.MANL FACTURES. Manufacturing has been of great importance in Massachusetts almost from the beginning of its history. Only three other States (New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois) exceed it in the value of this output. During the last half of the nineteenth century the value of manufactured products increased more than sixfold, being estimated in 1900 at $1,035,198,989. The wage-earners engaged increased 180.3 per cent. during the same period, or only about 2 per cent. less than the percentage of increase for the total population. The actual number of wage earners in 1900 was 497.448. or 17.7 per cent. of the total population. Of these 143,109 were wo men, and 12,556 were children under sixteen years of age. From 1890 to 1900 the percentage of gain for both the value of the products and number of wage-earners did not increase as rapid ly as the population or as rapidly as the corre sponding percentage for the entire country.
The great growth which the manufacturing in dustry has attained is the more remarkable be cause of the dependence on outside sources for raw materials, and because the local markets consume but a small part of the product. The State is not without natural advantages, how ever, the chief of these being the abundance of water power. The interests of the industry are also greatly facilitated by the excellent advan tages of transportation afforded both by rail and by the ocean.
Clothing, hoots and shoes, and their materials, represent the most important group of manufac tures. Massachusetts has long ranked first in the manufacture of textiles. In 1900 nearly a hundred and fifty thousand wage-earners were engaged in the industry, or 30 per cent. of the wage-earners employed in the State. During the decade 1890-1900 the value of the product in creased 15 per cent. Over half of the total prod uct is accredited to cotton goods. The State has ranked first in the manufacture of cotton goods from the beginning of the industry in the colo nies. The first cotton mills in the United States were established at Beverly in 1788. Owing to the secrecy surrounding the English invention of power-looms, these were not introduced until 1814. In 1900 there were 7.784,687 spindles in the State. The increase of spindles during the decade ending then was 33.7 per cent. and con stituted 40.6 per cent. of the increase for the whole country. The cotton products are equal to 33.2 per cent. of the total fen• the United States. The increase was greatest for the finer
kinds of goods. For fancy woven products it w•as 132.1 per cent.; napped fabrics, 51 per cent.; cotton duck, 190 per cent.; print cloths. 52 per cent. Ginghams suffered slight decrease during the period. After cotton goods the most impor tant are worsteds and woolens. Woolens had led until 1900, when they were surpassed in value by worsteds. The manufacture of woolens is one of the earliest industries established in the State, dating from 1643. The spinning jenny, operated by Water power, was introduced about 1815, and the power-loom for broadcloth in 1826. The in dustry declined from 1890 to 1900. but the prod uct for that year was more than one-fourth that for the whole country. Worsteds, on the con trary. increased 84.9 per cent. for the same period, as compared with an increase of 39.3 per cent. for all other States. The State now has 31.3 per cent. of all spindles in the United Of the other varieties of textiles produced the most im portant are carpets and rugs, hosiery and knit goods, and silk and silk goods. All of these, with the exception of carpets and rugs, increased in production from 1890 to 1900. There was a decrease during that period in the production of clothing, as also of cordage and twine.
In the manufacture of boots and shoes—both leather and rubber—Massachusetts holds first rank. In 1900 it produced 44.9 per cent. of the total amount of leather boots and shoes for the United States. The industry was begun in 1635. For a long time it was the custom for each work man to make the entire shoe. Not infrequently the industry furnished the farmers with winter occupation. Most of the machinery which now takes the place of hand labor in this line is the invention of Massachusetts men. From 1890 to 1900 the production of leather boots and shoes increased but little, while the value of boots and shoes made from rubber increased 68.4 per cent. Closely related to this industry are the tanning, currying, and finishing of leather, and the manu facture of rubber and elastic goods. With the increase of the tanning industry in the West, where tanning bark is more readily obtainable, the industry is declining, but the production of rubber and elastic goods increased 63 per cent. in value from 1890 to 1900. The first production of india-rubber goods in the United States was at Roxbury in 1833. Massachusetts has continued to hold first place in this industry.