The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1880-11-18
What Paper Has HELPED to Make


nl6cent natural resources, and the rapid
increase of our population, due to an
precedented emigration. In 1776 the
civilized population Of this country
numbered about 100000, and occupied
the thirteen original States; now, after
an interval Of scarcely more than one
hundred years, our population comprises
43, 900. 900 individuals scattered over g.
600, 900 square miles OF this continent, OF
through thirty seven States and nine
Territories. Our broad domain, with
mighty navigable rivers in its heart. and
with thousands ofmiles of fertile prairies,
has become by far the chief agricultural
region of the world, and the value of our
agricultural productions has now reached
the enormous annual aggregate of s.,
SOC, 900, 900. Our mineral resources are
also unequaled. The United States, ex-
elusive Of Alaska, is estimated to con-
tain more than 100000 square miles of
workable coal beds, or lei ght times as
large as tie available coal area Of all the
rest of the world.'' Within twenty years
Calofrnia and neighboring Territories
have yielded to American enterprise not
less than one thousand millions of dol
lars in gold, and yet at the time America
was discovered, Europe contained only
sixty millions of this precious metal.
Vast beds of other minerals, especially
iron, abound. In the development of
manufactures OF all kinds, giant for
ward strides have also been made. Of
cotton factories alone there are over 1000
in the country.
Now turn and look at our remarkable
literary advancement within the same
period. At tlae breaking out of the rev.
olution the colonists possessed but nine
colleges, among them Yale and Harvard :;
now there are about 800 similar institu-
lions in this country, while the develop
ment OF the common school system, from
scanty beginnings, with lew books, etc.,
to the establishment of numerous fine
school-ho'lses, and the furnishing of all
that Can render education easily and
cheaply obtainable by the multitude,
has been much greater feature of our
progre So.
But these educational results have
been to a great extent made only posi-
bic by the wonderful achievements of
the modern printing press, which, in
turn, owes heavy debt to those great
improvements in our facilities for man
ufacturing paper, that alone have rem
dered the latter article sufficiently plen-
tiful to meet the enormous demands of
the press, and that alone enable us to
buy cheap hool-books, as well as cheap
periodicals of every kind.
Our great progress in journalism is
shown by the fact that in 1875 there
were in the United States less than forty
newspapers and periodicals whose aggre.
gate issue for that year comprised l.
200, 900 copies; now the united press
publishes over 500 daily newspapers
more than 4 600 weeklies, and about coo
monthly publications, of the dailie<
that existed in 1870, about 5000, OOC
copies were struck off that year; of ttn
weeklies, about Goo, 600, 600; and of 9th.
er serial publications, about 100000, 900
amounting in all to 100000 copies
And to sum the matter up yet more for.
chilly, it must be stated that the United
States publishes more newspapers, with
greater combined circulation, than all
| other c0untriesl Of the world can to.
gether boast of having.
The history of the postal department,
of the government presents an interest.
ing feature of our national growth.
Shortly alter the close of TITS, it was es-
timated that there were about fifty post.
offices in the United States. There is
still to be seen in the postal department
in the city of Washingto small book
containing about fifty sheets of foolscap
paper, and in this book the entire &C.
counts Of the general postoffice depart
ment were kept. In 1889, when the con-
tederacy was supplanted by the present
tolm OF national government, the num-
Der of postofhces was about seventy. five;
the annual income from them about
$4,000; annual expenditures, $4,000;
and the combined length Of postroaas
reached about 1900 miles. At the pres
ent time this country contains over
$4,000 postofices, with an aggre-
gate length of post routes of 256,OOO
miles; the annual revenue amounts to
$23,000,000, and the annual expendi-
lures to $29, 000,0 00.-Paper World.