58 



Indiana University Studies 



While from 1880 to 1910 there was an increase of 400,000 

 workers in the State, or 63 per cent, the increase during this 

 period in the agricultural group was only about 13,000, or 3.9 

 per cent. During this period by decades the increase in the agri- 

 cultural pursuits has not kept pace with the increase in the num- 

 ber of wage-earners in the State as noted in Table 17. 



TABLE 17. NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF INCREASE IN WORK- 

 ERS IN ALL OCCUPATIONS COMPARED WITH NUMBER AND 

 PERCENTAGE INCREASE IN AGRICULTURAL OCCUPATIONS, 

 INDIANA, 1880 TO 1910 



Increase in Number and Percentage 

 OF Workers. 





1900 to 1910. 



1890 to 1900. 



1880 to 1890. 



Num- 

 ber. 



Per 

 cent. 



Num- 

 ber. 



Per 

 cent. 



Num- 

 ber. 



Per 

 cent. 



All occupations 



137,701 



13. -1- 



154,650 



17.+ 



119,223 



16.+ 



Agricultural 



1,071 



* 



247 





10,691 



1.+ 



*Less than .01 not recorded. 



§2. Number of Farms and Extent of Farm Acreage 



While there has been but a very small increase in the number 

 of farmers in the last few decades, there were actually fewer 

 farms and a smaller farm acreage in 1910 than in 1900. In 1900 

 there were 221,897 farms in Indiana, and in 1910 only 215,485, 

 representing a loss of 2.9 per cent. In 1900 there were 21,619,623 

 acres of farm land, while in 1910 there were only 21,299,832, or 

 a loss of 1.5 per cent. The decade, however, from 1880 to 1890 

 represented a growth of 2.1 per cent in number of farms and a 

 loss of .3 per cent in farm acreage. From 1890 to 1900 there was 

 a gain of 12.0 per cent in number of farms and 6.2 per cent in 

 farm acreage. Table 18 contains the facts concerning number of 

 farms and farm acreage and percentage of gain and loss in both 

 from 1880 to 1910. 



