EDUCATION-COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT 301 



breaking years and set the pace for the present century in a 

 manner to astound our calculations and confuse our stand- 

 ards. The units of value to which we have become accus- 

 tomed are inadequate, and it confuses our mental perspective 

 to see the billion-dollar combinations substituted for the 

 million, and continents take the place of countries as fields of 

 activity. 



Just a brief resume of some of the most striking facts in the 

 record of the United States will indicate not only the ten- 

 dency of our development but fix more strongly in our minds 

 its propulsive power. 



Bradstreet's, in the annual review given out in January, 

 states that the bank clearings for one year were 118 billion 

 dollars, a gain of 38 per cent over the year previous. 



The gross railroad earnings for the year showed an in- 

 crease of 12 per cent, and the net returns 16 per cent over the 

 best preceding } T ear. Pig iron production was nearly one 

 seventh larger than the heaviest ever before recorded. Iron 

 ore shipments were never before equaled, and anthracite coal 

 production was 10 per cent larger than the year before, and 5 

 per cent greater than the record. The bituminous output 

 was equally heavy. Shoe and leather production and the 

 manufacture of woolen clothing show almost as large gains 

 and a steady advance. It is a matter of current information 

 that the freight transportation facilities of the country have 

 been utterly swamped by the demands upon them, and that 

 the capacity of our shipping interests has been strained to the 

 breaking point. 



From other sources we learn that the mining industries 

 of the country contributed $1,650,000,000 to the wealth of the 

 country and of this amount 83 millions was of mined gold, — 

 an increase of 5 million dollars over any previous year. The 

 export movement in wheat during the first four months of the 

 crop year was unparalleled, and has reached the enormous rate 

 of 270 million bushels per year. 



Not less wonderful have been the triumphs won in the 

 electrical field and the possibilities which they promise for the 

 development of industry. The storage battery perfected by 

 Edison, weighing but 46 pounds for each horsepower; the 



