There are 131,426 persons in the United States engaged in the fisheries.

The prominent share of Massachusetts in this industry is seen in the classification of the five leading states.

State. No. of Persons Employed. Capital Invested. Value of Product.
Mass. 20,117 $14,334,450 $8,141,750
Md. 26,008 6,342,443 5,221,715
N.Y. 7,266 2,629,585 4,380,565
Me. 11,071 3,375,994 3,614,178
Vir. 18,864 1,914,119 3,124,444

She has invested:—Over $1,000,000 in the manufacture of Baskets and Rattan goods; over $1,600,000 in the manufacture of Brick and Tile; over $2,000,000 in the manufacture of Wagons and Carriages; over $5,000,000 in the manufacture of Men's Clothing; over $1,500,000 in the manufacture of Cordage and Twine; over $2,000,000 in the manufacture of Cutlery; over $3,000,000 in the manufacture of Fire Arms; over $16,000,000 in the Foundries and Machine Shops; over $2,000,000 in the manufacture of Furniture; over $2,000,000 in the manufacture of Iron Nails and Spikes; over $6,000,000 in the manufacture of Iron and Steel; over $1,500,000 in the manufacture of Jewelry; over $3,000,000 in the manufacture of Liquors, Malt; over $3,000,000 in Slaughtering and Packing; over $2,000,000 in Straw goods; over $2,000,000 in Sugar and Molasses, refined; over $2,000,000 in the manufacture of Watches; over $2,000,000 in the manufacture of Wire, and over $11,000,000 in unclassified industries.

The limitations of this article will only allow brief reference to a few of the leading industries of Massachusetts. The facts presented give her a commanding position in the sisterhood of manufacturing States, while the condition of her operatives, their moral and intellectual character, has no parallel in any other manufacturing district in the world.

On her well known but dangerous coast special provisions are made to aid the mariner; so likewise upon her more dangerous coast of sin we find 2,397 ministerial light houses whose concentrated spiritual lens-power upon an area of 8,040 square miles, make the rocks of total depravity loom up far above the white capped waves of theological doubt. The lower law being less important than the higher, it takes but 1,984 lawyers to successfully mystify the juries of the Commonwealth. Of physicians and surgeons there are 2,845. It requires the constant services of 2,463 persons to entertain us with music, and just one less, 2,462 barbers, who are in daily tonsorial conflict with our hair, either rebuking it where it does grow, or teasing it to come forth where heretofore the dome has been hairless.

Of the 4,000,000 farms of 536,081,835 acres in the United States, 38,406 farms of 3,359,097 acres valued at $146,197,415 yielding an annual income of $24,160,881 lie within the borders of the state. Her 150,435 cows produce 29,662,953 gallons of milk, which is the foundation of her annual product of 9,655,587 pounds of butter, and 829,528 pounds of cheese. She would be unjust to her traditional sense of justice were she to send her beans out into the world single handed, with true paternal solicitude she provides them with the charmed society of 80,123 swine, thus hand in hand Massachusetts' pork and beans stride up and down the earth, supremely content in the joyous ecstasy of their Puritan conceit. While Massachusetts has well known agricultural tendencies, and her Agricultural college is one of the most important factors in her system of practical instruction, it cannot be claimed that she is a controlling element in the agricultural interests of the country. Of all her influences for good, perhaps her educational interests would command the greater prominence. She has ever regarded the instruction of her youth as one of her most sacred trusts, and in all the details of her public school system she ranks second to no state in the Union.

In the various departments of technical instruction, she has a national reputation. Her colleges and universities so richly endowed secure the highest attainable advantages. These privileges supplemented by the free public libraries of the state, place possibilities within the reach of every young man or young woman, the value of which cannot be approximated by human estimate.

Six of the leading states are thus classified:—

Public Schools. State. School Buildings. Sittings Provided. School Property.
6,604 Mass. 3,343 319,749 $21,660,392
15,203 Ill. 11,880 694,106 15,876,572
11,623 Ind. 9,679 437,050 11,907,541
18,615 N.Y. 11,927 763,817 31,235,401
16,473 Ohio 12,224 676,664 21,643,515
18,618 Penn. 12,857 961,074 25,919,397