Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1892-12-15
THE MESSAGE.
President Harrison's Communities
ton to Congress.
He Believes Tariff Revision Should Be Left
TO the Next Congress-A General Re-
view of the Condition of the
Countrywide Treasury.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6.-Both houses of
congress were presented with the. pres
ldent's message on assembling to-day.
As will be seen it is devoted, in addition
to the usual review of executive work,
TO consideration of the effect of the
changed political conditions on the COM
mercial and financial business of the
country. The message as read IS as
follows:
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
In submitting my annual message to congress,
Il have great satisfaction N being able to say
thai the general condition affecting the com
mercial and industrial interests Of the United
States are in the highest degree favorable In
comparison of the existing conditions with
those of the most favorable period in the his
tory of the country will, 1 believe, show that SO
high degree of prosperity and so general a
diffusion of the comforts of life were never be
fore enjoyed by people.
The total wealth of the country in 1860 was
SIC I59 66, 0S6: IN 1880 it amounts 49, $40 Coz,
OO0, an increase of I8j per cent
The total mileage OF railways in the United
States in 1850 &c, $685. in 1890 it 167, 741,
an increase of 488 per cent: and it is estima ted
there viii be about 400 miles of track added
by the close Of the year of 1892. The official
returns of the eleventh census and those of the
tenth census for seventy iSe leading cities fur
nished the basis for the following comparisons
In iccU IIA capital invested IN MISUNDERSTANDING
was 81 ,232 $50 co In 1899 the capital invested
IN manufacturing was i2, $50 735. ia In 1880
the number OF employees was 1,3Ol,333- In 1870
the number OF employees was 2271, l34 In 1889
the wages earned were SOL, 1865, 778. In 1872 the
wages earned were 81, POI, 49, 54 In 1880 the
value OF the product was Se,71I579SS9 In 1890
the value OF the product was n, $50, 2s6937
am informed by the superintendent of the
census that the omission of certain industries
IN 1881, which were included in 1920, accounts in
part Tor the remarkable increase thus shown
But after making full allowances for differences
of method and deducting the returns for all in
dustries not included in the census of 1889 there
remain in the reports from these seventy-fve
cfti6J an increase in capital employed of e1,522,
Z45,6e in the value of the product OF 81 GA 1885,
166, in wages earned of S677, go, and in the
number of wage earners employed of Sj6.G29
The wage earnings not only show increased
aggregate, but increased per capita from
$685. in 1880 TO s54T in 1892, or 41.71 per cent.
The new Industrial plants established since
October 6, $780, and up TO October p 1892, as
partially reported in the American Economist,
number 3l5, and the extension or sting
plants 1903; the new capital invested amounts to
Gao, 1869, and the number OF additional en-
pIoyes TO 81 S5
The Textile World for July. 1892, stated
that during the first sixteenth of the present
calendar year l35 new factories bnilt of
which 10 are cotton mills 48 knitting mills, 26
WOODEN mills, Is silk mills, plush mills and 2
linen mills. OF the 40 cotton mills 81 have been
built in the southern states Mr.. A. B. Shop
person. of the New York Cotton exchange esti-
mates that the number of working spiudles in
the United States on September 1.
1892, at 1920. 000 increase of $50 900
over the year 1891 The consumption of
cotton by American mills in 1891 was 9, 1896 900
bales, and in 1892, 258i 900 bales, increase of
1SS,OOJ bales From the year 1869 to 1892 in
elusive, there has been an increase in the con-
sumption of cotton in Europe of % per cent,
while during the same period the increase of
consumption in the United States has been
about $50 per cent.
The report of Mr.. Ira Aver, special agent of
the treasury department.. shows that at the
date of September 3d. 1892, there were thirty
two companies manufacturing tin and terne
lrlsate in the United States and fourteen com
p2DieS building new works for such manufact-
The estimated investment of capital in
buildings and plants at the close of the fiscal
year June 30. 1893, if existing conditions to
be continued, was $1,000 900. anb the estimated
rate OF production 20O,O5O000 pounds per
mum. The actual production for the quarter
ending September 80, 1892, 10, 952 TBS pounds.
