The Dillon tribune., 1881-05-21
WASHINGTON LETTER
From our regular Correspondent

WASHINGTON LETTER
tl'ro,n Our regular Correspondent
WASHINGTON, May II, 1881.
The indications are that we shall pres.
emily know all about the American citizen |
Numerically, financially, geographically, |
phy ysiologically, und morally. II we do
not, il will not be the fault Of the tenth cen.
sus. Statistically he has been sitting for
his photograph, and we have him viewed
from every position, and classified accord.
To race, sex, age, color, religion, and family
relations. Never before has this country
been SO inundated with information about
itself as it will be when this remarkable
piece Of literature goes to press. Every
now and then bulletin IL issued from the
census bureau giving a glimpse of some
branch Of the work, and We are made 10
comprehend in some degree the vastness
OF the coming arrays Of figures. There is
something So grandly imposing about them
that we are getting them in sections. In
spite Of the well.proved fact that figures
can and do lie, and that when they lie it j.
with an auiacitv and unblushng hardi-
the tradition that they cannot liz clings to
them with the te,,;,ritv OF Il superstition.
The census will be like one of those
;.:y;l ::.llc books now and then set adritt
N The vide, black tide of printers ink, la
, ',ellrh ~ Thousand ant One Things
Worth Knowing" We shall find the su
ptrt1uous woman neatly tabulatcd. and as.
certain in which great ",irainagc basin" OF
the United States lies the most dense l,oru-
la,ion besides all about acreage. axes, bond.
ed indebtedness. and the "relations Of the
sexes" All this will be more or less inter-
c>t:ny according to the ,',sntal constitution
| OF tic reader, thoug!, As a rule reports OF
wealth, debt, and tlxation," unless it be our
own, do not possess the most absorbing in
| ts,est. But wh..n we come to a statement
oi the ">listr;buticn OF t'.c population i"
,, elevation above sea.ievel," or a narration
of the facts about "tcnrerature and ropula-
tinn," we feel that We have fallen upon that
which vitally concerns all Of us.
| The bulletin giving summary Of the
work performed under direction of Prof
(;annett the geograpl,er 1T the cvn>uS, is
anong those lately issued The purpose
OF it was to show the relations ol' teMpera.
,ions of temperature ard population. Tho
tables indicate, in brief, that the greatest
percentage of gains in Norulat:n" since 1876
is found in the extreme temperatures, nortt
ana Sonth, though the largest absolute gains
are ot course in the regions ranging troT
90 to 5S degrees mean annual temperature
. The sections having temperature aMvt
sS degrees contian the entire cotton region
those above 70 degrees, the sugar and rio,
regions: while between 50 degrees and f.
, degrees is comprised most Of the tobacco
re ZION. The prairie region OF the Mis>is
sippi Valley lies almost entirlv below IS dc
yrccs, while the great whelt region OF Min
,csota and Dakota is mainly below ~ dc
yrees of mean annual temperature. Ih
hottest part Of tn" country is. naturally til
/, southern end ot Florida, while Sostl'er
: Texas and Southwestern Arizona con'
It ncxt in degree Of temperature.
q Next we come t" the gu .stion o' at
a tude. In that thin old geograp!,
). which was the dream book of our yuul
d that little phrase 1.-THE level OF the sea" lai
# violent hands upon our imagination. m
n now that It rises up again among the >t..!i
y tics of the tenth census We see the people
d this United States ranged III tiers l:h" a r'
= Gus audience. The American citizen Idea
r lied and averaged is about seven hundr.
= feet tall While his feet are planted IN Il
u swampv, alluvial sections OF the South. II
Vt head looms up in the Cordilleran regio
To cut it short, nearly onrtith nt Il
t. population live below one hundred tee
10 more than t.,rec-iurths below one tho,l>;,'
ut feet, while ninety. seven per cent. live y
N low two thousand feet above the sea levt
n. The people in the lowest tier are engage
in manufacturing and the culture OF cot'o
rice and sugar. Next above them COZ,
1t the grain producers and farmers, while Il
il. aspirin. population, which cnnn" be co
,e tent with anything less than six tl,"usa'
|, feet. occupies itself almost exclusively wi
to mining. Upward as we'll as westward I
,g star OF empire sometimes takes it, WI
!. Between one and two thousand feet. the
crease in population since 1870 has be-
-. nearly fifty per cent. and between to
II. thousand and six thousand feet the ne"
~ awakened interest in mining has caused
n increase of more than one hundred I
in cent.
-. There is little change in thu political :
80 80 uation here, except that a better teeli
,,n prevails anon. Republicans. For a d
al or two there has been more hopeful pr
mi p.ct nt harmony in the party nv co
,,o promise of the differences between
~ President and Senator Conk'ing over
~" New York nominations. Governor Eos
has been here in the role Of peace,trak
but at this writing the result cannot %
u" no,,Ot.,.1