The Penn's Grove record., 1903-02-20
CORT[[YOUI THE CABINET
President Makes Hin Secretary o.
Commerce and Labor.
NEED FOR THE NEW DEPARTMENT.

S0S0esAtv VI ~ Ok0StAVM ~
the Country's Great Trade It VIII
Deal with tho Largest Commercial
Interests Of the World The United
States Leads All Nations.
Washington, D. C.-4The President
has sent to the Senate the nomination
Of George B. Cortelyou, now Secre-
tary to the President, to be Secretary
of Commerce and Labor. the new Cab
met Office created by a bill which has
been approved by the Chief Execu-
tive.
The nomination was promptly con-
6rmed by the Senate.
1t was announced at the White
House that the President would APP
point James r. Garfield, Of Ohio, Com
missioner Of Corporations under the
act creating the new Department of
Commerce and Labor. Mr.. Garfield is
n son of the late President James A.
Garfield, and is at present a member Of
the Civil Service Commission.
The new Department of Commerce
will have the distinction Of dealing
with the largest commercial interests
Of the world. In domestic exports, in
manufactures, in transportation and in
internal commerce the United States
is at the head of the worlds list of
nations. Some figures just compiled
by the Treasury Bureau Of Statistics,
which by the new law becomes a part
of the Department Of Commerce, esti-
mate the internal commerce Of the
country at SEC, ZOO, O00. OOO-a sum equal
to the entire international commerce
Of the world.
The estimate Of $4,000, OOO, 600 is
based upon the figures of the census,
which put the total value of manufac-
lures in 1900 at $13, 900, DOC, 1000, those
Of agriculture at nearly $4,000, 600, 900,
and those Of minerals at about $1,OO0,-
600, O00. Adding to these the products
of the fisheries, the total value of the
products Of the great industries in 1900
would be 81 .OOO,O OO. 900, and the rapid
growth in all lines of industry since
1900, especially in manufacturing,
seems to justify the conclusion that
sven a single transaction in all the pro-
ducts Of the country would produce
an aggregate for 1902 of fully $780,
900, O,OOO.
Estimating the internal commerce
of the country at former census years
by the same method, the Bureau of
Statistics finds that the total internal
has grown from about 81
900, 100000 in 1850, 3 $500, 0OO,O 900 in
1860, $6,250, 600, 900 in 1870, 81, 750, OOO,-
900 in 1880, and $4,000, OOO, 1000 in 1890.
1t will be seen from this that the inter-
nal commerce seems to have increased
about fifty per cent. in the decade from
1890 to 1900, and is ten times as large
in 1902 as in the year 1850.
In the same period, from 1850 to
1902, the population has increased from
100000 to 79.OOO,000, and is there
fore only three and one-half times as
great as in 1850, while the internal
is ten times as great as at
that time. This relative gain of in
ternal commerce over civilization is
due, in part, to the greatly increased
facilities for transportation, the cheap
ening of cost Of articles utilized, and
the increased earnings and increased
wealth Of the people. The railroads
have increased from 1921 miles in 1850
% POI, 839 miles in 1902, and the esti-
mated wealth Of the country from ST.
LBS, $50, 1000 in 1850 to 1914, 300, 900, 900 in
per capita increase of from
s308 in 1850 to $1236 in 1900. This in
crease in wealth has been accompanied
Dy an increase in deposits in banks,
hose in savings banks alone Increasing
rom $43,431,130 in 1850 to $2,597, O94,-
$50 in 1901.
Meantime the foreign commerce has
rapid increase, though not at
| rate Of speed proportionate to that
# internal commerce. The imports Of
$50 were $173.5 500, 526; those of 1902,
300, 800, 948. The exports in 1850 were
'144,3 BE, 726; in 1902, 1881, 719,4O1.
While It is not practicable to measure
he internal commerce Of other coun-
ries with the same accuracy as that
IT the United States, it is known that
n agricultural products, manufactures
minerals the United States nov
'utranks the other nations of the
world, and that the transactions in
hese products, which form the internal
commerce, may therefore be assumed
o surpass those Of any other country.
The manufactures of the United States
re now about double those of the |
United Kingdom, and nearly equal to
hose Of France, Germany and Russia
ombined, while the value of the agri- |
products of the United States
ar exceeds that Of any other single