statistical information. Mr. Charles Holland Kidder, the editor, has been engaged on the book since the summer of 1874. The work throughout will bear witness to his great carefulness and ability. The preparation of the articles upon the "Topography of the United States" (with few exceptions) and the "Centennial City" was entrusted by him to the Rev. Moseley H. Williams. The advertisers who have given their support, many of whom have been connected with the work since the early part of 1873, and several of whom have greatly assisted by furnishing the latest statistics in their various branches, are worthy of special mention as co-operators in the task which we have just completed. Some of these firms are among the leading houses in the world in their respective lines of business. Thanks are due to the Hon. Lorin Blodget for kindly giving the use of valuable charts and of public documents which could not elsewhere be obtained; also for suggestions and hints which were of great service in working up several of the articles. The Hon. Edward Young, Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, forwarded documents and information in advance of the annual reports with a promptness and courtesy which added another to the many proofs of his eminent fitness for the laborious and responsible but inadequately compensated office which he now holds. Acknowledgment should be made to the stereotyping establishment of Messrs. Westcott & Thomson, and especially to their proof-readers, Messrs. Forbes and Peck, whose constant vigilance has helped to secure accuracy. The care and responsibility attending the publication of a work like this can be estimated and appreciated only by those having knowledge of the business. The work was planned and begun in the year 1872 with a view to furnishing useful and valuable information concerning this country at a time when all the world shall assemble here to see what has been accomplished during one hundred years of American energy and inventive genius, the publisher feeling that an International Exhibition of the United States would be an occasion of extraordinary interest, which at this date. promises to be a more splendid success than was anticipated. The labor of several years is completed with the consciousness that no effort has been spared to make the work worthy in every particular. JANUARY, 1876. S. W. BURLEY. GENERAL DESCRIPTIVE AND STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE BUSINESS OF THE UNITED STATES. Introduction.-General statistics for the whole country are procured only once in ten years, at the taking of the United States census. In a few branches later reports are obtainable; but however much the census returns are open to criticism, the statistician is obliged in most cases to fall back upon the figures obtained by the census marshals. The census of 1870 was, as we have said elsewhere (page 612), superior to any of its predecessors, but there were local differences in the methods of taking the returns and of filling up the schedules, which caused considerable variation in the value of the figures obtained. Too often the deputy-marshals, when manufacturers refused to give the desired information, forgot that the census is taken for the benefit of the whole country, and applied the principle of the directory agent, who thinks a man who refuses to give his name is justly punished by being omitted from the list. In Philadelphia, for instance, 2300 establishments, having an average production for the census year of about fifty thousand dollars each (aggregate $115,000,000), were omitted from the first returns. The Superintendent of the Census solicited the fullest aid that could be afforded in making the account complete, and the Hon. Lorin Blodget of Philadelphia was commissioned by the Department of the Interior with full authority to obtain returns under the census laws, and to make a complete revision of the schedules already forwarded, as well as to prepare supplemental returns embracing everything not included in the first canvass. The result of this revision was the discovery of the omission just mentioned, and of the inclusion of about $40,000,000 of railroad earnings among the products of the manufactures of Philadelphia. The committee of the City Councils on the United States census of 1870 published the corrected returns, and say in their report: "It is proper to state that the figures given are the result of Mr. Blodget's calculations, not reviewed by the census office, but believed by both the superintendent and Mr. Blodget to be practically identical, the computations of the census office not being sufficiently advanced to make exact comparisons, but precisely the same returns in duplicate being used for each." The corrected returns for Philadelphia were as follows: Establishments, 8339; steam engines, 1877 (horse-power, 49,674); hands employed, 137,876 (men, 92,112; women, 35,478; youths, 10,286); capital, $185,000,357; wages, $61,948,874; materials, $181,261,223; products, $334,852,458. The classification of the various branches was much more minute in the special report than in the census figures for the whole country. Special statistics were given of 548 branches and of a group of unclassified establishments, producing an aggregate of $1,666,564. The regular census report divided. the manufactures of the country into only 390 classes, several minor branches being frequently grouped together under one general heading. In giving special statistics, therefore, for the several businesses represented we have been obliged occasionally to group together several branches, or rather to place under one branch or general heading the statistics as found in the census, then to refer under the other branches included in the group to the title under which the combined statistics of the group will be found. In many cases, on account of the minute subdivision in Mr. Blodget's report, it is possible to give special statistics for Philadelphia in branches which were omitted or included under a general heading in the regular census report. The manufactures of Philadelphia in 1875 are estimated by Mr. Blodget at $500,000,000. The census return for the manufactures of Alleghany county, Pa., was also about $100,000,000 short, as it gives a total of only $88,789,414, while the manufacturers paid tax that year on an aggregate product of about $190,000,000. Personal statistics have also. been given sometimes in lieu of, and sometimes in connection with, returns of production. These statistics have been obtained from the "Table of Occupations" in the census report. Though this table is in some respects incomplete, the adult males of the country are as fully accounted for as could be expected. Of 10,429,150 between the ages of 16 and 59, inclusive, 9,486,734 were assigned gainful occupations. The great discrepancies which will be noticed between the number of "hands employed" in the factories producing or working over certain articles and the number returned in the Table of Occupations as working in these branches can be easily understood when it is remembered that the establishments mentioned in the "Table of Manufactures" are mainly those conducted on the factory principle, that the number of "hands employed" is the average number employed, and that in this number both unskilled laborers and skilled workmen were frequently returned (a practice which tended, of course, to increase the number credited to this branch), while, on the other hand, those not in factories, or who were not directly engaged in the manufacturing department of their business, were excluded by the plan of the "Table of Manufactures," but included in the returns of the "Table of Occupations." The nature of these personal statistics can be seen by examining the following return for persons "10 years old and over" engaged in all occupations: Number, 12,505,923 |