring to handle unscoured wool, owing, presumably, to the shirkage in weight of scoured wool from 50 to 75 per cent. In the United States comparatively little wool is graded and classified before marketing; the sheep owner, having several grades of W09I in his flock, dumps it all into bags and markets it in that condition. Wherever it is shipped it has to be opened and the different grades taken out and put by themselves in large piles; that is, assorted into grades representing perhaps twenty to thirty different clips. In this way each kind of wool loses its identity, and subsequent sorting adds to the expense in the preparation of it for the manufacturer. In Australia a very different process is followed. Most of the wool is graded and put into proper shape so that the buyer can see at a glance what it is worth. The fleeces are skirted by taking off lower grades and the rough ends of the wool, leaving it free, so that its main quality can be recognized without further assorting or grading. The difference in the two methods accounts for a great difference in the collateral value of the two kinds of wool when it comes to lending for wools in store. No. 4 5 1058 THE WAEEHOUSLNG INDUSTKY. [OCTOBER, The general practice in wool storage, from the producers' standpoint especially, is set forth in the following communication from the American Sheep Breeding Company, under date of May 1, 1903: As to storing the wool, in some of the States" at the large shipping points there are warehouses where wool is stored, and the sheep men get the banks to make advances on it; but there is not so very much of this done, for when the sheep man wants to await a nigger market he generally ships to a commission merchant and orders the wool held until he thinks he can secure the money. _ine commission man generally advances up to about 60 or 70 per cent of the value of the wool, charging him the current rate^ ot interest on the advance. Some commission men will advance up to 90 per cent, which virtually means that the wool has been sold, bometimes tney make such large advances on the wool, in order to secure it, that when the wool is actually sold they do not get as much as the advance. If the sheep man is responsible, they try to get what is known as a "drawback " and have him make up the difference, but some ot them do not ask for it, preferring to pocket their loss. Sometimes when the sheep men want to"hold their wool over they keep it right on their ranches, simply putting it in bags and housing it if they have buildings for it. Some of them leave it out in the open, putting tarpaulins over it to shed the rain. Of course, wool ought to be housed and kept moderately dry when in storage. There is danger, however, ot the wool getting too dry and moths working into it, especially in warehouse where there are a good many clips of wool. On the other hand, it should not be too damp. In the average wool warehouse in the cities there is a certain temperature kept up. A little moisture is necessary to keep the wool in good shape. It is not a very safe proposition to keep wool more than two years in an ordinary warehouse in the city, for the moths begin to work about that time. The statistical position of this commodity in the markets of the United States at the beginning of each year since 1898 is given here- with, from figures prepared by the American Wool Manufacturers' Association of Boston, the chief center of wool storage. Stocks of Wool on Hand in the United States January 1. KINDS. 1888 1899 1900 . 1901 1902 Pounds. 127,206,000 49,581,000 24,862,514 Pounds. 225, 037, 363 66,131,327 57, 924, 367 Pounds. 123,348,500 25, 265, 000 44, 958, 660 Pounds. 204, 345, 500 29,483,500 54,163,204 Pounds. 139, 519, 718 13,619,600 31,064,222 Total 201,649,514 349,093,057 193, 572, 160 287, 992, 204 184,203,540 537,309,125 37.51 667, 109, 028 52.33 578, 084, 304 33.48 650, 054, 842 44.30 610, 402, 949 30.17 Per cent of supplies on hand Stocks of wool in the world's chief points of supply outside of Europe are reported for twelve years, 1896-1902. Stocks of Extea-Eubopean Wools on December 31, for Eleven Years, in Thousands of Bales. [From annual report of Helmuth, Schwartz & Co., London.] STOCKS. 1902 1901 1900 1899 1898 1897 59 11 11 36 124 14 26 83 256 37 19 105 75 19 21 70 85 12 8 120 92 11 10 100 117 247 417 185 225 213 STOCKS. 1896 1895- 1894 1893 1892 1891 88 18 20 92 65 20 29 78 103 33 27 96 67 19 33 86 60 16 16 64 84 21 11 75 Total 218 192 269 205 156 191 Extra-European wools include chiefly what is known as the colonial supply, coming primarily from Australasia, the Cape of Good Hope, the River Plata region, and various other sources. For all of these varieties London is the chief distributing center, though nearly all of the leading northern European ports handle this commodity in large quantities. On this account the stocks of wsol imports at the end of each year may be taken to represent the major portion of the quantity in storage in Europe, as stated in the accompanying table. (5)— WHISKY STORAGE. A table of distillery warehouses, by States, is given below. Many of these are of course small concerns and do not carry any stock in great quantity of their product, to be regarded as representing two classes of warehouses, namely, those connected with loca- distilleries of large capacity and those connected with large central plants. The latter ones are the ones of primary interest to the trade. No way has been found of separating these two classes, so as to show the quantity of product stored on this basis. A study of the table will show that the largest number of distillery warehouses is to be found in North Carolina. • This is the State of small establishments scattered through the length and breadth of the State. Kentucky ranks next in the number of distilleries followed by Pennsylvania. Illinois, in which there is a very large output, represents a large-scale warehousing, having only 23 establishments in which the total product is cared for. These comparisons are made on the basis of the figures of 1901 : 1903.] THE WAREHOUSING mDTJSTRT. Number oi? Distillery Warehouses, by States, in Operation during each Fiscal Year. 1059 STATES. 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1891 1895 1896 1898 1899 1900 1901 2 43 3 1 100 3 45 2 2 116 6 62 3 3 121 1 34 9 64 4 3 94 1 27 12 71 3 3 113 34 21 79 3 3 114 5 30 27 68 3 3 103 1 36 1 19 43 63 3 3 101 2 32 2 19 34 44 3 2 85 2 29 4 22 34 41 4 2 70 2 28 6 30 27 43 4 2 72 1 27 11 29 1 23 34 3 1 85 46 California 4 Connecticut * ; 2 Georgia 60 1 Illinois SI 28 32 23 12 16 23 31 32 30 24 21 25 Florida 1 2 674 1 889 1 1,051 1 966 i 1,046 1 898 809 1 33 9 95 4 4 1 728 1 35 9 98 5 3 644 1 36 11' 97 5 3 639 1 31 11 122 2 2 611 1 89 13 104 1 3 2 2 1 1 8 661 6 47 152 37 108 15 109 5 6 583 1 39 13 102 1 2 2 1 516 1 27 10 37 27 9 40 2 4 26 9 64 2 4 30 10 61 2 4 32 12 69 3 3 35 10 80 3 4 . 43 13 98 1 4 2 2 New Hampshire 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 5 730 6 3.7 152 57 145 20 154 _ 5 6 2 1 2 6 666 7 40 147 60- 124 17 151 5 6 2 1 2 9 612 5 45 165 34 122 17 119 5 6 2 1 3 497 2 98 148 24 83 5 83 4 5 3 559 3 136 140 21 92 9 99 5 7 2 600 3 131 146 ' 21 109 11 108 5 6 2 484 3 112 147 30 129 11 129 6 5 3 641 6 121 149 35 142 10 118 2 5 4 713 4 46 38 44 139 15 129 3 5 5 737 5 36 151 43 148 22 134 3 6 7 708 7 45 153 41 92 15 113 6 7 7 633 6 Ohio 155 South Carolina 37 81 14 120 6 7 Total 1,878 2,248 2,522 2,386 2,632 2,433 2,523 2,462 2,299 2,176 2,149 2,155 1,941 H.— FIELD STORAGE (GRAIN, COTTON). Field storage of grain and cotton consists essentially in some storage house assuming responsibility for the care and condition of these commodities before they are rem oved from the places of production to market, on the farm, ranch, or plantation. This is done (1) by the warehouseman leasing some building on the premises in which the product is to be stored; (2) by appointing some resident on or occupant of the premises as the warehousemen's agent or authorized custodian of the property and contents. For these storage services a contract rate is paid. Insurance being secured, the property becomes all the more acceptable as collateral for advances of loans. This species of warehousing has received some development in the South and Southwest, as well as elsewhere, and would seem to have excellent possibilities, under proper safeguards, for realizing advances on crops. Provided climatic conditions are not adverse, and if the actual custody is a responsible one, the warehouse certificate issued by a responible firm should on general principles make as good a collateral as a warehouse receipt for grain or cotton in store in a regular warehouse. I.— YARD STORAGE (PIG IRON). In this species of storage it is essential that the ground on which the stored goods are deposited, or to be deposited, be leased to the storage company. Such leased area is usually fenced in or surrounded by some tangible inclosure. The property which is thus inclosed is made the basis of warrants or warehouse receipts. In fact this particular form of storage is the result of the necessity of enabling owners of bulky articles of manufacture, such as pig iron or lumber, to borrow on the value of such property. The company soliciting yard storage by the issuance of its warrants or storage receipts forms the bridge between the owner of the goods and the lender of money. Yard storage differs from field storage primarily in the fact that the former applies as a rule to agricultural products and the latter to the cruder kinds of manufactured products. Both of these forms of storage have their economic justification in an attempt to extend to surplus products, not easily removable from their places of production, the character of collateral for loans. It is claimed by those who have given much study to this subject that the extension of this principle to surplus products generally would go far to remove industrial depressions from the economic life of nations by increasing the reserve stocks of commodities which for want of such reserves cause high prices, thus checking prosperity and causing the suspension of demand which brings on industrial depression, a The following statement of the subject is taken from the editorial columns of The Iron World, Chicago, of recent date: The statement is made that the storage of pig iron in warrant yards will begin again in this country in the near future. The general expediency of possessing a large stock of pig iron to help fill demand, when the latter exceeds the supply, has been a mooted question for years. The practice has never attained the proportions in this country that it has in Great Britain, though there has been extensive agitation of the subject from time to time. All pig-iron producers are not favorable to the proposition, nor are all consumers of the metal. The latter argue that when the market becomes heavy and dullthe practice of storing iron would enable makers to maintain prices and thereby take from the consumers the advantage of the low prices that would prevail were all the metal produced forced directly upon the market. And, on the other hand, there are some furnace men who say that access to large stocks of iron by the consumers in times of unusual demand would prevent the profitable range of quotations, which are the essential complement of the ruinously low levels which exist when the market is dull; and they further assert that, while accumulations serve to keep down prices, they would not aid materially in maintaining them in time of depression. Looking at the question theoretically, without having in mind the interest of any special, class, it can readily be seen that the accumulations would serve as a balance wheel .to modify the extremes of depression and scarcity. The carrying of iron stocks would not be a wholly unrelieved burden for they would be available for collateral loans, possessing an indestructible value up to a certain figure in the estimation of financial interests. o Wisdom of Adequate Storage of Surplus Production, by G. H. Hull, Proceedings American Warehousemen's Association, 1902, pages 194-207. 1060 THE WAREHOUSING INDUSTRY. [October, The action of pig iron during the past year has demonstrated that prices are as yet beyond control. There have been wide fluctuations quite unlike the steadier figures quoted for steel rails, bars, plates and other forms of finished metal material, and tnere is little prospect for a change in this regard, for a combination of the producing interests looks far away at the present time. The production of pig iron has now fully overtaken consumption and promises for a time to maintain the lead notwithstanding tne fact that the recent decline in prices has put some of the more poorly equipped furnaces out of business because their costs are in excess of the present selling prices. There has been a large increase in the producing capacities of the country during the past year or two, including the furnaces yet in course of construction, and these modern producers have been constructed with a view to the greatest efficiency and economy of production. It is therefore likely that for some time to come the production of iron will keep well to the front as compared with consumption, unless the latter takes another spurt. ,. . The logical accessory to a more stable and even-keeled market is therefore facilities for the storing of metal not needed for immediate use, but to what extent the makers will put away their product remains to be seen. The following diagram, No. 3, will serve to show on how narrow a basis of actual stocks of cotton at New York the market for "future" contracts rests, and the relative importance of this factor to seaboard and Liverpool stocks as well as the ocean movement of cotton to Great Britain. Bales. 1,120,000 1,020,000 920,000 320,000 720,000 620,000 520,000 420,000 320,000 220,000 120,000 20,000 Bales. 1,120,000 1,020,000 920,000 820,000 720,000 620,000 520,000 420,000 320,000 C 220,000 A B 120,000 ° 20,000 C A B ■0 i / \ / v v • -- • I \ \ 1 1 1 r~ 1 \ > -« 57 0* 'it -i n ?e D Hi '3 i ■a. oc 77 re f Ct >fi u 7. h 1 1 \ > \ . A B — - In 5; o oc II vfe At it 7/ n Ve w 17 f-Offs Ycrl: — t 1 1 1 1 \ C 4r At "t'c ■■5 ■at It f & St •e / / \ i f m~ \ t i i ' i ' \ s s. / \ 1 S?. (■■ ■■■ ... ••. \ -- \ / \ 1 X ■' / \ .. , t t . \ -- \ s. 3T J .*' ** «. '■ *"■•' - ~ - •■. - •»■» \ s — » v. s.' t # _ ^ - ' *' — s 'v V - - >•' - «-■ **» •'.. ... .. - :. ... DIAGRAM NO. 3.— WEEKLY STOCKS OF COTTON AT PRINCIPAL MARKETS, ETC. As a result of car shortage in the coke regions of western Pennsylvania, which usually becomes intensified with the approach of autumn, the large iron and steel manufacturing companies store immense quantities of coke during the summer in order to avoid the suspension of productive activity from scarcity of coke. The experience of consumers during the anthracite coal strike emphasizes anew the necessity of storing fuel as a means of meeting such exigencies, no matter how infrequently they might arise. Numerous railroad companies, steamship companies, and fuel-handling firms have, as a result of this experience, inaugurated a policy of increasing the storage capacity to a much larger extent than had hitherto been the custom in that trade. More and more it becomes true that the even course of general prosperity requires the basic materials of industry to be accumulated far enough in advance to forestall any return to scarcity prices for such materials. Such a provision has likewise the effect of preventing speculative corners for the purpose of forcing up prices in the interval between the time of obtaining the control of the visible supply of one season's output and the beginning of the arrival of the next season's output. The existence in store of one-twentieth of the American cotton crop at the time of the formation of the cotton corner in the summer of 1903 might at least have mitigated the distressing effects of such an attempt at the arrest of industry, if not prevented it entirely. J— PRIVATE WAREHOUSING (RAW MATERIALS, FINISHED PRODUCTS). Progress of industry on a large scale has led to manufacturing concerns, including those in the tobacco industry, the woolen industry the whisky industry, the sugar industry, and others to provide their own storage, especially for raw materials. ' 1903.] THE WAREHOUSING INDUSTRY. 1061 PROGRESS AND PRESENT STATE OF WAREHOUSING. A grouping of results in answer to the inquiry as to the date when the buildings reporting were built shows some interesting facts as to the periods of time when the increase was most marked. Too much emphasis must not, however, be laid on.these figures, "because in reporting people are apt to use decennial years and thus make a larger showing for those years than for the intervening ones. Nevertheless, because the decennial years were years of unusual prosperity, the figures are generally to be regarded as being approximately correct statements of the course of building operations in warehousing for a series of years. Following are the results tabulated by years. Years of Building for 389 Warehouses. YEARS. Number built. YEARS. Number built. 1840 1 3 1 1 1 4 2 2 1 1 2 9 2 1 3 1 5 2 1 3 13 3 5 1883 4 5 5 12 5 13 17 29 9 20 16 17 14 17 12 23 12 25 21 31 15 1850 1884 1852 1885 1853 1886 1856 1860 1887 1888. . . 1864 1889 1865 1890 1866 1891... ■ 1868.... 1892 1869 1893 1870 1894 1871 1895 1872 1896... 1873 1897. 1874 1898... 1875 1899 1876 1900... 1877 1901... 1878 1902 1880 1903. . . Total 1882 389 Comparison shows that 31 was the largest number built in any one year, that is, in 1902. In 1890 nearly as many (29) were built, that being the highest number up to that time. After that date the beginning and the course of business depression are possibly reflected in the smaller number of buildings. A revival does not seem to have come until after 1898. The small number reported as built in 1903, being less than half of the number for 1902, would suggest that building operations in this direction had begun to decline. HISTORY OF CONDITIONS IN NEW YORK. Comparatively little historical information was derived from this inquiry. The oldest warehouse reporting was erected in 1834 at the port of New York. This was the first regular warehouse of any considerable size in New York City, according to the reporting authority. It was also one of the first, if not the first, of general stores,' and figured therefore very largely in the import trade of the country. This structure was 66 by 200 feet in ground area and four stories high, making what would be called even at this day a large establishment. It was located at the water's front on East Biver, where the Williamsburg Bridge now strikes the Manhattan shore, between Delancey and Eivington streets. Referring to the size of storage establishments built prior to 1850, there were at New York, on Corlear's Hook, two large estab- lishments, known as the Lawrence stores, one of 250 by 100 feet, five stories high, and another of the same ground area three stories high. Of course in those days general storage was the feature of the business and specialties were scarcely taken account of. At the present time there is a large consent to the fact that general storage is diminishing and the specialization of storage is going on at such a rate as to make it necessary to build warehouses with specific kind of storage in view, in order to compete successfully for a particular branch of trade. In connection with this instance, it is reported that at one time between 1847 and 1850 fully 400,000 bushels of grain were in storage in one warehouse at New York City, a large proportion of which was brought by vessel from Russia to meet the domestic demand in the winter season. This peculiarity may be explained by the fact that until about 1866 it was not customary for railroads to haul grain eastward during the winter. Most of the grain had up to that time been brought to the seaboard during the summer and stored, to meet the demands of the closed season of navigation. What might be called a comparative famine occurring in the winter time, cars were fitted up for the transportation of grain from the interior over the Erie line, and it was then discovered by this experiment that an all-year-round supply of grain might be counted on by rail. The history of the development of the storage business is possibly most simplytold in the accounts of representative firms in localities where most progress has been made. This, of course, applies to large cities, such as New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, New Orleans, and San Francisco. In the case of New York, a representative example of an institution of this species, among many others equally typical, is found in the Lincoln Safe Deposit Company. The warehousing department of this company was suggested by a fire which destroyed the warehouses of John H. Morrell in October, 1881, which up to that time had enjoyed the best class of patronage- in New York. The Lincoln Safe Deposit Company was organized in 1882 and opened for business April 30, 1883. The Manhattan Storage Warehouse Company also opened the following month, the buildings of both companies being absolutely fireproof, the first fireproof warehouses for the storage of household goods in the western world. There is no wood work whatever in the structure of the former of these warehouses. The floors are asphalt over brick arches, and the steel beams and iron columns are protected by masonry. All elevator openings are protected by steel shutters, as are also all window and door openings. The warehouses are divided into a number of small brick cells, with iron doors, of a capacity of from 100 to 4,000 cubic feet. 1062 THE WAEEHOUSIKG INDFSTET. [October, ACCOUNT OF A EEPHE8ENTATTVE ESTABLISHMENT. The original building covered an area of 100 by 100, and has been added to every few years since, until it now occupies an area of 150 by 200 feet, and there are now being added two stories on top of the eight-story building. The ground floor on the Forty-second street front is occupied by two stores, a bank, and safe deposit vaults. The company's safe deposit department is the second largest safe deposit in point of earnings in the State of New York. It does the largest silver storage business in the world, has the largest cold-storage plant in the world for the storage of furs and fabrics, and the warehouses for household goods are the second largest in New York City, and will be the largest when the additions are completed. The company has always striven to give the best possible service regardless of cost, and to-day probably receives a higher return for its services than does any other warehouse in the United States. The property is perhaps the most expensive warehouse property in the world, a portion of the land on which it was erected having cost $100,000 per lot, 25 by 100, some years ago, and the property being in the heart of the city, opposite the Grand Central Depot, is worth much more to-day. The company stores the finest grade of household goods, boxed or unboxed, and at times has had single collections of paintings, bric-a-brac, books, etc., worth over $100,000 each. A collection of works of art was once stored worth $1,000,000 (Mary Morgan collection) while being prepared for sale, and the saving in fire insurance alone much more than paid the cost of storage, which was $100 per month, space only being rented, and no guarantee against loss or damage being given. The cold-storage business has developed rapidly in the past six years and the plant has been quadrupled in size in that period. Single garments are stored or draperies hung up as they would be in a house or are received in trunks and cases. The cold-storage plant is one of a very few that is absolutely fireproof, the doors even being covered with iron. The insulation is of plaster block and mineral wool and sheet cork incased in cement. BEGINNINGS OF HOUSEHOLD GOODS STORAGE. The warehousing of household goods in New York was established first as a separate industry during the civil war. Previous to that time the business had been in the hands of upholsterers and furniture movers who had vacant loft room, and they conducted a storage business in a slipshod way as a side issue. Some time in the early sixties a furniture mover established a small warehouse for furniture at the corner of Thirty-second street and Broadway. About the same time another furniture mover at Twenty-third street and Sixth avenue, where the Masonic Temple is now located, and who had a merchandise warehouse at Eighth avenue and Thirty- third street, entered extensively into the storage of household goods. From these two enterprises the business developed in a small way until John H. Morrell entered the field about 1870. He had purchased property at the corner of Thirty-second street and Fourth avenue, the ground floor of which was occupied by stores which it was impossible to rent, and he entered into the business with the idea of obtaining revenue from these stores. These were soon filled and it became necessary for him to purchase adjoining property and erect large warehouses. At the time of the fire he is said to have been enjoying an income of $40,000 per year. His warehouses were destroyed by fire in October, 1881, and at a time when they were full of goods, and his affairs were in such shape that he never recovered from the loss. His health was ruined by the w T orry, and to-day he is in an old men's home at Albany, N. Y. He started up in a small way after the fire, but his fixed charges were so great that he was compelled to go out of business, and his then small business was absorbed by the Lincoln Safe Deposit Company. Up to the time of the establishment of the Lincoln Safe Deposit Company, and even since, most of those engaged in the household- goods storage business drifted into it through having vacant property on their hands to rent. Many of these, of course, have built adjoining buildings especially for the purpose of storage. There are probably not over ten concerns for household goods in New York and Brooklyn that erected their first buildings for the storage of household goods. One had a cheap hotel on his hands. Up to that time wooden slats were used for partitions to the storerooms. He advertised "tight, plastered rooms" and secured business in that way. Such warehouses for this class of storage as have been recently erected have been more or less of a fireproof character, and it is generally recognized that the warehouse of the future for this class of goods must be of fireproof construction. To Mr. Morrell is due the credit of placing the business on a real business footing. He had been a bank director and took the position that he should be able to render an accounting at all times for goods in store as a bank should be for money. He instituted the system of issuing itemized receipts for goods stored, and insisted on itemized receipts being given when goods were delivered, and would make deliveries only upon written orders. He systematized the work in various ways, and those that have come after have improved and developed the system, so that to-day goods can be taken from a house, ornaments and other objects packed, carpets taken up, curtains taken down, cleaned, packed, stored and returned, relaid, and rehung, as the conditions may demand, with certainty that everything will be replaced as desired. PKOGKESS IN THE EAST, SOUTH, AND WEST. At San Francisco, the development of warehousing has had a history of about fifty years. Originally, when land was cheap it has been pointed out that structures were nearly all of one story in height, but increased cost of land and the necessity of being near the water front, or the center of population, or the vicinity of railway terminals, has required the plan of construction to change to the many- storied building with elevating facilities. At New Orleans storing has, with the exception of special lines, such as sugar and cotton not been differentiated much beyond the general storing stage. At the large centers of the interior the two principal species of storage are grain and provisions, including meats, butter, eggs, fruits and various kinds of food products. The capacity of these establishments has grown with the growth of the volume of the packing business and the increase in the marketable grain. With the progress of cold storage the length of the packing season, especially pork packing, has been extended from five months to twelve months of the year since about 1870. Grain elevators have been established not only at the great centers but extended elesewhere along all the railway lines reaching to the grain-raising districts of the West and Southwest as well as on the Pacific coast, though on the latter coast the storage system of handling grain is quite different from that in the central portion of the country. 