The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-10-22


few years as centre of industrial
growth. Indications then were in
plenty, to be sure, that the city, though
evidently not grasping many OF the vast
opportunities given it by Nature for
commercial supremacy, was neverthe-
less maintaining healthy and steady
advance in most directions. But the
actual figures arc so remarkable that il
is difficult for those who have not made
a study of the facts for themselves to
believe the truth Of the showing.
IL seems by the census report of 1890,
which has just been sent out by the de-
partment at Washington, that PRov-
DENCE occupies position that will COM
pare favorably with the fast growing
towns of the West and almost isolated
among Eastern cities.
Perhaps the most pleasing thing to
note in the official comparison between
the showing of 1880 and 1890 was tnat
the average yearly wages of the indus
trial workers of PROVIDENCE had in
creased from Si13 in 1880 to $500 Ina 1890.
Perhaps the "rich are getting richer
and the poor poorer" but when we read
such figures as these of undoubted au-
thenticity and dealing with the working
classes altogether, it proves very conclu-
siyely that the cynical observation is
strikingly untrue in at least one import
ant centre. Remarkable as was the in
crease of over 60 per cent IN the total
number of persons employed IN PRovI-
DENCE factories-a growth that would
be creditable to Chicago or Kansas
City-it Is still more remarkable to find
that the total amount of wages distri-
buted gained about 100 per cent in the
ten years. That is, instead of the $25 >
600 daily distributed among the 22,s9l
factory employees in 1880 there were
$4,000 paid ont each day TO 81, ,955 en-
ployes in 1890.
1T appears that the amount of capital
invested in factories within the city
limits had just doubled In the decade,
or in other words had risen from $27,-
100000 to $54 100000. The factories
had evidently grown larger as well as
more numerous: their number had in
creased from ! POS to 1888, number
not in proportion to the increase of cap
ital and wages. The annual value of
their product at the end Of the decade
was 7l,Sl0,173. or nearly fifty times
the amount that some people say is too
small for MS to expend on new State
House, and all the time the city debt
grows less.
Upon their face these figures seem to
furnish conclusive evidence that PRovI-
DENCE is good place to live and grow
prosperous in, and careful considera-
tion confirms this impression. While
the average workers income has been
increasing from So to $40 a week
and it must be remembered that this
includes children and unskilled laborers
as well as skilled artisans-the cost of
living has not perceptibly increased.
The necessities Of life are not more
costly, food products becoming cheaper
rather than dearer. A dollar will go
about AS far to clothe man as il would
in 1880, and house rents, thanks to sub.
urban expansion, have been kept where
they were, with accommodations al
ways improving. And this suburban
growth, by the way, gives us the expla-
nation that we wanted of how the num-
ber of industrial employees had increased
go per cent, while the population given
of the city only showed an addition of
little over 20 per cent. 1t means that
the city is simply running over at the
edges all around and that the real
PROVIDENCE must be considered, "a
the News has always maintained,
as that whole great community
that is fast drawing itself together
around one common centre, whose
people have all their great interests in
common, whose ownership of it all is
the same, that GREATER PROVIDENCE.
which exists from natural causes quite
distinct from artificial lines, whose
population grew from so, 900 in 1865 to
275, 900 in 1892. There are communities
that can point to a growth as marvel.
Gus as this, but they are few.
1t is pity that the work of the Cen
sus Bureau must Of necessity be so
much delayed that its findings become
to some extent ancient history before
they are made known. 1t will readily
be conceded in the present case that
1891 and 1892, of which we have few
statistics, have been the years of the
city's greatest material prosperity.
They have seen more expansion, more
building, more new industries started
and more public work done than decades
used to see.
This industrial census proves to us
that our steps have not only been in
10 VIC