The Centre reporter. [volume] (Centre Hall, Pa.) 1871-1940, 1878-01-17

r.. .. es1 sIs.s. 3: Es.Ess .f'A'

C&matry Frcetcue"~
A lecture npon the future position OF
America among the countries ot the
earth. was delivered recently N New
York by the Rev. Joseph Cook. who was
introduced 10 his audience by William
Cullen Bryant We make the following
interesting extracts from the lecture.
Sir Charlea Dixie, the English travel
er, the lecturer said, says that after ~
had seen cultured New England, ne
looked back and did not seem ~ himSch
10 have seen America. After hrs TON.
through the South and the West, he hal
the same fcalinr. II was only when ne
had sailed on tho Pacific ont Of sight oi
the continent that he obtained n concep-
ton Of America and the American char
acter. He should have bern more can
tionA. He should have sailed in mag
ination above the lakes, and seen what
the population can be, and therefore
probably will be. he should have seen
how corrupt great cities can become.
He should have inquired what the ulti-
mate relation between rich and poor viii
be- when a still larger part Of New Eng
lane shall have become a factory and
the great West q titled farm. de should
have considered how far political wees
can spread he should have breathed
the arr Of the marshes as well AN OF the
mountain. peak. He should have taken
counsel Of Orion. ns a thousand years
from now he stands nj the zenith, shnk-
ing his locks "a aidereal fire above band
and lake. lie should have done all this
before saving that he had formed "a con-
ception OF America
Ia lis very trite 10 say IL, and yet u ~
an inspired truth, that the Roman eagles,
when their wings were strongest, never
few as far as from Plymouth Rock 20
the Golden Gate. Open the compasses
until they touch on the one side Ihebes
and on the other side London, snd they
will not span the green fields aud the
steepled cities between the Bay OF Fundy
and the Pacific coast. Do not not forget
that California il larger than England,
Wales. Scotland and ireland. and Texas
than France. OF course. do not forget
that bigness il not greatness. But big
neas is opportunity, and opportunity
employed Is greatness. DE Tocqueyiiie
has never been unwise because he said
that North America alone would some
day sustain $50, ,0Oo. 900 people. Crowd
our 80, 600, 900 Of population into Texas
and they would have more elbow room
than the people OF France. From this
cr0wding o0meG the danger.
1T IN not commonly known that the
amount of arabic soil In North and South
America is greater than that in Europe,
Asia and Africa put together, and can
therefore sustain more lives. This ia no
rash conclusion / speak from scien-
tific basis, and viii show you what that
basis ia. Our continent Is narrow, ami
therefore the winds of ocean water II vel.
The mountain chains ON the east side oi
the American continent are low; on the
east side Of the Old World they are very
high. Prom this il results that the
trade winds, laden with the wetness oi
the sea, are admitted 10 our land. The
breadth Of the Old World and IFS high
eastern ranges cause the rainless IN
teriors Of Asia and Africa. Again, Ame-
rica ia the land OF fat plains; the Old
World Of soorched plains. Our plains
run north and south, and NO admit and
receive the rains. The impulse OK
southern winds is the canse Of our hot
summers. the impalse OF northern winds
OF our cold winter. but our mountain
ranges run north and south, NO that the
sun. M he approaches and leaves them.
shines far into their gorgeE. and the
forests grow up their slopes. America
ia high under the equator, the Oh
/ World il lOw: America Is narrow under
the equator: the Old World is wide.
| Hence With us a smaller surface Is e1-
posed 10 the scorching sun As the re-
suit Of al this, cutting out the noun
/ tains. the soorched and frozen portions
from each continent, and the remant q
productive soil (as the scholars say.
| do not assert II on my own authority is
1 10. .O10. 900 square miles IN the Old
World and II, 600. 900 in The New. Thus
bursts upon us in all the hight Of scien-
tic truth the fact that America can sus.
tain greater population than the Old
| World, and IL she can, il in unquestiOn-
able that she some day viii In this
| circumstance hear the echoes ~ fate,
I with whose footballs il lin fitting that the
centuries should keep step. Some OF ns
who are not vet very old have seen our
population increase from 1900, 600 ID
I 40. .O00. 600. You, sir, addressing Mr..
I Brvantl hare seen il increase from :. .0o0.
GOO. 600 TO 40.O00.o00 In 1870 the
pivotal point. about which, II il we're
solid BODY, our population would swing,
was a little east Of Baltimore. Now il is
a little east of Cincinnati As Professor
/ Walker shows. IL has changed forty-iye
+ feet since morning. ask you 70 pause
over this pivotal point, for perhaps our
faults chiefly arise from the fac; that we
have been a frontier people. Around
this point have gathered many of the
causes OF our national peculiaritSes.
Suppose that there are loo, ,0Q0, GOO
persons IN aIl.America in the year 2, 000-
/ This In surely moderate estimate, for
now there are 81, 000, 900. Suppose that
after the year 1900 our increase is one
per cent year. or less than the present
increase i'm England and Germany. 1T
in said that the imagination IN audacioUs,
but the reason In more 90. On this bGsis.
what do we find the future OF America
10 be? Its population in the year 1000
would be G, 400, 900. 600. The "Ency-
clopedia Britannica atfirms that North
and South America can furnish susten-
ance for 8, 800, ,000, 600 Europe has an
average population Of eighty persons 10
the square mile. We have an area OF
Is. O00. 900 square miles. II we conclude
(and why may we not0 that we shall
some dsy have as large an average. our
,,o,rla4fno will he 910 600 600