Page:EB1922 - Volume 32.djvu/992

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956
WASHINGTON (STATE)


Census Year

Persons engaged

Expenditures

Cost of

Materials

Total

Wage- Earners

Total

Salaries

Wages

1919 . 1914 . 1909 .

22,423 11,639 11,47

20,169 10,614

10,657

$59,074.889 17,862,758 15,508,250

$3, 540.566 1,122,927

1.016.745

$29,794,728 10,614,466 10.663,040

$25,346,438 5,902,954 3.807,626

The figures are in each case for n establishments, and include principally engraving and printing, instrument manufacture, and the naval gun factory. The marked increase in the figures for 1919 was due to the abnormal activity brought about by the war.

History and Finance. During the participation of the United States in the war there was employed in the Government depart- ments a maximum of 117,760 civil service employees, but this number had been reduced in 1920 to 86,846. The personal U.S. income taxes collected in the city of Washington in 1918 amounted to 8,669,100. Local taxes collected in 1920 amounted to nearly $3,000,000 on personal property and $8,633,278 on realty. The total value of assessable real estate was 426,623,630. The amount contributed by Congress for municipal expenses was more than $8,000,000. In 1920 private building operations amounted to $22,638,862, and for the 10 years 1910-20 to over $151,000,000.

During the war the District of Columbia furnished 24,853 troops and subscribed $127,129,650 for the purchase of Liberty and Victory Bonds and War Savings Stamps, and for contributions to Y.M.C.A. and other war funds. (J. C. P.*)

WASHINGTON (State) (see 28.358). The pop. in 1920 was 1,356,621, an increase of 214,631, or 18-8%, over the 1,141,990 of 1910, as against an increase of 120-4% in the preceding decade.

The density of pop. was 20-3 per sq. m.; in 1910 17-1. The urban pop. (in 35 places of 2,500 or more) was 55-2% of the whole, as against 53 % in 1910. The pop. of the eight cities having more than 15,000 was:


1920

1910

Increase per cent

Seattle Spokane Tacoma Everett Bellingham Yakima Walla Walla Aberdeen

315.312 104,437 96,965 27,644 25-585 18,539 15,503 15,337

237,194 104,402

83-743 24,814 24,298 14,082

19,364 13,660

32-9

15-8 11-4 5-3 31-7 19.9

12-3

The most significant change in the characteristics of the pop. was the increased number of Japanese and especially of Japanese women. In 1900 there were 5.617 Japanese, or i-i % of the total pop., 96-7 % being males. In 1910 the Japanese had increased 130-2% to a total of 12,929, which was still I-I % of the total pop., 86-9% being males. In 1920 there were 17,114 Japanese, or 1-3 % of the total. The rate of increase was 32-4% and the percentage of males had declined to 65-3. One reason for the proportional increase of females was the privilege, prior to the legislative session of 1921, of acquiring title to land in the names of native-born children of Japanese parents.

Agriculture. During the decade 1910-20 the number of farms increased from 56,192 to 66,288; the acreage of improved land from 6,373,311 ac. to 7,129,343 ac.; the value of all farm property from $637,543,411 to $1,057,429,848. The average value of land per acre in 1910 was $44.18; in 1920 $60.22. The following table shows the change in acreage, production, and value of the chief crops for the decade 1909-19.


Acreage

Production

Value

Wheat . . <

1919

2,494,160

41,837,909 bus.

$91,206,642

1909

2,118,015

40,920,390

35,102,370

Oafe J

1919

191,673

8,073,481

8,073,481

Wlllb . . ^

1909

269,742

13,228,003

5,870,857

Barley . . j

1919 1909

84,568 171,888

2,249,856 5.834,615

3,374,792 3,331,930

Indian corn . <

1919 1909

34,799 26,033

901,905 563,025

1,623,433 404,367

Potatoes . <

1919

55-132

5,866,710

12,320,093

1909

57,897

7,667,171

2,993,737

Hay and forage <

1919 1909

1,064,130 742,741

2,013,913 tons 1,399,597

47,717,065 17,200,252

Sugar beets . <

1919 1909

5,363 1.270

46,386 6,556

500,969 38,007

Crops of increasing importance are bulbs, flowers, vegetable seeds, flax, filberts, and English walnuts. Prohibition increased enormously the demand for berry-juices. Three-fifths of the loganberries pro- duced in the United States come from Washington (1,157,778 qt. in 1919, valued at $208,402). The evergreen wild blackberry (supposed to have been introduced from Hawaii) is spreading through the river valleys, and the fruit is shipped in carload lots to the canneries.

