Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1909-09-30
AMERICA BOILED DOWN.

vi wv NolRi. IuN Si'"'ii I'''' '"'''
more than remarkable, and one who
wants to boast of his country need
o. ly secure a copy of the Statistical
A stract," document is>uel each
" ar by the partnrnt of Commerce
al d Labor.
This plrticular pu rlication, origi-
mated some thirty years ago in the
Bureau of Statistics under the dirrc-
ti,n of john Sh, rman, then :, cr,tary
of the Treasury, and which in its
first issue was a thin pamphlet, Las
grown to he now an unwildy vel
un,. crammcd from cover to cover
with masses of figures. At glance
such II document would seem very
d v for summer reading, hut after
olr, has drlv Il into it, the COMPARE
son in the growth or decrease of
everything is fascinating,
oday the population of the United
States is in round numbers SO, ,OOO,-
! 90. Last fall ,SS7 l33 individ-
! u..ls lined up at the polls to east
vote for a Presidential nominee. And
tl. last figures obtainablr show that
six thousand four hundred and sixty
six millions of letters and postal cards
were sent through the mails Tie
table does not state whether the great
er quantity Of this fabulous humber
were post ards or not. At amy rate,
thc quantity is two-thirdS as much
a. the combined postal business of
Great Britain, Germany, France and
Austria Hungary, and twice as great
as any one of them, notwithstanding
tie fact that France has the rcputa-
tion of being one of the greatest let
tcr-writing countries. The people,
however, had great many things to
say quickly; and becoming fidg ty
over the 'slowncss" OF the mail ia
ciitics, used slightly over one-h hun
drnd million telegraph blanks, in or
der to relieve their nerve tension and
get quick results.
Of the SS,OOO,OOO of population,
practically one-thirl are domicilcd in
the thirteen original States, another
third in the States created from the
territory ccded to the common union
by those States, and the remaining
third in the area added by purchase
or annexation.
1t is interesting to observe that our
total continental area, including \ las
ka, is about equal to that of all
Europe; that while the area con-
ccdcd to the thirteen original States
hy the peace treaty of 1888 was S2S,-
GOO square miles, their present area
is but 326, 900 square miles, forming
in part or in whole thirteen other
States, while the remaining twenty
four States and Territories were
created from territory added by pur-
chase.
Uncle Sam has some resources left
There is just 754, ,OOO, 900 acres of land
still left in his keeping, though it
may be mentioned that all OF it is
not very desirable. Almost half of
this acreage is in Alaska, and much
of it in the Rockies. He also has
other resources besides vacant lands.
In his charge there are 50, ,S27 water
wheels to be kept turning, but there
is plenty of power for that purpose,
for he is credited with having $780,
600 horse power from streams with
which to keep them moving.
The estimated coal supply of the
country is 1925, 7OS, 100000 tons,
and during the last year almost a
half a billion tons were mined. The
iron-ore supply of the United States
is nearly five billions of tons, 80, 900,
600 tons being the amount mined for
the last year reported. The wealth
of the country in 1880, according to
the figures available, was 81, 900, 900,
600, speaking in round numbers; in
1890 it was S65 200, 100000, and the
last figures show it to have jumped
to $1O7 800, 100000 The last re-
port shows that the wealth produc-
ton of farms amounted to 81 ,412,-
600, 600, alone more than the wealth
of the country half century ago.
There has been a steady decrease
in the negro population since the
year 1910, the percentage in that year
being 1903. In 1850 it was 1858
per cent of the tctal population; in
1860, H. II per cent, and so on. Last
year the percentage was IL 80.
Out of his $lO7 800, 1000, 900, I'm
Gle Sam sp mt during the last year