The center of area in the United States, excluding Alaska and recent
acquisitions, is in northern Kansas, the center of population in
Indiana, and the center of manufactures in Ohio. The center of area
will always be in the West and the centers of population and
manufactures are slowly moving that way. Manufacturing is of minor
importance, though the aggregate of output exceeded the agricultural
output in 1900 by over $50,000,000. Relatively its position is not so
strong, being but 16.1 per cent of the total, against 27.5 per cent
for population and 43.2 per cent for value of farm products.
Manufacturing increased substantially in the 1890 and 1900 decade and
materially in the past fifty years. Thus,
======================+================+=================+=============
| 1900. | 1890. | 1860.
----------------------+----------------+-----------------+-------------
Value of products |$ 2,104,940,868 | $ 1,367,835,887 | $ 40,398,488
Number of operatives | 652,561 | 508,371 | 30,084
Dollars per operative | 2,991 | 2,690 | 1,342
Per cent of total: | | |
Product | 16.1 | 14.5 | 3.9
Operatives | 12.2 | 11.9 | 3.1
----------------------+----------------+-----------------+-------------
Missouri is the principal State for this branch of industry,
California second, and Minnesota third. These states stand for nearly
half the total output of Western factories. The output of California,
Oregon, and Washington, in 1900, was $435,670,399, constituting 3.3
per cent of the value of products for the United States. Commenting on
this, we find the census of Manufactures (part 1, page CLXXVIII)
saying:
The industrial condition in this group of states in 1900,
considering the value, but not the character of the
products, was about the same as the New England states in
1860 and the Middle states in 1850. From this point of view,
the growth of the Pacific states has been remarkable. The
character of its industries is still determined largely by
its natural resources of farm, forest, and mine, but the
recent wars in the Orient, resulting in the opening of new
markets, gave to the industries of this section a great
stimulus which had only begun to be felt at the time the
twelfth census was taken.