Smyrna times., 1889-05-08
A Century of Industrial Growth.
THIS COUNTRY IN THE ARTS AND
MATERIAL PROGRESS.
The Great Changes in Prices.


it has seemed to the men of this gen.
Grafton, needs for full appreciation a
different point of view. How would
it have appeared to George Washing
ton and his Revolutionary associates?
What incomprehensible and incredible
marvels would they have seen in it's
machines and inventions, its arts and
tools, its princely expenditure by vol
untary societies of workingmen, its
mighty array of well-clad, well-paid
and comfortable workers? If it were
possible to contrast the industries of
1889, when the world had lived and
learned at least fifty-eight centuries,
with those of 1889, when only one
century more had been added, what a
startling contrast
1t is not possible. A new world has
been created. The methods, tools,
products and artisans of a century
ago in many departments have van
ished as completely as if they belonged
to another planet. What has become
of the spinning wheel or the wooden
clock The suit of wooden cloth worn
by President Washington at his ad-
dress to Congress in 1889 was present
ed by wOOlen factory only established
in the preceding year, and cloth then
cost So a yard the people were cloth
ed in the hOmespun made in every
family. The power loom for knit
goods was not invented until 1880 !;
in 1889 two citizens of Norwich asked
exemption from poll-taxes for them
selves and their apprentices because
they had set up eight stocking frames,
which required two men for each. A
century ago wool-carving had been
done by hand, but WhittemOre invent
! ed machinery to make cards. The
first carpet factory in the country was
established a little later. A century
ago the cotton-gin had not been invent
ed, the spinning-jenny was yet an ex-
pertinent, and the first shipment of
cotton to England, only eight bags,
was made in 1884. Now the country
has raised more than 100000 bales of
cotton in year. and worked up more
than one thousand million pounds of
cotton and four hundred million
pounds of wool.
A century ago only charcoal iron
was produced, and not as much of that
probably, as 10000 tons yearly; for
twenty years later the product was but
$4,000 tons. Even Great Britain in
1888 produced only 68,300 tOns-not as
much as either one Of several furnaces
in this country now turns out yearly.
The manufacture of steel was just be-
ginning here twenty years later only
9l7 tons were produced in the cOun-
try The coarsest pig-irOn then cost
about as much as steel rails do now.
A single railroad now buys yearly
more iron than both Great Britain and
this country then made, but there were
neither railroads then, nor iron bridges
nor buildings; no petroleum pipes, fol
there was no petroleum; no gas-pipes
for there was no gas-lighting even il
Europe until later. Washington lived
in an age of darkness instead of The
electric light the millions had candles
costing about cents apiece. In al
the departments and applications o
chemistry the century has simply ere
ated new world. American pressed
glass, which has completely revOlu
tion lied the supply of table and house
} ware, is an invention of the last sixtl
years. The silk manufacture has no
existed in this country half a century
the paper made a hundred years ag
would hardly be thought fit for US,
since modern methods have been in
vented the only use discovered 70
, india-rubber then was to erase penc
marks; and while the town of LYn
made 100000 pairs of boots and shoe
! in 1888, they were not the shoes of tC
> day, and the manufacture by maehir
cry is wholly due to inventions sine
1900. Sewing machines for any pu
pose were unknown, and salt wf
made by boiling sea water, though
1887 it was first made from the spring
near Syracuse at the rate of about
bushels per day, and the cost soon fe
to so cents per bushel.
"a Farming in Washington's day kne
. nothing of machinery; even the FIR
iron plough, patented in 1897, was
failure, for New Jersey farmers thoug
, it poisoned the soil. Mowers, reape
. and harVesters began to be inVent'
about the same, and even the Ordina
implements were such as it would n
now be thought possible to use. II
. steamboat was practically unknoW
a and the railroad entirely until for
III years later, and the cost of transport
= ton by wagon confined the area
~ possible production with profit, as
Of most crops, to the margin of navigat
y waters. The whole Nation could n
- produce in WashingtOn's day as mu
,to wheat as single Territories not J
id, States now export each year, a
nS when the accounts of century a
to- tell of "vast quantities" exported, tn
e; really mean less in year than
ess country has since moved in a SIM
on week.
ios Volumes could be filled, and yet
iOc. a small part of the change IN indus
- within the century could be mentlsn
ld' But the revolution in the condition
the laboring population has been
LS. crowning result of all this prOgrC
,ta- Of wages, it is enough to say t
'ess' masons a century ago earned 81 ce
w. per day in Massachusetts,, carpent
Ile, SO cents, blacksmiths 20 cents, and
on; dinary labor 80 cents. Food near
sts. farms was cheap. but pork is quo
in Massachusetts at 16 cents per POI
-four at $8.l6 per barrel, corn at
ne cents per bushel, and ham at 20 CT
per pound. Calico cost 5S cents
ward, broadcloth $2.70, buckram
cents, cotton cloth So cents, and
cloth, 80 cents hose cost $l.35
pair, and corded Nankeen breecf
> $3.50; buttons from l to shill
nd, per dozen, shoes of lasting c
per pair, and sugar from Is to % c
T''0' per pound. One does not need
esh study such figures as these very
to discover that the world and
living of to-day were simply imp
- BILE for the working people of a
.T~ tury ago. The whole world
IASt changed, but nowhere has the
vellous advance been greater or
the working millions more bench
tho,, 4, thooa TTnifad Statp3 "A