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CHAPTER VI

THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED

STATES

1. The Advantages of the United States for Manufacturing Industries

This rapid rise of the United States to the first position among manufacturing nations is attributable to certain distinct causes, natural and otherwise, five of which may be definitely formulated, as follows:

1. Agricultural resources.

2. Mineral resources.

3. Highly developed transportation facilities.

4. Freedom of trade between states and territories.

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5. Freedom from inherited and over-conservative ideas. A study of these causes affords an explanation of the great development of manufacturing in the United States in the past, as well as an indication of its possibilities in the future.

1. Agricultural resources. Most obvious among the natural advantages of the United States is its possession of every variety of soil, and every climate except the tropical. There is thus an abundance of food supplies of almost every form for the consumption of the people, and abundant raw agricultural materials for the use of manufactures. Both food supplies and agricultural materials for manufacture are cheaper, more abundant, and more varied in the United States than in any other manufacturing country. As a consequence the manufacturing development of the country has extended to nearly every form of industry which ministers to the comfort and necessities of man. In many localities the character of the manufactures has been determined largely by climatic conditions and by the character of products to which the soil of such localities is especially adapted.

1 From Twelfth Census, Report on Manufactures, I, lvi-lix.

In the production of cotton, the leading textile staple, the United States is preeminent, furnishing 86.1 per cent of the world's production of cotton in 1899-1900. This is shown by Table I, which states the production of cotton in the leading countries of the world from 1890-1891 to 1899-1900.

TABLE I-Production of cotton in 500-pound bales for the United States and other countries: 1890-1891 to 1899-1900

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The forests of the United States furnish practically all the material required for the extensive wood-working industries of the country, and lumber valued at more than thirty million dollars is now exported annually. The only foreign sources upon which the United States relies for additional supplies of lumber are Canada, the West Indies, and Central and South America, the last two furnishing mahogany, rosewood, Spanish cedar, etc., required in the manufacture of pianos and fine furniture.

2. Mineral resources. In the second place, the United States produces nearly every mineral required for manufacturing industries. In most of these the supplies appear to be sufficient for years to come, and are obtainable at prices which compare favorably with prices in other parts of the world.

Coal, the basis of modern manufactures, exists in great abundance, and the fields are so widely distributed throughout the country as to afford easy transportation, by rail or water, to the

chief distributing points and manufacturing centers. The total production of coal in the United States in 1899 was 175,428,300 metric tons of bituminous coal, valued at $167,935,304, and 54,825,776 metric tons of anthracite coal, valued at $88,142,130. Reference should be made also to the extensive supplies of natural gas, a fuel which is utilized chiefly in manufacturing. In 1899 the estimated value of natural gas was $20,024,873. It is impossible to ascertain from the census reports the actual consumption of coal in manufacturing, but the reported cost of all fuel consumed in manufacturing during the census year was $205,320,632. The coal production of the United States is now larger than that of any other country, having passed the production of Great Britain for the first time in 1899. The world's estimated production of coal for 1890 and 1899 is shown in Table II.

TABLE II - World's production of coal in metric tons,1 by countries: 1890 and 1899 2

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It appears from Table II that the production of coal in the United States has increased 60.8 per cent since 1890. In that year its production constituted 28 per cent of the world's estimated production, as compared with 32 per cent in 1899.

1 Tons of 2204 pounds.

2 United States Geological Survey, Mineral Resources, 1900, p. 316, et seq.

A supply of iron ore is equally important to the manufacturing development of a country. Table III shows that in this mineral, as in production of coal, the United States leads all countries.

TABLE III — World's production of iron ore, in metric tons,1 by countries: 1890 and 18992

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It appears from Table III that the production of iron ore in the United States increased 53.9 per cent between 1890 and 1899, constituting 28.5 per cent of the world's estimated production in 1890 and 31.8 per cent in 1899. The stimulus these supplies of the ore have given to the manufacture of iron is seen in the remarkable advance in this industry during the last two decades. The United States passed Great Britain between 1880 and 1890, becoming the leading pig-iron-producing country in the world. Between 1890 and 1899 the increase in production in the United States was 4,418,000 tons, while in Great Britain it was 1,401,105 tons. The pig-iron production of the United

1 Tons of 2204 pounds.

2 United States Geological Survey, Mineral Resources, 1900, p. 91; 1890, p. 22. 3 For 1887. 4 For 1889. 5 Not reported separately.

6 Including Russia (1888) and Cuba (1890).

States in 1899 was 13,620,703 tons, or 34.1 per cent of the world's production.

A special advantage connected with the abundance of coal and iron ores in the United States is the fact that deposits of these minerals, together with deposits of limestone, which is used for fluxing the iron ore, are frequently found in the same locality, thus greatly facilitating their use in manufactures.

In the production of crude copper the advance of the United States to the front rank has been even more rapid and remarkable. Statistics of the world's output in 1850 place the copper production of all countries in that year at 52,250 tons, to which quantity Chile contributed 14,300 tons, Great Britain, 11,800. tons, Russia, 6000 tons, Japan, 3000 tons, and the United States only 650 tons. In 1899 the world's output of copper was estimated at 463,303 long tons, of which quantity the United States produced 253,870 long tons, or nearly four hundred times its production in 1850. The production in 1899 constituted 54.8 per cent of the world's estimated production, as given in Table IV, placing the United States first in this field also.

TABLE IV - World's production of copper, in long tons,

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Of the 253,870 tons of copper produced in the United States in 1899, 123,413 tons were exported, leaving for home consumption a total of 130,457 tons. This extraordinary development

1 United States Geological Survey, Mineral Resources, 1900, p. 186.

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