The Coconino sun., 1901-02-09
AN ENGLISH VIEW.
A London Journal Regarding Our
 Late Census Returns.
Our Great Growth During the Last Decade Unssrpassed by That of Any Other Nation-sons Com
 DlimeAtary RemaRks.
Statistics are frequently merely dull


 and repellent hosts of figures; occa sionally they. strike home upon tn imagination, and leave a vivid imprea sion upon the mind. No thoughtfu person can fail to realize something a least of all that is signified by the cen sus returns of the United States. say the London Telegraph. That might, nation has been numbered and it il found that her population now stand. at 76,250,000. In the short space o ten years there has been an increase of nearly 13.25O. 900, which is equivalent to almost 21 per cent. for the decade or rather more than 2 per cent. pel annum. When we remember that 200 years ago the population of the states was under 300, ,0CO-or rather more than the present population of Bradford. and that 100 years ago it was but lit. tie over 5.O00.OCO, it will be seen with what amazing rapidity the young giant among the nations has built up his strength. The first census was taken in 179o. From that year down to 1860 the increase per cent. per annum was about $50.
 From 1860 to 1870 it fell to 226; in the next ten years it rose to 3.l; from 1880 to 1890 it dropped to 2.49, and now, as we have seen. it stands at 2.l. This is slight decrease in ratio, but. after all, the important fact is that there are 13,000, ,OoO more people owning allegiance to the American constitution than there were ten years ago. And the growth of population Is the infal- ible test of national prosperity and advancement. No nation has ever yet risen to greatness with a dwindling population. and pr baby none ever will. Declining nun bers have been the invariable concomitant of national stagnation and decaderce The growth of the power of Great Britain. Germany and Russia bears witness to the truth of this sweeping generalization, and there is nothing which gives French publicists more serious grounds for disquietude as to the future of their country than the evidence of stagna- tion shown in their census returns. Americans. therefore, may be we'll con- tent with the progress they haze made in the last decade. These figures af- ford them ample reason for pride and .ubilation. The only great power of the present day which can vie with them in numbers is Russia. and in wealth. in energy, in adaptability. in education and in that cunning indus irial skill which is the foundation of material prosperity, they far outstrip the subjects of the czar.
 What the future has in store for the United States only the future can dis close. but that it is something great. something vast and magnificent far be- yond anything hitherto witnessed in history, no one can doubt. and there are few Englishmen who do not well come the prospect with hearty grat- ification, owing to the community of race. ideas and language which links both the heart and brain of the United States with the heart and brain of the British empire. Full details of this attest census have not yet been pub lished, and a close analysis is at pres ent impossible. Yet it is to be observed that the increase of population has taken place chiefly in the eastern states. In New York state alone the numbers have risen by 1.250,OOO; Penn sylvania and Illinois show similarly results. As in England the urban and manufacturing centers grow much more rapidly than the rural. No one will be surprised to find that the Indians are steadily dying out of the land. There are now but 134,O de- scendants of the red man, who once roamed in undisturbed possession of he soil. But for the reservations on