Page:EB1922 - Volume 32.djvu/892

extended. In 1917 there were 28,827,000 m. of single wire in this service as compared with 12,999,000 in 1907. The number of employees nearly doubled during this period, increasing from 144,000 to 244,000. The Bell telephone system operated in 1919 23,281,000 m. of wire, of which 3,334,000 was for long-distance toll service. The number of daily exchange messages of this system alone was 30 millions and of toll messages one million. The telegraph systems made but little extension between 1907 and 1917. In the former year there were 239,646 m. of pole line and in the latter year 241,012. The number of messages sent increased over 50%, from 101 millions to 155 millions; and the number of employees from 26,827 to 49,608. (See Telegraph and Telephone.)

Table 18. Exports of Principal Commodities, 1910-9.

	Wheat		Cotton, raw		Bacon		Mineral Oil		Tobacco,  unmanufactured		Wheat Flour	Copper	Lard	Automobiles  and parts, not including engines and tires	Cotton manuf.	Iron and steel manuf.	Leather,  and manuf. of
	Bushels  (mil.)	Dollars  (mil.)	Bales  (mil.)	Dollars  (mil.)	Lbs.   (mil.)	Dollars  (mil.)	Gallons  (mil.)	Dollars  (mil.)	Lbs.   (mil.)	Dollars  (mil.)	Dollars  (mil.)	Dollars  (mil.)	Dollars  (mil.)	Dollars  (mil.)	Dollars  (mil.)	Dollars  (mil.)	Dollars  (mil.)
1910	24	23.5	7.1	530.8	128	17.9	1,502	94.1	329	36.1	43.0	90.4	45.9	13.2	35.6	195.0	53.5
1911	33	30.4	8.6	517.1	198	24.2	1,769	105.9	370	42.2	52.8	98.2	54.5	19.2	45.7	242.5	57.0
1912	62	59.6	10.7	623.1	192	23.5	1,883	124.2	411	46.9	49.3	123.0	52.2	23.8	52.5	290.5	64.4
1913	100	95.1	8.6	575.5	213	28.0	2,137	149.3	444	52.9	56.9	143.4	60.7	33.3	55.5	295.4	60.0
1914	174	187.2	6.3	343.9	184	25.6	2,240	139.9	347	43.9	62.4	116.0	48.6	34.2	50.1	201.3	67.9
1915	206	282.6	8.4	417.0	524	69.8	2,329	142.9	434	32.5	96.2	117.3	48.3	111.6	95.8	390.9	156.1
1916	150	226.7	7.0	545.2	593	87.1	2,607	201.7	484	62.8	86.5	204.9	56.0	120.7	129.3	871.3	159.7
1917	106	245.8	4.8	575.3	578	123.1	2,651	253.0	252	45.6	138.4	333.7	75.4	120.3	158.8	1,242.0	122.5
1918	111	260.6	4.1	674.1	1,105	316.0	2,715	344.3	407	122.9	244.7	195.1	144.9	96.7	181.0	1,035.3	91.7
1919	148	356.9	6.6	1,137.4	1,190	373.9	2,493	343.7	777	260.0	293.5	117.3	238.0	151.7	273.1	968.5	303.2

Table 19. Imports of Principal Commodities, 1910-9.

	Coffee		Hides and Skins		Silk, manuf.		Sugar		Wool, manuf.		India-Rubber,  manuf.	Cotton,  manuf.	Fibre,  manuf.	Vegetable   expressed  oils	Wood, and  manuf. of
	Pounds  (mil.)	Dollars  (mil.)	Pounds  (mil.)	Dollars  (mil.)	Pounds  (mil.)	Dollars  (mil.)	Pounds  (mil.)	Dollars  (mil.)	Pounds  (mil.)	Dollars  (mil.)	Dollars  (mil.)	Dollars  (mil.)	Dollars  (mil.)	Dollars  (mil.)	Dollars  (mil.)
1910	804	73.7	461	86.1	—	70.1	4,195	113.9	180	36.1	110.4	67.0	28.9	27.3	54.5
1911	800	97.2	425	81.5	—	69.3	4,134	100.4	156	25.5	87.9	65.8	30.6	23.9	51.8
1912	943	130.5	615	121.1	30	79.8	4,317	118.5	238	42.2	111.2	67.0	44.5	24.5	57.7
1913	853	104.7	498	105.9	34	92.8	4,762	97.1	152	28.8	84.9	65.4	50.7	26.7	60.6
1914	1,011	104.8	556	112.3	31	92.6	5,418	127.2	260	58.3	74.7	60.3	49.1	24.5	63.2
1915	1,229	113.8	646	127.4	37	94.8	5,286	179.2	423	95.0	115.5	42.2	44.8	21.0	59.8
1916	1,167	118.8	726	172.6	41	149.8	5,532	227.6	449	125.5	164.5	53.8	65.5	37.5	77.2
1917	1,287	122.6	631	209.7	43	189.8	4,944	222.5	421	171.6	239.5	53.8	95.8	63.4	98.6
1918	1,052	99.4	362	108.0	49	194.2	5,171	242.3	454	251.8	149.2	39.8	114.4	107.6	98.3
1919	1,334	261.3	745	306.5	56	341.9	7,024	394.3	446	216.8	221.6	52.6	81.8	123.0	111.6

