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IV. Manufactures
The following table shows the progress of manufacturing industries in the United States between 1870 and 1880, excluding petroleum refining and gas manufacture :- Year.
No. of Establishments. 1870. 1880. 252,148 253.852 Capital.
Hands employed.
Value of Materials. £ 338.913,403 558,054,521 2,053,996 398,148,358 Value of products. £ 677,172,070 2,732,595 679,364,710 1,073,915,838 It will be seen that while the number of establishments had not materially increased, there had been a very large increase in all the other items, showing the concentration of manufactures in large establishments, and the increased use of machinery. More than one-half of the establishments and of the capital are in the States of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Massachusetts, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. The manufacture of cotton in the United States has been rapidly growing in recent years. At the census of 1880 there were found to be 756 manufactories for materials solely of cotton, with a capital of £41,656,069; the number of spindles was 10,653,435 (12,000,000 in 1882); of looms, 225,759; hands employed, 174,659; cotton consumed, 1,570,344 bales (750,343,981 lbs.), valued at £17,389,145, producing materials valued at £38,418,000. The following are some statistics of cotton :- Year ending June 30.
Production.
Imports.
Exports.
Retained for Home Consumption. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. 1880 2,771,797,596 3,547,792 1,822,295,843 953,049,105 1884 2,757,544,422 7,019,492 1,863,926,466 900,637,448 1885 2,742,966,011 5,115,680 1,893,268,732 854,812,959 3,182,305,659 5,072,334 2,059,314,405 1,128,063,588 3,157,378,443 3,924,531 2,170,173,701 991,129,273 3,439,172,391 5,497,592 2,264,324,798 1,180,345,185 3,437,408,499 7,973,039 2,385,004,628 1,060,376,910 3,628,520,831 8,606,049 2,472,047,957 1,165,078,923 The values of cottons of domestic manufacture exported from the United States were from $4,071,882 in 1875 to $11,836,591 in 1885, and $9,999,277 in 1890.
Another industry of great importance is that connected with iron and steel. In the various branches of this industry there were 1,005 establishments in the census year ended May 31, 1880, with a capital of £47,525,079 (reckoning the £ at $4.86), and employing 140,978 hands; these produced 7,265,140 short tons of iron and steel in the year, the value of all the materials used being £39,356,203, and the total value of the products £61,020,099.
On June 30, 1890, there were in the United States 562 completed furnace stacks (in 1880, 681) for the production of pig-iron, and during the year ended at that date 9,579,779 tons of pig-iron were produced (in 1880, 3,781,021). Of the furnaces, 224 were in Pennsylvania, where the production was 49.2 per cent. of the whole. Included in the total was 4,233,372 tons of Bessemer pig-iron, of which 60.6 per cent. was produced in Pennsylvania. Of the total of pig-iron, Ohio produced 13.6 per cent., Alabama 9.3 per cent., Illinois 7 per cent., and New York 3.7 per cent. At the same date there were in all 158 (in 1880, 73) steel works (Pennsylvania 79), and during the year 4,466,926 (in 1880, 1,145,711) short tons of steel ingots and castings (including 3,877,039 tons of Bessemer and Clapp-Griffiths steel) were produced. Of the total, Pennsylvania produced 61.9 per cent., Illinois 19.4 per cent., and Ohio 10 per cent. The production of Bessemer steel rails was 2,036,654 tons (Pennsylvania 1,377,119 tons).
The production of pig-iron in 1882 was 5,178,122 short tons; in 1885, 4,529,869; in 1886, 6,365,328; in 1887, 7,187,206; in 1888, 7,268,507; in 1889, 8,516,079; in 1890, 10,307,028 short tons. The total number of furnaces in December, 1887, was 583; in 1888, 589; in 1889, 570. The number of furnaces in blast at the end of 1888 was 332; at the close of 1889, 344; at the close of 1890, 311. The total quantity of pig-iron consumed in 1888 was 7,491,393 short tons; in 1889, 8,734,137 short tons. The production of rolled iron in 1889 was 2,586,385 short tons; in 1890, 2,820,377 short tons. In 1887 the Bessemer steel ingots produced amounted to 3,288,537 short tons; 2,812,500 tons in 1888; 3,281,829 tons in 1889; 4,131,535 short tons in 1890; and Bessemer steel rails, 2,013,188 short tons in 1890. Openhearth steel ingots in 1886,245,250 short tons; in 1887, 360,717 tons; in 1888, 352,036 tons; in 1889, 419,488 tons; in 1890, 564,873 short tons.