1903 -3 THE WAEEHOUSmG IKDUSTBY. 1063 In the East a marked change has taken place in the amount of cold-storage capacity. Within the last five years the rapid enlargement of storage space has astonished many to whom this development is unfamiliar. The business conditions which have demanded this increase appear to be the necessity of accumulating produce in the centers of large consumption instead of depending upon the resources in the West, which were formerly held for shipment at the rate at which Eastern consumption required a supply day by day. The risk of such a method became apparent as soon as traffic was interrupted by storms, strikes, or other like causes. As a consequence also of the growth of population in the Eastern cities, a more or less constantly increasing surplus has come to be a feature of the local market. The necessity of accumulating large stocks for making up cargoes to be shipped abroad has also contributed to the enlargement of storage space in recent years. While it is true that in many cases train loads of perishables are handled almost directly from car to vessel, it is still the fact that the risks of leaving such articles unprotected on board cars even for a few hours are so great as to make it necessary to provide cold storage of some kind in case of delays of vessels or failure.to make connections at the seaboard with the outgoing vessels. Fruit trains from California and dairy shipments from the West seek to lose the minimum of time at the seaboard for transshipment to vessel, and can not afford to run the risk of a failure on this point. Hence the growth of the immense cold stores in the vicinity of the docks of ocean steamship lines all along the Atlantic coast. The tendency is to eliminate all unnecessary handling. At one of the storage docks on the Brooklyn water front refrigerator cars are run on the docks upon arrival and iced regularly until the ship arrives upon which the produce is to be loaded for foreign shipment. GROWTH OF STORAGE SINCE 1893. Within the last ten years storing of various kinds has become a feature of many smaller towns, which are the centers of accumulation of much of the farm produce in almost every section of the country. Numerous lines of -storing produce had their origin in the critical period of farming which reached its crisis in 1893, when extremely low prices of cotton, grain, and live stock gave fresh impulse to the growing of fruits and vegetables and the production of butter and eggs. Through every section of the East where orcharding, dairying, and other branches of the produce trade have taken the place of mixed farming since 1893, storage facilities have multiplied in some localities, it is to be feared, in excess f the requirements of business. The beginnings of warehousing in any locality are interesting and often instructive. Various conditions are responsible for the commencement of the storage industry in the smaller communities; in some cases factory buildings, after an unsuccessful experiment, were vacated on account of a permanent shut down of manufacture. Since 1890 this has not infrequently been the case in smaller towns. The concentration of industry in larger centers has partly contributed to this end. With idle property on hand, the resort to storage was made as a means of getting some return for it. But in large cities the days of going into the storage business to utilize vacant buildings have long since gone by. Storing has become a science in some branches, especially cold storage. In other branches of storage the utmost care is taken in the selection of engineers and architects for the planning of the structures, and, as a rule, little or no expense is spared to bring into use the best results of scientific and business experience in this branch of industry. Certain industries have branched out into storing their own product, as was always the case with brewing. On account of the necessity of having to manufacture ice for cooling purposes, a very natural step was that of increasing the output in order to serve the community with ice, thereby often reducing the cost of the output and increasing the net Returns. Guided by this principle, cold-storage establishments have in some cases begun to serve the communities near them with ice for household consumption. In numerous cases' ice manufacturing plants have found it much more advisable to provide storing space for several days' output, so as to have a supply on hand in case of breakdown, than to duplicate their mechanical equipment. PROGRESS OF CONSOLIDATION AT HOME AND ABROAD. The form of organization has changed within the last twenty-five years for most storage establishments. Prior to 1870, it was that of the individual firm or partnership; in more recent years the warehouse has become incorporated under the general or special laws of the State in which the business is located. More recently still the consolidation of warehouses has become active. In San Francisco twelve plants are operated under a single management. In Mobile, Ala., all the cotton warehouses are said to be under the control of one firm. The history of the consolidating tendency in warehousing at the great ports of the world is well illustrated by the progress at the port of London. Here, as elsewhere, warehousing is closely associated with the growth of wharfage and docking facilities. In fact, warehousing is rather an adjunct of the great corporations known as docking companies. Beginning with the passage of the West India dock act in, 1799 by Parliament, the London dock act of 1800, and the East India dock act of 1803 we have an index to the trade rela- tions of the British Empire at the beginning of the last century. In 1825 the St. Catherine dock act was passed, and in 1850 the Victoria dock act. Shortly after the first third of the last century two of these great dock companies, namely, the East India and the West India companies were amalgamated by act of Parliament of date May, 1838. The London Dock, St. Catherine Dock, and Victoria Dock companies were amalgamated in 1864. The process of amalgamation was still not complete, and in 1888 an act of Parliament was passed authorizing the two great amalgamations to enter into a working union under an incorporated committee known as the London and India Docks Joint Committee, consisting of 17 members, of whom 10 represented the London Company amalgamation, and 7 the India Company amalgamation. This working union came into force on the 1st of January, 1889. This, in brief, is the history of the consolidations of the docking and warehousing facilities of one hundred years. At the present time the warehousing" question is again brought forward on account of the competition with other great European seaports, especially in connection with the deepening of channels and the necessity of affording advantageous facilities for vessels of deep draft landing and storing their goods at the great ports of distribution. The warehousing facilities belonging to the London and India Docks Joint Committee serve the purpose of storage for docks having a water area of 435 acres. The Royal Victoria alone has a water area of 90 acres. The two leading warehouses are the Cuttler Street and the Crutched Friars' warehouses. The Cuttler Street Warehouses cover five acres, have a floor area of 610,000 feet, and can store from 25,000 to 30,000 tons of goods. These are used mainly for storing tea, silks, cochineal, carpets, piece goods, ostrich feathers, and other valuable products. The value of goods stored in them varies from fifteen to twenty million dollars, and the value of goods passing through them annually is estimated at from three to four times that amount. (1898.) The Crutched Friars' Warehouses cover a land area of 1^' acres, have a floor space of 200,000 square feet, and are used for storage of every available class of goods from the British colonies and the East Indies. They are capable of accommodating from 13,000 to 15 000 tons of merchandise, and contain show racks for exhibiting indigo, drugs, cigars, shells, etc. 106-1 THE WAREHOUSING INDUSTRY. [October, Another warehouse, the Commercial Road, situated in Whitechapel, covers 2} acres, and has a floor space of 360,000 square feet, being used chiefly for warehousing tea in connection with the Tilburry Dock. In pratically all of these cases railroads run to the doors of the warehouses, and those warehouses in which goods are handled for city deliveries have ample room for the movement of trucks, carts, and other vehicles employed in the local distribution. At the St. Catherine and London docks among the substantial features are the warehouses and vaults. The warehouses Lave a floor area of 4,748,000 feet and can store from 170,000 to 260,000 tons of goods after making due allowance for gangways and working space. In the vaults there is room for 105 pipes of wine. The wool warehouses alone at these docks handle one-third of the volume of the trade at the port of London and cover a floor area of 1,407,100 feet. In these warehouses and vaults are stored products from every part of the world. Space is set apart for storing and showing the tea, coffee, wine, wool, indigo, dried fruits, sugar, flour, fiber, spices, barks, gums, metals, drugs, dates, pepper, rice, cocoa, and other valuable articles that enter into the world's trade. STORAGE CAPACITY AND FOREIGN TRADE. The dependence of England on foreign countries for its food supplies gives to the meat trade a prominent place in the storage facilities at the port of London. The West India dock, comprising 160 acres, of which 70 are water area, has 11 gigantic warehouses, with a storage capacity of 95,000 tons, in which there are refrigerating chambers for freezing meat and butter capable of storing 114,000 carcasses of sheep. Another feature of these warehouses is the storage of rum and spirits. The vault accommodations include vats holding from 500 to 25,000 gallons for. mixing and blending. Sheds for the accommodation of logs used in furniture wood, as well as for the vast quantities of lumber that arrive from Russia, Scandinavia, and America are provided for at what is called the Wood wharf. These are all closely connected with the general railway system of the country, commodities being usually handled by electric cranes or overhead gantries. At these places, also, teak logs and plants, as well as dyewoods are handled most largely for the trade. The storage of grain is provided for at the Southwest India dock. At the Royal Victoria dock warehouses for working and housing tobacco and grain make that the center of these features of the trade. At the Royal Albert the sheds of the warehouses and granaries afford a floor space of 3,040,000 feet, capable of accommodating from 240,000 to 270,000 tons of goods. In the Victoria dock 30 cold-storage chamber's are capable of holding 264,000 carcasses of sheep. At the central meat market, Smithfield, 100,000 carcasses of sheep can be accommodated. Provision in advance of requirements for storage has an important bearing on the course of international trade. The port with ample capacity for storing large cargoes of imports stands a far better chance to become the distributing port than a port which can not handle such cargoes if two or more arrive at the same time. Several years ago a large cargo of sisal arrived at one of the large Atlantic ports with a cargo of 7,236 bales. The consignees desired to store 5,000 bales and to reship the rest. Six of the wharves could not even offer a berth at which to discharge the cargo, one could provide room to unload 2.000 bales, another could unload 2,500 bales and store only 1,500. One dock wanted double wharf rates and at another no insurance rates could be gotten on account of the congested condition of the wharf with goods. At the same time there were reported as afloat for this port 45,048 bales of manila hemp with little prospect of storage. EFFECT OF FLUCTUATIONS IN PRICES ON STORAGE. The effect of the rise and fall in prices on storage is a subject worthy of careful study. Any marked change in one direction or the other is sure to affect the volume of goods available for storage. An illustration in point, so far as the world market is concerned, is found in the Government sales of Banka tin which are made by the Dutch Trading Company in Holland on account of the Government. The secretary of the New York Metal Exchange states that the Government, about September of each year, announces how much it will sell during the coming year. Such auction sales are held bimonthly, alternating between Rotterdam and Amsterdam. The condi- tion of sale is that the tin be in store in Holland, and is for cash, buyers having the privilege of taking up the tin within thirty days. In former years the Government had considerable quantity in store, sufficient for two or three sales in advance, because of the accumu- lation of stocks at the mines in Java, but for the last several years the price of tin has risen to such a level that it seems to have changed the policy of the Government to the extent of reducing the surplus, so that after a sale has been held there is very little left in stock in Holland, and the sale is provided for by the quantities afloat between one sale and another. In this case it is seen that anything like a marked advance in price is bound to reduce storage, owing, primarily, to the increase of demand over supply. The Government con- trol of the sales enables them to control the output to an important extent and thus to increase the element of monopoly. Under such circumstances it is not difficult to reduce the stocks available and thus practically eliminate storage except as a means of accumulating the required quantities for the periodical auctions. The history of warehousing shows plainly that speculation, changes in export and import duties, and other similar exceptional influences have, on the whole, a damaging effect upon the storage business. An instance of this kind is cited from theexperience of the grain trade at Marseille, France. There are at that port large elevator facilities for the storage of grain arriving in bulk. The prominent part played by Marseille in the French grain trade is shown by the imports for 1900. In that year imports of wheat into France were 6,444,528 quintals of 100 kilos each. Of this quantity 4,237,453 quintals entered the country by way of Marseille. This port depends very considerably upon Russian wheat derived from Black Sea ports. The issue of a Russian ukase occurred at a time when large stocks of wheat were accumulated at this port. The effect of the ukase was to lower the price of wheat, and thus to put the French holders of stocks at a very serious disadvantage. Since that time comparatively small stocks have been carried averaging about 30,000 quintals. The storage of surplus commodities is greatly favored by the existence of settled conditions in all kinds of trade. An era of hi<*h prices acts adversely on storage stocks. No one wishes to be caught with any considerable quantity of goods on hand when the purchasing world is restricting consumption. The prospect of a lower level of prices favors a hand-to-mouth method of trading In all these conditions the warehouseman shares. In fact, the inflow and the outflow of the volume of storage business is one of° the best indexes of the degree of general prosperity. 1903.] THE WABEHOUSHSTG IKDUSTBY. 1065 STRUCTURAL FEATURES OF WAREHOUSES REPORTING. The number of buildings reported, in answer to question 5,'was 1,358. About 300 of these buildings were not mentioned specifically enough to determine how many stories they contained, and many others were deficient in some essential detail. ■ In answer to question 6, number of stories in each and the height of each story, 1,063 reports were made which gave definite infor- mation. ^ Out of these, 361 buildings, or 34 per cent, report buildings of one story in height; 173 buildings, or 16.3 per cent, were two stories high; 152 buildings, or 14.3 per cent, were three stories high; 130 buildings, or 12.2 per cent, were four stories; 102 buildings, or 9.6 per cent, were five stories; 84 were six stories, 27 were seven stories, 16 were eight stories, 8 were nine stories, 5 were ten stories, 1 had eleven stories, 3 had twelve stories, and 1 had fourteen stories. A single firm reported 268 buildings ranging from one to ten stories in height. Grouping of 1,063 Warehouse Buildings, by Number of Stories. NUMBER OF STORIES. Number ol buildings. Propor- tion. NUMBER OF STORIES. Number of buildings. Propor- tion. 1 story 361 173 152 130 102 84 27 16 Per cent. 34.0 16.3 14.3 12.2 9.6 7.9 2.5 1.5 8 5 1 3 1 Per cent. 0.8 .5 .1 .3 .1 1,063 100.0 In the next table the kinds of structure are classified for 626 buildings reporting. As will be seen by the percentage column, 56.39 per cent of the structures reporting were built of 'brick, 16.62 per cent were frame, 7.82 per cent brick and frame, 5.91 per cent brick and etone, and all others less than 2 per cent each. Kinds of Construction in 626 Warehouses. KIND OF STRUCTURE. Number of buildings. Per cent. KIND OF STRUCTURE. Number of buildings. Per cent. Brick 353 104 49 37 12 12 10 12 8 6 56.39 16.62 7.83 5.91 1.92 1.92 1.60 1.92 L28 .96 Steel and concrete Steel, concrete, and brick. 3 6 3 2 1 1 7 0.48 .96 .48 .32 .16 .16 1.12 Frame and concrete Brick, stone, and steel Steel Total 626 100. 00 Brick and concrete In the next table detailed statement is made of the number of stories in 297 warehouses classified by height of stories in feet — that is, the number of stories is shown in these buildings which are 7-foot stories, the number of which are 8-foot stories, the number of which are 9-foot stories, etc. It appears that of 7-foot stories, there were 8; and of 8-foot stories, 10; of 8J-foot stories, 26; of 9-foot stories, 47; of 9£-foot stories, 7; of 10-foot stories, 354; of 12-foot stories, 457. Out of the total number 37.7 per cent of 1,212 stories were reported as being 12-foot stories; the average height of the total number of stories was llf feet, and the average number of stories in each building 4.08. Number of Stories, in 297 Warehouses, Classified by Height of Stories in Feet. STORIES CLASSIFIED BY HEIGHT IN FEET. Number of stories in each class. Per cent in each class. STORIES CLASSIFIED BY HEIGHT IN FEET. Number of stories in each class. Per cent in each class. 8 10 26 47 7 354 62 33 12 457 14 35 3 33 0.66 .82 2.14 3.87 .59 29.22 5.11 2.72 .98 37.71 1.18 2.89 .24 2.72 11 17 5 3 1 27 1 10 1 24 2 1 3 5 0.92 1.41 .42 .24 .08 2.23 .08 .82 .08 1.98 .16 .08 .24 .41 20-foot stories Average height, llf; total stories, 1,212; average number of stories in each building, 4.08. PREVAILING HEIGHT OF STORIES. Some of the most progressive warehousemen affirm that a 7-foot height of floor is the most economical height, on the ground that any higher space is all the more expensively filled, if filled at all, and that if the excess space above 7 feet on any floor were the lowest space on the next floor above that excess space could be more economically filled. Whether 7 feet is an extreme in the direction of lowering heights of floors or not practice must decide; but there is no doubt that a considerable portion of the space on each floor remains unproductive because of the difficulty of lifting goods into place or removing them when discharging or refilling. No. 4 6 1066 THE WAEEHOUSING MDUSTBY. [October, Another authority on construction states that "the least valuable storage space is the space farthest from the floor, and my belief is that 9 feet in height is sufficient, and that a building containing 10 stories 9 feet high will earn a larger return on the investment than one containing 9 stories 10 feet high, notwithstanding the fact that the 10-story building will cost materially more than one of 9 stories. What the practice has been in warehouse construction, so far as this report applies, may be gathered from the series of tables below relating to this problem. It was thought desirable to show the height of a given number of buildings in such a way as to indicate the number of feet in each story; that is, to show what the height of a given number of one-story warehouses was, and also for each story of the two-story buildings, three-story, four-story, etc. Out of a group of 295 buildings, one-story buildings appear to have ranged from 11 to 30 feet in height. The range for two-story buildings began with 8 feet as a minimum and ran as high as 18 feet for a maximum. Three-story buildings ranged between 6 feet as a minimum and 16 feet as a maximum for the height of each story. The height of stories in four- story buildings ranged from 7 feet to 16 feet. In the case of five-story buildings 9 feet was the minimum and 16J feet the maximum. In six-story buildings the minimum was 10 feet and the maximum 16 feet. In seven-story buildings the range was from 8 to 12 feet; in eight-story buildings, from 10 to 16 feet. Two buildings of 9 stories each were reported as having 10 and 10£ feet, respectively, per story, and two ten-story buildings were reported as being 10 to 11 feet high in each story. In the following table the one-story buildings are classified, showing how many buildings out of the total number are of a given height in feet. It should be kept in mind that these tables refer only to buildings in which the height of stories in each building is of a uniform number of feet. Table Showing Height of Stoeies of 61 One-Story Buildings. NUMBER OF BUILDINGS. Height of stories. NUMBER OF BUILDINGS. Height of stories. Feet. 10 11 m 12 13 134 14 15 16 Three Feet. 17 18 184 20 21 24 25 30 One Three Three Total number of buildings, 61; average height of stories, 16j feet. Of the 61 buildings of one story each, the above table shows that 11 feet is the height of story of most frequent occurrence; that the next in point of frequency are the 16-foot and the 30-foot stories, and that the average height of the one-story warehouses is 16J feet. Table Showing Height of Stoeies of 36 Two-Stoey Buildings. NUMBER OF BUILDINGS. Height of stories. NUMBER OF BUILDINGS. Height of stories. Feet. 8 9 9* 10 104 114 12 124 One Feet. 13 134 14 15 16 18 20 One One One One Total number of buildings, 36; average height of stories, 134 feet. Of the 36 warehouse structures included in the above table, the most frequent height of story appears to be 12 feet, there being 7, or nearly one-fifth of the total, of that height. One-sixth of the number are under 10 feet per story, one-half are over 12 feet, and the average height is 13$ feet. Table Showing Height of Stoeies in 32 Theee-Stoey and 45 Foue-Stohy Buildings. NUMBER OF THREE- STORY BUILDINGS. Height of Stories. • NUMBER OF FOUR- STORY BUILDINGS. Height of Stories. Feet. 6 9 10 12 14 16 One Feet. 7 9 10 104 12 124 15 16 Two Six One Two Two Two Eight Total number of three-story buildings, 32; average height of stories, 10| feet Total number of four-story buildings, 45; average heigM of stories, 114 feet.' Among the 32 three-story buildings included in the above table thelO-foot story shows a decided preponderance, 62.5 per cent of i the total number considered being of that height. The average height of three-story buildings is 10f feet. j 1903.] THE WAEEHOUSING INDUSTEY. 