The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1903-10-16
NATIONAL TENDENCIES.

Mr.. Merriam, director of the census
of 1900, submits in a current maya
zine an interesting digest Of the CHIEF
features Of American development,
presenting his own deductions on ma
tional tendencies. The census COM
pilations embrace a mass of statistics
relating to numerous subjects, and It
would be impossible to review them
all in brief; therefore, he has select
ed what he considers the most i'm
portant indications.
The statistics that Mr.. Merriam
classes as primary concern the pop
ulation, the composition of the pop
ulation, the urban and rural popula-
ton, the negro element, illiteracy,
the growth of trusts, the expansion Iii
export trade, the ascendancy of cities,
agriculture and manufactures. All
Of these factors in life are undoubted-
ly vital to growth and progress, ana
they denote fairly we'll the general
traits and inclinations of the nation.
Some call attention to social com
plicatiOns, which have pronounced
bearing On the affairs of large sec
tons Of the country; others disclose
the distinct forces in the population
and consequently characterize the
nation as such; others, like the
drift Of population and the develop
ment of agriculture and manufactures.
give a rather accurate idea of what
the nation is, what it does, what its
resources and capacity are, what its
particular tendencies seem to be.
The population of the United States
proper is 75,994,575; Of the United
States. Alaska, and Hawaii, 76,303.3S7;
Of the United States, Alaska, Hawaii,
the Philippine Islands, Porto Rico,
Guam and Samoa, S4,233, O69 Cont
mental United States, or the country
proper, increased 13,046.S61 in the
decade ending in 1900, or q per cent.
These few figures contain their les
son. Each person may derive differ
ent conclusions; but the dangers of
imperialism must be manifest there
from for all who feel alarm over ag-
grandizement, which brings new dis
turbances.
the average American who prefers the
United States to the United States
empire, in looking over the statistics
of the continent itself and drawing in
ferences from them as to the country's
future. He finds that the percentage
of Increase advanced between 1880
and 1890 from % to 90 per cent, and
between 1890 and 1900 it advanced
only to 33 per cent. showing that the
movement toward the cities has di
minished. He finds that illiteracy
has scarcely varied between 1880 and
1900.
He finds that. though the urban
population is a great and large el,-
ment. the distinctly rural population,
excluding figures that might justly be
classified as rural, is equivalent to
nearly 50 per cent Of the total pOpu-
lation. There is no doubt. however,
that the rural influence is even great
er than this, for smaller towns, which
are essentially rural might be in
Guided with the country Statistics
1T is a remarkable fact" states Mr..
Merriam, brought out by census
statistics, that the development of
manufacturing industries in this coun-
try has now reached the point where
the products of the factory and shop
exceed in value those of the farm If
we take, for the purpose Of cOmpari-
son, not the intl net value Of man
ufactured products, but simply the
value added to the raw material by
the manufacturing processes, the
amount-$5,6 ,2S6, 14S-still exceeds
by almost $4,000 100000 the reported
net value of agricultural products,
S3,764,1 77.70 Yet the area devoted
to agriculture was 35 per cent. greater
in 1900 than in 1890, and the gross
value of manufactured products was
80 per cent greater.
Both of these great interests are
necessary one to the other, and botn
play their part in national develop
ment. not only in commerce but il
politics. To those who confidently
believe that the welfare of the cou7-
try depends upon the soil, typifying
the rural population and its conserva-