Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-11-23

an area of over 3.025.600 square miles |
Few people have any conception OF |
what that enormous territory means |
A few months ago a disgruntled states
man of Texas was reported to have de |
clared that in the near future the Unit
ed States government would disinte-
crate. He begged the Texans to stand
firm together. so that the state of old
Sam Houston might become the re
public Of Texas" with 30.OO0.OO0 in
habitants. But. though this statement
excited a smile over the length and
breadth OF the land and though we do
not believe this government Of ours
will ever disintegrate as long as earth
ly time shall last, we do believe that
the statement in reference to the sup
porting area of Texas is not overdrawn-
Germany i'm 1895 had population or
52.2T99O1 inhabitants, but Texas is
larger than Germany. France in 1896
had a population OF 3S.317.9I5 inhab-
itants. but Texas is larger than France.
Italy i'm 1895 had population of 3D.
TO-. 1913 inhabitants. but Texas is near
" two and one-half times as large as
Italy. Great Britain and Ireland col
lectively have an area of 12O.SO0 square
miles and by the 1891 census 3I.I32,-
go inhabitants. but Texas is over twice
as large as the areas of Great Britain
and Ireland combined. California. Mon
tana or the two Dakotas united are as
large as any of the European monarch.es
| have mentioned. oh. the immensities
as well as the geographical posslDlll-
ties of our American possessions! A
noted English statesman once said:
"The American people. in reference to
their enormous valuations of land, are
like q lot of spendthrift boys who have
fallen heirs to a fabulous fortune. They
do not know how to appreciate their
good fortune. Born with golden spoon
i'm their mouths, they think all other
nations eat their soup with the same
kind of a ladle." Let us today thank
God first for our national possessions
geographical.
Cause For ThanIxfuIness.
Another cause for national thanks
giving is our country's industrial pros
perity. 1t is one thing to possess for
| tune; it is quite another thing to be
| able to make that fortune interest bear
| ing: one fact to be LAND rich" an
| other fact TO be 'land poor" Many and
many a man has been hurled against
| financial wall and his business life
| squeezed out in the bankruptcy court
not because he did not own fortune,
| hf, m q f.
able at the time the securities he pos
sessed Many years ago prominent
railroad man was taking Thanksgiving
| dinner at our home in Brooklyn. Dur
ing a walk that afternoon our guest
made statement which will never
leave my memory. "De Witt" said he
to my father, for they were old school
friends, ''if / live one year more | shall
be worth q million dollars; if three
years, three millions. But If l die
within six months my estate and in
vestments are in such an involved con
dition that / shall be worth practically
nothing" He died within six months
and his fears in reference to his estate
were verified. Now, our country has t(
be thankful for its blessings geograph
ical during the past year. 1t has alst
to be thankful because it has beer
blessed industrially. Never since ou
government was founded have there
been greater harvests or vaster it'd
of transportation west to east and cas-
to west; never q time when our fac
tories have been so overworked; neve
n time when there has been so, mucl
money to spend and in circulation
never q time when labor has been re
ceiving so much for it's services. s.
overcrowded are some of the factorie
with orders that. though they ma
work night and day, they cannot SUP
ply the demand for shoes, gloves, hats
linen, hosiery and overcoats and UNI
brellas. wagons and automobiles an
all the necessities and luxuries of life
The only scarcity today in the bushes
, world is the scarcity of men. Work
There is plenty of work for every hor
| est man capable of doing any mechaI
ical work who is not a shirk. loafe
or an incapable. Today ought we nc
to be thankful that every man is abb
, to earn his bread by the sweat of h
, brow-that work. blessed work, is will
r in the grasp of all?
) Our Industrial Prosperity.
The opportunities industrial wit
! which this Thanksgiving day of 19C
2 has been blessed are the more to
+. appreciated because they have for
r dark background the financial panic
s Of 1895 and 1896 and 1897. In bus
e ness so extensive and diversified ;
e ours there have been losses and peri
e and ominous disturbances, but we ha'
: survived them, and the general trer
y has been prosperous. They tell us tn
s our laborers receive two and one-ha
p times as much as those of Englan
l. three times as much as in France, fo'
<, times as much as in Germany, fl
d times as much as in Russia and S
d times as much as in Italy. They t.
q | us that in some parts of Europe t