1067 Of the 45 four-story buildings 18 of them, or 40 per cent, have 10-foot stories throughout, and the average height of story is 11 J feet. Table Showing Height ot Stories in 49 Five-Stoby Buildings and 50 Six and Seven Story Buildings. NUMBER OP FIVE-STOEY BUILDINGS. Height of stories. NUMBER OF SIX AND SEVEN STORY BUILD- INGS. Height of stories. Feet. 9 10 10i 11 Hi 12 12* 14 16J Feet. 10 10£ 12 m 13 16 8 10i 12 Twenty-five One One One Thirteen One One One Total number of five-story buildings, 49; average height of stories, 10} feet. Total number of six-story buildings, 45; average height of stories, 11} feet. Total number of seven-story buildings, 5; average height of stories, 10 feet. Among five-story buildings the standard height of story, so far as the above table goes, would seem to be 10 feet, there being 25, or more than one-half of the 49 five-story buildings represented, of this height of story. Next in prominence is the five-story building of 12 feet each, which represents 38 per cent of the total; the average is 10| feet for the 49 buildings. Of the 45 six-story buildings represented, 29 buildings, or 64 per cent, have 12-foot stories throughout; the average is Hi feet. In the following table 67 different establishments are grouped according to the number of stories in the buildings reported and the height of stories in feet. In each case the average is given, so that for the number of buildings represented it may be easily seen what the practice in construction is, so far as these buildings may be taken as an index. The buildings of the smaller number of stories are more numerous, as will be observed, than those of the greater number. For three-story buildings the height ranges from 10J to 15J- feet; for four-story buildings, from llf feet to 12| feet; for five-story buildings, from 9$ feet to 1 If feet; for six-story buildings, 8f feet to 13£ feet. Table Showing Height op Different Stories of Sixty-seven Warehouses. STRUCTURE. Three stories Three stories Three stories ThTee stories Three stories Three stories Three stories Three stories Three stories Three stories Three stories Three stories Three stories Three stories Three stories Three stories Three stories Three stories Average, 18 buildings Four stories Four stories Four stories Four stories Four stories Four stories Four stories Four stories Height of stories. Feet. 10 to 20 10 to 12 10 to 13 10 to 13 10 to 13 10 to 14 12 to 15 9 to 17 12 to 16 12 to 16 12 to 14 12 to 14 10 to 14 8 to 13 10 to 12 12 to 15 10 to 20 10 to 20 10$ to 15£ 10 to 20 11 to 12 10 to 14 7 toll 10 to 12 10 to 12 12 to 16 9 to 10 STRUCTURE. Four stories . Four stories . Four stories . Four stories . Four stories . Four stories . Four stories . Average, 15 buildings . Five stories. Five stories.. Five stories. Five stories. Five stories - Five stories. Five stories . Five stories . Five stories. Average, 9 buildings . Six stories . Six stories . Six stories . Six stories . Six stories . Six stories . Six stories . Height of stories. Feet. 14 to 12 .14. to 12 14 to 12 14 to 12 14 to 12 14 to 12 13 to 14 Hi to 12J 9 toll 10 to 14 8 to 16 8 toll 10 to 12 10 to 12 10 to 12 10 to 14 10 to 12 ; to 12! 10 to 20 14 to 16 8 to 12 7i to 11 10 to 14 8 to 10 6 to 13 STRUCTURE. Six stories .'. Six stories Six stories Six stories Six stories Six stories Average, 13 buildings Seven stories Seven stories Seven stories Seven stories Average, 4 buildings . Eight stories Eight stories Eight stories Eight stories Eight stories Eight stories Average, 6 buildings . Ten stories Ten stories Average, 2 buildings . Height of stories. Feet. 6 to 13 6 to 13 10 toll 10 to 14 9 to 13 10 to 12 8| to 131 3 to 10 8 to 14 9 to 18 9|tol4 7J to 16 9 to 17 9 to 21 8J to 13 10 to 20 10 to 14 10 to 16 9f to 16| 10 to 16 10 to 15 10 to 15* GROUND AREA OF 311 BUILDINGS. It was desired to ascertain, out of a given number of plants reporting, what the average ground area in square feet was in American warehousing, so far as the facts could be gathered. From compilation of 311 establishments a classification was made and res [Its found to be as follows: Fifty-two plants each occupied a ground area of 5,000 square feet and under; that is to say, one-sixth of the number reporting covered space equal to a lot measuring 100 feet in depth and 52 feet front. The next group consisted of areas over 5,000 square feet and up to and including 10,000 square feet. Of these establishments there were 73, or somewhat less than one-fourth of the total. The third group included establishments occupying over 10,000 square feet of ground area and those whose area was as high as 20,000 square feet. Of these there were 77, or almost one-fourth of the total reporting. In the fourth group, over 20,000 and to 30,000, inclusive; that is, between four and five times the area of the first group, there were 40 establishments which made reports. The fifth group comprised those whose areas were over 30,000 and up to 50,000, inclusive, and included 30 establishments. The sixth group extended from 50,000 to 100,000 square feet in area and was found to contain 27 plants. The seventh group included all establishments of 100,000 square feet or over, and in this class there were found to be 12 plants. A total of 312 establishments gave an aggregate of 7,503,591 square feet as ground area, from which it would appear that the average space occupied by the warehouses considered was 24,050 square feet of ground surface. 1068 THE WAREHOUSING INDUSTRY. [October, run A/9 jj.. Aisle \SS Ais/e \S3 ■M9* £ Ais/e I 1 A 9 ?\ Ai f le t ]49 Aisle 147 A 9- t. .. Aisle Us E, Elevators. DIAGRAM NO. 4.— FLOOR PLAN OF MODERN STORAGE WAREHOUSE. In the above diagram, No. 4, the floor plan above the ground floor is given to indicate the interior arrangement of space, including hallways, aisles, elevator shafts, and storage space. COST OF BUILDING AND PRESENT VALUE COMPARED. In comparing the cost of storage buildings with the present market value of the plant, including the land, it must be kept in mind that no doubt in many cases the cost of building includes only the contract price paid for the erection of the structure, and that the present market value of the plant includes not only land, but all machinery and equipment necessary for the operation of the plant. Notwithstanding this defect in the totals of present market values of plants, it is a fact that there has been a very rapid growth of values in storage properties, not only on account of the increase in new and exceptionally well-constructed establishments, but also in the enhancement of the value of older properties, many of which had had excellent locations and have increased in value with the growth in value of the land. It should be noted, therefore, that the present market value includes the value of land, whereas, of course, the cost of building at the time of building did not include the value of land. The cost of each establishment at the time of its construction was answered by 123 different companies. These results were grouped into seven different classes. Classified Cost of Construction of 125 Plants. GROUPS OF ESTABLISHMENTS. Establishments costing $10,000 and less Establishments costing from 810,000 to $20,000. Establishments costing between $20,000 and $30,000 Establishments costing between $30,000 and $60,000 Establishments costing between $60,000 and $100,000 . . . Establishments costing between $100,000 and $500,000 . . Establishments costing between $500,000 and $1,000,000 Total Number. 21 29 19 12 25 14 123 The separate tables formed by each of these classes give the year of building, present value, cost when built, and the increased or decreased value. Only in seven cases was there a decrease. 1903.] THE WAEEHOUSnTG MDUSTEY. 1069 Twenty-one Buildings Costing f 10, 000 and Less. YEAR BUILT. Present value. Cost when built. Increase. YEAR BUILT. Present value. Cost when built. Increase. 1866 Dollars. 20, 000 20,D00 17.000 7,500 35,000 1,200 10,000 40, 000 12, 000 12, 000 14, 000 12,000 Dollars. 10, 000 - 10,000 2,300 6,000 4,600 4,200 7,000 10, 000 8,000 2,500 5,000 6, 000 Dollars. 10, 000 10,000 14,700 1,500 30, 500 a 3, 000 3,000 30,000 4,000 9,500 9,000 6,000 Dollars. 8,000 32,000 25, 000 20,000 1,500 10,000 5,100 4,000 26,000 Dollars. ■ 4,000 6,000 6,000 7,000 4,000 9,000 1,500 3,000 7,000 , Dollars. 4,000 26,000 19,000 13, 000 a 2, 500 1,000 3,600 1,000 19,000 moo......: 1900 1893 1898-99 1896 1901 1888-1901 1894 1892 1898 Total Average . . . 1900 332, 300 15,824 123, 000 5,857 197, 700 10,405 1891 a Decrease. The above table shows- that 21 buildings, costing f 123,000 when built, had a present value represented by their owners or proprietors at $332,300. The difference between the cost at building and the present value as thus given was $197,700, or an increase of 177.6- per cent. In only two cases was there a decrease in value, amounting to $5,500 as compared with $197,700 increase. The average value of this group of buildings is seen to be $15,824 each at the time of reporting, and cost was $5,857 each, making an average increase of $10,405 each. Twenty-nine Buildings Costing between $10,000 and $20,000. YEAR BUILT. Present value. Cost when built. ■ Increase. YEAR BUILT. Present value. Cost when built. Increase. 1870 Dollars. 25, 000- 35,000 20,000 30,000 20, 000 23,000 12,500 35,000 20, 000 20, 000 20, 000 45,000- 25,000. 75,000 40, 000 Dollars. 15, 000 20,000 18, 000 15,000- 14, 000 12, 800 - - 11, OOO 12, 269 20,000 17,000 15,000 19, 000 15, 000 20, 000 16, 000 20,000 Dollars. 10,000 15,000 2,000 ■15,000 6,000 10, 200 14, 000 231 15,000 3,000 5,000 1,000 30,000 5,000 59, 000 • 20, 000 Dollars. 120,000 60,000 20,000 18,000 15,000 20, 000 35, 000 16, 000 17,000 85, 000 25, 000 30, 000 25,000 Dollars. 18, 500 20,000 12,000 17, 000 16,250 15, 000 12, 000 12, 000 12,000 20,000 20,000 15,000 20, 000 Dollars. 101, 500 40, 000 8.000 1,000 a 1,250 6,000 23, 000 4,000 5,000 65, 000 5,000 15, 000 5,000 1890...: 1890 .'- ;.."...' 1884-1893 1895......; 1890 1899 1892-1898 1892-1900' 1892 1898 1892 1880-1903 . 1870 1898 1888 1896 1900 . 1895 1892 1891 1885 1901 1902 1903 Total Average 1881 -. 956,500 32,983 469, 819 16,201 487,931 17,426 1900.. a Decrease. The above table shows that 29 buildings costing $469,819 when built had a present value, as represented by their owners or proprietors, of $956,500. The difference between the cost at building and the present value as thus given was $487,931, or an increase of 107| per cent. In only one case was there a decrease in value, amounting to $1,250 as compared with $487,931 increase. The average value of this group of buildings is seen to be $32,983 each at the time of reporting and cost was $16,201 each, making an average increase of $17,426 per building. Nineteen Buildings Costing between $20,000 and $30,000. YEAR BUILT. Present valine. Cost when built. Increase. YEAR BUILT. Present value. Cost when built. Increase. 1900 Dollars. 40,000 40,000 50,000 85,000 100,000 40, 000 40,000 35,000 70, 000 70,000 30,000 Dollars. 25, 000 30,000 30, 000 25,500 28,350 30, 000 20,500 20,000 21,800 30,000 27,000 Dollars. 15,000 10. 000 20,000 59,500 71,650 10, 000 19,500 15,000 48,200 40,000 3,000 1880-1902 Dollars. 25,000 40, 000 30, 000 45,000 35, 000 35,000 30, 000 30,000 Dollars. 24,500 30, 000 24, 000 SO, 000 22,000 27,000 25,000 27,000 Dollars. 500 10, 000 6,000 15,000 13,000 8,000 5,000 3,000 1902 1890 1882-1888 1901 1889-1897 1900 1902 Total Average . . . 1903 870,000 45, 789 497, 650 26,192 372,350 19,597 1886-1896 The above table shows that 19 buildings costing $497,650 when built had a present value, as represented by their owners or proprietors, of $870,000. The difference between the cost at building and the present value as thus given was $372,350, or an increase of 74 per cent. In no case was there a decrease in value reported. The average value of this group of buildings is seen to be $45,789 each at the time of reporting and cost was $26,192 each, making an average increase of $19,597 per building. 1070 THE WAEEHOTJSESTG INDITSTEY. [Octobeb, Twelve Buildings Costing between $30,000 and $50,000. YEAR BUILT. Present value. Cost when built. Increase. YEAR BUILT. Present value. Cost when built. Increase. 1901 Dollars. 150, 000 50, 000 60, 000 15, 000 75, 000 80, 000 50, 000 200, 000 DoUars. 35,000 40, 000 45, 000 35,000 42,000 38, 000 40, 000 50, 000 Dollars. 115, 000 10, 000 15,000 20,000 33, 000 42, 000 10, 000 150, 000 1893 Dollars. 55, 000 75, 000 125,000 60, 000 DoUars. 39, 000 48, 000 50, 000 40, 000 DoUars. 16, 000 27,000 75,000 20, 000 1891 1901 1898 1888 1871 1892. . . Total Average . . . 1902 995, 000 82,917 502, 000 41,833 513, 000 46, 636 1898 1887 oDecrease. i The above table shows that 12 buildings costing $502,000 when built had a present value, as represented by their owners or proprietors, of $995,000. The difference between the cost at building and the present value as thus given was $513,000, or an increase of 111 per cent. In but one case was there a decrease in value reported, amounting to $20,000 as compared with $513,000 increase. The average value of this group of buildings is seen to be $82,917 each at the time of reporting and cost was $41,833 each, making an average increase of $46,636 per building. Twenty-five Buildings Costing between $50,000 and $100,000. YEAR BUILT. Present value. Cost when built. Increase. YEAR BUILT. Present value. Cost when built. Increase. 1889 Dollars. 150,000 135, 000 100,000 80,000 40, 000 100,000 175,000 100,000 75, 000 100,000 75,000 60,000 150,000 80,000 DoUars. 75,000 65, 000 90,000 63, 000 60,000 70,000 80,000 78,000 93, 000 94,800 100, 000 70, 000 60,000 75,000 DoUars. 75,000 70, 000 10,000 17,000 o20,000 30,000 95,000 22, 000 o 18, 000 5,200 a25,000 o 10, 000 90,000 5,000 1886 DoUars. 120, 000 125, 000 77, 000 100,000 240, 000 200, 000 175,000 50, 000 275, 000 150, 000 88,000 DoUars. 80,000 85, 600 71, 000 75,000 90, 000 56,000 80, 000 60,000 80, 000 85, 000 52,000 DoUars. 40, 000 39,400 6,000 25, 000 150, ooo; 144,000 95,000 10,000 195, 000 65, 000 36,000 1891-1894 1892 1892 1885-1903 1883-1892 1850-1880 1860 1900 1890 1891 1885-1898 1900 1888-1893 1889-1894 1867 1900 1850 1886 1883 1892 1895 Total Average . . . 1892 3,020,000 120,800 1, 888, 400 75,536 1,214,600 60,730 1900 a Decrease. The above table shows that 25 buildings costing $1,888,400 when built had a present value, as represented by their owners or proprietors, of $3,020,000. The difference between the cost at building and the present value as thus given was $1,214,600, or an increase of 80.3 per cent. In five cases there was a decrease in value reported amounting to $83,000, as compared with $1,888,400 increase. The average value of this group of buildings is seen to be $120,800 each at the time of reporting and cost was $75,536 each, making an average increase of $60,730 per building. Foueteen Buildings Costing between $100,000 and $500,000. YEAR BUILT. Present value. Cost when built. Increase. YEAR BUILT. Present value. Cost when built. Increase. 1892 DoUars. 125,000 300,000 900,000 250, 000 450,000 100,000 1,000,000 300,000 . 350,000 Dollars. 112,000 125, 000 425,000 180, 000 300,000 230, 000 437, 386 170,000 160,000 DoUars. 13,000 175,000 475, 000 70, 000 150, 000 0130,000 562,614 130,000 190, 000 1902... DoUars. 200, 000 375,000 350,000 600,000 200,000 DoUars. 125,000 132, 000 300, 000 500, 000 132, 000 Dollars. 75,000 243, 000 50, 000 100,000 68,000 1864-1880 1850 1897 1891-1900 1890 1897 1902 1898. . 1900 1880 1901 1852 1900 Total Average . . . 5, 500, 000 392, 857 3,328,386 237,774 2, 301, 614 177,047 1898-1902 1888 "Decrease. The above table shows that 14 buildings costing $3,328,386 when built had a present value, as represented by their owners or proprietors, of $5,500,000. The difference between the cost at building and the present cost as thus given was $2,301,614, or an increase of 74.5 per cent. In but one case was there a decrease in value of $130,000 as compared with $2,301,614 increase. The average value of this group of buildings is seen to be $392,857 each at the time of reporting and cost was $237,774 each making an average increase of $177,047 per building. ' Theee Buildings Costing between $500,000 and $1,000,000. YEAR BUILT. Present value. Cost when built. Increase. 1890-1899 DoUars. 800, 000 1,000,000 1, 000, 000 DoUars. 631, 0P0 600, 000 530, 000 Dollars. 169,000 400,000 470,000 1902 1886-1894 Total Average . . . 2,800,000 933,333 1,761,000 587, 000 1,039,000 346, 333 1903.] THE WAREHOUSING INDUSTRY. 1071 The above table shows that three buildings costing $1,761,000 when built had a present value, as represented by their owners or proprietors, of $2,800,000. The difference between the cost of building and the present value as thus given was $1,039,000, or an increase of 59 per cent. The average value of this group of buildings is seen to be $933,333 each at the time of reporting and the cost was $587,000 each, making an average increase of $346,333 per building. The total cost of the 123 warehouses considered in the foregoing tables was reported to be at the time of building $8,520,255; the total value given at the time of reporting was $14,418,800, showing an increase of $6,118,295 and a decrease of $239,750. FLOOR SPACE OCCUPIED BY WALLS, SHAFTS, AND PASSAGEWAYS. In table following 96 reports are tabulated to show what per cent of space is taken up by walls, pillars, shafting, stairways, and passageways. It will be noticed that there is a very wide difference in the totals, as well as in the carrying capacity above the first floor. In some cases possibly the answers may have been extreme, but it should be recalled that there is a very wide range of practice in this respect. The averages at the foot of the table are worthy of special consideration. They show that the average quantity of floor space represented in the table was 85,930 per company reporting; that walls and pillars took up 3.06 per cent of this space; that shafting and stairways occupied 2.85 per cent; that passageways took 11.96 per cent, and that the total space taken in this way was 19.23 per cent of the floor space. The average carrying capacity on floors above the first was 346 pounds per square foot. According to this result less than 20 per cent, on the average, of the floor space is lost from revenue-earning space, and over 80 per cent of floor space is free to bring an income. Table Showing Floor Space, per cent Occupied by Passages, etc., and Carrying Capacity op Floors. FLOOR SPACE. PROPORTION OCCUPIED BY— Total. Carrying capacity above first floor. FLOOR SPACE. PROPORTION OCCUPIED BY — Total. Carrying capacity above first floor. Walls and pillars. Shaft- ing and stair- ways. Passage- ways. Walls and pillars. Shaft ing and stair- ways. Passage- ways. Feet. 26,000 59,560 98,800 40,000 1,425 20,250 22,042 110,832 28,376 21,431 58,000 127,270 42,000 115,000 26,800 5,000 89,332 41, 000 20,000 26,000 40, 600 450,000 74, 345 150, 000 993, 380 45,000 38,640 150,000 93, 380 45,000 6,500 63, 360 22, 000 39, 000 40,920 45, 000 23,400 36, 966 32, 120 79,895 371,000 40,800 4,284 68,920 55, 000 102,381 85,000 9,000 Per cent. Per cent. 2.50 1.00 .90 .01 6.50 .50 6.75 13.00 1.40 .70 5.00 5.00 2.50 3.00 .50 .02 1.50 2.20 2.00 6.00 .60 .20 2.80 2.00 .50 .50 1.00 ■2.00 .50 .50 .40 1.00 .20 2.50 2.25 Per cent. 1.20 15.00 25.00 5.00 Per cent. 3.70 21.00 26.40 5.51 11.50 1.25 19.75 38.50 18.20 13.90 30.00 25.00 22.50 23.00 11.00 .10 18.50 27.37 12.00 25.00 .80 4.00 13.80 23.00 25.50 11.50 12.00 23.00 25.50 11.60 .40 8.10 .24 13.00 25.25 1.70 6.00 3.40 1.20 39.20 .03 12.00 12.10 19.20 19.00 5.20 20.30 7.10 Lbs. per sq. ft. Feet. 37, 600 200,000 - 200, 000 120, 000 24,445 60, 000 250, 150 50,000 20,000 25,000 306,750 27,500 '70,500 13, 980 24, 000 188, 800 42,000 55, 000 211, 605 70, 000 67, 800 8,240 24,000 21, 600 12,000 30,000 3,721 199,700 136, 500 40, 000 27,000 18,120 ' 20,000 84,550 231, 125 20, 540 65,000 51,650 88, 000 382, 200 27, 700 3,721 6,102 80, 700 202, 000 15, 200 6,000 196,730 Per cent. 5.00 .05 10.00 2.00 2.60 1.66 10.00 5.00 .70 4.10 3.90 2.75 5.00 Per cent. 2.00 .05 5: 00 7.00 .60 8.66 10.00 5.00, 1.00 1.00 3.00 17.00 .50 1.00 2.00 1.30 1.00 5.00 .80 3.00 7.60 .20 2.00 8.00 .20 1.00 .75 3.60 5.00 6.00 3.00 2.00 1.75 1.50 2.00 1.70 .80 6.50 2.00 6.00 3.00 15.00 4.70 1.60 1.66 3.00 Per cent. 3.00 Per cent. 10.00 .10 25.00 34.00 33.20 28.33 45.00 20.00 3.40 7.50 14.60 21.55 8.50 4.00 5.00 2.60 2.00 15.50 11.80 10.00 25.60 6.60 11.00 53.00 2.60 7.50 11.75 27.50 11.00 7.50 28.00 22.00 10.00 15.50 12.00 3.40 10.00 26.00 21. 00 6.00 23.33 8.00 43.00 35.10 15.00 17.00 11.66 10.50 Lbs. per sq.ft. 131 600 200 300 47 5.00 .50 .50 5.00 .75 3.00 7.50 5.60 .20 5.00 5.00 5.00 600 10.00 25.00 30.00 18.33 25.00 10.00 1.70 2.40 7.70 1.70 3.00 3.00 1.00 250 10.00 18.00 11.20 13.00 20.00 15.00 15.00 20.00 10.00 .04 15.00 25.00 4.00 15.00 200 150 350 175 250 150 250 200 f 1-350 \ 2-150 [ 1,2-700 i 3,4,5-350 I 6, 7-300 100 500 550 550 60 200 250 2.00 1.30 1.00 .50 1.00 2.00 300 140-150 300 .50 .04 2.00 .17 6.00 4.00 .20 .40 8.00 1.00 10.00 10.00 5.00 18.00 2.40 8.00 25.00 2.00 5.00 10.00 17.00 5.00 4.00 1.00 20.00 .40 1.50 1.00 7.00 1.00 1.50 400 400 200 3.40 3.00 20.00 25.00 11.00 10.00 20.00 25.00 11.00 466 200 A 500 B 400 280 100 90 100-110-70-60 125 600 250 400-200 450 300 300 250-500 200 • 1.00 1.00 25.00 20.00 7.25 9.00 8.00 300 250-300 250 150 250 200-100 200 200 400 1,500 350, 450 2,500 200 1.00 5.00 2.00 1.70 7.10 .02 .50 5.00 .02 10.00 18.00 i to 1.20 1.00 3.00 .20 31.70 9.20 15.00 15.00 1.00 18.00 3.00 18.00 29.00 lu.00 15.00 10.00 6.00 4.50 6.00 3.00 .33 2.00 10.00 1.40 5.00 .50 1.50 2.00 .10 .75 2.00 .30 .25 7.50 .01 3.00 3.10 .70 1.00 2.80 .30 5.00 300-500 200-80-150 350 100 71 .02 5.00 4.00 9.00 14.40 15.00 2.40 15.00 2.00 4.30 3.00 400 275 500, 300 600 8, 251, 238 o85,950 242.14 3.06 268. 16 2.85 1, 016. 64 11.96 1,480.82 19.23 23, 554 346 5.00 .10 o Average. The last column of the above table conveys information which may be compared with the strength of buildings in individual cases. 1072 THE WAEEHOUSDTG INDUSTRY. - In one of the more modern warehouses in East Boston the allowable loads per floor are given as follows! [Octpbeh,- FLOOR. Pounds per square foot. No limit. 400 300 250 Fourth and fifth Foreign practice, in its more advanced form, is probably well represented in the Bremen warehouses. Below is given a table showing height of floors, and the load of floors in.pounds per square foot, in both metrical and English units: • ■ Height and Load ot Floors in Warehouses in Bremen, Germany. [From proceedings of American Warehousemen's Association, 1901.] FLOORS. Height. Load. Meters. 2. 50 to 3. 40 3. 20 to 5. 50 2. 95 to 4. 00 2. 95 to 3. 50 2. 80 to 3. 20 2.10 to 3. 10 1.20 to 5. 00 Feet. 8. 20 to 11. 15 10. 50 to 18. 04 9. 67 to 13. 12 9. 67 to 11. 48 9. 18 to 10. 50 6. 88 to 10. 17 3. 94 to 16.40 Kilos, persq. meter. Pounds per sq. ft. Grainid floor 1,760 to 2, 250 1,200 to 1,800 1,200 to 1,800 1,200 to 1,800 1,300 to 1,500 500 to 1,000 360 to 460 246 to 369 246 to 369 246 to 369 266 to 306 102 to 204 Third floor Loft INTERNAL ECONOMY OF WAREHOUSING. The kind and character of mechanicaLdevices_repo.rted to he in use. by .warehouses is indieated Jay 1 the list which follows. . . The kind of warehousing, the locality, and the list of devices are specified with some detail, mainly, in the terms of the informant, for 102 firms. Returns Showing Kiipp of Mechanical Devices Wed in HJAjtaLiNG Warehoused; ComioBiTtEs. . . \ KINDS OF. WAREHOUSES. Loeatio Kinds of devices. General merchandise . Cold storage . , ■ Cold storage, fruit, and vegetables. . Cold storage, f raits, &nd vegetables. Cold storage and produce T Beer Cold storage and produce Do ..: Cold storage Cold storage and produce Cold storage General merchandise -. -. Cold storage Do i Do Do. Do Do Do Do Do Do.. Tea Cold storage. Do. Do. Cold storage and general merchandise. Cold storage : Cold storage and general merchandise. Cold storage Cold storage and general merchandise. Cold storage - Do Commission and storage . General warehousing General merchandise. Do Transfer and storage Sugar, molasses, rice, and flour. Whisky General merchandise. Canned goods Ark. Nashville, Term. Trtcsqn, Aria : Siloam Spring Flora, 111 Olney, 111;:..... Springfield, 111 Vineennes, Ind Davenport, Iowa Arkansas! City,,Kans . , Cpncprdia, Kahs ..... • Baltimore, ted: -... ' Boston, Mass ;:::::... Gloupest^r, Mass . . I . . Jackson , Mich, ,...;. %.Z: i C\ . St. LouisJMo. I <- .do. i Omaha, Nebr.; L. : Jersey City, N. J. . X . J&bitn, N.Y.:. ILrhfleld, Pa-.