The United States Department of Com merce summary for manufactures shows a con sistent increase at the census of 1914, as com pared with that for 1909. This census covers only the factories in the corporate city; those in the immediate suburbs are large and increase the real totals very materially. In 1914 the value added by manufacture was $9,503,000, and in 1909, $7,602,000, the increase being $1,901, 000, or 25 per cent. The value added by manu facture in 1914 formed 48.4 per cent of the total value of products, and in 1909, 47.4 per cent. The salaries and wages in 1914 amounted to $5,461,000, and in 1909 to $3,995,000, the in crease being $1,466,000, or 36.7 per cent. In 1914 the number of salaried employees was 1,173 as compared with 972 in 1909, making an increase of 201, or 20.7 per cent. The average number of wage earners in 1914 was 7,085, and in 1909, 6,410, the increase being 675, or 10.5 per cent. The capital invested, as reported in 1914, was $20,615,000, a gain of $4,490,000, or 27.8 per cent, over $16,125,000 in 1909. The cost of materials used in 1914 was $10,149,000 as against $8,434,000 in 1909, an increase of $1,715,000, or 20.3 per cent. The average cost of materials per establishment in 1914 was approximately $36,000, and in 1909 $45,000. The value of products in 1914 was $19,652,000, and in 1909, $16,036,000, the increase being $3, 616,000, or 22.5 per cent. These figures cover only the factories in the corporate city. As very many large plants are in the immediate suburbs the industrial statistics of metropolitan Chattanooga are much increased. Chattanooga has a very active Chamber of Commerce with several hundred members; the Chattanooga Manufacturers' Association, embracing 130 of the most important of the city's 300 industries, and housing a permanent exhibit of Chattanooga made goods, showing a majority of the 1,200 ri vaeties made there; the Chattanooga Whole sale Dealers' and Jobbers' Association, Retail Merchants' Association, Builders' Exchange, Business Men's Club, Society of Architects, Rotary Club and other organizations.
Chattanooga has 11 banks, includ ing three national banks, representing a total capital and surplus of $5,126,000. During the year 1909, the bank clearings amounted to $76, 882,444.93, while those in 1915 were $120,140,500, or a gain of more than $43,250,000, and in 1917 the total was $205,456,856.
Government and Chattanooga has the commission form of government — a board, mayor and four commissioners. The annual expenditures are about $700,000, the heaviest annual item being $100,000 for schools. In 1915 the assessed valuation was $32,000,000, the debt about $3,000,000 and the municipal tax rate 16.50 on a thousand.
Schools, Churches, Chattanooga's school system has developed with the growth of the city. The pupils number more than 8,300 and the teachers and principals number about 200. Warner Park is the municipal play ground. There are 120 churches in the city.
Population and Chattanooga, originally called Ross Landing, first appears in the census in 1860 with 2,545 people. In the Civil War, being a storm centre, it was nearly destroyed; but as in the case of some other Southern cities, the war was its making. It was an important military post, and the iron industry started in a rolling-mill opened in order that the ruined railroads might be re built. The attention of capital had also been called to its great advantages of situation. In 1870 it had a population of 6,093; in 1880, 12,892; and in 1890, 29,100. The growth of the city was retarded by the general business de pression which followed the financial reverses of 1893; but a revival came with the concentra tion of some 70,000 soldiers there in 1898, and the consequent immense disbursements. Since then it has been rapidly moving forward. The 1910 Federal census credits the city with 44,604 people in the corporate limits, and the 1914 official estimate of the census bureau, with 57,000 in the same area. The directory census, multiple two and two-fifths, gives the city and immediate suburbs over 105,000. The incor porated area is less than seven square miles. The increase in school attendance, post-office receipts, bank clearings, deposits, manufactur ing, etc., has been very large in recent years. A number of good industries have been added, some, even, during the business depression. One of the greatest elements of success in expand ing Chattanooga's industrial life, since the Chamber of Commerce organized a specialized industrial bureau, has been through analyzing the community's needs and encouraging plants to manufacture commodities which have a home market for their products. Some of the im portant new lines added to the list since the bureau's inception are aluminum salt, stamped enameled ware, box-board paper, glass caskets, roofing, excelsior, handles, shovels, ferroalloys, skirts, Names and singletrees and breakfast foods. Chattanooga now has more than 300 factories producing over 1,200 different articles. The textile industry is developing in a large way at Chattanooga, the city enjoying its full share of the benefits resulting from the policy of manufacturing cotton near the cotton fields.