276 Percy Wells Bidwell 



workers much more independent of the soil. Finally, in the new- 

 born woolen and cotton industries we find great, although as yet 

 undeveloped, possibilities for the creation of a manufacturing popu- 

 lation. None of the towns in which these industries were carried on 

 had a population of 5,000 persons,^ except those such as Middletown, 

 Hartford and Providence where commercial activity was, as we shall 

 see, the principal cause of concentration. It seems hardly an exag- 

 geration to say that there were no inland manufacturing towns in 

 New England at this date. We must, therefore, look further for a 

 market for agricultural products. 



' Bridgewater, Mass., is an exception. 



