accessible to poorer classes than before, the capital engaged in manufactures has increased so as to allow a vastly greater number of persons to be employed, as will be seen by the following comparison of 1860 with 1880 taken from the last census returns. (Compendium, 1880, pp. 928, 930.)
| Number of establishments. | Capital (Thousands). | Average number of hands employed. | Total amount paid in wages during the year. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1860 | 140,433 | $1,009,855 | 1,311,246 | $378,878,966 |
| 1880 | 253,852 | 2,790,272 | 2,732,595 | 947,953,795 |
“A hundred years ago, one person in every family of five or six must have been absolutely needed to spin and weave by [pg 098] hand the fabrics required for the scanty clothing of the people; now one person in two hundred or two hundred and fifty only need work in the factory to produce the cotton and woolen fabrics of the most amply clothed nation of the world.”112
To these considerations must be added, that, even if improvements did for a time decrease the aggregate produce and the circulating capital of the community, they would not the less tend