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The center of area in the United States, excluding Alaska and recent acquisitions, is in northern Kansas, the center of population in Indiana, and the center of manufactures in Ohio. The center of area will always be in the West and the centers of population and manufactures are slowly moving that way. Manufacturing is of minor importance, though the aggregate of output exceeded the agricultural output in 1900 by over $50,000,000. Relatively its position is not so strong, being but 16.1 per cent of the total, against 27.5 per cent for population and 43.2 per cent for value of farm products. Manufacturing increased substantially in the 1890 and 1900 decade and materially in the past fifty years. Thus,

Missouri is the principal State for this branch of industry, California second, and Minnesota third. These states stand for nearly half the total output of Western factories. The output of California, Oregon, and Washington, in 1900, was $435,670,399, constituting 3.3 per cent of the value of products for the United States. Commenting on this, we find the census of Manufactures (part 1, page CLXXVIII) saying:

The industrial condition in this group of states in 1900, considering the value, but not the character of the products, was about the same as the New England states in 1860 and the Middle states in 1850. From this point of view, the growth of the Pacific states has been remarkable. The character of its industries is still determined largely by its natural resources of farm, forest, and mine, but the recent wars in the Orient, resulting in the opening of new markets, gave to the in-