200 Progress of Population and Wealth 



where they are little more than the half of 1 per cent of the pro- 

 ducts of that division. 



The products of the fisheries, the lowest in the scale as to direct 

 gain, barely exceed 1 per cent of .the whole, and more than three- 

 fourths of them (78. G per cent) are contributed by the New Eng- 

 land States. From this branch of industry the Southwestern 

 States derive nothing, and the Northwestern next to nothing. It 

 is of far greater importance in a national view, as affording an 

 excellent nursery for seamen, than as a source of gain, except to 

 the New England States, where it yields 5 per cent of their whole 

 annual product. 



On comparing the individual States, we find that in agriculture, 

 New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, are far before the rest in 

 the value of their products. In manufactures, New York, Massa- 

 chusetts, and Pennsylvania take the lead. The profits of commerce 

 are greatest iu New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Louisiana ; but 

 in proportion to population, Louisiana stands foremost. In mining 

 industry, Pennsylvania equals all the other States except New 

 York, which is second, though not the half of Pennsylvania. Vir- 

 ginia is the third, though not the half of New York. In the pro- 

 ducts of the forest, the order of precedence is New York, Maine, 

 and North Carolina. In the fisheries, the product of Massachu- 

 setts is more than that of all the rest of the Union. New York and 

 Maine are the next highest. 



If we distribute the whole annual product in 1840 — 1,0G3 millions 

 of dollars — among the whole population, we find that the propor- 

 tion to each inhabitant is greatest in the New England States, 

 where it is $84 ; in the Middle States, it is 876 ; in the Southern, 

 $52 ; in the Southwestern, $61 ; and in the Northwestern, $41. 

 The causes of this diversity are to be found yet more in the differ- 

 ent densities of population, different degrees of fertility, and differ- 

 ent distances from market, than in the existence or absence of 

 slavery, though that also has its influence. It is the difference of 

 distance from market which makes the industry of an individual in 

 the Southwestern States 50 per cent greater than in the North- 

 western. It is the difference of fertility which makes the same in- 

 dustry worth $79 in Mississippi, and but $49 in Alabama. The 

 same cause makes the industry of the Southwestern States more 

 productive than that of the Southern States. It is the greater 

 density of numbers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and their 

 consequent success in manufactures, which makes industry more 



