Recollections of a varied career

Front matter

CTION

'K^I li\.,ww

LI AM E DRAPF^

Preface

It may seem presumptuous for a man of ordinaiy talent, such as I esteem myself, to write his Memoirs; the only good excuse, perhaps, being that his experiences have been out of the ordinary. I began to write simply with the view of leaving a record for my descendants; but as I wrote, it seemed to me that few lives had covered as wide a field as my own.

My public experience, — as a soldier in time of war, a Member of Congress while great questions were under consideration, and a diplomat, also in war time, — would be hard to equal in variety ; and my private life covers invention in important lines, and a business career, commencing as an employee and closing as the head of a large industrial establishment, perhaps the largest in Massachusetts that is owned by its managers.

I venture to believe that a portion of the great public may be interested in my story ; but if not, no harm is done, as the book will serve the purpose for which it was originally intended.

The AtTTHOB.

vu

Contents

CHAPTIiB PASS

I. Ancestry 1

II. HOFEDALE 8

Chapter I Ancestbt

The story of any life is incomplete without some reference to its ancestry, and I will commence mine by a brief account of my progenitors, back to the time of their leaving England for America.

In the early part of the seventeenth century Thomas Draper carried on the business of manufacturing and fulling cloth, at Heptonstall, Yorkshire, England. It appears that he had a number of looms, and used water power. His ancestors had followed this calling before him, and his American descendants have been connected in some way with the cloth making industry substantially ever since.

His son, James Draper, (1618-1694), called in the family records " The Puritan," came to this country, as nearly as can be ascertained, in the year 1647, accompanied by his wife, Miriam Stansfield Draper. He is mentioned in the public records in 1654 as one of the proprietors of the newly laid out town of Lancaster. He, however, did not settle there, but remained in Roxbury, where he built a house, which stood until it was destroyed by fire about 1870. In an inventory of his estate appears an item of " looms and tacklin," he having carried on a weaving business, employing about a dozen looms.

His son, James (1654-1698), in connection with Nathaniel Whiting, erected a fulling mill in Dedham, and also served as a soldier in the King Philip War. The largest item in the inventory of his estate, outside of his homestead, is an interest in mills at Dedham.

His son, James, (1691-1768), located at Green Lodge, near Dedham, and there carried on a manufacturing and farming business. He was a captain of the " Trained Bands," and is stated to have served in the French and Indian Wars.

His son. Major Abijah Draper, (1737-1780), who also resided at Green Lodge, and owned a large part of Blue Hill, was a prominent citizen of Dedham. In 1766 he was one of a committee of three chosen by the citizens of Dedham to erect in the courtyard a monument to William Pitt. This monument has since been replaced, and is called the " Pillar of Liberty." The inscription thereon is as follows :

To the Honor of William Pitt, Esq.,

and other Patriots,

Who saved America from impending slavery,

and confirmed our most loyal Affections to

King George III.,

by procuring the repeal of the Stamp Act,

Erected here, July 22, 1766, by

Dr. Nathl. Ames, 2d, Col. Ebenr. Battle,

Major Abijah Draper, and other patriots,

friendly to the Rights of the Colonies

at that day.

Replaced by the Citizens, July 4, 1828.

Major Draper held every office in the militia up to that of Major, and served in the latter rank in the 1st Suffolk Regiment under General Washington. He was also present and active in harrying the British, on their retreat from Lexington and Concord. His cousin. Captain William Draper, was one of those who gave evidence in regard to the Battle of Lexington, in the examination made by order of the Provincial Congress.

ANCESTRY 3

Iq his testimony he said that " the regular troops fired before any of Captain Parker's Company fired."

My grandfather, Ira Draper, (1764-1848), comes next in line. He was present as a boy, with his father, during the retreat of the British above mentioned, and his recollections of that retreat were exceedingly interesting to me in my boyhood. His account of the manner in which the British flankers occasionally surprised our farmers, who had posted themselves behind trees or walls to get a good shot at the column in the road, was very thrilling. There are few men identified with the State of Massachusetts who have left a more briUiant record in the line of invention than he. A native of Dedham, he removed to Weston in 1808, and during his residence there he devoted himself to perfecting the power loom, and finally succeeded in inventing what he styled the " revolving temple " for weaving, which is still manufactured in Hopedale. His creative genius covered many inventions of great value, some of which are still in use. Among the more important are the following :

1, A threshing machine for horse power; 2, the endless track horse power (now in general use) ; 3, the hay and straw cutter (now in general use); 4, the road scraper (now used); 5, a rock lifting machine; 6, the potato planter; 7, special horse shoes for meadows (now used); 8, a horse power ditching machine to cut and clear drains and ditches ; 9, false felloes for wheels to traverse meadows, etc.; 10, the revolving temple for keeping cloth extended in weaving. He also invented what are stiQ in common use with carpenters, — brackets for shinghng roofs. In a portrait, owned by James Sumner Draper, he is represented holding in his hand the " revolving temple."

