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To what extent electric railways have been developed in the United States, where, admittedly, they have prospered in a manner unparalleled elsewhere, is shown in a short chapter of statistics given in the annual report for 1897 of the United States Commissioner of Patents. The first electric street railway in the United States was put in operation only a little more than ten years ago. In 1880, of the 2050 road miles of street railway in the country, nearly all employed animal power. Electric power had not yet come into use, but a few miles of lines were operated by steam and by cable. The total number of persons then employed on American street railways was a few hundred short of 12,000. Ten years later, in 1890, the United States Census gave the number of street railway employees as 37,434, and at the close of that year the total mileage of street railways all over the country was given as 8123 track miles, on 5661 of which horses were used, while the remaining 2462 miles were worked mainly by electric and by cable power. The capital invested in these roads was $211,277,798, and 71,000 persons were employed on them. In 1894 the total mileage was 12,527, of which 7470 was electric. The capital invested was $648,330,755, of which $423,493,219 were invested in electric railways. One hundred and ten thousand persons were employed on street railways in that year. In 1896 the mileage had increased to 14,470, of which 12,133 miles were electric. The capital invested was $784,813,781, and the number of persons employed was not less than 140,000. The total mileage of electric railways in the United States up to October of 1897 was 13,765 miles, out of a total mileage of 15,718, and of these but 947 miles were horse-car lines. The total capital invested was $846,131,691, and the number of employees may be safely estimated at not less than 166,000.
Among the several other industries of which the report in question makes mention is the manufacture of type-writers and type-writer supplies. There was no report for this industry in the United States Census of 1880. In 1890 thirty establishments were reported employing 1735 workmen and producing an output valued at $3,630,126. Since that year the industry has grown very largely in the number of workmen employed and the value of the product. In 1893 a single company employed