The automobile became an important factor in terminal transportation. Motor-car registration increased nine times between 1912 and 1920, numbering (not allowing for duplicate registration) in the latter year 9,211,295. This represents a motor car for approximately every 11 of the population. (See Motor Vehicles.)

Shipping.—Owing to the great activity in shipbuilding during the World War the tonnage of the American merchant marine showed a marked increase between 1910 and 1919, rising from 7,508,100 tons in 1910 to 16,324,000 tons in 1920. Nearly one-fifth, or 3,138,700 tons, was employed on the Great Lakes. The tonnage on the western rivers continued to decline, being only 120,230 tons in 1920. Sailing vessels decreased both in number and tonnage, and steam vessels declined in number from 12,452 to 8,103, but increased in size. The average tonnage of a steam vessel in 1910 was 394 tons, and in 1919, 1,359 tons. During the five years, 1910-4, the tonnage of new steam vessels built was 1,106,000 tons; and in the next five years ending in 1919, 4,948,400 tons, or more than four times as much. In 1920 new construction amounted to 3,880,639 tons. American shipping is engaged in two distinct branches of trade: coastwise trade between domestic points, and foreign trade. The tonnage in foreign trade increased from 1,076,152 tons in 1914 to 9,928,595 tons in 1920. Coasting tonnage remained about the same. It is estimated that the new tonnage, constructed under the emergency of the war, represented an expenditure of $3,000,000,000, a sum greater than the book value of all the world's merchant shipping in 1914, aggregating 49,000,000 tons. (See Shipping.)

A notable change has taken place in the nationality of shipping entering and clearing from American seaports. Until 1916 the tonnage of vessels sailing under foreign flags for many years was approximately three times as great as that under U.S. registry; in 1920 U.S. tonnage (26,242,332) equalled foreign tonnage (26,178,328).

The total tonnage of vessels entering at all ports from foreign countries increased from 40,235,800 tons in 1910 to 52,420,600 tons in 1920, and the tonnage cleared from 39,705,900 tons to 56,072,300 tons. The tonnage of British shipping entering at seaports of the United States fell from a maximum of 20,416,000 tons in 1914 to 11,237,000 tons in 1919. German tonnage entering in 1915 was 5,035,000 tons, and in the years 1916-9 was practically nil.

National Wealth.—In 1912 the Bureau of Census made an estimate of the wealth of the United States shown in Table 20, amounting to $187,700,000,000.

This gave an average of $1,965 for each person as compared with $1,165 in 1900. More than one-half the wealth consisted of real estate and improvement, largely due to the increase in value of urban real estate. In 1916 the value of taxable real estate in New York City alone was nearly $8,000,000,000.

Unofficial estimates of the national wealth have been made by statistical experts for dates later than 1912. That of W. R. Ingalls, of the U.S. Bureau of Mines, published in the Annalist, Sept. 13 1920, gives $216,600,000,000 for the year 1916. Other estimates run as high as $400,000,000,000. These figures, however, have little significance as evidence of domestic welfare. High prices increased appraised valuation; and high valuation, e.g. of real estate, may be a burden upon the productive efforts of the community.

The income-tax statistics published by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue throw light upon the distribution of wealth. In 1918 the number of personal income-tax returns was 4,425,114. The net income reported was $15,924,639,000; the tax collected on this income was $1,127,722,000; 34.3% of those making returns reported an income of from $1,000 to $2,000; 33.8% an income of $2,000 to $3,000; 21.1% an income from $3,000 to $5,000; and 7.2% an income of from $5,000 to $10,000. Incomes of $1,000,000 or more were reported by 67 persons. Of the total tax, New York state paid $354,000,000, or 31.4%; Pennsylvania, $138,000,000, or 12.2%; Illinois, $85,000,000, or 7.5%; and Massachusetts paid