Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1874-01-23
wE,s.Ttu on PENNSYLSSNi&.

The wealth ui Pennsylvania is not only
immense, it is solid. Il is simply impossi-
bic 70 ascertain it within hundreds perhaps
thousands of millions The best shat can
be done, with the aid Of such statistics as
we have, is to approximate it. That Mr..
Bigham. head of the Burean OF Statictics,
has done :is well rs could be from The in
formation available.
Ia getting at the wealth of the State isayS
the Pittsburg C0aneirial, Mr.. Bigham
considers the State valuation aud that made
by the United States census officers in 1870.
The State assessors, with solemn and
wonderful regard for their Oaths, report the
real and personal property of the State at
II Ill 9GS, ,97T. while the actual value re-
ported by the United States census officials,
with no ward or township axes to grind,
is 81, 415, S3l, ,S5l-nearly three times as
much as the State assessment.
The capital Of the two hundred Nation
al banks in the State is S202, ,9l3, 132 Il
of the State banks, S43,,255, ,736 IS; and of
the saving banks, building and loan asse-
Citations, and private banks, SlS9,0Sl, ,332
90. This makes total ef banking capital
in PENNSYLVANIA, in various forms, reach
ing the aggregate Of Sl3i, go, ,SOl 6G.
The value Of the railroads, Of the. State,
canal companies, and passenger railroads,
is estimated at total Of 1895, 9l3, 734 GO.
! Next comes corporations aside from rail
roads, such as insurance, water, gas, ex-
press, oil, etc. They represent total
valuation o: $40, ,O0O, go.
! Merchants, wholesale and retail. are put
down at S426, 100000.
Agricultural and farm and garden pro-
ducts, Sj2l ,07S, ,349 90, and manufactures
of ali kinds, 1897, $50, ,521 GO. These fig
ures the commissioner collated from :he
census report of 1870, and they constitute,
as he has arranged them, the most detailed
statement of the wealth of Pennsylvania
heretofore published. The products in Kind
and not in cdl,te. as estimated above, en-
brace, in bushels, wheat rye, barley, oats,
Indian corn, peas, beans, potatoes, hay in
tons, butter, cheese, hops, tobacco, wool ,&c.
The mineral wealth of Pennsylvania il is
impossible TO estimate, but Mr. Bigha m
tries his hand at il for one year with this
result
/ Anthracite $50, Isl ,3S3
| BituminOuS 24,9l3,2I2
Oil l9,GlG,OOO
Total $129,710, SO
The production Of iron manufactures IN
1870 was Sl27, 10000 and forty per cent.
of increase since would bring the product
of 1873 up 10 the stupcndous aggregate of
S177, 600, ,00n. The product of steel, cop
per, zinc and nickel, new industries in this
State. falls below S4o,00O,00U 4 large
class of minor industries, slate, marble,
limestone. sandtone, fire. brick and many
others of like class, afford the Bureau OF
Statistics no data on which to make a state
ment and therefore the Commissioner esti-
mates these products at so, ,000, 600.
If we aggregate all these figures TO get
at the total wealth of our grand oid State,
we find that il reaches nearly Seron th0"-
saad millions q dollars, quite an encourag-
inc sum for the new Constitution TO start
into the business Ofgovernment with, back
ed as it is by the mind and muscle of not
less than four millions Of human beings.
On the contra side oI the ledger we have
some little debt and good many
scound rcls in Office