brooks: applied geology 



39 



After the war the people thought less about state rights and 

 more about industrial prosperity. There was no longer a French 

 party or an English party, but men of all political faiths had come 

 to the conclusion that we must work out our own salvation. We 

 had learned to supply our own material needs during the war 

 when English frigates, cut off European sources of supply. In 

 short, the nation had found itseff and was ready to begin to har- 

 vest the resources of the vast territory which the war had settled 

 for all time was to be our own. Our people, while possessing the 

 self-confidence of the pioneer, were facing new problems, and, 

 guided by their scientific instincts, turned to the scientist for help. 



In spite of the fact that the war had developed a relatively 

 strongly-centralized federal government, yet our political theory 



Fig. 3. Total number and percentage of total number of states supporting 

 geologic work, 1825 to 1910 



was still one of state rights. Moreover, the Republicans were in 

 power, with a hopelessly small Federalist minority. It was 

 natural, therefore, that the people, loyal to their political faith, 

 should turn to the commonwealths for aid in developing the new 

 land. This aid for the most part took the form of large grants for 

 public improvement of transportation facilities — at first for canals 

 and wagon roads, later for railways. During the period ending 

 with 1838 the states borrowed sums aggregating over $160,000,000 

 for purposes of public improvement. Compared with this sum, 

 the expenditures for geologic surveys were small. It is a signifi- 

 cant fact, however, that in 1838, a larger percentage of the states 

 supported geologic surveys than in any subsequent year until 

 1898. This is graphically illustrated in Fig. 3. The upper 



