The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1906-04-27
vASTNESS OF
THE GREAT WEST
New Mexico, Arizona and the Rest Of
the Country.

ne SEES, Sdlu WTlIer IN lDe CDlCdBO
Record Herald, 'l'm going to take
him all over this big country of ours
and show him what it really is. I've
come to the conclusion that no man
who has not travelled good deal can
| be properly educated, and l predict
that the time is coming when a year
! of travelling will constitute regular
part Of full college course. This
is my first trip to the Far West.
! I've read great deal about IL, and
I've seen many pictures which are
supposed to show the beauties ana
the wonders that are scattered through
| it. But I've found out that books
and pictures, which are good enough
in their way, cannot give the impress
sions one gets from looking at lie
real things.
II think nearly everybody in the
! East understands that most of our
territory lies west of Chicago and St
Louis. There may be people in Boston
and New York who haven't learned
this, but, generally speaking, those or
L
East or middle West know in a
vague way that California is bigger
than Maine and that New Mexico has
more square miles of land than Con-
necticut. That. however. is about
as far as we get in our knowledge or
this part of the country without COM
ing here and seeing it. l never real
lied before how foolish it is to expect
any man who has not travelled much
to have an appreciation Of the needs
or the ambition of people who do not
inhabit the narrow zone within whicn
his life has been spent. Here's
case that will show what l mean:
know the editor of country news
paper back In Ohio. He has never
| been 300 miles beyond the borders OF
his native county. His neighbors re-
J gard him as pretty bright fellow,
and he is fairly we'll informed. he
Gently he has been writing some earn
est editorials on this statehood ques-
/ ton. Now, l haven't any desire to
7 take up the cudgel in favor of either
, Arizona or New Mexico, and it doesn't
make any difference which side he is
, know about conditions out here, and
how is he to decide what will be the
: best for these people
Some Of the men we elect to Con-
: gress get out of their native State for
the first time when they go to Wash
| IN ohl RI
vote intelligently on measures that
will affect in different ways people
who live in widely separated parts
of the country We ought to have some
sort of law that would make it neces-
sary for a man to do about year S
steady travelling and see every part
of the United States before he could
I become eligible to hold public Of
t fee.
THE railroad map is one OF the rea-
sons why the size of the Western part
+ OF our country is not appreciated
D by people who have never seen it.
, Railroad maps, and especially those
that are published by companies whose
lines lie east of the Mississippi River
+, generally show the West, if they show
!, it at all, as drawn to smaller scale
. than that which is used for such
States as Michigan, Indiana, Ohio
Pennsylvania and New York. AZ
shown on the average railroad map
;, Utah is about the size of Ohio, and
Arizona corresponds in size with Vir-
ginia. Here are a few comparisons
in the matter of size: Maine, the
largest of the New England States
has an area of $4,000 square miles;
California covers 10000 square miles
of territory. San Bernardino county
California, is as big as Vermont and
New Hampshire combined, and Cocoon
inc county, Arizona,-the county in
q which the greater part of the Grand
r Canon is located-is as big as Massa-
I chusetts. Connecticut and New Jer-
: sey. II it were possible to move the
I States of New York, Pennsylvania and
h Maryland they might be set down IN
a side of Arizona and there would be
room for Delaware. The area of New
Mexico is greater than that of Illi-
nois and Wisconsin, while Indiana and
q Michigan are only little larger phys
@ ically than Utah.
There Is one thing about Colorado
that the people of the East do not
generally understand. 1t is common
to suppose that State consists entire
: of Rocky Mountains and bad men with
picks. In the imaginations of ma
!. jority of the people who have never
been there 1t is what might be called
r a perpendicular State. While it is
fact that Colorado has constantly Oh
hand large stock of goods in tho
i mountain line, it is not all mountains
There is in the eastern part OF 1t 6