DEVELOPMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 1 73 



ing to the last census, that of 1890, the manufactures reached 

 the handsome sum of ;^39j33 15437- This latter statement under 

 analysis indicates a peculiar state of affairs. There were 2295 

 manufacturing establishments reported, with an aggregate 

 capital of $28,865,089. These establishments employed, on 

 the average, over 23,000 persons, to whom was paid in wages 

 $14,622,264. The analysis shows further that but very little of 

 the manufactured product was sent out of the city of Washing- 

 ton. Among the largest items are to be found the products of 

 bakeries, the building of carriages and wagons, clothing, en- 

 graving, flour and grist mills, painting and papering, plumbing 

 and gasfitting, printing and publishing, each of these industries 

 producing more than a million dollars worth of goods or work. 

 An examination of the list in detail shows that the goods made 

 by the manufacturers of Washington are practically consumed 

 by its inhabitants. 



If we turn to the wealth of the city the most satisfactor}'^ re- 

 sults are observed. Taking the true valuation of real and per- 

 sonal property, that is, the market value and not the value for 

 purposes of assessment, it is found that in 1850 the total amounted 

 to over $14,000,000, being $271 per capita, while the per capita 

 for the United States at large was $308. Eighteen sixty showed 

 a vast increase, owing, first, to lack of completeness in the sta- 

 tistics of 1850, and, second, to the real progress of the town, to 

 over $41,000,000, the per capita rising to $547, more than that 

 for the United States taken as a whole, when it was ^514; the 

 per capita wealth of the District has kept in advance of that of 

 the whole country since that period. In 1870 the total valuation 

 was nearly $127,000,000, or $963 per capita, as against $780 

 for the United States at large. In 1880 it was $220,000,000, or 

 $1239 per capita, as against $870 for the United States. In 

 1890 it was over $343,500,000, or nearly $1500 per capita, as 

 against $1036 for the United States. It is to be regretted that 

 the per capita wealth of different cities cannot be brought into 

 comparison with that of Washington. 



These figures must not be considered as accurately represent- 

 ing the wealth of the District of Columbia, but only as indicating 

 it, and yet for 1890 I am inclined to the opinion that the figures 



