Durango semi-weekly herald., 1906-12-06
THE WORLDS FAVORED PEOPLE

THE WORLDS FAVORED PEOPLE.
BY significant coincidence Thanks
giving day and the publication of the
annual report of the secretary of agr.-
culture come at the same time for
1906. Never before in our history
or in the history of any other nation,
said President Roosevelt few weeks
ago. in his Thanksgiving proclama-
ton, 'has a people enjoyed more
abounding material prosperity than is
ours" Did the president get a
glimpse of Secretary Wilson's figures
before making this flattering state
ment of his countrys condition? Pos
sibly he did. But Secretary Wilson's
story recounts only n part of the
many good things which have teen
achieved by us In a material way IN
the year which will end few weeks
hence. The aggregate value of the
farm crops of the country for 1906.
appraised at the figures which the
producer will get for them at the
farm, is $6.794, 100000. The mind of
the average man finds difficulty in
grasping the meaning of even a sin
gle million. When, as In this case,
the million is multiplied several thou
sand times, the sum gets up into the
dizzy heights of mathematics, where
we can not follow 1t. A country
whose farms produce such an i'm,
mense amount of wealth in single
year must have that Astounding mater.
ial prosperity which the president
glowingly referred to In his appeal to
the people to make this day of gcn-
eral thanksgiving for the favors of tae
year.
The year 1S4S is within the easy
recollection of many thousands Of per
sons who. In their various employ
ments. are still actively at work in
the United States. In the season
which Is ending the farms produced
wealth equal to the value of all the
property and all the products in The
country combined in iS4S. Suppose
We supplement Secretary Wilson's
story by the record of some of the
fields of activity outside of his sphere.
The tale which we would tell would
read something like this: In the year
which will soon end the 100000 per-
sons employed at this time in the
mills and factories of the United
States will produce articles valued Mt
$4,000. 100000, and they will receive
over $3,500.000.000 in wages. In the
present year the 100000 miles of rail
way in the United States. which give
employment to nearly 100000 per-
sons, will give those persons $4,000
100000 as compensation for their
work. In these two activities, as m
that of agriculture, the United States
is immeasurably ahead of any other
country in the world. And our lead
Is rapidly increasing.
Except possibly President Johnson
In his first year in office, no president
has ever had greater cause for calling
on his people to give thanks for tie
blessings of the year than Mr.. Roosc-
welt had in 1906. President johnson
had an especial cause on the first ad-
vent Of that holiday during his admin
istration to call attention to the OBJ
servance of Thanksgiving. That was
In 1865. and the Civil war had ended
in the first half of that year. We
have had no afflictions in recent
times to call for any particular men.
ton in Thanksgiving Day proclama-
tions. Even the industrial stagnation
which lasted several years is so far
in the background that few persons
give 1t thought today. Moreover, in
social way we have been favored
almost as magnificently as we have
been in the physical field. We have
taken steps in the past few months
to strengthen the ties between us and
the rest OF the nations of the contin.
ent. All of them have. at this time.
more lively sense of United States
friendship for them than they have
had In the past Two months ago the
heads of the government of Cuba
abdicated In our favor, and we are
intrusted with the care of people
who had for several years been, in
theory at least, masters of their own
destinies. The world acquiesces in
the supervision which we have estar.
lished over Cuba, and hopes that IL
will become permanent. Down on the
isthmus we are building, at cost of
several hundreds OF millions OF dol
lars, a waterway which will benefi.
every commercial country on earth,
although none of them will be asked
to contribute cent toward Its con-
struction. The United States is still
. land Of hope to the struggling peo-
pies Of the world. as the more than
= million Of immigrants who come