New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-07-08
NEW STATES AND THEIR DESTINY.

Four great States at one time preparing for
admission to the Union present spectacle
which, to the patriotic but unthinking, serves
only to stimulate pride To intelligent foreign
ers il is matter of wonder, and the thought is
occasionally expressed that the stability Of the
Republic must be in measure endangered by
changes so great and possible consequences so
far reaching. In this country, however, Demo-
Gratis have an instructive feeling that the admis-
sion of the new States will not help them, but
will only increase and consolidate the pre-
dominating power at the North, and most Re-
pubhcans, without very careful examination of
reasons, are convinced that the change will be
of permanent benefit Yet the addition of eight
Senators and five Representatives at the outset,
with prospect of rapid and indefinite increase,
might easily appear to involve the possibility OF
complete change in the National balance OF
power.
The National policy which has assured the
splendid progress of the country for quarter OF
a century rests now upon a scanty majority OF
two in the Senate and three or five in the
House. One of the coming States has now a
Democratic majority. What assurance can
there be that the present Republican majorities
in the other three will be maintained? How is
il possible to count with confidence upon the po-
litical future in Territory rapidly filling with
population from all other States indiscrimnate-
w, and from other countries also, and which,
instead of 100, 900 inhabitants, will soon have
two or three times as many? Who can guess
what may be the political preference of the
voters that are to come in, or predict that
II ,Nf
present Republican majorities of few thousand
in each Territory? Oregon and Minnesota were
for long time Democratic, and have become
Republican. Why may not changes in the OPP
posite direction reverse the attitude of the COM
ing States and thus alter the political future of
the Nation?
The immigrants to Republican State are not
of necessity Republicans; on the contrary, they
are generally divided without regard to the po-
itical leanings of the State to which they go,
and in accord rather with the political leanings
of the States from which they come. If 1t were
altogether a matter of uncertainty from what
States or sections new settlers would go to
Dakota or Washington, there could be no con-
fident anticipation regarding the future political
tendencies of those States. But the fact is that
more rigorous and inviolable than any human
governments can make.
The farmer in Tennessee or in Arkansas, ac-
customed TO the climate and the productions OF
those States, will not migrate TO region OF
radically different climate and productions, and
he is right, for all the knowledge he has ac-
quiled would be there Of little Use to him. He
seeks climate where cotton can be grown, or
where the conditions for culture of corn, wheat
or other crops resemble those with which he IS
familiar Similar influences control the migra-
ton of men in other occupations. Thus all the
world over human migration tends to move on
sothcrmal lines. single example will suffice
Out of 211 ,144 inhabitants of Minnesota who
were born in other States, only 1851 came from
the northern tier of Southern States, and 1859
from all other Southern States, or 0, 946 from
the whole South, while 9,7 81 came from Maine
and Massachusetts alone, 1922 from Penn
sylvania alone. and 199, sol from States north
of the Potomac and Ohio.
This law of migration along isOthermal lines
controls the political destiny of future States
The people who migrate from States in which
there is strong Republican preponderance are
themselves Republicans by large majority
Dakota. Washington and Montana have already
been settled to large extent by inhabitants
from Northern States and that preponderance
will only increase as they become more fully &C
cuped and present a more inviting field to the
mechanical and manufacturing workers of the
North. Montana will change, as Oregon and
Minnesota have changed, if indeed there can be
sa even now to be Democratic plurality there
for any other than temporary and factional
reasons. The drift of population into all the
new States will be largely Republican in char
acter, and by industrial interests bound still
more strongly to favor the Republican National
policy.