134 Progress of Population and Wealth 



neighbouring States in the same way, and that Massachusetts ex- 

 ceeds the rest of New England. It is to the want both of commerce 

 and manufactures, that Indiana, Tennessee, and North Carolina, have 

 so few and such small towns. It is, indeed, from their exclusive 

 pursuit of agriculture, in the slaveholding States, as well as their 

 difference in density, that the number of their town inhabitants, 

 with the exception of Delaware, Maryland, and Louisiana, rarely 

 exceeds a twentieth, and will not average more than a thirtieth of 

 their whole population. If the proportion in the whole United 

 States could be correctly ascertained, by the correction of the er- 

 rors adverted to, it would probably be found that those who live 

 in towns and villages containing at least 2,000 inhabitants, are not 

 much more nor much less than one-eighth of the entire number. 



The effect of railroads, and of transportation by steam generally, 

 is to stimulate the growth of towns, and especially of large towns. 

 It is, therefore, likely that our principal cities will, at the next cen- 

 sus, show as large a proportional increase as they have experienced 

 in the last decennial period. 



