MASSACHUSETTS
20
MASSACHUSETTS
with their own selfish interests, many of those acts
occurred which history lias since condemned. At the
first meeting of the tieneral (!ourt held HO August,
1G30. it nas voted to build a house for the minister and
maintain it at the state's expense — an act described
by Benedict, in his " History of the Baptists ", as " the
first dangerous act performed by the rulers of this
incipient government which led to innumerable evils,
hartlships, ami [irivations to all who had the misfor-
tune to dissent from the ruling power in after times. —
The Viper in Embryo; here was an importation and
establishment, in the outset of the settlement, of the
odious doctrine of Church and State which had thrown
empires into convulsions, had caused rivers of lilood
to be shed, had crowded prisons with innocent victims,
and had driven the Pilgrims [he means Puritans] them-
selves, who were now engaged in the mistaken legisla-
tion, from all that was dear in their native homes."
This union of Church and State controlled the elec-
torate and citizenship of the colony, made the school
a synonym of both, excluded Catholic priests and pro-
hibitetl the entrance of Jesuits, condemned witches to
death, banished Roger Williams and the Quakers,
established the pillory, and in other ways left to pos-
terity many chapters of uncharitableness, intolerance,
and cruelty. After the War of Independence, the
old colonial government took a definite constitutional
form under the Union, in 1780, and the first General
Court of the sovereign State of Massachusetts con-
vened in October of that year. This constitution was
revised in 1820.
C. Catholic Colonization. — The Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies were composed princi- pally of English. Near the close of the reign of Charles I, however, the forced emigration of the Irish brought many of that race to these shores; their num- ber is hard to estimate, first, because the law made it obligatory that all sailings must take place from Eng- lish ports, so that there are no records of those who came from Ireland with English sailing registry; secondly, because the law, imder heavy penalties, obhged all Irishmen in certain towns of Ireland to take English surnames — the name of some small town, of a colour, of a particular trade or office, or of a certain art. or craft. Children in Ireland were sepa- rated forcibly from their parents and under new names sent into the colonies. Men and women, from Cork and its vicinity, were openly sold into slavery for America. Connaught, which was nine-tenths Catholic, was depopulated. The frequently published state- ment in justification of Cromwell's persecution, that the victims of this white slave-traffic were criminals, finds no corroboration in the existence of a single penal colony in this country. In 1634 the General Court of Massachusetts Bay also granted land for an Irish settlement on the jjanks of the Merrimac River. (See Boston, Archdiocese of; Irish in Countries
OTHER THAN IRELAND, I.)
II. Modern Massachusetts. — A. Statistics of Population. In 1630 the population of Plymouth and Massachusetts Colonies was estimated at 8000 v/hite people; in 16.50, at 16,000; in 1700, at 70,000; while in 17.50 it was placed at 220,000. In 1790 the population of the State of Massachusetts was 378,787; in 1905 it was 3,003,680. The density of population increased from 47 to the square mile, in 1790, to 373, in 190.5. In 1790 over nine-tenths of the population lived in rural communities, while in 1905 less than one-fourth (22.26 per cent) of the total population lived in communities of 80(K) or less. The great tide of Irish immigration liegan in 1847. This has since conspicuously modified the population of Massachu- setts. In 1905 the ratio of increase in the native and in the foreign-bom of the population was 6.46 per cent and 8.47 per cent respectively: the numlier of native-bom in the total population being 2,085,636, and that of the foreign-bom being 918,044, an increase
of the latlcrof 4.59. 7 per cent since 1850. This foreign-
born poimUition is mostly (83.91 percent) in cities and
towns with populations of more than 8000. Ireland
has furnished 25 . 75 per cent of the total foreign-born.
Canada (exclusive of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia,
and Prince Edward Island) is second, with a popula-
tion of 12 .88 per cent of the total foreign-born popula-
tion. At present Russia supplies the largest increase
in foreign-born, having risen from one-half of one per
cent, in 1885, to 6.43 per cent, in 1905. Italy's con-
tribution in the same period rose from . 76 per cent to
5.51 per cent. Almost sixty per cent of the entire
population of Massachusetts is now of foreign parent-
age. In the cities of Fall River and Lawrence it runs
as high as four-tilths of the entire population, while in
Holyoke, Lowell, anil Chicopee it is more than three-
fourths. In Boston the population of foreign parent-
age forms 69.03 per cent, while at New Bedford it
rises to 72.34 per cent, at Worcester to 65.64 per
cent, at Cambridge to 65 . 16 per cent, at Woburn to
63 . 63 per cent, and at Salem to 61 . 10 per cent. The
Greeks have increased in Massachusetts 1242.7 per
cent since 1895, a greater rapidity of increase than all
peoples of foreign parentage in the population. Aus-
tria comes next, and Italy is third. In the city of
Boston, Irish parentage gives 174,770 out of a total
census of 410,960 persons of foreign parentage, and
this nationality predominates in every ward except the
eighth, where Russian parentage stands first. The
transformation in the racial and national population
in Massachusetts has Ukewise changed the religious
prominence of the various denominations. The
present order of denominations in this state is: Catho-
lic, 69.2 per cent; Congregationalists, 7.6 per cent;
Baptists, 5.2 per cent; Methodists, 4.2 per cent;
Protestant Episcopalians, 3.3 per cent.
B. Economic Conditions. — Massachusetts was not favoured by nature for an agricultural centre. The soil is sandy in the level areas and clayey in the hilly sections. The valleys of the streams are rich in soil favourable to vegetable- and fruit-production. The early industries were cod and mackerel fisheries. At the outbreak of the Revolution, commerce was the most profitable occupation, and after the declaration of peace, Massachusetts sent its ships to all parts of the world. The European wars helped this com- merce greatly until the War of 1812, with its embargo and non-intercourse laws, which forced the American vessels to stay at home. It had its recompenses, however, in the birth of manufactures, an industry attempted as early as 1631 and 1644, but subse- quently suppressed by the mother coimtry. The first cotton mill was established at Beverly in 1787. It was not until 1840, however, that the cotton and leather industries attained permanent leadership. According to the published statistics of 1908, Massa- chusetts had 6044 manufacturing establishments, with a yearly product valued at $1,172,808,782. The boot and shoe industry was the leading industry of the State, with a yearly production of §213,506,562. This industry produced 18.2 per cent of the product value of the State, and one-half of all the product in this line in the United States. The cotton manu- factures were 13.51 per cent of the State's total prod- uct. The total capital devoted to production in the State was $717,787,955. More than 480,000 wage- earners were employed (323,308 males; 156,826 fe- males) in the various manufacturing industries of the State, the two leading industries employing 35.22 per cent of the aggregate average number of all employees. The average yearly earning for each operative is $501.71. 'The Massachusetts laws prohibit more than fifty-eight hours' weekly emplo}Tnent in mer- cantile establishments, and limit the day's labour to ten hours. No woman or minor can be employed for purposes of manufacturing between the hours of ten o'clock p. m. and six o'clock a. m.; no minor under
