At this period the supply of the raw material was insufficient to admit of any important development in the industry, and before the drilling of artesian wells for petroleum was initiated by Drake the " coal-oil " or shale-oil industry had assumed considerable proportions in the United States.
The only practically available raw material for 'the extraction of uranium is pitchblende (q.v.).
The principal classes of products affected are foods, wearing apparel, building materials, furniture, &c., chemical products, printing and allied trades, and sundry others, such as cigars, matches, tanning, paints, &c. In some manufactures the raw material is imported partly manufactured, such as thread for weaving.
The manufacture of alcohol from the sulphite lyes of the wood-pulp industry was contemplated, but carbide, although produced in increasing quantities, was not considered as a possible raw material owing to its greater importance as a source of the fertilizer cyanamide.
Nor should it be forgotten that the internal classification and the combinations of the above subjects are also matters to be treated upon some uniform plan, if the full value of the statistics is to be extracted from the raw material.