-. Locke, N. Y Lockport. N. Y New York, N.Y ....do .do. Rochester, N.Y . . Utlca, N.'Y'..:.... Toledo, •Ohio-.-,... Philadelphia, Pa . ' Pittsburg, Pa..„. Scrantoni Pa::... n Wyncote, Pa- ••'•-■ Richmond, Va Seattle, Wash San Francisco," Cal . San Francisco, Cal. ....do Chicago, 111 New Orleans, La. Louisville, Ky... Portland, Me.. Baltimore, Md. futbroatic sacking machine;- compress crane for heayy machinery!: eleva* .tor conveyjor butts; po^er shores; bifurcated loading spouts; f HydTaul^o elevator orijoutside of tyiilding, serving 3 doors. Electric elevators; hyaraulic, elevator, iron tracks. and trolley. ■ Electric elevators. ; * *<•' ' Air hoist; movable as a truck. Ordinary trucks, skids and ropes. - i Steam elevators. . . Freight elevator, hand power. Electric ice elevator. ,. Elevator, hajnd power.) Elevator, hand power.' Electric-hoists.-, ; * c i Steam-power conveyors. . . ' Elevator, (trucks; and candling machines. I \ Electric- elevators; "electric .railroad, trolley line, and electric motor for handling cars!_ ■- '?■ ;• ; • I ' ■ -, : i Location-of Blevators,.bo'th ends o{ houses; 6-wheeled platform, truck, with 2 centerjwjteels |3nch highjer than the others: 2 -and 4- wheel trucks, f ■ ! - Traveling anteroom. ; ■ ' v . Elevators and trheks. All cars run on siding and unloaded by 2 men. Power elevators. Elevators, trucks, and racks. Electric hoists; engine hoist. - i" • -, j Forced ventilation by electrfcfail system; Sharp- freezers for poultry and fish; dry-air system for cooling rpom. | , Elevators; traveling ahterooms, doing awav with separate- anterooms: air -fock.on leach Boor (patented).. ElevatorsJ ' ■ ■ ; > \ ■ ■ • , Trucks of jdiflerent styles, best adapted for various- kinds of goods. - Steam elevators. ' I - i ; Railroad siding; .hydraulic elevators. Hydraulic, elevator; endless-chain ice elevator. Latest imiro/vements in Dauber machinery; best plunge elevators. Elevators land trucks, i • ; - • •■ ■ ■ Airhoist-, overhead carriers for lifting ice in tank room; endless-chain • • -elevator; shipping platform. j ' ■ Ordinary eleVators. i ' - . - . Electric hoist for, hoisting barrels under the rack system; moveable hand elevator for hoisting barrels; steam drum and whip for hoisting barrels: - -block an* -tackle with horse for 'hoisting barrels of cement. Electric carrierin placaof elevatorjn 1 building. Endless-chain conveyor, for carriage of goods from teams to interior of warehouse. Driveway through the building; all discharging and loading done under - caver. • - Elevator and trucks.- ....*...... Electric automatic elevators for barrels, 860 per hour, each elevator; con- veyor 200 feet long, flush with door, delivers 600 barrels per hour. Trucks and elevators; rail platforms in front of doors to rehandle gooda without lifting. Platform and belt elevators; package carriers. Horse trucks, adjustable shafts. 1903.] THE WAREHOUSING INDUSTRY. Returns Showing Kinds of Mechanical Devices Used in Handling Wabehoused CoMMODiTiES-Continued. 1073 KINDS OF WAREHOUSES. G eneral merchandise. Do Do Do. Do Field and yard General merchandise . Do Do Do Do Do Oriental products General merchandise . General imports General merchandise . Do Do Do Do. Do General and yard General, grain, hay, and peanuts . Fertilizers, cement, and salt Peanuts Grain and feed Household storage Household and transfer . Household goods Do. Do Do General warehouse Household goods Household goods and fabrics. Household goods Household goods and merchandise . Household goods . Do Cotton compressing . Cotton storage Do Hay and grain Sacked grain only. . . Wool only General warehouses. Cotton compress and warehouse terminal. Wharf storage . . . Cotton Tobacco storage . Household goods Do Household cold storage . General merchandise . Household storage Location. Boston, Mass . . do Chelsea, Mass . Minneapolis, Minn. Kansas City, Mo. St. Louis, Mo do Hoboken, N. J... Jersey City, N. J. Albany, N.Y.... New York; N. Y. .....do Portland, Oreg.. New York, N.Y. ....do Fargo, N. Dak Harrisburg, Pa . . . Philadelphia, Pa . do .do. ....do Pittsburg, Pa . Norfolk.Va... ....do Petersburg, Va Seattle, Wash Chicago, 111 Dcs Moines, Iowa . Baltimore, Md Boston, Mass . Haverhill, Mass . Worcester, Mass . Albany, N. Y-... Brooklyn, N. Y.. New York, N.Y. Saratoga Springs, N. Y . Cleveland, Ohio Philadelphia, Pa . Beading, Pa Ardmore, I. T . Houston, Texas Montgomery, Ala . . Li vermore, Cal Los Angeles, Cal San Francisco, Cal . New Orleans, La Shreveport, La . Brooklyn, N. Y. Atlanta, Ga Richmond, Va.. Los Angeles, Cal. . do Washington, D.C. Bloomington, HI . Chicago, 111 Kinds of devices. Whips on the outside and elevators on inside. Elevators, whips. Derrick with boom, 3,600 pounds' capacity; hand elevators, 3,000 pounds' capacity; differential pulley, 1,000 pounds' capacity. Heavy 2-wheeled truck, low wide wheels, built close to floor, and an 8-inch caster wheol in place of legs, which permits truck to go only low enough to little more than balance for handling 2,000-pound bales burlap. Six-foot doors with extra lift elevator. Overhead trolley, 600 pounds' capacity. Two and 6 wheeled trucks, considered the best for coffee handling. Steam hoists outside of building. Link-belt elevators; portable, steam, and electric hoisting engines; derricks; narrow and wide gauge tracks, cars, and wide-gauge locomotives. Overhead trolleys. Steam, electricity, and horsepower. Steam elevators, steam and electric hoists. Electric motor for elevator and pulley. Elevators; a hand tiering machine, windlass and pulley; delivery slide from top of building with brakes at each floor to regulate speed. Tiering machine. Power elevators, loading platforms direct from car to house. Electric elevators. Gas engine. High-speed hydraulic elevators, electric and hydraulic hoists on outside of building; grain elevator has steam shovel, conveyors, blowers, etc. Portable hoists for piling bales, with which 2 men hoist a package of 800 pounds to a height of 12 feet. Electric power, with grip attachment to "handfall." Large elevators, 3 sides inclosed. Electric elevators. Water-front device for loading barges and unloading sail vessels; railroad track on street side. Electric motor for elevator. Elevators and inclosed carrier. Electric elevators, electric pumps and lights; low ceilings. Store trucks, buggy trucks, four-wheeled trucks. Electric elevator lifts van to desired floor forunloading; empty van replaced on elevator and lifted to floor for loading, to be lowered to ground.norses attached and drawn awav. Electric-power elevator (22 by 11 feet) . Annual expense of light and power from local power plant, under $100 per annum. Elevator takes up wagon loaded. Corridors 11 feet wide, run wagon whole length of building. Truck and hand elevators. Hydraulic and electric elevators to lift van to any floor. Elevator blocks and falls. Hand elevators. Elevators for carrying vans to any floor. Two hydraulic freight elevators, one passenger elevator, pneumatic tubes for messages and interior telephone service. Piano trucks, blocks, pulleys, plank bars, etc., for safe moving. Besides ordinary appliances, an overhead runway to lift pianos and heavy articles. Hand elevator which carries 2,000 pounds. Electric elevator, latest trucks and rollers, patent hooks. Railroad siding into building; first floor on level with railroad car floor. Trucks and compression machinery by which a density of 30 pounds Is se- cured, or 2£ bales loaded in space of one bale uncompressed. Elevators. Cranes for raising cotton to top of tiers and for lifting from wagons to scale. Elevator appliances driven by horsepower. Sacks lifted by block tackle. Elevator and trucks. Chain carriers or endless conveyors; platform elevators, powered by electric motors and gas engines; slides from upper floors; portable tables with cork pillows used during delivery of barrels. Hydraulic header for lifting cotton and placing on end as thrown from compress. Electric elevators and dock hoists. Trucks and elevators. Portable sampling apparatus for inspecting tobacco: also portable screws for pressing headings in casks and sling rope for tightening casks. Electric elevators and electric hoists. Trucks and elevators. Steam-elevator service of two elevators, 10 by 20 feet, on which loaded wagons are hoisted to place of storage. Platform with ears alongside; two electric elevators. Five- ton elevator and lift. STORAGE RATES ON SELECTED ARTICLES. The part o'f the inquiry calling for returns on storage rates was far from satisfactary. It might naturally be assumed, that reporting firms would be able to state the rates of charge made; yet when it is remembered that not only do the units of charge vary greatly, but also that 'the rates vary with the length of the storage period, the season, and other circumstances, it is not to be wondered at that this question has not brought fortli more acceptable results. Kates quoted are per month except when otherwise specified. Alcohol, wines, and liquors were reported as bearing a charge of 5 cents per barrel as a minimum, but some charged as high as 50 cents per month. The usual rate seemed to be 10 cents per month. The following quotation on alcohol, wines, and liquors, selected from replies, will indicate the degree of variation or uniformity in the rates of charge in different localities. At Philadelphia the rate per barrel ran from 20 to 30 cents. In places as far apart as Des Moines and San Francisco the rate of 15 cents was given. Three reports from Columbus, Ohio, quoted a rate of 10 cents per barrel. Allegheny, Boston, and Salt Lake City gave the rate of 10 cents, and in one instance (Boston) an 8-cent rate was mentioned. Seattle and Topeka both reported a 40-cent charge, but the former also mentioned a rate of from 10 to 15 cents. Canton, Ohio, and Norfolk, Va. mention only a 25-cent rate; York, Pa., 35 cents; Chicago and Pittsburg, 10 cents; St. Louis, 12 to 15 cents. Rates per case, cask, or gallon were reported as follows: Four and 3 cents per case, the former for the first month and the latter for the second month, though in San Francisco 3 cents per case was given as the first-month rate. At Portland, Oreg., a charge of 50 cents per ton was mentioned; at Hoboken, N. J., one-half cent per gallon, and 15 cents per cask at Rochester. No. 4 7 1074 THE WAREHOUSING INDUSTRY. [October, For purposes of comparison, a selection of rates from the American Warehousemen's Association Rate Guide are given in a table below: Association Kates on Alcohol, Wines, and Liquors. ARTICLES. Unit. Weight. Storage. Labor. Pounds. 450 Cents. 15 25 10 3 25 15 10 3 3 3 Cents. 5 12* 5 2 15 5 5 1 1 1 Liquors: 900 450 250 60 60 60 Do One-fourth tierce .. . One-eighth tierce . . Do Do do Do The volume of trade in warehousing distilled spirits in bond is indicated in part by the yearly production, which, in 1902, was 128,623,402 gallons. To this production must also be added stocks on hand in warehouses at the beginning of the year, which, in 1902, were 152,760,672 gallons, including in transit goods. As a rule, stocks in warehouses and in transit between warehouses on the first day of each fiscal year exceed the quantity produced in the year following, as the foregoing table would show. A comparison of withdrawals from warehouses each year shows that withdrawals are, as a rule, less than production, so that the tendency in this trade seems to be toward an accumulation of stocks from year to year. Stocks, Production, and Movement of Distilled Spirits in Bonded Warehouses for Years Ending June 30. [From reports oi the Commissioner of Internal Revenue.] YEARS ENDING JUNE 30— In ware- houses and in transit July 1. Produced during year. Withdrawn from ware- houses. In ware- houses at end of year. 1892 Gallons. 112, 921, 467 127, 596, 339 147, 894, 694 137, 993, 078 138, 248, 796 152, 125, 495 139, 721, 504 - 133, 063, 921 136, 925, 136 138,118,860 152, 760, 672 . Gallons. 114, 769, 041 128,651,782 89, 205, 492 81, 090, 994 86, 589, 359 62, 466, 130 80, 762, 229 97,067,872 105,484,700 124, 620, 600 128, 623, 402 Gallons. 100, 094, 159 108,353,427 99,107,108 80,835,276 72, 712, 659 74, 870, 121 87,419,812 93, 206, 657 104, 290, 976 .109, 878, 788 112, 560, 840 Gallons. 127,596,339 147, 894, 694 137, 993, 078 138, 248, 796 152,125,495 139,721,504 133, 063, 921 136,925,136 138,118,860 152, 760, 672 168, 823, 234 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 STORAGE RATES FOR EGGS, BUTTER, AND CHEESE. Eggs are stored at from 5 to 10 cents per month (Harrisburg), the 10-cent rate applying to Minneapolis, Kansas City, and Sioux City. Among others, a rate of 15 cents is given for California, for Pittsburg, and Baton Rouge. At Chicago a season rate of 40 cents is reported, compared with 45 to 60 cents in Connecticut, and 65 cents at Nashville, Tenn. Eggs are generally, as the reports indicated, taken into storage for the season. The charge per package for the season ranged from 35 to 75 cents, with 40 cents as the prevailing rate. The rate per crate was generally stated to be from 10 to 15 cents, but 5 cents per barrel per month was mentioned in one instance. A rate of 12£ cents per month and 50 cents per season of six to eight months seems not to be unusual. A St. Louis rate, book quotes a graduated scale of storage charges per month as follows: To June 1, 10 and 17 cents; after June 1, 10 cents; single cars, 50 cents per case; 3 cars, 45 cents per case; 5 or more cars, 40 cents per case. The Daily Trade Bulletin of Chicago publishes estimates of the holdings of butter and eggs in cold storage August 1 each year, with comparisons. The statistical statement includes only the aggregate reports from the different cities in detail, to lessen the objection to making reports by certain warehouses. Attention is called by the publishers to the fact that the figures are not presented as representing the entire stocks in the United States, but only at points where previous reports permit a comparison with earlier years. Reported Stock of Eggs im Cold Storage August 1 in Seventeen States. [From the Chicago Daily Trade Bulletin.] STATES. Illinois Indiana Wisconsin Minnesota Nebraska Missouri MieMgan Iowa Kaiv-as Massachusetts. 1903 Cases. 668, 616 50,200 85, 550 95, 300 90, 000 201,250 10, 500 125, 600 33, 700 286, 614 1902 Cases. 503,810 46,000 86,850 77,100 102, 000 294,250 13,200 113, 700 23,800 290, 066 1801 Cases. 092,900 59, 900 95, 000 46, 000 128, 000 238,275 21, 200 143, 100 41, 000 910, 388 iaoo Cases. 540,800 66,700 78, 300 78,500 108,000 118,200 6,000 149, 900 30,000 214. 700 STATES. Pennsylvania New York Ohio Maryland Delaware Rhode Island. Connecticut . . Total... 1903 238, 140 647, 600 46,500 15, 000 4,000 15,000 20,000 2, 533, 470 1902 Cases. 196,000 689, 500 46,700 30, 000 4,000 15, 000 20, 000 2,551,! 1901 Cases. 187, 500 743, 000 45, 000 40, 000 4,000 30, 000 30, 000 2, 855, 263 1900 Cases. 182,500 664, 000 37,000 35,000 4,500 30, 000 30,000 2, 274, MO 1903.] THE WAEEHOUSING INDUSTEY. 1075 Of interest in this connection is the comparative statement of prices of fresh and stored eggs at Chicago, the foremost interior market in connection with monthly receipts, as reported by Howard, Bartels & Co. Monthly Receipts and Range of Prices of Fresh and Stobed Eggs at Chicago in 1902. MONTHS. Receipts. Prices of fresh. Prices of storage. Difference in prices. Cases. 78, 808 74,136 192,152 316, 472 333,674 145,734 127, 818 123, 308 109, 232 83, 700 86, 850 Cents. 18 ©31 224@34 13 j ©254 13}@16 13 ©154 16 ©18 144@174 154@20i 18 ©22 20 ©24 21 @25 Cents. 17 ©214 204@214 Cents. 1 © 94 2 ©124 September 19 ©20 184@194 18 ©20 174@20 34® 4 4 © 24 2 © 4 34© 5 November December Total receipts, eleven months 1, 670, 884 Range of prices, eleven months 13 ©224 17 ©214 For further comparison the prices paid for eggs in the Chicago market at mark during the season when most of the eggs were bought for storage purposes are added. Pkices of Eggs at Chicago in Storage Seasons, 1900-1903. MONTHS. April May. June July. 1908 Cents. 13 @15 13J@14» 124@14i 12 ©144 1902 Cents. 13}@16 144@154 144@164 15 @17 1901 Cents. 12 ©12J 104@12 10 ©11$ 104@13 1900 Cents. 104@114 11 ©12 10 ©11 10J@114 As a matter of record the following table of prices is given covering Chicago storage prices for eleven years. These are the prices at which storage eggs sold, commencing with the opening sales in September to the close of the season the following year. The figures are taken from the Shippers' Guide: Chicago Prices of Cold Storage Eggs. MONTHS AND WEEKS. 1902-03 1901-02 1900-01 1899-00 1898-99 1897-98 1896-97 1895-96 1894-95 1893-94 1892-93 September: Cents. 19} 19 @20 Cents. 16 ©164 16 ©164 16 ©164 16 @164 16 16 16 ©164 15? ©164 16 ©174 17 ©174 17 ©174 16}@174 17 ©174 17 @18 17 ©174 17 ©174 17 @20 19J@214 184@204 20 204@21 Cents. 14 ©15 15 15 ©16 15i@16 154 154 154 154@164 16 ©184 18@184 18 ©184 18i@20 18 ©20 15 ©184 16 ©17 174@18 16 ©184 15 ©16 16 16 15 ©164 14 @16 13 ©16 Cents. Cents. 12 ©13 12 ©13 12 ©13 12 ©134 124@134 124@134. 12 ©134 12 ©134 12i@14 124@14 124@164 13 ©164 13 ©164 13 ©164 13 ©17 15 ©20 18 ©21 20 ©21 15 13 ©134 Cents. Cents. Cents. Cents. Cents. Cents. 164@18 14±@15 134@154 134@154 134@154 14 ©154 13i@15 134@15 13 ©15 12 @144 12 ©134 11 ©12 12 ©13 12 ©13' 114@13 10 ©12 10 ©12 9 ©12 74@104 5 © 9 7 ©11 7 ©104 64© 10 6 © 8 174@18 124©13 12 ©13 12 ©124 10 ©124 10 ©124 10 ©124 10 ©124 11 ©124 11 ©12 8 ©12 8 ©12 8 ©32 8 ©124 8 ©124 11 ©13 12 ©15 13 ©15 12 ©14 12 ©13 12 ©13 12 ©134 13 ©14 13 ©14 13 ©14 13 ©14 13 ©15 14 ©15 14 ©15 15 ©154 144@154 14 ©144 14 ©144 12 ©14 10 ©12 - 8 ©114 7 © 8 8 ©12 6 ©12 6 @ 9 8 ©11 8 ©10 134@14 12 ©14 12 ©14 12 ©14 12 ©114 12 ©144 12 ©15 13 ©15 13 ©15 13 ©15 13 ©15 13 ©15 13 @15 124@144 13 ©15 124© 154 13 ©15 13 ©15 13 ©19 15 ©25 16 ©25 18 ©24 174@18 174@18 174@184 174@19 18 ©184 174@18 174@184 174@184 174@184 174@184 17 ©18 17 ©184 17 ©18 164@17 12 ©16 8 ©15 5 © 8 5 ©10 5 © 9 5 © 7 5 ©114 5 © 8 17 ©18 October: 17 ©18 19 ©194 184@194 184@19 18 @19 184© 19 19 ©20 19 ©20 19 @20 19 @20 18 ©20 174@19 174@19 174@19 174@194 18 ©194 .15 ©184 10 @16 9 ©15 9 ©114 8 @104 14 ©15 14 ©15 14 ©15 14 ©144 14 ©15 14 ©15 13 ©14J 134®15 13 ©15 13 ©15 13 ©15 13 ©15 12 ©15 11 ©14 11 ©124 7 ©12 6 ©10 6 ©10 6 ©10 6 ©10 17 ©18 17 ©IS 17 ©184 November: 17 ©184 17 ©19 17 ©184 17 ©184 December: 17 ©184 17 ©18 17 ©18 17 ©18 174@19 January: 19 ©24 20 ©29 23 ©30 23 ©27 February: 23 ©26 Eepresentative localities report the following rates on butter: Chicago and Seattle gave a rate of one-fourth and one-eighth cent for the first and following months, respectively. A rate of one-eighth cent per pound is reported for Minneapolis, one of 2 cents per tub at Providence, of 3 cents at Norfolk, 8 cents at Sioux City, 10 cents at Harrisburg and New York, 12 cents at Philadelphia, 25 cents in a Texas town. Baltimore reports a rate of 30 cents per ton for ten days and Salt Lake City of 50 cents per ton for one month. Stocks of butter in incomplete figures of comparative seasons are inserted as a means of showing relatively the quantity held by the trade at the dates mentioned. 1076 THE WAEEHOUSDTGr ESTDUSTEY. [OCTOBEH, Reported Stock of Butteb on August 1 in Seventeen States. [From the Chicago Daily Trade Bulletin.] STATES. Wisconsin Iowa Michigan Minnesota . . . Missouri Illinois Kansas Nebraska New York Rhode Island 1903 Tubs. 21,760 21,000 6,000 53, 750 33,350 425,295 5,325 42,500 349, 000 12,000 1902 Tubs. 17,400 27,800 4,200 34, 650 30,500 384,900 3,200 50,000 330,250 10,000 1901 Tubs. 20,250 21,200 4,875 21,200 23, 800 299,000 3,000 40,500 351,450 15,000 1900 Tubs. 21,520 25, 200 3,250 37, 000 33,400 243,000 3,200 15,500 316,950 20,000 STATES. Massachusetts Ohio Pennsylvania Maryland Delaware Connecticut . . Indiana Total.... 1908 Tubs. 272, 448 7,000 115, 040 25,000 1,500 8,500 10, 000 1,409,458 1902 Tubs. 262,418 6,700 99,160 18,700 1,500 8,000 8,000 1,297,378 1901 Tubs. 227, 920 6,000 64,375 25,000 1,500 7,500 1, 132, 570 1900 Tubs. 210, 500 12,000 40,500 20, 000 1,500 10,000 1,013,520 No rates of charge on storing of cheese were called for in the schedule of inquiry. The cold storage rates of the association rate hoth vary from one-eighth to one-fourth of a cent per month per pound, according to kind. The association rates in general storage are as follows: Association Stoeage Rates on Cheese pee Month. ITEMS. Weight. Storage. Labor. Box Pounds. 100 100 40 20 Cents. 2 2 1 1 Cents, i i. Tub Do The world's leading centers of cheese stocks are given in the following table of stocks on hand January 1, 1903. The States and countries of largest production are also indicated. Though the figures are estimates and therefore incomplete, they serve in a rough way to point out the geographical distribution of the world's supply. Boxes included in the table vary in weight from 55 to 65 pounds each, averaging about 60 pounds. The "World's Stocks of Cheese on January 1. [Estimates of Stephen Underhill, from Bradstreet's, January 10, 1903.] POINTS OF DISTRIBUTION. New. York City Canada Liverpool London Afloat from New York . New York State Chicago Wisconsin and vicinity Ohio 1900 Boxes. 79, 413 300,000 71, 600 160, 000 21,434 57,500 67, 300 52, 400 24,700 1901 Soxes. 60,887 350, 000 122,000 190,000 3,927 55, 300 50,000 45,000 17, 000 1902 Boxes. 85,448 360,697 100, 000 185,000 9,758 101, 500 97,000 146, 000 29,000 1903 Boxes. 105, 759 180,000 64, 000 125, 000 8,974 89,900 96, 700 115, 000 40, 000 POINTS OF DISTRIBUTION. Boston Philadelphia Baltimore Pittsburg Pennsylvania (cream) St. Louis Total 1900 Boxes. 31, 200 20, 000 17,500 30,000 9,500 6,000 948,547 1901 Boxes. 25, 150 25,000 11,681 18,000 9,450 7,000 990, 395 1902 Boxes. 31,583 22, 000 21,054 15,000 2,300 7,200 1, 213, 540 1903 Boxes. 20,380 23,000 24,161 18, 000 13,500 11, 447 935,821 Figures below, giving the world's visible supply, are taken from the monthly statements of the New York Coffee Exchange, indicat- ing among the items both the quantity in the United States and that afloat for the United States, which is the world's greatest coffee- consuming country: Woeld's Visible Supply op Coffee at Quarterly Intervals, 1903. [From Reports of New York Coffee Exchange.] STOCKS. October. July. April. January. Europe United States Rio Santos Bahia Afloat: For United States from Brazil For United States from Java and East For Europe from Java and East ...... For Europe from Brazil For Europe from United States Embarques: Rio Santos Total Same date 1901-02 1900-01 1899-00 1898-99 1897-98 7, 246, 243 2,465,686 624, 000 1,328,000 41,000 11, 704, 929 586,500 1,000 74, 000 1,172,000 8,000 48, 000 176,000 13, 770, 429 13, 005, 325 9,821,196 7, 426, 359 8, 036, 556 6, 905, 233 7, 209, 009 2,461,664 505, 000 659, 000 62,000 7, 395, 721 2, 502, 406 496,000 1,007,000 33, 000 10,896,673 11, 434, 127 385,500 22,000 23,000 484,000 12, 000 2,000 75,000 494,600 13,000 21,000 332, 000 32, 000 17,000 37,000 11,900,173 12,380,627 11,261,331 6, 867, 627 5,840,561 6,200,013 6,435,974 11,247,903 7, 412, 277 6,222,595 6, 515, 558 6,174,766 7,168,149 2, 600, 426 582, 000 1, 361, 000 31,000 11,742,575 351,200 19, 000 62,000 922,000 16, 000 43,000 67,000 13, 312, 775 10, 870, 930 7, 660, 345 7, 036, 093 6, 600, 763 6, 357, 363 -1903.] THE WAEEHOUSINGr INDUSTKY. 1077 Coffee by the sack bears a storage charge, as a rule, of 3 cents per sack or bag (New Orleans?, Pittsburg, and Des Moines, St. Joseph, San Francisco to Chicago, St. Louis), though a rate of 5 to 10 cents is reported (Harrisburg, Pa., St. Paul). Cotton rates vary materially. At Mobile a storage charge of 5 cents per bale per month is given. This is the minimum rate reported, a 10-cent charge being given for Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, Houston, and Philadelphia. At Port Worth, Tex., a rate of 10 cents is charged to spinners, but one of 25 cents to brokers for the first month and 10 cents thereafter. At Pine Bluff, Ark., and Columbus, Ga., 50 cents is the first-month rate and 25 cents for succeeding months. The 50-cent rate also reported at Harrisburg, Pa., and 37$ cents at San Francisco. Below are given the New Orleans cotton-press charges. These, however, are rates primarily for compressing, and, secondarily, for storage or labor of handling: New Orleans Cotton-Pkess Chaeges. [From rate list of New Orleans Compress Association.] ITEMS. Storage, thirty days. Compressed or restored by press Not compressed or restored by press Small numbers and speculation cotton compressed Same not compressed Pickery cotton Pickery cotton delivered, not compressed Compressed cotton delivered , Compressed cotton delivered to press when drayed by press Every additional thirty days, or part thereof Compressing. Compressing Drayage. Outward Extra drayage, returned from ship or railroad (paid by shipper) Rate per bale. Cents. 20 60 30 70 15 65 40 50 3 50 ITEMS. Forwarding cotton. Compressing and drayage to and from press Extra charges. Rejections Turning over for marking Ranging ship-marked, forwarding, or small-numbered in yard for class ing, sampling, or weighing Ordered out for resampling or weighing .' Labor, returned from ship or railroad Labor on all hauled by shipper Extra bands (when ordered), per band Sample hole covering Sewing up heads Ship-marked cotton not ordered the day it is weighed Rate per bale. Cents. 