Miracle on 34th St is not an economic solution
I was pulling on a thread today researching the product of cryogenic treated fret wire. I have a Les Paul style guitar I built from a kit while in college in the early 80’s that needs a new fret board. I stumbled upon this bit of history: Scroll down to response #11 CB Alyn
“In Clinton F. Smith’s 1927 patent for a “Fret for Musical Instrument,” the Attleboro, Massachusetts inventor notes his style ‘T’ wire “preferably disposed in an alternate arrangement, and are not oppositely positioned, although arranged on opposite sides of the fret wire… Each of these frets consists of a wire ‘4’ having lateral projections shaped like the barb of a fish hook as shown. This ‘peculiar shape’ permits of pushing the frets into place easily but project into the neck of the instrument to securely hold the fret in the place and reduces the possibility of their coming loose when the instrument is in use.”
Although other examples of T-wire were made decades previous, Smith’s “alternate fish-hook arrangement” would prove to be a standard in fretwire design to this day. After receiving sample requests from other fretwire vendors, C.F. Martin decided on the Attleboro based Horton-Angell Company, C. Smith’s employer.”
Well, being from the area, this intrigued me. The history of industry in my area of the nation is fascinating when you understand the density and variety compared to what it is today. Of course, this goes for just about any area of the nation that was industrially developed. “Was” being the word considering the service economy mantra being pushed from the 1980’s onward. So, reading that the developer of the modern fret came from an employee of an Attleboro, Massachusetts jewelry manufacture, I just had to look up the company.
This lead me to this bit of writing on the industry of Massachusetts, Attleboro.
“History of Massachusett Industries
Their Inception, Growth and Success
By Orra L. Stone
S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.
4 volumes, 1930.
pages 245-262 (without illustrations)
CHAPTER XIV
ATTLEBORO
CENTER OF JEWELRY PRODUCTION IN THE EAST
In 1927, there were 139 manufacturing establishments in Attleboro, representing a capital investment of $22,568,585. The total value of all products manufactured in the city was $28,799,791, of which jewelry, valued at $16,909,528, constituted 58.7 per cent.
Other leading products manufactured in Attleboro in 1927, were cotton goods; silversmithing and silverware; textile machinery, and tools. The average number of wage earners employed in all manufacturing industries was 5,540, of whom 2,721, or 49.1 per cent, were employed in the manufacture of jewelry. The total amount paid in wages during the year was $6,916,847, of which the wage-earners employed in the manufacture of jewelry received $3,579,077, or 51.7 per cent.”
I’m always curious as to what historical dollars represent today. So a bit of number crunching. It led me to question just how has the Massachusetts economy changed considering the push from the 1980 to de-industrialize to a service economy. All conversions are from the BLS CPI conversion 1927 to 12/2024 $100 = $1803.46
$407,015,403.04 today from $22,568,585.00 capital investment Attleboro 1927. $519,392,710.77 today from $28,799,791 total value of all manufactured products Attleboro 1927. $304,956,573.67 (58.7%) was from the jewelry industry.
Manufacturing employment breaks out as follows:
5540 employed in manufacturing. 2721 were of the jewelry industry. $124,742,568.91 today. Total wages paid from $6,916,847.00 in 1927. $22,516.71/earner today from $1248.53 in 1927
Non jewelry workers $60,195,346.84 today from $3,337,770.00 in 1927. 2819 workers. $21,353.44/worker from $1,184.03 in 1927.
For jewelry workers, 2721 (49.1% of total) they represent 51.7% of the wages. $64,547,222.06 from $3,579,077.00 in 1927. $23,721.88 earner from $1,315.35 in 1927. 11.1% greater than non-jewelry workers in 1927/today.
For some idea of what the state of Massachusetts was generating, in 1927 according to tax filings I used Treasury Department, Statistics of Income 1927. $304,429,841.00 in cash and stock dividend were paid out. The amount includes that paid out by companies with no net income. Page 311 of the report. This is $5,490,270,410.50 today.
The following $ are 1927 per the report.
In manufacturing the total number of company tax returns was 5325 with a total gross income of $3,223,047,291.00 Page 335. $58,126,368,674.27 today. The net income was $192,143,304.00 on $2,516,608,929.00 gross income. 7.6% The deficit was $66,713,797.00 on $706,438,362.00 gross income. 9.4%
What is classified as trade had a total number of tax returns of 5645 with a gross income of
$1,985,772,972. Only 61.6% of that generated by manufacturing. The net income was 2.9% on $1,638,207,502.00 gross. The deficit was 4.5% on $347,565,470.00 gross.
What we call finance (banking, insurance, real estate, holding companies, stockbrokers, etc) had 3112 tax returns for a total gross of $676,368,482.00. Only 21% of that generated by manufacturing. The net was 9.5% on $545,232,783.00 of gross income, so equivalent to manufacturing. But the deficit was only 2.7% on $130,135,699.00 of gross.
