The New International Encyclopædia/Manufactures
MANUFACTURES (ML. manufactura, from Lat. manufactus, manu factus, made by hand, from manu, abl. sg. of manus, hand, and factus, p.p. of facere, to make). In a broad sense of the term, manufactures are such forms of industry as elaborate for economic use materials which are themselves the product of industry. Manufactures are thus distinguished from extractive industry, which procures wealth from nature in its primary forms. In practice it is difficult to draw a hard and fast line between these two types of industry, since many commodities which are commonly classed as raw materials have been subject to one or more elaborative processes, as, for example, raw cotton, raw sugar, pig iron. The practice of American statisticians is to class with extractive industry processes which are directly connected with the exploitation of natural products. Butter and cheese which are made on the farm are treated as agricultural products; when produced in factories distinct from the farm they are classed with manufactures. A product in its earliest merchantable form may then be classed with raw materials; when subjected to further processes of elaboration it becomes a manufactured commodity. For the technical legal distinction in this matter, see Manufactured Article.
Again, many commodities undergo minor changes incidental to consumption. The preparation of food may be cited as a case in point. Such processes are not usually placed under manufactures. If the preparation of food is carried on in separate establishments with a view to supplying a market, it will fall under the head of manufactures. This distinction is obviously difficult to make in practice. The twelfth census of the United States excludes from manufactures proper most forms of order production, confining the term to production of standard commodities for a general market. From a theoretical point of view, however, it is better to include under manufactures all processes of elaboration of merchantable materials into commodities primarily designed for sale.
In this sense of the term manufactures presuppose a considerably developed economic life. They did not exist when each household produced exclusively for its own consumption. In Western Europe they were first carried on under the guilds (q.v.). forming, however, but an insignificant part of the economic life. With the rise of capital in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, manufactures were carried on more extensively under the domestic system. The capitalist-merchant put out materials to be worked up at home by workmen whose chief occupation was usually agriculture. This form of manufacture still exists in America and England; it is widely practiced in France, Germany, and Russia; and in some European districts, notably in Norway, it is the prevalent form.
In the more advanced nations domestic manufacture has been largely supplanted by the factory system (q.v.). The extension of the market in early modern times, requiring a vastly increased production of goods of standard kinds, led first to excessive division of labor and later to the invention of machinery. The first industries to respond to these influences were the textile and the iron industries as discussed in detail under the heads of Textile Manufacturing and Iron and Steel, Metallurgy of.
Manufactures in the United States. At the end of the colonial period manufacturing industry in America was of slight importance. The principal salable articles were raw materials, such as the products of the forests. Each household provided itself with the chief commodities for consumption. In New England, however, the manufacture of rum was extensive, and the production of hats, coarse cloth, and nails was carried on under the domestic system of industry. The total value of the manufactures of America at the time of the adoption of the Constitution has been estimated at $20,000,000; but this includes much domestic production for home consumption.
Machine production scarcely existed before 1790. In that year a British mechanic, Slater, set up spinning machinery in Rhode Island. In 1794 Whitney invented the cotton gin, thus assuring a supply of raw materials for the new cotton manufacture. By 1810 machinery had been generally introduced in textile manufacture, although large quantities of goods were still produced under the older system. The value of textiles produced in that year was estimated at about $40,000,000.
The iron manufacture developed more slowly. Machinery of improved types was introduced in the first and second decades of the nineteenth century, but the greater part of the production and manufacture was carried on in a primitive fashion, until the fifth decade of the century, when anthracite began to be substituted for charcoal in smelting. From that time increase was rapid, as will be seen in the statistics given under Iron and Steel, Metallurgy of. The value of the manufactures of the United States for the year 1810 was estimated by Tench Coxe to be $198,613,471. In 1820 the value of manufactures had risen to $268,000,000. The following table, taken from the Twelfth Census, Manufactures, part i., gives the essential facts as to the development of manufactures from 1850:
| 1900 | 1890 | 1880 | 1870 | 1860 | 1850 | |
| Capital[1] | 9,835 | 6,523 | 2,790 | 2,118 | 1,009 | 533 |
| Total wages[1] | 2,328 | 1,891 | 947 | 775 | 378 | 236 |
| Cost of materials[1] | 7,348 | 5,162 | 3,396 | 2,488 | 1,031 | 555 |
| Value of products[1] | 13,014 | 9,372 | 5,369 | 4,232 | 1,885 | 1,019 |
| Average number of wage-earners | 5,316,802 | 4,251,613 | 2,732,595 | 2,053,996 | 1,311,246 | 957,059 |
| Per cent. of increase | |||||
| 1890-1900 | 1880-1890 | 1870-1880 | 1860-1870 | 1850-1860 | |
| Capital | 50.7 | 133.9 | 31.7 | 109.8 | 89.4 |
| Total wages | 23.1 | 99.5 | 22.2 | 104.7 | 60.0 |
| Cost of materials | 42.3 | 52.0 | 36.5 | 141.2 | 85.8 |
| Value of products | 38.9 | 74.5 | 26.9 | 124.4 | 85.1 |
| Average number of wage-earners | 25.1 | 55.6 | 33.0 | 56.6 | 37.0 |
In estimating the economic significance of the development of manufactures as shown in the above table, it will be necessary to make allowance for the fact that a considerable number of operations are now carried on as manufactures which formerly were a part of household industry. The increase in the net product of manufactures above cost of material is not wholly a net increase in national income, although the greater part may be so regarded. It is further to be kept in mind that the statistics of capital are based upon estimates which in the nature of the case are not very reliable.
