The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1896-12-16
POOR LITTLE NEVADA!
Her Population Is Rapidly Di-
minishing.
NOTHING LEFT BUT WOOL GROWING


It Cannot lie Forced Out OF the Union.
Baron Rothschiids Significant Remark
Concerning Gold.
WASHINGTON, Dec 10. - Especial T.
"What shall we do with NevadaS" IL n
question which many statesmen are asking
themselves. The case of this sovereign
state Is unprecedented In American his
tory. We have a state which we want to
get rid of, and there is no way Of doing IL.
For years the population Of Nevada has
been diminishing, and the reports are that
since the recent election the outflow of
population Is greater than ever before. In
1870 the population of the state was 49,
500. In 1850 1t had risen TO 1900. In
1890 IL had fallen to 40, 700. Today the
number of people in the state Is probably
less than 40, 900. At the resent presiden-
tial election, when, it may be we'll imag
ined, full vote was cast, the number of
ballots deposited In the state was only TO-
Co.'S All the congressional districts in tho
north cast larger vote. Many of them
cast three. four, or even FIVE times as many.
Even In the south, where the number of
actual voters to congressman Is smaller
than in the north, most OF the districts
In Hard Lines.
A Nevada man now in Washington says
that since the election the population of
his state is moving out There is no hope
for many of the silver mines, which can
not be operated at profit under the pres
emit price of the white metal Agriculture
Is n failure save In a few favored spots, ir
rigation being necessary In most parts of
the state. Nothing is left save the wool
growing industry, in which some 1000
persons are engaged. These woOlgrowers
are about the only people In the state who
voted for Mckinley last month. The fu-
ture of Nevada Is a gloomy one. There
does not seem to be any probability of
revival Of its prosperity, and the chances
are 1t will relapse to mere grazing region,
with q sparse population, far too slender
70 afford proper basis for the existence Of
a sovereign state. The silver miners are
going away TO the goldfields Of South
Africa and TO Alaska. IL sheep raising
thrives, there will always be few people
in Nevada. IL that industry fails from
any cause, there will be practically nothing
left. 1t Is easily conceivable that n few
years hence Nevada will be nothing but
wilderness, practically uninhabited.
Yet IL must continue to be IA state. 1t
cannot be forced out of the Union. Unjust
as it is to leave in the hands of such n
small number of people the right TO be rep
resented In the United States senate by two
senator's and in the house OF representatives
by one congressman, there is no known
way to remedy the difficulty.
A Peculiar State OF Affairs.
And yet it is manifestly unjust to the
ttxln % hn III ir fn ha
present state of affairs TO continue In the
senate the handful of sheep raisers in Ne
vada count for as much AS the 1000, 900
people in New York, with all their wealth
and gigantic interests. In the house of
representatives Nevada counts for one
thirty fourth as much AS New York, though
IL has but one-one- hundred and seventy
fifth part the population. Comparing Ne
vada with all the remainder of the country,
we find that in the house of representatives
the Sagebrush State counts for eight times
as much as the remainder Of the country,
on the basis of population, while in the
senate the disproportion is 30 To l.
The vote in Nevada is now less than one
half that of the state with the next small
est voting population, and the population
of the Sagebrush State Is less than that of
any territory In the Union, with the posi-
BILE exception of Alaska, and IL is said that
Alaska, which had only some 33, 900 in
habitants In 1890, now has more than 49,
600, or several thousand in excess of Ne
vada. Yet Nevada is sovereign state and
probably always will be one 1t is pc
culiarity of our system that II we make
mistake and admit TO the Union a COM
mon wealth which is unable to hold its own
and continue TO be worthy of retention OF
the honor, there Is no way under the consti-
tuition by which IL can be forced to give up
It's rights. Nevada Is thorn in the side
of our body polite, but we shall have to
grin and bear It.
Alaska and q story.
It Is rather remarkable that Just at this
time when the whole country is talking
about the failure of Nevada as a state, so
much attention should be directed to Alas
Ia, the far northern region which we
bought n third OF a century ago for an In
significant sum, more out OF sentiment
than through any idea that the territory
would prove 4 practical value. Alaska Is
rapidly developing as rich mining region.
Strange stories of the value of the gold de-
posts in the Yukon valley float into Wash
ington now and then, and there is steady
stream Of prospectors and investors from
tho Pacific coast to the remote region
where fortunes are to be won. A high au-
thority says there is gold enough In che
Yukon, II it can be taken out, TO force the
world to give up the gold standard and 70
take to some scarcer metal.
This reminds me of an incident which
occurred at the recent international none
tary conference I'm Brussels Baron Roths
child was present A delegate referred to
the report of an expert that In South
Africa there was chain OF mountains
filled with gold--gold In such vast guam
titles that it looked as II all the needs OF
the world for centuries TO come could be
supplied from that one source. The ex-
pert was present also, and Baron Roths-
child questioned him.
DO you mean to say that those noun
tains have been surveyed and that gold is
found in them In great ledge hundreds
of miles long and two or three miles
| thickY"
Eyes, that Is the fact :"
"And you are sure the deposits of gold
extend throughout the region In the same
richness that has been found where actual
| mining Operations have taken pIacpyp