168 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
be in existence in 1890, was 396, as over against 160 in 1850 
and 174 in 1858. 2 The amount of deposits in savings-banks 
was considerably larger than in previous years and tlie number 
of depositors bad increased. 3 The average number of paupers 
supported at the three state almshouses was less than it had been 
for some time. 4 The Boston Board of Trade reports the various 
articles of produce as showing, with a few exceptions, a fair in¬ 
crease over previous years. 5 On the whole, the clouds seemed 
to be breaking, and there were prospects of fair weather in the 
business world. 
I am inclined to think, however, that Massachusetts was re¬ 
covering more slowly from business depression than the country 
as a whole. The wool industry seems to have been less flourish¬ 
ing in 1860 than in 1859, 6 while the boot and shoe trade was 
in a state of unusual depression. 7 In the country at large, on 
the other hand, E. I). Fite says, “the crops were abundant, and 
manufacturing, with few exceptions, was active in every 
branch. . . . All branches of commercial life were reason¬ 
ably prosperous, looking forward to the future with confident 
hopes of growth and expansion, and relying on peace to bless 
their ventures.” 8 The Boston Daily Advertiser indignantly re¬ 
sents the statement of Mr. Douglas that “ The mechanics and 
laborers of Few England are now reduced to the starvation 
point/ ” but it goes on to say “prices are so low that some 
classes of manufacturers cannot pay to their workmen wages 
sufficient for their support. 9 Certainly these statements do not 
indicate the existence of prosperity in Massachusetts at the be¬ 
ginning of the decade. Furthermore, figuires taken from the 
Report of the Boston Board of Trade for 1861, show that the 
value of exports, from the District of Boston and Charlestown, 
2 Wadlin, The Growth of Manufactures, p. 308 
3 Mass. Public Documents. Abstracts of Returns from Savings In¬ 
stitutions, 1857_1860. 
4 Mass. Pub. Doc. Report of the Board of State Charities, 1864. 
s Report of the Boston Board of Trade, 1861; Review of the Market 
for 1860. 
eIbid. 
7 Ibid; also Boston Daily Advertiser, March 5, 1860. 
s Fite, Prosperity during the Civil War, p. 2. 
» March 5, 1860. 
