PART I.

SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL CHANGES

IN THE

COUNTY OF BARNSTABLE.

The following Memorial was presented to the legislature during the Session of 1896:

"The undersigned respectfully memorializes the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of Massachusetts:

To take such action as will enable the Bureau of Labor of the State to make inquiries (statistical and otherwise) during the current year, concerning the immigration of Western Islanders into Barnstable County, etc. Your memorialist is moved to make this request by his sense of the great value to the State and Nation of this county as a nursery for seamen; and inasmuch as its original inhabitants are leaving it in such numbers as to give just occasion for alarm in the above respect, I ask that the above inquiry may be as comprehensive as it is possible to make it.

To this end I respectfully suggest that the capacity of the Cape for gardening may be investigated: First in its immediate relation to the support of families, and next by drainage and irrigation, that opportunity may be gained for the culture of the cranberry and other valuable crops suitable to the soil and climate.

I respectfully call your attention in the above connection to the fact that the Commonwealth still holds possession of an extensive tract of unoccupied territory in the town limits of Provincetown. Large portions of this reservation admit, it is thought, of cultivation by means of terraces upon its hill-sides, the application of loam from its low places, and water from its ponds.

In view of the precarious nature of fishing as a means for the support of families, I ask that the investigation of the Bureau of Labor be conducted with the desire to ascertain how far the functions of the State can be exercised in the aid of the people in the reclamation and adaptation of land for the ends herein set forth."

This memorial was presented by Edward H. Rogers, Esq., of Chelsea, a former resident upon Cape Cod. It was supported by a petition in its aid from the Brotherhood of the Carpenter, of Boston, an organization within the Protestant Episcopal Church. It was duly referred to the proper committee, and, after a hearing, a resolve was reported and finally passed, directing the Bureau to make the desired investigation. In reporting under this resolve it is not necessary to rely entirely upon statistical presentations, nor can the purpose of the memorial be fully met by a mere array of figures. Nevertheless, the present industrial condition of the towns in Barnstable County, and the exact composition of the population, as affected by immigration, especially of Western Islanders, may be most graphically shown by comparing the data derived from the Decennial Censuses of 1885 and 1895. Before proceeding to such textual comments as seem necessary, a series of tables is therefore presented which may serve as the foundation for comment.

The first table exhibits the population of the county, by towns, at the dates of seven successive censuses, beginning with 1865.

In 1895, as compared with 1865, a decline is shown in the county as a whole, and in every town except Falmouth and Provincetown. Falmouth has increased during this time from 2,283 to 2,655; and Provincetown has increased from 3,472 to 4,555. Part of the loss in Sandwich is due to the incorporation of the town of Bourne out of its territory in 1884. It is a curious coincidence that the population of Sandwich and Bourne was identical (1,580) in 1895. The following presentation shows which towns have increased or decreased at specified census dates as compared with preceding enumeration :

The county, as a whole, has shown a decline at each enumeration, beginning with 1865. Falmouth shows a loss under the enumerations in 1865, 1870, and 1875, and a gain under each subsequent enumeration. Provincetown, the other town which shows a gain in 1895 as compared with 1865, shows a slight loss as compared with 1890; a loss in 1880 as compared with 1875; and a gain under every other enumeration. Chatham, Truro, Wellfleet, and Yarmouth show a loss under each enumeration, beginning with 1865; Barnstable,

a loss until that of 1895, which shows a very slight increase over 1890; Brewster, a loss, except in 1890 as compared with 1885; Dennis, a loss, except in 1875 as compared with 1870; Eastham, a loss, except in 1880 as compared with 1875; Mashpee, a loss, except in 1880 as compared with 1875, and in 1895 as compared with 1890; Orleans, a loss, except in 1875 as compared with 1870, and in 1890 as compared with 1885; and Sandwich, a loss, except in 1880 as compared with 1875; this loss, as stated, being partly due to the incorporation of the new town of Bourne, which shows a slight but continuous gain since its establishment in 1884. Prior to 1865, however, a gain had been shown from the earliest years, although slight in 1855 and 1860, as will appear from the following statement, which also shows the loss subsequent to 1860:

The final loss or gain in population for the entire thirty years, with percentages, is shown in the following table:

* Established April 2, 1884, from a part of Sandwich. The loss upon the territory of Sand. wich and Bourne together is 998 since 1865, or 24 per cent.

Established May 28, 1870.

As a whole, the county shows a loss of population amounting to 20.10 per cent in the thirty years, and while Falmouth and Provincetown have gained 16.29 per cent and 31.19 per cent, respectively, during this time, many of the towns show a loss much greater than that of the county in the aggregate. For example, Truro and Wellfleet, which, next to Provincetown, occupy the outer part of the Cape, have lost, respectively, 43.68 per cent and 57.84 per cent. No other towns show so great a loss as this except Sandwich, which, as a separate municipality, has lost 62 per cent; but this is largely due to the incorporation of Bourne, inasmuch as the loss upon the territory occupied by Sandwich and Bourne together is but 24 per cent.

We now pass to an analysis of the present population. The table at the top of page eight exhibits a classification of native and foreign born with percentages of same.