This growth had come chiefly by
natural increase, but also by immigration, conquest, and
annexation. Settlement had reached the Pacific Ocean, though
there were great stretches of almost uninhabited territory
between the settlements on the Pacific and those just beyond the
Mississippi.
The cotton gin had turned the whole South toward the cultivation
of cotton, though some States were better fitted for mixed
farming, and their devotion to cotton meant loss in the end as
subsequent events have proved. The South was not manufacturing
any considerable proportion of the cotton it grew, but the
textile industry was flourishing in New England. A whole series
of machines similar to those used in Great Britain, but not
identical, had been invented in America. American mills paid
higher wages than British and in quantity production were far
ahead of .the British mills, in proportion to hands employed,
which meant being ahead of the rest of the world.
Wages in America, measured by the world standard, were high,
though as expressed in money, they seem low now. They were
conditioned by the supply of free land, or land that was
practically free. The wages paid were necessarily high enough to
attract laborers from the soil which they might easily own if
they chose. There was no fixed laboring class.
Pages:
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131