As before stated, he removed from Green Lodge to Weston, Mass., where my father was bom, and later to Saugus, where he died at the age of 83 years. He was largely interested in public affairs, and under the administration of John Quincy Adams was a prominent candidate for U. S. Commissioner of- Patents. His inventions, though several of them later came into general use, were not a source of profit to him, pecuniarily speaking. On the contrary, the time and money devoted to i RECOLLECTIONS OF A VARIED CAREER

them reduced his patrimony so that when my father started in life at the early age of fifteen, he had only his own resources to depend upon.

Before further reference to my father or to my descent on my mother's side, I call attention to the remarkable fact that all the Drapers mentioned, from Thomas in England in 1600 down to myself in 1900, have been directly connected with the manufacture of cloth. It is also worthy of note that the loom has been abandoned for the sword, in time of need, by the then living representative of the family, — James Draper in the King Philip War, Captain James Draper in the French and Indian Wars, and Major Abijah Draper in the War of the Revolution. During the War of 1812-1814 this tradition was kept up by the enlistment of James Draper, my father's oldest brother, who brought into use several of his father's inventions and thereby acquired what was considered a fortune in those days. In 1840 he was a delegate to the national convention which nominated General Harrison for the presidency.

My mother was a Thwing, the name being very uncommon in this country and all who possess it being probably descended from Benjamin Thwing, who came from England in 1635 and settled in Boston, having a house and garden on Sudbury Street. His ancestry is traced with probable correctness to the Knights of Thwing, a village forty miles east of York in England. His descendants occupied reputable positions in life, his son Benjamin being a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in 1678. Nathaniel Thwing was Captain and Major of the 8th Massachusetts Regiment in the campaign against Louisbourg, and later Lieutenant-colonel of Colonel Gridley's regiment at Crown Point. John Thwing, between 1730 and 1769, owned and used as a farm a large part of the ground now occupied by the village of Hopedale, where I reside. Another Nathaniel Thwing was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Benjamin Thwing, my grandfather, was a school teacher in Uxbridge, noted in his profession. His house now stands in very good preservation.

I come now to my parents. George Draper, (1817-1887), my

ANCESTRY 5

father, was a man of veiy strong character and will be remembered to-day by all of the older generation in Massachusetts who had to do either with cotton manufacture or with public afiFairs. His years of schooling were brief, but he acquired at school and in later studies at home an excellent mathematical education, — better than that possessed by most college graduates. At the age of fifteen he left home to take a position in the weaving department of the cotton mills of North Uxbridge. There he boarded in the house of Benjamin Thwing and made the acquaintance of his daughter, Hannah Brown Thwing, my mother. At seventeen years of age he was made the superintendent of a small cotton mill at Walpole, Mass. Thence he went to Three Rivers, Mass., and took the position of overseer of weaving in what was then one of the largest fine cotton mills in the country.

In 1839, owing to the general depression in manufacturing, caused by a reduction of the tariff, the mill stopped, and he was thrown out of employment, as were a large number of the skilled operatives in New England. He looked vainly for work in some position worthy of his ability ; used up his small savings ; ran into debt several hundred dollars; and finally accepted a position as an operative in the Massachusetts Cotton Mills of LoweU, at the remuneration of five dollars a week. His experience at that time convinced him of the advantage to laboring men of a protective tariff, and he never forgot it.

With a change in the country's policy, manufacturing improved, and he became an overseer again. In 1843 he accepted a position as designer of the celebrated Edward Harris cassimeres at Woonsocket, R. I. In 1845 he was made superintendent of one of the mills of the Otis Company at Ware, Mass., and later he had charge of the entire corporation. In 1853 he removed from Ware to Hopedale, Mass., going into partnership with his brother, E. D. Draper, who was then manufacturing and selling the temples invented by their father, and which he (George) had improved. E. D. Draper was also president of the Hopedale Community, which my father joined, and which I shall refer to later. In 1855 the Hopedale Community came to grief financially, and he joined his brother in paying its debts, which they accomplished within the next few years. From this time his business increased until it has become one of the great manufacturing industries of the State.

