Logo
Prev
Bookmark
Rotate
Print
Next
Contents
All Pages
Related Articles
Browse Issues
Help
Search
Home
'
National Geographic : 1903 Apr
Contents
166 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE INTERNAL COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES THE internal commerce of theUnited States for 1902 reached twenty billions of dollars, or, in other words, equaled the entire international com merce of the world. This is the grati fying estimate of the Treasury Bureau of Statistics, whose duty it is to gather the facts and figures of our enormous internal trade. Hon. O. P. Austin states that in arriving at this estimate of $20,000,000,000 for the internal com merce of the United States, the Bureau includes only one transaction in each article produced, while in fact a very large number of the articles produced pass through the hands of several " mid dlemen " between those of the producer and those of the consumer. The esti mate is based upon the figures of the census, which put the total value of manufacturesin 1900at$13,000,ooo,ooo, those of agriculture at nearly $4,000, ooo,ooo, and those of minerals about $r,ooo,ooo,ooo. Adding to these the product of the fisheries, the total value of the products of the great industries in 1900 would be eighteen billions of dollars, and the rapid growth in all lines of industry since 1900, especially in manufacturing, seems to justify the con clusion that even a single transaction in all the products of the country would produce an aggregate for 1902 of fully twenty billions of dollars. Our internal commerce was ten times larger in 1902 than in 1850, while our population was only three and one-half times as great. RECLAMATION IN WYOMING AND COLORADO M RFRED BOND, state engineer of Wyoming, in his latest offi cial report describes some experiments being made in Colorado and Wyoming to grow wheat without irrigation. In 1886 Mr Robert Gauss advanced the theory that wheat could be acclima- tized and made to thrive under the arid conditions of Colorado, and some years later began conducting experiments to test his theory. In 1896 he planted some improved Fife wheat, but secured at harvesting time but little more than seed enough for the following year. This seed was planted and the experi ment continued each year with better and better results. In the spring of 1902 Mr Bond obtained a pint of this seed and planted one-half near Chey enne at an altitude of 6,050 feet above sea-level, and the remainder near Buf falo, Johnson county, at an altitude of 4,700 feet. From the harvest of the first lot Mr Bond obtained 9' pints, a yield of nineteenfold, and from the sec ond lot 2 I 2 pints, or about forty-three fold, although there had been no irri gation of either lot. The effective precipitation at Cheyenne had been 6.38 inches and at Buffalo 4.90 inches. If experiments on a larger scale are equally successful, if as good wheat and as great results are obtained in practical farming, Mr Gauss has re claimed an area of nearly 400,000 square miles, stretching from the south ern boundary of Kansas and Colorado to the Canadian boundary. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR THIS new department, after June 30, 1903, will include the follow ing bureaus: Bureau of Statistics; Coast and Geodetic Survey; Bureau of Immigration; Bureau of Navigation; Light-House Board and Establish ment; Steamboat Inspection Service; U. S. Shipping Commission; National Bureau of Standards, trans ferred from the Treasury Department; Census Office, transferred from the Interior Department;
Links
Archive
1903 May
1903 Mar
Navigation
Previous Page
Next Page
