Research Report: An Analysis of Union Iron Works Foreman's Index Cards Dated 1908-1918 KEITH TERRY Index Index 2o5 Index ofTables and Figures Introduction 206 A Short I lisrory of the Union Iron Works 206 I listoriography 207 An Overview of the Workers ao8 General I)emographie Overview 208 W’age Overview: 212 Employment Length Overview: 214 Analysis 215 Nationality and Race: 215 Wages: 216 Employment Length, Worker Age, and Labor Division: 218 Coneltision: 219 Index ofTables and Figures Table t: Average Age 209 Table : \Vorker Skill Level 209 Table : Summary of Nationality 210 ‘Fable : Detailed Nativity 210-211 Figure i: Average \\agc By Year 212 lable 5: Surninan’ \Vage I)ata 213 Table 6: Employment Length 214 fable : Nationality and Wages 215 ‘Fable 8: Nationality and Skill Level 216 ‘Fable : A Journeyman’s Wage Increases, 1917-1918 217 Figtire 2: Average Age of\Vorkers By Year 219 Image r: Sample Card — Front 221 Image 2: Sample Card — Back 221 Image : Card Storage Box 222 Image : Cart Loaded W’ith Boxes 222 Ex POST FACTO 206 This paper analyzes previously unused primary sotiree data, and attempts to place it in its proper historiographical context. The data was gathered during a spring 2007 internship supporting a submission to the National Register of I listoric Places. lThc submission is for the Port of San Francisco, and Dr. Marjorie Dobkin is the consulting historian in charge of the submission. The data analyzed is a subset of a collection of Union Iron Works Foreman’s Index Cards housed at the San Francisco Maritime Museum Library in Fort Mason, covering the period of 1908-1918. The cards were donated to the library by Bethlehem Steel, and have not been previously analyzed, probably due to the technical challenges involved. There arc approximately 45,000 cards, measuring roughly inches each. The cards are stored in one-foot long archive boxes, and fifty-eight boxes arc required to store them. The cards have infomiation on both sides. On the front, one finds general information such as name, address, natisitv. birth year (or age). position(s), the division(s) in which the employee worked, and freehand commentan-. On the back of each card, one finds up to nine rows of data for specific employment periods. Each row contains start and end dates, pay rate, shift start time, foreman’s name, and occasional commentary. If an employee worked enough periods, that employee has multiple cards, In order to extract information from this fomidablc source, initial interpretation and extraCtif)n decisions s’ere required. After these decisions were made in consultation with Dr. Dobkin and Dr. Jules Tvgiel. a database was constructed. Several input timing tests were performed, dtiring which time the database was revised and finalized. With this information in hand, and aware of the time pressures created by the semester structure, the next step was to determine a valid statistical sampling method. Dr. Jtiles Tygiel of San Francisco State University kindly contributed his time and expertise to ensure that the i% sample which was to be taken would be statistically valid. The preparation process was completed on February i3th, some three weeks after the beginning of the semester. The data inptlt was completed on April 28th. lYic data then needed to be cleaned, error- checked, imported into the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), and manipulated so that it might be analyzed. This latter process was completed on May i7th. In total. the process of sampling and converting the handwritten data into an analytical database took 175 hoots of work, spread across fotir months. ‘I’he analysis which follows leaves ample room for further investigation of the data extracted from the Union Iron Works index cards. J3y summer of 2oo8 updated versions of this document, along with Dr. Dobkins submis.sion to the National Register for I listoric Places should be available to the pctblie at the Maritime Mtiseum Libran. ‘I’he Lihrarvwill also be given the electronic database created in the course of this research. None of this research would have been pos.sihle without the help of the friendly, skilled, and knowledgeable historians at the Maritime Museum Library. and I ani grateftil for their unfailing support. I also thank Dr. Philip Dreyfuis for restraining my more speculative comments and offering suggestions for future research. Any errors in. or shortcomings of, this essay are entirely my own. A Short History of the Union Iron Works In 1849, James Donahtie, an Irishman whose family had traveled to New Jersey by way of Glasgow, abandoned his gold tush gold mining attempts and settled in San Francisco. Using the skills he had learned in New Jerse . he founded a primitive blacksmith shop. Within a few months his brother Peter. another experienced iron worker, joined him. The brothers rapidly built their blacksmith shop into a full fledged iron works, the first such on the West Coast. 