188 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



To notice some of the causes of our slow growth; to point out some of the 

 great questions that press upon us ; to show what we are and what we may- 

 be ; to make a little self-examination and administer a little self-reproof, 

 shall occupy the hour accorded to me. 



POPULATION. 



The movements of population furnish an interesting study, and to a 

 large degree denote the relative prosperity and growth of the States. It 

 needs no argument to show that our great want now, as it ever has been, is 

 more people and less land per capita. Governments are instituted and 

 maintained for the many and not for the few. A sparse population retards 

 growth, leads to invidious classes, the massing of large landed properties 

 in single hands, discourages individual effort, does not offer the advantages 

 and inducements of competition, removes that friction of contending inter- 

 ests so essential to activity and progress. People build for themselves 

 better homes, surround themselves with more civilizing influences, have 

 greater social advantages and means of education in direct proportion to 

 the density or sparseness of population. 



What have we been doing and where do we stand ? 



In 1850 we were the twenty-ninth State in order of population ; in 1860 

 we were the twenty-sixth ; in 1870 and 1880 the twenty- fourth. Many of 

 the Eastern States have dropped back while many of the Western States 

 have leaped to the front. Iowa ranked the twenty-seventh in 1850, and 

 in 1880 the tenth ; Illinois went from the eleventh to the fourth ; Ohio has 

 remained the third throughout four decades ; Pennsylvania the second for 

 fifty years, and New York the first for sixty years, while Virginia has gone 

 back from the first to -the fourteenth in the same time. 



The percentage in growth is more startling and significant. From 1850 

 to 1860 California increased 310.3 per cent. We were digging gold in those 

 days. From 1860 to 1870 we dropped down to 47.4 per cent. Dakota, in 

 that decade, increased 193.1 per cent ; Kansas, 239.9 per cent ; Nebraska, 

 326.4 per cent ; Minnesota, 155.6 per cent. 



From 1870 to 1880 we increased 54.3 per cent, while Dakota increased 

 853.2 per cent ; Kansas, 173.3 per cent ; Nebraska, 267.8 per cent ; Wash- 

 ington Territory, 213.5 per cent ; Oregon, 92.2 per cent. 



I have endeavored to confine these illustrations to States into which 

 people have gone to seek homes and to pursue agriculture mainly. 



The census of 1880 showed that fourteen States and Territories had a 

 larger percentage of increase than ours, and that thirty-four States and 

 Territories had a larger population to the same area. 



Examine these figures and tell me why Dakota should gain nearly 

 twenty while we were gaining one, or Nebraska and Washington Territory 

 five to our one, or Oregon two to our one. Find the causes and state the 

 remedy, and you have solved the problem of the future prosperity of this 

 State. 



CAUSES OF OUR SLOW GROWTH CONSIDERED. 



I will venture to enter upon this dangerous ground a short distance ; 

 others must explore it ; the truth must be learned if we are to expand to 

 the limits of our capabilities. 



OUR CIVILIZATION DISTRUSTED. 



First — There is a distrust in the East of our civilization, and our power 

 to protect life and property, and this distrust has arisen in part from the 



