Amoskeag Manufacturing Company - Decline

Decline

Following the armistice, the national economy slipped into recession. In the early 1920s, orders for Amoskeag products slackened, and various mills stopped production for days, weeks or even months. Without steady work or pay, the employees' bond with their once paternalistic employer weakened. That bond had kept Manchester a "strikeless" city. Then Parker Straw, agent and grandson of Ezekiel A. Straw, posted a notice that as of February 13, 1922, all departments would receive a pay reduction of 20 percent, with running hours increased from 48 to 54 hours per week. The United Textile Workers of America persuaded millworkers to strike when the new arrangements were to take effect. They did, and the city's entire economy suffered. Even after Amoskeag restored the pre-strike wage scale in August, workers continued to strike for a return to the 48-hour week as well as assurances that strike leaders would not be blacklisted. After 9 months, however, necessity forced employees to return to work with their demands unmet, though they returned with the promise that the state legislature--controlled by Democrats for the first time since 1914--would consider enacting a 48-hour law. The Republican-controlled Senate defeated the bill, however. Technically, Amoskeag won, but it would prove a pyrrhic victory.

The strike cost Amoskeag not only the loyalty of employees, but customers as well. And it occurred when new sources of energy, including electricity and petroleum, were replacing water power. Cotton could be processed and woven where it grew, saving transportation costs to New England. With aging technology, it became increasingly difficult for Amoskeag to compete. Northern labor costs were higher than in the South, which had new factories, layouts, and automatic looms. The South did not have New Hampshire's inventory tax, which levied commodity supplies at a business like coal and cotton. In an attempt to remain competitive, Amoskeag made the mistake of adding more mills and spindles to reduce the costs of making fabric, at a time when the textile industry had excess productive capacity.

In 1925, treasurer Frederic C. Dumaine made the fateful decision to split the firm in two. Profits from the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company's years of plenty were placed in the newly created Amoskeag Company, a holding company. Capital was thereby protected from fluctuation in the business cycle, but it was also denied the mills to modernize. Then came the Great Depression. One daily shift increased to three, with management again trying to increase hours and reduce pay—particularly for women, the majority of its workforce. Violent strikes in 1933 and 1934 required the intervention of the New Hampshire State Militia. When the picketing ended and work resumed, vengeful agitators sabotaged machines and products. The stricken business closed mill buildings one by one, laying off scores of employees when few jobs existed.

On Christmas Eve, 1935, the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company abruptly closed its doors and filed for bankruptcy. A damaging flood the following year ended any chance of revival. Per order of the presiding judge, the vast complex was liquidated. By 1937, half the buildings were occupied by other businesses under the aegis of Amoskeag Industries, established in 1936 by local businessmen. Today, the renovated old mills are home to offices, restaurants, software companies, branches of local colleges, art studios and the Millyard Museum.