Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-09-15
Grouping the States.

new 1OrR gun.
It is perhaps novel sense of nearness
to the main body of the Union, produced
by the completion of the Northern Pacific
Railroad, that impeIs Washington Terri
tory paper, the New Tacoma News, to call
for an abandonment henceforth of the old
time methods of grouping the states.
Certainly it is rather behind the age to
describe the Eastern states as consisting
of that half dozen known as New England,
the Middle as embracing only New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware,
and the Western as beginning with Ohio
and extending out to the Rocky Mountains.
Such nomenclature was no doubt ex-
pressive in the early days of the republic;
but an Ohio man who now presents him
self in Colorado as coming from the great
West may naturally be regarded there as
having confused ideas about the points of
the compass. Where the question is sim
ply that of northern states as against
southern, the old geographical lines still
do very well; the distinctions based on
latitude are fortified not only by historic
events still fresh in memory, but by some
marked differences in social customs and
in the productions of the soil. With the
lateral growth of the Union, however, the
centre of population now finds itself in
the neighborhood of Cincinnati; and it is
rather queer, therefore, to see Ohio and
Indiana still not recognized as coming
within the pale of Middle states.
Several efforts have been made to suggest
grouping moro in accordance with
geographical facts. One of these,
for example, divides the states
into north Atlantic, Middle Allan
tic, South Atlantic, Gulf, Central, and Pa
cifc states. This classification is a gain
in accuracy, and yet requires close study
in order to be understood, since some of
its details seemed forced and arbitrary;
but what the New Tacoma News particu-
larly insists upon is that the Territories
must be included in any permanent group
ing, because they will develop SO fast into
states that they might as we'll be taken in
to account now. 1t therefore proposes
the following schedule:
~ Atlantic States-The six New En-
gland states, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Vir-
ginia, the two Carolinas, Georgia and
Florida.
and ~ Tez a9i' ''A's'-A'A'A"A' D''l'ADA'
g. Mississippi Valley states-Minne-
sofa, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Dakota,
Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri. Indian Terri
tory, Arkansas. Mississippi, Tennessee,
Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana,
and Michigan.
AZ Central states-Nontana, Idaho,
Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizo-
ma, and New Mexico.
o. Pacific California, Oregon
Washington, and Alaska.
Still this arrangement, though original
and ingenious, will hardly do. The &C.
ceptance of Louisiana and Alabama as
good Gulf states, and the rejection at the
same time of Mississippi, which lies be-
tween them, might possibly be excused;
so perhaps might the Jumping alike of
West Virginia and Nebraska, of Ohio and
Indian Territory, among Mississippi Val
ley states; but the list given by the News
of what it would call the eight Central
states of the Union belongs rather to COM
&c geography.
Altogether, a grouping of the states
which shall be both perfect in principle
and universally acceptable seems still to
be wanting.