He was a man of large inventive capacity and possessed also the business faculty which enabled him to introduce into use his own inventions and those of others, which he controlled, at a profit not only to the community but to himself. The improvements introduced in spinning machinery under his auspices and the writer's have doubled its production and saved to this and foreign countries hundreds of millions of dollars in machinery, and tens of millions per annum in power, labor, and incidentals. He was a total abstainer, a Unitarian in religious belief, never used tobacco, and prior to the War he was a Garrisonian abolitionist. During the war he was an ardent Union man, and worked earnestly for the cause. He organized several companies of volunteers, paying their preliminary expenses and making personal gifts to each man. He was active in recruiting and a member of Governor Andrew's private Advisory Board. After the war he was a thorough and enthusiastic Republican, and an earnest believer in a protective tariff. He founded, and presided over until his death, the celebrated Home Market Club, which crystallizes and represents the protective sentiment of New England. He wrote much on political topics, both in pamphlets and newspaper articles, and no one could fail to understand what he meant, even if he did not agree with him. During the latter years of his life he travelled much, both at home and abroad, giving up to a large extent his business cares. He was active in the formation of the new town of Hopedale in 1886, and built and presented to that town its town hall. His was a strong individuality, and, though he consistently refused public position, he was always a power behind the throne in local and State affairs.

My mother seems to me to have been the very embodiment of New England common sense. Though her life was largely devoted to household duties and the rearing of her children, she was

ANCESTRY 7

thoroughly interested in public questions, and never satisfied until she had settled to her own satisfaction the right or wrong of anything that came up for consideration. Though my father was a positive man, she was equally sure in her own views, — one evidence of which was that though he became a member of the Hopedale Community, she persistently refused to join, on the ground that she did not believe all questions should be settled by a majority vote or that there should be no rewards for pre-eminent ability and services.

CHAPTER 11

I WAS bom in Lowell, Mass., the ninth day of April, 1842, my father at this time being an overseer of weaving for the Massachusetts Corporation in that city, and an occupant of one of the factory houses. My first recollection is of the firing of cannon, which I have since been told was during my father's residence in Woonsocket, R. I., the occasion for the firing, (which was close to the house occupied by him), being the release of Governor Dorr from prison. In Ware, Mass., at the age of seven, I began to attend the public schools, and made such progress that the fall after I was nine years of age I entered the High School. I suppose the qualifications for such entry were not as high as at the present day, but I inunediately began the study of Latin and algebra, and before leaving Ware, at the age of eleven, I had made considerable progress in both mathematics and languages. There is nothing special to note in this part of my boyhood, except that as my father was superintendent of the large mills of the Otis Company, I had ample opportunity to visit these mills and to obtain a general idea of the processes of the manufacture of cotton goods, as then carried on.

In 1853 my father resigned his position with the Otis Company, and went into partnership with my uncle, Ebenezer D. Draper, in the business of making and selling the temples to which I have previously referred. My uncle had carried on this business for several years, having inherited it from his older brother, James Draper; and the mechanical work was done at the shop of the Hopedale Conmiunity at Hopedale, of which

Community Mr. Ebenezer D. Draper was president. The business was small, employing only a few men, but it indirectly furnished the financial backbone of the Hopedale Community, through the royalties that it yielded, though their amount would not seem large at the present day. In removing to Hopedale my father became a member of the Community, with whose ideas he was in sympathy, and so remained until its financial failure a few years later.

A little account of the Hopedale Community and its ideas will not be out of place, as my boyish experiences in connection therewith have a£Eected my views on many important questions during the rest of my life.

During the year 1841 a company of men and women, who believed that the organization of society, as it was then and is now, was on a wrong basis, associated themselves together under the name of " Fraternal Community No. 1," at Mendon, Mass. The number of original members was thirty-two, among whom were my uncle and aunt, Ebenezer D. and Anna T. Draper. The founder and leader of the enterprise through all its subsequent vicissitudes was the Rev. Adin Ballou, at that time pastor of the First Church and Parish of the town of Mendon. He was a man of commanding presence, great intellectual ability, and a character above reproach. Count Tolstoi, in a recent interview, named him as the best writer that America has produced, and though that may be a partial estimate, I here state my belief that she has produced no better man. He is to me the highest embodiment of Christian character and unselfish devotion to duty, as he saw it, that I have ever come in contact with. In my brief account I shall quote from his history of the Hopedale Community such facts and statements as may seem pertinent, this being the only authority accessible, outside of my personal recollections.

The decade beginning with the year 1840, saw in the United States a large number of these efforts to establish a better order of things by voluntary co-operation. As Emerson wrote to Carlyle in the autumn of that year, " We are all a little wild here with numberless projects of social reform. Not a reading man but has a draft of a new community in his waistcoat pocket." Within a few years of that time no less than sixty of these communities were established in different parts of the country, and of the. sixty not one now remains. Hopedale was one of the first to be organized, and one of the last to be finally abandoned. The believers in communistic theories now advocate their enforcement by governmental power, upon populations at least partially unwilling. If the voluntary associations failed, what may be expected of unselfishness maintained at the point of the bayonet ?

