Industrial impulses set afoot when the first shovel of...

Boston Herald

Industrial impulses set afoot when the first shovel of earth was turned for the now completed Christian Science Publishing Society building at One, Norway Street, Boston, continue to billow along the routes of world trade.

A four-million-dollar entterprise of any character makes itself felt afar, but when the enterprise is launched during a period of trade recession, when it is supported by contributions from practically every country under the sun, when it is of a nature which utilizes an unusually large variety of trades and materials, the waves of business set in motion find their way in widening circles which continue to wash on far strands long after the project itself is completed.

In many ways other than economical the completion of the new building which houses The Christian Science Publishing Society was a unique and far-reaching event. It was a challenge to, and a victory over, a general sense of depression which had apparently settled over the most of the world; it once more brought to the attention of the public the loyalty with which followers of the teachings of Mary Baker Eddy respond to any call for support of the movement she founded.

Significant indeed is the fact that while the Publishing House and other large construction works were going on in Boston there were no bread lines in the city, although in other large ganglia of populations where public and private constructions works were less in evidence, the bread lines wound in long queues from innumerable relief centers. ...

At the height of the construction work seven hundred and twenty-four men were employed on the building in one day, while the number of workers employed during construction reached twelve hundred and thirty-eight. These men represented about thirty-five nationalities and numerous crafts. Among them were laborers, shovelmen, bricklayers, carpenters, woodworkers, tilers, metalworkers, engineers, steamfitters, and representatives of other skilled trades.

They handled materials coming from many parts of the world, although the preponderance of materials was supplied by American firms. Italy furnished travertine; Czechoslovakia supplied tile; Belgium, the black marble and reinforced steel; Australia produced the silky oak; the Bahama Islands and Canada produced the insulation materials used in laying underground steam lines; England contributed antique and modern woods, glass, furnishings, tapestries, antique garden furnishings; from France came walnut trimmings; from Germany, glass and mosaics, and Italy likewise grew much of the walnut trim.

Something of the variety of fabricated materials used in the buildings, the production of which kept payrolls up in many a factory, may be seen by considering that nearly fifty thousand square feet and thirty-four tons of acoustical material were used, about two and a half million bricks, three hundred and thirty thousand and five hundred and two pounds of bronze, and nearly forty thousand barrels of cement.

At a time when the practical help of jobs and wages and occupation was greatly needed, the building of the Publishing House was one of the activities that helped to meet that need. It is reported that at least one firm was saved from bankruptcy, that several organizations had to expand in order to take care of the stimulation to their business, and that innumerable firms and individuals are still carrying on under the stimulus given through employment on the new structure and its material.

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"The warfare with one's self"

March 16, 1935

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