Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1851-04-05

Wales 1890. tons. 100000. a.ooo. 600 GOO
Iron exported. do. ............. oSo,ooO
From this table it appears that, while our popu-
aion has about doubled during the last half GEN.
tury, our imports have increased thresfod our ex-
ports more than eight and our productions above
tenfold. From the progress of the nation in manu-
factres and commerce. the transition is natural and
easy to those undertakings by which commerce
has been most effectually promoted. We mean the
construction Of roads and the appliances Of all the
means of locom0tion.
Length Of Aavigabls canals in Eng asa s
land and Wales. miles 700. -, 200
Mr.. MacAdams's improved mode of construct
ing roads was introduced In 1920.
The first act Of Parliament for the construction
of a railway was passed in 1900
Since then there have been formed 5000 miles Of
road of this description, by an expenditure of at
least $50 millions sterling, raising an annual in
come Of nearly twelve millions sterling, carrying
employing staff of more than $4,000 well paid
officials. Steam navigation is also the work of our
own times The Comet first piled on the Clyde in
1911, and in lS4S we possessed 1858 steam ves-
sells, of l6S O7S tons burden. Then as to internal
facilities for communication, six out of the eight
bridges over the Thames, within the metropolitan
precincts. have been built since 1900. The Lon
don and West india Docks, the breakwater at Ply
mouth, the Thames Tunnel, the Menai suspension
bridge, and the two tubular bridges, have also been
constructed during the half century. Nor must we
omit that other wonderful agent the Electric Iele-
graph, which has converted into simple matter Of
fact the most improbable OF poetic fctions, and out
stripped the Fantastic performances of Prospero's
tricksy spirit, binding nations together by invisible
ties of sympathy, conveying important public and
and arresting the steps Of the thief and the mur-
derer as by the paraly yzing stroke Of magic wand
Nor are indications of progress wanting in the rapid
accumulation Of capital. The precise amount Of
this increase we have no very accurate means of
ascertanng, but few comparative statements will
show that it has been immense, and far out of all
proportion to the mere increase of population.
The value Of real property in Great Britain as
sessed to the income tax in 1903 was g967 2S4 900
in lS42 it was gl $40 100000. The total amount
of incomes derived from trades and professions,
deducting in both cases those under ESQ, was in
1912 2l,247,600; in l648 g56,990,O0O. The
amount of capital subject to legacy duty was in
1900 g4,l22,00O; in ls4S 944,34s, 600. The
sums insured against fire in Great Britain were, in
1901, 9232,24OOOO; in ls45 g722, 100000.
We have plenty Of indications that this accumula
ton of property has been shared by all classes.
And first as to the institution of savings banks, al
together creation Of the present century-the
first savings bank having been established at Tot
tenham, in Middlesex, by Mrs. Priscilla Wake
field, in 1904. The deposites in these institutions
in lS4s amounted to no less than g3l, ,743, $50,
standing in the names Of more than million of
depositors; and this amount must be regarded as
an accumulation Of property since 1904, by the
humber classes Of the community. A tendency
towards an increase of the number Of moderate
and comparative diminution in the number Of
colossal incomes is brought to light by compare
son of the income tax returns Of 1912 with those
Of lS4S, thus:
Incomes 1912. lS46. Increase.
Between el50 and e500,. 80, 1872. 81, lOl. 1886
500 and l,O0O... 1894. ). l3, ,2s7. las
1000 and 2,000... 2,ll6.... 1924. .l4S
1900 and 5,000... l,ls0.... 1855. ...ll9
5000 and upwards 409.... l,lsl...:ls0
A very conclusive argument in respect to the
improvement Of the general social condition of the
people Of England may be deduced from the in
crease in the consumption of those articles of ne.
cessty or luxury which are used indiscriminately
among all classes. We have arranged the prnci-
pal Of these articles in the following table:
1900. 1850.
Consumption Of wheat, qrs. 6,0OO,00 zoe, 600
Growth of grain, all kinds qs. 80 600 000 60 00O 0Oo
Wheat and wheat flour imported