Page images
PDF
EPUB

to locate. Of this number, two represent a half million dollar investment each. All matters taken up by the members of the city or County Government tending to the good of either city or county, and which are strictly of a non-partisan, non-political nature, are pushed to completion in many instances by the con

certed action of members of the principal mercantile organizations. In brief, the work of the Chamber of Commerce is to do all in its power and at all times that which will redound to the best interests of the county and city-and it generally does it.

Oakland--A Manufacturing Center

By Edwin Stearns.

AKLAND to-day ranks as the second city in California as a manufacturing center, and it is no idle prophecy to state that when the United States census is taken in 1910 it will be well to the fore as the principal manufacturing city on the Pacific Coast. It is not a dream or the wish expressed in words, but has ample facts upon which to build such a prophecy. The very location of the city makes it imperative that as competition increases in all lines of manufactures, the expense of such manufactures must be considered by the manufacturer, and here it is that Oakland will come to the fore. The manufacturer to-day in seeking a location must look to the expense of handling his merchandise as he never had to before, for every handling of the crude material before landing in the manufactory, as well as each handling in the manufactured article between the factory and the firm or individual to whom it is consigned, means just so much additional expense, and must be included in the cost of manufacture.

Situated as Oakland is on the Continental side of the great Bay of San Francisco, in the coast center of this great State, from whence it is an actual necessity to ship all merchandise going either north, south or east by rail from San Francisco, through Oakland, or in other words that the land journey of all merchandise shipped from San Francisco and other points on the peninsula must of necessity start or finish on the water front of Oakland, it is but natural that the manufacturer is to-day locating in this city. Oakland is the natural and geographical site for the factory, and this fact is being comprehended to such a degree by

during the

wide-awake manufacturers that, past two years more manufactories have located in Oakland and adjoining territory than had ever builded in any previous ten years. The reasons therefor are many and are being made known not only by literature sent out by the Chamber of Commerce, but also by the manufacturers who are settling here, and who, in giving their reasons for thus locating, cause the other fellow to do a little thinking of his own, followed by an investigation, and then follows the selection of the new factory site.

With a land-locked harbor in which vessels may lie in any storm, protected from the heavy winds and fogs, with absolutely no thought of dragging anchor, and in a harbor of sufficient size to accommodate all the shipping of the Pacific Ocean, and to the edges of which harbor the trans-continental trains run out on the piers, is it any wonder that the Eastern manufacturer is casting longing eyes at this city on the side of the bay in which the railroads terminate? That Oakland has not long ere this been the port of entry of all the trans-Pacific steamships is due solely to the lack of deep water, and thus the danger to large deepdraught steamers in attempting to land at one of Oakland's piers. The United States Government has done much to obviate this danger, but it is necessary that the Government do more. The owners of the water-frontage upon which there are piers have dredged from the pierheads to the channel to a depth equal to the channel, and just as soon as the Government will dredge that channel to a depth commensurate with the commercial importance of the harbor, just that much sooner will Oakland

[graphic][merged small]

be the terminus of the big ocean liners. It is puerile to say that the management of the big steamships will not land where they can put a crane into the holds of their vessels and lift the cargo direct without extra handling on to the trains for any part of the United States, Canada or Mexico, rather than to load their freight on to a car, which in turn must again be handled, and time lost in transferring by ferry, and again handled before being attached to the great iron horse which is to take it to its destination. So with manufactures, it is nothing less than an absurdity to think a manufacturer will, without necessity, have his wares handled and rehandled each time with an additional cost, which must be made up in the cost of the merchandise to the buyer. In this city the raw material for the manufactory may be landed at the rear door of the factory by ship, and the finished product shipped by rail from the front door, or vice versa. This is an advantage that the up-todate manufacturer is considering more, and is forced to do so as competition increases, and that is but one of the reasons that the sites suitable for manufactories are being so eagerly sought and purchased in Oakland and adjoining territory. Statistics show that the total output of manufactories in Alameda County in the twelve-month between November 1, 1904, and November 1, 1905, amounted to $13,285,197. From November 1, 1905, to date, more manufactories have located in Alameda County in total number than in any two or three years preceding, and at the present time there are very many others seeking desirable sites, two at least of which will mean the expenditure of half a million dollars each, and the employment of many hundred hands. With fifteen miles of water-front, and with at the present time three trans-continental railroads terminating in Oakland and others surveying in this direction, can any fair-minded person say that the manufacturing importance of this city is not the most important feature in the growth of the city? To-day Oakland can boast of the largest cotton mills west of the Rocky Mountains; the largest coal bunkers in the State; the largest magnesite works in the West, immense iron foundries, lumber mills and yards, ship-yards, in which the largest wooden vessels ever built on the Pacific Coast have been launched; electrical works which compare favorably with those in any section of the State; canneries which are second to none in the United States, and which have more than a local reputation, for the asparagus eaten by

