Part 15

======+===========+===========+===========+============ | | | | | | | | Fiscal| | | Unmanu- | Year,| | | factured | Imports ending| Exports. | Imports. | silk | of crude June | (domestic)| | imported. | rubber. 30-- | | | | | | | | | | | | ------+-----------+-----------+-----------+------------ | Dollars. | Dollars. | Pounds. | Pounds. | | | | 1800 | -- | -- | -- | -- 1810 | -- | -- | -- | -- 1820 | -- | 7,812,326| -- | -- 1830 | 1,318,183| 5,774,013| -- | -- 1840 | 3,549,607| 6,504,104| -- | -- 1850 | 4,734,424| 20,781,346| -- | -- 1851 | 7,241,205| 22,164,442| -- | -- 1852 | 7,672,151| 19,689,496| -- | -- 1853 | 8,768,894| 27,731,363| -- | -- 1854 | 5,535,516| 33,949,503| -- | -- 1855 | 5,857,181| 17,757,112| -- | -- 1856 | 6,967,309| 25,917,999| -- | -- 1857 | 6,115,177| 28,685,726| -- | -- 1858 | 5,651,504| 18,584,810| -- | -- 1859 | 8,316,222| 26,976,381| -- | -- 1860 | 10,934,796| 33,215,541| -- | -- 1861 | 7,957,038| 25,271,382| -- | -- 1862 | 2,946,464| 8,890,119| -- | 2,125,561 1863 | 2,906,411| 14,121,589| -- | 5,104,650 1864 | 1,456,901| 14,341,501| 407,935| -- 1865 | 3,451,561| 9,223,686| 288,286| -- 1866 | 1,780,175| 27,502,194| 567,904| -- 1867 | 4,608,235| 19,302,005| 491,983| -- 1868 | 4,871,054| 17,335,406| 512,449| 8,438,019 1869 | 5,874,222| 20,481,312| 720,045| 7,813,134 1870 | 3,787,282| 23,380,053| 583,589| 9,624,098 1871 | 3,558,236| 29,876,640| 1,100,281| 11,031,939 1872 | 2,304,330| 35,307,447| 1,063,809| 11,803,437 1873 | 2,947,528| 35,201,324| 1,159,420| 14,536,978 1874 | 3,095,840| 28,193,869| 794,837| 14,191,320 1875 | 4,071,882| 27,738,401| 1,101,681| 12,035,909 1876 | 7,722,978| 22,725,598| 1,354,991| 10,589,297 1877 | 10,235,843| 18,923,614| 1,186,170| 13,821,109 1878 | 11,438,660| 19,081,037| 1,182,750| 12,512,203 1879 | 10,853,950| 19,928,310| 1,889,776| 14,878,584 1880 | 9,981,418| 29,929,366| 2,562,236| 16,826,099 1881 | 13,571,387| 31,219,329| 2,790,413| 20,015,176 1882 | 13,222,979| 35,719,791| 3,549,404| 22,712,862 1883 | 12,951,145| 38,036,044| 4,731,106| 21,646,320 1884 | 11,885,211| 29,074,626| 4,284,888| 24,574,025 1885 | 11,836,591| 27,197,241| 4,308,908| 24,208,148 1886 | 13,959,934| 29,709,266| 6,818,060| 29,263,632 1887 | 14,929,342| 28,940,353| 6,028,091| 28,649,446 1888 | 13,013,189| 28,917,799| 6,370,322| 36,628,351 1889 | 10,212,644| 26,805,942| 6,645,124| 32,339,503 1890 | 9,999,277| 29,918,055| 7,510,440| 33,842,374 1891 | 13,604,857| 29,712,624| 6,266,629| 33,712,089 1892 | 13,226,277| 28,323,841| 8,834,049| 39,976,205 1893 | 11,809,355| 33,560,293| 8,497,477| 41,547,680 1894 | 14,340,886| 22,346,547| 5,902,485| 33,757,783 1895 | 13,789,810| 33,196,625| 9,316,460| 39,741,607 1896 | 16,837,396| 32,437,504| 9,363,987| 36,774,460 1897 | 21,037,678| 34,429,363| 7,993,444| 35,574,449 1898 | 17,024,092| 27,267,300| 12,087,951| 46,055,497 1899 | 23,566,914| 32,054,434| 11,250,383| 51,063,066 1900 | 24,003,087| 41,296,239| 13,073,718| 49,377,138 1901 | 20,272,418| 40,246,935| 10,405,555| 55,275,529 1902 | 32,108,362| 44,460,126| 14,234,826| 50,413,481 1903 | 32,216,304| 52,462,755| 15,270,859| 55,010,571 1904 | 22,403,713| 49,524,246| 16,722,709| 59,015,551 1905 | 49,666,080| 48,919,936| 22,357,307| 67,234,256 1906 | 52,944,033| 63,043,322| 17,352,021| 57,844,345 1907 | 32,305,412| 73,704,636| 18,743,904| 76,963,838 1908 | 25,177,758| 68,379,781| 16,662,132| 62,233,160 ------+-----------+-----------+-----------+------------

[B] Calendar years.

