Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-19
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

ut seems hardly credible" says
The Star of June IL, 1877, yet a no
The First careful observer than
NeWsDoys. thority for the state
ment that the sale Of newspapers in the
streets by newsboys was substantially
unknown until the Summer Of 184S,
the initial occasion being Mr.. Web
ster's celebrated Marshf1eld speech, in
which he declared that the nomina-
ton of Gen. Taylor for the Presidency
was not fit to be made This was
regarded as an affair of such public
moment at the time that it was car
ried up to Boston by special express
and printed In the form of an extra,
which, Mr.. Brooks tells us, was sold
in the street with a zeal and bought
with zest never excelled since The
next piece of startling news was the
flight Of Louis Philippe from France,
which also brought out the newsboys
with their startling cries. and since
then they have become nearly as much
one of the institutions Of the times as
the daily paper itself. Indeed, some
of the shrewdest and most successful
business men in the country owe their
success in life to the schooling received
in the sale Of newspapers"
X
Half century ago there was little
faith in the building up OF the West
Wrong Prediction r residents lent p Of the he
About the West. eastern ca tbs P 2Ppited
States. The great areas that were
then marked off as Territories We're
considered as backlands which could
never develop into populous, prosper
Gus States. This view was expressed
as follows in The Star of June IA,
1877:
"A gentleman who has spent many
years in the far West and has
travelled extensively through it does
not take the rose-colored view Of it's
future INDUCED In by some enthu-
siasts. In his opinion the States of
Colorado and Nevada, which are
States only in form. and the Territories
Of Wyoming, Dakota, Montana, Idaho.
Utah, New Mexico and Washington,
will never attain, nor can they sup
port, an aggregate population Of more
than 100000, or about one-fourth the
population of the State Of New York.
He bases his estimate on the scarcity
of fertile lands, the difficulty of obtain
ing water, the presence Of untillable
mountain ranges, arid deserts, etc. In
his opinion each Territory, by making
the most OF its mining and farming
resources, may acquire population suf-
1cient to entitle 1t to admission as a
State, but not one is likely to ever
have more than a single member of
Congress. Except in the Senate the
relative power of the East and West
will not therefore, he thinks, be much
changed in the future"
The fallacy OF this prediction is OBJ
vious. According to the census of
1920, the 10 States mentioned by the
gentleman of extensive Western travel
Dakota having become two States
had an aggregate population of
5,6S6,979, or more than 1900, 900
over the limit which he placed on the
all-time inhabitation Of those areas.
The total representation Of these 10
States in the lower house OF Congress
Is at present "a, against the 10 which |
he regarded as the maximum. Only |
three Of them have the one Represen- |
tative each granted by the Constitu. |
ton as a minimum.
%N
The movement for a safe and sane" !
Fourth of July was under way half
Mou;r century ago, &C. I
moving LOT a cording to The |
Sane Fourth. S 1saT: OF June TO-
THE authorities of New York.
which always suffers moro or less
from the pyrotechnic celebration of |
independence day, are taking time by
the forelock and trying to devise some |
other way Of observing the occasion.
On the Fourth of July last 90 fires &C.
CURED IN the city, of which rs were |
caused Dy the use of firecrackers and |
other explosive materials. There were,
OF course, many serious accidents, but
the number is not given. The law
committee OF the board of aldermen
have the subject under consideration.
and at their meeting the other day one
of the fire underwriters, in asking for
the passage OF an ordinance regulat-
g the use OF fireworks, after refer
ring to the great fire in Portland, in
with the danger in using
said that there was a Ii
ordinance in operation in
baltimore, and that only two fires &C.
cured In that city on the last Fourth
If July. He thought il would be
proper to confine the use of fireworks
% the parks. The committee came to
10 conclusion in the matter.
Most American youngsters have a
notion that the anniversary of our in [
dependence cannot be properly cele-
,pnt Tod xxKfkE -