It doesn’t have to be 10 percent I’m just giving numbers. I’m bad at that part of it so I’m giving wide ranges. I’m asking couldn’t the south have a higher percentage compared to the north to lessen the gap a good bit?
The Confederacy could have a higher percent of their population under arms. It would come at a cost of higher taxation and/or increased inflation and reduce the number of Confederates available to the work force. Both of these would hamper the Confederate economy. The Confederacy could not have a larger army than the Union without bankrupting themselves and crippling their economy.
I’m also hinting at rapid industrialization through non democratic means on the confederacy part or at least limited. Industrialization always rapidly changes thing.
This level of centralization and state managed economy would require the violent overthrow of the existing Confederate government. If the Confederacy managed to survive its own civil war, their industrialization would be as "efficient" as real world state managed industry. The non-democratic industrialization would push unrealistic production goals that would be met by steep reduction in quality. The state managed bureaucracy would only match consumer needs by luck, with there being large surplusses or shortages on most industrial goods. Rapid industrialization also requires large amounts of investment capital. That requires that the Confederate government raise taxes and/or increases deficit spending.. Higher taxes and higher inflation would result in a lot of people leaving the Confederacy, either by emigration or attempted state secession.