65 15 5 13 6 10 5 @5 3 15 Dry goods are usually quoted by the case, and they ranged from 15 cents (Pittsburg) to 65 and 60 cents (California). The charge of 25 cents per case is possibly most usual (Philadelphia, Allegheny, New Haven). Crockery and glassware are quoted by the crate. At New Orleans, by way of which market large quantities' are distributed to southwestern districts, the rate of storage is 20 cents. At Des Moines, Iowa, a rate of 35 cents is reported, against 30 cents at Columbus, Ohio, 25 cents at New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburg. The barrel rate is rarely given, but when stated was 7 cents. STORAGE RATES ON FISH. Storage rates on fish run from one-eighth cent per month (Hartford and Pittsburg) to one-half cent (California and Kansas City), though one-fourth cent (Philadelphia, Minneapolis) is probably the more common quotation. Barrel rates range from 4 cents (Cincinnati) to 5 cents (New York). Association Rates of Charge on Fish. UNIT. One-half barrel Barrel Keg Kit Box (canned) Do Bale (dried), herring. Bale Do Weight. Pounds. 160 SOO 60 20 40 75 200 Storage. Cents. 3 5 2 It U- 2 8 1 4 Labor. Cents. 1 2 i St Louis gives the following rates on frozen fish: Less than 10,000 pounds, one-half cent; less than 50,000 or more than 10,000 pormds, one-fourth and three-eighths cent; more than 50,000 pounds, one-fourth and one-eighth cent The storaae of fish has had the effect of Widening to a very great extent the market for tins particular kind of food. As has been stated bv one of the informants for this report, almost every wholesale and retail dealer of the United States has cold-storage rooms of wmTktad in his warehouse, devoted exclusively to the storage of fish. Storage is almost invariably, with very few exceptions, at anTrate connected with dealing in fish, and there are very few of what might be called public storage warehouses for fish products exclusivVy Of the hundreds of cold-storage warehouses located along the lake shores, devoted exclusively to the storage of fish Stre operated by fish dealers, so far as can be ascertained. A single establishment has cold-storage capacity at Cleveland for 2 500 SiTarSrat Huron, Ohio, for 500 tons; a third, at Vermilion, for 450 tons, and a fourth, at Erie, Pa., for 150 tons. A single firm ""^d^S^^^i^^ *— * have much in common. The fish trade affords an excellent illustration, j.ne uu . F . ", „„„„«„,, HnV hprween the two A new company has recently been formed m Cincinnati, where a in ^^"^^^^^^^^X^ the Lakes, but "also from the Atlantic seaboard. That city will be la T ^SSB^teteSil^™ ll»P««rtoa^ theSouth. The plant will be built on the railroad. Several leading ^Xt^^^^^^ taMed in the newproject ' includins representatives at Cleveland ' Detroit * Buffal °' and Chicago. The plant will have a capacity of 800 tons. 1078 THE WAEEHOUSIKG INDtJSTEY. [OCTOBEB, The amount of cold-storage capacity on the southern shore of Lake Erie devoted exclusively to fish is reported by a leading repre- sentative of the trade as follows: Storage Capacity op Principal Lake Ekie Fish Markets. CITY. Tons. CITY. Tons. Buffalo 1,000 1,600 2,800 200 1,700 1,500 600 600 Erie Toledo STORAGE RATES ON FLOUR. Flour runs quite uniformly in the list of charges, ranging, however, from 3 to 4 cents per barrel (New Orleans) to 6 and 4 cents in Allegheny. A 4-cent rate is probably most usual (New York, Washington, Pittsburg, St. Louis, Portland, Me.) , but 5 cents is the charge in numerous places (Chicago, St. Joseph). At St. Paul, the leading center of flour production, the charge for storage reported was 2 cents the first month and 1 cent the second; in California, 25 to 40 cents per ton. The table of stocks of flour, which is given below, is possibly approximately complete. It, however, serves to point out the relative importance of different localities as storage centers for flour. Stocks of Flour in Leading Cities. [From the Daily Trade Bulletin, Chicsjo.] CITY. Sept. 1,1902. Sept. 1,1903. Oct. 1, 1902. Oct. 1,1903. Nov. 1,1902, Nov. 1, 1903. Philadelphia New York . . . Chicago St.' Louis Toledo Baltimore . . . Detroit Boston Milwaukee . . Duluth Total.. Barrels. 100,000 95, 800 29, 600 33,700 4,000 40,000 16,000 53,924 75,800 186,000 634, 824 Barrels. 55,000 71,100 34,000 52,460 3,000 39,000 6,000 63,686 48,450 202, 000 Barrels. 80, 000 116, 000 19, 500 28,932 •5,000 39,000 11,000 54,430 133, 350 198, 000 Barrels. 75,000 90,400 33, 700 48, 370 4,000 39, 000 7,000 64,530 86,700 224,000 Barrels. 65,000 113, 100 38,200 51,321 6,000 44,000 18,000 59, 673 127, 500 347,000 574, 696 685, 212 672,700 869,794 Barrels. 80, 000 95, 300 32, 800 '61,300 5,000 43,000 11,000 63, 134 107, 645 229,000 728,179 STORAGE RATES ON APPLES AND DRIED FRUITS. Storage on apples brought more definite replies. On these the rate of charge was 10 cents per barrel per month (Milwaukee, Cleveland, Columbus); 12J cents (Oshkosh) per month and 40 cents per season; 15 cents per month (Huntington, W. Va., Hamilton, Ohio, and Springfield, 111. ) ; 10 cents per box per month (Seattle and Philadelphia) ; 10 to 15 cents (Everett, Wash. ) ; 25 cents per box (San Francisco) ; 20 cents per first month and 15 cents succeeding, with 30 cents for season (Norfolk) ; 5 to 10 cents large and small crates (Richmond) ; 12J cents (Vermont and Pennsylvania) . In the apple region of New York State rates are reported for several different places. At Rochester 25 cents per barrel was quoted; 15 cents first month, 10 cents succeeding months (Lockport) ; 10 cents (Binghamton) ; 15 and 10 with season rate of 40 cents (Albion). At Omaha the rate given was 45 cents the season, and 50 cents at Arkansas City, Kans., at Olney and Flora, 111., in Benton County, Ark., and at Bentonville, Ark. In one instance a charge for fruits stored was mentioned of $50 per month for a room 300 square feet floor space. In the apple trade especially storage has caused changes by dividing up the movement of the crop among the different months of the year instead of congesting it into one or two months. For instance, during the month of November each year the export apple trade of the United States usually reaches its height. The movement begins in July, as soon as the early varieties appear upon the domestic markets, and continues until the following April, the months of May and June being the only ones in which exports of this fruit are unimportant. "Formerly," according to a recent report in the Crop Reporter, Department of Agriculture, "fully 80 per cent of the entire annual trade was done in autumn and December; but of late years cold storage and improvements in methods of packing and handling the fruit have tended decidedly to prolong the season of heavy exports, and to give both dealers and consumers the obvious benefits of a more equable distribution of supplies throughout the year. During the winter and spring months of the present year, for instance, exports of apples were largely in excess of those of the corresponding months of any previous year in the history of the trade. Even in May and June last upward of 20,000 bushels were exported — a relatively small quantity, it is true, but significant from the fact that ten years ago the trade during these two months was practically nil." The apple crop of the United States is estimated as amounting to 5,000,000 bushels per annum. From the same source of information (Crop Reporter) it is pointed out that "the States of principal apple production are mostly in the North and Middle West, and naturally the export movement is eastward from these producing centers to the great distributive markets, Boston and New York. These two ports practically monopolize the export apple trade of the country, handling, as they do, from 80 to 90 per cent of the total. The only other ports of at all noteworthy importance in this trade are San Francisco and Portland, Me., the former being the outlet for that small proportion of the California crop destined for Australia and the Occident, the latter being advantageously situated for the distribution of the exports of the Northeastern States." 1903.] THE WAEEHOUSING INDUSTEY. 1079 The table below shows at what ports of the United States the surplus apple crop has to find storage on its way out of the country: Exports of Apples from the United States. PORT OF EXPORT. Boston New York ] San Francisco Portland, Me All other ports '.'. Total, United States 1899 Barrels. 147, 857 188, 970 21,780 9,171 12, 444 380, 222 1900 Barrels. 81,493 380, 070 35, 675 12,108 17, 290 526,636 1901 Barrels. 374, 589 380,414 20, 496 92,458 15,716 883, 673 1902 Barrels. 130, 202 250, 010 26, 312 29, 557 23,638 459,719 Fruits yield as much as 10 cents per 100 pounds or 1J cents per case. A rate of $2 per ton per month is given, and another of 75 cents per ton (dried) in California. At Philadelphia 15 cents per barrel is reported, against 25 cents per barrel in New York. Arate of 15 cents per barrel the first month and 10 cents the next was given from Chicago. Nashville, Tenn., and some Illinois towns report a charge of 50 cents per barrel per month. Oranges and lemons were stored at 10 cents per box in Kansas City. Dried fruits bear a charge of one-eighth of 1 cent per pound generally, but a rate of one-tenth is quoted (New York). The associa- tion rate is 1J cents per 50-pound box and 2 cents per 100-pound bag. Oranges and lemons have been reported bearing from 5 to 10 cents per box. As one part of the fruit trade, the table below, from the Pacific Coast Fruit World, is given to show the geographical distribution of this species of fruit-receiving centers: Destinations of Principal Shipments of Fresh Deciduous Fruits from California, 1895-1902. DESTINATION. Chicago New York, Boston Philadelphia Minneapolis Baltimore Cincinnati Kansas City Montreal New Orleans Denver St. Louis St. Paul Omaha ,. Cleveland Pittshurg Buffalo Milwaukee England and Scotland Minor points: United States. Total 1895 Cars. 1,473 862 279 82 124 37 15 91 44 75 148 78 109 176 29 26 15 42 1896 Cars. 1,007 1,055 471 90 147 5 2 81 81 85 136 68 91 85 10 25 7 32 42 532 4,052 1897 Cars. 1,410 1,456 543 202 180 16 20 86 98 81 98 59 121 165 37 40 15 52 58 586 5,323 1898 Cars. 1,203 1,129 536 176 167 16 15 116 96 62 229 27 67 156 25 47 5 19 42 672 5,007 1899 Cars. 1,060 1,694 710 339 247 67 89 165 128 126 269 115 125 194 83 137 34 60 121 1,051 6,869 1900 Cars. 1,101 1,527 649 212 302 ■ 84 35 129 126 136 233 79 131 240 63 144 10 68 199 946 1901 Cars. 1,273 1,442 639 257 275 23 29 85 128 118 246 64 108 205 58 167 32 62 109 1,043 6,459 1902 Cars. 1,301 1,476 745 295 419 63 51 101 102 165 104 94 267 165 101 278 28 68 165 1,011 7,141 On the Pacific coast a method of charging is in vogue in which the unit is either the ton or the square foot of floor space. For all the articles which entered into inquiry as to rates of storage the charge of 75 cents per ton or 2 cents per square foot of floor space was entered on some of the schedules. RATES ON HOUSEHOLD GOODS, ETC. Household goods are charged for by the horse load as a unit, by the square foot of floor surface occupied, by the cubic foot, by the ton, by hundredweight, or by the room. The rate of $1 per one-horse load and $2 for a two-horse load applies to ordinary wagon loads quite generally. A Pittsburg quotation is $ 1.50 for a one-horse load, $3 for a two-horse load, and $4 for a van load. This last rate is also reported for Brooklyn. The provisional rate of $5 per van load is suggested in the Association Rate Guide (p. 155). The following quotations on household goods were found among the schedules answered: $2 per room ("Waterbury, Washington, Minneapolis); from $1 to $30 per room (Boston); $1.25 per load of 230 cubic feet (Baltimore); $2 to $2.50 per 500 cubic feet (Philadel- phia) ; 5 cents per square foot (Los Angeles and Pittsburg); 1 cent per cubic foot, 75 cents per ton, also 20 to 25 cents per ton (San Fran- cisco); $1 per ton (Port Huron), and 10 cents and 5 cents per 100 pounds (St. Paul). Matting is an oriental product, and enters into trade largely by way of the Pacific coast. Upon arrival there for distribution throughout the United States it may either be stored or loaded direct in cars. Hence the rate on the coast has averaged low. A rate per roll (100 pounds) at Tacoma was given at 2 \ cents; at San Francisco, one at 3 cents, another at 4 cents for the first month and 3 cents for the succeeding months; a third at 5 and 4 cents per month was mentioned. Other rates were 3 cents (Pittsburg), and 3 and 2 cents (St. Paul). The association rate on matting is 3 cents per 100-pound roll, with a labor charge of 1 cent. As an index to the value of this trade, the figures of imports into the United States may be reproduced. Most of the matting comes by way of the Pacific coast from the Orient, whence it is distributed in stores throughout the country. Imports of Matting and Mats for Floors, 1892-1902. YEARS. Value. YEARS. Value. YEARS. Value. Dollars. 1,637,473 1,665,106 1,874,977 1, 638, 638 1896 Dollars. 2, 777, 417 3, 922, 003 1,437,171 2, 651, 690 1900 Dollars. 2, 674, 911 2, 908, 469 3, 817, 866 1897 1901 1899 1080 THE WAREHOUSING INDUSTRY. [October,, Meats and poultry are quoted by the pound at figures ranging from one-fifth to one-half cent, though one-fourth cent for the first month and one-eighth cent for succeeding month (Pittsburg) appears to be more nearly the current average. Association Bates on Meats and Pork. ITEMS. Storage. Labor. Cents. It 30 12 U 4 6 Cents. i 10 4 i 2 2 Do Do Do Molasses is a standard article of storage at New Orleans. Two rates prevail there, one of 10 cents per barrel in winter and 5 cents in summer. The following rates have been reported at other points: 10 cents (Pittsburg), 20 and 10 cents (St. Paul), 15 and 10 cents (Augusta, Ga.), 10 and 5 cents (Portland, Me.), and 6 cents (Chicago). The Association Kate Guide rates are 10 cents per barrel of 450 pounds, 16 cents per hogshead of 800 pounds and 20 cents per tierce of 1,000 pounds. The chief primary market for molasses is New Orleans. In the commercial year ending August 28, 1903, a total of 3,561,184 bar- rels were received at New Orleans. Paper, like other articles of miscellaneous commercial units, has a varied rate of charge for storage. The bale rate of 5 and 4 cents and 15 cents per roll (Chicago) and ton rates of 40 cents (Pittsburg), 60 cents (St. Paul) are given. One ton rate is quoted as low as 20 to 30 cents. One dollar per 180 cubic feet is quoted as a Philadelphia fate. The Association Eate Guide gives 35 cents per ton as a standard rate of charge. Sugar enters into warehousing almost everywhere, but especially at seaboard cities. San Francisco reports a rate of 15 to 25 cents per ton; New Orleans, 25 cents per hogshead, and 4 to 5 cents per barrel; Portland, Me., one of 5 and 3 cents per barrel; New Haven, Conn., Council Bluffs, 6 cents (transfer and storage); and Louisville, 4 cents. Of the ports receiving foreign sugar in the United States, New York receives more than half, other ports ranking usually in this order: Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, New Orleans, and Baltimore. The greatest centers of stocks on the continent are on the north and south coasts of Cuba. The distribution of these crops is an important movement in our trade relations with the Tropics. For this reason the following table may serve a useful purpose, to show the exports and the stocks at the leading Cuban ports of shipment. Statement of Expoets and Stocks op Cuban Sugar Chop, August 31, 1902 and 1903. [From Joaquin Guma-Frederico Mejer in Louisiana Planter.] PORTS OF SHIPMENT. EXPOBTS. STOCKS. 1902 190S 1902 1903 Bags. 303,638 732,438 752, 419 842, 837 387, 587 230,015 294, 525 67, 769 140, ISO 139,450 330,661 15,533 66,654 Bags. 396, 306 1,024,920 836, 456 1, 157, 572 496, 620 329,223 287, 066 100,082 275, 325 135, 846 272, 940 7,730 85,880 Bags. 600,040 204,931 314, 303 74, 123 38,468 122, 055 9,036 9,083 5,240 Bags. 530, 479 227,758 430, 092 47,210 50, 967 117, 983 6,033 5,328 12, 241 7,235 9,930 Total 4, 303, 706 614, 815 5,405,966 772,281 1, 396, 755 199,536 1,425,780 203, 683 The sugar crop of Cuba was estimated at 1,023,030 tons in 1903; in 1902, at 870,054, and 636,376 tons in 1901. In 1903, 82 per cent of the Cuban supply came to the United States to November 18. (Willet and Gray. ) Tea is stored at the rate of 3 cents per chest of 100 pounds (Hartford, Pittsburg, St. Paul, Boston), but few cities gave this item of charge in any form. A charge of $8 per car is mentioned (Kansas City). Storage Rates on Tobacco at Twelve Localities. LOCALITIES. Bale. Hogshead. Case. LOCALITIES. Bale. Hogshead. Case. Cents. Cents. 25 I Cents. 10 Cents. 10 Cents. 25®35 20® 30 25 20 Cents. 12 1 15 and 8 \ 8@10 8 Philadelphia ) 10@25 10 New Orleans 40 85 15 10 ol5 and 6 10 a Sumatra 1 Habana. 1903.] THE WAEEHOUSING DTOUSTEY. 1081 Wool storage is a feature of New England warehousing. Wool storage is reported at 6 cents per bag and 10 cents per bale at Hartford, 6 cents at Providence, and 8 cents at Portland, Me. The rate given elsewhere was 10 cents (Pittsburg), 10 to 20 cents (Philadelphia), 10 cents (Chicago), 6 cents per bag (Louisville), $8 per car (Kansas City), 10 cents per sack (Cincinnati), 10 to 25 cents per bale (New York), 10 to 20 cents (Albany), 6 cents (Boston), and 50 cents per ton (Salt Lake City). CHARGES FOR SERVICES OTHER THAN STORAGE. i ^ On the question whether separate charges on storage are customarily made for insurance, postage, marking, sorting, cooperage, repiling, inspection, and interest on overdue charges, the practice differs much as to each of these charges. Out of 169 reporting on the question of whether a separate charge is made for insurance, 72 report yes, and 97 no. This feature of the services of ware- housemen, while quite well established as a legitimate subject of charge, is still, in the majority of cases, done without charge. In most cases it would seem to be one of those things which is done for the purpose of saving the customer trouble and done for nothing because somebody else as a competitor does it for nothing. Postage to the business firm, in which notification of receipts or shipments or communications of various kinds is frequent, becomes one of the considerable items of expense. It is one of those items which in almost any business may be put down as one of the fixed charges upon the business, and yet in such a business as warehousing, it is not always easy to say, or if it is easy to say, it does not always seem easy to keep account of such a small item as a postage stamp charged against a storer of goods. This may account for the fact that out of 151 establishments reporting on this feature only 17 state that they make a practice of charging postage, while 135 firms do not. Marking goods, including presumably labelling for assortment and tagging for shipment and identification, is another item of charge, which while it belongs to the routine of caring for storage goods, is of such a nature as to fall much more heavily upon some kinds of goods than on others. The cost of doing this is to be made somewhere, and if it is not charged against each customer separately, it falls with undue weight on other commodities than those whose handling causes the burden of expense. Neither can the warehousemen lose sight of this cost, nor is it fair to charge it upon the business as a whole, if indeed such can be done without driving away trade. The only fair way would seem to be to charge each consignment of goods with its own cost of marking, etc. Yet this does not seem to be the practice, except among 48 of the persons reporting. Of 187 answers to this question, 48 reply that separate charges were made for marking and 139 that no charges were made. Still less general is the practice of making a separate charge for negotiating loans. This service of acting as a go-between for the storer and the lender raises the question of the expediency of the warehousemen having anything to do with sharing in the work or the pay for such advances of money. To say the least, it complicates the trusteeship which he assumes when he receives into storage property for which he is bound in law and morals to care for. Less than a third of the persons replying participate in negotiating loans. Out of 134 reports received on this question, only 40 answer affirmatively and 94 negatively. A diametrically opposite custom prevails as to a separate charge for sorting and packing. Out of 173 replies received, 139 state that a separate charge is made for this service, while 34 make no charges. In all the features of separate charges this seems to be by far the most firmly established one. A separate charge for cooperage in 114 cases out of 145 is mentioned, and 31 report negatively. Eepiling is charged for in 95 cases out of 148, and 53 report negatively. Inspection does not seem to be so generally charged for, although out of 131 replies 52 report yes and 79 report no. Interest on overdue charges is not as a rule considered to be worthy of special charge, in practice at any rate only 29 out of 146 replies report making separate charge and 117 make no separate charge. Number op Firms Charging and Not Charging for Specified Items of Service. items. Obtaining insurance Postage Marking Negotiating loans Sorting and packing Cooperage Kepiling Inspection Interest on overdue charges Total firms. 169 151 187 134 173 145 148 1S1 146 Yes. 72 17 48 40 139 114 95 52 29 No. 97 134 139 94 34 31 53 79 117 Prom this table it is apparent that the majority of warehousemen do not charge for obtaining insurance, postage, marking, negotiating loans, inspection, and interest on overdue charges, but that special charges are made by the majority for sorting and packing, cooperage, and for repiling. BASIS OF CHARGES AND TERMS OF PAYMENT. Answers to the question whether charges for storage were based upon value or upon space would indicate that the space basis is almost exclusively the consideration which enters into the rate. A summary of replies received shows 157 reporting that they base their charges on space only, while 26 base their charges on weight or tonnage; 21, upon value and space; 14 charge per unit of article, that is, per bale, bushel, ton, case, or package; 4 base their charges on value only; 2 on space and weight, and 2 others indicate that they regard customs'of the business and competition as the chief determinants. _ The financial methods of warehousemen are somewhat indirectly revealed in the reports showing times when charges are possible, 111 reporting payment of charges at delivery, 99 monthly, and 47 quarterly; 25 in advance and 25 apparently at the convenience of the customer. No. 4 8 1082 THE WAEEfiOVSMG ESDUSTBY. [October, COST OF HANDLING A TON OF GOODS. Selecting from among the different reports those which seem to have been prepared with a greater or less degree of exactness, the following statement might be made of the results: That a cost of from 40 to 60 cents per ton in a well-managed establishment would come very near being the average cost. One informant says "Our records show that it costs 40 cents per ton in and out on all goods and including idle time of man." Another reports that the handling of grain costs about 35 cents per ton. The handling of cotton js given at from 20 to SO cents per ton. Household goods are said to cost from $1 to §1.25 per ton, although another figure is $3 per ton, followed closely by 51. One estimates but 30 cents as the cost per ton. Apparently the makers of these quotations had in mind the charge for putting the goods in storage or taking them out, so that this would seem to include storage as well as labor of handling. Molasses in and out is quoted- as costing 3J cents per barrel, including the total labor cost (New Orleans); sugar, 3 cents per barrel. Flour is quoted as exceeding §3 per car or 5 cents a barrel for handling. A Kansas City report states that the cost of handling house- hold goods per car is from $2 to 83; paper, ?2 to $4 per car; sugar, $2 to $4; tobacco, $2 to 84; tea,. $2 to $3, and wool, $2 to $3. At Portland, Oreg., the following items are given as costs of handling: Bagging and burlap, $4 per car; coffee, $5 per car; flour, 85 per car; molasses, 65 per car; sugar, $3. 50 per car. The cost of handling a ton of goods varies from time to time. One informant gives the cost as ranging from 15 to 20 cents per ton "when reasonably busy," indicating probably that the volume of goods handled materially affects the cost per unit. Another fact to be noted is that in estimating costs of this character it is necessary to take a large volume of business extending over a comparatively long period of time. The cost in a month of heavy receipts and shipments would not compare favorably in a month of light receipts and shipments. Nor would the cost of any particular class of goods compare with a materially different class so far as handling is concerned. Secondly, the idea to be kept in mind is that of the joint cost, which is made up from, so to speak, of various elements of cost which belong to the establishment's business as a whole. Evidently a considerable number of the informants had very different elements of cost in view in making their answers. The question was intended to bring out primarily what was the labor cost of handling a ton of goods. The following table contains twenty-three items representing the costs reported at different cities. Reported Cost oe Handling a Ton op Specified Commodities. COMMODITIES. San Fran- cisco. Galves- ton. Lowell. Mem- phis. New York. Omaha. Philadelphia. Pitts- burg. St. Paul. Salt Lake City. Cents. 