Wealth of all descriptions began to increase in an unheard of way. In 1897 the gold and silver produced in the United States was worth something over $89,000,000; in 1900 this had risen to $115,000,000, and in 1905, to over $122,000,000. While in 1897 we produced over 8,500,000 tons of pig-iron, in 1905 it was 16,500,000, and we were consuming about all we produced. Of bituminous coal in these three years we produced respectively 131,000,000, 189,000,000, and 281,000,000 tons. Of wheat we grew in 1897 over 530,000,000 bushels, about the same in 1900, and in 1905 nearly 700,000,000 bushels. The cotton crop in 1897 was valued at $319,500,000; in 1900 at $511,000,000, and in 1905 at $632,000,000. Our hay averaged an annual value in this period of over $500,000,000; our potato crop something like $150,000,000. The value of our farm animals in 1897 was about $1,655,000,000; in 1900 it was $2,280,000,000; and in 1905 over $3,000,000,000. And so one might go on recording phenominal growths of almost everything which the earth yields in return for man’s labor. And never before had there been so rapid an increase in the number of laborers available. We could bring in labor free and in this period we used the privileges as never before. Immigration which in 1897 was but 230,000 rose in 1900 to 448,500; and in 1905 to over 1,000,000. The great bulk of these newcomers were men of a working age, that is, over fifteen and under forty. These great numbers were added annually to those who already were at work in the country until in 1900 nearly 30,000,000 people were busy in this country, drawing from the earth the materials of wealth, moulding them to men’s uses, and transporting them to the markets where they were wanted, and these markets were not those of the United States alone. Our home consumption was enormous, but we bought and sold with all the nations of the earth in constantly increasing quantities, selling always many millions more than we bought.