The report of Labor Commissioner Peck of
New York. shows that during the year 1891, in
about 6,OoO manufacturing establishments in
that state embraced within the special inquiry
made by him, and representing six ty-seven diff
fereut indus tries there was a net increase over
the year 1899 of 81 ,315 369 in the value Of the
product, and of So, 311 500 in the amount OF
WAGES paid. The report of the commissioner of
Tabor for the state of Massachusetts, show that
3715 industries in that state paid 1925, 248 in
wages during the yoar 1891, against 0OS
in $780, an increase of So, 335 945 and that there
was an increase OF 80 932. 400 in the amount of
., capital. and of ,34S in the number of persons
. employed in the period
During the last six months of the year 1891
and the first six months of 1892 the total pro-
duction of pig iron 9,7lO,Sl9 tons, as against
. zoe. 703 tons IN the year 1890, which the
largest annual production ever attained For
the same twelve months of 1S9l-S92 the pro-
duction OF Bessemer ingots was 1878 5Sl tons,
an increase of 1910 gross tons
over the previously unprecedented yearly
production of 8, SIS, 81 gross tons in 1890 The
production of Bessemer steel rails for The first
six months Of 1892, was 712,436 gross TONS as
against 70!,0S0 gross tons during the last six
months of 1884,
The total value of our foreign trade (exports
and manufacturer during the lasl fiscal year
was 81 S51 $50 60, an increase of Si2o 6O4 over
the fiscal year. The average annual value OF
our imports and exports of merchandise for the
ten fiscal years prior to 1884, IL, 457 322 0I9
1t will be observed that our foreign trade for
1892 exceeded this annual average value by
SI01,3iS S91, an increase of 27.47 per cent. The
significant and value of this increase shown
by the fact that the excess in the trade of 1892
over 1891, was wholly in the value OF exports.
for there was q decrease in the value of i'm
ports, of s17,51325L
The value of our eXpoess during the fsca
year 1892 reached the highest figures in the his
tory of the government, amounting t
&i,0O,21S,1is exceeding oY Sl4&75,S5S the ex
ports o. 1891 and exceeding the value of the i'm
ports by t2J2, S75, $50 \ comparison of the valu
of ou- imports for 1892 with the annual average
for the ten years prior TO 1891 shows al excess
of S.65 l43, 67I or of 81 65 per cent. The value
our imports of merchandise for 1872 which wa:
&s29 iCs,, 462 also exceeded the annual averag
value of the ten years prior to 1891 By Sl35215
e4a During the fiscal year 1872 The value o
imports free of duty amounted to I57, |99, 65S
the largest aggregate in the history of our com
merce The value of the imports % merchar
disc entered free of duty.iu leg, was 81. 80 pc
cent of the total value of imports, as compare
with 80 81 per cent. in 1891 aad So 65 per cent i
1891
In our coastwiSe trade q most encouragin
development is in progress, there having bee
in the last four years an increase of 10 per CEN
In internal commerce. the statistics show tina
no such period of prosperity has ever befor
existed. The freight carried in the coastwis
trade of the great lakes in 1890 aggregated %
2s5. $50 tons.
On the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio river
and tributaries in the same year the traffic ae
gregated 80 404 406 tons and the total vessel TOT
mage passing through the Detroit river durin
that year was 81, 6si 900 tons The vessel tol
mage entered and cleared in the foreign trade c
London during 1920 amounted TO IS, 49, 167 ton
and of Liverpool TO- 94I 800 tons, total for thes
two great shipping ports of "a. 1888 tons, onl
slightly in excess of the vessel tonnage passin
through the Detroit river. And it should /
said that the season for the Detroit river wa
bur 2sS days, while of course in London an
Liverpool the season was for the entire yea
The vessel tonnage passing through the S