396 



United States Milling 



Industry. 



In spite of a fall in the price of cereals during the decade, the 

 total amount paid for the raw materials increased by 9*6 per 

 cent., because of the greater quantity used, while the value of 

 the products increased by 9*1 per cent. The value of the 

 products in 1900 amounted to £116,816,000, and the chief 

 items of expenditure were : cost of raw materials, £99,130,000 ; 

 salaries, £1,126,000; wages, £3,688,000; and miscellaneous 

 expenses (including rent, taxes, &c), £2,151,000. The differ- 

 ence between the total of these items and the value of the final 

 products, however, must not be taken as indicative of the profits 

 of the manufacture, since the census takes no cognisance of 

 the cost of selling manufactured articles, interest on capital 

 invested, mercantile losses, or depreciation in plant. 



Considering only the flour and grist mills grinding wheat, 

 the total number in the United States was 13,188, of which 1,655 

 belonged to the extremely small class producing less than 100 

 barrels (19,6001b.) of flour annually, while 135 produced more 

 than 100,000 barrels of flour. 



The great centre of the wheat-milling industry is Minnesota, 

 from every point of view except that of mere number of estab- 

 lishments. From the latter point of view, Pennsylvania, with 

 1,580 mills, ranks first, but they are of relatively small capacity. 

 Minnesota has, in fact, only a comparatively small number of 

 mills, but over 60 per cent, of them are of large capacity, 

 producing over 5,000 barrels of flour annually, and 24 mills in 

 this State produce over 100,000 barrels each. In point of quan- 

 tity of wheat used Minnesota is followed by the States of Ohio, 

 Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and New York, in the order named. 

 The value of Minnesota's production of wheat and other flours 

 was 14*1 per cent, of the total, New York's 7*6 per cent., and 

 Ohio's 67 per cent. 



Of the total value of products in 1900, wheat flour constituted 

 62*1 per cent., as compared with 68*3 per cent, in 1890; while 

 maize meal accounted for 13-1 per cent., as compared with I4'9 

 per cent, in the earlier year. Nevertheless, the quantity of 

 the wheat flour produced increased by 267 per cent, and that of 

 maize meal by 8*5 per cent. Buckwheat and hominy increased 

 in both quantity and value. 



The following table shows the quantity of materials used 



