HUNT'S

MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE.

MAY, 1847.

Art. I. THE PROGRESS OF WEALTH IN MASSACHUSETTS, FROM 1790 TO 1840.

Ir is the object of this article to exhibit the progress of wealth in Massachusetts, during the fifty years from 1790 to 1840, as deduced from the six State Valuations, taken at intervals of ten years each. These valuations have the legislative sanction of the General Court, and are the basis of apportionment of all State taxation for the ten years following. They are prepared from the returns furnished by the assessors of the several towns and districts, and are intended to embrace all the taxable property of the Commonwealth. They may be relied upon as sufficiently correct for the purposes of comparison, or of showing the progress of wealth during these fifty years; at least they furnish the nearest approximation we have to the true amount of wealth in the State.

Certain items of property are exempted from taxation, and of course are not included in these aggregates of valuation,—such as the property of the United States, of incorporated literary institutions, &c., (Revised Statutes, pp. 75, 76,) so that, at each valuation, the amount, on this account, probably falls short of the real amount by at least 1 or 2 per cent.

By the Constitution of Massachusetts, (ch. Í. sec. 1,) it is provided that, "while the public charges of government, or any part thereof, shall be assessed on polls and estates, in the manner that has hitherto been prac tised, in order that such assessments may be made with equality, there shall be a valuation of estates within the Commonwealth, taken anew once in every ten years at least, and as much oftener as the General Court shall order."

In the first four valuations, the income value of the property, which is intended to be 6 per cent of the true value, appears in the returns, and is adopted as the basis of State taxation. In the following tables and views, the income value is reduced to the true value, in order to make the comparison at different epochs.

TABLE 1.

Exhibiting the Value of the Rateable or Taxable Property in Massachusetts, according to the State Valuations, at six epochs, by Counties as now constituted.

5,477,291 50

484,767 22

6,444,550 83

1,907,047 663

213,608 24

1,862,884 33

211,101 46

1,715,867 00

161,568 11

2,692,801 83

210,239 55

Berkshire... 157,389 54

2,623,159 00

2,641,460 94 44,024,349 00 4,323,943 10 72,065,718 33 5,876,995 01

$97,949,916 83 9,212,710 28 153,545,171 33 208,856,422 55 299,880,338 31 From the next table it appears that the proportions of the wealth in the several counties were very different at the six epochs. We have given in Table III. the proportions of the population in the several counties, in order that the reader may easily compare the wealth with the population in the several counties at those epochs.

TABLE II.

Exhibiting the Proportions per cent of the Wealth of Massachusetts in the several Counties according to the six State Valuations.

The fractions of a cent in these columns, are omitted for want of room.

It appears from Table II. that the increase of wealth in Suffolk county, in relation to that in the whole Commonwealth, was greatly increased du ring the 50 years, but this relative increase was wholly during the first 30 years, while there was a relative decrease during the last 20 years. This increase in Suffolk, during the last 50 years, was at the relative expense of all the other counties, except Middlesex, Bristol, and Nantucket.

TABLE III.

Exhibiting the Proportions per cent of the Population of Massachusetts in the several Counties, according to the six United States Censuses.

The changes in the proportions of the population, during the 50 years, were somewhat different from those of the wealth. The proportions of the wealth in only three counties, Suffolk, Middlesex, and Norfolk, were increased.

TABLE IV.

Exhibiting the average amount of Wealth among the Inhabitants of Massachusetts, at six epochs, by Counties.

Suffolk.............. $319 06 $524 79 $628 80$1,366 53$1,290 86$1,148 54

Increase or decrease. 50 years. 20 years. 1790-1840. 1820-40. $829 48 $217 99

Essex....

127 26

236 36

245 59

283 03

293 70

327 53

200 27

44 50

$116 22 $170 43 $207 50 $293 42 $342 15 $406 50 $290 28 $113 08

It appears from this (IV.) table that the average amount of wealth among the inhabitants of all the counties, was greater at each later epoch than at the preceding, with the exception of Suffolk, from 1820 to 1840.

TABLE V.

Exhibiting the Increase of Wealth in Massachusetts, according to the State Valuations,

by Counties. 1800-10.

1820-30.

1810-20.

Exhibiting the Proportions per cent of the Increase of the Wealth in Massachusetts,

by Counties.

Counties. 1790-1800. 1800-10. 1810-20. 1820-30. 1830-40. 1790-1840. 1820-40. Suffolk

125.69 58.64 131.49 Essex........ 96.25 22.05 19.68 Middlesex.... 47.50 30.54 25.33 Worcester 40.98 28.64 21.03 Hampshire.. 35.29 37.98 21.71

33.63

37.08

1,734.62

83.19

Hampden..... 37.95 42.44

28.20

Table VI. shows that while there has been an increase of the wealth in all the counties, this increase has been very different in the several counties. By comparing this table with the next, (VII.,) we perceive that the increase of wealth in the counties has been very different from, and much greater than that of the population, during every period, and in every county, except Suffolk, from 1820 to 1840. In that county, during these 20 years, though there was an absolute increase of wealth, its proportional increase was less than that of the population. During 20 years, from 1820 to 1840, the increase of wealth in all the counties, was 95.31 per cent, while that of the population was only 40.97 per cent, considerably less than half. During the 50 years, the increase of wealth was over sixfold, while that of the population was not doubled. The average increase to each person was nearly three-fold, from $116.22 to $406.50. (Table IV.) The increase of the wealth of the State has been unequal in the several decennial periods, as will be seen by inspecting Tables V. and VI. It was the greatest from 1790 to 1800, a period distinguished by wars in Europe, in consequence of which the commercial part of the community derived great benefit from a neutral commerce. This increase is particularly manifest in those towns that were engaged in commerce and navigation, as Boston, Salem, Beverly, New Bedford, Nantucket, &c.

It will be perceived that the absolute increase of wealth during the 50 years, was $255,855,989.31, of which $146,335,166.973, or about threefifths of the whole, was during the last twenty years, and is to be referred to manufactures; while, during the preceding 30 years, the amount was only $109,520,822.33, or about two-fifths of the whole. The rate of increase, however, during the period of 20 years, from 1790 to 1810, when the increase of wealth was owing chiefly to commerce, it being 122.48 per cent, was greater than during the last 20 years, in which the increase was owing mostly to manufactures. The increase from 1800 to 1820 was 113.06 per cent. The increase of wealth in Boston, from 1790 to 1810, was 260.56 per cent; from 1790 to 1820, 901.46 per cent; and from 1820 to 1840, only 83.9 per cent.

TABLE VII.

Exhibiting the Increase per cent of the Population of Massachusetts, according to the United States Censuses, by Counties.

Counties. Suffolk.........

1790-1800. 1800-10. 1810-20. 1820-30. 1830-40. 1790-1840. 1820-40.

37.21 33.33 27.80