The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1892-12-07
The Message!
PRESIDENT HARRIS0N'S SUG-
GESTIONS TO CONGRESS.
A StatGSman'S Views on Affairs
Of State.

To THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTA-
TIvES:
In submitting my annual message to con-
gress | have great satisfaction in being able to
say that the general conditions affecting the
commercial and industrial interests of the
United States are in the highest degree favor
able. A comparison of the existing conditions
with those of the most favored period in the
history of the country WILL | believe, show
that so high a degree of prosperity and so
general diffusion of the comforts of life
were never before enjoyed by our people.
General Statistics.
The total wealth of the country in 1850 was
SIG, 150,6l6,0SS; in 1890 1t amounted to Si2,6l0-
SO5, 900, an increase of PSF per cent. The total
mileage of railways in the United States in
1860 30 $685. in 1890 1t 167, al an increase
of 4.4S per cent. and it is estimated that there
will be about 1000 miles of track added by the
close of the year 1891. The official returns of
the eleventh census and those of the tenth
rensus for IS leading cities furnish the basis
for the following comparisons In 1880 the cap
ital invested in manufacturing was 81 ,2}2, $780,
$40; in 1890 the capital invested in manufactur-
ing was 81, ,735,SS4. In 1880 the number of
employees was l,30l 1888; in 1890 the number of
employees 2,25l13i In 1880 the wages
earned were SF0l ,965,78; in 1890 the wages
earned were 81, 22l ,170,454. In 1880 the value
OF the product was S2,7ll, 579,S99: in 1890 the
value of the product was 81. s6O, 2S6, S37.
l am informed by the superintendent of the
census that the omission of certain industries
in 1880, which were included in $780, accounts
in part for the remarkable increase thus
shown. But after making full allowance for
differences of method, and deducting the re-
turns for all industries not included in the
census of 1890, there remain in the report from
these seventy. five cities an increase In the
capital employed of Sl522,745,SH, in the
value of the product of $2024, 236, 1866. IN wages
90 to- l,a boa %
wage-earners employed of 856,G20. The wage
earnings not only show an increasek ag-
gregate, but an increase per capita from
1886 in 1880 to S547 in 189O,or An per cent.
The new industrial plants established since
Oct. 6, 1890, and up to Oct. 22 lS92are partially
reported in The American Economist number
345, and the extension of existing plants lob The
new capital invested amounts to S2l0 $4,000,
and the number of additional employees to 81
285.
The Textile World for July, 1892, states, that
during the first six months of Abe present
calendar year, 1876 new factories were built, of
which 40 are cotton mills, AZ knitting mills, ~
wooden mills, 10 silk mills, plush mills and
linen mills OF the 40 cotton mills, 81 have
been built in the southern states A. B. Shep-
parson of the New York cotton exchange es-
Inmates the number of working spindles in
the United States on Sept. /, 1892, at l52OO,OOO,
an increase of $4,000 over the year 1891. The
con sumption of cotton by American mills in
1891 2396,00O bales, and in 1892, 2,5Si0OO, an
increase of 1888, 600 bales. From the year 1869 to
1892 inclusive there has been an increase in
the consumption of cotton in Europe of 92 per
cent, while during the same period the in
creased consumption in the United States has
been l50per cent. The report of Ira Aver,
special agent of the treasury department,
shows that at the date of Sept 30, 1892, there
were thrty-two companies manufacturing tin
and terne plate in the United States, and
fourteen companies building new works for
such manufacture. The estimated investment
in buildings and plants at the close of the
fiscal year June 30, 1898, If existing conditions
were to be continued, were 100000, and the
pounds per annum. The actual production
for the quarter ending Sept 80, 1892, was 1922
726 pounds.
The report of Labor Commissioner Peck of
New York shows that during the year 1891 in
about 5000 manufacturing establishments in
that state embraced within the special in
quiry made by him and representing 81 differ
ent industries, there was a net increase over
the year 1890 of S3,3l5 l3O6Si in the value of the
product, and of 50, 377 90 in the amount of
wages paid. The report of the commissioner
of labor for the state of Massachusetts shows
that 3745 industries In that state paid $780,
4l6,248 in wages during the year 1891, against
$l26,UU,3O3 in 1890 an increase of S3,35,9f5,
and that there was an increase of S9gS2, 400 in
the amount of capital and of 1916 in the num-
Der of persons employed in the same period.
During the last six months of the year 1891