The United States: Her Industries 



3*5 



1850 to 270 thousand tons in 1900. Of 

 cotton, another important factor in 

 manufacturing, our production has 

 grown from three million bales in 1870 

 to an average of more than ten million 

 bales per annum during the last five 

 years, and the United States now pro- 

 duces three-fourths of the cotton of the 

 world and turns one-third of that pro- 

 duct into manufactures. Of timber the 

 United States is the world's largest pro- 

 ducer. Of coal, for use in assembling 

 and transforming these articles into 

 manufactures, the United States now 

 produces more than am' other country, 

 her production having grown from 32 

 million long tons in 1870 to 261 millions 

 in 1 901. In transportation facilities, by 

 which these products are assembled for 

 manufacturing, railways have grown 

 from 20,000 miles in 1856 to 200,000 

 miles in 1902, and are now two- fifths 

 those of the entire world. Vessels pass- 

 ing through the Sault Ste. Marie canal 

 have increased from 106 thousand tons 

 register in 1855 to 25 million tons reg- 

 ister in 1902, or nearly 20 times that 

 passing through the Suez canal ; and 

 freight rates have fallen to about one- 

 fifth those of i860 and less than half 

 those of 1880. 



These comparisons of the growth in 

 the production of the great staples re- 

 quired for manufacturing may be more 

 readily and interestingly presented by 

 some simple diagrams showing the rela- 

 tive growth in production in the United 

 States and those countries which may 

 be considered in any degree our com- 

 petitors. 



No. 18— GROWTH OF COAL PRODUC- 

 TION IN THE UNITED STATES, 

 UNITED KINGDOM, AND GERMANY, 

 1875 TO 1 901 



One of the important causes of the 

 growth of our manufacturing is our 

 plentiful coal supply and the ease with 

 which it is produced. TheUnited States 

 now actually produces one-third of the 



entire coal supply of the world. The 

 United States, the United Kingdom, 

 and Germany produce three-fourths of 

 the coal of the world, and I show 

 in this diagram the growth of coal 

 production in each of these three coun- 

 tries from 1875 to 1901. It will be seen 

 that the United States and Germany 

 started abreast in 1875, with a produc- 

 tion of about 50 million tons each, but 

 far below the United Kingdom, which 



COAL PRODUCTION OF GERMANY, UNITED 



1875" 1901. 



1875 



'ilMED 5TATE5 



1901 



DIAGRAM NO. l8 



produced about 135 million tons. The 

 United States advanced much more rap- 

 idly than Germany, and in 1898 passed 

 the United Kingdom, and is now suffi- 

 ciently in the lead to assure that she 

 will continue the greatest coal-produc- 

 ing country of the world. This asser- 

 tion is fully justified by the fact that 

 the area of our coal fields is 10 times as 

 great as those of all Europe, and they 



