The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1881-08-19
Daily INTELLIGENCER.
THE DAILY INTELLIGRscER is
Friday, Aug. 10, 1881. .
the WORLDS INCREASE.

According to Mr.. Mulhall, the sta
tisticisn, the worlds increase for the
ten years from 1870 to 1880, was: Pop
ulation. 976 per cent; agricultural
production. SIS per cent; manufactures.
1876 per cent; commerce, 1872 per cent;
mining, 47.06 per cent; carrying trade,
1922 per cent. These figures are fo1
the whole world, including the least
progressive a. well as the most progress
sive nations. and excluding only soch
savage and barbarous people as can be
brought within the range Of statistics.
The advance Of the more enlightened
nations In wealth has been far beyond
what these figures indicate. and it goes
without saying that no nation has
equsled our own in this respect. Ac
cording to Frederick N. Newcombe. a
very able English statist, our wealth
per head of population increased from
S777 in 1870 10 at least 81 900 in 1880.
or 1884 per cent.
Me- Nathalie figures do not support
the opinion entertained by many people
thst the rich aze growing richer and the
poor poorer in consequences OF the in-
PRODUCTION Of machinery. They show
that while the increase Of agricultural
products, chiefly food. has hardly kept
pace with the growth Of population.
the increase Of manufactured products
has been nearly twice Is great, and that
of commerce nearly four times as great
as that of population. The plain and
unavoidable inference is that the abili-
ty Of the masses to supply their less ur-
gent wants has been growing very rap
idly. The food supply was adequate in
1870. and for that reason IL was no lar
ger in proportion to population in 1880.
A larger proportion of the worlds in
dustrial energy was applied to manu-
featuring In 1880 because the masses OF
che people had more means to expend
for clothing, furniture, and other
things not absolutely indispensable.
There is no escape from this conclusion,
because 1t is the great body Of the PEG
pie. and not tho wealthy alone. that
consume the bulk Of manufactured pro-
ducts. Mr.. Mulhall finds that the av-
ersge earnings Of nations have increas-
ed 1894 per cent. since 1870. and the
realized wealth 1857 per cent. from
which II appears that people have both
accumulated wealth and increased their
consumption.
Public ss we'll as private oonsump-
ton has largely increased. FOR Mr. Mul.
hall finds that the increase OF taxation
in 1880 over 1870 was % "a per cent,
and the Increase ip public Indebtedness
Was A3 80 per cent. Taxation, there
fore. has grown az times as fast rs
population. and 1>5 times rs fast rs
realized wealth. This. however. does
not give Mr. Mulhall any uneasiness,
for he finds that the mere increase in
wealth during the decade would pay
81 per cent OF oil existing national
debts, and that all these debts could be
paid In II 20 years out Of the available
increase Of earnings. even If in the
meantime they should continue TO in
crease ct the rate of4H year. as they
did during the late decade.
This calculation. however. should
not encourage our towns and cities to
incur indebtedness unnecessarily. The
tendency to run in debt is altogether
too strong. and should DO curbcd rath.
or than encouraged.