the Royal family of England is put up in an Alameda County cannery; syrup works; cracker bakeries, candy factories, steel works. The Alameda County wineries are noted all over the world, and their output last year was, in round figures, eight hundred thousand gallons, refineries, rug manufactories, immense salt works and sugar refineries are among the principal manufacturing outputs of the county and city. The nurseries are large shippers; furniture manufactories, shoe factories, flour mills, extract manufactories, immense potteries, brick kilns, carriage factories, ship and boat builders, large borax works, art glass works, artificial limb manufacturers, immense agricultural implement works, dairies, engine works, ink manufactories, soap works, preserves, macaroni works, organ manufacturers, overall manufacturers, electric and steam railway car-works, stove-works, silk, cotton and hemp works or mills, are but a portion of the many manufactories of Oakland and surrounding territory within the confines of Alameda County.

The dredging and building of a sea-wall and piers on the Western water front with a depth of water sufficient for the largest ocean-going ship to reach the piers in safety, which work is now in process of completion, means more to the manufacturing interest of Oakland than the layman can imagine. It means that within a very few years the great ocean liners will have their terminals in touch with the railroad terminals-a union of ship and rail-where the manufacturer can receive the raw material and ship his manufactured goods to any part of the world with but the single handling. More and more as the advantages are becoming known to the manufacturer, so are the possibilities being considered and fostered, and just to that extent is Oakland forging ahead as the manufacturing center. The establishment of a factory in any community adds much more than the output in salaries and the amount expended for power and material, for it is in itself an advertising medium. Each article stamped with the location of the factory is an advertisement for the city, and the larger the factory and the more sought after its products, the better the advertising. Then, too, the addition to the population is of such importance to some communities that to secure that additional population small towns offer a bonus in the shape of tax indemnity or free land. Not so with cities of the size of Oakland, for with the advantages that this city possesses for the manufacture of any article which must needs be

[graphic][merged small]
[graphic][merged small]

shipped or the material must be brought to the factory from a distant point, the business man is eager to grasp. Thousands of men are employed in the largest yards of the Southern Pacific Company on this division, located in Oakland, not only in the usual work of railroad yards, but also in the repairing of old cars and the building of new ones; the repair of locomotives, and the casting of iron and forging of steel parts thereof. In the large shops of the Oakland Traction Consolidated Companies it is estimated that one new car each week is manufactured. In Oakland harbor, ferry boats are built and fully equipped, and on the largest dry-dock in this vicinity, ofttimes United States cruisers and similar large vessels are wont to be found undergoing repairs. In fact, to-day there is a variety of manufactures in Oakland that, if enumerated, together with the number of men employed, would prove a surprise to nine-tenths of the business men of the city and that is not all, for the figures to-day would vary from those tomorrow, as there is hardly a week passes without the addition to Oakland's manufactories of some new enterprise. The shipping in Oakland harbor is increasing at a remarkable rate, as seen by the Daily Shipping Register, furnished the newspapers by the Chamber of

Commerce. New manufactories are seeking sites between the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe Railroads on the north and west, that they may take advantage of the transportation by either road, while on the south and east between the Southern Pacific and Western Pacific for the same reason. The wharves on the estuary are rapidly being built upon by factories, and spur tracks allow of the direct shipment of goods therefrom. No better facilities can be offered the manufacturer than those of Oakland, and now that the factory sites, or rather sites more suitable for the manufacturer than for any other purpose, are being built upon, the old cry of seeking the manufacturer is being supplemented by the cry, seek the site for the intending manufacturer. Large as are the manufacturing interests of Oakland to-day, ten years hence will see them doubled or trebled -for manufacturing begets manufacturing, and it is not the dream of an optimist the statement that ten years hence will see the water front of Oakland from Park street bridge to Point Richmond a forest of smoking chimneys, an almost continuous line of manufactories, and Oakland referred to as the manufacturing city of the Pacific Coast, just as she is to-day called the City of Opportunity.

An Inviting Field for Investment

F. J. Woodward.

AKLAND and its immediate vicinity offers the most inviting field for real estate investment in California. Taking the city as a whole, property values have doubled within the last five years, and have increased fully 25 per cent since the fire in San Francisco last April. Gauged by the income it produces, the increase in value is fully fifty per cent. Yet the prices of real property (which in Oakland have for many years lagged far behind actual value) are scarcely more than twenty-five per cent of the selling figures for similar property in Los Angeles. Consequently, realty in Oakland not only yields a larger present return on investment, but has a much greater promise of advancement in the future than in the other large cities of this State. Property in Los Angeles similar to property in Oakland appraised at from $1,000 to $2,000 a front foot, is held to be worth from $2,000 to

$5,000 a front foot. Recently a piece of property in Oakland was leased for a rental equivalent to good interest on $6,000 a front foot. At the prices now prevailing here for realty, this property would be considered dear at $4,000 a front foot. In reality, it would be dirt cheap at a much higher figure.

