The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-03-02
A WORLD POWER.

Manufacturers Record, The power
Of the United States in world affairs
has for Its foundation material resour-
ces and geographical location un-
matched by any other country-we
might safely say. unmatched by any
other continent Our peculiar advant-
ages, our vast resources for the deyel-
opment of manufactures. for the pro-
duction of foodstuffs with which to
supply the needs of hundreds of mil
lions Of people. and for growing the
materials-cotton and wool-with
which to clothe them, are unique. The
world has no duplicate
Europe. with 400,OOO.OOO people, has
$4,000 square miles of coal land. The
United States. with S7,0OO,O00 people.
has 100000 square miles of good coal
and 100000 square miles of inferior
Goals and llgnites. Our coal supply Is
at least ten times as great as Europe's
and Is greater than all the known coal
supply of the rest OF the world Eu-
rope raises practically no cotton. We
raise s700,000,000 worth year Eu-
rope has five times as many mouths
to feed. but Of wheat and corn COM
bined We raise one-half of all produced
in the world. and about 500,000,O00
more bushels than all produced In
| Europe. Europe may partly Offset this
by rye. but we Offset rye by rice and
other foodstuffs.
| With 6 per cent of the land area Of
the world and 1-2 per cent Of the
worlds population we raise one-half
of its wheat and corn, 20 per cent of
its cotton, have more coal than has
been discovered In the rest of the
world, and as much iron ore. Our
water powers can be developed to such
an extent that they would furnish
more power than is used in all the
power plants in America They are
easily accessible, near to centers of
population, OF of industry, OF to the
raw materials for manufacturing or
mining
With 1-2 per cent of the worlds
population we have 40 per cent Of the
worlds railroad mileage, and our traf-
flc Is growing so rapidly that we need
| TO double our entire railroad facilities
within the next ten of fifteen years.
Our population Increases at the rate of
about 2 per cent year. On the pres
ent basis of $1,000 600 this would give
us 100000 to 1S,000.000 more people
In the next ten years, and something
over 2o,O0O,00O in the following decade.
This Will give us over 125000,00O by
1880 and 150.0OO,0o0 by 1910.
In thirty years our population will
be about 20 per cent larger than 1t is
today. but by virtue OF the increasing
! power of transportation on land and
sea. the use OF the telephone and tele-
graph-whjch are among the greatest
agents that ever came into existence
for accelerating business and adding
to mans productive capacity-the 70
per cent of Increase In population will
! have u far greater potentially than
| the total population Of today In other
words. the 150,00O,0OO people that will
be living In the United States by 1910
Will vastly exceed In their potentiality
TO produce and TO consume what the
same number could do today.
Not. however, in purely material
things is the United States destined
to become more and more a world
power. It's greatest influence in all
probability Is to be that which 1t is
already beginning to exert upon the
advancement of wages In Europe, and
which sooner or later II Is destined to
exert in all other lands With an aver
age Of nearly 100000 people a year
coming into this country during per
iods OF activity and high wages, we
furnish q market for the surplus labor
of Europe. 1t comes TO the United
States, finds employment at wagea
much higher than in Europe, and the
story Of high wages goes back to the
remotest districts of the Old World.
When times of dullness come popula-
ton flows the other way, and hundreds
OF thousands return to Europe to await
greater activity In this country.