768 



UNITED STATES CENSUS. 



The Cotton Industry. It is pointed out in the 

 Census Bulletin on cotton manufactures that the 

 growth of the cotton manufacturing industry of 

 the United States has been constant. One of the 

 most gratifying features of the situation is the 

 great extension of this industry in the South, 

 where a marked addition is shown in the number 

 of cotton mills established and successfully 

 operated. The magnitude of this movement is 

 demonstrated by the fact that the consumption 

 of raw cotton in the Southern States in 1890 ex- 

 ceeded that of 1880 by 166,308,889 pounds, while 

 in New England, the chief seat of this manufac- 

 ture, the excess of consumption of 1890 over that 

 of 1880 was only 173,317,834 pounds. Neverthe- 

 less, the development of cotton manufacture 

 throughout the country, measured by any test, 

 was large and healthy. Inasmuch as the manu- 

 facture of cotton is one of the principal indus- 

 tries to which the factory system is applied, its 

 condition, as herein exhibited, throws much light 

 upon the industrial situation. The following 

 table gives a comparative statement of the cotton 

 manufacture : 



Operating Telephone Companies. The impor- 

 tant items of this business for 1890 are exhibited 

 in the following summary : Number of compa- 

 nies, firms, and persons reporting, 53 ; total in- 

 vestment, $72,341,736 ; gross earnings, $16,404,- 

 583 ; gross expenses, ill, 143, 871 ; net earnings, 

 $5,260,712; number of exchanges, 1,241 ; num- 

 ber of telephones and transmitters, 467,356 ; 

 miles of wire, 240,412 ; number of employes, 

 8,645 ; number of subscribers, 227,357 ; num- 

 ber of conversations, 453,200,000. 



Transportation. Special statistics have been 

 prepared under this heading. Among the nu- 

 merous totals it is shown that the transportation 

 fleet of the United States at the beginning of 

 1890, with the exception of craft used on ca- 

 nals, numbered 25,540 steamers, sailing vessels, 

 and unrigged craft, with gross tonnage of 7,633,- 

 676 tons, and estimated commercial value of 

 $215,069,296. During the preceding year the 

 freight movement by the whole operating Amer- 

 ican mercantile fleet amounted to 172,110,423 

 tons of all commodities. The number of persons 

 of all classes employed to make up the ordinary 

 or complementary crews of all operating vessels 

 of the United States, exclusive of pleasure craft 

 on the Atlantic coast and Gulf of Mexico, num- 

 bered 106,436, and the total amount paid out in 

 wages amounted to $36,867,305. On the Atlan- 

 tic coast, during the year ending December 31, 

 1889, were registered and owned, in the ports ex- 



tending from Eastport in Maine to Key West in 

 Florida, 2,713 steamers, 6,490 sailing vessels, and. 

 3,250 unrigged, a total of 12,453 craft of all de- 

 scriptions. The gross tonnage of this Atlantic 

 coast fleet was 2,794,440 tons, divided ns follows : 

 793.571 tons as the tonnage of the steamers, 1,383,- 

 108 tons as the tonnage of the sailing vessels, 

 and 617,761 tons as the tonnage of the unrigged. 

 The estimated commercial value of the unrigged 

 was $7,735,730, that of the sailing vessels was 

 $45,545,357, and that of the steamers $70,593,- 

 090, making a total value for the whole Atlantic 

 coast fleet of $123,874,177. The freight move- 

 ment by the entire mercantile fleet during the 

 year was 77,597,626 tons, of which amount 28,- 

 778,341 tons were carried on steamers and 10,- 

 535,884 tons towed by them on barges, the re- 

 maining 38,283,401 tons being carried by the 

 sailing vessels. The number of employe's mak- 

 ing up the ordinary crews of the entire Atlantic 

 coast fleet, with the exception of pleasure craft, 

 was 54,859 officers and men of all grades, of 

 which number 23,174 formed the complement of 

 the ordinary crews of the steamers and 31,685 

 the total making up the ordinary crews of the 

 sailing vessels. The wages paid for the opera- 

 tion of the whole Atlantic coast fleet, with the 

 above indicated exception, was $18,862,199, of 

 which amount $10,358.426 was paid to the steamer 

 employes and $8,503,773 to those on the sailing 

 vessels. 



In the ports of the Gulf of Mexico, the regis- 

 tered fleet numbered 1,008 craft of all kinds, 

 that total being made up of 220 steamers, 613 

 sailing vessels, and 175 unrigged, these figures 

 including the craft running from New Orleans 

 seaward and those employed on Lake Pontchar- 

 train. The gross tonnage of the fleet was 77,562 

 tons, of which amount 45,591 tons were steamer 

 tonnage, 17,249 tons were sailing tonnage, and 

 14,722 tons belonged to the unrigged, The esti- 

 mated commercial value of the fleet was $3,851,- 

 270, the steamers being valued at $2,961,450, the 

 sailing vessels at $788,110, and the unrigged at 

 $101,710. The freight movement by the Gulf of 

 Mexico mercantile fleet was 2,864,956 tons, the 

 steamers carrying 1,455,450 tons and the un- 

 rigged 49,980 tons, leaving 1,359,526 tons as the 

 movement on board the sailing vessels. The 

 complement of crews, with the same excep- 

 tion as in the case of the Atlantic coast, num- 

 bered 3,891, the steamer crews numbering 2,479 

 and those of the sailing vessels numbering 1,412. 

 The wages paid during 1889 amounted to $1,215,- 

 744, and this sum was allotted as follows : $880,- 

 743 to steamers and $335,001 to sailing vessels. 



The Pacific coast fleet for 1889 numbered 

 1,842 craft of all kinds, 531 of these being steam- 

 ers, 822 being sailing vessels, and 489 being un- 

 rigged. The gross tonnage of the fleet amounted 

 to 441,939 tons, that of the steamers being 170,- 

 503 tons, that of the sailing vessels being 208,- 

 080 tons, and that of the unrigged being 63,356 

 tons. The estimated commercial value of the 

 fleet was $23,067,370, that of the steamers being 

 $15,526,455, that of the sailing vessels $6,715,570, 

 and that of the unrigged $8:25,345. The freight 

 movement of the entire mercantile fleet was 

 8,818,363 tons, the steamers' share in this amount 

 being 5,741,940 tons, that of the sailing vessels 

 2,761,826 tons, and that of the unrigged 314,597 