The following table, taken from the Twelfth Census, Manufactures, part i., shows the rank of the various States and Territories in gross value of manufactures:
| New York | $2,175,726,900 |
| Pennsylvania | 1,834,790,860 |
| Illinois | 1,259,730,168 |
| Massachusetts | 1,035,198,989 |
| Ohio | 832,438,113 |
| New Jersey | 611,748,933 |
| Missouri | 385,492,784 |
| Indiana | 378,120,140 |
| Wisconsin | 360,818,942 |
| Michigan | 356,944,082 |
| Connecticut | 352,824,106 |
| California | 302,874,761 |
| Minnesota | 262,665,881 |
| Maryland | 242,552,990 |
| Rhode Island | 184,074,378 |
| Kansas | 172,129,398 |
| Iowa | 164,617,877 |
| Kentucky | 154,166,365 |
| Nebraska | 143,990,102 |
| Virginia | 132,172,910 |
| Maine | 127,361,485 |
| Louisiana | 121,181,683 |
| Texas | 119,414,982 |
| New Hampshire | 118,709,308 |
| Tennessee | 108,144,565 |
| Georgia | 106,654,527 |
| Colorado | 102,830,137 |
| North Carolina | 94,919,663 |
| Washington | 86,795,051 |
| Alabama | 80,741,449 |
| West Virginia | 74,838,330 |
| South Carolina | 58,748,731 |
| Vermont | 57,623,815 |
| Montana | 57,075,824 |
| District of Columbia | 47,667,622 |
| Oregon | 46,000,587 |
| Delaware | 45,387,630 |
| Arkansas | 45,197,731 |
| Mississippi | 40,431,386 |
| Florida | 36,810,243 |
| Arizona | 21,315,189 |
| Utah | 21,156,183 |
| South Dakota | 12,231,239 |
| North Dakota | 9,183,114 |
| Oklahoma | 7,083,938 |
| New Mexico | 5,605,795 |
| Wyoming | 4,301,240 |
| Idaho | 4,020,532 |
| Nevada | 1,643,675 |
The four States New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Massachusetts produce nearly one-half the manufactures of the United States. The greatest concentration of manufacturing industry is in southern New England and New York and eastern Pennsylvania. But there appears to be a general tendency toward extension of the area of manufactures.
The United States occupies at present the foremost rank as a manufacturing nation. The successive stages by which it has reached this position are illustrated by the following table, taken from the Twelfth Census, Manufactures, part i. (Mulhall's estimates):
Annual Value of Manufactures.
| 1820 | 1840 | 1880 | 1894 | |
| United Kingdom | $1,411,000,000 | $1,833,000,000 | $2,808,000,000 | $4,263,000,000 |
| France | 1,168,000,000 | 1,606,000,000 | 2,092,000,000 | 2,900,000,000 |
| Germany | 900,000,000 | 1,484,000,000 | 1,995,000,000 | 3,357,000,000 |
| Austria | 511,000,000 | 852,000,000 | 1,129,000,000 | 1,596,000,000 |
| United States | 268,000,000 | 467,000,000 | 1,907,000,000 | 9,498,000,000 |
| Other States | 1,654,000,000 | 2,516,000,000 | 3,455,000,000 | 5,236,000,000 |
Bibliography. For the rise of manufactures in England, consult: Cunningham, Growth of English Industry (Cambridge, 1890-92), and Ashley, Economic History (London, 1888-93). For the growth of manufactures in America, consult: Wright, Industrial Evolution of the United States (New York, 1897), and Wells, Recent Economic Changes (New York, 1898). Consult also the several censuses of the United States, particularly the Twelfth Census, and Mulhall's Dictionary of Statistics (London, 1899), article “Manufactures.” See the separate articles on the various manufacturing industries, such as Cotton; Iron and Steel; Wool; etc., which contain an historical sketch and statistics for each industry.