The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1910-06-30


~ lish cossins. h Which
they casually rsferre1
y tie TACT that thsy ovns1 territory
q over 2S7y 900 square miles. o. some
I've times ~ large ~ all England nd
Wslss. neitAer Poor Richard DOR any
ef tie other dear oA chroaiclses
naAs nots q IL tact
But lnsanucA - ths coaeaists felt
~ sooogA cd s4esag enough nd rich
snougA to Ditch iato Great Britain.
81. not osly ~ pitch iato hsr. but
baat her after . fair Aght. It would
hook to a unbiased psesoa today -
u tie forsfatAsrs of tAe Arserackses
had . pretty good optaioa of them
selves and of what they haA II had.
II b quite likely hat after the un-
= easantness kAoWa - he Rsvoautioa.
vAsa the couAtry was striding ahead
With it, comnsres. vas selling its
cotton and its tobacco to every one
that wore clothes o. used the weed.
they felt they had more reason to pat
Themselves on he hack for the mar
Vicious growth they showed before the
eighteenth csntpSy vas done.
But Just supposing one Of the
ffamers Of the Declaration could read
over few statistics and observe few
events that that are at hand today!
II you told him that since his day sthe
country-Ais country-has increased
more than ten times In area. more
than 30 times In population. and more
than 4 thousand times In wealth. how
would he take the news! Would he
still assert. a. some OF our friends
among the Oldest inhabitants are
prone to do. that the good old days
we're BEST" or would he not be more
likely to sally forth In search Of the
beadle and make . psremptory de-
mand for your Incarceration Is q dan
SerOus lunatic!
Surely II truth 10 stranger than nc
ton figures are stranger still when
measuring the vast strides that our
country has taken since the Fourth of
July. 1776. What one of the signers
dreamed that In 1903, or less than 80
years after his ink dried upon that
historic document, the United States
would acquire . territory Of $4,000
square miles. or nearly three times the
size of all the Is original states put
together. But that was what we got
when we bought Louisiana for l5.0OO.-
900. In 1919, when we took In Florida,
re added more than 10000 square
les to our area; in 1S45 we took In
Texas with its vast domain Of $4,000
square miles; and within three years
thereafter had absorbed Oregon and
the Mexican concession, adding In
round numbers 100000 square miles
more.
Every once in a little while Uncle
Sam seemed to grow territorially hun
cry, and would lunch on q promising
fragment Of the continent. The Gads-
den purchase Of $4,000 square miles
was made in 1853; Alaska was bought
for s7.200.000 in 1867. adding nearly
100000 square miles to our map, and
In 1897 We took in the Hawaiian IL.
lands to prove that We were not dis
eliminating against the Pacific ocean
in the matter Of our favor. Then all
In bunch, during the days Of 1898
and 1899 We took in Porto Rico Guam
and the Philippines, and a few Of the
Samoan islands. The Sandwich is-
lands were scarcely worth mentioning
for they added only 4 wee mite to our
real estate holdings-6.740 square
miles. to be exact-and Porto Rico
with its $500. and little Guam with
its 175 might be left out altogether
and we'd hardly notice that we had
lost them.
The Philippines totaled about 143.-
600 square miles, and you'll hardly be
able to suppress smile when you are
informed that the Samoan islands"
that We took over In 1899 had the
e1prmous area Of 70 square miles. But
I'm at that there's plenty Of room
upon those little ocean dots for ca
BILE houses, dry docks and coaling sta
lions. A few thousand tons Of coal
stored at any one Of those places may
ut some time In the future save tho
American battleship fleet and give 1t
the power to overcome = foe In the
far east. Thus. all told. when you add
up the various breakfasts. luncheons.
and dinners Of new Land that our
uncle has enjoyed since 1776 We get
the tidy showing Of 2.s36.73l square
miles.
This new territory cost the United
States treasury exactly S87.039.76s. or
about $50 a square mile. Add what
we've bought to what We had during
the Revolution. and you get total Of
little more than 100000 square
mikes Of territory.
The government figure experts, who
ought to be the best on earth. for they
get more pay than any other statisti-
clans on the globe. calculate that the
total wealth Of the United States to-
day is over 3110. 1000. 000. 900. They have
come to the conclusion. after going
over acres and acres Of numerals that
every man, woman and child In the
United States has $34.72. If you have