Scott—Labor Conditions in Massachusetts, 1860-70. 183 
industrial progress of Massachusetts was enormous. In 1838 
the annual amount of industrial products was eighty-six million 
dollars; in 1845 it was one hundred twenty-four millions, and 
in 1855 two hundred ninety-five millions. 84 Between 1845 and 
1855 the increase in value was 138 per cent. Between 1855 
and 1865, however, it was only 72 per cent, according to Oliver 
Warner, 85 who has collected the statistics on the subject Fur¬ 
thermore, if the inflated condition of the currency in 1865 be 
taken into account, it is clear that the real increase was much 
less than 72 per cent. In fact, if we accept Dewey’s calculation 
that a paper dollar in 1865 was, on the average, worth less than 
fifty cents, 86 the supposed increase in the value of manufactured 
products becomes a decrease. 
Other evidence supports the conclusion that the progress of 
manufactures slackened during the war period. Acccording to 
Warner, there were 271,421 hands employed in various kinds 
of manufacture in 1855. In 1865, there were 245,908, a fall¬ 
ing-off of over 25,000. 87 This alone would not prove a de¬ 
pression of manufactures, for it may be partially, perhaps 
wholly, accounted for by the introduction of new labor-saving 
machinery How many men this new machinery threw out of 
employment we have no means of knowing. Glance, however, 
at the following table, which gives a comparison between the 
number of males over fifteen years of age engaged in certain oc¬ 
cupations in 1860, and those engaged in the same occupations 
in 1865. 88 
84 Warner, Statistical Information, etc., for 1865, pp. xxi and xxil. 
ss ibid. 
86 Financial Hist. U. S. p. 376; see table given above, p. 3. 
87 Warner, p. 793. 
88 Constructed from Mass. Census Reports 1860, 1865. Note also that 
between 1855 and 1865 the number of manufacturers in Mass, de¬ 
creased from 5,294 to 3,903. Mass. Census Rept. 1865, p. 306. 