Development of the Manufacturing Industries in the United States, 1800-1905--Continued.

=====+=======================+============+ | | | | Production of | Exports of | | | domestic | +------------+----------+ copper & + Year.| | | manufac- | | Coal.[C] |Copper.[C]| tures | | | | of. | | | | | | | | | -----+------------+----------+------------+ | Long | Long | Dollars. | | tons. | tons. | | | | | | 1800| -- | -- | -- | 1810| 20| -- | 17,426| 1820| 3,080| -- | 18,547| 1830| 285,779| -- | 36,601| 1840| 1,848,249| 100 | 86,954| 1850| 6,266,233| 650 | 105,060| 1851| 7,798,683| 900 | 91,871| 1852| 8,764,879| 1,100 | 103,039| 1853| 9,437,757| 2,000 | 108,205| 1854| 10,698,841| 2,250 | 91,984| 1855| 11,541,672| 3,000 | 690,766| 1856| 12,095,469| 4,000 | 534,846| 1857| 11,910,883| 4,800 | 607,054| 1858| 12,477,213| 5,500 | 1,985,223| 1859| 13,958,192| 6,300 | 1,048,246| 1860| 13,044,680| 7,200 | 1,664,122| 1861| 14,721,439| 7,500 | 2,375,029| 1862| 15,612,353| 9,000 | 1,098,546| 1863| 19,034,877| 8,500 | 1,026,038| 1864| 21,076,003| 8,000 | 251,272| 1865| 21,243,012| 8,500 | 991,746| 1866| 25,896,056| 8,900 | 143,761| 1867| 27,432,520| 10,000 | 474,110| 1868| 29,341,036| 11,600 | 479,488| 1869| 29,378,893| 12,500 | 355,274| 1870| 29,496,054| 12,600 | 504,741| 1871| 41,861,679| 13,000 | 188,218| 1872| 45,940,535| 12,500 | 185,983| 1873| 51,430,786| 15,500 | 88,711| 1874| 46,969,571| 17,500 | 356,758| 1875| 46,739,571| 18,000 | 1,085,688| 1876| 47,571,429| 19,000 | 3,441,939| 1877| 54,019,429| 21,000 | 2,913,943| 1878| 51,728,214| 21,500 | 2,319,901| 1879| 60,808,749| 23,000 | 2,831,053| 1880| 63,822,830| 27,000 | 793,455| 1881| 76,679,491| 32,000 | 824,896| 1882| 92,456,419| 40,467 | 658,941| 1883| 103,310,290| 51,574 | 1,404,243| 1884| 107,281,742| 64,708 | 2,664,964| 1885| 99,250,263| 74,052 | 5,447,423| 1886| 101,500,381| 70,430 | 2,602,869| 1887| 116,652,242| 81,017 | 2,033,523| 1888| 132,731,837| 101,054 | 3,812,798| 1889| 126,097,779| 101,239 | 2,348,954| 1890| 140,866,931| 115,966 | 2,349,392| 1891| 150,505,954| 126,839 | 4,614,597| 1892| 160,115,242| 154,018 | 7,226,392| 1893| 162,814,977| 147,033 | 4,525,573| 1894| 152,447,791| 158,120 | 19,697,140| 1895| 172,426,366| 169,917 | 14,468,703| 1896| 171,416,390| 205,384 | 19,720,104| 1897| 178,776,070| 220,571 | 31,621,125| 1898| 196,407,381| 235,050 | 32,180,872| 1899| 226,554,636| 253,870 | 35,983,529| 1900| 240,789,310| 270,588 | 57,852,960| 1901| 261,874,836| 268,782 | 43,267,021| 1902| 269,277,178| 294,423 | 41,218,373| 1903| 319,068,229| 311,627 | 39,667,196| 1904| 314,121,784| 362,739 | 57,142,081| 1905| 350,820,840| 402,637 | 86,225,291| 1906| 369,783,284| 409,735 | 81,282,664| 1907| 428,895,914| 387,945 | 94,762,110| 1908| -- | -- | 104,064,580| -----+------------+----------+------------+

