FISCAL POLICY AND AGRICULTURE 363 



(jute, hemp, cocoa-fibre, etc.), which had increased 

 1 1 per cent. 



These large reductions in the number of workers, 

 when given in percentages, are apt to be insufficiently 

 realized by the working classes and the public gene- 

 rally. It will be well, therefore, to give the actual 

 number of persons affected. Following the classifica- 

 tion adopted in the Census report, and putting the 

 figures referring to the different branches together, 

 the following results are shown : — 



976,093 ... 907,774 ... 72,425 ... 4,106 



It appears, therefore, that the net decrease in the 

 number of persons engaged in the textile industry 

 during the ten years ending in 1901, was 68,319.' 

 These reductions in the industrial ranks must be 

 taken in connection with the fact that, during the 



^ For particulars and details on which these calculations are based see 

 "General Report," Census 1901, Cd. 2174. In reading these statistics 

 it must be borne in mind that persons returned as " occupied " or 

 "employed" in an industry are not necessarily at work. A carpet- 

 weaver, for example, who is out of work, or on short time, is returned as 

 "occupied" or "employed" in the carpet trad^. 



