in the United States in Fifty Years. 141 



the States, not only was the proportion less in 1840 than it had been 

 in 1820, but the number of persons actually employed in commerce 

 was less. This was the case in Maine, Massachusetts, Connecti- 

 cut, Maryland, and to a smaller extent, in Delaware, North Caro- 

 lina, and South Carolina. Is this falling off to be attributed solely 

 to the loss of our legitimate share of the West India trade since 

 1830, or, in part, also, to some difference in the mode of taking the 

 census, by which a portion of the seamen, who, in 1840, were sepa- 

 rately numbered, were, in 1820, reckoned among the persons em- 

 ployed in commerce ? The first cause seems quite adequate to the 

 effect produced. 



If we suppose that the whole labour of Great Britain is distribu- 

 ted among the several departments of industry in the same propor- 

 tions as the labour of the males above twenty years of age, the dif- 

 ference of distribution in that country and this is very striking. In 

 that country, agricultural labour is but 31.5 cent of the whole ; 

 here, it is 77.5 per cent. In that country, manufactures and trade 

 employ 28.8 per cent of the whole labour ; here, they employ but 

 18.9 per cent. Each country employs its industry in that way 

 which is most profitable, and best suited to its circumstances. 



Table IV. shows how the different departments of productive in- 

 dustry are distributed among the five great divisions of the States, 

 in centesimal proportions. Two-thirds of the mining labour is in 

 the Middle and Southern States. The Southern States stand fore- 

 most in agricultural labour, though they hold but the third rank in 

 population. The Middle States employ the least labour in agricul- 

 ture, in proportion to their numbers. In commerce, however, they 

 employ the most, and next to them, the New England States. The 

 same two divisions take the lead in manufactures, they contributing 

 nearly two-thirds of the labour employed in this branch of industry. 

 Three-fourths of the seamen are furnished by New England, of 

 wh ich nine-tenths belong to Massachusetts and Maine. More than 

 half the labour employed in inland navigation is in the Middle States, 

 and, next to them, are the Northwestern States. 



Of that department of industry which comprehend the learned 

 professions, and which is at once the best fruit of civilization, and 

 the most powerful agent of its further advancement, the New Eng- 

 land and Middle States have the largest proportion, though there 

 is less diversity in this than in any other class of industry. 



Of the individual States, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia 

 employ the greatest number in mining ; in agriculture, New York, 



