THE EXHAUSTIOIT OF THE PUBLIC LANDS. 207 



In 1880, fifty-three per cent, of our national domain 

 (not including Alaska) contained only six per cent, of 

 our population. That is, one-half of our territory was, 

 for the most part, uninhabited. The character of this 

 vast region, equal in area to Great Britain, France, 

 Spain, Italy, Austria, Germany, Norway and Sweden, 

 together with a dozen of the smaller European states, 

 is being determined during the last twenty years of the 

 century. Suppose all of Western Europe were prac- 

 tically uninhabited, that to-day the pioneer were pitch- 

 ing his tent by the Thames and Seine, and building 

 his log cabin on the banks of the Tiber. He takes with 

 him not the rude implements of centuries ago, but the 

 locomotive, the telegraph, the steam-press, and all the 

 swift appliances of modern civilization. Suppose the 

 countries named above were all to be settled in twenty 

 years; that, instead of the slow evolutions of many 

 centuries, their political, social, religious, and educa- 

 tional institutions were to be determined by one gen- 

 eration ; that from this one generation were to spring a 

 civilization, like Minerva from the head of Jupiter, 

 full-grown and fully equipped. What a period in the 

 world's history it would be, unparalleled and tremen- 

 dous! Yet such a Europe is being created by this 

 generation west of the Mississippi. And within the 

 bosom of these few years is folded not only the future 

 of the mighty West, but the nation's destiny: for, as 

 we have seen, the West is to dominate the East. 



