841] Machinery and Labor 43 



THE AGRICULTURAL WORK OF FORMER TIMES IN THE 

 TOWNS OF TO-DAY 



The element of unreality in the transfer from agricul- 

 ture to other occupations, referred to above (page 39), 

 consists in this, that many of those who, at the present 

 time, are employed in the towns and considered as en- 

 gaged in occupations other than agriculture, are, in fact, 

 doing work which, in earlier years, was done on the 

 farms ; and the persons who then did the work, if classr 

 fied at all, were classified as agriculturists. 



There is no need to cite authority for saying 

 that 150 years ago, not in this country alone but 

 in all countries, much of that which we now call 

 manufactures was considered a part of agriculture. 

 Agricultural implement manufacture, as a distinct indus- 

 try, was then practically unknown. Each farmer, assisted, 

 perhaps, by the village blacksmith, made his own 

 implements. " Every homestead of any pretension had 

 to be, at the same time, a manufactory of almost all the 

 things required for daily use.'" " Every housewife spun 

 her own flax and made her own linen." 2 Even within 



been repeatedly changed : the number of different occupations re- 

 ported upon by the several censuses has been as follows : 



Twelfth Census 303 ~| 



Eleventh Census 218 



Tenth Census 265 Twelfth Census, 



Ninth Census 338 j Occupations, p. xxxii. 



Eighth Census 584 



Seventh Census 323 J 



Any one will readily recognize that the more minute the classifica- 

 tion of occupations the higher must be the proportion of those in 

 gainful occupations as compared with the whole population. 



1 Smith : Colonial Days and Ways, page no. 



2 McMaster : History of the People of the United States. Vol. I, 

 p. 10. 



