.MAA 1:FACTUIZES. The manufacturing industry is probably less developed in Mississippi than in any other of the older States of the ,Union. On the other hand, the rate of the recent increase has been greater than that of most of the other States. l'rior to 1837 some prominence had been attained in the manufacture of cotton, leather, liquor, and dour: but the fin:11min] panic of that year left these industries in a had condition. There waR a decided revival in the decade fol lowing 1850; but because of the Civil War and the depression following it, manufacturing re mained almost stationary for twenty years. In the decade 1880-1890 the value of the manufac tured produet increased 148.8 per cent. and in the decade 1890-1900 increased 116.1 per cent. Tile value of the product in 1900 was $40.431, 000, and 26,418 wage-earner:, or 1.7 per cent. of the population, were no large transportation centre, and the water lower and mineral resources being of little consequence. the state is at a comparative industrial disadvan tage. But the products of her cotton field: and forests supply an abundance of raw• materials. The recent development is largely in response to the encouragement extended by the State,. through a law passed in 1882 exempting machin ery of factories from taxation for ten years.
From the table appended the importance of the industries dependent upon cot tun may be seen. largest of these—the manufaeture of cottonseed oil and enke—expe•ienced an in c•rease during the decade of 177.6 per cent. The State contained the first mill of this kind creeted in the United States. A less absolute but nmeh larger per vent. of increase was made in cotton ginning. The largest inerea-e in the cotton goods product was in the period 1S70-90; the value in 1870 was only $234.400.
FoaEsTs AND FOREST PnotweTs. The State': timbered area in 1900 was estimated at 32,300 square or seven-tenth: of its area. The southern third and a narrow strip extending northward consists of pine, the Yazoo bottom of cypress, and most of the remaining portion of hard woods. Very little progress had been made in the exploitation of these forests until the last decade of the nineteenth eentury, in which Fried the value of lumber and timber products in 171.3 per Cent. ( See table below.) In 1900 over three-fourths of the ma consisted of yellow pine, oak being the most important of the hard woods. The Pascagoula River and Han cock County dist riets, in the southern part of the State, showed most activity. The manufacture of turpentine and rosin was not important prior to the last decade of the nineteenth century. but made large gains during that period, as will be seen from the above table.
'l'RAX SPORTATION. The railroad mileage in creased from 862 miles in 1860 to 1127 in 1580; to 2470 in 1890, and to 2934 in 1900. Among the important lines are the Illinois Central, the Southern, the Louisville and Nashville, the Mo bile and Ohio, the New Orleans and Northeastern, and the Queen and Crescent. There is a board of railroad commissioners which is empowered to revise, fix, regulate, and approve the rates of charges of railroad companies. Having a con siderable Gulf coast line and being bordered upon one side by the Mississippi River. the State has the advantages of navigation afforded by these waters. Of the two customs districts, Pearl River and Vicksburg, the former only is impor tant in regard to foreign trade.