PHILADELPHIA. 



198 



according to estimate being $21, 220, 2t>3. 18. Valuation 

 of taxable property for 1888 was $647,213,039, a net 

 increase of $18,533,527 over 1887. Estimated revenue 

 of 1888 from all sources other than current taxes 

 $8.956,094.78, among these heing $4,000,000 from the 

 gas department and $1,925,000 from the water depart- 

 ment. In order to meet all liabilities a tax-rate of 

 $2.89 would be required ; a rate of $1.85 yielding only 

 $10,805,324.86, or $6,304,863.33 less than the depart- 

 ments ask. Councils, notwithstanding, voted a tax of 

 only $1.85, and the appropriations were reduced 

 accordingly. On Aug. 1, 1887, the funded debt of the 

 city was $58,252,720.22; the excess of debt above 

 securities being $33,967,785.75. 



Ban/ana. In July, 1888, Philadelphia had 42 Na- 

 tional banks with a total capital stock of $22,297,122, 

 and a reserve of $27,012,700, and deposits amounting 

 to $76,493,400. Of 18 State banks the capital stock was 

 $11,450,123 ; the specie in banks $6,635,382 ; deposits, 

 $2,632,646. A marked feature of Philadelphia bank- 

 ing of recent years has been the establishment of the 

 trust and safe deposit com panics, which combine, with the 

 general features of banking, offices hitherto confided to 

 individuals, such as the administration of estates, 

 acting as guardians, the direction of various trusts for 

 the benefit of individuals or corporations, etc. 



Post-office. The Philadelphia post-office is the finest 

 U.S. government building out of Washington, affording 

 accommodations not only for its own proper depart- 

 ment but also for the internal revenue and pension 

 offices, for civil service examinations, for the U. 

 8. Courts, the railway mail service, the jight-house 

 board, signal service station, etc. The receipts of the 

 post-office for year endiug June 30, 1888, were $1,871,- 

 786.49; the expenditure, $782,279.89. The total 

 number of employe's was 880. The letter-carriers 

 numbered 513, an increase of 95 since 1885, and the 

 aggregate number of pieces handled in the year was 

 326,388,247, or an average of 636,234 by each carrier. 

 The money order receipts were $4,436,928. 16. 



Schools. The public schools, in 1887, numbered 

 460, comprising a Normal School, a High-School, a 

 School of Pra<-tii-e. :i Manual Training School, a 

 School of Industrial Art, 21 Night Schools, and 68 

 Grammar Schools ; the remainder being Secondary and 

 Primary Schools. The number of teachers was 2425 

 and of scholars 1 10,279. The expenditure of this de- 

 partment for the year was $2,028,279, and the money 

 invested in grounds, buildings, and furniture amounted 

 to $7.660,1529. A now ( 'utholic High-School of white 

 marble is in course of construction at Broad and 

 Callowhill streets. 



Harbor and Mi rim: The entries into the port of 

 Philadelphia in |.s.>7 WITH 1377 vessels from foreign 

 ports with a tonnage of 1,302,196, and 4414 coasting 

 vessels, tonnage not given. Of the latter 1539 were 

 steamers. The cleuiMMc.-i were 1055 foreign vessels, 

 tonnage 975,097 ; air 1 -!-< i.'i coastwise. Of the vessels 

 entering from foreign ports 333 were American, of 

 which 17 were steamers, and 1047 foreign, of which 

 538 were steamers. Of the clearances for foreign 

 ports 224 were American vessels, 15 being steamers, 

 and 843 foreign, 307 being steamers. Of the 4805 

 clearances coastwise 1819 were steamers. The amount 

 of receipts at the Custom House was in 1885, $13,918,- 

 553.66; in 1886, $16,303,918.77 ; in_1887, $17,950,235.- 

 10. The statement of vessels belonging in the district of 

 Philadelphia on June 30, 1888, is shown in the follow- 

 ing table : 



