4 HENRY GANNETT 



in America, it is plainly a good business policy for the Amer- 

 ican to get his crops by the use of much land, with a minimum 

 of labor. He is enabled by the use of better tools and more 

 machinery to work an area three or four times as great as the 

 European cultivates. The American uses machinery in farm- 

 ing as far as possible ; the European scarcely at all. 



The position of the United States in the field of manu- 

 facture is, in many respects, quite as strong as in agriculture. 

 Of the cotton cloth of the world we make more than one fifth, 

 being excelled by Great Britain only. Of the woolen cloth 

 we make nearly one fourth, excelling in that respect the 

 mother country. Of linen, we make 27 per cent of the world's 

 product — more than twice as much as Germany, our nearest 

 competitor. Of the paper of the world we manufacture no 

 less than 46 per cent — not much less than one half that of 

 the world, three times as much as Great Britain, and nearly 

 four times as much as France. Of glass, we make nearly a 

 third of the world's product, while France, our nearest com- 

 petitor, makes less than one fourth. 



It is, perhaps, in the manufacture of iron and steel that 

 our pre-eminence over other nations is more decided than in 

 any other commodity. The time was, and not so long ago as 

 to be beyond the remembrance of most of the present genera- 

 tion, when, as ironmakers, we were in an infantile condition. 

 It is only a few years since we became the leading nation of 

 the earth in respect to this, the most important, branch of 

 manufacture. Now 34 per cent of the iron ore of the world 

 comes from our mines ; 34 per cent of the pig iron comes from 

 our furnaces; and 37 per cent of the steel is produced in our 

 crucibles and converters. There is no other country on earth 

 that approaches this production. Germany's share in the 

 world's product of iron ore is less than one fourth, and of pig 

 iron only a little more than one fifth. Her steel product is 

 only about two thirds as large as ours. Great Britain pro- 

 duces half as much iron ore and two thirds as much pig iron 

 as this country does, and her steel product is just one half as 

 large as ours. 



Of all the manufactured goods produced on earth, the 

 United States contributes more than one third, or 34 per cent. 



