labour in England.[96] The chain and nail-making trades, which employ large numbers of women in South Staffordshire and Worcestershire, are made more cheaply by machinery in America.[97] Moreover, the high standard of living and the greater skill of the American operatives enables them to tend more machines. In German factories a weaver tends two, or rarely three looms; in Lancashire women weavers undertake four, and in Massachusetts often six looms, and sometimes eight.[98] [Illustration: CONSUMPTION OF RAW COTTON, 1887-88. (Millions of lbs.)] Thus we see how the new industrial forces were determined in the order of their operation by the character and conditions of the several countries, their geographical position and physical resources, the elements of racial character, political and industrial institutions, deliberate economic policies, and, above all, by the absorbing nature of the military and political events contemporary with the outburst of inventive ingenuity. The composition of these forces determined the several lines of less resistance along which the new industry moved. The exact measurement of so multiform a force is impossible. The appended tables and diagrams may, however, serve to indicate the progress of the several industrial nations as measured by (i.) development of railway and merchant shipping; (ii.) consumption of coal and iron; (iii.) application of steam-power; (iv.) estimated annual value of manufactures:-- I. COMPARATIVE MILEAGE OF RAILWAYS, 1840 TO 1890. 1840. 1850. 1860. 1870. 1880. 1890. United Kingdom 800 6,600 10,400 15,500 17,900 19,800 Continent of Europe 800 7,800 21,400 47,800 83,800 110,200 United States 2,800 9,000 30,600 53,400 93,600 156,000 India -- -- 800 4,800 9,300 16,000 Australia -- -- 200 1,200 5,400 10,100 Rest of the World -- -- 2,800 5,500 18,400 42,300 RAILWAY MILEAGE IN RELATION TO AREA AND POPULATION.