MONET AND LABOR. 103 



It must be noted that in this statement is given 

 only the number of business houses that have suffi- 

 cient business importance to appear on the books of 

 Messrs. B. G. Dun & Co., and that, on an average, 

 each business concern has at least two members, some 

 having half a dozen or more. But we will say two, 

 which give 1,704,512 persons, or one in every six of 

 our voting population engaged in notable trade, leav- 

 ing out of the account the hosts of petty traders, brok- 

 ers, bankers, stock jobbers or gamblers, speculators, 

 those in real estate and insurance, as well as account- 

 ants, clerks, salesmen, etc., here unconsidered, that 

 must amount to nearly or quite an equal number, 

 making fully one fourth of our people engaged in pur- 

 suits that are in no sense productive. The sarcasm of 

 Napoleon that England was but a " nation of shop 

 keepers " it appears may be far better applied to us, 

 with the addition of " and gamblers." But when the 

 people are driven out of the productive employments 

 they must seek other business, and what else is to be 

 found ? This exhibit clearly shows that the influences 

 which caused the abnormal increase of traders in the 

 first five years following the war, are still active. 



Thus it is seen that while the inhabitants have in- 

 creased not more than 35 per cent., the proportion of 

 traders to population has increased about 370 per 

 cent., or more than ten times faster than the increase 

 of population, as appears by the foregoing table of 

 failures. But the increase in the other nonproductive 

 pursuits is beyond the power of calculation. This 

 may possibly explain why it is that at this time the 

 producer gets so little for his products, whilst the 



