Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-09
TRADE OF UNCLE SAM
Commerce of the United States
is Now Enormous.
GROWING ALL THE WHILE
Little Things That Cost the People
Millions Each Year.
GREAT INCREASE IN LATE YEARS
Cities That Have Absolute Monopolies
in Some Lines-Products Double
in Short Time.
GROWING ALL THE WHILE
GREAT INCREASE IN LATE YEARS

solute free trade as In the United States.
No other nation produces 50 much from the
ground. No other nation manufactures so
much. and no other nation has people who
| can afford to buy as many or as good
| things. And our commerce. big as It Is, 10
growing all the while. To show the in
| crease In trade 1t 10 not necessary to take
| up the big things. Do you know that we
spent $15O0O000 for buttons last year? The
statistics show that Ave concerns in the
United States which produce steel pens ex-
clusiveiy have doubled their product in the
| short space of six years. 1t now requires
| upward Of $4.0OOOOO to pay even our an
nual bill for lead pencils
Volumes would be required to give the de-
| tails of the manufactures Of this country.
but there are some instances In which par
tIcular cities excel Troy, N. Y manu-
| features nearly 30 per cent OF the collars
| ana Gums made in the United States. There
are 1900 wage earners in that city who
| make their living by manufacturing our
| collars for us. Troy owns the collar busI-
ness by the divine right of discovery In 1SoO
| Ebenezer Brown started there the first col
| lar factory on earth. The early patterns
| were tied about the neck with a string
Six years later laundering was begun in
connection with the business and the stirr
| collar and billed shirt were born into the
world Of commerce. However. we Ameri-
cans stu use millions of shirts of the
4
cent of laundered collar.
Famed for Furniture.
Grand Rapids. Mich. is famed for furni-
ture Every polite and bowling salesman
| OF household goods in the county has
learned to say Grand Rapids' as II Il
! were q sacred word. A unique feature Of
| furniture making and selling in the Mchi-
gan city is the semi-annuai fair which In
held there each January and July. It lasts
an entire month. and Is attended by not
| only thousands Of buyers from the different
| tries as well. Grand Rapids owes its SUI
premacy in this line to Its proximity to
the finest hardwood forests on the contl-
nent: and to the fact that It got there
| nrst. It has forty-three large factories
which give employment to 1900 skilled
workmen. Another popularity Of the Grand
Rapids industry Is that most OF the work.
men are e second generation Of skilled
orderly In their habits and ways OF think.
ing that they cannot be induced to particle
pate In strikes.
Minneapolis Breadstuffs.
Minneapolis makes more breadstufr than
any other city In the world. There are
twenty-five enormous -four mills In thu
Minnesota city whose combined daily capa-
city IL equal to grinding the wheat from
5000 acres OF rich American fields. Their
daily output amounts to $4,000 barrels Of
nour. Stu more surprising is the thought
that 1t requires 100000 acres OF land %
grow enough wheat to keep the mills al
minneapolis running for a year.
peoria, III, makes more spirits and pays
more internal revenue tax to Uncle Sam
than any other city, great or small, In the
Union. Last year Peoria paid $33, OOO,O 900
IN internal revenue tax. nearly ali of which,
was on high wines or alcohol This was
more than twice as much tax as was paid
by any other city In the country.
Louisville distills more whisky than anv
other city, but its solid mile OF wholesale
WHISKY houses Is partly devoted to blend
ing Kentucky whisky with Peoria high
wines and Cincinnati neutral spirits. Az
though the Kentucky metropolis has
into smaller dissipation and devotes nearly
as much space to q tobacco market which
Is the largest In existence.
Inc manufacture Of agricultural impIe-
ments is the life of such prosperous cities
as South Bend, Ind; Akron, Ohio and Mo-
line. Ill. Thousands Of our plows are now
being used to rip open the virgin sod of
tne argentine pampas and the South Afri-
can veldt. Kansas City and Dallas have
long battled for the supremacy as distribu-
tiers OF farm machinery and Of late years
the Texas city has made remarkable strides
toward victory In the contest Seven out
of every ten omnibuses In the United States
are made in Quincy. Ill.
Products Of Paper Mills.
country. mostly In New England and the
north central states. have increased eight
eenfold since 1850. More than $500 600
cords Of wood are being used every year
in making pulp in our paper mills. Trees
are being turned into newspapers at a rate
which Is causing much alarm to those SCI
entists interested In preserving the forests.
Leading publishers have taken time by the
forelock and purchased thousands OF square
miles of virgin forest in Newfoundland.
Detroit claims the lead of the world in
the manufacture Of automobiles and COM
putting machines-two great industries
which have grown up inside OF five years.
This city possesses twenty automobile max
ing establishments which turn out annually
a product worth $12.OOO,OOO. 1t is also the
largest producer Of pharmaceutical prepa-
rations.
A Great Shoemaker.
Uncle Sam is a great shoemaker. He not
only supplies his own wants but furnishes
foreigners with large amount of their
footwear. The European salesman displays
the shoe marked made In America" as
proudly as the carpet man exhibits his rugs
from Turkey. The value of the annual
product of our shoe factories Is $3.50, 000, 600
almost enough to build two Panama ca
mails. Boston and st. Louis are the great
shoe centers. st. Louis distributes more
shoes through its tobbing houses than any
other American city. and 90 per cent Of the
quantity 1t distributes is made In it's own
factories.
The cotton seed Oil industry is scattered
all over the south, but Its general center
Is Memphis. For q century after cotton
became the king Of textile staples, the
cotton seed was despised as a worthless
vexation. Then its utilization was begun
In 1880 nearly 100000 worth Of cotton
seed oil and by-products were produced.
Last year the best estimates placed the
amount at $80,00o.000. or twenty times
more than the product of 1880.
Pittsburg makes enough steel rails each
day to build more than eleven miles Of
railroad track. One OF the unique features
OF the Smoky city Is its wonderful marine
commerce II IL at the head of navigation
on the Ohio river and ships 100000 tons
OF freight by water each year. although
boats can be handled only during the high
water stage. II II had nine-foot stage
all the year round there is no telling to
what dimensions its marine commerce
would reach.
Cities which send the products of the
United States to foreign lands must needs
gather them from within. New York
ships more wheat and receives more wheat
than any other city in the world. large
part of this grain has previously been col