The Yale expositor., 1915-08-05

The history of the state of Michi'
gan during recent years is the his
tory of her great industries. TIE
great pine forests have been gradual
ly cleared away and the woodsman
and the AK have slowly but surely
been replaced by the husbandman and
the pillow. The prosperity OF Michi-
gan, however, is not dependent upon
her pine lumber, for in the passing
of the lumberman her agricultural re-
sources, the wealth Of her mines and
the extent of her manufacturing In
dustries are daily giving assurance to
even the most pessimistic observer
that Michigan is destined to hold for
many generations the high place
which she has made for herself among
the states of the Union.
Location, Area and Population.
Michigan's place at he head of the
st. Lawrence basin and in line with
the Mohawk valley of New York, and
practically surrounded by the Great
Lakes, is a most advantageous loca-
ton. The state has water communi-
cation with seven other states and
with Ontario, the most populous part
of Canada, or altogether with an area
having a population of about 10000
600 people, thus affording an uneX-
celled market for Michigan products.
On the whole, Michigan. by her posi-
ton and through her resources, has
played leading part in the develop
ment of the "Old Northwest" and in
turn has shared largely in the $19,-
100000 spent by the federal govern
ment on the harbors and channels on
the Great Lakes, and in the cheaper
freight rates due to these improve
ments.
Michigan is not merely a state. She
Is an empire containing $3.50, 1882
acres of land, exclusive Of water, or
about $1,000 square miles. This great
area of land forming the two PENN
sulas is equal to a strip of land more
than two and one-third miles wide
that would reach around the earth at
the equator. Michigan is the largest
state in the "Old Northwest" and the
largest, except Georgia, east of the
Mississippi: is about one-fourth the
size of France; Of the same area as
England and Wales. The lower pen
insula is nearly equal in size to one
of the five states, Ohio, indiana, Vir-
ginia, Kentucky or Tennessee. The
upper peninsula is larger than New
England, except Maine, and larger
than Delaware and Maryland together.
The population of Michigan GU. S.
government census of 1910 is 2.Sl0,
173.
The population of the. state in 1900
was 2,420,9S2, which represents an in
crease during the last decade of $780,
19l, or 16 Ito per cent. In one CEN
fury or from 1910 to 1910, Michigan
population has grown from 4,762 to
2,S10,173 and now ranks third in the
"Old Northwest" group of states, and
eighth in theSUnion. Michigan's popu'
lation in the last fifty years has been
the century.
In the division of the states popu.
lation of 2,S1O,173, 50 $40 per cent
live in the rural communities, while
AZ 2-10 per cent, or nearly half, live
In the cities, while in 1900, or ten
years previous, 60 7-10 per cent Of the
total population lived in the rural ter
ritory and 80 $40 per cent lived in
the cities. That the manufacturing
industries of the state have made
wonderful strides in the last decade
and that the rural communities have
been the losers in a greater or less
degree is evident, and one needs only
to point to the fact that in the last
ten years the cities have increased 81
$40 per cent while the rural popula
ton, comprising the remainder. has in
creased only per cent, and in many
of the best agricultural counties o.
the state the rural population has
greatly fallen off in some cases as
high as 10 per cent.
In Competition With the World.
The resources and products of Michi
gan are so varied in character that Il
has been said that a fence or wal
could be built around the state o.
Michigan and her people could go OF
living for centuries without outsid,
assistance. We could hous and warn
ourselves from our forests and sub
terranean fuel-clothe and feed our
selves from tn products Of our flocks
fields and orchards; could build on
railroads, telegraph and telephon,
lines from our own iron and cope
mines. Food and recreation could b,
furnished by our lakes. streams anC
woods, while our manufacturing indus
tries could supply US with every neces
sity and luxury, from a clothespin {,
an automobile. While Michigan coul,
exist as an isolated empire, with he
people enjoying all the REASONABLE,
comforts and luxuries of life, with tn,
exception of cotton, which is not pro
duced in this state, she extends
welcoming hand To those from with