120 GEOEGE HAGUE ON THE MOEAL AND 



13. To begin with, the fact is to be uoted that iu the goverument of the United 

 States uumbers have a direct and constant bearing on political power. Representation is 

 almost wholly by population. The more population, the more votes ; and with votes, 

 victory for a person, a party, or a cause, with all the material benefits that follow in the 

 train of victory. 



No one who has not lived either in the United States or on their borders can appre- 

 ciate the extreme keenness with which numbers are estimated, and the natural tendency, 

 whenever numbers come into play in such a manner as to aflect political power or 

 national preponderance, to exaggerate them. The small towns and cotinties of rural dis- 

 tricts exaggerate their numbers in order to overbalance the importance of the large cities 

 of the same state. For there are many matters in which their interests clash. The strong 

 interest of the cities is to swell their population in order to attract capital and enterprise 

 to themselves ; and, further, to over-estimate the value of real estate within their bounds, 

 iu order to enable them to negotiate loans on better terms. 



There is the same rivalrv between manufacturing cities and seaports, and between 

 commercial centres in different sections of the country. Each state and each group of 

 states is self-asserting, partly for the sake of political weight in the national councils and 

 partly that they may draw population and immigration. 



14. To such state it is a matter of business (pursued with all the keenness of a prac- 

 ticed merchant iu older lands) to attract capital, settlers and labourers, a condition of 

 things absolutely unknown in England, and to one not familiar with it by experience 

 almost unthinkable. This is particularly noticeable in the newer states that have vast 

 areas of uncultivated lands for sale. Every possible interest leads to the magnifying of 

 the number of acres capable of cultivation, of the crops produced, and of the value of 

 farming lands as distinguished from wild lauds. For the more such farm lands can be 

 made to appear worth, the greater the attraction to the immigrant to come aud surround 

 himself with such favourable circumstances, looking himself to have equally valuable 

 cultivated land by-and-by. The values of lands, buildings, improvements and crops are 

 almost universally i)ut down on an exaggerated scale by each owner whenever value has 

 to be spoken of, provided only that taxes have not to be paid thereiipon. 



It arises out of this condition of things that the amount on which taxes are paid, and 

 the amount which persons call the value, are widely different. They differ sometimes 

 as much as 200 and even 300 per cent. 



A typical instance came under my notice recently. A newspaper in the populous 

 state of Michigan brought forward some figures relating to the wealth of the state. The 

 actual and ascertainable figures were those of taxation value as determined by assessments. 

 The paper went on to say that on the average it might fairly be estimated that the real 

 value of these properties and lands was three times as much as the taxing value; that, 

 therefore, the wealth of the state might be put down at such and such a figure, which 

 was exactlv three times tjie amount on which taxes were paid. This instance is typical.' 



' The assessment value of all the property of the state of Michipan, according to the latest returns accessible, 

 is 1654,580,000. Multiply this by three and we have $1,963,740,000. The diflercnce between the two is the measure 

 by which we can estimate the working of moral and metaphysical forces in considering such questions. I would 

 not dwell upon this were it not a type of a deep seated and universally prevailing practice familiar to all residents 

 of the United States aud Canada. 



