The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-02-18
London Times.l

NASAA
picture of material progress for ten years
Since 1870 more than eleven and half mill
lions have been added to the population, at a
rate of 30 per cent. increase. EXCEPT China
and Great Britain and Russia no Government
can count more subjects. In the number of
| citizens moved by similar impulses, and rec
ognizing common ends, the British Empire
itself yields to the great Republic. Fifty mil
| lions Of human beings in land like America
more than match the eighty-six millions of
European and ASiatic Russia. The three hun
dred and twenty-five millions of China are not
to be compared with them as force among
| mankind. The growth of a population NAV
be generally understood to imply the growth
| OF wealth and resources. AS each census in
European State indicates a numerical ad-
vance, it may for the most part be inferred
that fresh means of support have been made
available When, however, every sue
cessive census in the United States reveals
an expansion by bounds and leaps, faith
in the instinct of human nature not to
multiply beyond the power of existence is
scarcely needed to reassure anxiety. The gran
ary which is to feed the new millions which
have come, the millions which are to follow,
piles its stores for the whole world to certify
them. Each added American citizen has not
to search for the livelihood Nature h 'as some-
where or other for all her children. He is
born or imDorted with his inheritance labeled
and allotted. He has but to go West, o. North,
or South; there it is awaiting his advent.
European population, even the home popu-
lation of Great Britain, it must be acknowl-
edged, have rather in their decennial polls a
look of boys growing out of their clothes. An
elbow or an ankle is sure to be seen betrayiug
a want of proportion between past resources
and present demands. On the other side of
the Atlantic there is magazine of clothes
warranted to fit all ages and sizes. Good soil
is crying out everywhere for its owners to come
and possess it. They have not to conquer and
annex. Though the domain be lying desolate,
or be hunting ground for Indians, it con-
fesSes itself their own, for them to enter and
enjoy it as soon as they please, the sooner the
better. How fresh thousands and hundreds of
thousands Of acres are continually being
brought under tillage, Europe requires no GEN.
sus from Washington to tell The West and
Northwest are home farm for the older hem
isphere; the lahorers on this side of the ATTAIN
tic hear the echo of each mile of territory
broken up by the plow on that. The Gems us
shows that the growth is universal and not par
tlal. The census itself, according to our Phil
adelphia correspondents account of Col. Nc
Clure's inquiries, hardly does justice to the
energy with which the South is keeping pace
with the rest. The rate in one class of indus
try approxlmates TO that of another. AS the
farmers of Minnesota have multiplied from
439,706 in 1870 to 7S0,S07 in 1880, the CONNER
cial and mining population of Pennsylvania
has risen from 3,52l ,951 to 4,2S2,73S While
the vegetable and mineral riches of the West
are being reduced into possession for the bene-
MT OF the universe at large, American cities as
sert their right to take toll of the fruits before
they are distributed over the earth. If the
State of Colorado can boast 174 ,649 inhabitants
as against 81, ,S64 ten years ago, Chicago points,
after proportion hardly unequal, TO 503304
citizens against 29S ,977 in 1870, and San Fran
cisco to 800 as against 1894 When cities
have enlarged to the dimensions of New York
and Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Boston and Balti-
more, they extend more slowly, yet they, too,
may discover ample foundation in the census
OF last June for their own belief that they are
taking higher rank among the commercial Cit
les OF the world. What is more remarkable
sun is the equivalent expansion OF smaller To-
cal centres. That Cincinnati, and New York,
and Baltimore, and st. Louis, and the like,
should fringe tne vast grain and cotton and
oeef bearing regions OF the Union with popu-
have been expected. 1t was certain that they
would grow with the growth of agricultural
industry. To the late Mr.. Corbett they would
have seemed as much of idle wasting wens as
London itself with its Mayfair, its Exch ange,
It's Parliament, and It's Law Courts. They are,
i'll truth, as necessary to American prosperity
as the minerals of Nevada and California, and
the colntields of Illinois and Iowa. But the
Union might have bad its splendid towns and
its breadths of fertile plains and valleys with
hatW
two. 1t is popularity of North American de-
yelopment. and evidence of its solidity, that
town and country grow together. As the
branches aud roots of healthy tree should
stretch forth IN unison, prosperous country life
IN anewly-planted American territory is sure to
have its reflex in a thriving neighooring mar
ket-town. Not many EngliShmen are familiar
with the name OF Minneapolis. Yet Mnneap-
OILS, IN Minnesota which in 1870 had 1906
citizens and now has 1851, is as much Gen.
tire OF corporate vitality as York, and great
deal more than Maryebone or Paddington. The
Hobokens, the Omahas, the Toledos, the
Wheelings, the Grand Rapids are more real
wonders OF United States progress than the
magnificent emporums of trade like New
YORK, and st. Louis and Chicago and Pitts
burg. Europe can do more than equal the one
class III the apparatus of civilization, if not in
rapid growth for the other it has no parallel.
As soon as the pioneers go forth into the woods |
and prairies to reclaim their latent treasures,
most OF the iuxuries and many of the comforts
OF civilization attend their steps. Within no
more time than it takes to open the mine or
the forest, a town rises contiguous to their
homesteads. The figures our Philadelphia
correspondent appends to his condensation OF
the last census bring ipto relief this most Strik-
ing of all the features of American
vlgor. Americans differ extraordinarily
among themselves in the vocations
they pursue. North and South differ IN
moral and mental organization; East and West
differ hardly less. Every State has its idiosyn-
crasles oy which its population may be dis
tinguished. Yet all Americans agree in a
common determination nowhere to sever
themselves from the incidents of nineteenth
century existence. They are ready to bury
themselves in mines and to plunge into the
untrodden wilderness. They insist, however,
that camp shall track their footsteps equipped
with the ordinary accompaniments of munich
pal life. They must have within not imprac-
ticable distance, the lecture hall, the church,
the newspaper office. They will not at what
ever cost, cease to feel themselves, not merely
Americans but American citizens.
The result does not conduce to the pictur-
esqueness of American nationality. AS the
European tourist traverses the Union he is
amazed at the high standard of social conve-
nience throughout the enormous dominion. All
that can be accomplished by human co-opera-
ton he perceives has been accomplished in |
greater or less degree for the benefit of the
American farmer. England, and France, and
Germany could not conceive a form of mate
rial or intellectual enjoyment of which the
universal American population would not de-
mand share or duplicate. On the other
hand, the effect is occasionally like that of
dinner at cheap Paris restaurant. The order
and the number, and the titles of the banquets
OF the extravagant vicinity are faithfully re.
produced with alien substances and counter
felt flavor. A foreign observer of American
institutions i'll the newer States and Terri
or les regrets the local and racy charm dis
guised to him by what he may think a false
mimicry OF more advanced cultivation. In
truth, there is no conscious mimicry, and no
absence OF reality in intention and enjoyment.
The farmer of the West and the tradesman of
the ten or twenty year old town of his district
are natural enough in the resemblance they
maintain to the habits and tastes of Boston
and New York. Wherever the American goes
he carries himself with him unchanged how
over changed may be his circumstances. To
lament the dead If high level, and the loss of
the Charm OF variety, is to lament that in
which the essence of American national prog
ress consists. If there is little fear for the i-
tegrity OF American nationality, vast as the
area over which it extends, and impossible as
may seem its future bulk, the reason is to be
sought In the unity of the mold in which each
new development is cast At every step the
Union takes towards appropratiug its estate,
the last annexed township assumes o social as