St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1860-10-04
The Great West.

The West is soon to be presented
in new aspects before the world. The
national census will show how rapid
ly this section of the country has in
creased in population, wealth, and all
the elements of material prosperity
during the last decade. The vast pro-
duction of cereals at the West this
year, coupled with the foreign de-
mand for them, reveals the agricultu-
raj prc-emincnce of this portion OF
the Union. The selection of the four
candidates for the Presidency from
west of the Allcghanics is one of the
many indications observable Of the i'll
nuence Of the West upon the future
government policy of the confederacy.
At the Presidential election in 1920,
Ohio had eight votes in the Electoral
College, Indiana and Illinois three
each, making a total of only fourteen
votes for the Free Northwest, out OF
the 53l votes then cast. This year
those three States will give forty
seven Of the 3O3 electoral votes, anc
the Free States of the North-Wcs
have sixty-six votes.
This ratio will he increased aftc
the election this year, as the next ap
r portionment of Congress will add t.
the representation of the West. Hi
nois will then take its place among
the largest States, and future politi
cal parties will conform their polio
to meet the views of the leading me
= the West shall hereafter send
: Washington. This constant incrcas
G in material productiveness and polit
, cal power will ere long be felt in tn
. politics of the country, in a mamie
which neither the South nor the Mort
, has yet appreciated. The West prom
| Uses to control the government;
action of the confedcracy by media
, ing between its extreme members
: Less rigid in opinion, more capable
I adapting itself to circumstances, tina
T.. the East, it is at once sound in its a
l tachment to the principle of freedom
, and able in contriving the cxpedient
, by which principles are organized
practical measures.
5 1t is fixed law of population tn;
| it expands with much more rapidit
in nations where land is cheap, til
soil productive, remunerative labc
, abundant, and where the means of
comfortable livelihood are freely a
fordcd to all who earnestly seek fu
/, them, than in countries where war
: and distress frequently prevail, an
,f where it is the unfortunate fate Of Il
is masses to lead lives Of hopeless inc
gcncc and misery. No people a
j. more prolific than the inhabitants
II the comparatively new agricultur
No districts of the United States, whc
! early marriages are contracted, whe
he a wife almost invariably proves
&C. helpmatc rather than a pecuniary b'
he den, where farms are cheap, and he
m, est industry certain to reap rich
ward for its labors.
rs While our population has increas
re so wonderfully since 1890, the ter
90 torial expansion since that period h
almost kept pace with it. The der
ty of populutien per square mile,
1880, was 4,s9, and in 1850, althon
-, the population meanwhile was
=, creased in the proportion of six to o
~" ' the density was 100. The most TIL
'n Iy populated State in the Union
"' 1850 was Massachusetts, which C.
20 tanned l27, so to each square milc.9
:: 80 would require population of abe
-, 35s, O0O, 900 in the present States a
Territories to establish in them
- density equal to that of the Old 1
State. There is, therefore, am
, room for centuries of rapid gro'
~ of population before our whole &C
h;a try becomes as thickly settled as
ID of the existing States, and the p
49,. ent ratio Of increase will probably
e, diminish as long as any new
lts sparsely settled States and Terrific
g., continue to attract emigration, ant
NV open up new avenues to profitable
,en dustry.
Ia Republicans Shot in Indiana.