FARM MACHINERY 93 



Atlantic States, having 44.2 per cent of the total population of 

 the country, ten years of age and over, engaged in manufactures, 

 mechanic arts, trade, and transportation, reported only 15.8 per 

 cent of the total number of illiterates, ten years of age and over, 

 and only 27.9 per cent of the total number of deaths, occurring 

 during the census year, from " injuries by machinery " ; while 

 the Southern States (South Atlantic and South Central divisions), 

 having but 16.9 per cent of the total number, ten years of age 

 and over, engaged in manufactures, mechanic arts, trade, and 

 transportation, reported 66.9 per cent of the total number of 

 illiterates, ten years of age and over, and 39.6 per cent of the 

 total number of deaths from "injuries by machinery." 1 



It is safe to say that the people in the Southern States employ, 

 relatively, even less of machinery in agriculture than they do in 

 manufactures, mechanic arts, trade, and transportation. Accept- 

 ing this as a fact, and bearing in mind the showing above made 

 touching the matter of education and the personal injuries result- 

 ing from the use of machinery, it is not difficult to concur in 

 the opinion of the English writer who held that " the expense 

 of ignorance is the greatest in the obstructions w 7 hich it presents 

 to the introduction of machinery"; that "notwithstanding the 

 progress of machinery in agriculture, there is probably as much 

 sound, practical, labor-saving invention and machinery unused 

 as there is used ; and that it is unused solely in consequence of 

 the ignorance and incompetence of the workpeople." 2 



1 For statistics of illiteracy, see Twelfth Census, Population, Vol. II, page c. 



The total number of deaths reported as resulting from " injuries by machin- 

 ery " was 333 ; of these, 80 were reported from the North Atlantic States and 

 132 from the South Atlantic and South Central States (Twelfth Census, Vital 

 Statistics, Vol. II, Table 7). 



2 Edwin Chadwick, "Esq., Journal of the Statistical Society, Vol. XXV, p. 516. 



The less general use of improved machinery in the South than in other sec- 

 tions is cited in partial explanation of the slow rate of agricultural progress in 

 that country and is itself explained by the lack of mechanical skill on the part of 

 the negroes and by the cheapness of labor, which makes it more economical to 

 employ hand labor in many operations which would be more cheaply done by 

 machinery where labor is more expensive (Report of the Industrial Commission, 

 1 90 1, Vol. X, p. xiv). 



