NATIONAL RESOURCES. 23 



established by man; " and well may the English premier 

 add : ' ' And the distinction between continuous empire 

 and empire severed and dispersed over sea is vital/' ^ 

 V/ith the exception of Alaska our territory is compact, 

 and though so vast, is unified by railways and an un- 

 equaled system of rivers and lakes. The latter, occupy- 

 ing a larger area than Great Britain and Ireland, ai-e 

 said to contain nearly one-half of all the fresh water 

 on the globe. We are told that east of the Rocky 

 Mountains we have a river-flow of more than 40,000 

 miles (i.e., 80,000 miles of river-bank), counting no 

 stream less than a hundred miles in length; while Eu- 

 rope in a larger space has but 17, 000 miles. It is esti- 

 mated'^ that the Mississippi, with its affluents, affords 

 35,000 miles of navigation. A steamboat may pass up 

 the Mississippi and Missouri 3,900 miles from the Gulf 

 — "as far as from New York to Constantinople."^ 

 Thus a "vast system of natural canals " carries our sea- 

 board into the very heart of the continent. 



But what of the resources of this great empire which 

 makes so brave a display on the map? Alaska is capa- 

 ble of producing great wealth, but not including this 

 territory, the area of the United States, according to the 

 census of 1880, is 2,970,000 square miles. According to 

 the smallest estimate I have ever seen (and doubtless too 

 small), we have 1,500,000 square miles of arable land. 

 China proper, which, according to the latest estimates, 

 supports a population of 383,000,000,* has an area of 

 1,297,999^ square miles, or considerably less than one- 

 half of ours not including Alaska. The Chinese are 

 essentially an agricultural people. This vast population, 

 therefore, draws nearly all of its support from the soil. 

 The mountains of China occupj^ an area of more than 

 300,000 square miles, and some of her plains are barren. 



» Kin Beyond the Sea. 



2 Encyclopedia Britannjca. 



3 Dr. Goodell. 



* The Statesman's Year-Book, 1890. 

 5 Ibid. 



