50 



and Toiitoiiic in'ii|)l('. Since ls!i(». (lO per cent, have been Alpine and Mwli- 

 torranean peoiiie. Tiiis iiillux (if peojyle wild differ widely I'roni the orig- 

 inal stddv in teniperanient. habits, lanirnage. and religion, makes tlie prob- 

 lem of assimilatinn and blending a scrions one. The most etllcient agent 

 of American i/.atidn is the pnblic school, where the eliildren learn the Eng- 

 lis^h langnage. absoib American ideas, and undergo a cliange even in head 

 form. The Alpine people are noted for their domestic virtues and devotion 

 to family, divorce being almost unknown among them. The Italians have 

 a native taleiit for art and music. Tliese are qualities in which the typical 

 .Vnicricau is oUcn lacking, and desirable contributions to the society of 

 the future. 



A rajiidly developing country like ours has an almost unlimited ca 

 pacify to absorlt and use labor supply, and there is no indication of a sur- 

 plus. The luunber of colored people in proportion to the total population 

 is decreasing, and it is jtossible that in time even the "black belt" will fade 

 out. At the twelfth I'nited States census the native whites of native par- 

 ents formed a small majority, the foreign whites and native whites of for- 

 eign parents a little over one-third. The tardy returns of the thirteenth 

 census will probably reverse these proportitms. The I'nited States is the 

 melting pot of the nations. 



The relative and absolute decrease of the rural population, the increase 

 of foreign born, the relative decrease of food supply, the approaching limit 

 of f<M»d iiroduction under the ])resent systems of agriculture, the steady 

 rise in prices, all indicate that the days of plenty and profusion are pass- 

 iiig, and that the American standard of living must decline toward the 

 European standard. 



In Canada, with a population of about 7,(X>*>,()00, mostly in southern 

 Ontario and Quebec, there are too many unknown factors to make pre<lic- 

 tion Justiliabie. 'I'lie greatness of Canada is chietly visionary. Their olti- 

 cial literature gives one the impression that Ihey have learned the art of 

 boom and brag luitil they can go us one better in claiming everything in 

 sight and more beyond the horizon. In calculating such big round figures 

 as I have given for the .\thintic i)rovinces, in most cases Canada is al- 

 UKtst negligible. Dreams of a large agricultural i)oi)ulation on the Pence 

 Kiver in latitude Cd and on the "clay belt" around .fanu'S Hay seem to 

 have the same kind of a basis ,is that of a railroad to Hudson Hay and 

 regular lines of steamers fnan Cluirchill to Liverpool. The geograiihic 