20 20 Cents. 20 12 Cents. 50 50 50 40 40 Cents. Cents. 40 30 Cents. 40 Cents. 12 . 11 Cents. 12 Cents. 40 75 Cents. 54 [Cents. 20 25 25 25 Cents. Cents. 15 10 7 6 30 20 20 20 25 15 a3 15 12 45 30 40 70 12 11 13 15 13 17 25 25 17 50 15 15 40 40 25 12* 60 60 54 40 40 25 50 35 100 50 40 25 20 25 20 25 30 40 pish 15 15 15 25 20 15 30 30 10 30 12 40 40 12 14 15 15 17 17 25 12 cl5 6 72 100 50 10 40 300 60 40 35 25 20 15 20 100 56 Metals 15® 30 20 20 15 25 20 20 30 40 40 40 80 12 12 13 12 13 13 12 15 12 12 12 25 10 6 15 10 20 15 12J 10 10 50 50 50 12 30 30 40 40 12 30 50 50 50 25 50 40 22.4 63.3 13.5 41.6 39.5 12.7 18.6 56.1 59.2 34.6 13 a Per hale. i Dried. c Not including apples in barrels. It is evident from the above table that the item of cost per ton is much lower at southern localities than at northern ones, comparing New Orleans and Memphis with New York and Lowell. The lower estimate is to be expected from the generally lower rate of wages paid for labor in the South, though the. actual cost may be greater. Cost op Handling Selected Articles per Ton. CITIES. Bagging. Coffee. Molasses. Sugar. Cents. 10 Cents. Cents. 10 7 15 50 12 40 Cents. 10 7 12 50 12 40 124 Do Do 50 15 30 40 12 45 10 New York, N.Y 1903.] THE WAEEHOTJSING INDUSTEY. 1083 EXTERNAL RELATION^ OF WAREHOUSING. LOCATION OF PLANTS. On the location of warehouses with regard to railroad tracks on the water's edge it may be said that the general tendency is to connect warehousing structures with transportation in order to cut out the charges of handling, which enter so largely into the cost of warehousing. The difference between these costs, between that of the United States and foreign countries, has in known cases resulted in the transportation of goods to foreign warehouses from the United States for the purpose of storage and later return for consumption in this country. Large cities are extremely expensive places for the moving of all kinds of commodities. Hence, wherever arrangements can be made, large storage establishments are built not only near to the water's edge but also so as to connect with railroads by branch lines or spurs or belt lines so as to receive and ship goods without trucking charges. This is particularly the case with cold-storage companies. The new cold-storage plant of the Chicago Cold Storage Warehouse Company, a structure 8 stories high, with a capacity of 2,000,000 cubic feet, which is built to accommodate 12,000,000 pounds of butter, 200,000 cases of eggs, 3,000,000 pounds of cheese, and 100,000 barrels of apples, and also other quantities of poultry, milk, meat, dried fruits, and other perishable articles is built directly on the line of a local railroad company which gives direct communication with other railroads in Chicago. The large storage establishments in Jersey City and other termini of Greater New York on the west side of the Hudson were located with reference to this problem of con- necting interior traffic with ocean steamship lines. At New Orleans warehouses are generally located at or close to the river front. This is especially the case with railroad warehouses, which are among the finest modern buildings of a great area used for accumulating and handling the freight in and out of steamship lines at this port. The four leading railroads reaching this port have facilities of this sort, which they are constantly enlarging. The sugar and coffee sheds, devoted more exclusively to the receipt of these tropical products, are, of course, located at the water's edge. Practically all of the 40 warehouse buildings used as public warehouses in New Orleans are so situated as to be reached by spur tracks from railroads. This enables them to handle goods directly, although none of the general warehouse companies, though some of the railroads, are located directly on the river bank, yet all are near at hand, reducing costs to a minimum so far as distance is concerned. Possibly no port in the United States is better provided with storage facilities of various kinds than Boston through its various docks and elevators connecting with railroad companies with terminal wharves and docks on the waters of the bay and on the Charles and Mystic rivers. Several years ago an inquiry into the policy of the port on matters relating to docks, wharves, and warehouses was made the subject of a State inquiry under the head of the Report upon Docks and Terminal Facilities, issued January, 1897. This document is filled with valuable data in the form of the collective experience of various ports in different parts of the world in their effort to meet the great competition among ports for traffic by means of a wiser policy of port charges and costs of handling. Even at the present date the information contained therein is more than of historical value, because it bears directly upon the necessity of locating warehouses at points where they can serve trade with the least possible expense of handling when the breaking of cargo becomes a necessity of commerce. Location of Warehouses of 280 Firms Reporting. location. On railroad On water On rail and water . . . Neither rail or water Various Total Finns re- porting. 150 7 27 91 5 280 Per cent. 53.6 2.5 9.7 32.5 1.7 100.0 From this table it appears that 53.6 per cent of the establishments entering into the count are located on railroad tracks, and 32.5 per cent are located on neither rail tracks nor on water. Such matters as the location of a merchandise warehouse in a residence section of a city and a furniture and household goods house in a business section must increase the cost of storage. Economy of location is one of the fundamental problems in the business. CONSIDERATIONS DETERMINING LOCATION. Location should include reference to the geographical scope of business to be done. This includes taking into account the kind of goods, the amount of goods, and the average distance of haulage, nearness to tracks, water front, and points of delivery. The question of the best policy to follow is not always one which can be considered from the standpoint of a company having a given amount of money to invest in a given town in warehousing. It is more often a question of additional buildings, or new buildings to supplement already existing facilities. Then the question of what might have been the best policy must give place to that of what the best policy is under the circumstances. Among these circumstances of a determining character is the growth of density in population. The question of the probability of removal or consolidation of markets in a city should not be overlooked. Likewise the tendency among particular trades to concentrate and to change from one location to another. In New York City the removal of most of the meat and poultry traders from the old Washington Market, in 1887, to the vicinity of Fulton street, and the opening of the new West Washington Market required a kind of readjustment which it is desirable to avoid by anticipation if possible. The change of railway terminals also enters into the question of location. Possibility of competition is another element to be considered in location. A company reporting on this subject states'thata careful Studv o^f the situation showed that there were no sites available that a competitor in the cold-storage business could acquire and be successful The business requires cheap water for condensing, cheap coal, accessibility to railroads, and water transportation. This company pumps its own water from the harbor, gets its coal at tide water, has connection by tracks with railroads, and operates its own wharves. 1084 THE WAEEHOUSING INDUSTEY. [October, The enormous cost of land in some localities sometimes makes it impossible to locate a warehouse in the vicinity of consuming sections. The cost of land on the water front of some localities presents the same difficulties from excessive cost of ground space. One of the largest and most successful refrigerating companies supplying an eastern city, after viewing the situation, came to the conclusion that it was impossible to erect and operate a cold-storage plant on a large scale to advantage, from both a practical and an economical standpoint, within city limits. The cost of land and the limitation which that factor placed upon construction intensified the difficulty of the problem to such a degree as to make it advisable to select a location where greater freedom of development could be realized. More vital than location, with reference to delivery, is that of nearness to railway terminals by which the supply is received. Cold storage should preferably be located so as to receive supplies as directly as possible from the cars without- carting. At what point on the railway tracks to select the site would be determined primarily by the accessibility to the retail trade or central produce markets. Where export trade enters into the question, expeditious delivery to wharves might have to control the selection. £ W Y O R K BAY DIAGRAM NO. 5.— PLAN OF BUSH TERMINAL COMPANY'S WAREHOUSE AND WHARF PLANT, BROOKLYN, N. Y., SHOWING RELATION OF WAREHOUSES AND CAR TRACKS TO OCEAN STEAMSHIP PIERS. Above is given Diagram No. 5 of the plan of the Bush Terminal Company's warehousing plant, with connections by rail and water, at Brooklyn, on New York Bay. The general purpose governing the arrangement is to eliminate the costs of handling goods by bringing freighted cars to the ship's side. Produce requiring refrigeration is held on the dock in the cars in which they arrive, and is re-iced as necessary until loaded on board the ocean liners. Considerations which enter into the selection of a site are well formulated in the account given of the organization of the Gesell- schaft fiir Markt- und Kiihlhallen, in Berlin, Germany. « In this case, in deciding the question of a suitable site, the following important requirements were taken into consideration: First. The site had to be as central as possible, so that the delivery of goods, which might be expected to reach a very large amount, might be conveniently and economically carried on, as well as the delivery to town customers, at as little expense as possible in time, and, therefore, money, of the large quantity of ice to be manufactured. Second. To accommodate this large traffic, the site selected must have as many and as convenient approaches as possible from the adjoining streets. Third. For the accommodation of the heavy wagon traffic into and from Berlin, convenient connections with the railway and canal systems had to be arranged for. Fourth. Complete facilities had to be provided for the supply and delivery to waste of the large quantity of water that would be required in working the refrigerating plant. SWITCHING CHARGES, Out of 177 firms reporting on the question whether railroads make switching charges, 39 firms report that no charges were made and 107 firms that such charges were made. The practice of paying switching charges is affected somewhat by the question whether the warehouse or the city is located at competing points or whether the goods to be stored are received from competing lines. Freight received from competing lines is not subject to a switching charge in the case of 31 firms reporting, but is subject to such a charge if a Cold Storage, July, 1903, page 10. 1903.] THE WAEEHOUSING INDUSTEY. 1085 brought over a line having no competition. On the question as to whether a separate charge is made for labor, 71 firms report no charge, 3o firms report making a charge varying from 15 cents to $4 per ton. For labor charge connected with handling goods at the Uoosac tunnel docks at Boston reference should be made to the topic of railway warehousing. Payment for lighterage is reported by 15 firms, and 20 other firms report that no such payment is made. One instance is mentioned ot payment at times and not at others, according to conditions. Maximum and minimum rates of charge for cartage from railway station to warehouse are shown in the next table. COST OF CARTAGE BETWEEN THE WAREHOUSE AND SHIPPING OR RECEIVING POINT IN THE LOCALITY. One would naturally expect a great variation. In the cotton section of the country the rate per bale from the railroad to the warehouse is reported as being as low as 5 cents; at Montgomery, Ala., a rate of 8 cents^from warehouse to railroad was given, and at New Orleans the rs.te of 10 cents to 12J cents per bale inward and 30 cents outward charge. At Louisville, Ky., a rate of 25 to 50 cents per hogshead of tobacco was reported, and at Richmond a 25-cent rate. At New Orleans one report stated that charges in handling cotton were based on distance, as follows: For 5 squares, 25 cents per bale; 10 squares, 35 cents; 15 squares, 50 cents; 20 squares, 60 cents; 25 squares, 70 cents; over 25 squares, 90 cents, though the average distance of cartage was said to be 5 squares. Possibly the heaviest charge reported for cartage was that mentioned for conveying goods from Brooklyn to New York City, being at the. rate of 5 cents per hundred or $1 per ton. This charge may possibly include ferriage. Average Rate of Charge foe Cartage between Railboads and Warehouses. DESIGNATION. Firms report- ing. Maximum. Minimum. DESIGNATION. Firms report- ing. Maximum. Minimum. 40 7 20 20 1 1 Dollars. 10.00 .12i 2.00 .10 4.00 .01 Dollars. 0.25 .05 .40 .OH 4.00 .01 1 3 3 1 1 2 Dollars. 0.03 .10 .50 2.00 .02$ 1.25 Dollars. 0.03 .01 .25 2.00 .02$ 1.00 Bale Ton Hundredweight Car Bag Distance from railway station may have little to do with economy of location for a warehouse which is engaged chiefly in the storage of goods of local origin and destination. There are, however, few which are so limited in their scope. The next table shows the distance from railway station as given by 107 firms reporting. Avebage Distance between Railroad Station and "Warehouses. FIRMS REPORT- ING. Distance. FIRMS REPORT- ING. Distance. FIRMS REPORT- ING. Distance. FIRMS REPORT- ING. Distance. 1 4 8 3 14 6 28 Miles. t 1 I i 1 5 1 1 1 6 1 2 Miles. li 1* lto3 lto5 2 2to3 3 2 1 2 3 1 6 Miles. 4 Feet. 100 200 300 800 1,200 5 1 5 Feet. 1,500 1,800 2,000 107 Including haulage to and from residences or places of delivery and receipt of goods, the next table gives the average distance of haulage of goods by firms in the cities mentioned, according to statements in the schedule of inquiry. Average Distance of Hauling Goods in Localities Specified. LOCALITY. Average distance hauled. LOCALITY. Average distance hauled. LOCALITY. Average distance hauled. Miles. 1 A. X. A 1.2 1.5 i 1 i 1 3 Miles. i f i* li li i i i li 1 Miles. 1 li 8 1 1.6 i 1 1* i 1 A Omaha, Nebr Jersev Citv, N.J Buffalo,N.Y New York City, N.Y Portland, Oreg Philadelphia, Pa Pittsburg, Pa Providence, R.I Galveston, Tex Houston, Tex Norfolk, Va Seventy two firms report no extra charge for labor. One charges 15 cents per ton; one, 15 to 35 cents; eight, 20 cents; four, 25 cents; six, 30 cents; one, 30 to 60 cents; one, 40 cents; two, 50 cents; one, 75 cents; two, $1; one, $2.50, and one, $4. 1086 THE WAREHOUSING DTDUSTEY. [October, ATTITUDE OF BANKS TOWARD WAREHOUSE RECEIPTS AS COLLATERAL. In answer to the question whether banks are favorably disposed to the use of storage merchandise as collateral, there seems to be a general consensus of returns on the undesirability of household goods as collateral in the estimation of the banking community. Out of 186 firms making reply to this question 148 answer in the affirmative, namely, that banks are, apart from household goods, favorably disposed to recognize stored merchandise as a suitable collateral. A total of 30, however, report negatively, and 8 state specifically that household goods as collateral are not desirable. A highly intelligent discussion of the question, which concerns bank loans on warehouse receipts, is furnished by Mr. George H. Hull, of the American Pig Iron Storage Warrant Company of New York, in reply to the regular inquiry, and is given in its complete form as follows: The banks of the United States, as far as their relations to warehouse receipts are concerned, may be divided into three classes: First. Those which loan on warehouse receipts freely, with little or no investigation, but simply on the consideration that loans on actual merchantable property, in the hands of an authorized warehouseman, are as safe, or safer, than loans on indorsements or on financial credit. The above class is an injury to the warehousing business, just as any influence which encourages loose methods is an injury to the business in which these loose methods exist. Second. Those which Joan on warehouse receipts, only after they have acquired an intimate and favorable knowledge of the ware- housing company and of the methods under which its business is conducted. This second class is probably the most numerous and is certainly the most useful, inasmuch as the care and caution exercised in loaning have helped to encourage business done under proper methods, have helped to discourage business done under improper methods, and have thereby reduced the percentage of fraudulent and worthless warehouse receipts. Third. Those which will not loan on warehouse receipts at all. This third class is small in number and probably exists in consequence of its members having at some time made losses on warehouse- receipt collateral. The banks which now belong to this third class probably once belonged to the first class. That loose methods do exist in warehousing is very apparent to anyone familiar with the business. There is hardly a State in the Union in which frauds in this business have not occurred. In fact, the warehousing business in the United States for the last fifty years has been as faulty as the old State banking system which existed before Secretary Chase inaugurated the national banking system. In those old days banks printed and issued their notes at will, with little or no supervision or check, just as now most warehousing companies can issue their warehouse receipts at will. Just as long as such loose methods continue in warehousing frauds will continue in the warehousing business. I believe it is possible and practicable to inaugurate a warehousing system in the United States, which would make the holder of a warehouse receipt just as secure as the holder of a national-bank note. To do this the warehousing system should partake of the same elements of supervision, security, and checks which now hedge about tbe national banking system. This supervision might be exercised by the Government, or it might be exercised by one parent company. If it were exercised by a parent company, the parent company should act in its relations with the local and individual companies just as the Government now acts with the local and individual national banks. In such a system it would not be practicable to include household furniture nor articles of general merchandise which are stored and delivered in small quantities. The business conducted under the parent company should be confined to staple articles which are warehoused in large quantities, such as pig iron, lumber, cotton, and grain. As an instance of how the proposed warehousing system should partake of the same elements of supervision, security, and check which now hedge about the national banking system, I would suggest that in the same manner that the Government now supplies unsigned notes to national banks the parent company should supply unsigned warehouse receipts to the local individual warehousing companies. These receipts should be engraved by the parent company and should be for stated amounts, just as the national-bank notes are engraved by the Government and are for stated sums. When a delivery is made from a warehouse it should be for the whole quantity covered by one receipt, and a receipt should be simulta- neously canceled and returned to the parent company. No fractional receipts or deliveries should be made. Under such a system the records of the parent company would at all times show the amount of receipts each individual company had in its possession, unused, or outstanding, for any given staple, and by an examination of the warehouse could ascertain whether the goods on store corresponded to the outstanding warehouse receipts. The parent company should be made responsible for any fraud of the individual companies, and the individual companies should be required to furnish bond to the parent company or deposit securities with the parent company of sufficient amount to protect all receipts in their possession or outstanding. The above is given simply as an illustration. Of course there are other precautions which should be included in the system, just as there are other precautions included in the national banking system. With the above and these other precautions it could be made impossible for the individual company to issue receipts without first having taken the goods into their possession, and equally impossible for the individual company to deliver goods out of their possession without having first canceled and filed with the parent company the warehouse receipt which had been issued on said goods. Warehouse receipts issued under such a system would be sought for by lenders of money all over the United States. They would soon be listed by the prominent exchanges, and through exchange dealings would command a large share of the available cheap money of the country. Next to a sound financial system there is no other one thing which would contribute so greatly to continued prosperity of the business of the country as the inauguration of a perfectly safe warehousing system. Exhaustive research into the cause of industrial depressions has satisfied me that these depressions come chiefly from abnormally high prices. The stupendous business of this country is nothing more than the aggregation of the acts of individuals. When the individual contemplates improvements and construction and finds that these improvements or construction will cost him 100 per cent more than they would have cost a year or two before, he naturally reasons that such abnormal prices can not last, and that by waiting one or two years he can make his improvements or additions for probably half the money it would cost him if made while prices were abnormally high. The prudent investor therefore decides to wait, and it is this waiting of the vast aggregation of individuals which has been the cause of the indui-trial depressions which have come so mysteriously to the great manufacturing nations when all other conditions seemed to favor continued prosperity. No great revival in business has ever started in this country except on low prices. No advance of 80 to 100 per cent in constructive materials has ever occurred in this country which has not brought a sudden termination to this prosperity. The high prices to which constructive materials advanced to in 1899 stopped construction in 1900. The quick and great decline in the prices of constructive materials which occurred in the latter half of 1900 revived construction in 1901. The enormous building in 1899 was mostly the carrying out of contracts made at the low prices of 1897 and 1898. When in 1900 those who contemplated building came to face the enormous cost most of them decided to wait; new construction almost ceased; con- structive materials accummulated on all hands; prices dropped quickly almost to the basis of 1898; these low prices immediately revived business; immense contracts were entered into on this new basis and this caused the enormous construction of 1901 and 1902. Prices have again advanced largely, and will again check construction unless prices quickly decline. 1903.] THE WABEHOUSISTG ISTDUSTBY. 1087 Tn iMs™ZT!r t ?T C r C T? b f ca « s . e the stock of materials on hand, added to what can be produced, will not supply the demand. ™nnth* ^Lwli •* i i y yS ? t0 ? k -?