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Show THE UNITED STATES, 182;J-I1)'2J. A comparison of the conditions under which the United States entered en-tered the year 19 22 with thoHe of the corresponding year of the preceding pre-ceding century gives us renewed confidence, con-fidence, says the Trade Record of the National City Honk of New York, In the industrial and commercial future fu-ture of our country. The population which In 1 H 2 2 was less than 10,000,-000 10,000,-000 is now 1(17,000,000, or more than ton times that of a century ago, while the population of the world has Increased but about iro per cent in the meant ime. Our Interna)! lonal commerce even In the present moment mom-ent of depression is iii times as much as that of a century ago. having grown from $109,000,000 In 1X21 to nearly or quite $7,000,00(1,000 In 1921. while International commerce of the world in 19 2 1 may possibly total 4 limes that of a century ago when It stood at $1,659,000,000. This growth with us has been largely duo to increased facilities of transportation In 1 S 2 I our great Mississippi Valley with its wonderful wonder-ful producing possibilities had but about 2,000,000 people, and their only method of sending their products pro-ducts to tidewater was by the rivers and the great lakes, for even the Erie Canal was not yot finished at that date and steam railways for commercial commer-cial service were then a thing unknown un-known in any part of the world. Of the 750,000 miles of railway built in all the world since 1821, over one-third one-third was constructed in the United States, chiefly to connect the great interior with the ocean frontages, and the "Middle West" which had then 2,000,000 population has now 60,000,000 and it is not only the world's greatest producer of grain and meats but is turning out oyer one-third of the manufactures of the country. The manufactures of the whole world in 1820 were estimated by Mulhall at $4,250,000,000 while our census of 1920 puts the value of those of the United States alone at $62,000,000,000 or nearly 15 times that of the whole world a century earlier. With this tremendous growth in our manufacturing industries our exports of domestic manufacturers exclusive of food-stuffs have grown from less than $8,000,000 in 1821 to over $2,000,000,000 in 1921, or 250 times as much in the "lean" year just ended as in the corresponding year of the preceding century. With this increase in industrial, commercial aud business activity has come a corresponding advance in the financial financ-ial requirements and supplies, and the total "money in circulation" which was officially reported at $6 7,-1Q0.O0O 7,-1Q0.O0O in 1820 is officially stated at $5,676,711,000 on December 1. 1921. Meantime the centers of industry in-dustry and business have grown amazingly, the population of New York having increased from 130.000, in 1S22 to over 6.000.000 in 1922. Philadelphia from 108,000 to nearly 2,000,000. and Chicago from"a hamlet ham-let of log houses inhabited by less than 100 people" in 1830 to approximately approxi-mately S.OOttft'bO in 1922. Not .all of this growth in the industries in-dustries and prosperity of the country coun-try has conic from a mere increase in population, for our area has doubled doub-led meantime, the total area of the United States having grown from 1.792,000 square miles in 1821 to 3,-620,000 3,-620,000 square miles. including Alaska, at the present time. Thus the year 1922 finds the United Unit-ed States the world's chief agricultural, agricul-tural, manufacturing, commercial and financial nation. The possibilities possibili-ties of a further expansion in all these lilies are found in the fact that with our population, exclusive of Alaska, is still only 36 per square mile or less than one-tenth that of certain of the most prosperous of our European neighbors. |