The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1906-10-20

y
haps once or twice. as in 1881 and
1882, for two years. 1t has never be.
fore been known for five consecutive
years. and it will probably not b
known again within the lifetime Of thu
present generation.
Our principal crops in order Of to.
tai value are, corn, hay, cotton, wheat
and oats. The total value of these ave
crops for the last five years Of thu
last Gentry amounted to 100000. 900,
The returns for these same crops fol
the first five years Of the new cen.
| fury were more than $14,000,000,000 4
| sheer advance of more than IS POI
cent.
These crops represent a little more
than half the gross yield Of the nation'a
farms. We may then roughly compute
that the immediate supporting popu-
lation Of the country received on an
average $2,ooo,ooo,ooo per year more
for its labors, through these five as
tonishing years, than what might be
regarded as Its normal return.
In 1875 the United States possessed
a population between 40,0O0,0OO and
45,oo0,000. It has doubled in thirty
years. In 1876 the total mileage Of the
country was but 10000 miles; in 1905 II
was three times as great.
In 1875 the total gross receipts Of
the railways was $500, 100000. In 1905
they exceeded $4,000, 100000. That ID
to say, the total traffic was four times
as large. s4.7.
In 1875 all Of the railways repre-.
sented a capital of stocks, bonds and
debts Of $4,5o0,0oo,ooo. In 1904 the
corresponding amount was $4,000, 000,.
600; that is. rather the earning power
of the invested capital had increased
! in this period by 50 per cent. In 1878
the railway traffic earnings were Its
tie less than 10 per cent of the gross
capitalization. 1905 they were nearly
Is per cent. ..i....
Very naturally stock values show
corresponding increase. In the period
from 1875 to 1880 the average value
of the shares of the ten leading rail.
ways of the nation ranged around $50
to $40. The average sank in 1877 to ID
low as $50 share. At the CLOSE Of
1905 it was about 5000 share
The average dividend return on thu
market price of the soldier railway
stocks in the meantime had been cut
very nearly in half. The average re-
turn to invested capital even so late
as 1893 and 1895 was between S PEI
cent and per cent. An average Of
twenty Of the leading dividend paying
stocks at the close of 1905 showed
return Of but little more than 3 .pel
cent.
In 1897 the total listinss Of bonds
was $35o,ooo.ooo. In 1905 it was $780,.
100000.
In 1880 the total production Of coal,
In the country, both anthacite and bi.
luminous, was but 100000 tons. In
1905 it was 375,o00,00o. In 1900 the
estimated value was $4,000, 900. In
1901 it was s30o,ooo,ooo. In 1905 it was
$536, 100000
The increase of pig iron production
was still more remarkable. A quartet
Of century ago the annual produc.
ton was about 100000 tons. Tho
production for 1905 was 23,OOo,ooo tons.
The annual value of the pig iron prod
uct from 1882 to 1898 ranged about
s1oo,ooo.ooo. and in 1905 it reached
record total Of $377,ooo,ooo.
From 1888 to 1894 the net deposits IN
all of the national banks of the coun.
try increased from little more than
$1,000, 100000 to $2,00O,000,OO0. They
fell away rather sharply in 1897, fol-
lowing the bad year of 1890. They
rose from about s1,75o,ooo,ooo in 1891
to more than $5,o0O,oo0 900 in 1905. rhe
increase in the eight years was not far
from 300 per cent.
If we add to this the $3,25o, 900 ood
held by the savings banks and the
s4,25o, 100000 of deposits in state and
private banks and the loan and trust
companies, we shall have an aggregate
of deposits Of nearly $4,000, o00, 900.
That is an average of $3.50 for every
family, from the tenement house or
fishing village to $5.ooo.ooo copper
kings palaces on Fifth avenue.
There were In 1904 and 1905 nearly
100000 individual depositors in the
savings banks Of the country alone,
Their deposits were three times great
er than all those of the United King
dom, or Austria, or France, and half
again as large as the boards Of thrifty
Germany. ..,.. VIM,
1Ks.> sl..~ onn nm i