^ lron on hand and were Producing at the rate of about 9,000,000 tons; the demand within six l^r+tn^J. o' a , a y ear ^ build anew furnace; it was impossible to supply the demand, and the average price of the seven lmpoi tent iron and steel constructive materials advanced an average of 165 per cent. =™ I ®, only practical way of preventing these enormous advances in prices is to accumulate during dull periods sufficient materials to = i£ 7 tn ® e P orra . OU8 demand in seasons of revival. Such an accumulation can only be accomplished by inaugurating a warehousing system which will make the receipts issued under that system as safe a collateral for loans as are the Government bonds. History snows tnat, under our present system, neither the manufacturer nor consumer of iron will themselves carry large stocks, lae average stock ot iron carried m the United States by manufacturers within the last fifteen years was less than twenty-three days' production. _ in boot land, where they have a model pig iron warehousing system, the average stock for the last sixty years has been more than six months production, and at one period they carried more than twelve months' production for five years in succession. \v hen we store up grain during the two or three months of harvest in sufficient quantities to last until the next harvest it is not regarded as over proauction, because we have become accustomed to this wise provision. When, during the six or seven years of dullnets, we store up sufficient quantities of other staple articles to supply the demand during two or three years of great activity, we will no longer regard that as over production. The above, in brief, is the outline of the reasons for my belief that a safe and comprehensive storage system is only second in importance to a sale and comprehensive currency system. CASH ADVANCES BY WAREHOUSEMEN. On the question of the practice of making advances or negotiating loans on goods in the warehouseman's own warehouse, 251 firms made replies, of which 83 state that such practice is participated in by them, and 165 firms answer in the negative. Whatever this fact may mean to rhe trade, it is clear that fully one-third make such advances or negotiations and two-thirds do not. At any rate, the making of advances or negotiations of loans by the warehouseman on goods in store in his establishment puts him in a position of divided responsibility and would, on general principles, tend to weaken the confidence of the public in his fiduciary efficiency. On the other hand, if the advancing of money or negotiating of loans on warehouse property is left to persons who are entirely disassociated from the actual custodian of the goods, the tendency would be to materially strengthen the position of the warehouseman as a factor in the com- mercial community. This is one of the points at which discussion would aid in developing clearer ideas on the question of the economic responsibility of the warehouseman. The provision of the national banking law by which an officer of a bank is not permitted to borrow above a certain limit from the bank in which he holds an official position is suggestive of the limitation which might be well thrown around warehousing. PERCENTAGE BASIS OF COLLATERAL LOANS. To the question, "To what per cent of the value of the goods stored are loans made," the following table is the answer. The answers are tabulated, by cities and States, for 121 firms. Percentage of Value op Stored Goods on which Loans ake Made. CITY. Sioux City Philadelphia . . . Do Toledo Brooklyn Macon Augusta Lynn Port Enron Minneapolis MeKinney ., Columbus Canton Cincinnati Now York Troy New York Do Philadelphia ... Pittsburg Philadelphia ... Chicago Portland New Orleans ... New York Providence Norfolk Dallas Syracuse New York Albany Jersey City Newport News . Norfolk Petersburg Salt Lake City.. Kansas City .... Baltimore Do Chicago Savannah State. Iowa Pennsylvania .. do Ohio New York Georgia ......do Massachusetts . - Michigan Minnesota Texas South Carolina . Ohio do New York do do do Pennsylvania .. do do Illinois Maine Louisiana New York Rhode Island... Virginia Texas New York do do New Jersey Virginia do do TTtah Missouri Maryland do Illinois Georgia Per cent loaned. 75 10 12i 5 75 75 80 50 20 75 90 80 50 90 50 60-75 50-60 65-80 15 80 60 80 50-75 75-90 75-90 70 60 50 50-60 60-70 661-75 50-60 80 75 75 50 50 75 80-90 75-100 10 CITY. Philadelphia . . San Francisco - Portland Lawrence Portland Kansas City . . . Binghamton .. Fort Smith Oakland Los Angeles... Hartford Washington . . . Milwaukee Oshkosh San Francisco . Jacksonville. . . Do Richmond Norfolk Rutland Sqranton York Pittsburg Cleveland TJtica New York Syracuse Troy New York Do Linfield Little Falls.... Do Buffalo Geneva Jersey City Omaha Hastings Sedalia Chattanooga . . Chicago State. Pennsylvania California Oregon Massachusetts Oregon Missouri New York Arkansas California do Connecticut District of Columbia. Wisconsin do California Florida .do. Virginia do Vermont Pennsylvania . do do Ohio New York do do do do do Pennsylvania . New York do do do New Jersey Nebraska ....do Missouri Tennessee Illinois Per cent loaned. 60-75 75 85-90 80 75 33f 75 SO 50 50-75 75 75-80 75 70-75 66 75 75-85 60-70 66J 60-90 60-70 60 75 70 75 75 331 75-80 75 80 60-80 50-75 75 60-90 75 75 50-75 60 75 85 50 CITY. Columbus Lowville Kansas City Charlotte Pine Bluff Alameda County . New Orleans St. Louis St. Paul Detroit Kalamazoo Duluth ,.. Concordia Minneapolis Baltimore Topeka Indianapolis Los Angeles Bentonville Los Angeles Buffalo St. Louis New Orleans St. Joseph St. Paul Boston St. Louis Philadelphia San Francisco fit. Paul Philadelphia Do Do Do Omaha New York Memphis Wheeling Toledo State. South Carolina . New York Missouri North Carolina. Arkansas California Louisiana Missouri Minnesota Michigan do Minnesota Kansas Minnesota Maryland Kansas Indiana California Arkansas California New York Missouri Louisiana Missouri Minnesota Massachusetts.. Missouri Pennsylvania . . California Minnesota Pennsylvania .. do do do Nebraska New York Tennessee West Virginia . . Ohio Per cent loaned. 80 75 75 75 75 50 50-66| 60-90 75 80 50-75 75 75 80 I'.'IS- 75 60-75 50-90 50 50 60-90 75 75 25-50 75 75 75-80 75 66* 5 75 70-80 60-75 66f-70 75 75-80 75 75 60-90 COLLECTIVE ACTIVITY AMONG LOCAL WAREHOUSEMEN. Associative activities among warehousemen in given localities do not seem to have received much development. In answer to the Question as to the extent of local organization for the purpose of mutual benefit in the way of enlisting legal services, promoting legislation, etc 244 firms replied of which 21 state that such local organizations have been made or have participated in organized effort, and that 223 localities furnished no instance of any such effort. In considering this fact it would seem that in this line of industry as well as in many others especially in large cities, the interests of the different kinds of warehousemen are so diverse and in many respects remote 1088 THE WAEEHOUSING INDUSTEY. [October, from one another as to form little basis of association. Then, also the competitive relation must always be kept in mind as an element which makes for separation rather than for association. Until problems arise which require associative solution, that is, until the cooperative interest transcends the competitive interest on some question or set of questions, each establishment pursues its own way- more or less independently. It is only when some condition arises or some legislation is proposed or some step in administration ia taken which consciously affects the interests of the warehousemen in common, that one can look for the occasion of coordinating so many different individuals or establishments in a common activity for their own protection. Anything beyond this in the way of associative organization must be -left to the few representatives of the trade who see far enough in advance to take time by the forelock and work out the problems which have begun to present themselves in one form or another. These pioneer representatives are the ones who make rules and establish the customs of the trade in advance of the great majority who benefit by them, though they are entirely ignorant of the experiences and costs of the advance work which has been done by those before them. Among the instances of organized effort, one may be taken by way of illustration of the purposes by which collective action may occupy itself. The New York Furniture Warehousemen's Association was organized October 15, 1897, by a number of warehousemen in New York City for the promotion of friendly feeling and for mutual protection and assistance. As some of the out-of-town correspondents of members were desirous of becoming allied with the association, provision was made whereby any warehouseman handling household goods outside of the city of New York, acceptable to the membership, might become an associate member. As the work of the association developed, and the enactment of special legislation became necessary, provision was made for enlarging the scope of the association from a local to a State organization. REPORTED TENDENCIES IN WAREHOUSING. One of the noteworthy tendencies now apparent is the change in warehousing on the water front at the great seaboard ports. Here the old-style warehouse is giving place to the dock stores and storage piers. The new structures are so arranged that freight arriving by sea can either be stored by one move from shipboard or be loaded on cars run on the piers for transshipment. Economy of time and labor in handling is thus made the ruling consideration in the change. Storage and terminal facilities are thus combined in one management. The dock stores serve as a connecting link between rail and ocean transportation in handling freight on through trips from the interior to foreign destinations. In warehousing, as in every other competitive trade, the old structure is giving away to the more modern building, more completely embodying the workable ideas which a half century of experience in the line of business has developed. It is not to be inferred, however, that it is the age of a building that puts a warehousing structure out of business in favor of newer structures. It is rather the lack of adaptability on the part of the management to changes in business that reads a storing establishment out of successful competition. The older storage plants, such as have figured for twenty, thirty, fifty, or more years in the trade were, as a rule, built in the substantial manner which characterized the times before this age of steel. They were built for a lifetime service. Such were, for instance, the Long Wharf warehouse, at the foot of State street, Boston, which gave bonded storage service to the importing trades of that port for a continuous period of between fifty and sixty years. Nevertheless, it is still true that the newer warehouses are not reproductions of the older ones, but are the embodiment of the practical experience and scientific judgment up to the latest date. The investors of capital in storage concerns would work to their own hurt if they ignored the results of experience, technical and administrative. THE LEGAL STATUS AND SUPERVISION OP WAREHOUSING. While warehousing is an old industry in all countries of the world, it still remains for the American warehouse to be affiliated with some one or other of the economic institutions whose status has been more completely defined in law. There seems to be two tendencies along which development is now taking place. In the one case the warehouse would naturally seem to be a commercial institution because of its close connection with trade movements. In the other case the discharge of the duties involved in warehousing is such as to give the establishment a status which is more nearly allied to that of the bank than to that of the mercantile house. In the State of New York there are two warehouse companies which are organized under the safe-deposit law and are under the surpervision of the New York State banking department. These are the Albany Safe deposit and Storage Company, of Albany, and the Lincoln Safe Deposit Company, of New York. It has been held by some that all warehouses should be placed on a similar basis of responsibility to public authority, but warehousemen really seem to fear that governmental surpervision would in this case result in hampering business. Possibly the experience at the basis of this fear has arisen from the high degree of care which the customs service exercises over goods in bond. Here, of course, a much greater responsibility is involved than in the case of ordinary storage. As a matter of actual experience, the supervision of State authority over warehousing has not to any appreciable extent hampered business, but has on the contrary tended to help it. An analagous relation is to be found in the case of two banks in the same locality, one of which is under national supervision and subject to periodical examination by the Federal examiner, whereas the other being not organized in accordance with the national banking law may not be subject to official examination. The former bank would naturally and very properly appeal to the community as being safer, because of its being under a periodical examination from the properly constituted public authorities. In the known instances of this kind the effect has been to reorganize a State bank into a national bank in order to take advantage of this very condition. From Louisville, Ky., it is reported that the general tendency of the warehouse business has recently been toward a more scientific and businesslike manner of tariff. Furthermore, it is noted that warehouse patrons are more exacting in their requirements. The appearance in any community of a first-class warehouse for the storage of personal effects or valuables of any kind, especially relating to the household, puts less favored concerns at a disadvantage, and ultimately forces them to rise to the superior standard of storage. From the same locality it is reported that "lower prices for services are constantly demanded, with the result that warehousemen must look to full houses on a low-storage rate for their profits rather than to a chance based on the value of the service." The list given below is possibly the best index to the changing conditions of this branch of business. 1903.] THE WAREHOUSING INDUSTRY. General Tendencies Eepoeted in Warehousing. 1089 LOCALITY. Chicago, 111 Cincinnati, Ohio Toledo, Ohio Wheeling, W. Va Philadelphia, Pa Galyeston, Tex Salt Lake City, Utah ... St. Paul, Minn Pittsburg, Pa Philadelphia, Pa Do Do Do Omaha, Nebr New York City Memphis, Terin New York, N. Y St. Paul, Minn St. Louis, Mo Philadelphia, Pa Springfield, 111 \ ineennes, Ind Baltimore, Md Detroit, Mich New Paynesville, Minn St. Louis, Mo New Orleans, La Pine Bluff, Ark Charlotte, N. C Chattanooga, Tenn Sedalia, Mo Hastings, Nebr Linfield, Pa Lockport, N. Y New York City Do Utica, N. Y Cleveland, Ohio Toledo, Ohio Newcastle, Pa Seranton, Pa York, Pa Richmond, Va Norfolk, Va Huntington , W. Va Washington, D. C Oakland, Cal Fort Smith, Ark Gloversville, N. Y Kansas City, Mo Lawrence, Mass Philadelphia, Pa Portland, Me Baltimore, Md Boston, Mass Salt Lake City, Utah... Omaha, Nebr Albany, N. Y New York City Providence, EI Baltimore, Md Norfolk, Va Norfolk, Va Providence, R. I New Orleans, La Do Philadelphia, Pa Do New York City Providence, R. I Allegheny, Pa Chicago, 111 Centralia, 111 Aurora, 111 St. Louis, Mo Harrisburg, Pa Philadelphia, Pa General tende>;cies. Use of strictly fireproof buildings. > Tendency to carry a heavier stock, to buy when low and hold for higher prices. People arc- gradually coming to see the benefit to be derived from use of cold storage. Constant demand for every foot of floor space. Fireproof or slow-burning construction. Railroad companies operating terminal warehouse companies, belling on sample direct from factory or mill to consumer and selling in mixed car lots for distribution by local draymen. As consumption of food products manufactured outside the State has increased stored goods have increased, though com- petition has more than kept pace with it. A disposition of eastern manufacturers and jobbers to have stocks near point of distribution, thus giving quick delivery on local shipments and saving difference between local and carload rates from the East; also of Twin City jobbers for convenience, an economy in filling local railroad orders. To discontinue the use of private warehouses, handle goods through public warehouses, and eliminate all except office rentals and expenses. Increased business and greater facilities. Fireproof or slow-burning construction; railroad companies operating terminal warehouse companies, and by allowing so-called terminal charges, covering unloading or loading ears, compete strongly with independent enterprises. To carry more goods in warehouses. For the wholesale merchant to give up his store and put his goods in warehouses, transacting his business in an office in a modern office building. I think the business has greatly advanced in reputation. Away from New York City to cheaper land. Mills in all lines storing their product at home. To an increased use of warehouses as concentrating and forwarding depots. A change from regular storage business to that of real estate companies endeavoring to secure good rentals for buildings. More business at higher prices. Storage of perishable products is decidedly on the increase. So-called railroad warehouses are able to offer inducements that threaten to exterminate private warehouses altogether. Lower rates charged. The grower is beginning to store his fruit. Efforts to concentrate. To store in Chicago and Buffalo on account of better freight rates and more liberal loans on receipts as security. Storing in country rather than cities. A growing demand steadily each year for more cold-storage facilities. To get to the consumer as soon as possible the sugar and rice, thus short-time storage to warehouses, which leaves ware- houses empty until the crops are again harvested. Better care taken and protection against sudden breaks in markets. They are used more each year by the farmers and jobbers, as it enables them to get better prices for their cotton. Used extensively by cotton mills to carry their stock. That railroad companies will favor flour mills by carrying grain to mills and accept mill products to other ^points on a through rate known as rebilling. This destroys grain elevator property here. In perishable goods holders prefer warehousing in principal markets to have goods at hand and accessible instantly. Larger plants in our line and lower rates every year, making it possible to use cold storage for cheaper commodities, like potatoes and dried fruits, to keep free from worms, etc. It increases and encourages smaller speculation every year; also has increased the price of butter and eggs at such season when they should be at their lowest point. Tendencies toward storage of fruit and meats. Rates have steadily declined. Great advances; scientific handling. The economy of public over private warehouses has appealed to the business man. Lower rates and better care of goods. The necessity of cold storage is being realized by dealers gradually. Dealers are having more tendency toward storing. Less taxation. A general increase. The people are having more confidence in them, especially where there are good, up-to-date houses put up. Increased demand. Not organized. Fireproof buildings and general protection; decrease in storage rates and insurance. Demand for modern buildings, etc. As far as the cotton buyer is concerned, with whom 95 per cent of our business is done, the tendency seems to be to pay nothing for storage, claiming the compress is sufficiently remunerated by the compression charges of 10 cents per 100 pounds, which is paid by the railroads. However, we do not agree with them in this, and manage to collect storage. Increasing. Distribution of all kinds of commodities as proper facilities have been arranged. Rapid increase in both amount and variety of merchandise stored. Foolish competition in rates and granting concessions in furnishing hauling, marking, weighing, reshipping, and selling for customers without charge. . . Western millers and cereal manufacturers are using warehouses more for direct distribution of their product. To terminal facilities. '„.„,,.. , ' . , Boston is becoming more of a distributing center for New England, using warehouses to obtain advances on merchandise. Storage rates so low no profit in the business. Every building full and railroad companies can not handle the goods on time any more. One is the increasing number of business houses using warehouses as distributing points, shipping to warehouses in car lots, and distributing in small lots. . Call for more absolutely fireproof, high-grade buildings, and high-grade owners who can handle merchandise intelligently. Business men prefer cold storage; also warehouses located near railroads where cars can be switched to doors and freight handled in this way, which reduces the expense of teaming. In household goods, to handle them carefully and make quick delivery of same. A freer use of warehouses and a more favorable growth with all classes. The prevention of free storage by transportation lines and commission merchants. People are inclined to live in hotels, boarding places, and summer resorts. As long as railroads are allowed to operate warehouses we can not prosper. Railroad concentration. Toward incorporation. . We have noticed that we are getting a better class of storage and not many inquiries for advances. A general improvement in the character of new warehouses toward fireproof construction to reduce insurance charges. Closer competition and lower rates. . . That local merchants require manufacturers to carry a stock of their goods in storage to nil orders of local merchants without delay, and that as a rule.goods remain in storage a shorter time than formerly. Better uniform rates. Think it is being overdone. It is growing. ... , Labor more expensive, but charges can not be increased. A greater demand for storage for household goods. „,,.„„ .,.. ,, , ., There has been a decline in household goods storage of at least 30 per cent within the last four years. LEGISLATION RELATING TO WAREHOUSING. Warehousing or storage does not seem to have been the subject of any noteworthy legislation in any States heard from. None of the States from which replies were received report any new or additional legislation on this subject.- The subject has evidently not received much attention on the part of the lawmakers. Nevertheless the courts are constantly rendering decisions on one phase or another of the legal position of the business. No. 4 9 1090 THE WAEEHOFSING INDUSTBT. [OCTOBER, Replies from 57 different firms have been collected below to get an expression of the trend of opinion on this topic. Legislation Advised Relaitng to Warehousing. locality. Legislation advised. Toledo, Ohio -Wheeling, W. Va.... Philadelphia, Pa Galveston, Tex San Francisco, Cal . . St. Paul, Minn Pittsburg, Pa Philadelphia, Pa Do Omaha, Nebr New York City, N. Y Memphis, Tenn St. Joseph, Mo St. Paul, Minn Buffalo, N. Y New Orleans, La Philadelphia, Pa San Francisco, Cal . . Bentonville, Ark Flora, 111 Vineennes, Ind New Orleans, La Chicago, 111 Baltimore, Md Hastings. Nebr Omaha, Nebr Buffalo, N. Y Loekport. Y, Y Cleveland. Ohio Washingtpn, D. C Oakland, Cal Fort Smith, Ark Philadelphia, Pa Minneapolis, Minn . . Milwaukee, Wis Council Bluffs, Iowa Chicago, 111 Baltimore, Md Boston, Mass Detroit, Mich Kansas City, Mo Albany, N. Y _._ Salt Lake City, Utah Norfolk, Va Newport News, Va . . Omaha, Nebr New York City Syracuse, N. Y Baltimore, Md Providence, R, I New Orleans, La Do Chicago, 111 Philadelphia, Pa New York City Akron, Ohio Minneapolis, Minn.. St. Louis, Mo Columbus, Ohio Des Moines, Iowa Making advance on goods, together with freight, cartage, insurance, and storage, a first lien on goods. Have no laws m this State governing warehouses. Bonded amendment by Congress recognizing warehouse receipts or allowing of transfers in custom-house books to protect Prohibit railway depot and wharf company from using depots and wharves for warehouses, as they now do. io safeguard depositors by requiring a bond to the State from warehousemen. To effectually put a stop to railroads using their stations or storehouses and ears for patrons' use free of charge. Warehouse- men can not buck railroads who will store and handle for nothing. Clear, definite laws defining the duties and responsibilities of warehousemen and storers, and protecting warehousemen in matter of charges. Uniform State laws. To compel the railroad companies to give to the warehouses a terminal charge for unloading their cars. There should be a uniform system of transaction. In New York, none. Interests are very well protected in this State, but think every warehouse should be required to give bond. Prevent free storage in railroad freight houses for favored shippers. Prohibiting railroads from storing goods after forty-eight hours. That no one shall do a warehouse business unless of certain responsibility or under restrictions if not banking department. To confine railroads to the railroad business. Prevent railroad warehouses giving free storage and handling, which railroad company pays warehouse company for, and private warehouses can not get railroads to do; allow tonnage charge for unloading, etc. To permit warehousemen to sell for unpaid warehouse charges merchandise which has been stored two years without personal notiee of sale to owner when his' address is unknown. Compelling railroad companies to furnish cars for perishable goods in forty-eight hours after ordering same. Honest packing of fruit by growers. Honest packing of fruit by growers and packers should be compulsory. To prohibit the railroad companies from storing goods for hire or leasing their depots to others for this purpose. Insist and make railroad companies stop free storage. A law defining terms under which a warehouseman can sell goods that are uncalled for. To stop,, if possible, issuing false reports of stocks in storage to manipulate the markets. United States laws governing taxes on goods. A national law, operating under a department, with restrictions and guarantees, similar to banks. Perishable goods at owner's risk; compelling the warehouse company to keep the right temperature. Uniform laws in each State. Prevent railroad companies from giving free storage after thirty-six hours. Legalizing sale of goods after one year has elapsed without any storage being paid. We can only speak as to cotton. In this we think there should be a uniform price all over the South, both for compression and storage, as well as other charges in the way of putting cotton in merchantable condition, and