The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-12-04
POPULATION.
A QUESTION FOR TON
CONVENTIONS.

MI. T. ". hdfeHSUoln, CQo eminent
statistician, has made some reconcile
calculations to find out when the
eartn will be unable to find nou ris h.
ment for its population, and they will
be forced to cannibali>m or starva-
tion. According to him when the
mum Der exceeds 1894. 100000. or in
round numbers G,OuO. 600. 600, this
emergency will arise, and Mr.. Raven.
stein believes the population of the
globe will reach this figure in 2S4
years more. He points out that the
average decimal increase is divided as
follows:-Europe, 81 per cent; Asia, 6
per cent; Africa. 10 per cent; Aus
tralia and Oceanica, 80 per cent;
North America, p per cent; South
America, Is per cent.
This is a gloomy prospect. -Four
hundred years ago a small party of
Spanish Adventures, led by one Chris
TOPPER Columbus. landed on the sandy
shore of little island, on the Ameri-
can coast; and now we are told that
in 2S4 years more, less than two-thirds
of the time that has passed, since
Columbus set up the Spanish banner
the people will have to devour each
other physically, as they now do tinan-
cially, to live.
This is something the members of
the recent immigration Blow out in
st. Paul should take cognizance of.
Our trouble will not be too few people,
but too many. Edmund Burke said
"men breed at the MOUTH" meaning
that when they have plenty to eat
they increase like rabbits. Three
hundred years ago five million people
spoke the English language-very i'm
perfectly. Now there are 12O,OOO.OO(
who use that tongue.
1t is of no use to shift population
from one part Of the earth's surface
to another part. You might as well
try to distribute the salt of the ocean
by dipping up gallon Of sea water on
the English coast and emptying it on
the New Jersey coast. The first duty
is to make the residents of the United
States prosperous and happy, and we
will have all the immigration we want
and more. II wages all over these
United States were $3.50 a day, and
steady employment could be had at
that, one-third Of Europe would come
here in five years. But when the peo'
pie of Minnesota cannot get living
prices for their productions what is
the use of crowding in half million
more, to compete with the poor devils
already here, and break down prices tC
still lower levels? You cannot dilute
misery by adding to the number OF
the miserable.
All such conventions are simply
tricks of non-producers They expect
to get the few dollars the immigrants
bring with them; or to sell the m rail
road lands, and set them to work al
raising wheat at forty cents bushel
barley at ten, potatoe at six, etc.
The merchants of a city organize q
commercial club, and pay some active
chap good salary to run it.: and he
feels he must do something to earn
his pay; and SO he manipulates the
shallow editors of the daily press, al
ways ready for a sensation, to get w
"boom;" and then a lot of pleasant
gentlemen come in, on free passes
and read learned essays, Zone chap al
the St. Paul convention lectured or
the "value Of the potatoe crop"!.D ano
SO they proceed to lift themselves
over the characterization of silver by
pulling on their and shout.
ing. "Yo! Heave-a-Yo!" all toge Their
1t is very funny but very sad. The
convention adjourns, the potatoe man
and the rest go home, the great orators
melt into nothingness, and the whole
project falls into the mud, with a
thud and splash that can be heard
from Maine o Kamschatka.
Behind the fools stand few keen
knaves, and they see that something
must be done to divert public atten
tion and get up an excitement. just as
pick-pockets, in a crowd, will surge
and rush and steal unobserved in the
midst Of the confusion. When the
Rings and the Money-power stole the
value of our wheat. which used to be
$l.25 bushel, and broke it down to
40 or SO cents, then they cried obi
versify your crops;" but Chicago
ring stole all profit on cattle; and an
other Chicago Ring Captured the bar
ley crop, etc. Then they cried "raise
potatoes and the poor deluded PEG.
pie raised more potatoes than the
whole nation could eat, and millions
Of bushels remain undu9, frozen in
the ground. There is an old proverb-
"the burnt child breads the fire." but
in the case Of the old-party voters the
adage does not hold true. The news.
paper editors lead the poor fool up tc
the red-hot stove and say to him.
Here is nice cool place. Clap your
nose there!" And he does, and then
goes around the stove stamping and
bowling, until the editors lead him
up. with most plausible reasons and
explanations. and persuade him. to
apply his poor half consumed nose to
another cool place. 1t is devilish; in
fact there is nothing in the past his
tory of the devil to parallel it. 1t is
purely modern. The devil could go to
school and learn the A G OF rascali-
ry from modern Republican politi-
clan. Beelzebub apologies, with tea RS
in his eyes, for his own shortcomings,
every time he hears John Sherman S
name mentioned.
And now that Satan-emiSsarv. tho
Pioneer Press, of St. Paul, has got a
new dodge. 1t is whooping it up for
the farmers not to sell their flax-Seed.