Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1908-01-09
William e. Curtis Says Croesus
Was Pauper Beside Our
Uncle Sam.
FIGURES SHOW BIG GROWTH.
Per Capita Wealth in 1870 Was
S779.83; in 1907 It Was
S1,31O.11.


our prosperity as a people, and al
though they are so stupendous that the
human mind almost refuses to compre-
bend them, they carry lesson that ev-
cry citizen and every school boy should
learn. Uncle Sam is richer than any
other nation that exists or ever has
existed. Croesus, King of Lydia, whose
name has been a synonym for wealth
for ages, was pauper compared to
him.
From the reports of the bureau Of
statistics, the census bureau, the Treas
ury and Agricultural Department Will
liam E. Curtis, the Washington CORE
spodent, has compiled a few significant
figures showing the material develop
ment of the United States within the
last thirty-seven years. He has select
ed the year 1870 as a basis of COMPARE
son, because that was the beginning of
a new era in American commerce and
industry that followed the Civil War
Although the panic of '73 arrested the
growth of the country for time. the
present period of development began
then.
The population of the country in 1870
was 3S,55S,371. or 1914 to the square
mile; the population on the 30th of June,
1907. according to the estimates of the
census bureau. was 1898, 3O3, or 2S. %
per square mile.
Tho fanrihla &c h. IL,
true valuation of real and personal prop
erty, according to the census of 1870, was
$3O,0GS,j1S,0OO, while in 1907 it is esti-
mated at more than three times that
amount. or $1O7, 1O4,211,917.
AS far back as 1850 the per capita
wealth of the United States was csti-
mated at $307.G9. In 1870 it had more
than doubled and was estimated at
SI79.S3. In 1907 it had almost doubled
again. and has reached the sum .of ST.
BOIL per capita, which proves that we
are the richest people that ever existed
In other words, if the real and personal
property belonging to the inhabitants of
the United States could be equally dis
tributed among them, each man, woman
and child living on the 30th of June last
would have been entitled to S1.31O.11.
In 1870 the deposits in national banks
for the whole United States amounted to
So42, 261 ,563, while on the Both of Sep
TENDER last they were S4,322, $3.50, al.
In 1870 the deposits in savings banks
were So49,Sl4,35S, while on the Both of
September, 1907, they were So, 69S 07S,-
945.
Taking the two together and including
all the banks-national, State, private
and savings-the deposits have increased
eightfold during the last thirty-seven
years from $1,O92, 135,921 in 1870 to
$S,O23, 2SS. $50 in 1907.
The bank clearings for the entire coun-
try are not given for 1870 The earliest
available figures are for 1890, when the
total for the United States was S5S.S45.-
219,3O5, which has increased to $751;
149,32S,913 for the last fiscal year.
The national bank circulation in 1870
was 'S2SS.64S, OS1, while on Dec IA last
it was $675,231, 800.
In 1870 we had only S25,O0O,O0O silver
and gold coin. To-day we have 81
705,S69, of which $685. $50, 1863 is gold
and the remainder silver
The Understanding debt of the United
States has been reduced from $2,O46, AGO.
722, or S6O.46 per capita of population.
in 1870 to $S69,6O3, O1O, or S1O26 per
capita, in 1907. The annual interest
charges on the public debt have been re-
du.ed from $11S,7S4,96O, or So per cap
ita of population, to $21, 62S, 914, or %
cents per capita of population.
Al A.
taxes since 1870, the ordinary revenues
of the government have increased from
$3395,950,S 34 in that year to S663, 40, 434
in 1907, and the ordinary expenditures
have increased from S164, 421 ,5O7 to
SOD, 422, $50. This does not include the
receipts or expenses of the postal service
which is almost self-sustaining. Last
year the receipts from postage were $751;
5S5,Cp3 and the expenses $191, 214.3S7,
leaving a deficit of ST ,629,3S to be paid
out of the treasury.
The total revenues of the government
in 1907 were $S46 725,339 and the total
expenses $50, S40,15O
The inc.e ease in the pension roll has
been enormous. The total in 1870 was
SOS. $40, 2O2, and in 1907 it is S139. 3O9.-
514. The cost of the army in 1870 was
S57, 566,675, and in 1907 1922, ,465.
The cost of the navy during the same Pc
Rod has increased from sd, 7SO, 23O to
$91, lbs, 1863.
The imports of merchandise in 1870
amounted to S435,95S,4O and our ex-
ports were 1892, ,76S that year. while
in 1907 the imports were S1.434. 421 ,425
and the exports S1,SS0,S ,O7S. In 1870
the exports per capita of population were
S9.I7, and, notwithstanding the enormous
increase in population, the per capita in
1907 was S21.66.
The foreign commerce of the United
States for the calendar year of 1907 has
been larger than in any previous year in
the history of the country, both in i'm
ports and exports, and our trade with
every grand division of the world is in ex-
cess of any previous year. The imports
during the eleven months ending Nov. 80
exceeded S1,330, 100000, while the exports
were worth S1.T16.0O0.o0O. If the in
crease has continued during December the
total OF exports will reach nearly two
billions of dollars. The exports for No
vember were the largest for any single
month on record and reached 1904 A.
ego. which was nearly seven millions a
day. Our exports to Europe We're S40.-
100000 more than in 1906, when they
were larger than for any other year. Our
exports to North American countries also
gained S40,00OO00. Our exports to South
America gained S7,000.000, to Asia SILL
600. 600 and to Porto Rico. the Hawaiian
Islands and the Philippines more than
ten millions.
In 1850 there were only 251,354 depos-
itors in the savings banks of the United
States in 1870 this number had increas-
ed to 1,630,S46. One person in every
thirty of the population was depositing
his or her savings where they would draw
interest. To-day S,5Ss,S11 persons, or al
most exactly 10 per cent of the entire
population of the country, have accounts
in savings banks-an average of one in
every ten men, women and children in
the United States.
The increase in wages per capita in
the United States since 1870 has been
about 30 per cent: the increase during