How the Eastern Farmer Has Fared. 119 



CHAPTER X. 



How THE Faemer Has Fared in the Manufacturing 



Section of the Union. 



The North Atlantic Division, which comprises the 

 states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachu- 

 setts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey 

 and Pennsylvania, may well be called the factory or 

 work-shop of the nation. In 1900 the value of the manu- 

 factured products of these nine states was closely equal 

 to that of the other thirty-five, being the immense sum of 

 $6,498,000,000. The number of the wage-earners in this 

 industry exceeded that of those so engaged in the other 

 thirty-five states. The total population of the nine states 

 is to the number engaged in agriculture there as 20 to 1. 

 Now if proximity to manufacturing centres, to large 

 masses of food consumers, is all that is required to enrich 

 farmers, those of this section should have enjoyed the 

 highest degree of prosperity. And if protection is bene- 

 ficial to the agricultural industry, the three decades of 

 high tariff that followed the war period would naturally 

 be expected to show larger gains in farmers' property 

 than in the decade of low duties that preceded the war. 

 Here is the record, and each one can judge for himself: 



The North Atlantic Division. 