Each member and proposed member of the Association was required to sign the following declaration :

" I believe in the religion of Jesus Christ, as he taught and exemplified it according to the Scriptures of the New Testament. I acknowledge myself a bounden subject of all its moral obligations. Especially do I hold myself bound by its holy requirements, never, under any pretext whatsoever, to kiU, assault, beat, torture, enslave, rob, oppress, persecute, defraud, corrupt, slander, revile, injure, envy, or hate any human being, even my worst enemy; never in any manner to violate the dictates of pure chastity; never to take or administer an oath ; never to manufacture, buy, sell, deal out, or use any intoxicating liquor as a beverage; never to serve in the army, navy, or militia of any nation, state, or chieftain; never to bring an action at law, hold office, vote, join a legal posse, petition a legislature, or ask governmental interposition, in any case involving a final authorized resort to physical violence; never to indulge self-will, bigotry, love of pre-eminence, Govetousness, deceit, profanity, idleness, or an unruly tongue ; never to participate in lotteries, games of chance, betting, or pernicious amusements ; never to resent reproof nor justify myself in a known wrong; never to aid, abet, or approve others in anything sinful; — but through divine assistance, always to recommend and promote, with my entire influence, the holiness and happiness of all mankind."

Equality was established by the following section of the original constitution:

" Sec. 7. All members of every Community shall stand on a footing of personal equality, irrespective of sex, color, occupation, wealth, rank, or any other natural or adventitious peculiarity."

In June, 1841, the Community purchased the so-called Jones Fann, of 258 acres, in Milford, (now Hopedale), and their holdings were afterwards increased to about 600 acres. The first settlement was made in October, 1841, and community life began the following spring. At the start the joint stock subscribed was $4,000, and the individual property of the entire body, including this $4,000, was estimated by Mr. Ballou at $10,000. The general plan adopted was that the Conmiunity should own the farms and shops as they should be established, — the instruments of production, — and that individuals might personally own their houses and furniture. An exception to this was that my uncle, E. D. Draper, retained the patent business inherited from his father and elder brother, as a personal asset. This was of great pecuniary advantage to the Community, as my uncle invested in their joint stock all or substantially all his business profits; but it was doubtless the occasion for jealousy, and may have had to do with the final breaking up of the organization. It is, however, fair to say that if this business had been put in as a general asset under the general control, the end would probably have come much sooner.

The Community undertook to furnish employment for all connected with it who were able to work, and at the beginning the uniform rate of wages for adults was fixed at fifty cents for each day of eight hours. The same price was paid for intellectual work as for manual labor. A question soon arose whether nursing mothers should be included, as well as women doing domestic work; and one member insisted that his wife, who was occupied in both directions, should receive sixteen hours' pay daily. A compromise was made on the basis of eight hours' daily pay for both classes, who should perform such domestic service as they were able.

At the close of 1842 the above general arrangement was found impracticable, and a provision was adopted by which members were to be paid according to the productiveness of their service, but not exceeding a dollar per day, or three hundred dollars per year. It was also provided that profits up to four per cent, should be divided pro rata among the holders of the joint stock, but that any excess should be devoted to such religious, educational, or charitable purposes as the Community might determine. (I may say here that the excess never came, and that the four per cent, was frequently, if not generally, lacking.) These provisions were considered too individualistic by about a dozen members, who seceded, including the brother who insisted on double pay for nursing mothers.

At the close of 1844 the pendulum swung in the other direction, and the industries were assigned to bands, or sections, who should elect their monitors each fortnight and a director every two months. Each family and individual was to be provided with house-room, fuel, light, food, washing and mending, medical and nursing attendance, and conveyance by horse and carriage fifty miles each, per annum. Each adult operative was further to receive for clothing and pocket money twenty-five dollars per annum.

At the close of 1846 Mr. Ballou wrote : " A careful inspection of the reports of our managers revealed the fact that the actual production of their several departments was not what reasonably might have been expected, — was not in average proportion to the amount of time credited for labor."

