Mower County transcript., 1890-01-29
NOT A VAST CEMETERY.
Hgure~ Showing That the Earth u More
% Than Burial Ground.

49, ~ NEW y
HGures Showing That the Earth Il Aors
Than Burial Ground.
Again and again this old poetic fancy
of the earth as one great cemetery
buried several times deep with dead
men and women and children, has been
refuted BY figures. But great is error
and will prevail, unless the truth be
we'll and steadily upheld. The popula-
ton Of the earth is now about l, 500, 900,
600. Suppose the human race to have
existed for 9, 600 years, and to have been
always as great as now. In 5000 years
you have 60 centuries. In each century
you may count three generations Of
mankind, or one hundred and eighty
generations in all, each being . gem
GRAFTON Of /, 500, ,oo0, 600. Now lay out
cemetery for one generation. 1t will be
huge estimate to every man, women
and child grave five feet by two, or
ten square feet. You want for your
graveyard, then, $4,000, 600, 600 square
feet OF ground. A square mile
contains something less than $4,000, 600
square feet You want, then, . grave
yard not IS miles long by 10 wide for
your whole generation. Now multiply
this by 1So and you have your burial
ground for 5000 years of mankind. That
is, strip of land 1900 miles long by IS
miles wide will be ample. In other
words, cemetery containing 100, 600
square miles would be sufficient for the
entire human race to lie side by side.
The estimate which I have given you of
continuous population is obviously enor-
mously large. The estimate of the size
of each grave is very large. A strictly
correct estimate would reduce the size of
the required cemetery more than one
half. But enormous as it is, you could
lay out your battle-ground for all men
who have lived on earth, SO that they
could lie side by side, in Arizona or in
California, or you could lay it out in
Texas large enough to accommodate the
race of 5000 years past, and
also the race for 5000 years yet
to come, all sleeping in the soil Of that
one State of this Union. But some one
says the race of man has been on earth
100, 900 years. This is pure imagina-
tion. and there is not, so far as know,
fact on which to rest it. But suppose
it is true, and suppose the population al
ways what it now is. You have provided
for 5000 years of it. You want nearly
II times as large a cemetery for the
generations of a thousand centuries.
That is, you want I, 700, 600 square miles
in it. Lay it out whenever you please.
1,700 miles long by 1000 wide. It is but
part of the United States. And so
enormously large have been the rough
estimates thus far used, it is safe to say
that if the human race has been in ex-
istence 100, 900 years, separate grave
could be provided for every individual
OF the race within . part of the United
States east of the Mississippi river.
The fact is, my friend, you
need but q very small piece OF the
earth's surface to lie down ir. And you
occupy but very small space while you
live. Stand in corner, with your back
to the wall, and your shoulder against
the side wall. Put a book against the
wall outside your other shoulder, close
to it. Let some one hold stick across
In front of your body. So you will
measure how much room you occupy
when standing up in a crowded assem-
bly,. You are large man if you require
two square feet. The average require
ment of generation of men, women
and children is not one square foot and
. halt More than $4,000, 600 persons
can stand on square mile of surface.
Now see how small crowd after
all would be an Assem- bly, of all men
out of all ages and kindreds and peo-
pies, were they gathered together
Carry your arithmetic still further. You
laid out cemetery for the 1,5O0. 600, 600
of mankind now living. Build city
for them to dwell in. Average families
at five persons to family, and give each
family house and lot 20 feet by 100.
Your cemetery gave five persons so
square feet for graves. Their city lot is
forty times as large. Your city must
therefore be forty times as large as your
cemetery. Add 20 per cent. for good
streets. I will not save you or your
school-going child the trouble of do
ing the figures" Impress the truth on
your mind by three minutes work with
pencil and paper, that the whole living
human race could be gathered in a
city so small in comparison with
what you have imagined. And now re-
member that all the estimates on which
we have gone are too large. This city
lot might as we'll be 20, by SO. People
live in fats without back yards, and in
stories one above another. Your city
modelled after the latest fashions in
cities need not be quarter the size our
estimates have made it. When YOU
have built your city, inquire and be sur
prised to find the vast space for garden,
fields and forests you have left accessi-
BILE to it, whence could come aall the ne
cessities and luxuries of civilized life
w. c. Prime, LII in N. Y. Journal of
Commerce.
A FORTUNE WASTED.
Twelve Million Dollars Absolutely Thrown
Away by Photographers.
Idesire to call the special attention
of nv brother DhOtOgraDh tn tho oroo :