268 Percy Wells Bidwell 



as well as craftsmen? Obviously, the practice of agriculture by 

 all the members of the community meant that none of them could 

 have an opportunity to sell anything regularly to his neighbors. 

 That is, under such conditions as we have described, there was no 

 market for agricultural produce in the inland town. What this 

 state of affairs meant to the farmers and how far it determined the 

 character of the agricultural industry, and of home and community 

 life, are subjects which are best considered in later chapters. 



Manufactures in Inland Towns. 



The question naturally arises at this point. How far were such 

 communities as these described typical of all the towns in southern 

 New England? Were there not, perhaps, some towns in which 

 manufacturing or commercial enterprises had concentrated an Indus-" 

 trial or a maritime population? And, if so, to what extent did these 

 furnish a demand for the farmers' produce? 



A casual survey of the list of articles manufactured in the Northern 

 and Eastern states as reported in the oflScial statements of Hamil- 

 ton (1791),! Gallatin (ISIO),^ and Coxe (1814)3 would lead one to 

 expect that somewhere in these states a considerable concentration 

 of industrial workers might be found. Among the articles there 

 enumerated were soap and candles, tallow and spermaceti; leather 

 goods, linen, cotton and woolen cloth, cabinet ware and furniture, 

 hats, paper, spirituous and malted liquors, cordage, manufactures 

 of iron, gunpowder, glass and earthenware. But when we come 

 to analyze the methods by which these articles were produced it 

 becomes evident that only a few of them were, in any significant 

 sense of the word, manufactures. The great majority of the articles 

 included under this term were produced either in the household, 

 as for instance a large part of the soap and candles, woolen and linen 

 cloth, or in craftsmen's shops, as were the furniture and the leather 

 goods. Such goods were either consumed in the family which produced 

 them or disposed of within the community. Of these articles there 

 was practically nothing produced for a wide market, and consequently 

 there was no cause for the growth of an industrial population. In 

 the case of such articles as cordage, liquors, gunpowder and glass 

 there was real manufacturing. But this was carried on for the most 

 part in a few coast towns, such as Boston, Norwich, Providence and 



' American State Papers, Finance, I. 123. 

 2 Ibid. II. 425-439. 

 » Ibid. II. 666-677. 