=====+===========================================+======================+ | | | | Production of | Iron and steel + | | Manufactures. | +----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+-----------+ Year.| | | | | | | | Natural | Iron | Pig | Steel.[C]| Imports. | Exports | | gas.[C] | ore.[C] | iron.[C] | | | (domestic)| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -----+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+-----------+ | Dollars. |Long tons.|Long tons.|Long tons.| Dollars. | Dollars. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1800| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 52,144| 1810| -- | -- | 53,908| -- | -- | 91,914| 1820| -- | -- | 20,000| -- | -- | 46,552| 1830| -- | -- | 165,000| -- | 6,346,287| 322,747| 1840| -- | -- | 286,903| -- | 8,157,923| 1,127,877| 1850| -- | -- | 563,755| -- |20,145,067| 1,953,702| 1851| -- | -- | -- | -- |22,439,297| 2,336,587| 1852| -- | -- | -- | -- |23,568,649| 2,368,384| 1853| -- | -- | -- | -- |34,944,002| 2,541,554| 1854| -- | -- | 657,338| -- |35,456,143| 4,249,959| 1855| -- | -- | 700,159| -- |28,693,979| 3,803,706| 1856| -- | -- | 788,515| -- |29,050,101| 4,256,613| 1857| -- | -- | 712,640| -- |30,743,649| 4,959,238| 1858| -- | -- | 629,548| -- |20,171,007| 4,843,592| 1859| -- | -- | 750,560| -- |22,379,743| 5,577,748| 1860| -- | -- | 821,223| -- |26,158,235| 5,870,114| 1861| -- | -- | 653,164| -- |21,160,235| 6,039,149| 1862| -- | -- | 703,270| -- |11,451,707| 4,732,348| 1863| -- | -- | 846,075| -- |16,152,843| 6,681,417| 1864| -- | -- | 1,014,282| -- |23,822,876| 7,541,967| 1865| -- | -- | 831,770| -- |16,660,991| 11,227,294| 1866| -- | -- | 1,205,663| -- |25,598,147| 4,006,180| 1867| -- | -- | 1,305,023| 19,643|31,630,519| 9,351,062| 1868| -- | -- | 1,431,250| 26,786|30,346,768| 10,950,275| 1869| -- | -- | 1,711,287| 31,250|38,213,717| 10,938,492| 1870| -- | 3,031,891| 1,665,179| 68,750|40,273,682| 13,483,163| 1871| -- | -- | 1,706,793| 73,214|53,024,075| 21,189,692| 1872| -- | -- | 2,548,713| 142,954|67,852,616| 11,463,880| 1873| -- | -- | 2,560,963| 198,796|74,302,102| 13,655,087| 1874| -- | -- | 2,401,262| 215,727|46,786,469| 15,098,248| 1875| -- | -- | 2,023,733| 389,799|31,432,380| 19,534,215| 1876| -- | -- | 1,868,961| 533,191|23,197,417| 15,449,846| 1877| -- | -- | 2,066,594| 569,618|19,320,927| 16,501,638| 1878| -- | -- | 2,301,215| 731,977|18,987,130| 16,053,571| 1879| -- | -- | 2,741,853| 935,273|19,594,608| 15,133,493| 1880| -- | 