The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1881-02-09
The Growth of FennsyluInIa.

Without fully coming up to the
sanguine expectations of our own
people, the census Of 1880 gives
Pennsylvania very creditable po-
sition in the progress Of national
sisterhood. Our rate of the increase
in the last ten years was II per cent.
while that of New York State was
16 per cent. And yet New York has
during all that period enjoyed the
immense advantage of monopolizing
two-thirds of the foreign commerce
of the Republic, and aboutthe same
proportion Of foreign immigration.
Her organized capital, her business
enterprise, her command of inter-
nal trade, and the enormous magni-
tude OF her resources, combined to
give that State an attraction and a
prestige that should have kept up
her progress far in advance of that
of all other American States. Penn
sylvania on the other hand, has de-
voted her attention to railways, do
mestic industries, mining, internal
development, and encouragement of
home traffic. The result has prov
en- that Pennsylvania's policy is and
must continue to be, under all cir
cuumstances, the wisest and the
best calculated to enhance the pros
perity of the American State. Some
calculations have been made going
to show that at the same rate of in
crease in both States, Pennsylvania
will in twenty years overtake and
pass New York in population. We
have no doubt that such an event is
possible if the policy of Pennsylva-
MIA can be guided Alright in the
meantime. There can be no sort of
doubt that if this State had as many
miles of railway as Illinois her pop
ulation would increase more rapid
ly. For a number of years, Penn
sylvania stood at the head of the
list as the first railroad State in the
Union. But the wild mania for
building railroads in the west un-
der the stimulus Of the competition
of the great trunk line companies
and of the boundless ambition Of
the three leading western cities,
placed Illinois at the head of the
list of railway States and compelled
Pennsylvania to accept of a second
place. 1t was alleged for a time that
those Illinois RAILWAYS could not
possibly find a paying business.
But they have created it by the
rapid multiplication of industries
all along their routes. In Pennsyl-
vania. which is the parent of that
system, the growth of population
has been largely stimulated by the
increase in like manner of local in
dustries all over the State. Latter
ly the application of the industrial
principle to agricultural products,
which has been found so advanta-
geous to New York and Illinois, has
made great progress in Pennsylva-
MIA in the establishment of butter
and cheese factories, canning works,
etc. There is therefore good reason
to believe that the internal develop
ment of Pennsylvania will be car
ried forward rapidly and prosper
ously in the course of the ensuing
twenty years, so that we may add
two millions of the people to our
aggregate, and probably be able to
pass ahead of New York and gain
the height of our ambition as the
leading State in the Union. Now
that the foreign emigration is flow
ing into the country freely, it be-
comes our people to be keenly alive
to this great opportunity, and to
adopt measures to induce the agri-
immigrants from Europe to
settle upon and cultivate our wild
lands in the inferior of Pennsylva-
nia under the influence of some of
our enterprising railway companies,
instead of seeking homes in the re-
mote west