1870 in the 24 States which were loyal those of 1860, and the value of other property about 40 per cent. The condition has been concisely stated by a Southern historian: "During the Reconstruction the value of real and other property declined in the black belt, the lands, buildings, cattle and implements, not being under proper care and the labor being inefficient; the emancipation of slaves had destroyed a form of property valued at about two billions of dollars; the coast districts producing rice and long staple cotton suffered the most rapid decline in wealth; the white counties during Reconstruction gained slowly in wealth, and in them developed a few cities like Atlanta, Birmingham and Galveston (some railway lines also being constructed); the census of 1870 showed that in the white districts economic conditions were becoming normal and by 1880 they were, on the whole, wealthier than in 1860." * ..... Delaware 1860. $207,874,613 444,274,114 46,242,181 Illinois 871,860,282 Indiana 528,835,371 Iowa 247,338,265 Kansas 31,327,895 Maine 190,211,600 Maryland 376,919,944 Massachusetts 815,237,433 Michigan 257,163,983 719,208,118 228,909,590 69,277,483 31,134,012 252,624,112 990,976,064 6,500,841,264 2,235,430,300 51,588,932 In the 13 Southern States the true value of real and personal property in 1860 and 1870 was: In the South an exceptional condition of things existed as a result of In some sections property, the war. except the bare land, had nearly all disappeared and in others what was left had depreciated in value. Even the land had become well-nigh worthless through devastation of military operations and the destruction of agriculture and other industries. Immediately after the war land prices were high, but by 1870 they had fallen in some States from one-fourth to onesixth what they had been ten years before. In general, the land values throughout the South during this period averaged about 50 per cent. of Mississippi Missouri North Carolina.. The only Territories politically existing in 1860 and the true value of their real and personal estates were: District of Columbia, $41,084,945; New Mexico, $20,813,768; Utah, $5,596,118; Washington, $5,601,466; total, $73,096,297. The Northern States increased their real and personal estates from a value of nearly $10,000,000,000 in 1860 to over $25,000,000,000 in 1870 (over 150 per cent.). Every Northern State showed an increase. On the other hand, there was a decrease during the same period in every one of the 13 other States except Missouri, where there was an increase of nearly 140 per cent., and Tennessee, where there was a very slight increase (less than one-tenth of one per cent.). The total falling off in these States was from more than $8,000,000,000 in 1860 to a little over $4,000,000,000 in 1870 (about 50 per cent.). These figures of 1870 include the recovery after 1865 and therefore do not represent the gross loss of the South during this decade. In the next decade, despite the business depression that began in 1873, there was another remarkable growth in the aggregate value of the various States, according to the census of 1890, 383,411,495. Government and other was as follows: exempt real estate was valued at $6,212,788,930 and residential real estate at $20,041,106,350. According to the census of 1900, the wealth of the United States was as follows: Real estate (with improvements). $52,537,628,164 Live stock Live stock on farms and ranges, and farm implements..... Mines and quarries (including product on land)..... Gold and silver (coin and bullion) Machinery of mills (including products on hand)..... Railroads and equipment (including street railroads)...... Telegraphs, telephones, shipping and canals Miscellaneous Total Farm implements and machinery. Manufacturing machinery, tools 3,306,473,278 749,775,970 It was then estimated that a little more than $33,000,000,000 of this wealth was employed in productive industries, while the balance of a little more than $31,000,000,000 was in the hands of those not engaged in productive industries. "The non-producers of the population control about 47 per cent. of the entire volume of wealth, exclusive of what shares they may have in the capital invested in productive industry. Or we might say that 47 per cent. of the total wealth is used exclusively for speculation and the exploiting of the industrial population." * The agricultural property, including farms, stocks and implements, was valued at $22,939,901,164, and of other industries at $32,443,510,331, making the total of property employed in purely productive industries $53, * J. A. Collins, Distribution of Wealth in the United States (Senate Doc. 75, 55th Congress, 2d session, January 19, 1898). Telegraph and telephone systems, shipping and canals, waterworks and electric light and power stations ... Agricultural products Total 1,576,197,160 1,919,031,191 1,455,069,323 6,087,151,108 2,000,000,000 4,800,000,000 751,122,109 $88,517,306,775 The growth of wealth since 1850- Difficulty of exact comparisons - Statistics of the Department of Commerce and Labor - Our industrial advance― Railroad expansion Growth in exports and imports - Multiplication of savings banks - Temporary setback to National prosperity - The problem of economic distribution The concentration of wealth - Its National and State control. The increase in the gross amount of wealth in the United States in the generation following the close of the Civil War and the average annual accumulations per capita furnish conclusive evidence of a wonderful National growth. Save for the break between 1860 and 1865, there was a steadily accelerated economic growth since 1850. Such fluctuations as did occur were generally slight; on the whole, the record was one of extraordinary advance. Since 1865 the VOL X-21 average annual per capita additions to our wealth were never less than $30. Computed for various census esti In addition to the authorities already cited, the following should be consulted: M. G. Mulhall, Dictionary of Statistics (London, 1884) and Industries and Wealth of Nations (London, 1896); Hunt's Merchants' Magazine and Commerical Review (63 vols., New York, 1839-1870); James Curtis Ballagh (ed.), Economic History, 18651909, vol. vi. of The South in the Building of the Nation (12 vols., Richmond, 1909); H. A. Hilary (ed.), Why the Solid South? or Reconstruction and Its Results (Baltimore, 1890); United States Census reports, 1870-1880-1890-1890-1910); E. L. Bogart, Economic History of the United mates, they were: 1860 to 1870, $22.56; 1870 to 1880, $39.65; 1880 to 1890, $34.69; 1890 to 1900, $30.42; 1900 to 1904, $57.42. It is impossible to make exact comparisons of the wealth statistics as reported by the different census bureaus, because the various methods employed preclude any uniformity in results. To a certain extent this applies to nearly every census, but it is especially true of those of 1850, 1860, and 1870. In discussing this matter, Carroll D. Wright, the Commissioner of Labor in charge of this branch of the census work for 1890, said: "These admitted differences of method pursued in reaching the figures of true. valuation for the several census periods, and the temporary character of the Census office, of themselves preclude any attempt of one census to revise the figures of a previous one; and the figures as published, if not so accurate as desired, can be accepted with safety as showing in a general way a continuous increase in the wealth of the nation, the exact propor tions of which cannot be measured." * The most reliable figures are undoubtedly given out by the United States (New York, 1907); C. M. Depew (ed.), One Hundred Years of American Commerce (2 vols., New York, 1895); P. A. Bruce, Rise of the New South (Philadelphia, 1906); The Manufacturers' Record (Baltimore, 1890-1909); E. E. Sparkes, The Expansion of the American People, Social and Territorial (Chicago, 1900); William G. Moody, Land and Labor in the United States (New York, 1883); Francis A. Walker, Discussions in Statistics and Economics (2 vols., New York, 1899). * Report on Wealth, Debt and Taxation of the Eleventh Census, 1890, pt. ii., p. 11. States Bureau of Statistics, Department of Commerce and Labor. Some of these afford a good general view of the wealth of the people of the United States in various forms at different dates. In 1850 the total wealth was $7,135,780,000; in 1880, $42,642,000,000; in 1900, $88,517,306,775; in 1904, $107,104,211,917. In 1850 the wealth per capita was $307.67; in 1880, $850.20; in 1900, $1,164.79; in 1910, $1,319.11. The value of farm products was $2,212,540,927 in 1880, $3,764,177,706 in 1900, and $8,760,000,000 in 1910. The value of manufactured products was $1,019,106,616 in 1850, $5,359,579,191 in 1880, $13,014,287,498 in 1900, and $14,802,147,087 in 1910. The wealth of the country, measured by its productivity and accumulations, grew with such amazing rapidity in the quarter of a century preceding 1912 that the United States attained to a position where it was not only practically independent of the rest of the world in all the essential requirements of living, but was able even to help supply the needs of the other nations. Agricultural crops increased steadily in size and value, with only here and there an exception. The bulk of agriculture at the end of this period was larger than ever before. Coal production, which in 1899 exceeded that of Great Britain, increased actually and relatively in comparison with its closest rival during the following decade. In the same way the production of pig-iron and steel increased until the amounts surpassed the com |