In January, 1847, a by-law was enacted, again making changes in the organization and government of the Community industries. Under its provisions the operatives in each branch of business were constituted a co-operative association, having a voice in the control of affairs, and in the arrangement of details, subject to the supervision of a manager appointed by the executive council. This did not cure the troubles, as is shown by* Mr. Ballou's comment at the close of the year. He said :

" We still had among our workmen and operatives too many persons both unaccustomed and indisposed to methodical habits of industry, and regularity of action in any direction, — too many undisciplined recruits in our industrial army, — persons unfitted by lack of sagacity and training, by their loose and heterogeneous ways, to render service satisfactorily in decently managed establishments an}rwhere in the world. They failed to observe proper hours, to care for their tools or implements, to execute nice work, and, in general, to conform to the necessary conditions of success in their respectiye callings. The most salutary rules, the most wisely arranged plans, the most indispensable requirements, with such availed nothing."

Also,

" Financial resources were running low. More money was needed than could be easily obtained. Our expenditures exceeded our income. To meet the demands upon us we had to fall back upon one of our more fortunate members (Mr. £. D. Draper), who was engaged in business outside of Community jurisdiction, that yielded him asu£Scient revenue to enable him to help us in every emergency, by additional subscriptions to our joint stock."

A complete reorganization seemed necessary, and was made by the adoption of a new constitution July 17, 1847. This preserved the original declaration as to principles, but placed the management of the Community property and industries in the hands of a board of trustees, annually chosen. They were to pay to holders of the joint stock four per cent, dividends (if made), and any excess was to be devoted to educational purposes. Mr. Ballou writes :

" The change was not simply desirable or expedient, but indispensable. . . . Without it we should have gone to pieces."

This change caused the secession of several members, including one who wrote a sarcastic letter, stating that the Community had ceased to be.

During the next two years matters moved more smoothly, but still not profitably in a pecuniary sense. Community managers were sometimes thought to require too much of their subordinates, or to be too domineering and ungracious toward them. The employment of outsiders, too, skilled in some of the work carried on, but not sympathizing with the objects of the Community, was a source of trouble. A resolution was passed in 1849 to the effect that no person outside of Community members, visiting friends, etc., should be employed, boarded or harbored, oq the Community territoiy, for a longer time than one month, without a special vote.

In '48 and '49 a savings bank was established ; also an Industrial Army, which embraced the able-bodied, and gave a certain amount of time to general improvements, — grading streets, building sidewalks, setting out shade trees, etc. An income tax of one and one-half per cent, was levied for educational purposes. The Hopedale collection of Hymns was also published, and I here quote one of Mr. Ballou's, which he has thought worthy of preservation in his history.

O Lord, our scanty faith we mourn,

And faint in every limb.

Far down thy holy mountain side,

With Alps on Alps above, Vast distances our tents divide

From thy blight throne of love.

How can we climb those rugged heights

And gain those sinless skies.

Till grace our dormant will excites

To grasp th' immortal prize.

Rend off, O Lord, this sensual shroud

That binds the torpid soul ; By faith eternal things uncloud

And speed us to our goal.

Then shall our darkness turn to light.

Our rough ascent grow smooth, And tottering weakness clothed with might

At length triumphant prove.

A new board was established, called " The Council," which was to examine all applicants for membership and probation, and approve or disapprove them ; also to " maintain a scrupulous watchfulness over the morals and manners of the entire population, to apply proper restraints and correctives to existing wrongs and misdemeanors; to hear and pass judgment upon charges of ill conduct of any sort ; to arbitrate in cases of controversy or serious disagreement; and in a general way, to exercise fraternal supervision and authority in all matters pertaining to the moral and religious welfare " of the Community. Mr. Ballou writes that this Board proved to be an efficient and most helpful arm of the public service. I can remember that it was regarded with fear and trembling by the juvenile residents of Hopedale.

In 1851, as dividends on the joint stock had not been earned, a resolution was adopted by which they were scaled fifty per cent., and eight per cent, of the wages of the past year was assessed to pay the remainder. Further, it was provided that ten per cent, of the wages to be paid in future should be retained till the close of each year, to make up the four per cent, dividend on the stock if it should be required, — otherwise it should be divided among the wage earners. In the same year the Community made itself an insurance company, to protect members and probationers against loss or damage by fire and other casualties. A commercial exchange was also founded, to act as an agent for the distribution and sale of the products of industry, and for the supply of material entering into them, " together with the multiform necessaries of human consumption." It was also voted that any member should have the privil^e of setting up and carrying on any industry or handicraft pleasing to him, and that work might be done under Community auspices by the piece or the quantity, — thus, as Mr. Ballou says, " developing in all craftsmen and employees whatever latent capabilities they might possess, and a deeper sense of personal accountability." This was a long step toward individualism, at least as far as employees were concerned, but the Community still retained the control of the business done, ^- through its trustees, who were elected annually by vote, regardless of ownership in the joint stock.