The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-08-29
THE BALANCE OF THE EAST AND
 WEST.
The Rapid Gain of the Trans-M Mississippi
 States in Po4..-cal Power.

The Rapid Gain of the s-Mississippi Worlds Work.
 There are twenty stales and four Terri tories west of the Mississippi River tnot including Alaska and HawaiD They cop tain sxty-five per cent. of our area on this continent. This area holds thirty-two per cent. of our population, whose representa- tiyes cast forty-five per cent of the votes in the Senate and thirty per cent of the votes in the House. It has fifty per cent. of the railroad mileage and thirty-tour per cent. of the property value of all the States, as assessed for taxation.
 Eighteen per cent of the capital invest ed fin home manufactures is within this ter ritory. and 1t produces fin value twenty per cent. of the manufactured products of the while country. In addition to this. the West produces forty-seven per cent. of the total agricultural products of the United States from farms representing fifty-seven per cent. of the total farm values.
 Growth has been so iapid that in two de- cades it has caused the centre of population to move from Ohio to Indiana. the centre of farm values from eastern Indiana to Western Illinois, and the centre of farm ing area from eastern Illinois to central Mis- souri. Twenty years ago the centre of man ufacturing industry was in Western Pennsyi- vana; today il is in central Ohio. The cen tre of the farm income of the United States now rasts on the Mississippi River; and while land values have declined in New England, they have increased by more than one hudred per cent in the West.
 Politically the Yves: has always had an influence disproportionate to its population. because every state has two Senators and a member of the House, regardless of popula- tion. Notwithstanding this over-representa- tion to start with. the growth of the polit- ical power of the West has been very rapid. In 1880, when the Senate had but seventy six members. the West cast thirty-four per cent. of the total votes. At the present time, when the sepate has ninety members. the West has fortyflve per cent. of the votes. No new members can be added from the Eastern States. should the Territories hna NahA fhntr xnTtlI tsa NfA ra order of events. the West will have prac- iically as large Senatorial vote as the East.
 In the House the situation is different, for the population governs representation. The gain of Western power in the House seems slow. but 1t is far from being neg ligible quantity. In 1880, of the three hun dred and twenty-five members of the House. twenty four per cent. were from the West. In the present House, with it's three hun dred and eighty-six members. the West has thirty per cent. The East Is making great strides in population, and for many years to come possibly for all time, the East will retain control of the House. But the control of the Senate by the West is probably mere matter of time.
 With only thirty-two per cent. of the pop ulation, the West may therefore be said to hold today an equal division of political power with the East. The West practically controls the Senate; the East controls the House. No harm has come to the East from this division of political power with the West, but much good. National poli- tics has been broadened thereby and con servatism has been leavened with energy until national policies present a healthy and vigorous character.
 The growth of the West has hitherto been based chiefly upon mining, agriculture and stock raising. The output of minerals was never greater than it is now, were prospects ever surer that 1t will increase
 The agricultural product of the West is half the product of the whole country. and the East looks to 1t to supply the food de- ficiencies of future time when denser population will demand the products from a greater area. Even now the West supplies the great surplus of foodstuffs which enter into foreign trade and constitute the bulk of American exp2rts. Colorado leads in the production of minerals, yet her farms now produce an even greater total of vaues than her mines. Twenty years ago irrigation was inconsiderable; today eight million acres of land are supplied with water.
 The stock-growing of the West of twenty years ago Is becoming the stock-farming of the more closely settled country. The Eastern States have more live stock to the square mile than the States of the West. The West is giving up the range industry for the more profitable and more scientific stock-farm.
 Thus the balances measuring the power of the East and the West are slowly; but surely reaching equilibrium They are practically equal politically It will not be long before they approach equality indus trially and commercially as well.