The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1879-11-22
The Progress of Manufactures IN tho Yves


One of the striking facts of the times is the
tendency of industrial energy to migrate west
ward. The business of manufacturing In the
States beyond the Alleghanies has silently but
steadily increased during the late period Of
financial depression, and, now that the crisis
is over, it is worth while to sum up the pro-
gress made in this direction by that section of
our country. For that purpose we avail our
selves of some statistics compiled by Mr.. Rob
ert y. Porter of Chicago, for the Princeton Re
UGeiC
1t appears that in those industries which
deal with iron and wood, the advance of the
Western States rs especially conspicuous. Thus
Illinois alone, in 1878, turned out as mary rails
as the whole country produced IN any one year
prior to 1860. In the same twelvemonth the
four states of Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and
Kansas manufactured more than 3G6, 900 TONS
or upward of 30 per cent. of all the rails made
within our borders. The total production Of
rolled iron of all kinds in the United States
for 1878 was 100000 tons, of which a seventh
must be credited to the four States Just men
toned, coupled with Missouri and Michigan.
| To the newest and now most profitable branch
of the iron trade, the fabrication of steel rails,
the West and particularly Illinois, has adj
dressed itself with remarkable results. Few
persons will be prepared to hear that Cook
county, Illinois, has in this respect already dis
tanced Allegheny county, Pennsylvania. The
truth IS, however that last year, while the lat
ter centre of the iron industry made 12, 600
tons of Bessemer steel rails, Chicago, during
the same period, delivered $4,000 tons, and if
the neighboring county of Will were counted
IN, the amount would be swollen to 17S,0OO
tons or "a 600 more than twice the entire yield
of Pittsburgh and Its cnvirOns. Indeed, the
State of Illinois manufactured in 1878 nearly
onethird of all the Besscmcr steel rails pro
duced in the United States. In other branches
of the iron industry, analogous progress has
been made In the twclve-mOnth ending Jan.
|, 1879 for example, Illinois and Indiana alone
made halfa million tons of cut nails, or over
onc-ninth of t,c total production of the coun-
try. 1t i not long ago that the first nail fac
tory built outside of Pittsburgh was consid,
cred hazardous speculation The enterprise
succeeded, however, and now, as far west as
Omaha, nails are manufactured in successful
IcompcttiOn with the East.
As to wood industries, 1t is claimed that,
whereas until recently all the best furniture
was forwarded 10 the West from Boston, the
movement of wares is now reversed. Accord
ing TO Mr.. Porter, at present not dollars
worth of Massachusetts swoodwork Is bought
west of Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1t seems
that the leading hotel at Dundee, Scotland, is
equipped from top TO bottom with furniture
made at Grand Rapids, and what is more sur
prsing, such articles can be delivered IN Scot
land % per cent cheaper than they can be
manufactured there. One more illustration
will emphasize the extent of this industrial
revolution. A small town in Indiana Is now,
we learn, completing a large order for wagons
for an English firm. who design to reShlp them
from Liverpool to South Africa
Let us glance now at the proportion Of the
Western population engaged in industrial pur-
suits. In 1870 the whole number of persons
in nine Western States, Ohio being excluded,
employed in manufacturing was 100000. In
1880, according to "A careful estimate based on
statistics for the past twelve-month, the num-
Der of such persons will have been augmented
To 1914 600. In the same decade the industrial
population of the nine Eastern States will, il
is computed, have increased from 1,213,00O to
| 734 600, and that of thirteen Southern States,
excluding Delaware and Maryland from 1885,
600 to 25S. 600 According to the data collect
ed bv Mr. Porter, the manufacturing districts
of the West are better places for the mechanic
Than the Eastern or the Middle States. From
his tabulated statement of annual earnings and
Expenditures we learn that the total yearly out-
Law for a workingman's family is $500 III the
East, S1SS in the Middle States, SslS in the
south and STA in the West On the other
hand. the aggregate yearly income of such a.
household was S1S7 in the Eastern States, 1885
m the Middle 1886 in the Southern, and S9i5
nd the Western States. 1t follows that while a.
workingman's family can contrive to save only
SIS yearly IN the South, and but Sll7 in the
Fast they can economic Sl9S in the Middle
states, and still more, or S23l IN the States be-
yond the Alleghenies.
II is natural that such figures should suggest
the inquiry whether the West is not as prom
ising TO the manufacturer as II is to the agri-
cultsrst Certainly the time has passed when
II could be regarded as exclusively devoted to
- ....ll.a,,nn Of meat md rrain ~ Y Sun