There are many reasons why there will be a large advance in values in the near future. Among them are the enormous increase in population, the development of the interurban street railway system, the incoming of the Western Pacific, which will make Oakland the terminus of another transcontinental railway system, and afford the city a new outlet into the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys, opening up an extensive tributary region, which has heretofore lacked transportation connections with Oakland; the development of port facilities, and the improvements now in progress

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]

Mr. F. J. Woodward.

along the water front, and the expansion of manufacturing industries. In the near future, electric car lines are to be extended into Contra Costa County and down the rich and populous fruit and vegetable district lying south of th city.

A fine tourist hotel, in course of erection in the suburbs, will supply a long-felt want, and at the same time have a stiffening effect on adjacent property. The assured erection of two large modern hotels in the business disti ct is an evidence of growth that will have a stimulating effect on business and building.

The building activity not only in the city of Oakland, but the entire urban district of which it is the center, is unprecedented. This activity has now continued for five years, and is more pronounced and general than ever before. Nevertheless, the demand for stores, offices, residences and apartments far exceeds the supply. Large firms are seeking in vain for adequate business accommodations. The rapid increase in population is shown by the increase in water services. During the month of August, 800 new water services were installed in Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda. 600 were installed in July, indicating an increase in the resident population of not less than 10,000 in two months.

Large tracts of choice residence property in the outskirts of the city, in and outside the municipal incorporation, is being laid out and built upon, intersected with excellent streets, and supplied with rapid transit facilities to

the business center and the bay ferries, constituting no small factors in fixing the speculative value of real estate. A splendid system of suburban roads is adding to the general growth and assisting to make it permanent.

At a recent election. a bond issue was voted for the construction of a system of sanitary sewers, which insures a great improvement in the health conditions, already good, which will mostly contribute to the general upward tendency of realty values.

Coupled with the extraordinary building activity, is a correspondingly brisk movement of the market, the demand for desirable property outstripping the offers. Projected park improvements are destined to have a decided influence on the future valuation of property. The stability of the real estate situation in Oakland is due to the exceedingly conservative valuations which prevail at present and the permanent character of the industrial, business and population growth.

An example of the conservatism characteristic of Oakland and the business methods of its people is given in the fact that although business and population have doubled within the last six months, the market value of real property, generally speaking, has risen less than thirty per cent, an increase far below the increases in income. Is it unreasonable to conclude that an equalizing advance in values must inevitably ensue?

In some parts of the city, business property has gone up three or four hundred per cent during the past five years, and may still be counted cheap. Property on Franklin street, that was begging in the market at $300 or $400 a front foot, three years ago, cannot now be bought for less than $1,000 a front foot, and is hard to get. The same property in Los Angeles would to-day be held at from $2,000 to $3,000 a front foot. Residence property that is held in Oakland at from $75 to $100 a front foot, sells for $150 or more in Los Angeles. In the outer suburbs, lots are sold here at from $20 to $30 a front foot that would bring from $75 to $100 in the Southern city, which illustrates the comparatively low prices at which choice property is appraised in this city, prices which are altogether disproportionate to the volume of business and the rapidly increasing number of inhabitants.

This abnormal condition cannot long endure where prosperity is so firmly established and the demand for building sites is so active. Oakland is now taking on the broad lines of metropolitan life, has taken to herself a heavy wholesale and jobbing trade, and become a great amusement and educational center, all contributing factors in the growth which creates value.

The Merchants Exchange of Oakland

[graphic]

By Wilber Walker.

The following extract from the By-Laws
will explain the scope and duties of
this organization:

OBJECT.

First-Its objects are, primarily, to bring the merchants of Oakland together as an organized body, that as such they may better protect their individual and collective interests.

en

Second-For an organized effort to promote the best interests of the city of Oakland commercially, by inducing immigration and couraging new manufacturing industries, increased transportation facilities, and giving moral support and encouragement to the several departments of the city and county Government whereby extensions, improvements, sanitation, morality and charity may be advanced, and our citizens mutually benefited.

For nearly twelve years this harmonious and progressive body of men have followed the spirit of this declaration of principles and objects.

At the present time it is in a very prosperous condition, having just occupied new quarters at 419 Twelfth street.

During its existence it has inaugurated many measures for the improvement of mercantile conditions in Oakland, and has co-operated with other public bodies in measures for the public good.

Better streets in Oakland and better roads leading to Oakland have received the earnest support of the directors.

The tunnel and connecting roads will always be a monument to the Merchants' Exchange. The successful Alameda County Exhibits at Sacramento State Fair in 1903, at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904 and at the Portland Exposition in 1905, were gathered and managed by commissioners chosen from the Merchants' Exchange. These expositions were handled in a creditable manner and without a breath of scandal.

The celebration of the Fourth of July has also been the particular care of this organization. At the present time much effort is being expended in the line of a consolidation of the sister cities of Oakland, Alameda and Berkeley into one municipality.

Many other matters of public interest are

[ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »