1927 The Texas Almanac and State Industrial Guide Page: 224
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224 THE TEXAS ALMANAC.
MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES OF TEXAS.
Texas has witnessed rapid development of its manufacturing industries during., re-
cent years. The total value of Texas manufactured products for the year 1899 was
$92,894,433, for 1909 it was $272,895,635, for 1919 it was $999,995,796, for 1921 it was
$842,438,135 and for 1923 it was $979,192,057. Of course, the swift rise in value between
1909 and 1919 was due in large part to the rapid general inflation of that period.However, even after that part of the
value due to inflation is subtracted, the
value of manufactures of 1919 would
amount to $450,000,000, that is, counted in
dollars having the purchasing power of
the dollar of 1910, an increase for 1920 of
65 per cent over 1910. The year 1921
showed some decrease as a result of the
financial depression which was felt
throughout the United States and which
was reflected in an even greater drop in
manufactures in the United States as a
whole than in Texas.
Increase in Volume in 1923.
The figure for total value of manufac-
tures in 1923 is slightly below that of
1919, but deflation must here be consid-
ered just as inflation was considered be-
tween 1910 and 1920. In view of this, it
seems that the Texas volume of manu-
factures actually increased considerably
in 1923 as against 1919. The number of
establishments decreased, and the number
of wage-earners fell off slightly, but this
was probably due to the fact that a large
number of small and inefficiently oper-
ated plants went out of existence during
the latter part of 1920 and throughout
1921.
The decrease in number of wage-earn-
ers is due in part, no doubt, to the intro-
duction of labor-saving machinery; this
is evidenced by the rapid increase in pri-
mary horsepower between 1919 and 1923,
amounting to 23.7 per cent. The decrease
in certain figures from 1919 to 1923 is
also partly due to the fact that in 1919
all factories producing as much as $500
for the year were included, whereas in
1923 only establishments producing more
than $5,000 were included in the canvass
of the Bureau of the Census.
Comparative Figures.
However, the development of manufac-
turing in Texas has only begun. The
value of Texas manufactured products in
1923 v/as only 1.6 per cent of the total of
value of manufactures of the United
States. On a basis of "vale added by
manufacture"-value of products less cost
of law, materials which is for many pur-
poses a better indication of the real mag-
nitude of manufacturing industry-Texas
contributed only 1.3 per cent of the total
of the United States. From a few com-
parative figures it is obvious that Texas
has much room for expansion of its manu-
facturing - industries.
Texas First in Raw Materials. '
For example, the State ranks first
among the States in value of crops, sec-
ond in live stock values and sixth in mmn-
eial and forest values, and thirteenth in
manufactured values. Texas produces 7.5
r:er cent of the crop values of the United
States, and approximately 7 per cent of
all annual raw material production val-
ues, ranking first among the States. - On
the other hand, it has 4.4 per cent of the
polulaton of the Nation. Hence it is ob-
vious ghat this State's raw material pro-
duction is more than four and one-half
times as great as its production of man-ufactures, while its population-market or
consuming capacity in a basic sense-is
nearly three times as great, relatively, as
is its manufacturing.
The census of 1920 showed that in Texas
46.2 per cent of the gainfully occupied
population was engaged in farming and
live stock industries, whereas in the
United States as a whole, farming and
live stock accounted for only 26.3 per
cent of the gainfully occupied population.
On the other hand, Texas had only 15.6
per cent of its gainfully occupied popula-
tion employed in the combined manufac-
turing and mechanical industries, while
in the United States this classification ac-
counted for 30.8 per cent of the popula-
tion.
Industry in Infancy.
Census figures given above show the
rapid development of manufacturing in
Texas during recent years, but even
greater evidences of present and future
expansion are furnished by factors not
reflected in census statistics. Texas now
has vastly more capital for investment in
manufacturing industries than ever be-
fore; the total wealth of the State has in-
creased rapidly and current figures on
bank resources and deposits indicate the
reserve available for investment. Con-
tinued discovery of additional petroleum
and gas resources, and the finding of a
method of producing power on a large
scale from lignite, have solved the fuel
problem.. While the labor supply situa-
tion in Texas has not changed greatly, yet
the change in aspect of the labor situa-
tion in the United States has given this
State relatively a larger advantage than
it had ten or fifteen years ago. There is
the added factor of the general tendency
of industry to decentralize during very
recent years, which is lending effective-
ness to the attractions offered in Texas
raw materials, fuel resources, labor sup-
ply and ready capital.
Great Raw Material Production.
With the exception of iron ore, Texas is
at present producing on large scale raw
materials for practically every major
classification of the manufacturing in-
dustries. Indeed, Texas has inexhaustible
iron ore resources (see chapter on Min-
erals), but due to the relative newness of
this State in an industrial sense, the lack
of a supply of coal suitable for making
coke and, to lesser degree, certain arti-
ficial conditions obtaining in the commer-
cial and industrial set up of the Nation,
the attempts to develop the iron resources
of Texas have never met with success.
Undoubtedly, the future will witness the
overcoming of these obstacles and the de-
velopment of the iron ore deposits of East
Texas and the Central Mineral Region.
Even in the manufacturing of iron and
steel articles Texas is not under handi-
cap except in competition in the markets
of the North and East.
Food for Factories.
It is significant that the raw materials
produced in Texas are in most instances
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1927 The Texas Almanac and State Industrial Guide, book, 1927~; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth123785/m1/228/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.