Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1904-10-17
CLAY.woRKING INDUSTRIES.
Production Has suffered az Conse.
qucnco Of Labor Troubles,

a report entitled Statistics of the
CIay-wcrkng Industries On the United
states ln 1908" which was recently pre-
pared by Mn Jefferson Middleton,
Of The United states geological sur.
veg. shows that the value of the clay
products marketed during the last
year was the largest ever recorded I'm
THIS country and perhaps IN any
other II also indicates that the prod,
uct would undoubtedly have been
much greater had there been fower
labor troubles among builders The
tables Included Iu the report show
that the value of the clay products
increased from N22l69.53l In lg0g to
SldNsO-Ol8 q gain of SS,793ll7, or L2O
Ior cent. The Increase IN 1902 over
lg)l Was Sll95GeA, or 1886 per cent.
The gain In 1908 was participated i'm
by both the brick and tile and the
pottery branches Of the Industry.
An encouraging feature OF the report
appears IN the statement that. IN spite
Of the Increased cost OF manufacture.
the average price Of brick per thou
sand has Increased but llttle-2O cents
per thousand for common brick, SIS
cents for front brick, and 55 cents for
vItritod brick This Is an increase OF
only per cent IN the case Of common
brick, Z per cent for front brick, and 6
per cent for yitrlhed paving brick
This Is q most oredltable showing for
the clay manufacturers Of the United
states, as the Increase In the prices OF
most other products has been much
greater.
While the number Of operating firms
reporting 10 practically the same-6.O33
In 1908 az compared with 6,0i6 In 1902
the average value OF the output per
plant Increased from $40 2O7 IN 1902 to
2l 70S In 1903 This shows that, IN
conformity with the tendency Of the
times the plants are becoming larger
rather than more numerous The
record Of the last three years show
that the average value OF output per
plant has Increased over 46 per cent
during that short time This does
not necessarily mean that the plants
have increased their capacity 10 that
extent. but rather that the smaller
plants have either gone out Of exist
ence or been combined with others.
An impression prevails among some
who are engaged I'm the pottery indus
try, especially In the west, that the
years business was not so good as
that Of the previous year From the
returns furnished by the potters
themselves. however It appears that
on the whole the industry was pros
porous, The product reported was
larger than that Of 1902. but the pro-
porilonal gain over 1902 was not so
great as that OF 1902 over 1901
The report includes a paper on the
sandllme brick industry by Mr. s V.
Peppel This industry made consld-
cradle progress during 1908. Several
plants had their products ON the mar
ket, and a number Of new plants were
built during the year, but the large
majority were engaged In prellmn-
airy work and reported no output Re-
turns covering l6 operating plants
show o marketed product OF 20S6OO0O
bricks valued at Sl55,40O an average
of S7.45 a thousand or these l6 plants
three we're located IN Michigan. two
each IN California, New York, South
Dakota ana Texas and one each In
Arizona. Maryland New Jersey, North
Carolina and Pennsylvania.
THIS report on the clay-working In
dustries Is an extract from the sur
yoys forthcoming yOlums entitled
Mineral Resources. 1908" II IA also
published separately IN pamphlet
form ana may be obtained, free Of
charge on application to the director
Of the United states geological survey.
Washington, ID. &.