The Somerset reporter., 1891-03-12
MASON'S GLOOMY VIEW
NE MAKES A PREDICTION WHICH IS
IMPORTANT IF TRUE.

North and South America viii Eventu-
ally Be the Home of savages-The Stars
To Fall Out Of Our Flag. One by One
or So Says the Professor.
Otis Mason. Of the bureau OF ethnoiogy
of the National museum, has evolved
theory that the resources of the western
hemisphere will, in comparatively
short time, be exhausted as support Tor
civilized man, and that North and South
America will be depopulated, except by |
savages of very low order. Professor
Mason said
"In order that this may be understood,
it 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 con-
tinent, 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
productiveness, it is less adapted for the
support of animal life. To show that
this is so, make little comparison for
yourself between the beasts of this heinl-
sphere and those of the other. The ele-
phant of the Old World is represented
here by the tapir. What we have as
substitute for the camel is the llama,
which is just big enough and strong
enough to carry what would be load
for man. The lion and tiger of Asia
and Africa are represented on this side
of the earth by little more than big cats.
LOOK AT OUR MONKEYS.
"But to arrive at the most marked ex-
hibition 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 the Americas to
correspond with the anthropoid apes of
the Old World? The gorilla, which uses
a club; the chimpanzee, which is easily
taught to wait upon the table and to
perform other domestic duties, and the
ourang, which presents so many like
nesses to the human being, are repre-
scented on this side of the world by mis-
cradle little monkeys with tails.
Thus it is that this part of the earth
| is termed an inferior continent, because
it is not able to produce or support such
high developments of animal life as are
found in the other part Civilized man
exists here to day, not as natural prod
uct, but as an importation.
Professor Mason then, in elaborate de-
tail, described the lapse of wheat farm
ing in one state after another until the
field has been transported to the Dako-
tas and the very verge of the great desert
!; the rapid exhaustion Of the soil and oil
the minerals; the tremendous drain il
every way upon resources, which, new
ly developed as they are, must be nearly
exhausted even within the next century
the ruinous cost of producing and trans
porting articles necessary to civilized
life. He then concluded his remarkable
forecast as follows:
"To put it plainly, the so called Amer
lean people have camped over this con
o tinent regardless Of their future. The,
have delved into the soil, chopped int
3 the mountains and used up the land un
1 til there starcs them in the face the al
most immediate prospect of starvation
As for the state of Nevada we have not
been there twenty-five years, and its re
sources have been exhausted. In Othel
words, it will almost Immediately be
n unable to support a population. The
Z people who inhabit it are obliged to e
because they can no longer make theil
4 living there, and it is simply a question
q of short time when it will become
9 dead state, and so lapse into the condi
ton of territory us impossible to re
% vive into the living condition of IL stat
as if it were a district on the moon.
-, , PAINFUL REFLECTIONS.
"The painful reflection incidental to
y the subject is that other states, if not al
of them, are destined sooner or later tt
No follow Nevadas example. The popula
IS ton on this continent cannot necessaril,
70 survive the means of subsistence afford
:. ed it by the country If what scienc
81 says is true, the white man has got
- go. There has been talk to the effec
:. that the Chinese must vanish, but
>, must be confessed they are very muc
better adapted to continue existence o
- this hemisphere than ourselves. for tn
obvious reason that they will survive L
% here, and that they will continue in thei
u own manner the civilization which W
have made an attempt to start.
"But the Caucasian, if the scientif
men are to be believed, will not be abb
to support existence on this hemisphel
after the capital, in the way of agricul
ural and min. raj resources, has been e,
, hausted, as it must be soon. Hewill di
y appear The natural question is by WIFI
process? 1t is very evident. When
superior race becomes poor, and thereb
unable to mIntain its superiority,
ss lapses into the condition of poor white
=, The Caucasian does become thriftles
90 incapable Of exertion, eventually AZ
os preaching to the savage. In other word
90 he loses his status in the scale of crei
- ton.
~ Through the progressive exhaustio
of the resources of the country, stat
after state will necessarily become unir
" habitable, because it will be incapabl
10 of supporting Il population. Thus wi
30 come about the dcpopulation of one stat
10 after another-of course by slow prot
20 ess through many years and there wi
GO be presented the remarkable phenon
70 enon of the dropping from the Union
. these states successfully, because the
have come TO be no longer entitled {
!, representation under the law, by sem
tors and representatives
Nevada will simply be the first sta
to succumb to the operation Of this il
evitable law. The outlook is melanchol
That is not to be denied. 1t is not plea
ant to consider the frame of mind of IL
q last civilized man on this continent
i few centuries hence, standing on q Bal
hill, where once the maize luxurious
grew, and shedding a silent tear of affe
ton on the past of continent which
given up to savagery ever more. Was
n ington Cor. Pittsburg Dispatch.