The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1883-06-28
-. 4 INDUSTRIES.
Mnnufaetnre ana Agrieulture-OurE
I port rrade-Internhl Commerce.


Manufacture and Agrieulture-Our Ex;
port rrade-Internhl Commerce.
Ameriedn Naeaaaarer, III e
sChiet Nimmo arrives at some interesting
general facts in his statistical explorations.
Within the memory Of men Of middle age
the great West was dependent upon the
East and upon foreign countries almost
entirely for manufactured products. But
our statistical investigator shows that the
value Of the manufactures Of the West in
creased from sSle,e75, 200 in 1860 to 81 $751;
OOOinissO. Duringt elAtter the yalueotthe
products Of manufacture Of the Western
and Northern States was so per cent greater
than the total value Of the products Of manu-
iacture in the United States in 1850, and
almost equal to the total value oil the manu-
iactures OF the country In 1850.
Until the actual figures are produced,
one has q very uncertain idea as to the REL
alive productivenesS Of agricultural and
manufacturing enterprises. AT the last
census the capital employed in our manu-
factories amounted to. s., zoe, 272, 600, and
the value given to materials in the process
es OF manufacture, as before stated, amount
ed approximately to $1,000, 100000, or II
per cent. Of the capital employed. The
value Of farms, including land, fences and
buildings, was $l0,l97096,T7, and the
value Of all agricultural productions during
the census year was estimated at s., 600.
100000, or about So per cent Of the value
OF property in farms. Hence the relative
productiveness Of capital in manufacturing
and in agriculture is as 2 to |.
Then again, we are given to speaking OF
our exports OF manufactures as though
they were absolutely Of vital importance,
but the actual figures indicate that this
view Is considerable Of mistake. The
products OF our manufactures in 1880 were
worth q, 1856, SIS, l95, Of which only about
Sl0OJ OOO, 900. or 2 per cent, was exported.
The balance became the subject OF internal
commerce and was consumed at home.
Speaking Of internal commerce, indeed
manufactures now constitute the most i'm
portant element Of the trade Of our large
towns and city. The prosperity Of even
New York city-the great commercial en-
trepot Of the country-at which point N
per cent Of our foreign commerce is carried
on, Ia in much higher degree dependent
upon manufacturing industries than upon
foreign commerce. During the year end.
ing June 80, 1880, the value Of the total for.
eign commerce at that city amount
ed to Ss52,497,249, the values
OF exports amounting TO $780,
5B0, 900, and that Of imports to $i59, 987, :
1853. The total value Of the manufactures
OF the city, however, during the census
year, amounted to $472, 996, 4S7, and those
Of Brooklyn to SIT, 229, AZ, that Of the two
cities-commercially one city-being $3.50, /.
1850. But the manufacture and sale Of
every dollars worth Of products Of manu-.
iacture probably contributed ten times as
much toward the employment Of labor
and the sustenance Of people in these
cities as did every dollars worth Of for
eign goods imported. The manufacturing
industries OF the two cities involved not
only the wages paid for the manufacture
Of goods, but also wages paid for trans
porting and receiving materials and coal,
and delivering finished products. They
also required the use OF and paid rental
upon large amount Of property in the
manufacture and storage Of merchandise.
Besides, they gave rise to very large BUSH
ness in the purchase and sale OF raw
materials and OF finished products. On
the other hand, immense portions OF the
foreign exports oil New York city paid the
people OF the city little more than the ex-
penses Of tranE-shipmenta and warehousing.