18 



is no probability that such is the fact, and these appar- 

 ently strange results must be explained in some other 

 way. 



The theory which I presented in the first part of this 

 address, that large plains, unless subject to strong ex- 

 ternal influences, are not favorable to an active, vigor- 

 ous, progressive civilization, is not a theory of my own, 

 nor by any means a new theory ; but the statistical 

 illustration which I have laid before you, was suggested 

 by a remark of a stranger, whom 1 met in a railway 

 car, that the inhabitants of Caledonia county, Vermont, 

 produced more than any other equal population on the 

 globe. This seems to be an exaggerated statement, 

 and I feel bound, in justice to my unknown collocutor, 

 to give you the result of an analysis of the industrial 

 power of that county, upon the plan heretofore pursued. 



It had, in 1850, a population of 23.596. Adopting 

 the prices before named for Vermont, and charging in- 

 terest upon the capital employed, its net product would 

 be seventy-three dollars for each person ; and omitting 

 interest, it would be eighty-six dollars ; thus placing the 

 county somewhat above the average of the State. For 

 the purpose of comparison, I will give you the result 

 of a similar analysis of the county of Worcester, Mass. 



By the census of 1^50, Worcester had 130.152 in- 

 habitants. Its agricultural and manufacturing products, 

 allowing interest on the capital invested, and excluding 

 raw materials, amount to $9,925,445, or seventy-six 

 dollars for each person, against seventy-three dollars in 

 the county of Caledonia; and omitting the item of in- 

 terest, we have eighty-six in Caledonia, against ninety- 

 one in Worcester. 



Now these facts, so favorable to New England, do 