Thus, the order of involvement in the top three enterprise groups is: Trade, Manufacturing and Finance. Finance being the most profitable or safest to take part in? The total gross income of Massachusetts reported was $6,941,816,865.00. Trade was 28.6% of this. Finance was 9.7% of the total gross income. Manufacturing was 46.4% of the total gross income. (page 310)
Via the BEA: As of 2024, all manufacturing 77,245.6 billion is only 12.3% of Massachusetts total GDP. If the CPI factor is correct, then in all these years manufacturing income only grew 32.9% in 97 years.
Trade (retail/wholesale) is 8.4% of Massachusetts total GDP. Even trade has not kept up with Massachusetts GDP growth. Finance is 21% of Massachusetts total GDP. A classification not in the old 1927 report is Professional and Business services. This sector is 22.5% of Massachusetts GDP. So, Finance and Professional/Business services almost total what manufacturing used to.
97 years of an economy shifting as what happened in Massachusetts is not going to be reversed with tariffs. Also, immigrants and immigration did not cause this change. How we voted over the years caused this change. What has happened in Massachusetts I am sure is what the rest the nation has experienced. But sure, keep believing like the ending in Miracle on 34th Street. I believe, I believe…
Wow. We moved to Rumford RI three years ago, so occasionally pass through Attleboro on the way to Acushnet or Boston. Would never have guessed at this history based on what I see today.
Daniel:
Services have outperformed manufacturing as costs were cheaper elsewhere. Elsewhere being overseas where companies paid minimum wage for Labor and more-likely for nothing elsewhere. Yes, there were transportation charges and maybe some import tax for these domestic US companies manufacturing overseas.
So how does that work? Build in Massachusetts, transfer manufacturing overseas for lesser cost, and then bring the product back to Massachusetts for sale. Much cost avoided and profits increased.
Tariffs are not going to work to bring manufacturing back. Maybe eliminating some of the overhead could do so. Healthcare anyone?
Daniel:
I was looking for another post of yours mentioning your guitar. Could not find it even going back to 2011. Perhaps it was in a conversation on another post?
Merry Christmas and have happy New Year.
Joel,
If you haven’t yet, spend some time at the New Bedford Whaling museum. Not only is it about whaling but also the economy there. It had the largest mill with the most looms in the world. That city based on today’s dollar was generating around $70+ billion a year around 1870/1880’s. The company MTD originated there. Visit for a long weekend North Adams, MA and area. Basically, if there was a flow of water that could be dammed to produce enough head, a mill went up and grew.
One of the more interesting things from the Attleboro review I learned was that North Attleboro had an iron quarry. Did you know Cranston, RI had a coal mine? In the 40’s, RI had the most manufacturing per capita of any state.
Bill, I understand the arbitrage game US companies have played. It was all finance driven. I posted here some years ago about a report from the Japanese finance that also stated the money being earned was a finance function.
With that, the mistake the US made was not unionizing the jobs that were being created/replacing the blue-collar manufacturing jobs while allowing consolidation. That cry of “economies of scale”. Of course, the computer made it possible to run much larger operations. The arbitrage game would have been fine if retail consolidation had not been allowed. If you are going to change your economy from a production one to a consumer one, then you need to make sure everyone can sell stuff on an equal footing and the jobs created to service all this selling are unionized.
We didn’t do that.
@Daniel,
I was just up to the NB Whaling Museum over Thanksgiving. Very impressive. Been to North Adams at least three times for the Mass MOCA.
We’re enjoying it here, but need to do much more exploring.
Bill,
The first time I mentioned playing guitar was 9/13/09: A Fable. Having just read it again it is actually very relevant to our present moment regarding reviving our production economy. A fable: The Guitar Player who sold his gear or, Bruce Henderson vs. Gordon Moore
The second time was 8/17/10. Intermission. I think Dan had asked us to post a bit about ourselves. Intermission
I linked to a video of the first gig of the band. It’s actually Feeling Alright, not All Right Now. Just to come full circle, here are a couple from the last gig I did with this band.
Rock Me Right Cover with Marisa, Black Plain Road
This one has the guitar that needs a new fret board. 25 or 6 to 4 Cover with Marisa, Black Plain Road
Daniel:
Thank you for the return. I did a search. Of course, I could not find what I thought I read. You filled it in for me. I think I arrived at AB shortly afterwards. Many years have passed at Angry Bear. I do remember your discussing strings. When, I am not sure. 🙂
I did tweak your comment a bit and added the titles. AB has quite a bit of capability after the upgrades Dan did. It took me a while to figure them out. Thank you for commenting.
Joel,
If you haven’t yet, spend some time and a concert at Bethel Woods. Take in the history of the Woodstock Festival and explore the area. Not manufacturing but vacationing and how it has died. The whole area is what the Dirty Dancing setting was about. A lot of cool stuff to explore.
Max Yasgur’s operation was a 600 head dairy.
Are you familiar with the Corless steam engine? George Corless of Providence RI developed a rotating valve creating a 30% improvement in efficiency. You can learn about this and more at the New England Wireless and Steam Museum in East Greenwich. In the fall they have the big steam up and run all the engines. They have a functioning spark generator radio transmitter.
@Daniel,
Thanks!