Page:The Collected Works of Theodore Parker volume 6.djvu/25

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12
THOUGHTS ON AMERICA.

Look next at the products of industry in the United States.[1]

Value of Annual Products of Industry, 1840.
Agriculture $654,387,597
Manufactures 236,836,224
Commerce 79,721,086
Mining 42,358,761
The Forest 16,835,060
The Ocean 11,996,108
Total $1,063,134,736

In 1850, the iron-crop in the United States amounted to 564,755 tons. The ship-crop was 1360 vessels, with a measurement of 272,218 tons. The increase of American shipping is worth notice, and is shown in the following

Table of American Tonnage from 1815 to 1850.
Years. Tons.
1815 1,368,127
1820 1,280,165
1825 1,423,110
1830 1,181,986
1835 1,824,939
1840 2,180,763
1845 2,417,001
1850 3,535,454

The tonnage is still on the increase. In 1851 it amounted to 3,772,439, and at this moment must be considerably more than 4,000,000. The first ship built in New England was the "Blessing of the Bay," a "bark of thirty tons," launched in 1634. Nor far from the spot where her keel was laid, a ship has recently been built, three hundred and ten feet long, and more than six thousand tons burden.

On the 30th September, 1851, there were, if the accounts are reliable, 12,805 miles of railroad in the United States. At present, there are probably about 15,000 miles.

To show the increase of American commerce, consider the following

Table of Imports cmd Exports from 1800 to 1852.
Years. Imports. Exports.
1800 $91,252,768 $70,971,780
1805 120,000,000 95,566,021
1810 85,400,000 66,757,974
1815 113,041,274 52,557,753
1820 74,450,000 69,691,669
1825 96,340,075 99,535,388
1830 70,876,920 73,849,508
1835 149,895,742 121,693,577
1840 107,141,519 132,085,946
1845 117,254,564 114,646,606
1850 178,138,318 161,898,720
1852 212,613,282 209,641,625
  1. I take these results of the census of 1840, as deduced by Professor Tucker, in his admirable book, Progress of the United States in Population and Wealth in Fifty Years. New York, 1843. 1 vol. 8vo.