The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-01-01
1;ss:''s!V'S GLOOMY VIEW.
Little
Result: -
Professor, Who Fore
's!er by the Quality
-, OF Monkeys.
tern Continent Cannot
. Much Longer Support
Civilized Man.
svada IN Exhausted and Other States VIII
soon Ibc in Like C0ndition-Mcl.
Hnch0ly Outlook.

WAsHrNaros. Dec. 31.-Otis Mason of thu
bureau of ethnolopy Of the Nationa.
museum has evolved a theory that the re.
sources Of the western hemisphere will, in
a comparatively short time, be exhausted
as a support for civilized man, Rnd thai
North and South America will bs depopula-
ted, except by savages OF u very low order
Prof. Macon said to-day:
I'm order that this may be understood, il
Is first necessary TO explain that this west.
ern part OF the world, known as North and
South America, is from tho scientific point
of view IN inferior continent, AZ compared
with tho land masses Of the other hemis-
pheres. by that Ia meant that, while super
ior to Europe, Asia. or Africa in point of
vegetable productiyenoss, it is less adapted
for the support of animal life. To show
that this is 80, make d little comparison for
yourself between tho beasts Of this hemis-
phere and those of the other. The elc-
plant Of the Old World is represented here
by the tapir. What VIC have ng a substitute
for the camel is the llama, which is inst big
enough and strong enough to carry what
would be Il load for n man. The lion and
tiger OF Asia and Africa are represented on
this side of the earth by little moro than
big cats.
But TO ariiye al the most marked exhi-
bition OF this contrast you cannot do better
than consider the monkeys, which are most
highly developed of all beasts, approaching
nearly to man. What is there to be found
in the Americas TO correspond with the an
thropoid apes Of the old world. The gor-
lila, which uses a club; the chimpnnzee,
which is easily taught TO wait upon the TIA
BILE and to perform other domestic duties,
and the ourang-ontanG. which presents 50
many likenesses to the human being, are
represented on this side of the world by
miserable little monkeys with tails.
Thus it is that this part Of the earth ia
termed an inferior continent, because it il
not able to support such high developments
Of animal life rs are found in the other
part Civilized man exists here to-day, not
hs a natural product, but as an inporta-
ton"
Prof. Mason then. in elaborate detail, de-
scribed the lapse of wheat farming in ono
state after another, until the field has been
transported to the Dakotas and the very
verge of the great desert; the rapid exhaus-
ton of the soil and of the minerals: the
tremendous drain in every way upon re-
sources, which, newly developed as they
are. must be nearly exhausted even within
the next century: the ruinous cost OF pro-
ducing and transporting articles necessary
w CANlIlIeu LI6. TIC LueH ColCIuuSu ulb Ic~
markable forecast as follows:
ITO put IL plainly, the so-ca)led Ameri-
can people have camped over this continent
regardless Of the future. They have delved
into the soil, chopped into tho mountains
and used up the land until there stares
them in the face the almost immediate prof.
pect Of starvation. As for the state of Nev-
ada, we have not been there for twenty-five
: years and it's resources have been ex-
hausted. In other words. it will almost
Immediately be unable to support a popula-
ton. The people who inhabit it are
make their living there, and it is simply a
question Of n short time when it will be-
come dead state and 80 lapse into the
condition of a territory as impossible to re-
vive into the living condition of a state as
If it were a district ON the moon.
1.-The painful reflection incidental to the
subject is that other states, if not ell of
them. are destined sooner or later to follow
Ncvada's example. The population Ola this
continent cannot necessarily survive the
means of subsistence afforded it by the
country. II what science says is true, the
white man has got to go. There has been
talk to tho effect that the Chinese must van
ish, but it must be confessed that they are
very much better adapted to continue ex-
istence on this hemisphere than ourselves,
for the obvious reason that they will sur
vive us here, and that they will continue in
- ~ ~ y III III W. |
We made an attempt to start.
"Bpt the Caucasian, il the scientific men
re to be believed. will not be able to sup
port existence on this hemisphere after the
capital, in the way of agricultural and min
eral regourccs, has been exhausted, as il
must be soon. He will disappear. The
natural question is by what process? II is
very evident. When a superior race be-
comes poor and thereby unable to maintain
its superiority. il lapses into the condition
Of poor white Ii you will journey through
the aonth and take notice OF the manner in
which such conditions as those have be-
come operative, you will perceive that the
Caucasian does in this way become thrift
less. incapable OF exertion, eventually ap-
preaching to the savage. In other words
lie loses his status Ill the scale of creation. |
"Ihrorgh the progressive exhaustion OF
the RESOURCES OF the country. state after
state will necessarily become uninhabitabIe,
because it will be incapable of supporting u
population. Thus will come about the de-
population of one state after gnother-of
course by a slow process through many
yearg--and there will be presented tho re-
markable phenomenon Of the dropping
from the union of til. sc states successfully,
because they have come to be no longer en-
titled to representation under the law by
senator's and representatives.
Nevada will simply be the first state to
euccumb 30 the operation of this inevitable
law. The outlook il melancholy. That is
not to be denied. 1t is not pleasant to con-
slider the frame of mind of the last civilized
man on this continent n few centuries
hence, standing on a maize hill, where once
the maize luxuriously grew, and shedding
Il silent tear Of affection on the past of n
continent which il given I'D TO savagery
ever fnOrs-f