The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-02-16
WHAT He WILL DO.
New Position Is One of the Most I'M
portant in the Government


Washington, Feb. 1s.-Twenty billion
dollars is the estimated internal com
nnerce of the United States. These fig
ures are supplied by the bureau of sta
tistics which under the new law Great
ing the department of commerce, be-
comes a bureau in the new department.
The internal commerce Of the United
States, says the government Stats
tician, is equal to the entire interna-
tiOnal commerce of the world.
The new department of commerce Of
which George B. COrtelyOu has been
made secretary. viii thus have the
unique distinction of dealing with the
largest commercial interests in the
world. The approximate figures which
have been supplied by the bureau of
statistics are so colossal that the aver
age mind is bewildered in any effort to
LEADS THE WORLD.
In domestic exports. in manufactures,
in transportation and internal COM
MERGE the United States is at the head
arriving at this estimate of 20 billion
dollars for the internal commerce of
the United States the bureau of sta
tistics includes only one transaction in
each article produced, while in fact a
very large number of the articles pro-
duced pass through the hands of sew
eral "middlemen" between those of the
producer and those of the consumer.
of the census which place the total
value of manufactures in 1900 at 10
billion dollars. those Of agriculture at
nearly 4 billion dollars and those of
minerals about billion dollars. Adding
to those the product of the fisheries
the total value of the products of the
great industries in 1900 would be IS
billion dollars and the rapid growth in
all lines of industry since 1900, espe-
cially in manufacturing, seems to JUS
tifv the conclusion that even a single
transaction in all the products of the
country would produce an aggregate
for 1902 Of fully 20 billion dollars.
RAPID CENTRAL GROWTH
Estimating the internal commerce or
the country at former census years by
the same method the bureau OF sta
tistics finds that the total internal COM
merce has grown from about billion
dollars in 1850 to 31s billions in 1860 81
billions in 1870, ~ billions in 1880 and u
billions in 1890 1t viii be seen from this
that the internal commerce seems to
have increased so per cent. in the decade
from 1890 to 1900. and IS ten times as
large in 1902 as in the year 1850. During
the same period, from 1850 to 1902, the
population has increased from % mil
lions to 70 millions, and is therefore only
315 times as great as in 1850, while the
internal commerce is ten times as. great
as at that time.
This relative gain of internal com
merce over population is due in part to
the greatly increased facilities for trans
pOrtatiOn, the cheapening of cost Of
articles utilized and the increased earn
fngs and increased wealth of the peo-
pie The railroads have increased from
9,o21 miles in 1850 to POI. 339 miles in 1902
and the estimated wealth of the country
from ST. 1875, 7S0. 900 in 1880 to S94, 800. co.,
600 in 1900. a per capita increase of from
1908 in 1850 to 1925 in 1900 This IN
crease in wealth has been accompanied
by an increase in deposits in banks.
those in savings banks alone increasing
from $43 431,130 in 1850 to 81, 597, Oe4, $50 il.
1901.
FOREIGN COMMERCE.
Meantime the foreign commerce has
made "a Did increase. though not at a rate
of speed prOportiOnate to that of internal
commerce. The imports Of 1850 We're s172
5s9 526 those Of 1902. 1865. 320. 94S The ex-
ports Of 1850 were S14A.375. 726. in 1862 81
5S1712, 401. While it is not practicable to
measure the internal commerce of other
countries with the same accuracy as that
Of the United States it is known that ia
minerals the United States now olltranl-s
the other nations Of the world and thai the
transactions in these products which form
the internal commerce may therefore he
assumed to surpass those of any other
country The manufacturers of the Tinted
States are now about double those OF the
United Kingdom and nearly equal to those
Of France Germany and Russia combined
while the value of the agricultural pro
ducts Of the United States far exceeds that
of any other single country
For a tenacious and persistent cough.