The Portland daily press., 1869-01-30
! B9- First Page To-Day-City Sewerage;
Letter from New York Buried Alive; Varie-


The Statistics Of the State.
MIR. Poor's report to the Governor on the
population, wealth and progress OF industry in
Maine has been printed for general use, as it
certainly ought to be. 1t does not profess to
give entirely accurate results. The desultory
labor of one man who has three or four rail-
roads, the photographic survey and number
less other enterprises on his hands, could
hardly be expected to result in the presenta-
ton of entirely reliable statistics. yer .no
report has great interest, and will be he,u
precious possession by persons OF ''"'''
inclinations
Some parts of Mr. Poor's report nave aireaoy
been presented to the puphc through the
newspapers; his estimate OF the population
and statement of the railroad progress of the
State among the rest. Some interesting facts
are deducible from the estimates given by Mr..
Poor of the population of the State Taking
the vote for Governor in 1868, 133O39. and
reckoning on the basis of 100 voters for SOC in
habtants-rather an unreliable basis for
calculation of this kind as we have before
shown, but the best available under the cir
cumstances - the population of the State
would be at the present time 673, Ut, an in
S'N"HS vi VI dUOub per C0ut. oihCC tooV'
Making some rough corrections, however. Mr..
Poor puts up his estimate to 688,071, an in
crease of SO, All, or more than per cent, since
1860. The estimate by counties, without the
corrections, shows an aggregate decrease Of
1O'397 in Hancock, Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc
and Washington, and an aggregate increase of
54,7S8 in all the other counties. This state
ment is probably more accurate TIM the cor
rected one. The counties in which the de-
crease appears to have taken place are the
maritime counties of the State. They have
suffered greatly on account of the depression
in shipbuilding and the repeal of the reciproci-
ty treaty, while they have received compare
lively little of the compensation that other
counties have found in an increase of railroad
facilities and the building up of manufactures.
So seriously are these disadvantages felt in
Hancock and Washington counties, which are
poor agricultural regions that the inhabitants
declare that unless the railroad comes to their
relief the whole territory will be abandoned
Cumberland, however, does not share in the
decline of the other maritime regions of Maine,
having well established and increasing for
eign commerce and making considerable pro-
gress in manufactures. The estimated in
crease in this county is 1903 since 1860. The
manufacturing cities of Saco and Biddeford
have saved York also from falling behind. and
there is an estimated increase of s,16S. An
droscoggin, Kennebec and Oxford all show
considerable increase, while Penobscot, with
much larger population than either, has only
increased 4.706.
Mr.. Poor's second task was to make an esti-
mate of the value of the real aud personal
property in Maine, July l. 1868. We have
little light vouchsafed as to his methods of
computation. We only know this,-that in
1850 the State valuation was 500 ,O37 1863 and
in 1860, $165, 1884 543, increase of GA per cent
in ten years; that (as MIR. Poor says and as is
undoubtedly true) the State valuation has
hitherto been very much below the actual
worth of the property. This is demonstrated by
reference to the fact that in 1850 when Maine
built as much vessel tonnage as Massachusetts
and New York together, the Maine vessels
were valued at only $2,146,3SO, while those of
Massachusetts, were valued at $2811, 855 and
those of New York at Sc, 15O, 1856; in the returns
for the valuation of 1860 the 3SO,325 tons of
ships were valued at only $9657 500. less than
a fourth Of their true value. From this induc-
ton of facts and others probably that are not
stated, Mr.. Poor credits the people of Maine
with the possession of an average wealth of
$500 to each person, or an aggregate of $344,-
035,00O on the gold standard, or $45S, $3.50 on
the currency standard gain of more than ITO
per cent, in the last eight years, and nearly
double the increase from 1850 to 1860.
The answer TO the third question, as to the
amount invested in Maine manufactures and
the value of the products thereof is equally en-
couraging He says: efla.s5..
There has been large increase in the pro-
duction of boots and shoes, bricks, clothing,
cotton goods, leather, lime, lumber, oil cloth,
paper, sugar and woollen goods, and moder-
ate increase of other manufactures. The pro-
duction of cotton goods has increased equal to
125 per cent, of woollen goods and paper
nearly 200 per cent, of sugar 100 per cent, and
of many of the enumerated articles, O still
greater increase. Many new branches of in
dustry, such as the manufacturing of glass,
the preservation of canned meats, have been
introduced into the State since 1860.
From information obtained through the off :
GERS of the United States Revenue, AID va
Tiety of private sources from among the lead
ing manufacturers l estimate the capital of
Maine employed in manufactures July LIST,
1868, at $40 100000 and the annual value OF the
products of the manufactures Of Maine for the
year ending July l. 1868, at $81 ,287, 695.
The greatest increase in the aggregate has
been in the production of cotton goods At
Lewiston the number of mills has increased
from to g. The capital employed from
1881 900 in 1860, to $5,60O000 July LIST. 1868,
and the products from 81 ,638,123 in 1860, to
over S6632,0OO for the year ending July LIST,
1868. At Saco and Biddeford without any
considerable Increase of capital, the value of
the products of cotton goods increased from
1892 600, in 1860 to "a 447 800, the product of
the year 1863