7,120,362| 3,835,191| 1,247,335|71,266,699| 14,716,524| 1881| -- | -- | 4,144,254| 1,588,314|60,604,477| 16,608,767| 1882| 215,000| -- | 4,623,323| 1,736,692|67,976,897| 20,748,206| 1883| 475,000| -- | 4,595,510| 1,673,535|58,495,246| 22,826,528| 1884| 1,460,000| -- | 4,097,868| 1,550,879|40,147,053| 21,909,881| 1885| 4,857,200| -- | 4,044,526| 1,711,920|33,610,093| 16,592,155| 1886|10,012,000| -- | 5,683,329| 2,562,503|37,534,078| 15,745,569| 1887|15,817,500| -- | 6,417,148| 3,339,071|49,203,164| 15,958,502| 1888|22,629,875| -- | 6,489,738| 2,899,440|48,992,757| 17,763,034| 1889|21,097,099|14,518,041| 7,603,642| 3,385,732|42,377,793| 21,156,077| 1890|18,792,725|16,036,043| 9,202,703| 4,277,071|41,679,591| 25,542,208| 1891|15,500,084|14,591,178| 8,279,876| 3,904,240|53,544,372| 28,909,614| 1892|14,870,714|16,296,666| 9,157,000| 4,927,581|28,928,103| 28,800,930| 1893|14,346,250|11,587,629| 7,124,502| 4,019,995|34,937,974| 30,106,482| 1894|13,954,400|11,879,679| 6,657,888| 4,412,032|20,925,769| 29,220,264| 1895|13,006,650|15,957,614| 9,446,308| 6,114,834|23,048,515| 32,000,989| 1896|13,002,512|16,005,449| 8,623,127| 5,281,689|25,338,103| 41,160,877| 1897|13,826,422|17,518,046| 9,652,680| 7,156,957|16,094,557| 57,497,872| 1898|15,296,813|19,433,716|11,773,934| 8,932,857|12,626,431| 70,406,885| 1899|20,074,873|24,683,173|13,620,703|10,639,857|12,100,440| 93,716,031| 1900|23,698,674|27,553,161|13,789,242|10,188,329|20,478,728|121,913,548| 1901|27,066,077|28,887,479|15,878,354|13,473,595|17,874,789|117,319,320| 1902|30,867,863|35,554,135|17,821,307|14,947,250|27,180,247| 98,552,562| 1903|35,807,860|35,019,308|18,009,252|14,534,978|51,617,312| 96,642,467| 1904|38,496,760|27,644,330|16,497,033|13,859,887|27,028,312|111,948,586| 1905|41,562,855|42,526,133|22,992,380|20,023,947|23,510,164|134,728,363| 1906|46,873,932|47,749,728|25,307,191|23,398,136|29,053,987|160,984,985| 1907|52,866,835|51,720,619|25,781,361|23,362,594|40,587,865|181,530,871| 1908| -- | -- |15,936,018| -- |27,607,909|183,982,182| -----+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+-----------+

=====+========================================+=========== | Prices of staple commodities. | +-------------------+---------+----------+ Washed | Per ton.[C] | | |Ohio fleece |---------+---------+ Middling| Standard | wool, per Year.| | Steel | cotton, |sheetings,| lb., in | Pig iron| rails, | per | per | eastern | No. 1, |standard |pound.[C]| yard.[C] | m’k’ts, | foundry.|sections.| | | July 1. | | | | | Medium. -----+---------+---------+---------+----------+----------- | Dollars.| Dollars.