Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/889

OHIO. the remainder from butter. The State is noted for sheep-raising, having for a long time led in the number of sheep, but there was a large decrease from 1890 to 1900. The average weight of fleeces, however, increased in this last decade, and in 1899 $4,299,025 was received from sales of wool. There was a significant gain from 1890 to 1900 in the number of cattle. The number of swine has remained about the same since 1880. Poultry is an important source of income.

The following table of holdings of stock explains itself: . Until 1880 Ohio ranked fourth in the United States in the value of manufactured products, being exceeded in that year for the first time by Illinois. It has since held fifth place. The greatest absolute increase both in the value of products and the number of wage-earners employed was made between 1880 and 1890. In 1900 the value of products was estimated at $832,438,000, and the wage-earners numbered 345,869, or 8.3 per cent. of the population.

The early settlers were mainly from the Atlantic coast States, and brought with them a knowledge of industrial methods which enabled them to begin at once a diversity of industries for the supplying of local needs. The local requirements were soon outgrown, however, in consequence largely of the superior advantages of transportation, which gave the industries easy access to the resources of raw materials outside the State, and to the markets of an extensive and rapidly developing region. The Ohio River on the south afforded communication with the States of the Mississippi Valley. Lake Erie on the north gave the State the advantages of the lake system of transportation, and, after the building of the Erie Canal, afforded communication with the Atlantic coast. The two systems of transportation were early connected by two canals, and these waterways determined the location of the early industrial centres, three of which, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Toledo, were especially favored by their positions at the junction of the artificial with the natural waterways. They still hold their industrial precedence.

From 1800 to 1850 Cincinnati not only far surpassed all other cities in the State, but was the metropolis of the West. From 1890 to 1900, however, there was a decrease in both the value of its products and the number of its wage-earners. Cleveland by contrast has rapidly grown, and now surpasses all Ohio towns in importance as to manufactures. What has brought Cleveland and other cities in the northeastern part of the State into recent prominence is the advantage they enjoy in the manufacture of iron and steel. This has become the State's leading industry. The first iron and steel establishment was in this section of Ohio, but as the forests, which supplied the charcoal used as fuel, became exhausted,

the industry shifted to the southern part. The revival of iron and steel manufacture in the northeastern part was due to the development of the Lake Superior iron mines and the easy transportation afforded by the Great Lakes to this section of Ohio, together with the fact that the coke-producing regions of Pennsylvania were near. Youngstown, near which place the industry originated, has become the largest producer of iron and steel in Ohio. Since 1870 the State has ranked next to Pennsylvania, and between 1890 and 1900 its product more than doubled in value. The closely allied tin and terne-plate industries are also rapidly developing. The prominence of the iron and steel industry and the convenient resources of coal have exercised a beneficial influence on the manufacture of foundry and machine-shop products—the second largest industry in the State. This branch early attained large proportions at Cincinnati, which city was favored by its location on the Ohio River and its nearness to the coal and iron regions farther east. The industry has since developed generally throughout the State, Cleveland having become the largest centre. From 1890 to 1900 there was a gain of 66 per cent. in the value of the product. In the construction of merchant vessels Cleveland now ranks first among the cities of the United States.

In 1900 Ohio led all States in the manufacture of metal-working machinery. The large steam railway interests have led to an extensive car and general shop construction industry, and the increased use of electricity has occasioned a rapid development in the manufacture of electrical apparatus and supplies. From the first the preëminence of Ohio in agriculture has been a potent factor in manufacturing, having created a market for certain products, and supplying raw materials for others. A number of towns are best known by their manufacture of agricultural implements and wagons and carriages. The local iron and steel supply and the native forests within or near the State boundaries have afforded the chief raw materials required. The products of the farms in turn have occasioned a large slaughtering and meat-packing output, extensive manufactures of liquors, and a large production of flour, grist and tobacco products, and food preparations. In 1900 Ohio ranked third in the value of flour and grist-mill output, and also in the value of liquor products. Toledo ranks first in the production of the former, and Cincinnati in that of the latter. Cincinnati is also the largest centre of the slaughtering and tobacco interests. Being located close to the junction of the three largest swine-raising States, Cincinnati was, from 1800 to 1850, the largest meat-packing centre in the United States. The importance of the tobacco manufacture of that city is due to the fact that it is surrounded by one of the largest tobacco-growing regions in the United States. Akron is the chief producer of food preparations, an industry which enjoyed a sixfold increase from 1890 to 1900. Other industries which depend upon the resources of the State include the manufacture of glass, pottery and other clay products, and the refining of petroleum. When the natural gas supply partially failed, some of the glass factories removed to the Indiana gas fields. The value of the output for Ohio has therefore decreased. The value of the pottery products, on the