The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-07-16

A few years ago it seemed as if the
United States had passed through the
period of rapid growth in population
and wealth which every country of great
natural resources experiences in its form
alive stage. So far as most men could
foresee, progress in the future would be
comparatively slow, in keeping with the
prospects of nation which had reached
the age of economic maturity. The
country's main industry was agriculture.
The best OF the public lands had been
taken up for settlement. The time was
past when an immigrant with a few
4 hundred dollars could claim farm in the
West and in a twelvemonth or two count
himself debt free homesteader. The
wave of foreign immigration was sub
siding and the pc rcentage Of gain in
population vas smaller than it had ever
been b.foret during the independent ex-
istence of the United States.
Hardly, however, had the possibilities
Of agricultural expansion been exploited
, when the nation turned its surplus capt.
;tal and energy into manufactures The
inventive genius which had led the world
IN the creation Of labor saving devices
for tilling the soil was now directed
toward the improvement of implements
related to the forge and the LOOM New
machinery and new administrative
methods were introduced. The manu-
featuring industry was completely re-
organized with view to cheapness and
efficiency of production, and American
manufacturers were enabled to underbid
competition in the great markets abroad.
Our exports Of manufactured articles
mounted rapidly. The demand for labor
originating In the new industrial ex-
pansion restored the flood of foreign
immigration. Foodstuffs formed de-
clining proportion of the nations ex-
ports, and it became apparent that the
United States must eventually take rank
in the markets of the world as manu-
featuring instead of as an agricultural
country. The rich granary of the West
viii presently be hard taxed to furnish
subsistence for our own industrial popu-
lation. 1t will have no surplus OF golden
harvests to freight abroad.
! The direction which the country's
economic development has taken in the
last ten years has introduced another
epoch Of phenomenal material progress.
Population is once more increasing at an
astounding rate. But the distribution
Of the gain is different from that which
prevailed when agriculture was the ma
tion's main source Of growth. The vol
ume Of immigration during the past four
years has never before been equaled.
The nearest approach to it was in 1881 to
1884. Then majority Of the immigrants
made the fertile farm lands of the West
Its destination. Now majority settles
in the manufacturing and commercial
centers. chiefly in cities Of the first rank,
like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia
and Boston. The bigger the city, the
bigger tpe accretion Of population.
Three-fourths of the immigration is
through the port Of New York, and one
third Of tbos, who land here seek and
fnd employment in his city.
The circumstance that manufacturing
and commerce are absorbing a larger
relative SHIRE Of the nations industrial
activities implies an increasing concen-
tration Of population. Every stage in
the progress Of economic development
away from agriculture has hitherto made
city folk Of country people. The first
United States census, In 1880, found one.
thir'ieth Of the population living in urban
communities. By the close of the last
century the proportion had risen to one
third. Yet the tendency toward city life
has only begun to be strongly felt in the
United States. In manufacturing and
commercial England three-fourths of
the population lives in urban places.
A feeling of uneasiness and appre-
hension is spreading because Of the in
fiux OF foreigners into our principal
cities. The. true source OF danger, how
ever, is not SO much the presence Of alien
ethnia elements a. the rapid aad sAoes--