68  THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  UNEMPLOYED
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  the  two  and  a  half
millions.  What  has  become  of  the  rest  of  the  increase?
The  answer  is  that  the  trades  engaged  in  distribution  and
transport  are  growing  quite  out  of  proportion  to  the  growth
of  the  population.  While  the  agricultural  class  has  largely
declined,  the  domestic  class  increased  but  slowly,  the  industrial ­
  class  barely  kept  pace  with  the  growth  of  the  occupied
population  as  a  whole,  the  transport  class  has  increased  62
per  cent,  between  1881  and  1901,  and  the  commercial  class
no  less  than  85  per  cent.  When  we  look  more  closely  into
this  enormous  increase  of  the  classes  engaged  in  distributing
wealth,  we  find  that  “  commercial  clerks  ”  have  grown  in
twenty  years  from  181,487  to  307,889,  an  increase  about
twice  as  great  as  that  of  the  occupied  population  as  a  whole.
Bank  clerks  and  officials  have  increased  from  14,998  to
30,284,  and  insurance  agents  from  15,068  to  55,013.
§  10.  The  Abnormal  Growth  of  Retail  Traders.
Owing  to  the  fact  that  many  “  dealers  ”  are  classed  with
“makers  ”  in  the  Census  returns,  it  is  not  possible  to  make
a  full  and  accurate  computation  of  the  growth  of  those
engaged  in  retail  trade.  But  the  following  comparison  of
those  engaged  in  retail  trades  in  1881  and  1891*  where  the
dealers  are  separated  from  the  makers  is  most  instructive  :

*  The  figures  for  1901  are  not  yet  available.