no cutting allowed in prices. By this method each press could control all cotton in its natural territory. Uniform State laws and enforcement of interstate-commerce rulings. Railroad companies should be prohibited from giving free storage. We believe if the transportation companies would not use their stations for storage purposes it would be favorable to storage interests. To get pay for transferring when- companies fail, go into bankruptcy, etc. The elimination of irresponsible warehouses and prohibition of transportation lines using their freight houses for storage purposes. Keep railroads out of the business. To stop railroads from doing storage business. Enforcement of law regarding free storage by common carriers. This is of vital importance. To prevent railroads from using their depots as warehouses. Enforce interstate-commerce laws regarding storage of goods by railroads. A law to enable warehousemen to sell goods when storage is not paid in a reasonable time. Warehouse receipts shall have in the courts indisputable title after passing from owners. Against free storage and discrimination by public carriers; encouraging the negotiability of warehouse receipts and their use as collateral. Stop railroad companies from collecting demurrage on ears, or make them pay same rate for delays they cause, which is a large expense to the warehouse companies. Let Interstate Commerce Commission stop_ steamship companies and railroads giving free storage to large, favored shippers. Prevent large wholesale houses from making use of cars and freight depots. To sell goods if storage remains unpaid. Warehousemen should not be held for full value of contents of unknown packages, boxes, trunks, furniture, etc., unless so specified, contents noted, and special rate made for same. Prevent railroads from operating warehouses. To prevent warehousing by railroads. Uniform laws regulating and governing warehousing throughout the country. The warehouses, in our opinion, should be taxed. Local legislation to allow trucks to cross sidewalks and receive goods from warehouses. A time limit on storage to enable owners of warehouses to sell goods for storage without a course at law. Uniform laws regulating and governing warehouses throughout the country. Uniform warehouse laws in all States. Protection against chattel mortgages on goods made before received in storage. Uniform laws. RAILWAY WAREHOUSING AND STORAGE CHARGES. In answer to the question as to whether the practice of using freight stations for storage purposes is increasing or decreasing in different localities, 195 replies were received, of which 50 stated that the practice was increasing, 122 that it was decreasing, 10 that it was stationary, and 13 were not sufficiently informed on the subject to answer. The business of warehousing is closely connected with that of transportation of commodities from place to place and their transfer at railway terminals to other lines, whether by water or by rail. The facilities for this feature of warehousing are constantly increasing. At the Port Richmond termini of the Philadelphia and Reading Railway Company during the last year a new warehouse was erected mainly for storage and handling of imported merchandise received by vessel and discharged at the piers of the railway company at this port, and also for the reception of flour and merchandise transported over the company's lines intended for ocean shipping. The facilities thus afforded places the company in a much more advantageous position in the handling of merchandise business centering at this place. The plan which appears usually to be followed is not that of the railroad operating its own warehousing establishment, but of leasing, to what is in effect a subsidiary company, the warehouse at a rental which will pay the interest upon the expenditure with expenses connected with the maintenance of the property. ° a Annual Report of the Philadelphia and Reading Railway Company for the year ending June 30, 1902, page 17. 1903.] THE WAEEHOITSDTCr INDUSTKtf. 1091 The use of storage warehouses by railroad companies at terminals, especially where traffic is handled from cars into vessels, is a growing feature of the methods of transportation. These establishments are only to a limited extent storage warehouses. They are specially charged with handling freight which has accumulated at seaboard points awaiting arrival of vessels for cargo, consequently the holding of such materials as are handled in this way must.necessarily be temporary. This method of releasing the cars, as well as of enabling the vessels to load cargoes without delay by having sufficient freight tonnage on hand, constitutes an essential link in the problem of distributing the products of industry from points of origin to their destinations. It is evident that the plan of handling grain by elevators at the water's edge for convenient loading into vessels or directly out of cars is being more and more applied to other kinds of traffic. In any case the warehouses are simply buildings of substantial structure for receiving and sheltering goods for a short period, and to that extent may be considered as serving the purpose of warehouses. On the other hand, it is plain that these establish- ments do not come under the category of public warehouses, in the sense that they receive goods for indefinite storage other than those which originate in their own business as common carriers. Demurrage charges on detained cars have been looked upon by the courts as being essentially a charge for storage. The transporta- tion company's liability as a common carrier may cease, but it still remains liable for the custody of the goods as warehousemen, whether they are kept in cars or unloaded into places of storage and secure- keeping. This is by this time a well-settled principle in law. Under this interpretation of the relation between the railway and the shipper, railroads have been obliged to provide terminal facilities of a warehousing character in order to release their cars and yards by promptly unloading such bulky commodities as hay, flour, grain, etc. The carriers have usually built at such terminals suitable structures, and leased the same to a terminal company for operation. The railroad pays the warehouse company an agreed rate per ton for its services. These services consist in the labor of unloading and loading cars, collecting freight charges, insuring the goods during the free time, and for performing all the offices of a delivering agent. Rental is based on 4 per cent of the cost of taxes and insurance in the case of the terminal warehouse at Baltimore, Md., in its relation with the Northern Central Railway Company. Rentals of warehouses and storage comprise an appreciable element in the charges incident to railways handling freights in the course of transportation. In a single case where these charges of wharfage, handling, storage, and rentals were analyzed, out of a total charge of $2,943.41 reported by a southern car service association, storage and rentals amounted to $971.22 in a given month. Storage charges at representative points and for different traffic sections of the country are given herewith. This schedule separates the labor charge from the storage charge, and such will be of interest to those who wish to ascertain what the prevailing practice of charge for labor as distinguished from storage is at any large commercial center. Hoosac Tunnel Docks (Boston, Mass.) Storage and Labob Rates. articles. Units. Labor. Storage. ARTICLES. Units. Labor. Storage. Asphalt Alcohol Alpaca Analine salt . . Analine oil... Bleach Burlaps Beans Bleach Brimstone Bleach Cotton waste . China clay . . . Cotton: Peru Lowry Egyptian . Domestic . Cement China clay Coffee Cutch Cuttings (hide) . Dates Dextrin Emery Earthenware . . . Extract Figs Granite. Gum ... Hides Hides: Dry Wet Hemp: Manila Sisal New Zealand. Russia Iron sand Indigo Irish moss Iron (pig) Iron ore Lead Machinery Madder Mica Barrels . do.. Bales . . . Barrels . Drums . . Casks... Bales . . . Barrels . Drums. Bales . . Casks - - Bales ....do do ....do Round bales. Barrels do. Boxes . Boxes . Barrels . Crates . . Barrels . Cases . . . Bags Cases . . . do .. Casks . . . ....do.. Each .. ....do. Bales. .. Per ton . ....do.. Bales... Bags Chests . . Bales . . . Per ton . Barrels . Per ton . ....do.. Casks . . . Cases . . . Barrels . Mohair . 10 15 SO 30 50 5 8 5 10 12 15 6 11 17 10 12 4 3 2i 3 5 2 5 12 30 10 6 2 15 5 30 25 1 2 Cents. 6 8 10 10 20 20 30 3 6 3 C 4 4 6 10 5 4 2 2J 2 3 1 3 8 25 10 6 1 10 5 20 25 20 20 8 2 6 10 20 6 20 40 25 3 5 5 Mohair Oil Oil (olive).. Oxalic acid. Paper stock. Potash Pitch . Rice . . Rosin. Rubber Rope Sal soda Shellac Skins (goat) . Skins Soda Soda ash Soda: Nitra... Caustic . Steel Size . Tea.. Tar Wood pulp Venetian red Wool: Western California Cape Australian Russian East India Montevideo Rosario — South American scoured . French scoured English Scoured Irish Noils Paper Bales . . . Barrels . Cases . . . Barrels . Casks . . . Bales . . . Barrels . Casks... Drums. . Barrels . Bags.... Barrels . Bales . . . Casks . . . Per ton . Barrels . Cases . . . Bales... Casks . . . Kegs . . . Casks ... Bags Barrels . Barrels Drums Per ton Casks Chests Hali chests Quarter chests. Barrels Bales Barrels Bales . . do. ....do. ....do. ....do. do. ....do. ....do. do . Sheets . ....do. do . 17-in. rolls. 37-in. rolls. 56-in. rolls. 72-in. rolls. Cents. 12 Cents. 7 2 5 10 10 3 10 6 6 3 6 10 15 40 6 6 12J 25 H 20 3 5 6 6 20 10 5 2J 2 6 5 4 6 10 e 20 15 12 20 10 15 15 15 5 7 10 12 1092 THE WABEHOUSING INDUSTBY. [October, In southern territory, including practically all of the principal railway lines south of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi, the charges in force among the lines which are members of the Southeastern Freight Association are given in the table following. As will be noted, these charges for storage are frequently included in wharfage charge, especially after the first month. Storage and Wharfage Charges at Points within Southeastern Territory. Units. Wharf- age. STORAGE CHARGES. ARTICLES. First montli. Second month. 100 pounds Cents. 24 1 14 3 2 1 24 1 1 25 5 20 3 5 25 60 IJ 3 1 2 Cents. («) m w * Cents. i ? ...do .. 4 2 do. . 2 do 4 do Fertilizer and land material, sacks and barrels 100 pounds 4 .4 Pig iron, steel billets, and cast-iron pipe (2,000 pounds) Kaolin and other clays, bags, barrels, casks, or bulk («) 5 Mfeet . Naval stores: [Barrel 6 { I L..do (<■) 1 15 do 10 100 pounds .4 2. do... 1 ..do... Merchandise, not otherwise specified do 1 a Included in wharfage. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company reports that Baltimore is the only place where it is operating warehouses especially devoted to the storage of merchandise. Here they have five warehouses for domestic freight, three bonded warehouses, and one bonded internal-revenue warehouse. At Washington, Philadelphia, and New York the company has contracts with outside storage warehouses. The following table of rates for storage at the several stations in Baltimore contain selected articles from the company's freight tariff No. 996, effective January 1, 1903: Tariff of Storage, Labor, and Wharfage Charged at Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company's Warehouses, Baltimore, Md. ARTICLES. Agricultural implements, not otherwise specified . Apples, greeD, in barrels Ale and beer, in barrels Baskets, per car Beans: Dried, 160 pounds In barrels Boots and shoes: Less than 100 pounds 100 pounds or over Boots and shoes (rubber), 50 pounds or less Brooms, in bundles Broom handles, 50 each Canned goods: No. 1, 2 dozen cans No. 2, 2 dozen cans No. 3, 2 dozen cans -' Cement: In barrels In bags Cereal products, in barrels Cheese, 60-pound boxes Cider, m barrels Coal tar, in barrels Coffee, in sacks Cordage, in bales Cotton, in bales . .' Crockery Dry goods: In bales 27 cubic feet or over Under 27 cubic feet Earthenware Eggs: In barrels In cases or boxes Fertilizers, in bags Fish, in barrels Flour: In barrels In sacks (barrel rate) ■ Fruit, dried, not otherwise specified Units. 100 pounds . Barrel ....do Car Bag or sack. Barrel Box ....do.. Case Bundle . ....do.. .do. .do. Barrel Bag Barrel Box Barrel do Sack Bale do Cask, crate, or hhd Bale Bale or box: do Cask,crate,or hhd. Barrel Case or box. Bag Barrel .do. .do. Bag. STORAGE AND LABOR. First month or less. Each sub' sequent month. Cents. 1,000 15 12. 25 5 3 4 Cents. 3 3 15 WHARFAGE. Full charge. Cents. Half charge. Cents. 14 10 14 5 24 1903] THE WAREHOUSING INDUSTRY. 1093 Tariff op Storage, Laboe, and Wharfage Charged at Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company's Warehouses Baltimore, Md.-Cod. ARTICLES. Furniture: - Crated or boxed 1-horse loads " " " ' 2-horse loads Glassware, in barrels Grain: In bags In bulk ..;. Hardware .'] Casks or cases ... Hides: In bales In bundles "" Hops, in bales Iron and steel articles, blooms and billets Cotton ties Iron and steel ." Nails, in kegs Pig iron .'." Wire rods Lard: In barrels . . ." In kegs or pails Leather, in bundles or rolls Lemons, in boxes Linters, in bales Liquor, in barrels Lumber and timber: 30 feet long and less Over 30 feet long Machinery Meats: Meat, in boxes Pork, in barrels Molasses, in barrels Mowers Oatmeal, in barrels Oil, linseed and other Oranges, boxed Pig tin and pig lead Potatoes: In bags In barrels Queensware, in casks Rice, 300 pounds Rosin, in barrels Salt, in barrels . .' Stoves and ranges, 150 to 300 pounds Sugar, in barrels Tin plate, 100 pounds Tobacco, leaf: In boxes 1,000 pounds and over Turpentine ~. Vehicles : 350 pounds, K. D ».. Over 350 pounds, K. D Wagons, farm Whisky, in barrels Wire, barb, on reels Wool, in sacks Units. Crate or box. Load ....do Barrel Bag Bushel 100 pounds. Package . . . Bale Bundle . . . Bale Gross ton . Bundle . . . do.... Keg Gross ton . ....do...: Barrel Keg or pail . Package Box Bale Barrel Car ....do.. Net ton. Box Barrel do Each Barrel do Box 100 pounds. Bag Barrel •. Cask Barrel or bag . Barrel ....do Package Barrel Box ....do Hogshead . Barrel Each ....do ....do Barrel 2,000 pounds. Sack STORAGE AND LABOE. First month or less. Cents. 150 250 5 Each sub sequent month. 12 Cents. 150 250 5 li 12 WHAEFAGE. Full charge. Cents. 10 Half charge. Cents. 150 200 20 2h 21 5 H l li n 75 100 10 H 2i n u Storage Charges on Merchandise Freight, at Big Four Railway Storage Warehouse, Cincinnati, Ohio. [Rates in cents per package or per 100 pounds, as shown.] COMMODITIES. Apples: Green Dried Do Evaporated 1-gallon i-gallon Ashes, pot and pearl . Bagging: 100-pound 50-pound 35-pound 30-pound Gunny — Jute .Seamless . . Barytes Batting: 100-pound . 50-pound . . 25-pound . . Unit. Barrel . do. Sack. . . Case . . . do. do. Tierce . Rolls . . ....do. do. ....do. Bale . . . do. do. Barrel . Bale... do. do. STORAGE CHARGES. First month. Cents. 5 5 2i 1 li li 10 5 2; 2 2 10 10 6 10 Second month. Cents. 4 4 U 1 v 1 1 COMMODITIES. Beans . Beef... Bitters (dozen) . . Boots and shoes . Borax Bottles Bran Broom corn Brooms Buckets: Wood or fiber Iron or steel Buckwheat, in sacks . Candles Canned goods: 1-gallon*. Unit. Sack , Barrel do Tierce Case 100 pounds. Barrel Cask Tierce Barrel Crate Bag Bale Dozen do. do. Sack... Box . . . Case. STORAGE CHARGES. First month. Cents. 2 4 Second month. Cents. 1* . 4 6 2 8 6 15 15 4 2 U 12 4 5 4 li 1 1094 THE WAREHOUSING INDUSTRY. [October, Storage Charges on Merchandise Freight, at Big Four Railway Storage Warehouse, Cincinnati, Ohio — Continued. COMMODITIES. Canned goods— Continued. ^-gallon 3-pounds (2 dozen) , 2-pounds (2 dozen) 1-pound (2 dozen) , Cement, common Cheese Cider Coffee 100-pound . 60-pbund . . Cotton ties Cotton Cranberries ... Crockery Currants Dried fruit . Dry goods Earthenware. Fish (salted) . Flour Glass, window: 400 boxes in car 200 boxes in car 100 boxes and less in car . Very large, imported Hate, in boxes Glassware Glucose Grain, in sacks. Grits Hams Hemp, in hales Hides: Dry, carload lots . Wet, carload lots. Carload lots Highwines Hominy Hops: Domestic German Horseshoes Household goods Iron.and steel „ Jute: Compressed Uncompressed ... Kraut Lead, white or red Leather Lemons Lime Liquors, foreign and domestic . Macaroni Machinery Merchandise ol all kinds, not specified. Mill feed, middlings, etc . Molasses Moss Nails Nut flakes ■ Nuts Oakum.. Oil Onions . . Oranges. Paint ... Unit. First month Case ....do ....do ....do Barrel Bags Box Barrel Bag Case ....do 100 pounds... Bale Barrel Crate Cask Barrel do Sack Case 100 pounds Cask or crate... Barrel i-barrel Keg Barrel Box do do 100 pounds . do Cask Crate Tierce Barrel Case ...J Barrel Sack 100 pounds . Barrel Tierce Bale Each . . do. Bale... Barrel . do. Bale do Keg 100 pounds . do STORAGE CHARGES. Bale do Cask Barrel i-barrel 100 pounds Roll Box Barrel i-pipe i-pipe Barrel Case : Box 100 pounds 100 lbs., L.C.L.. 100 pounds C. L. Sack Barrel Bale Keg Case Barrel Sack Bale Barrel do Sack Box Barrel do Second month. Cents. 1, n ii 2 3 10 3 2 2 2 12, 10 30 25 10 5 2 1. 5 30 4 3 li 3 2 4 8 20 10 30 30 10 5 3 10 2 2 15 50 10 4 12 25 2 10 It 5 12 25 15 10 li 10 10 5 25 15 10 3 2 5 10 5 2 10 5 2 1; 5' 3 5 10 5 5 10 10 10 Cents. 1 1 1 1 4 li 2 8 2 li li li 12i 8 25 20 8 4 li 1 5 25 3 2 1 3 2 4 8 15 8 25 25 8 4 2 8 li li 3 6 12 li 2 40 10 20 1 10 1" 4 10 20 10 8 4 20 10 8 2 li 5 10 5 li COMMODITIES. Paper: . Strawboard News, rolls Not otherwise specified . Peaches, dried Peas Pepper . Pickles. Pimento Pitch Plaster Postum coffee. Potash Potatoes Prunes. Queensware. Railroad 'spikes . Raisins Rice Rolled oats or oatmeal Rolled wheat Rolled wheat, oatmeal, and rolled oats . Rope Rosin Salt Saltpeter. Seed . Self-raising flour, in boxes. Shot Soap Soda ash Soda caustic . Soda, sal Starch. Stoves, large . Sugar Tallow . Tar Tea Tin: 20 by 28 ... 14 by 20 ... 14 by 14... Tobacco, leaf . Tubs Vinegar. Whisky . Whiting. Wine Wool Yarn, wool, and cotton . Empty cooperage. Flour barrels Ham tierces Hogsheads Lard kegs Lard tierces Molasses barrels . Oil barrels Pork barrels Whisky barrels... Unit. Bundle 100 pounds ....do Barrel Sack Barrel Sack Barrel do , i barrel Case Package Barrel ....do Case Box Barrel Sack Cask Sack 50-pound cases. . 25-pound cases.. Cask Crate Bale Keg Box Barrel 100 pounds Box, keg, pkg. .. Box or keg Barrel 100 pounds Barrel ....do Bag do ....do Box 100 pounds Box Case Cask (large) Tierce Drum Tierce Barrel Box Barrel Crate Case ■ Each 100-pound sacks or cases. ' Barrel Hogshead Barrel do Chest ichest Caddy Box do do Hogshead Nest Dozen . .' , Barrel do do Cask i cask Case Sack 100 pounds Each . . do. do. .....do. do. do. do. do. do. STORAGE CHARGES. First month. Cents. li li li 5 2 4 2 5 10 5 li 5 5 6 i li 5 4 25 1 1 1 30 30 30 2 1 5 3 li li 3 2 5 1, li 2 2 2 25 10 10 8 4 2 Second month. Cents. 1903 -] . THE WAEEHOUSIKG INDUSTEY. 1095 As a specimen of the regulations governing the storage of freight by railroads the joint agreement of the lines centering on New- York Harbor is given. Rules Regarding Storage of Freight at New York, Brooklyn, Jersey City, Hoboken, Weehawken, Comhunipaw, and St. George. [These rules do not apply on bay, straw, or excelsior, empty packages, freight in bulk, or other freight upon which car service or elevator storage charges aro applicable.] All property held by the railroad companies will be so held solely at owner's risk (subject to transportation, storage, and other charges) under the following rules and conditions: (1) Freight shipped to New York City, Brooklyn, Jersey City, Hoboken, Weehawken, Commvmipaw, and St. George for delivery at our freight stations will be held free of chaise for a period not exceeding three days, Sundays, legal holidays, and date of arrival not . included. Any such freight not removed within the time specified will be stored in public warehouses at owner's cost and risk, including expense of cartage. As it is not practicable to i-tore property on the evening of the day of expiration of free period, the freight will be stored at noon the following day unless previously called for. The companies reserve the right to require the removal of such freight at any time after twenty-four hours from date of arrival, when, in their opinion, it is necessary. Such freight, if refused by public warehouses, account of hazardous character, low value, etc., will be returned to their respective rail termini and there held in cars, subject to car-service rule", or in their freight houses at such rail termini, subject to a storage cha>ge of 5 cents per 100 pounds for each thirty day- or fraction thereof, until delivery is taken. In addition, a charge of 3 cents per 100 pounds will be made for returning the property from the railroad stations in New York or Brooklyn to their rail termini, and 3 cents per 100 pounds for any subsequent movement from such termini to railroad stations in New York or Brooklyn per orders of consignee. When such freight is switched from the piers or stations of the trunk lines in cars to the storage warehouses, the charge for switching will not be less than 2 cents per 100 pounds, with a minimum charge of 25 cents for each consignment. (2) Freight (except export freight.) shipped "lighterage free," in carloads, will be held in our warehouses at respective rail termini as named below free of charge, subject to order of consignee, for a period not exceeding twenty days (see rule 4), Sundays, legal holidays, and da'e of arrival not included. If such freight is subsequently ordered to and placed at our stations in New York City or Brooklyn for delivery it will there be subject to conditions of rule 1. \3) Freight in carloads consigned direct for station delivery in New York or Brooklyn, which is, at request of consignee, held at their respective rail termini for orders, will be held free of charge for twenty days if unloaded from cars awaiting orders; if subsequently ordered to a New York or Brooklyn station it will be subject to the same conditions as provided in rule 1. The entire carload must be ordered at one time and to one station. (4) If the freight referred to' in rules 2 and 3 is not removed at the expiration of twenty days, as above provided, it will, at the option of the railroad company, be stored at the risk and expense of owner at public warehouses within the lighterage limits of the port, or stored in our freight houses at our respective rail teimini. "When held in our freight houses at such rail termini, the following rates of storage will be charged: For the first ten days or fraction thereof beyond the period of free storage, including handling in and out, 1 cent per 100 pounds. For each succeeding ten days or fraction thereof, one-half cent per 100 pounds. (5) When freight held under rules 2 and 3, awaiting orders for lighterage delivery, is placed in public warehouses under rule 4, and is delivered at such warehouses by lighters, such delivery will be considered final, and no subsequent lighterage service will be performed. When railroad companies place freight in warehouses reached by track tinder rule 4, without harbor service, it may subsequently be delivered "lighterage free" to any point within the free lighterage limits of the port. When shippers or consignees give orders for the storage of freight in public, or outside warehouses, whether such warehouses are reached by track or not, the delivery of such freight to such warehouses will be considered final, and no subsequent lighterage service will be performed. (6) No contracts will be made on export freight under through export bills of lading unless based on bora fide ocean contracts providing for clearance from the seaboard within" sixty days from date of shipment, and free storage at the respective rail termini, as named below, will be given up to the expiration of such period. Freight shipped to New York locally "lighterage free" and afterwards delivered by lighters to vessels for export, which is held in freight houses at the respective rail termini, will be'given the same period of free storage as if on through bills of lading; thereafter the storage charges as per rule 4 will be applied. . . Freight (L. C. L. ) shipped direct to New York stations "for export," or upon which consignees give prompt notice that the freight is to be exported, will not be placed in public warehouses until twenty days after arrival, Sundays, legal holidays, and date of arrival not included During said period, if delivered to carters who present vessel permit for export, no storage charges will be collected, but if taken for local delivery after the expiration of the period of three days, as stated in rule 1, storage will be charged at the rate of 10 (7) No handling charge will be made when flour is inspected, branded, or repacked at railroad piers or stations, provided this is done i by the owners = immediately after the flour is unloaded from cars and before it is tiered up, but if inspected, branded, or repacked after the flour has been tiered, involving any handling by railroad employees, the following handling charge will be made for each such inspection branding or repacking: On flour in barrels, 2 cents per barrel; on flour in sacks, 1 cent per 100 pounds. If, after the flour is tiered, it is inspected, branded, or repacked, and the labor in pulling down the flour and retienng it is performed entirely by the owners, no charge will be made. . ,,, .,, .. , , These regulations take effect July 1, 1903, superseding all previous regulations relative to storage at the rail termini named herein.