The Portland daily press., 1900-01-11
GROWTH IN A CENTURY.
Vast Expansion of Population and
wealth since wsshington's Day.



Yet the expansion " hloh has come In
the power and prestige OF the country in
the century which has psissd since Wash
ington's death has been immeasursbly
greater than could have been conceived
BY any tody. in his day. The population
Of the United States, which wrs about
$500. 600 at that time. Is now "a. 0oo. COO.
The largelt city In the country then,
Philadelphia, had es.0oo Inhabitants,
while it now has 1.2c0,000 TO i,4OO, co...
New York. then with $500 population,
has 100000 today. Chicago. then
hunting ground for indians, with NO
place on the map until over third OF u
century aftsr washington's demIss has
more population now than was between
the Potomac and the oountry's southern
line at that time. The states OF New
York and Pennsyivania have each at
present msny more Inhabitants than the
entire United Stats had 100 years ago
The area Of ths eo1ntry was $4,000
square miks In 1899, whils Il In 9, 200, COO
In 1899. Its western boundary, which
was at the Mississippi then, was long ago
advanced to the Pacific, and has now
teen extended to the Philippines. 10
| Asiatlc waters. Its southern boundary,
which was latitude 81 degrees at that
time, the nortneriy line Of the present
state Of Louis ara, has. In tae passing
years taken In Florida, with that iocali-
ty's then extension to the Mil s'ssippi,
and has reached down to the lower part
Of the gulf Of Mexico. Its northesly line.
then the great lakes. has In the case CT
Alaska, been stretched far north OF the
ArJtio circle. In the year of Washing
toms death the Ieselpts OF the govern
msnt wers $1,000. eco and Its expendi-
lures S9,O0U.0D. Ia the nscsi year
1899 the expenditures we're 500. 0JU. 0
and the receipts wers slightly below that
mark.
Eveu the most daring Imagination In
the country. that Of Jefferson, could not
form any conception OF tbs expansion
which has come In the past 100 vars. In
his first inaugural jefferson congratulate
cd the American people en- possessing q
| chosen country with room enough for
our tesoendsnts to the thou:andth and
thoueandth generation" A county,
several times larger than the third -presi.
dent had In mind has filed most OF Its
wss,e places In THREE generations. But
| neither Washington, Jefferson, nor any
other of their contemporaries could have
foresesn the stsamtoa5 (then beginning
In the most rudimen ary way. the rail-
road, or the telegraph, and the changes
they would bring, The 90 days required
to make q journey fran New York or
Boston to the Mississippi q century ago
would carry person round the glots
today. Several weeks passed before the
news of Washington's death reached Ken
tucky or Tennessee, while intelligence of
any occurrence can be dlnussd all over
the earth In few seconds at prese, 1T.
Morally, the advances made by ths
United States are as great as thsy are
physically. The Neutrality" OF the
country which Warrington was anxious
to have respected" is observed In n
scrupulously conspicuous degree In these
days. All nations are desirous, as the
ex pI sions Of leading British. herman,
French and Russian statesmen In the
past ~ months show, to gain the good
will of this country.