FARM MACHINERY 



59 



Now the total number engaged in gainful occupations in 1900 

 was 29,074,117, and 1 1 .9 per cent of 29,074,1 17 gives 3,459,819 

 as the number which, under the conditions existing in 1870, 

 should have been found in the agricultural class in 1900 in 



1 This 1 1.9 per cent does not mean that there was a decrease, absolutely, in 

 the number of those engaged in agriculture, but only relatively, and in this sense : 

 that, whereas the number of those engaged in agriculture increased during the 

 period from 1870 to 1900, the increase was so much less than in the other occu- 

 pation classes that this particular class failed, by a number equal to 11.9 per cent 

 of the total number engaged in gainful occupations in 1900, to maintain its former 

 proportion. A similar remark applies to each one of the other cases where a 

 negative number appears. The decrease in the class of those engaged in manu- 

 factures and mechanic arts in the Western division is due to the fact that, under 

 the classification used, miners and quarrymen are included in that occupation 

 class. In 1870 these workers constituted a high proportion of the total number 

 engaged in gainful occupations in that division. 



