Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-09-19

At the closing session of the American So
cial Science Association ut Saratoga, N. Y,
Sept. ~, Mr.. Robert p Porter of Chicago,
read an essay on the growth Of the West. as
compared with that Of the East, during the
last eight or nine years The paper was ex-
haustve, and no pains evidently had been
spared by the author TO obtain information
or in preparing statistics, tables Of which are
numerous in the article. He considers as the
the West the states of Michigan, Indiana, H.
linois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri,
Kansas and Nebraska. As the East he Sc
lects the New England States with New York,
New Jersey and Pennsylvania added. The
population of the East, rs he has constructed
it, il H. BOB. 900 Of the West, II go. 600.
He takes note Of this astonishingly close re-
suit. Vast manufacturing enterprises are de-
veloping in the West in iron steel and wood
products and competition with the East for
foreign trade is already sharp and active.
The workmen of the West ARE on u better
footing with their employers than those of
the East their pay is better The panic and
consequent hard times, from which they do
not appear to have suffered, gave them an
advantage over eastern workmen which it has
not been difficult for them to maintain. The
shock was felt, to be sure, but the employer
aided his men to ward it off in return for
this they refused to join the commune Of
Chicago, which was waiting, with lighted
match, to begin the destruction of the city rs
soon as this help should arrive. Another
consequence of this mutual understanding
has been the rapid settlement of hundreds of
towns with the best class of working p,ople.
Now, in many western cities the employees
of the manufacturers are the r,al power of
the town. The total average yearly earnings
of the eastern workmcn are estimated at
S7S7.2S those Of the western laborer at
S9ij.S The total average savings Of the
former are given at Sl9s.sS; those of the
latter at s23l. 49, 1t is noticed also that in
tine West the head, or father of the family
supports it generally alone. In the last,
particularly in the manufacturing states the
children contribute to the familys support
quite materially. few years ago Boston
supplied the West with furniture. Now
Grand Rapids, Mich. supports the entire
western trade and furnishes hotels in Europe
% per cent. cheaper than Europe herself
The manufacture of Btssemcr steel rails has
been removed from Allegheny, Penn, to
Cook county, ILL., A small town in Indiana
sends to Europe large orders for wagons for
use in England aud her colonies. The num-
Der Of manufactures in the East in 1870 was
ll2,39i in the West, SO, SOB. The number
of hands employed East was l,273 500; the
number employed West WAS 372, 33s. 1t is
| estimated lnnt lnC next census Will not snow
a greatly increased number of either manu-
factories or employees in the East, while it
will give the West 100 900 manufactures and
| 500 OGO employees In the matter Of agricul-
| ture it is to be expected that states of such u
mighty area and such superior natural advan-
| tagcs as those denominatcd the West, would
be incomparably ahead of u.s. 1t is scarcely
| fair TO make II comparison. From the last
| report Of the department Of agriculture, the
| cssayist obtains the following figures: The
| yield of corn, wheat. cattle and hogs in the
East amounted to Sl7i. OSi, l2G, while that of
the West footed up to SG23 ss7 O29. This
| superior feature of the West is deduced to
show how that territory is enabled to hold
out against any panic, and be able, when
| prosperity returns, to get the first grip upon
| it, In conclusion, Mr.. Porter proceeds to
show the relative positions of the East and
| West in the matters OF debt and taxation. In
the East the average tax per capita is 5000;
| in the West it is only 50 80 The total state
| debt of the eastern states is SIS, OGS, 2GS I;
that of the western, $50, 793, s73. The ag-
| gregate eastern state debt is then SOL, 279,
| 395 more than that of the nine western states
| The state debt of these states, with pOpula-
| ton of IT, Goo 600, is 50. OOO, 900 less than the
| debt Of Massachusetts,. with population of
| |, SCI 900. The county, city and town debts
| of the eastern states amount to $40, lj5, OiS (;
| those Of the western states are s li6, O32, O37 /;
excess of eastern dtbtcdness, S39l, 1913, on.
| These are significant figures!