Excerpt from The Annual Statistics of Manufactures: 1896 The value of these reports is, of course, proportionate to the number of returns upon which they are based, and the increase in the returns since 1886 is very gratifying. The thanks of this Bureau are extended to those manufacturers who have so willingly complied with the requests of this office. Mr. Frank H. Drown, Second Clerk of the Bureau, has had direct charge, as heretofore, of the clerks and special agents engaged in the preparation of this volume. I wish to record here my thanks to him for the painstaking and efficient service which he has rendered; and also to acknowledge the general co-operation and assistance of Mr. Charles F. Pidgin, Chief Clerk. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.