The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-08-31

votes and William F. Smith with POS votes. auditors.
 As stated herein last week, Mir | Seery is a native of this city, a practicing attorney and during his residence here he was a member of the board of agents of the Silas Bronson library.
 --or less than one-third pound per capita. In 1881, according to every indication obtainable in the absence as yet of precise figures, the amount appears at least four times as large.
 All of the materials at our dis posal, however, do not come from sources within our own borders. For example, there is sugar. Ac- | cording to sugar trade reports, we used 2,673,000 tons during the first six months of 1881, an average of 46 pounds for every one of us and for the strangers within our | gates. A large part of that sugar appeared in our foreign trade as imports from Cuba, but the portion contributed by our own sugar beet fields was 47S,000 tons, or some what more than in the first half of 1880.
 Tea And Coffee.
 "Coffe has long been u notable import. During the first six month of 1881 we imported coffee at a heavier rate than in any earlier year; we have brought in enough In those six months to provide something like 35 pounds for every family in the countrq. In the whole year of 1921 our imports were only enough for 57 pounds per family.
 We are keping up our tea i'm ports too, and brought in some thing like 15 per cent more cocoa than in the first six months of 1880 and more than in any twelve month period before 1917. Along with our sugar, coffee, tea and CO., coa, we have been getting our cus- tomary supply of bananas-in the six months at least the equivalent or bunch for every family.
 Raw Silk Imports
 Raw silk is n material for d great American industry and we import all of it. In 1929 our inn ports of this great commodity reached their record height; in the first six months of 1881 they were nearly us large as in the first half of 1929, and were about about 20 per cent more than in the corre- spending part of 1890. In the first six months of 1881 our raw silk imports were greater than in the whole year of -92O, when they were 30 million pounds.
 For rubber, too, we depend wholly upon imports and are the worlds greatest customer. In 1911 we could get along handsomely whole year on 41,000 tons, and then as now we took half or better of the world production. In the first half of 1881 we imported 268, ,000 tons, or more than in any whole year before 1920.
 Imports Beat High Record
 Tn June our imports ran higher than even in June of our record year, 1929, when our total imports had increased more than 25 per cent in one year, to a pinnacle of 631,OO0 tons for the 12 months. In ry-Dccember, 1921, our imports were 207,000 tons.
 "NeWsprint paper is a raw ma terial for our daily press. Im- ports reached their greatest point in our history in 1929, at 2,42O,000 tons; in the first half of 1891 they were running within eight per cent of the rate in the first half of 1929; that means rate higher than in any year before 1929.
 "As raw material for our own paper mills, wood pulp imports were 643,000 tons during the first six months of 1881, this figure be- Ing about the same as in 1927.
 "As the worlds largest users of tin. and with Eone among our own resources, we look to our imports. In 1911 we received 34 million pounds, or about q pound for each of our inhabitants. In the first half of 1881 our imports Were al- most as great as in the whole of 1911, and were 54 per cent greater than the imports In the 12 months of 1921.
 Power and Heat
 Similar comparisons appear in other fields. There are the sources of power, heat, and light. In 1911 the production of coal, bituminous and anthracite, was 49G million tons That was 5.5 tons per cap ita, q figure which had grown rapidly with the development of our industries and our transporta- ton facilities. If we were to have the same per capita production in 1881, the output for the year would reach 67G million tons. of which approximately 324 million tons would normally fall in the first half of the year. The output of the mines in first half of this year was actually 224 million tons.
 'But coal no longer occupies the place 1t formerly held in our power and fuel situation. Since 1911 other sources of power and other fuels have been developed. These serve as partial substitutes for coal.
 Electric KiIOwatt Gain "In 1912 the output of electric power was IA billion kilowatt hours; in the first six months of 1881 it was 45 billion. The year of 1911 turned out record, to that date, in our production of pc troleum. at 220 million barrels; in the first half of 1891 the figure was 423 million barrels, with the | industry overwhelmed in flood of this valuable resource.
 And to the petroleum is now added the great volume of natural gas transmitted through G5,600 miles Of ipe, with some long pipe lines constructed in recent years from interior fields 10 distant parts of the country.
 Tn 1921 the consumption of natural gas was less than TOO biI- lion cubic feet. For the first half of 1891 exact figures are still lack ing. but the rate was apparently at least three times as large.
 "The figures for the first half of 1891 on their face suggest the great extent of our utilization of our resources and of our sources of fuel and power even in period of business depression with all the handicaps and problems such a period inevitably presents. Oper-