THE UNITED STATES IN 1780, 1880 AND igSo. 695 



life may be less oppressive; and of these all shops, farms, offices, stores, mills, 

 boats, and railroads bear valuable fruits, and these classes of our citizenship have 

 removed many hardships and privations; and those common to the beginning of 

 the period mentioned, are unknown to those who live in the later years. 



In the beginning of that period, and from that on till now, the United States 

 Government has had a vast domain of public lands for all who wanted farms ; 

 and liberal provisions were granted to every, one who chose to locate on vacant 

 land. Thus from any over-crowded locality the excess simply flowed into this 

 vast territory of unimproved land, and in a few years where there had been appar- 

 ently a barren waste, there sprang up States with all the necessary functions of 

 like governments a hundred years older. 



To-day the area of the United States is. . . . 3,110,061 

 square miles exclusive of the Indian Territory. 70,600 

 And of Alaska 720,000 



This first area will equal a square whose sides are 1,764 miles long. This 

 extensive expanse has been nearly all taken up by private individuals, and but 

 little more is left for the pioneer. 



What is now before the statesmen of our country for their prime considera- 

 tion ? It is this : How shall the vast increase of our next century (if it be in 

 proportion to the last in per cent) be supplied with homes and honest employ- 

 ment? These are necessary to the individual and the family; to.hold them up in 

 self-respect, and keep them on an elevated plane of citizenship where childhood 

 and youth can be reared into maturity, pure, noble, and grand, as God wanted 

 Man to be; then with the will to labor, and the place to labor, he can go on in 

 obedience to the Divine Command and live, and grow in mind and morals and 

 perfect himself. How much space /<?r ^a/)//a will the ending of the next century 

 demand? 



The 3,070,000 population of 1780 has grown in one hundred years to 50,- 

 156,000 and has extended from the confines of the thirteen Atlantic States con- 

 taining an area of 800,000 square miles to one of 3,110,061 miles, and embracing 

 thirty-eight States and seven territories, all politically organized to furnish their 

 citizens with the benefits of civil government and such guarantees as will enable 

 families to rear their children with judicious efforts to honorable and respectable 

 man and womanhood. Then if the 3,070,000 population of 1780 make an in- 

 crease to 50,156,000 in a century, that last number in the next century will reach 

 at the same ratio of increase 852,000,000 of people. 



What provisions must be made for this enormous population ? It must be 

 supplied with honest respectable labor to keep it above the ruinous sinks of vice, 

 and to supply food, raiment and house-room. How can that labor be applied 

 to supply these necessaries ? 



In the various manufacturing departments now in operation by the use of 

 the improved machinery before alluded to, an over-supply is now on the market. 



