Mn 
AMERICAN P RE FACE. 
XXI1L 
EXTENT AND GENERAL CHARACTER OP AMERICAN MANUFACTURES. 
The following figures show the extent of American manufactures 
during the year which closed May 30, 1870, and their general 
character, as disclosed by a comparison of the value of the man 
ufactures with the value of the raw materials consumed : — 
Value of raw materials consumed 
Value of products 
Value added by manufacture 
Wages paid 
Hands employed .... 
$2,488,427,242 
4,232,325,442 
1,743,898,200 
775,584,343 
2,053,996 
The value of our manufactures in 1810 was $198,613,471. As 
the population at that time was 7,239,881, the manufactures 
amounted to $27 for each person. In 1870 the amount was $109, 
or four times greater than in 1810. Some allowance must be made 
for the depreciation of currency; but allowance must also be made 
for the cheapening of production, which has resulted from a bctter 
control of the forces of nature, and from the use of labor-saving 
machinery. So it is quite safe to assume that the quantity of 
manufactures has been increased fourfold for each person within 
the last sixty years. According to the census of 1870, to make 
another comparison, the value of all our farm products, including 
betterments and additions to stock, was $2,447,538,658, — only 
forty per cent more than the value added to raw material by the 
processes of manufacture. Thus it will be seen that American 
manufactures, though as yet in their infancy, have nevertheless 
attained to very respectable proportions. 
It is, however, to be specially noted and remembered that the 
value added by the processes of manufacture is not so great by 
$744,529,042 as the value of the raw materials consumed. This 
indicates that the manufactures, as a whole, are exceedingly rüde, 
that they embody very little of the skill and taste which by increas- 
ing the quality of products add to their market value. 
Here let us briefly consider the nature of skill and taste. Skill 
may be exercised for two purposes : 1, to accelerate production ; 
2, to improve the quality of objects. Whatever enhances the 
quality of objects tends to enhance their market value ; whatever