13y i86o, the Donahue’s Union Iron Works produced stoves, mining equipment. propeller shafts, boilers, steam engines, locomotives, and custom iron orders of all descriptions, and carried on a thriving side Ex POST fAcTo Research Report2o7 business in ship repair. In 1863, tO provide Civil \Var defenses to the port of San Francisco, the Navy sent the disassembled Monitor Qtnainche from the East Coast aboard the sailing vessel Aqizila. ‘lhc Aqoila sank the day after arrival, with the Cznz1Inchc still in her hold. Within six months a salvage crew raised the sunken ship, prompting Mark Twain to give a speech in honor of ? lajor Edward C. Perry, who lcd the salvage crew. The UIW launched the Garnancheon November 14,h, 1864. The first ironclad warship on the West Coast, the C’arnanehe never saw’ action.’ James I)onahuc died in i86i, and in z86 Peter I)onahue sold his shares in the UIW to! Ii. Booth and OWT. Prescott, Irving Murray Scott, who had been the Superintendent of the UIW since 1863, was made a full partner by the new owners. lie managed the Works for the next forty years. In the z88os. the navies ofthe world began to convert to steel hulled ships. Naval yards with experience building locomotives were pardetilarly well stated for building the new ships. as they had the skilled men and equipment needed for both metalworking and shipbuilding. Since the Panama Canal had notyctopcncd, the Navy’s policy was to defend each coastwith ships htult on that coast. On the \Vest Coast, the UIW was initially the only qualified yard, and so became the primary Western builder of warships prior to World War t. By 1891, the Ul\V had constructed three armored cruisers and a battleship. The most famous of these vessels was the cruiser Ohrnpia, which would serve as Commodore Dewey’s flagship at the battle of Manila Bay in z89$. In 1902, the UIW was sold to the United States Shipbuilding Company, which merged with Bethlehem Steel that same year. I lowever, the San Francisco subsidiary continued to be known as the Union Iron \Vorks until after World War I. Today, tile old Union Iron \Vorks. located at 20th and Illinois streets, are owned by the Port of San Francisco.7 IIisroHoraphv Since this research topic is very tightly focused, it is not surprising that the sources available address the topic only as part of a larger study. ‘l’he best sotlrcc for this specific isstzc is LaborAdministration in the Shipbuilding Indtistry During War’Ilme: l.”by P. II. Douglas and F. E. Wolfe.8 Skirting the fine line between primary and secondary sources, this article can best be viewed as a scholarly post-mortem examination of the issue of shipyard labor in the preceding three years. The article explains the tirgent need for shipbtulding created by German U-i3oat attacks, discusses the prewar shiphuulding industry, including the labor situation; and explains the governmental action taken to address the situation. The article qtueklv transitions to its primart focus, a detailed study of the actions of the Shipbuilding Labor Adjtistrnent I3oard. The Shipbuilding Labor Adjustment Board was established on August 20, m9z7by Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin 1). Roosevelt. Members of the board included the presidents of tile najor shipyard workers’ unions and representatives of two U.S. Government agencies: the United States Shipping Board (USSB), founded in the autumn of 1916 to regulate Richard II. Dillon, Iron ]lien: Peter, James and Michael Donahzze(Fairfleld, CA.: James Stevenson Publisher, 1984; reprint, 2004), 78-88. ‘Edgar M. i3ranch, “Major Perry and the Monitor Camanche: An Early 1\ lark Tw’ain Speech,” Anierican Liteozrnre39, no. a (May, 1967): 170-73. Joseph Aaron Bltim, “San Francisco Iron: The Indtistry and Its Workers from the Gold Rtzsh to the i’urn of the Century” (San Francisco State University, 1989), n6-m8. William D. Walters Jr,,”Aneriean Naval Shipbuilding, 1890-1989,” GeographicalRelieu’9o, no.3 (Jul., 2000): 419-20. Bltzm, “San Francisco Iron”, 183. Robert I lessen, “The ‘I’ransforrnation of i3ethlehcm Steel, 1904-1909,” The Business Ilisroii’ Rezww46, no.3 (Atitumn, 1972): 345-46. 7 When I3luzrn wrote “San l’raneisco Iron the UIW was owned by Sotzthw’est Marine. P.11. Dotiglas and FE. Wolfe, “Labor Administration in the Shipbtiilding Industry During War Time: I,” The Journal of Political Eeononw27, no. 3 (Mar., 1919). Ex POST FACTO 208 Keith Terry shipping and the USSB’s Emergency Fleet Corporation, created in April of 1917 to administer a crash building program. The article dissects in detail the agreements brokered by the board in each region. These agreements covered hours worked, wages, working conditions, and tinion powers. The second most valuable resource is San Francisco Irnn, Joseph Blum’s 1989 M.A.