The typewriter industry experienced remarkable growth from the mid-1870s through the early part of the 20th century, but there was one area where growth was sluggish: the home consumer market. In an interview with Pitman’s Phonetic Journal in 1902, Yost managing director Milton Bartholomew noted that piano manufacturing outpaced typewriter manufacturing, despite rapid growth in the latter industry.
“The fact is, you see, that the piano goes into almost every home, but the typewriter is confined more to the office,” he stated. “I believe the actual numbers for last year were 175,000 pianos and 150,000 typewriters.”
Historically, the consumer market would be defined by the portable typewriter, but none of the major manufacturer offered one until the 1920s. (Corona grew into a large company with a single product: a folding, portable typewriter that it introduced in the early 1910s.)
Still, manufacturers had fair reason to focus on the business segment: explosive growth. Describing a recent trip to America, Yost commented that expansion seemed nearly limitless. “I will tell you one thing, which I was struck with immensely there, and that was the extraordinary prosperity which they are enjoying at the present time. Every factory seems crowded to its utmost capacity, every warehouse seems full of buyers, and every retail shop the same.”
He advanced that the industry was “right on top of anything they have ever done,” though he felt labor shortages would stymie progress. He mentioned that he had advised English soldiers returning from South Africa to consider emigrating to America for work: “Why, in New York State alone I will undertake to say we could employ ten thousand more labourers than we have, and throughout the States we could do with 100,000 more mechanics, and should be glad of them.”
Regarding labor, Bartholomew noted one aspect of the industry that is not well-researched today: child labor. According to the article, from 1890 to 1900 use of child labor increased exponentially, by 4,465 percent. The article, however, is confusing, displaying a chart noting a growth in wages, while the text claims an increase in the number of child workers. In any event, the role of child labor is one area that demands further research.
Pitman’s Phonetic Journal (London), January 17, 1903 –
© 2024, Mark Adams. All rights reserved.
Wow, 4000+% increase in *children’s* wages, in 1900…..
Yes, my impression is that “children” typically means teenagers, as there is some evidence of that. But I imagine much younger children worked in these factories too.