Rensselaer Journal, Volume 12, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 September 1902 — GREAT PROGRESS OF THE COUNTRY [ARTICLE]

GREAT PROGRESS OF THE COUNTRY

Vast Growth of the Nation as Shown by the Statistics. BIG INCREASE IN ALL LINES Per Capita of Money In Circulation in 1902 Reaches the High Average of $28.40 —Phenomenal Gain in Value of Farm Property. During 3 the last century the expansion of the nation in area, population and wealth has been so vast that it is almost incredible. The wonderful growth of the United States is shown in a monograph issued by the bureau of statistics. It consists of a series of tables showing area, population, wealth, debt, money in circulation, banks and bank clearings and depositors, farms and farm values, manufactures and their value, revenues, expenditures, imports, exports, railways and their business, the shipping industry, and many other features of national development. In the census years from 1800 to 1850 and annually from 1850 to 1902. Phenomenal Growth. The figures presented regarding more than 100 subjects show an interesting and, in many cases, a phenomenal growth in the industries, finances, production and transportation of the country. The area has grown from 827,844 square miles In 1800 to 3.025,600 square miles in 1902, exclusive of Alaska and the islands belonging to the United States. The population per square mile, which was 3.6 in 1810, was 26.1 in 1902, notwithstanding the great increase in area meantime. The total wealth has grown from $7,000,000,000 in 1850 to an estimated $94,000,000,000 in 1900, and the per capita wealth from $307 in 1850 to $1,235 in 1900. Public Debt. In no feature has there been greater fluctuation, perhaps, than in the public debt and interest charge. In 1800 the public debt was sls per capita; in 1840 it had fallen to 21 cents per capita; in 1852 it was $2.67 per capita; in 1861, before the beginning of the war, $2.74; and then mounted rapidly until it became $76.98 per capita in 1865, gradually falling again after the war to $38.27 in 1880, $14.22 in 1890, $12.64 in 1893, $13.60 in 1896, and $12.97 in 1902.

Highest Per Capita. The money in circulation amounted to $13.85 per capita in 1860, touched $20.57 during the period of paper currency near the close of the war, but again fell below the S2O mark until 1881, when it reached $21.71 per capita. By 1892 it had reached $24.60 per capita; in 1896 it was $21.44; in 1900, $26.93; and in 1902, $28.40 per capita, the highest point that it has ever reached. Savings Bank Deposits. Deposits in savings banks amounted to $1,138,576 in -1820, $6,973,304 in 1830, $43,431,130 in 1850, $149,277,504 in 1860, $549,874,358 in 1870, $Bl9 106 - 973 in 1880, $1,524,844,506 in 1890, sl|810,597,023 in 1895, and $2,597,094,680 in 1901. Meantime the individual deposits in national banks had grown from $500,910,873 in 1863 to $3 111690,196 in 1902. Increase in Farms. Causes of these financial conditions, including the increase of currency! bank deposits, etc., is found in other tables showing the development of farms, manufactures, and of the various industries. The number of farms increased from 1,449,073 in 1850 to 5 - 739,657 in 1900; the value ofjarms and farm property from $4,000,000,000 in 1850 to $20,000,000,000 in 1900, and the value of their product, which was not measured until 1870, grew from $l- - in that year to $3,764 000 - 000 in 1900. Value of Farm Animals. The value of farm animals increased from $544,000,000 in 1850 to $2981,000,000 in 1900. The value of the product of the manufacturing industries grew from $1,000,000,000 in 1885 to $13,000,000,000 in 1900, while the number of people employed therein grew from less than 1,000,000 in 1850 to 6,750,000 in 1900.