| Cents. | Cents. | Cents. | | | | | | | | | | 1800| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- 1810| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- 1820| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- 1830| -- | -- | -- | -- | 50 1840| 27.88 | -- | -- | -- | 39 1850| 20.88 | -- | 12.34 | 7.87 | 37 1851| 21.38 | -- | 12.14 | 7.08 | 42 1852| 22.63 | -- | 9.50 | 6.96 | 38 1853| 36.13 | -- | 11.02 | 7.92 | 53 1854| 36.88 | -- | 10.97 | 7.96 | 37 1855| 27.75 | -- | 10.39 | 7.64 | 40 1856| 27.18 | -- | 10.30 | 7.50 | 42 1857| 26.34 | -- | 13.51 | 8.90 | 50 1858| 22.19 | -- | 12.23 | 8.25 | 37 1859| 23.33 | -- | 12.08 | 8.50 | 40 1860| 22.70 | -- | 11.00 | 8.73 | 50 1861| 20.26 | -- | 13.01 | 10.00 | 30 1862| 23.92 | -- | 31.29 | 18.55 | 47 1863| 35.24 | -- | 67.21 | 36.04 | 70 1864| 59.22 | -- | 101.50 | 52.07 | 100 1865| 46.08 | -- | 83.38 | 38.04 | 73 1866| 46.84 | -- | 43.20 | 24.31 | 67 1867| 44.08 | 166.00 | 31.59 | 18.28 | 49 1868| 39.25 | 158.46 | 24.85 | 16.79 | 45 1869| 40.61 | 132.19 | 29.01 | 16.19 | 48 1870| 33.23 | 106.79 | 23.98 | 14.58 | 45 1871| 35.08 | 102.52 | 16.95 | 13.00 | 60 1872| 48.94 | 111.94 | 22.19 | 14.27 | 70 1873| 42.79 | 120.58 | 20.14 | 13.31 | 48 1874| 30.19 | 94.28 | 17.95 | 11.42 | 53 1875| 25.53 | 68.75 | 15.46 | 10.41 | 49 1876| 22.19 | 59.25 | 12.98 | 8.85 | 35 1877| 18.92 | 45.58 | 11.82 | 8.46 | 44 1878| 17.67 | 42.21 | 11.22 | 7.80 | 36 1879| 21.72 | 48.21 | 10.84 | 7.97 | 38 1880| 28.48 | 67.52 | 11.51 | 8.51 | 48 1881| 25.17 | 61.08 | 12.03 | 8.51 | 44 1882| 25.77 | 48.50 | 11.56 | 8.45 | 45 1883| 22.42 | 37.75 | 11.88 | 8.32 | 41 1884| 19.81 | 30.75 | 10.88 | 7.28 | 34 1885| 17.99 | 28.52 | 10.45 | 6.75 | 31 1886| 18.71 | 34.52 | 9.28 | 6.75 | 33 1887| 20.93 | 37.08 | 10.21 | 7.15 | 37 1888| 18.88 | 29.83 | 10.03 | 7.00 | 39 1889| 17.76 | 29.25 | 10.65 | 7.00 | 39 1890| 18.41 | 31.78 | 11.07 | 7.00 | 37 1891| 17.52 | 29.92 | 8.60 | 6.83 | 35 1892| 15.75 | 30.00 | 7.71 | 6.50 | 34 1893| 14.52 | 28.12 | 8.56 | 5.90 | 26 1894| 12.66 | 24.00 | 6.94 | 5.11 | 21 1895| 13.10 | 24.33 | 7.44 | 5.74 | 21 1896| 12.95 | 28.00 | 7.93 | 5.45 | 18 1897| 12.10 | 18.75 | 7.00 | 4.73 | 23½ 1898| 11.66 | 17.62 | 5.94 | 4.20 | 29 1899| 19.36 | 28.12 | 6.88 | 5.28 | 31½ 1900| 19.98 | 32.29 | 9.25 | 6.05 | 31½ 1901| 15.87 | 27.33 | 8.75 | 5.54 | 26 1902| 22.19 | 28.00 | 9.00 | 5.48 | 26¾ 1903| 19.92 | 28.00 | 11.18 | 6.25 | 31½ 1904| 15.57 | 28.00 | 11.75 | 7.13 | 32½ 1905| 17.88 | 28.00 | 9.80 | 7.00 | 39 1906| 20.98 | 28.00 | 11.50 | 7.25 | 37 1907| 23.89 | 28.00 | 12.10 | 7.62 | 36 1908| 17.70 | 28.00 | 10.62 | 6.75 | 38 -----+---------+---------+---------+----------+-----------

[C] Calendar year.

