Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-12-20


wv JNNxK imagined possibility that
LIZ - al sany one Of the United
49, EA Estates could be deprived
GIl lof its status. But what
- al fcan prevent this from
N.,y happening eventually?
SHN So rapidly has Nevada
z gbeen undergoing the
process of depopulation
that it has now fewer
people in it than ordinarily go to make up q
good-sized town. That is to say, it contains
fewer than $4,000 souls all told, and this
number is fast diminishing. At the same time
it is represented in Congress today by two
Senators, who have as much control in that
body as the Senators from New York, as wei
as one member in the lower house. Nevada's
resources are of a mineral nature, and they
have been exhausted almost. Soon they will
be entirely gone and people will be unable to
live there. In this connection it is interesting
TO note that some scientists predict for our
whole continent fate similar to that Of
Nevada and that within few centuries civil
lied man VIII have been wiped off the face of
this continent. for the simple reason that it
will no longer support his being.
AN INFERIOR CONTINENT.
''In order that this may be understood" said
STAR writer il is first necessary to explain that
this western part of the world, known as North
and South America, is from the scientific point
of view an inferior continent as compared with
the land masses Of the other hemispheres By
that Is meant that while superior to Europe.
Asia or Africa, in point of vegetable productive
ness il is less adapted for the support of ami
NAL life. To show that this is So make little
comparison for yourself between the beasts of
this hemisphere and those of the other. The
elephant OF the old world Is represented here
by the taplr. What We have a substitute for
the camel is the llama which is Just big enough
and strong enough to carry what would be a
load for a man. The lion and tiger of Asia and
Africa are represented on this side of the
earth BY what are little more than big
eats But to arrive at the most marked exhibi-
ton of this contrast YOU cannot do better than
consider the monkeys which are most highly
developed of all beasts, approaching very
nearly to man. What is there to be found in
she Americas to correspond with the anthro-
poid apes of TIE old world? The gorilla, which
uses club. the chiInpanzee, which is easily
taught to wait upon the table and to perform
other domestic duties. and the ourang which
presents so many hkenesses to the human being
are represented on this side of the world by
miserable little monkeys with tails Thus il il
that this part of the earth is termed an inferior
continent. because it IL not able to produce or
support such high Developments of animal life
as are found in the other part. Civilized man
u,
rs importation.
LITTLE DONE By NATURE.
when the first explorers came to America
they found here peoples in a savage condition,
although some approaches had been made to-
ward civilization in Central America. Mexico
and Peru. Nature had done so little for man
on this hemisphere that he would undoubtedly
have remained forever a savage if the immigrant
had not came from abroad. To prove how ill
al1a1
of getting ahead. consider how few useful
beasts were provided for his aid. On the east
ern continent his brethren found themselves
supplied with the horse, the COW. the ass the
goat. the camel. the elephant and the chicken
What did the native American possess against
this list! He had small beast known nova
days as the Indian dog, which was capable of
doing "a small amount of work in harness Also
he found at his disposal the bison, intractable
creature that no man has ever been able to
tame, and which. like the Indian himself would
rather die than work. In South America there
was the little lima. and there was also a wild
turkey. which might eventually have been sud-
eessfully domesticated- To all intents and
purposes the primitive natives of the Americas
did their work unaided by beasts of the field
Everything that the Indian had to carry he was
Obliged to transport upon his own back. All
the structures which he erected of stone snd
other materials in Peru. Central America. Mex
leo and elsewhere were built from what ne was
able by his own unaided efforts to quarry out
and fetch together. Thus far did those whom
We call the aborigines advance, but by the time
this point was reached they had got to the end
OF their rope, and conditions they are found
here would never have permitted them to adj
vance any farther.
DRAWING UPON RESOURCES
How is this country run and made a bust
ness and therefore an economic success?
SIMPLY by drawing upon the resources which
Will necessarily come to an end before long
In the old world civilization grew up around
the Mediterranean. where a land-locked sea
reaches out by innumerable arms into the land
30 tnat commerce and INSTRUMENTATION are
made easy and inexpensive. In America what
have We! solid block of land with some
magnificent rivers But the means of traffic
here are so defective naturally that in order to
carry II on profitably the coal mines are being
dlgged TO their deepest, the iron-producing
hhis are being exhausted Of their resources and
sums almost fabulous are being expended
yearly IN the construction and running Of
Railways Sooner or later these resources will
give out, and what will happen then? People
talk OF the inexhaustible prOductiveness Of the
Pralrles, but there are men living now who
remember when the Genessee valley in
New York was the wheat-growing area of
the United States. What is that area
now? The Genessee valley has been so ex-
hausted agriculturally that il is no longer
capable OF producing wheat, and within the
recollection Of the present generation the
wucas ARIA has gone as lar westward as Dakota.
IL cannot go much farther, because beyond
there Is the great desert. With a rapidity
SIMPLY frightening to think Of the fields have
been exhausted, the mines have been worked
out, the forests have been destroyed. and what
ever Resources nature has bestowed upon this
continent have been for years past In rapid
process Of destruction The country is pur-
SUNG an existence like that of the prodigal
youth who mistakes his principal for his in
come.
THE POPULATION.
There has got TO be an end to this at some
nme; but for the moment it is even more inter-
e4sing to consider not vegetation nor beasts,
but the animal who calls himself man. Within
ue last Few years the ratio of increase in the
hAaSe-born population Of the United States
mas markedly and progressively diminished
90 steady has been the decline that were it not
LOT Immigration the American would most Ger
Tiniy and unquestionably disappear from the
United States before the lapse of MANY GEN.
saries At this moment it is true that. without
sopphes OF population from the other hemi-
spnere, the Caucasian would be vanauished by
sae conditions of nature as they are found on
teis side OF the world and would before long
vanish completely. The turning point in the
history OF TINS nation has not vet been reached
- yet and VIII not be arrived at until though