Sailing vessels (wood), 405.... grow tonnage, 100,282.69 



" (iron), 5 " " 2,891.28 



Under 20 tom, 71 " " 950.15 



104,124.12 



3t*am-vewel (wood), 99 gross tonnage, 19,723.39 



" (iron), 93 " 47,695.81 



Uader 20 toM, 74 " " 1,651.56 



68,070.76 



The total exports from the port of Philadelphia in 



887 were to the value of $33,813,024, of which 

 $16,865,042 were to Great Britain. The imports were 

 of the value of $39,570,687, of which $16,744,437 were 

 from Britain. The Clyde line of steamers, inaugurated 

 by Thomas Clyde in 1842, with one steamer running to 

 New York, operates about 60 steamships and occupies 

 1000 ft. of wharves along the Delaware. The ship- 

 building works of William Cramp & Sons are espe- 

 cially noted. In 1854 the total tonnage of vessels 

 launched and on the stocks in the 9 ship-building 

 yards then in the city was 13,797. On Sept. 1, 1888, 

 the tonnage of steamers under construction in Cramp's 

 yards was 24,214, the horse-power 44,200. Five of the 

 vessels were for the U. S. government, namely, the 

 Baltimore (cruiser, launched October, 1888), of 4400 tons 

 displacement, and a guaranteed horse-power of 9000 ; 

 the Yorktown (gun-boat), 1700 tons, horse-power, 

 3000 ; the Vesuvius (dynamite-gun cruiser) 700 tons, 

 horse-power, 3500, guaranteed speed, 20 knots ; the 

 Philadelphia (cruiser), 4400 tons, horse-power, 9500, 

 guaranteed speed, 19 knots ; the Newark (cruiser), 

 4083 tons, horse-power, 8500. Three other great 

 vessels were on the stocks for private firms. In 1882 

 fourteen establishments gave employment to in all 

 2848 hands. ' Cramp's yards alone now employ 2200. 



The channel of the Delaware at Philadelphia is seri- 

 ously obstructed by two islands. Smith's and Wind- 

 mill. For preliminary survey in regard to the re- 

 moval of these islands the U. S. government in 1888 

 appropriated $100,000, on condition that the city or 

 State should purchase the title to the islands. 



The number of immigrants arriving at Philadelphia 

 in the year ending June 30, 1888, was 37,018, of 

 whom 11,543 were English, 7987 Irish, and 5062 

 Germans. 



Railroads. In 1886 the receipts of the Philadel- 

 phia and Heading Railroad were $29,343,998 and its 

 expenditure $16,450,338. The freight carried was 

 27,748,325 tons, the number of passengers 25,600,760. 

 Its mileage is 327 ; the number of its encines oper- 

 ated 943, and of its cars 57,354. In 1887 these num- 

 bers were largely reduced owing to the great strike in 

 the coal region. The figures for the Pennsylvania 

 Railroad for 1887 were, receipts, $115,515,506; ex- 

 penditure, $77,238,082; freight, 106,128,215 tons: 

 passengers, 68,153,705 ; engines, 1349 ; cars, 32,101. 



In August, 1886, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroail 

 entered Philadelphia, having completed its Schuylkill 

 East Side road to a new depot at Twenty-fourth and 

 Chestnut streets. From the Schuylkill it passes through 

 a tunnel 5700 ft. long to Poplar street, where it connects 

 with the Reading Railroad. On being released from its 

 receivers early in 1888, the Reading Railroad applied to 

 Councils for leave to extend its line into the business 

 heart of the city by an elevated terminal from Ninth 

 and Green streets to Twelfth and Market. The project 

 has met wjth considerable opposition and is not yet 

 finally decided. A north-eastern elevated railroad is 

 also projected, its route being from Tacony to League 

 Island, with a branch to Jenkintown. Other efforts 

 have been made to introduce elevated railroads. 



Industries. The census returns of industries, made 

 in 1880, were so obviously incomplete as to lead to a 

 revised census being taken in 1882 under the super- 

 vision of Mr. Lorin Blodget, an experienced statis- 

 tician. His census for the iron industry shows 712 

 establishments (including rolling-mills, foundries, pipe- 

 and bolt-factories, machinery and steel-works, etc.), 

 employing in all 31,917 hands ; the wages paid being 

 $15,160,175, and the gross product $58,608,781. The 

 leather trade numbered 100 establishments, employing 

 2752 men and 730 women and youths, with a product 

 of $10,712,800. The lumber, furniture, and cognate 

 manufactories yielded a gross product of $28,325,531. 

 In 1887 there were 130 brewing establishments, pro- 

 ducing 1,569,661 barrels yearly, of the total value of 

 $1 1,772,458. Mr. Blodget's return shows that the total 



