The next most prominent group of manufac tures includes foundry and machine-shop prod ucts and other specially related products, such as iron and steel, electrical apparatus and supplies, and carriages and wagons. The manufacture of machinery dates from the early days of the colo nial period. and has from the first included a great variety of products. From 1800 to 1900 there was a very large gain in them-44.7 per cent. The manufacture of iron was of greater relative importance in the colonial period than in recent times. The industry at first was stim ulated by the local deposits of iron ore. hut these have been superseded by a higher grade of ore obtained in other regions. The manufactures of electrical apparatus almost doubled during the last census decade. The making of jewelry is a long-established industry. From 1890 to 1900 its manufactures nearly doubled.
Massachusetts has long ranked first in the manufacture of paper and wood-pulp. It pro duces 71 per cent. of all the fine writing paper made in the United States. In book paper it is also first. Four-fifths of all the loft-dried paper manufactured in the United States from 1860 to 1897 was made within fifteen miles of Springfield. As early as 1728 a Colonial grant was made for the encouragement of the industry. In Cambridge was done the first printing in the Colonies, and all the printing in the Colonies for nearly forty years was done at Cambridge and Boston. The manufacture of lumber and its prod ucts, especially furniture, is important; the gain for the latter for the decade 1890 to 1900 was 82.3 per cent. The slaughtering and meat-pack ing industry is acquiring considerable impor tance, as are also the refining of sugar and molasses and the production of mait liquors.
Massachusetts has an unusual number of im portant manufacturing centres. Boston ranks first distinctly, with a manufactured product of over $206.000,000. Its superiority is due largely to the excellence of its transportation facilities. Front 1S90 to 1900 there was a slight decrease in its total product, although there was a very large gain in the suburban towns—for in stance. 198 per eent. in Somerville. The location of a number of the other large centres has been determined by their accessibility to water power —for instance. Lowell and Lawrence on the Mer rimac. and Fall River, supplied with water power from Watuppa Pond, each of these being an im portant cotton manufacturing centre. Lawrence is also a very large producer of worsteds. Holyoke, the largest producer of paper and wood pulp, derives its power from the Connecticut River. New Bedford, another important cotton manufac turing centre; Lynn. a great boot and shoe man ufacturing town ; and Gloucester, a fish canning and preserving centre, all have advantages of coast navi7ation, while Haverhill, another lead ing boot and shoe manufacturing town. is at the
head of navigation of the Merrimac. River. Among the important centres not located on the coast or on rivers arc \Co•ceste•, whose largest establish ments are foundries and machine shops, and Brockton. another large producer of boots and shoes. Omitting the towns already referred to near Boston. those having the largest gains from 1891) to 1900 were Lawrence, 08.4 per Cent.; New Bedford, 50.S per cent.; Gloucester, 01.7 per cent.; Fall River, 32.4 per cent.; and Brockton, 25.2 per cent.
The table on following page shows the develop ment for the twenty-one leadingrladoxbes from 1890 to 1900. It will he seen that while the total product for these industries increased greatly. there was an actual decrease in the number of es t ahl nts, the tendency tot•ard centralization being most marked in the hoot and shoe industry.
TR.\ NSpoRTATICIN axn CON( NIERCE. A majority of the many railway lines centre in Boston, and the mileage for the eastern end of the State is greatly in excess of that of the other parts. The first railroad in the United States was the Quin three miles long. enlist !met in °_7 to convey granite from the cminey quarries for the Bunker H ill Monument. It was not. how ever. operated by steam. The Boston and Lowell steam railroad opened in 1835. Aleut the roads were built to Providence and to Worcester. and by 1842 the latter line had been extended to Albany. In 1860 the total mileage for main and branch lines amounted to 1264 miles; in 1580, 1915; in 1890, 2090; and in 1900. 2108. This was equivalent to 26.40 miles for every 100 square miles of the State's area, a rate higher than that of any other State except New Jersey. In 191)0 forty-six railroad corpora tions had lines located wholly or in part within the limits of Massachusetts. However, only eleven of these were engaged in actual railroad operations, the roads of the other thirty-live being operated by certain of the eleven companies. Four of these eleven companies—the Boston and Al bany; Boston and Maine; Fitchburg; and New York, New Haven and Ilart ford railroads—oper ated over 97 per cent. of the total railroad mile age. The average passenger fare per mile de creased from 2.51 cents in 1871 to 1.75 cents in 1900, and the average freight rate per ton mile was reduced from 3.11 to 1.71 cents. The strik ing feature in the transportation of to-day, how ever, is the great rapidity with which electric car lines are being constructed. At the present rate this mileage will soon exceed that of steam railroads.