UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 5972 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



V MICHIGAN 



PENNSYLVANIA 



MISSOURI 



"WESTWARD THE COURSE OF EMPIRE TAKES ITS WAY" 



Stars indicate the center of population by decades; triangles, the centers of improved acreage; 

 squares, centers of farm values ; circles, centers of number of farms, in the years named. 



the Pacific oceans. Though under perpetual 

 lease and practically a part of the United States, 

 the Canal Zone is still under the sovereignty of 

 the republic of Panama. In 1917 the Danish 

 West Indies were acquired by purchase from 

 Denmark, renamed the Virgin Islands of the 

 United States. The following table contains 

 interesting data concerning the territory added 

 to the United States : 



*Besides an annual rental of $250,000. 



*Not including $16,000,000 paid to Texas in 

 1850 for territory then a part of the state but 

 now included in New Mexico and other states. 



Political Divisions. The United States is 

 composed of forty-eight states, all of which are 

 on the continent. The District of Columbia, 

 in which the city of Washington is located, is a 



Federal district. The thirteen states which 

 were already organized when the Constitution 

 was adopted are known as original states. The 

 first state added to the original thirteen was 

 Vermont, in 1792; the last was Arizona, on 

 February 14, 1912. The list is on page 5973. 



Besides the states there are the territories of 

 Alaska, Hawaii and Porto Rico, all lying out- 

 side the boundaries of the United States proper. 

 The Philippine Islands, Guam and the Samoan 

 Islands are dependencies whose inhabitants are 

 not United States citizens. 



Principal Cities. The principal cities of the 

 United States which have been briefly referred 

 to in the preceding topics, and hundreds of 

 others important locally, are dealt with more 

 fully in alphabetical order in this work. A 

 fact which has been strongly emphasized is the 

 growth of cities at the expense of the rural 

 districts. This has been due in the past to two 

 main causes the rush of immigrants to the 

 cities, where they colonize (referred to earlier 

 in this article), and the movement of young 

 people from the farms to the towns. 



Agricultural conditions until within a few 

 years tended to discourage ambitious young- 

 sters; farm life was lonely, toil was severe, so- 

 cial intercourse was difficult, profits were often 

 slight. To-day a new agricultural spirit pre- 

 vails. Good roads, rapidly increasing in mile- 

 age, encourage the social spirit by increasing 

 the ease of communication; the advent of the 

 automobile renders a farmhouse ten miles in 

 the country practically a suburban home, for 

 the- city can be reached in a few minutes ; the 

 telephone gives instant communication with 

 the town and the neighbors; rural free delivery 

 gives the farmer the advantages which city mail 

 delivery once reserved for the towns only, and 



