161 PERILS. — WEALTH. 



aluio.st twice the entire wealth of the Empire of Russia 

 (in 1880), to be divided among 82,000,000 people. And 

 this increase, it should be observed, was only a small 

 part of the wealth created — the excess after supporting 

 the best-fed people in the world. To the w^ealth of 1870 

 was added, during the next twenty years, a naverage 

 of more than $200,000 every hour, night and day, except 

 Sunday, or $5,000,000 every week-day for that period. 

 Since 1880 our wealth has increased $17,817,000,000 or 40.8 

 per cent., while poi^ulation has increased only about 25 

 per cent. Great Britain is, by far, the richest nation of 

 the Old World, and our wealth exceeded hers in 1880 by 

 $276,000,000; and during the past ten years our increase 

 has been much more rapid than hers. The material prog- 

 ress of the United States from 1870 to 1890 is wholly 

 without a parallel in the history of the Avorld. 



It is difficult to realize that the youngest of the nations 

 is the richest, and that the richest of all nations has, 

 as yet, only begun to develop its resources. The crops 

 of 1888 were i^roduced on less than one-sixth of our 

 arable land, and much of our agriculture is rude; a 

 much larger proportion of our mineral wealth is unde- 

 veloped; and the only limit which can be set to our 

 possible manufactures is the world's need. Our domes- 

 tic commerce, already $18,000,000,000^ a year, will double 

 and quadruple with the growth of population. Here are 

 forty-four nations, so to speak — and soon to be half a 

 hundred — enjoying perfect freedom of intercourse, witli 

 but one language and one currency, with common inter- 

 ests and common institutions. In Europe, commerce 

 must run a gauntlet of custom-houses, on a score of 

 frontiers, and must stumble over thrice as many lan- 

 guages ; while those nations, with conflicting interests and 

 mutual jealousies and antipathies, exhaust much of their 

 strength in watching, foiling, and crippling each other. 

 Europe spends annually on the maintenance of fleets and 

 armies nearly $900,000,000. And this is but little more 



1 J. L. Stevens, in International Review. December, 1881. 



