MANUFACTURES. Connecticut is notably a manufacturing State, 19.5 per cent. of the total population being engaged in that industry. Though one of the smallest States of the Union, it ranks eleventh (1900) in the importance of its manufactures. Influential among the factors which have developed these interests have been the favorable geographical location and the excel lence of the land and water communication of the State, the water-power afforded by its streams, and especially the inventive talents and industri ous habits of its people. The proverbially inge nious Yankee is indigenous in Connecticut, and from an early day has excelled in the invention and manufacture of 'Yankee notions.' The names of Colt, Whitney, Goodyear, and Howe, among others, suggest the State's prominence in the past. while to-day more industries are protected by patents in Connecticut than in any other State: and in proportion to population the State also leads in the number of patents received.
By the Twelfth Census the State surpassed any other State in 11 important industries, producing 75 per cent. in value of the total ammunition out put of the country; 56 per cent. of the brass manufactures: 63 per cent. of the clocks; 47 per cent. of the hardware; 76 per cent. of the plated and Britannia ware: 64 per cent. of the needles and pins. The development of ntannfa•tumes has been steady, and the absolute gain was the great est from 1890 to 1900, both in the number of establishments and the value of the product. In
the seventeen most important industries a ten dency toward centralization is evident. inasmuch as the number of establishments has increased less than 5 per cent. during the last decade. while the total product has increased over 45 per cent. In certain industries, however, quite the contrary drift is noticeable. The textile and the brass-manufacturing industries lead in im portance, but "ihe two fared differently from 1890 to 1900, the product of the former more than doubling, that of the latter increasing but slightly. The influence of the development of cotton-mills in the South is probably reflected here, the increase in the textile manufactures being in the dyeing, finishing, and silk products —branches which have not yet developed in the South. The cotton-mills of the State are clus tered on the streams that flow into the Thames at Norwich. The following table shows the num her of establishments, the number of wage-earn ers. and the gross value of the products for 1890 and 1900: port of New York, most of the foreign trade of the State passing through that city. Although there are no exports to foreign countries direct