UNITED STATES CENSUS. 



787 



6 The decline In prices of products accounts for the 

 in quantity of production. 



number of persons employed in the Flat Top 

 coke work? during the year 1889 was 583, the 

 total amount of WM^CS paid being $149,727. The 

 number of cars of coke shipped from the Flat 

 Tup (list riot by the various railroads increased 

 from 8,605 in 1887 to 20,883 in 1890. Shipments 

 to points south of Bristol, Tennessee, were aug- 

 mented from 1,275 cars in 1887 to 6,127 cars in 

 1889 and 9,143 cars in 1890, evidencing the in- 

 creasing demand made by the furnaces at Chat- 

 tanooga, Florence, Sheffield, and other points in 

 Tennessee, Alabama, and the South for coke 

 from this region. 



The number of coking ovens built and in use 

 in the Flat Top Company's districts increased 

 from 200 in 1883 to 1,833 in 1889, and 631 ad- 

 ditional ovens were then under construction. 

 The value of the coke at the ovens increased from 

 $44,345 in 1883 to $542,219 in 1889. 



The statistics of production of coke in the Flat 

 Top field of Virginia and West Virginia, in 1889, 

 is shown in the accompanying table : 



apparently small increase in value, notwithstanding the great 



Combined Textile Industries. The increase of 

 silk manufacture since 1880 has been 112.75 per 

 cent, in the value of its products ; that of the 

 cotton manufacture ranking second. 39.51 per 

 cent., and that of the wool manufacture 26.39 

 per cent. The average increase in the entire 

 textile industry is 3.8.51 per cent. The relative 

 rank in importance of these industries is re- 

 versed, wool manufacture in all its branches 

 (including all descriptions of hosiery and knit 

 goods) standing first, with gross products valued 

 at $337,768,524 ; cotton manufacture second, 

 with products valued at $267,981,724 ; and silk 

 manufacture third, with products valued at 

 $87,298,454. The actual increase in the value 

 of products has been $70,515,611 in wool, $75,- 

 891,614 in cotton, and $46,265,409 in silk. 

 These combined industries yielded a product in 

 the present census year worth $693,048.702. as 

 compared with a product in 1880 of $500.376,- 

 068, an increase in 10 years of $192,672,634. 



Of the production by districts, almost all of 

 that in tne Pocahontas field is produced in 

 Virginia. A small amount comes from Mercer 

 County, West Virginia. All the production of 

 the Bluestone and Elkhorn districts, however, is 

 in West Virginia. The total capital employed in 

 this industry is reported as $1,528,386. 



Dyeing and Finishing Textiles. The following 

 table presents for this industry the percentages 

 of increase or decrease under the principal heads 

 of inquiry during the past decade. The more 

 thorough inquiry employed at the present census 

 may have, in a measure, affected the increase 

 shown in some of the items, especially that of 

 capital. The accompanying table exhibits a 

 comparative statement of the industry of dyeing 

 and finishing textiles : 



(a) This item was not reported at the census of 1880. 

 Silk Industry. In the preliminary report of 

 the Superintendent of the Census under this head- 

 ing it is remarked that the classification of silk 

 goods of American manufacture is now practi- 

 cally without limit, embracing every article made 

 in the older silk manufacturing countries, and 

 fully equal to the foreign product in quality of 

 weave, ueauty of design, and excellence of finish. 

 The value of the net or finished production of 

 silk goods manufactured during the census year 

 1890 was $69,154,599, against $34,519. 728 for the 

 census year 1880, an increase of $34,634,876, or 

 100.33 per cent. The accompanying table gives a 

 comparative statement of the silk manufacture: 



a Does not include hired property to the value of $1,819,- 

 TT'.i. which is omitted for comparative purposes, as this item 

 was not reported at the census of 1880. 



(a) This does not include the mini of $10.355,160, value of 

 " property hired," as this item was not reported at the 

 census of"l880. 



(6) This item was not reported prior to the census of 1890. 



