products of our agriculture and manufactures against foreign competition."

The census of 1840 gave Vermont a population of 291,998, a gain over 1830 of 11,296, or 4 per cent. This was the smallest increase Vermont had shown during any census period since the admission of the State to the Union. The population by counties was as follows:

Small losses were shown in Addison, Bennington, Orleans, Rutland, Windham and Windsor counties.

There were comparatively heavy losses in certain towns in Addison, Washington, Windham and Windsor counties. Certain towns in Franklin county showed large gains, although the increase for the entire county was very small. Other towns in Chittenden, Lamoille, Orange, Orleans, Washington and Windsor counties made good gains. Brattleboro gained 482; Northfield, 601; Montpelier, 740, and Burlington, 1,045.

The most populous towns were: Burlington, 4,271; Montpelier, 3,725; Bennington, 3,429; Woodstock, 3,315; Middlebury, 3,161; Windsor, 2,744; Rutland, 2,708; St. Albans, 2,702; Randolph, 2,678; Danville, 2,633; Springfield, 2,625; Brattleboro, 2,623; Newbury, 2,579; Fairfield, 2,448; Hartland, 2,341; Rockingham, 2,330; Swanton, 2,313; Chester, 2,305; Highgate, 2,292; Norwich, 2,218; Brandon, 2,194; Hartford, 2,194; Milton, 2,136; Barre, 2,126; Georgia, 2,106; Thetford, 2,065; Barnet, 2,030; Enosburg, 2,022; Northfield, 2,013; Weathersfield, 2,002.

The males exceeded the females by about 1,500. The population included 730 free colored persons. There were in the State 1,320 pensioners of the Revolutionary War and twenty persons one hundred years old and upwards. The number of persons engaged in various occupations were returned as follows: Agriculture, 73,150; manufacture and trade, 13,174; learned professions and engineers, 1,563; commerce, 1,303; navigation on canals, lakes and rivers, 146; mining, 77. Some of the principal agricultural statistics of 1840 showing production were as follows: Corn, 1,119,678 bu.; wheat, 495,800 bu.; oats, 2,222,584 bu.; barley, 54,781 bu.; rye, 230,993 bu.; buckwheat, 228,416 bu.; potatoes, 8,869,451 bu.; hay, 836,739 tons; hops, 48,137 lbs.; flax and hemp, 69,000 lbs.; tobacco, 585 lbs.; maple sugar, 4,647,934 lbs. ; silk in cocoons, 4,286 lbs. ; dairy products, value, $2,008,737; horses and mules, 62,402; neat cattle, 384,341; swine, 203,800; poultry, value, $131,578; sheep 1,681,819; wool, 3,699,235 lbs.

Vermont ranked second among the States in the production of wool and hops; third in maple sugar; fourth in number of sheep, silk cocoons, dairy products, hay and potatoes.

The total value of Vermont manufactures in 1840 was $6,923,982. There were 334 factories engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods, of which 239 were fulling mills, the others being woolen factories, and the value of their product was $1,331,953. The capital invested was $1,406,950 and the average number of wage earners was 1,450. The seven cotton mills reported 7,254 spindles, employed 241 workmen, and manufactured goods valued at $113,000. The capital invested was $202,500. There were in the State 261 tanneries; 17 paper mills, the product being valued at $214,720; 321 grist mills, 1,081 sawmills and 20 oil mills, the combined value of their output being $1,083,124; 26 furnaces and 14 forges, producing pig iron valued at $42,575, and iron castings worth $24,900; eight potteries, producing goods valued at $23,000; two glass factories with an output amounting to $55,000; furniture valued at $83,275; one brewery making 12,800 gallons; two distilleries, making 3,500 gallons; carriages worth $162,097; granite and marble products valued at $62,515; machinery, worth $101,354; bricks and lime valued at $402,218.

Nearly 10 per cent of Vermont's manufactured goods were produced in families, the value of this output being $674,548. At this time 6 per cent of the manufactured products of the United States was made in the homes. The mills and factories were small and many little water

powers were utilized, traces of which in later years were seem in old dams and decaying water wheels.

In 1840 Addison county is said to have contained a greater number of sheep than any other county in the United States, and to have led all other counties in wool production. The census of 1840 showed that there were in the town of Shoreham 41,188 sheep, which produced 95,276 pounds of wool. This was an average a little in excess of one and five-eighths sheep for each acre of land, improved and unimproved, and more than twentyfour sheep for each inhabitant. This was the largest wool growing town in Vermont, and probably the largest in the United States at that time. The average weight of a Shoreham fleece of wool in 1840 was a little more than two pounds and five ounces; and in 1850 it was slightly in excess of three pounds and five ounces. Some of the best graded flocks sheared an average of five pounds each, and some pure blooded Spanish Merinos produced more than six pounds each of washed wool. At one time, with favorable tariff rates, wool sold at prices varying from fifty to seventy-five cents per pound and wealth increased rapidly. Late in 1839 and 1840 prices fell and those who were in debt for land or flocks suffered severely. It is said that the wool industry of Addison county never fully recovered from this period of depression.

At this time there were in Vermont 2,300 district schools and 106,000 children between the ages of four and twelve years. The aggregate expenses for schools was $292,730 for the year, or $127 for each district.

The Congressional apportionment, based on the census of 1840, reduced the number of Vermont Representatives from five to four. In the organization of Congressional committees Senator Prentiss was made chairman of the Committee on Patents and a member of Public Lands and the Judiciary. Senator Phelps was chairman of the Committee on Militia and a member of Indian Affairs. In the House, Mr. Hall was chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Claims. Mr. Everett was second on Foreign Affairs, Mr. Mattocks was assigned to Agriculture and Mr. Young to Public Buildings and Grounds. Mr. Everett was a very active member of the House, being prominent in debate, skilful in parliamentary procedure and apparently one of the leading members of the House. Thurlow Weed in one of his letters includes the name of Horace Everett among the ablest members who served when Congress, in his opinion, was at its best.

A special session of Congress was called by President Harrison but he died just one month after his inauguration. Congressman Hiland Hall represented Vermont as one of the pall bearers at the President's funeral.

At the opening of the special session Mr. Slade was active in attempting to revise the rules in such a manner that the right of petition might be preserved. He said: "Those must know very little of the nature of abolition excitement who think to stop or retard it by denying the right of petition, and forbidding discussion in this hall. They ought to know that if obstructed in one channel it will find another. The stream will roll on, obstruct it who will." Calling attention to a third party already in