PART I-GENERAL SURVEY OF THE AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT AND VEHICLE MANUFACTURING

INDUSTRY.

48296-VOL 14-11-26

395

PART I-GENERAL SURVEY OF THE AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT AND

VEHICLE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.

The growth of the industry-The increase in the number of employees-Households studied-Members of households for whom detailed information was securedEmployees for whom information was secured-Preparation of the report-[Text Tables 1 to 7 and General Tables 1 to 3].

THE GROWTH OF THE INDUSTRY.

During the past forty years the agricultural implement and vehicle manufacturing industry has had a rapid development. The growth in the manufacture of farming implements in the United States. during the period 1870-1905, and the distribution of the industry by principal agricultural implement manufacturing States during the year 1905, is exhibited in the next table, which shows the number of establishments in operation, the capital invested, and the value of their annual product in the years specified.

THE INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES.

The most significant feature, from the standpoint of recent immigration, in connection with the growth of the industry has been the remarkable increase in the number of employees, the resultant demand for labor being met by the employment of recent immigrants from southern and eastern Europe. The increase in the operating forces of the industry during the period 1870-1905, and the number in 1905 in the principal States in which the industry is located, is shown in the table which immediately follows.

A large expansion in the vehicle manufacturing industry during the twenty-five years 1880-1905 is also shown in the table next submitted, together with the status of the industry in principal States in 1905.

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TABLE 1.—Increase in the number of persons employed in the manufacture of agricultural implements in the United States and in selected States, 1880-1905.

[Compiled from census of 1905,"Occupations;" census of 1900,"Manufactures-Special Reports-Part IV;"' census of 1880, "Population."]

In the above table the data for 1880 are hardly comparable with those of 1890, 1900, and 1905, as the first-named census used the term "agricultural implement makers" and gave the phrase a much narrower significance than any of the other three censuses. For this reason it seems best to omit these figures from further discussion. Using the figures of the census of 1890, therefore, as a basis for comparison, it will be noted that there is a marked increase in the total number of workers in the United States in the next fifteen years, the number being 19.9 per cent greater in 1900 and 22.1 per cent greater than it was in 1890.

A study by States shows that from 1890 to 1900 there is a slight decrease in the number of workers in the eastern States, New York,

the first to 11 per cent in the case of the last, but that the increase in the case of each of the western States during the same

period,

the case of Illinois, far outweighs, both numerically and proportionranging from 11.1 per cent in the case of Indiana to 91.9 per cent in

ately, this decrease.

of

In the census of 1905 there is a general increase over the figures 1900, but two States, Illinois and Ohio, showing a decrease since