In 1919 the state ranked first in the production of apples and third in hops (1,615,761 Ib., valued at $727,092). The growth of the chief orchard crops between 1909 and 1919 was as follows:


Production

Value

Apples . . . <

1919 1909

21,568,691 bus. 2,672,100

$38,823,641 2,925.761

Peaches . . j

1919 1909

1,544,859 84,494

3,321,449 118,918

Pears . . . [

1919 1909

1,728,759 310,804

3,025,331 328,895

Plums and Prunes <

1919 1909

785,920 1,032,077

1,532,546 600,503

The following table shows the growth in number and value of domestic animals during the decade 1910-20.


Number

Value

Horses -|

1920 1910

296,381

280,572

$25,069,336 29,680,849

Mules /

1920

23,091

2,93.Ni3

1910

12,185

1.7/6.297

Milch cows . . <

1920 1910

289,635. 186,233

23.64,537 7,988,133

Sheep ... |

1920 1910

623,779

475-555

7,750,407 1,931,17

Swine . . . <

1920 1910

264,747 206,135

5,049,249 L927

In 1917-8 condenseries used 205,657,654 Ib. of whole milk to pro- duce 1,844,097 cases of condensed milk, valued at $8, 870,^25. Cream and butter were sent to the cities from 1 10 creameries. In 1919 in 19 factories the production of cheese was 2,004,365 lb. r valued at $348,669.

During the decade 1910-20 the irrigated farms increased from 7,664 to 13,271 ; irrigated acreage from 334,378 ac. to 529,899 acres. The Reclamation Service of the Federal Government has impounded the waters in Keechelus Lake (Kittitas county) and other lakes toserve large projects in the Yakima valley. The Kittitas county project under the state law was designed to reclaim 70,000 ac. ; the Klickitat | county project to irrigate 90,000 acres. The largest enterprise is the Columbia Basin project, to utilize the waters of Pend Oreille lake and river for the irrigation of 1,750,000 acres.

Mining. The value of gold production decreased from $840,0001 in 1911 to $280,000 in 1919. The amount of silver produced increased from 230,000 oz. to 299,000 oz. ; copper from 196,000 Ib. to 1 ,320,000 ! Ib. ; lead from 848,000 Ib. to 1,700,000 Ib. ; zinc from 25,000 Ib. to 39,000 pounds. Coal mined in 1911 was 3,573,000 tons; in 1919; 3,100,000 tons. During the decade 1910-20 five new cement plants: were established in the state, and large quantities of Portland cement exported. Of increasing importance are clay products, such as paving brick, sewer pipe, and terra cotta.

Manufactures. The following table shows the growth of manu- factures 1909-14.


1914

1909

Number of establishments Wage-earners (average) Capital Salaries Wages Cost of materials .... Value of products .... Value added bv rran'ifnrt'.re .

3,829 67,205 $277,715,262 11,504,088 51,703,052 136,609,309 245,326,456 108,717,147

3,674 69,120

$222,261,229 , 9,826,579 49,766,368 117,887,688 220,746,421 I 102,858,733!

The chief items were lumber and timber products, flour-mill and grist-mill products, slaughtering and meat-packing, butter, cheesei and condensed milk, printing and publishing, malt liquors, canning 1 and preserving. In 1914 the state ranked twenty-third in value of' products and twenty-seventh in number of wage-earners.

Water Power. Chief Engineer Merrill, of the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, has prepared a chart showing the distribution of water-power resources in the United States. The total represents 54,000,000 H.P. Washington is shown to exceed all other states, with 16% of the total, California being second with 14-5% and Oregon third with 12-3 per cent. Efforts were being made in 1921 to secure Government control of trunk lines for the distribution of hydro-electric power.

Ports and Commerce. During and immediately after the World War the commerce passing through the district of Puget Sound was second only to that of New York. A law approved on March 14 1911