In a city of such rapid growth as Chicago, dealing in real estate and the construction of buildings are important departments of business. Thus, in 1890 a total of 11,608 buildings were erected in the city, having a gross frontage of more than fifty miles, and costing $47,322,100. During the same year the transactions in real estate aggregated $227,486,959. The general business of Chicago can only be stated by the use of figures too vast for human comprehension. No man, for example, can appreciate what “a billion dollars” means. Well, the commerce of Chicago in 1890 amounted to more than that, in fact, to $1,380,000,000. Much of this came from the grain farms of the Northwest, for Chicago is the greatest grain market in the world. According to its Board of Trade reports, the city in the year 1890 received 15,133,971 bushels of barley and shipped 9,470,221; received 81,117,251 bushels of corn and shipped 90,556,109; received 4,358,058 barrels of flour and shipped 4,410,535; received 13,366,699 bushels of wheat and shipped 11,975,276; received 64,430,560 bushels of oats and shipped 70,768,222; received 2,946,720 bushels of rye and shipped 3,280,433; received 6,244,847 bushels of flaxseed and shipped 6,594,581; received 72,102,031 pounds of grass seed and shipped 59,213,035; received 7,663,828 live hogs and shipped 1,985,700; received 77,985 pounds of pork and shipped 392,786; received 147,475,267 pounds of lard and shipped 471,910,128; received 300,198,241 pounds of cured meats and shipped 823,801,460; received 109,704,834 pounds of dressed beef and shipped 964,134,807. In the same year 2,219,312 head of cattle, and 5,733,082 hogs were slaughtered. Sales of lumber were 2,050,000,000 feet. The breweries produced 2,250,000 barrels of beer. The general jobbing trade aggregated $486,600,000, of which $93,730,000 was in dry goods, groceries coming next with a volume of $56,700,000; boots and shoes, $25,900,00; clothing, $21,500,000; manufactured iron, $5,680,000; tobacco and cigars, $10,850,000; music books and sheet music, $22,000,000; books, stationery, and wall-paper, $25,500,000; pig-iron, $20,035,000; coal, $25,075,000; hardware and cutlery, $17,500,000; liquors, $13,800,000; jewelry, watches and diamonds, $20,400,000, and other lines in smaller proportions. Nor does this marvellous city lag behind in manufactures. The statistics of 1890 show 3,250 factories, with $190,000,000 capital; 177,000 workmen, $96,200,000 wages, and a total output valued at $538,000,000. The iron industry alone employed 34,000 workmen, who received $18,500,000 in wages. To meet the needs of this vast volume of business, extensive banking facilities are required. The total of bank clearances in Chicago in 1890 was $4,093,145,904.