Wichita eagle., 1888-01-17
OUR FIGURING MILLS.
THE REVOLUTION THAT HAS TAKEN
PLACE SINCE 1880.
Remarkable Results Attributable to
Changes in the Methods of Flour Maxi
ing-Abandonmento of the Old Fashioned
NeighborhOod Mills-Somc Statistics.

While by no means so unapproachable in
its priority as it once was, -four making is
still the greatest of our American industries
as regards the value Of the product Flour
and meat for food, iron and lumber for build
ing, cotton and woolen fabrics for clothing
these six are our largest Industrial products,
having aggregate yearly value in the order
named But although first in the value of its
product, tue Touring and grist mill industry
is greatly surpassed in the number Of men it
employs by ten or twelve other lines of manu-
facture. Our domestic use Of -four remains
about the same per capita from year to year;
and aside from the increasing amount manu-
factured for export, the total output grows
only as our population grows. New methods
Of milling have, moreover, led to tae rapid
concentration Of the industry and to actual
decrease in the number OF men employed i'll it.
These changes, amounting almost to rev
olution, have been most effectual since 1880.
and the condition of the industry today can
not be shown by complete statistics, but it IS
certain that the census Of 1880, when COM
pared with that of its immediate predecessor,
will reveal some very remarkable results at
tributable to changes in the methods of flour
making. Three-fourths of the manual labor
once necessary to the manufacture of bar
rel Of -four is dispensed with by the use of
new processes. Thus Col. Wright, In his re-
port for 1856 Of the United States bureau of
labor statistics, shows that in a large Min
neapolis mill labor is only 3. % per cent. OF
the unit cost Of making barrel of -four,
while the materials cost 81 ~ per cent, and
all other elements of expense amount to but
80 per cent.
Merchant milling on a very large scale Is
the result of tie economy and advantages OF
the new processes: and the competition OF the
great mills is causing tie abandonment and
decay of hundreds of the picturesque, old
fashioned neighborhood mills. In 1870. ac-
cording to the census of that year, there were
in the entire country 22,5T7S grist mills, en-
ploying IS, ,44s hands, representing s15l l,5Oo.-
eco of capital, and making product worth
s4i4, .0O0 In 1900 the number Of estab-
lishments was "a 33s. the number OF bands
IS, ,l01, the capital invested SlT.30o.o03 and
the value of the product was s505, loo, 900 the
price of -four had declined 10 per cent. in the
decade) The increase shown in the number
of estahlishments-l 765 for the ten years
is more apparent than real, the great bulk OF
-four having been made in decidedly smaller
number Of mills in 1850 than m 1870. Since
1850 tue blighting effect OF the great ner-
chant mills upon the small establishments has
become visible 20 every one.
AN ASTONISHING DECLINE.
According to the millers' directory for 1854,
complied by Col. z. Harrison Cswksr. OF
Milwaukee, there were at that time 22,Ao
mills in the country-a decline OF 1,3ao from
the census figures OF 1880 But this is slight
loss as compared with that Of the two years
from 1884 to 1886, if we may rely upon Col
Cawker's biennial directory. He finds that
the number of milling establishments has de-
ciined 70 l6,S56. loss IN two years of o,oo4,
or more than 26 per cent. This seems almost
incredible, yet il is probably not far from the
truth, When one investigates tne faet Tor
his own vicinity. and then stops 20 consider
that the small mills have IN like manner been
disappearing in all parts CT the country, the
figures are more really accepted Nj
Charles 4. Pflsbury, at the head OF tee
largest milling frrn il the world. says tnas
more than half Of the merchant mills OF alu
nesosa, outside Of Minneapolis, have been
shut dowa within the past few wears.
The decline is nowhere 50 noticeable as in
the south For example, North Carolina was
NAV be inferred from the fact tnss they re-
ouirsd. ali told, me services Of oaly ], l,s44
,rlea. not one in three having any hands be
sld, the rnilisr himself, and the average
capital employed was only S2.4o. Accord
ing 70 Cawkers directory, there were oniF
s.s mills an North Carolina III 1854. and only
o32 in 1856. More than Ea1 have been
abandone,t since 1850 virginia Esd leSo
mills, employing 2, 20 inca. IN isS- In i.s4
TIE number had decreased TO Isl and nearly
q third Of these disAppearsS in tee ns1t tso
years, leaving only 5GS Mississippi hah a.
ial!s IL toe 2els-s year, $50 III isss as,o ias ~
1856 Teune-see's milling shre-torisz tcT tns
sane years show nc. 81 ard SD AEaoa-rhs
decline is shown by tse figures scs, \s' ana
28 Corresponding figures for Geosyia are
I iS2- sai and 2A