The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1888-10-05


HERE is curious fact, which Illus
trates our unexpected expansion in
territory and population. Just after
the revolutionary war, Lord Sheffield
published a book in London entitled,
observations on the Commerce OF
the American States" Sheffield was,
to be sure, not over friendly to us, his
loyalty to the crown giving possible
color to his views, but he was sup
posed to be careful and shrewd OBJ
server. At any rate, his statements
were received in England as reliable,
and they acted as balm to the Brit
ish disappointment at the loss of the
colonies. He declared unreservedly
that the American continent was prac.
tically valueless for commercial pur-
poses. 1t was simply vast wilder
ness, which could never be thickly
populated, with certain natural OBJ.
stacles which rendered any extended
commerce impossible. The states Of
the Atlantic seaboard, he admitted
might in time rise to some impor-
tance, but the vast tract of inland ter
ritory was hardly worth consideration.
He ventured the prediction that "set-
tiers beyond the Allegheny mount
aims cannot become commercial be-
cause there is no possible outlet to
the sea for their products. These
mountains, his lordship declared, were
a barrier to prosperity that could
never be overcome. If he could re-
turn from his grave now, start in a
Pullman car from Philadelphia, travel
over the Alleghenies at speed which
would make each particular hair
stand on end, and so for several days
and nights at the same rate of speed
through countless villages, towns and
crowded cities, through what was in
his day an almost impenetrable for
est, over the prairies, of which he
never dreamed, and then over the
Rockies, to find an immense popula-
ton on the Pacific coast, he would
probably entertain as slender an opin-
ion of his prophetic powers as We do.
Ii he had been told, after the publica-
ton Of his book, this great wilderness,
which he believed to be a barrier to
our western advance, would be
changed into fields of grain, upon
which English lords and English
workmen would largely depend for
their daily bread; that the Missis-
sippi river, in the course of three gen.
erations, would flow through the geo.
graphical center of republic num-
bering 6O,OOO,0O0 people, and that the
whole continent of Europe would be
yearly dependent upon the abundance
OF our crops, his lordship would have
looked upon the speaker as a fanatic
or madman. At the time when lord
Sheffield made his lugubrious proph.
ecy the total area of the United States
was 827,S44 square miles. In 1905
the province of Louisiana was ceded
containing an area of ], III, ,931 square
miles, and extending northward from
the mouths of Mississippi to the
British possessions, and westward tc
the Pacific ocean. In 1919 We ac.
quired Florida, 59,268 square miles
in 1845 Texas, containing 376, 135
square miles; in 1S4S the first Mexi-
can cession of 545,783 square miles
was made; in 1858 a second Mexican
cession Of 1886 square miles, and
lastly, in 1867, the Russian cession OF
Alaska, containing 577,390 square
miles. This makes the total area OF
the United States 2,6OS,Ss4 square
miles, or more than four times what il
was in 1877. The present size of the
republic and our exhaustless material
resources emphasize our responsible.