The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1900-07-27
COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY.
The United States Gains the Ascend
ancy in Manufactures as In
Agriculture.

"The Commercial Ascendancy of the
United States" is thus set forth in
Century by Hon. Carroll D. Wright,
United States commissioner of labor:
1.-The industrial ascendancy of the
United States has long been assured.
According to careful estimates. the
production of manufactured goods
the present year will reach at least
the value of $4,000, 100000. This sum
is considered to be at least $3.50, GOO, 900
in excess of the manufactured prod
ucts of the United Kingdom and Ger
many, the chief competitors of the
United States. The United Kingdom
not many years ago held not only the
ascendancy in manufactured goods in
the world, but the supremacy. The
United States has encroached rapidly
upon that position until in many
great lines her products vastly ex-
coed those of Great Britain, while in
the total they are much in excess.
1t took many years of the introduce
ton of most improved methods, the
application of highest skill. and all
the energy of our iron manufacturers
to bring the production of pig iron
up to that of our great competitor,
but for several years the amount of
production in the United States has
led that of England. The latest re-
turns for this country show.a produce
ton of nearly 100000 long tons of
pig iron, while the production for
Great Britain for the same period was
8,631,151 gross tons. The iron trade is
basic in its nature, and, as rule
when it fourishes all other industries
flourish.
''In the great field of agriculture,
ascendancy has long been accorded to
this country, and the United States
has furnished the food products to
sustain the work of her great COM
'petitors in manufactures. According
to Mr.. Michael Mulhall, the United
States employs the largest number of
persons in agriculture of all the great
countries except Austria, where 49,
100000 persons are employed. Ger
many comes next to the United
States, and then France. The produce
tivity of the agricultural labor of the
different countries varies greatly,
however. According to the same au-
thority, an ordinary farm hand in the
United States raises as much grain
as three in England, four in France,
five in Germany, and six in Austria,
which shows what an enormous waste
of labor occurs in Europe, largely be-
cause the farmers are not possessed
of the mechanical appliances used in
the United States. This is seen when
we examine the production of grain
per capita of the persons employed.
In the United States it is so bushels,
in the United Kingdom 119. in France
90, in Germany IS, in Austria 81, and
in Italy 80.
"There is not so much variation in
the productivity in manufactures as
in agriculture, but, still. in the use of
machinery it is great enough to give
ascendancy to this country. In the
United States it is 1910 foot-tons per
inhabitant, in Great Britain 1.47O, in
Germany 902, in France $40. in Austria
$50, and in Italy $50. In these state
ments we find the basis for the phe-
nomenal commercial expansion of the
last few years.
1T is only NATURAL when consider
ing this industrial ascendancy of the
United States, that one should con-
slider the question as to whether com
mercial ascendancy has either been
reached or is in sight. To secure
commercial ascendancy, the exports
of a country must be greater than
those of any other country; for the
total exports of a country indicate
its true position in commerce, as they
usually consist of surplus products.
taking the domestic exports from
this country for the year ending
March 81, the present year, we find
that they are $1,000, 142,217. British
statistics for the same date are not at
hand, but as British exports have not
been increasing of late very rapidly
it is safe to conclude that at the pres.
ent time the exports of the United
States exceed those of any other
country in the world.'
Dearth of Office Boys.
&c