SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER

THE UNITED STATES TO-DAY: THE PROGRESS OF A

HALF-CENTURY

Area and Population. In 1860 we owned no lands beyond the borders of the present States and the District of Columbia. Within the past half-century our area has been enlarged by about one fourth. This has come about through the acquisition of Alaska, Porto Rico, and our islands in the Pacific Ocean.1 The United States now controls more land

than any other nation on earth except Russia and the British Empire.

The country's population in 1860 was about 32,000,000. To-day, within the same area that we then had, we number almost three times that; and several millions more must be added for the people in our outlying possessions.2

As in all other civilized countries there has within this half-century been a remarkable growth in the cities of the United States. There are now fifty with a population of over 100,000, eight of over half a million each, and three containing more than 1,500,000. In 1860 about sixteen in every 1 See Appendix D. 2 See Appendix F.

hundred Americans lived in cities. In our day somewhat over two fifths of the people in the Union are city dwellers.1

Immigration. Up to 1869 most of our immigrants were from western and northern Europe - British, Irish, Germans, and Scandinavians chiefly. The number of these people who came to us in the year 1860 was about 150,000. But since 1869 the immigrants have greatly increased, and most of them are now from southern and eastern Europe. Over a fifth are from Italy, and Russia and Poland also send large numbers.2 More than a million arrived in 1910. The greater part of them are men, women, and children whom the Republic heartily welcomes, for they will soon become good citizens. But with these, sometimes, come

officers who carefully examine and

question all arrivals. If these newcomers have not enough money to support themselves until they can get work, if they have contagious diseases or bad moral character, or if they are known to be anarchists, they are refused admittance to the United States. In such cases the steamship company must carry them back to Europe free. Only about one per cent of the immigrants are thus excluded.

1 See Appendix F.

2 Over 25,000,000 immigrants have come to the United States since the Revolutionary War. The largest number coming in any year before 1860 was 427,883 in 1854. (See also foot-note I, page 330.)

Most of the immigrants soon begin to speak, dress, and act as Americans. In our public schools their children come to have the same ideas and love for America as do the children of other families, whose ancestors came to us from Europe generations ago. In fact, what America is to-day it owes almost entirely to European immigration, past and present. There is every reason to believe that this mixture of different nationalities, all of them improved by our free institutions, will make us a still greater and stronger people than we now are.

Industrial development, inventions, and modern conveniences. Since 1860 there has been an amazing indus

3000

O

THE LARGEST LOCOMOTIVE IN THE WORLD

Length, 120 feet; weight, 425 tons. This is one of the oil-burning freight locomotives built by the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad. Compare with the earliest locomotives, page 266

trial development in this country. Then our manufactured products were valued at somewhat under two billion dollars a year. To-day they are worth over twenty billions a year, and American factories can make almost every article that is used by civilized man. Indeed, American goods are to be found in every continent on the globe.

Our industrial progress has been greatly helped by many wonderful inventions, a large share of which were produced by Americans. Whitney's gin made cotton-growing the greatest agricultural industry in the South. McCormick's reaper helped largely to settle the West with raisers of grain. Howe's sewing-machine revolutionized one of women's greatest employments. Morse's telegraph and Bell's telephone united people living far apart, and thus helped to spread civilization and comfort. Hoe's rapid cylinder

1 Introduced in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell, of Boston. It is now possible with this instrument to talk with ease over a distance of 2000 miles.

press, the typesetting machine, and the typewriter 1 wrought an enormous saving of time to millions of human beings. The electric light has transformed the appearance of our cities.2 The use of electric power has given to us many a household convenience, and made possible almost numberless small industries.

Rapid methods of transportation of men and goods have brought changes perhaps even more remarkable. We can now

past half-century

MACHINE

A COMBINED REAPING AND THRESHING

The earliest reaping machine was drawn by two horses. In those days life, especially,

threshing was done with flails, after the grain had been taken to the barns

have made city

pleasanter and easier than it was

fifty years ago. Wonders have been wrought for city people by the steam railroad, the electric trolley car, the automobile, and the elevator. Our great-grandfathers, who had no elevators, were restricted to buildings three or four stories high; and as they usually had either to travel in a horse-car or to walk, they were obliged to live near their places of business. We of to-day can work in the tops of "sky-scrapers," in the heart of a large city; and yet by various kinds of convey

1 Patented in 1868 by Christopher Latham Sholes, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His first typewriting machine is now preserved in the museum of the Buffalo (N. Y.) Historical Society.

2 This light was not commonly used in houses until the introduction of the incandescent lamp, invented by Thomas A. Edison, of New Jersey.

ance we can at nightfall soon reach our homes in the quiet of some distant village or farm. Trolley cars run through every important city and town; and in great centers of population, the elevated tracks in crowded streets, and the tunnels under harbors and rivers help solve the problem of rapid transit. Automobiles 1 take us whizzing over the face of the country; and perhaps flying-machines 2 may yet carry us home from of

fice, store, factory, or school.

These means of transit make

possible an almost unlimited

growth to our cities. In time, large towns may wholly be given up to factories and stores, while almost all the

Courtesy, International Harvester Co. TRACTOR ENGINE, DRAWING PLOUGHS

Gasoline engines are used not only in ploughing, but also for supplying power for harvesting and haying machines, and for all farm uses. Formerly horses or oxen were used

people who work in them will dwell in far-away suburbs where they can enjoy more room and better air.

The changes brought about in country life during the past fifty years have, however, been almost as great as those in the city. The rural mail carrier drops the daily paper at the gate of the farmer or the villager. By means of the telephone, members of his household can at any time talk with their neighbors and with friends in the city. The interurban trolley line or the family automobile carries them

1 The first automobile show in America was given in New York City in 1900. Fully half a million cars are now used in the United States. Americans also own 50,000 motor cycles and 200,000 motor boats.

2 In the year 1900 the Wright Brothers, of Dayton, Ohio, began air-gliding. In 1903 they added a gasoline engine to their glider, and thus converted it into a mechanical flying-machine. But it was not until 1908 that they were ready to make exhibition flights. "Airmen" now make long and rapid journeys with aeroplanes, of which there are to-day several varieties.

3 Rural mail delivery was begun in 1897, during President McKinley's Administration. There were then but 83 routes; now there are over 40,000.