The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1880-01-21
manufactures in fhe West.


lAAns@3 lily LlnneA~
Nothing is more noticeable of late
than the rapid development of manu-
featuring industry in the West. Forty
years ago they were restricted to the
Eastern States, but silently and steadily
they have followed the tidal wave OF
immigration across the Alleghenles,
until an apparent revolution Is being
effected in the business and industries
of the country in their march toward
the commodious and predeminatlng
West. In the current number OF the
Princeton ReUiesO, Mr.. Robert T. Porter,
of Chicago, presents some remarkable
statistics on this subject, showing the
Comparative View of American Prog
RESI-" For example, the iron and steel
trade is rapidly moving westward, in
spite of the seeming great advantages
which Pennsylvania possesses. 1t is
said that the quality Of the iron ore of
the Mississippi Valley fits it better for
steel manufactures, and as steel is rap
idly supplanting iron in the arts, this
gives the West a great advantage. In
the year 1878 the State of Illinois pro-
duced as many railway rails as the
whole country produced prior to 1860.
The four States, Illinois, Wisconsin,
Indiana and Kansas, manufactured
over one-third of all the rails produced
in the country. The advantages which
these States have in distributing their
heavy iron freights over the great lakes
and the Mississippi and its tributaries
are also very great. The furniture trade
has moved westward. The leading ho-
tel at Dundee, Scotland. is furnished
throughout by furniture MADE at Grand
Rapids, Michigan. Such furniture can
to-day be delivered twenty-five per cent.
less than it can be made in Scotland,
owing to cheap lumber and labor
saving machinery. The New England
furniture manufacture has correspond
ingly declined In the South the drift
has been westward, chiefly toward
Texas, and that State has been built up
at the expense of the rest of the Gulf
States. Still Georgia and Alabama are
making q handsome start in manufac-
lures. The cotton mills are growing
prosperous and new ones are building,
but still very small impression has
been made upon the New England mills.
Nine tenths of the manufacturers of
cotton are still in the North, and almost
all the fine goods are of Northern man
ufacture. The cotton States, however,
have advantages of the same kind,
which have transferred to the North
west the furniture trade of New Eng
land, and which is transferring the steel
trade from Pennsylvania to Illinois.
Statistics, showing the proportion of
the population engaged in industrial
pursuits, are also given by the writer
In 1870 the whole number of persons in
nine Western States, Ohio being ex-
cluded, employed in manufacturing,
was 100000. In 1850, according to
careful estimate, based on statistics for
the past twelve months, the number of
such persons will have been augmented
to $4,000 In the same decade the in
dustrial population of nine Eastern
States will, it is computed, have in
creased from l, 273, 900 to 1.734, 600, and
that of thirteen Southern States, ex-
Guiding Delaware and Maryland, from
10000 to 258,000. According to the
data collected by Mr.. Porter, the manu-
featuring districts of the West are bet
ter places for the mechanic than the
Eastern or Middle States. From his
tabulated statement of annual earn
ings and expenditures, we learn that the
total yearly outlay for wOrkingman's
family is $670 in the East, and 1873 in
the Middle States, 1913 in the South,
and STA in the West. On the other
hand, the aggregate yearly income of
such household, was $787 in the East
ern States, 1886 in the Middle, 1885 in
the Southern, and 1916 in the Western
States. 1t follows that while work
ingman's family can cOntrive to save
only $118 yearly in the South, and but
$117 in the East, they can economic
$197 in the Middle States, and still
more, or 1921 in the States west of the
Alleghenies.