The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1900-12-23

100000 to 10000 900 square miles. and
this has been made in all parts OF the
world-Amerioa, Asia, Africa and Aus
tralasla. Comparable with this has
been the increase OF population. In 1900
the population Of the British empire,
outside Of the United Kingdom, was
about lOo.eOO,OOo. only 100000 being
white In 1900 the total is s4sOeaOOo. and
is,0Oo00O are white These figures, OF
course. vastly surpass those Of any
other European nation. We have said
that British colonies. etc, are now nine
ty-siN times the area Of Great Britain.
Those OF Germany are only 1--WE times
the area OF Germany. True, German
colonization is Of recent date. But
France has been colonizing as long as
England. and her colonies today are on
ly eighteen times her own arsa At the
same time that Grea, Britain has thus
been planting great colonies her do
mestic population has increased much
more rapidly than that Of either OF
her great rivals, The population OF the
United Kingdom has Increased during
the century from 100000 to LOOo.oo0.
or l5 per cent, while that Of Germany
has Increased from 2l,OOOeOO to 5SoOOooO.
or ls2 per cent. and that OF France from
s7,oaO.OOO to Ss,OOOoOO. or only As per
cent. In these figures are shown the
tIemendous vitality of the British stock
end one Of the secrets Of the unrivalled
growth Of the British empire.
The other great branch Of the Anglo
Saxon race, or Of 1gIish speaking
race, shows during the same century
growth only little less impressive in
some respects than that Of the British
empire. and decidedly more impressive
in other respects At the beginning OF
the century the area Of the United
States and its possessions was some !
thing less than $4,000 square miles. AT
successive processes Of expansion. that
area is approximately $4,000 square /
miles, in both hemispheres and in three
Of the globes five zones. The popula-
tiOn has in the same space Of time in
creased from less than 100000 to about /
So.0O0,00O the overwhelming majority /
being, Of course, white. and speaking
the English language as their native |
tongue. While the territorial growth OF
the United States has been therefore less
than that Of the British empire. the
growth in population has been proper
iionately much larger. II we should |
enter into statistics OF increase in man
ufactures, commerce and wealth we |
should find the United States to have |
surpassed the British empire and all the /
rest Of the world so far as to be be- |
yond all comparison with them. It IS. |
indeed. no mere brag or spread eagle |
ism to say that. beginning the nine
teenth century as one Of the minor coun- |
tries OF the world. at the end Of the /
same century
Earth's Biggest Country's gut her soul
An risen up Earth's Creates, Nation!
These two great powers. then, easily
outrank all others in growth and pres
ent magnitude. They do so. each of
them. taken separately. Taken togeth-
er. in classification Of the world ac-
eording to languages. they have a most
impressive supremacy. At the begin
ming the English language was. in
point Of numbers, one Of the minor
tongues. 1t was used by perhaps 21,-
100000 people, and was considerably
surpassed by the French. German and
Spanish languages. and probably also
by the Italian. Today it is the language
Of about 12O,0OO,OOO. or Of nearly twice
as many as any Of the others mem
toned. German coming next with about
65.OOO.OO0. Spanish with 5000, 900, French
with 45,000,OO0 and Italian with 35,-
100000. Even Russian, which is scarce.
ly ranked among ,he cultivated Ian
guages, is not used by as many as is
English, nor is It at all certain hat any
one Of the various distinct languages
used in China and India surpasses Eng
| lish in the number Of its users. We shall
not incur the reproach Of extravaganza,
then. if we reckon that the English Ian
1 guage is today used by more people
/ than any other language in the world.
When we consider from what a small
beginning this fact has been developed
in these hundred years. the expectation
Of practically universal language
within the next century seems by no
means overstrained. and when we bear
in mind the enormous ethical. social,
commercial and political influence Of
language the future promise Of the