508 OCCUPATIONS. 



layer. The acquisition of such arts by negroes added largely to their 

 value, and was being more and more encouraged. The class of planta- 

 tions here referred to exceeded 2,000 in number, and it would be safe to 

 say that at least 6,000 slaves were then engaged in these occupations, 

 whicli, if added to the number of free artisans, would make the total 

 number at work in these trades 9,000, or more than double the number 

 enumerated in 18S0. The elder of these slave mechanics have almost all 

 passed away in the years which have elapsed since emancipation. The 

 negro apprentices and younger mechanics very generally abandoned their 

 pursuits when emancipated, each feeling that the brand of servitude at- 

 tached to the special occupation in which he. had been engaged, and 

 hopeful of a higher calling, threw it aside least it might interfere with 

 his chances. Such callings were to vote, to go to the Legislature, to 

 preach, or to become a land owner. The gap has never been filled. The 

 work-shops, that were filled with negro apprentices in former days, have 

 none now, and very few negroes have learned trades since the war. If 

 to the occupations named, those of tailor, seamstress, shoemaker, and 

 cooper be added, in all of which large numbers of negroes were formerly 

 employed, but among which few are found now, the explanation would 

 be fully given as to the comparatively small numbers engaged in the mi- 

 nor manufacturing iiidustries in South Carolina. 



As to the comparative healthfulness of the various classes of occupa- 

 tion in South Carolina and elsewhere. The only data at present available 

 are the very meagre ones in the census of 1870. From these it appears 

 that among agriculturists one death occurs in every one hundred and 

 fourteen so employed in the country at large, and one in every one hun- 

 dred and thirty-five in South Carolina : among clergymen there is one 

 death in sixty-nine for the United States, one in forty-two for South Car- 

 olina ; among laborers, one in seventy-seven in the United States, and one 

 in ninety-seven in South Carolina ; among lawyers, one in sixty-six in 

 the United States, and one in one hundred and sixty in South Carolina ; 

 among physicians, one in sixty -three in the United States, and one in 

 seventy-eight in South Carolina ; among teachers, one in one hundred 

 and twenty -two, in the United States, one in two hundred and twenty-two 

 in South Carolina. The number of persons in South Carolina having 



NO OCCUPATION 



because they belong to the defective and delinquent classes, is 5,726. 

 Table B presents the data regarding these classes. 



