Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-08-25

tem-H8ecOgniti0n Of the Territories.
From tho New Tacoma (wsshinston Territory News.
Whether In view Of the continental proper
lions OF the United States and its vast extent Of
territory It's grand departmental divisions
should not DO recttfed In accordance with ply
steal facts is question worthy of discussion. In
the revolutionary era there were the New Eng
land, the middle, and the southern states, and
the present received grouping, which. however,
| Is not followed by the press or people to any
great extent divides the states into six grand
divisions, New England forming the north At
lantic states; New York. New Jersey, Pennsyl-
vania, Delaware, Maryland. Virginia and West
Virginia; the middle Atlantic states; North Caro-
lima, South Carolina, Georgia. aud Florida, the
south Atlantic states; Alabama. Mississippi,
Louisiana. and Texas, the Gulf states; Ten
| nessee. Arkansas. Kentucky, Missouri. Kansas
Ohio, Indiana. Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Col
orado, Michigan, Wisconsin; and Minnesota, the
central states. aud California, Nevada and
| Oregon n. the Pacific states
The weakness of this division is its ignoring
the territories of the United States. which con-
| tain at least three quarters of a million of souls
| and comprise one of the most important and in
| teresting portions of the American continent,
! covering an area of 9S4 $40 square miles, or
| more than one quarter of our entire limits ex-
| Guiding Alaska. which, II added. would bring
up the total to near 150O00OO0 square miles
| of territorial possessions outside of state lines
Any geographical division of the United States
which excludes so large a portion Of its terri
| tory must be inadequate to express q fair idea
OF It's extent or to properly group its political
| units.
The terms north south southwest. and north
west are still applied to various localities simply
from habit, without regard to the relative pO-
sitions Of the various states upon the continent
| tai map. When the northwest territory was &C
! hVyV nfYA
appropriately called the northwest; but this
term was extended successfully to the states
admitted from that purchase. and still fingers
about a group of lake states-Illinois, Wiscon-
sin. Iowa, Minnesota. and Dakota-beyond
| which the title Of northwest does not prevail
until Washington and Alaska are reached. where
| the real northwestern portion Of the United
States is to be found. Before and during the
late war the country was divided into two grand
| sections the north and the SOUTH but the ces-
satiOn Of civil strife robbed this designation of
Its significance. and the terms north and south
are gradually being eliminated as conveying all
idea OF distinctive policies and institutions.
Inc country has outRrown its old sectional
landmarks, and the Technology conveyed In
the above classification has become practically
extinct. 1t will be found extremely difficult to
| divide the 48 states and territories into groups
| 40 That they can be appropriately defined and
| located 0y the points OF the compass. Neither
can such division be representative one in re-
gard to productions, physical conformation, or
climates. But is such representative group
Ing Of states at all practicable? 1t may be
dimcult matter to fix and assign these geo.
| graphical departments satisfactorily to the ma
Jority. but it Ia time that an effort was made to
| rectify the limited and meaningless desgna-
| lions which are now thOughtlessy employed.
In order to call attention to this subject the
Ne,os, without much deliberation, suggests the
| following arrangement:
~ Aaan A; States-The New England states,
Delaware. Maryland. Virginia, North and
South Carolina. Georgia and Florida.
Gulf Stdtes.-Alabama, Louisiana. and Texas
Mississippi Valley States-Minnesota. Iowa.
| Wisconsin, Illinois. Dakota. Nebraska, Kansas
Missouri, Indian Territory, Arkansas. Msss-
slppi, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia,
Ohio. Indiana. and Michigan.
Central Stdtes.-Montana, Idaho, Wyoming
Nevada. Utah. Colorado, Arizona. and New
| Mexico.
Pacific States.-Caifornia. Oregon, Wash
| tngtOn. and Alaska.
Mississippi. whose principal commercial inter-
ests are connected with the Mississippi valley
rather than the Gulf. should be placed with the
former group, though it borders on the Gulf of
Mexico. 1t may be objected that some OF the
states and territories classed as Mississippi val
ley states are not strictly In this category; but
| 1t ts thought all of them will come more appro-
priately under this designation than any other,
as their waters are part of the dominating
Mississippi system. The central states, as they
| are called In this classification, extend
| from our extreme nOrtherly to the .ex-
| IRENE sOutherly boundaries, and hold a CEN
trail position as between Alaska and Maine on
| the north. The bounds Of the Pacific states are
as clearly defined as those of the Atlantic or the
Gulf states. When additional territory shall be
acquired. If any, on this coast, it will CORES
pondingly enlarge the area of the Pacific states
Electric Cars In Paris.
Negotiations have been going on between the
French Electrical Power Storage company and
the General Omnibus company, of Paris, in
reference to the substitution of electricity for
horse traction, and practical experiment was
made recently to test the efficacy of the system.
One OF the ordinary train cars Of the company
fitted up with the apparatus. was timed to start
from the Place de la COncorde about five O'clock
The motive power Is electricity stored in Faure's
accumulatOrs. These are placed under the
seats, which have to be raised for the purpose,
| and themselves weigh US much as two tons and
half. The car is lighted within and without
by electric light In order to mark the i'm
portance Of the event NJ. Cochery, the minister
OF posts and telegraphs NJ. Ferdinand de Les
seps, N. ROuvier and a number Of engineers at
tended and took their seats in the vehicle The
first run was few hundred yards up the avenue
des Champs Elysees, when the car was turned
round ut can be guided everywhere with extra
ordinary ease) and taken back again into the
Place de la COncorde- At one time q stoppage
had to be made to allow number of the Occu-
pants TO dlsmOunt. since the weight OF the &C.
cumhlatOrs and OF the passengers combined
was found to be too much for the springs This
of course, will be provided for when special We
hices are built. The car was then run on to the
train lines that pass through the Place de la
Concorde, and went at quick pace along the
Quai de la Conference in the direction Of the
Trocadero. Even along this slight incline the
speed could not have been less than eleven
miles an hour. At the Place de Palma another
turn was made and the car taken quickly back
to the POnt Royal. In every way the expert
ment was a success. It is at present proposed
to run the electric tram cars to Versailles, and
contract to this effect is on the point of being
signed. Indeed, if there had been any objection
it must have been removed by the experiment.
The arguments in favor OF these electric cars are
many and CONFERENCE.-The one fact that the
cost is less than half that of the old system
should alone suffice.
Uncle Remus on COurtship.
From the Atlanta Constitution.
81 know'd q niger one time" said Uncle
Remus, after bordering a moment, "w'at tuck
q notion dat he want a bait or simmons. en- de
mo- wat de notion tuck i'm de mo- wat he want
um, en- bimeby hit look lax he des natally err