The arguments in favor of bimetallism are as various as the motives of its advocates, but two or three of the more important ones may be 140 briefly stated. It is urged because it would give a more stable measure of value than either silver or gold alone could do; and the evil effects of fluctuations in the value of gold since 1873 are pointed out to illustrate this contention. Monometallists answer this by asserting that most of the price changes can be accounted for by improvements in production; that even if they were caused by a contraction of the currency, this was simply one of the risks of business; and finally, that the evil effects of falling prices are offset by a corresponding reduction in interest rates. A second argument of the bimetallists was the alleged insufficiency of gold on which to do the world’s business. As this has been practically met by the phenomenal increase in gold production in the last decade, especially since the gold discoveries in Alaska, it is not necessary to dwell upon this argument. On February 1, 1909, the per capita circulation of money in the United States reached $35.00, the highest point in our history. A final argument of the bimetallists concerns foreign trade: it would facilitate this by establishing a fixed par-of-exchange between all countries. While the weight of this may be admitted, it has been practically deprived of all force by the adoption of the gold standard by virtually all the industrially developed nations of the world. This last fact shows that the question has now been actually settled by the logic of events and today the issue of bimetallism has only an academic interest.

Another problem connected with money which has been removed from the arena of oratory to that of calm discussion is that of government paper money. It is urged, with much truth, that if a nation issued paper money instead of gold or silver, it would save all the expense of mining these metals. It would resemble, as Adam Smith said, the discovery of wagon roads through the air in the realm of transportation. Another argument advanced in favor of government paper money is that it would be possible by a scientific adjustment of the 141 issues to regulate the amount of money in circulation and so to prevent all fluctuations in prices. Both contraction and inflation would be prevented and a cheap and yet ideal system of money would exist. Still others see in this form of money an instrument for the creation of wealth; this last argument simply results from a confusion of ideas and need not be dealt with. A sufficient answer to the other two is an appeal to the lesson of history: no government which has embarked upon the issue of paper money has ever been able to restrict the issues within reasonable limits; often it has led to national bankruptcy and the repudiation of the entire issues. The experience of the United States with the greenbacks has been more fortunate than that of many countries, but does not tempt to further experiment.

The monetary situation in the United States today may be regarded as fairly well settled. Although we have a very heterogeneous assortment of different kinds of money, a fairly distinct sphere is allotted to each, and as the basis for all, the gold standard has been definitely established by law. Money of large denominations consists of gold and gold certificates (lowest denomination, $20), of greenbacks and national bank notes (lowest denomination, $10, though one-third of bank notes may be $5); the needs of retail trade are met by the issue of silver certificates and silver dollars, and of fractional currency. The system would be much simplified by the retirement and destruction of the $346,000,000 in greenbacks, but as there is now a fifty-per cent reserve in gold back of them, little danger need be apprehended from their presence. Many people have regarded the existence of some $500,000,000 worth of silver dollars as a menace to the goodness of our money supply, but as the amount of gold in circulation increases the silver will form a constantly smaller percentage of the whole. It is a cumbersome and not very valuable asset of the Government, but 142 is now almost powerless for good or ill.