was greater for New York State than for the whole country. The business formerly done in Massachusetts has been largely transferred to New York.
The value of the clothing product of men's custom work and repairing for 1900 was estimated at $137,714,282, and of women's custom-made clothing and dressmaking, $48,356,034. Other important items of clothing manufacture for the same year were: Shirts, $49,022,845; men's furnishing goods, $43,902,162; and hats and caps, $52,797,697.
Iron and Steel. The United States is abundantly provided by nature with resources that are necessary for the production of iron and its manufacture. (See Mining.) No other industry compares with it in the absolute growth made since 1880. In 1890 the United States led the world in the production of pig iron and steel, and in 1900 its production of pig iron was 46 per cent. greater than that of Great Britain and its production of steel was more than twice as great as that of the rival country. In 1902 the United States produced 15,000,000 tons of steel out of a total world product of 35,000,000. Next to the United States were Germany, with 7,780,000 tons, and Great Britain, with 5,000,000 tons. The following table shows the growth since 1880 of the total iron and steel industry and of its three fundamental divisions: pig iron; steel ingots, steel castings, and rolled iron and steel; and iron blooms, billets, and hammered bar iron:
| Year | Number establishments |
Capital | Wage-earners, average number |
Tons product |
Value product | |
| Iron and steel total | 1900 | 669 | $590,530,484 | 222,607 | 29,507,860 | $804,034,918 |
| 1890 | 719 | 414,044,844 | 171,181 | 16,264,478 | 478,687,519 | |
| 1880 | 792 | 209,904,965 | 140,798 | 6,486,733 | 296,557,685 | |
| Pig iron | 1900 | 224 | 148,226,113 | 39,358 | 14,452,234 | 206,823,202 |
| 1890 | 304 | 134,604,543 | 33,415 | 8,845,185 | 145,643,153 | |
| 1880 | 341 | 89,531,362 | 41,695 | 3,375,912 | 89,315,569 | |
| Steel ingots and steel castings | 1900 | 438 | 441,795,983 | 183,023 | 15,040,129 | 596,689,284 |
| and rolled iron and steel | 1890 | 395 | 278,559,831 | 137,295 | 7,388,244 | 331,860,872 |
| 1880 | 358 | 116,458,390 | 96,164 | 3,046,038 | 203,274,042 | |
| Iron blooms and | 1900 | 7 | 508,388 | 226 | 15,497 | 522,432 |
| hammered bar iron | 1890 | 20 | 876,470 | 471 | 31,049 | 1,183,494 |
| 1880 | 93 | 3,915,213 | 2,939 | 64,783 | 3,968,074 | |
Coke is the principal fuel used in blast furnaces, while bituminous coal and slack are the most important fuel used in the rolling mills and steel works. There has been a great decrease since 1880 in the number of furnaces using charcoal for fuel and also in the number using anthracite alone and mixed anthracite and coke, but an increase in the number using coke or bituminous coal and coke, the latter class numbering 235 in 1900. The production of Bessemer pig iron in the census year amounted to 8,475,530 tons, while that produced by the basic open-hearth method amounted to 937,439 tons. Blast-furnace stacks decreased from 681 in 1880 to 399 in 1900, of which 326 were active. The value of iron rails manufactured decreased from $20,974,097 in 1880 to $31,180 in 1900. The value of steel rails manufactured, on the contrary, increased from $37,892,075 in 1880 to $60,272,575 in 1890, and then decreased to $46,501,979 in 1900, this decrease being due to a fall in price, there having been a large gain in tonnage. The value of iron and steel bars and rods, not including sheet or tin plate bars or wire rods, increased from $56,696,679 in 1880 to $100,597,221 in 1900. Other large items of manufacture in 1900 were iron and steel wire rods, $35,529,529; iron and steel hoops, bands, cotton ties, and skelp, $49,159,747; iron and steel boilers and other plates and sheets, except nail and tack plate, black plates, or sheet for tinning and armor plate, $68,109,223; iron and steel roll blooms, slabs, billets, tin plate bars, and sheet bars, $96,321,887. The following table shows the growth of the industry for the three leading States:
| STATE | Year | Number establishments |
Capital | Wage-earners, average number |
Value of products | ||
|
1900 | 291 | $321,985,659 | 110,864 | $434,445,200 | ||
| 1890 | 311 | 226,294,407 | 92,473 | 264,571,624 | |||
| 1880 | 321 | 102,956,223 | 57,952 | 145,576,268 | |||
|
1900 | 107 | 86,477,552 | 33,677 | 138,935,256 | ||
| 1890 | 101 | 37,642,887 | 23,546 | 65,206,828 | |||
| 1880 | 103 | 22,807,606 | 20,071 | 34,918,360 | |||
|
1900 | 26 | 43,356,239 | 16,642 | 60,303,144 | ||
| 1890 | 24 | 34,689,919 | 8,685 | 39,011,051 | |||
| 1880 | 16 | 5,795,620 | 5,253 | 20,545,289 | |||
See the articles Iron and Steel, Metallurgy of; and Pennsylvania.
Electric Apparatus and Supplies. There is no industry of so recent development that has attained the magnitude of the electrical apparatus and supply manufacturing business. The total product was valued at only $2,655,036 in 1880, and increased to $91,348,889 in 1900. In the latter year the industry employed 40,890 wage-earners, in 580 establishments. The product comprehended a great variety of things, the most important of which were motors, valued at $19,505,504; dynamos, $10,472,576; and telephones, $10,512,412. The industry centres mainly in a few of the largest cities.
