Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 969 – The State of Sosman & Landis, 1917-1918

Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

At the close of 1917, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “We have had a good year as far as quantity is concerned, but I hope we have made some money.  The payroll has kept up on account of the night work.  The greatest handicap to a profit sharing business is procrastination among the managers.  The eleventh hour idea of getting scenery, we can either take it, or work night and day to get it out on a close margin, or let it alone and allow someone else to creep in and steal our business. No vacation this year and very little picture painting.  Quit the camp very early.” In 1918, Moses wrote, “Our business is not good – far from it.  Raw material has advanced so rapidly that we are unable to keep up with it, and I am very much worried about the outcome.” By summer Moses wrote, “I have not been out to Fox Lake this year, the first I have missed in twelve years.  The business is in such an upset condition that I felt I should stick to it.”  But Moses couldn’t weather this particular storm, and by the end of summer in 1918 wrote, “September 1^st, I resigned as President of the Sosman and Landis Company which severs my connection with the firm after thirty-eight years of service.  I joined the New York Studios and expect to get a studio and an office to do business…The Sosman and Landis Company have only done $85,000.00 worth of work for the past year.  We should have done about $116,000.00 worth to make money.” It was not until 1923 that Moses and Fred R. Megan would purchase “the name and good will of Sosman and Landis Company.”

Like many American studios, Sosman & Landis weathered many economic downturns since their establishment in 1877. Although WWI provided a brief period of economic growth, an economic recession continued after WWI. As military veterans returned to civilian life, there was a surge in the labor pool and problems ensued as veterans were absorbed back into peace-time production. This also affected the theatre industry. During the war years, there was a certain percentage of work directly related to wartime propaganda and patriotic-themes shows. However, between January 1920 and July 1921, America dipped into a depression. Ironically, this is the same time that Prohibition began. There are a few economic factors to consider as I examine the life and times of Moses before his purchase of the Sosman & Landis name in 1923. I believe that Moses’ 1918 departure signals the end of the firm. With both founders gone. Moses was the institutional memory and intimately connected with most of the projects since 1880.

In April 1917, Congress declared war on German. By October 1917 Congress passed the War Revenue Act. This bill lowered the number of tax exemptions while increasing tax rates. For example, an individual with a $40,000 annual income was subject to a 16 percent tax rate, while an individual with an income of $1.5 million was subject to a 67 percent. Tax revenue increased from $809 million in 1917 to a whopping $3.6 billion in 1918, a much-needed increase for adapt for war-related expenses.

Keep in mind that between 1916 and 1918 the U. S. expenses for troop training, weapons and munitions increased fifteen fold.  This means that by the time World War I ended, income tax generated from the War Revenue Act had paid for only one-third of all war expenses. Spending outpaced funding for the war, and the government implemented the sale of war bonds to help cover the gap. By the spring of 1918 the federal government had sold approximately 10 billion dollars worth of war bonds and treasury certificates. There is a fascinating article about the Federal Reserve’s role in WWI too: https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/feds_role_during_wwi

As American went to war, there are a few factors to consider about its citizens. In 2017, “The Saturday Evening Post” published an article on “The Average American Today and on the Eve of World War I,” noting, “What it means to be an ‘Average American’ today is in many ways so different from what it meant a century ago, when the United States entered World War I.” Here are a few numbers provided in the article:

In 1917, there were 103 million Americans.

In 1917, 86% of the American population was Caucasian.

In 1917, American women couldn’t vote, couldn’t obtain birth control, and had a life expectancy on 49 years. The life expectancy of American men was 47 years.

In 1917, 14% of American homes had bathtubs with running water.

In 1917, 18% of American households had one live-in servant.

In 1917, only 10% of American men graduated from high school.

To be continued…