Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1897-09-02

Kingdom were last valued at $50, O00,.
700 900 and those of the United States
At about $4o0oO,ooo,O0O.
The wealth in houses in this Gland OF
the Free represented an annual invest
ment of about $12.60 per inhabitant for
the twerty years ending with 1890.
The annual average in Great Britain
represented an annual investment of less
than Sc per inhabitant for the same
period.
Inasmuch as economists tell us that
the outlay on houses Is the surest gauge
of wealth, it thus appears that the av-
erage accumulation of property in the
United States is more than double that
in the British Isles.
Coming next to commerce we find
Mr.. Stead claiming that British trade
and shipping are about five times as ex'
pensive and valuable in 1897 as they
were in 1887. He points to the fact
that the value of the annual exports
and imports of the kingdom rose from
$7oO,00o,Ooo in 1887 to nearly $4,000.
100000 in the ninetier.
But we can dwarf these figures also.
Sixty years ago the total imports and
exports of the United States were less
than $200,o0000 per year. Now they
are over $],5O0,00O,O00 year. While
British foreign trade has been multi
plying five fold American foreign trade
has multiplied seven fold.
In the matter of railroads, Mr.. Stead
says truly that the great bulk Of Brit.
ish railroad mileage has been built
since Victoria began to reign. Even so
our railroad building record beats it
"all hollow"
The total railroad mileage of the
United Kingdom to. day is about o.
900 miles. The railway mileage of the
United States is more than mines times
as large. We have over 10000 miles
of railroads already built, and that is
more than the combined railroad mile
age of all the nations of Europe put
together.
Coming next to manufactures Mr..
Stead gives a diagram showing that
between 1887 and 1897 the value Of
British manufactures has about doubled
That is good lively gait, but it does
not touch the pace at which the manu-
features have grown in the United
States. Our statistics are rot complete
enough for close comparison away back
in 1887, but we have the figures from
1850 to 1890.
In 1850 the gross value Of the manu-.
featured products of tins country was
81 900, 100000, using round figures. In
1890 the gross value of the manufac
tories was $9,40000O,000. So that in
forty years American manufactures in.
creased in value nine fold, as against a
two fold increase in the value Of British
manufactures in sixty years.
Mr.. Mulhall. the celebrated British
statistician, has pointed out that "the
power Of nation can be
measured at each census with almost
the same precision a5 that with which
the astronomer indicate the distances Of
the heavenly bodies.' An able bodied
male adult has daily working power
equal to that required to lift 800 tons
one foot. On this basis Mr.. Mulhall
reports the physical power Of the Amer
lean nation to-day to be equal to 6lO6
millions of foot tons per day. To that
he adds the horse power and steam
power of the country, and reports the
total daily lifting power in the United
States at l29. 906 millions Of foot tons.
The meaning of this statement is better
understood when IL is added that, by
Mr., Mulhalls computation, "the United
States possesses almost as much pro.
ductive power energy as Great Br italn,
Germany md FraLce collectively"
He tells us further that an average
farm hand in the United STATES raises
as much grain as three farm hands in
England, by reason Of his superior ma
chinery and tools. Whence We deduct
the fact that the daily working power,
or capacity for productive labor, at the
United States is about three times as
great at least as that of Great Britain.
Finally, there is the matter of educa.
ton, and perhaps after all this is the
point OF comparison of which we haye
the best right to be proud. The census
of 1890 shows that eighty seven per
cent. of our total population above the
age of ten can both road and write. In
the words of Mr.. Mulhall, "In the his
tory of the human race nc nation ever
before possessed 4l,0O0O00 instructed
citizens"