THE CONQUEST OF ARID AMERICA 



act fffrst 

 COLONIAL EXPANSION AT HOME 



" In 1850 she [the United States] passed Austria. In 1860 it was 

 her motherland to whom she held out her hand lovingly as she 

 swept by. In 1870 she overtook and passed France. In 1880 she 

 had outstripped the German Empire ; aud now, in 1890, she is left 

 without a competitor to contend with except giant Russia. All the 

 others she has left behind. Another decade, and the sound of the 

 rushing Republic close behind will astonish even Russia, with its 

 eighty-six millions in Europe. Yet another decade, and it, too, 

 like all the rest, will fall behind to watch for a time the new nation 

 in advance, until it forges so far forward as to pass beyond her ken, 

 when five hundred millions, every one an American, and all boast- 

 ing a common citizenship, will dominate the world for the world's 

 good." ANDREW CAKNEGIE, Triumphant Democracy. 



