Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/185

MASSACHUSETTS. {|align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" rules="cols" style="font-size: smaller"
 * colspan="3"|
 * align="center"|1900
 * align="center"|1890
 * Dairy cows
 * align="right"| 184,562
 * align="right"| 172,046
 * Other cattle
 * align="right"|101,382
 * align="right"|84,082
 * Horses
 * align="right"|75,034
 * align="right"|63,638
 * Mules and asses
 * align="right"|349
 * align="right"|196
 * Sheep
 * align="right"|33,869
 * align="right"|51,438
 * Swine
 * align="right"|78,925
 * align="right"|91,483
 * colspan="3"|
 * }
 * align="right"|349
 * align="right"|196
 * Sheep
 * align="right"|33,869
 * align="right"|51,438
 * Swine
 * align="right"|78,925
 * align="right"|91,483
 * colspan="3"|
 * }
 * colspan="3"|
 * }
 * }

According to the State census the forest area in 1895 was 1,460,994 acres, which acreage, though somewhat greater than that in 1885, was estimated at a lower value, indicative of a depreciating grade of timber. Practically all the primeval growth of commercial value has been removed. Forest fires are still frequent. Returns from 59 cities and towns in 1900 showed that there had been 229 fires, extending over 51,808 acres of forest area.

. Manufacturing has been of great importance in Massachusetts almost from the beginning of its history. Only three other States (New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois) exceed it in the value of this output. During the last half of the nineteenth century the value of manufactured products increased more than sixfold, being estimated in 1900 at $1,035,198,989. The wage-earners engaged increased 180.3 per cent. during the same period, or only about 2 per cent. less than the percentage of increase for the total population. The actual number of wage-earners in 1900 was 497,448, or 17.7 per cent. of the total population. Of these 143,109 were women, and 12,556 were children under sixteen years of age. From 1890 to 1900 the percentage of gain for both the value of the products and number of wage-earners did not increase as rapidly as the population or as rapidly as the corresponding percentage for the entire country.

The great growth which the manufacturing industry has attained is the more remarkable because of the dependence on outside sources for raw materials, and because the local markets consume but a small part of the product. The State is not without natural advantages, however, the chief of these being the abundance of water power. The interests of the industry are also greatly facilitated by the excellent advantages of transportation afforded both by rail and by the ocean.

Clothing, boots and shoes, and their materials, represent the most important group of manufactures. Massachusetts has long ranked first in the manufacture of textiles. In 1900 nearly a hundred and fifty thousand wage-earners were engaged in the industry, or 30 per cent. of the wage-earners employed in the State. During the decade 1890-1900 the value of the product increased 15 per cent. Over half of the total product is accredited to cotton goods. The State has ranked first in the manufacture of cotton goods from the beginning of the industry in the colonies. The first cotton mills in the United States were established at Beverly in 1788. Owing to the secrecy surrounding the English invention of power-looms, these were not introduced until 1814. In 1900 there were 7,784,687 spindles in the State. The increase of spindles during the decade ending then was 33.7 per cent, and constituted 40.6 per cent. of the increase for the whole country. The cotton products are equal to 33.2 per cent. of the total for the United States. The increase was greatest for the finer kinds of goods. For fancy woven products it

was 132.1 per cent.; napped fabrics, 51 per cent.; cotton duck, 190 per cent.: print cloths, 52 per cent. Ginghams suffered slight decrease during the period. After cotton goods the most important are worsteds and woolens. Woolens had led until 1900, when they were surpassed in value by worsteds. The manufacture of woolens is one of the earliest industries established in the State, dating from 1643. The spinning jenny, operated by water power, was introduced about 1815, and the power-loom for broadcloth in 1826. The industry declined from 1890 to 1900, but the product for that year was more than one-fourth that for the whole country. Worsteds, on the contrary, increased 84.9 per cent. for the same period, as compared with an increase of 39.3 per cent. for all other States. The State now has 31.3 per cent. of all spindles in the United States. Of the other varieties of textiles produced the most important are carpets and rugs, hosiery and knit goods, and silk and silk goods. All of these, with the exception of carpets and rugs, increased in production from 1890 to 1900. There was a decrease during that period in the production of clothing, as also of cordage and twine.

In the manufacture of boots and shoes—both leather and rubber—Massachusetts holds first rank. In 1900 it produced 44.9 per cent. of the total amount of leather boots and shoes for the United States. The industry was begun in 1635. For a long time it was the custom for each workman to make the entire shoe. Not infrequently the industry furnished the farmers with winter occupation. Most of the machinery which now takes the place of hand labor in this line is the invention of Massachusetts men. From 1890 to 1900 the production of leather boots and shoes increased but little, while the value of boots and shoes made from rubber increased 68.4 per cent. Closely related to this industry are the tanning, currying, and finishing of leather, and the manufacture of rubber and elastic goods. With the increase of the tanning industry in the West, where tanning bark is more readily obtainable, the industry is declining, but the production of rubber and elastic goods increased 63 per cent. in value from 1890 to 1900. The first production of india-rubber goods in the United States was at Roxbury in 1833. Massachusetts has continued to hold first place in this industry.

The next most prominent group of manufactures includes foundry and machine-shop products and other specially related products, such as iron and steel, electrical apparatus and supplies, and carriages and wagons. The manufacture of machinery dates from the early days of the colonial period, and has from the first included a great variety of products. From 1890 to 1900 there was a very large gain in them—44.7 per cent. The manufacture of iron was of greater relative importance in the colonial period than in recent times. The industry at first was stimulated by the local deposits of iron ore, but these have been superseded by a higher grade of ore obtained in other regions. The manufactures of electrical apparatus almost doubled during the last census decade. The making of jewelry is a long-established industry. From 1890 to 1900 its manufactures nearly doubled.

Massachusetts has long ranked first in the manufacture of paper and wood-pulp. It produces 71 per cent. of all the fine writing paper made in the United States. In book paper it