The United States in Prophecy

"OUR growth in population has been steadily increased by immigration from Europe. It began very moderately after the Revolution. From 1784 to 1794 the average number of immigrants a year was 4,000. During the last ten years the number of persons who have emigrated to the United States from Europe is estimated at over 2,000,000, who brought with them, in the aggregate, $200,000,000 in money. This capital, and the productive labor of the immigrants, have added much to the wealth of our country. This emigration and wealth is less than during the ten years preceding the civil war, during which time there came to this country from Europe 2,814,554 persons, bringing with them an average of at least $100, or an aggregate of over $281,000,000.

"Associations have been formed for improvements in the Arts of Design. The first was organized in Philadelphia in 1791, by C. W. Peale, in connection with Ceracchi, the Italian sculptor. It failed. In 1802 the American Academy of Fine Arts was organized in the city of New York, and in 1807 the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, yet in existence, was established in Philadelphia. In 1826 the American Academy of Fine Arts was superseded by the National Academy of Design, in the city of New York, which is now a flourishing institution.

"In education and literature our progress has kept pace with other things. At the very beginning of settlements, the common school was made the special care of the State in New England. Not so much attention was given to this matter elsewhere in the Colonies. The need of higher institutions of learning was early felt; and eighteen years after the landing of the Pilgrims from the Mayflower, Harvard College was founded. When the war of independence began there were nine colleges in the Colonies, namely, Harvard, at Cambridge, Mass.; William and Mary, at Williamsburg, Va.; Yale, at New Haven, Conn.; College of New Jersey, at Princeton; University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia; King's (now Columbia) in the city of New York; Brown University, at Providence, R. I.; Dartmouth, at Hanover, N. H.; and Rutgers, at New Brunswick, N. J. There are now about 300 colleges in the United States.

"At the period of the Revolution, teaching in the common schools was very meager, and remained so for full thirty years. Only reading, spelling, and arithmetic, were regularly taught. The Psalter, the New Testament, and the Bible, constituted the reading-books. No history was read; no geography or grammar was taught; and until the putting forth of Webster's spelling-book in 1783, pronunciation was left to the judgment of teachers. That book produced a revolution.

"In the year 1801, a new impetus was given to the book trade by the formation of the 'American Company of Booksellers'—a kind of 'union.' Twenty years later competition broke up the association. Before the war of 1812 the book trade in the United States was small. School books only had very large sales. Webster's Spelling-book was an example of the increasing demand for such helps to education. During the twenty years he was engaged on his dictionary, the income from his Spelling-book supported him and his family. It was published in 1783, and its sales have continually increased to the present time, when they amount to over 1,000,000 copies a year. Other school books of every kind now have an immense annual circulation.

"The printing-press, at the time of the Revolution, is shown in that used by Franklin, in which the pressure force was obtained by means of a screw. The ink was applied by huge balls; and an expert workman could furnish about fifty impressions an hour. This was improved by Earl Stanhope in 1815, by substituting for the screw a jointed lever. Then came inking machines, and one man could work off 250 copies an hour. Years passed on and the cylinder press was invented; and in 1847 it was perfected by Richard M. Hoe of New York. This has been further improved lately, and a printing-press is now used which will strike off 15,000 newspapers printed on both sides every hour.

"The newspapers printed in the United States at the beginning of the Revolution were few in number, small in size, and very meager in information of any kind. They were issued weekly, semi-weekly, and tri-weekly. The first daily newspaper issued in this country was the American Daily Advertiser, established in Philadelphia in 1784. In 1775 there were 37 newspapers and periodicals in the United States, with an aggregate issue, that year of 1,200,000 copies. In 1870 the number of daily newspapers in the United States was 542; and of weeklies, 4,425. Of the dailies, 800,000,000 were issued that year; of the weeklies, 600,000,000, and of other serial publications 100,000,000, making an aggregate of full 1,500,000,000 copies, To these figures should be made a large addition at the close of 1875. There are now about forty newspapers in the United States which have existed over fifty years.

"One of the most conspicuous examples of the growth of our republic is represented by the postal service. Dr. Franklin had been Colonial Postmaster General, and he was appointed to the same office for one year by the Continental Congress in the summer of 1775. He held the position a little more than a year, and at the end of his official term there were about 50 post-offices in the United States. All the accounts of the General Post-office Department during that period were contained in a small book consisting of about two quires of foolscap paper, which is preserved in the Department at Washington City. Through all the gloomy years of the weak Confederacy, the business of the Department was comparatively light; and when the national government began its career in 1789 there were only about seventy-five post-offices; with an aggregate length of post-roads of about 1,900 miles. The annual income was $28,000, and the annual expenditures were $32,000. The mails were carried by postmen on horseback, and sometimes on foot. Now the number of postoffices is over 23,000; the aggregate length of post-routes is 256,000 miles; the annual revenue, $23,000,000, and the annual expenditures $29,000,000."

The following paragraphs which are going the rounds of the papers just now present a good summary of the success "Brother Jonathan" has achieved thus far in his career:—

"Brother Jonathan commenced business in 1776, with thirteen States and 815,615 square miles of territory, which was occupied by about 3,000,000 of civilized human beings. He has now a family of 43,000,000, who occupy thirty-seven States and nine Territories, which embrace over 3,000,000 of square miles. He has 65,000 miles of railroad, more than sufficient to reach twice and a half round the globe. The value of his annual agricultural productions is $2,500,000,000, and his gold mines are capable of producing $70,000,000 a year. He has more than 1000 cotton factories, 580 daily newspapers, 4300 weeklies, and 625 monthly publications. He has also many other things too numerous and too notorious to mention."

"The United States of America issue more newspapers, in number and in aggregate circulation, than all the rest of the world combined. They outnumber the press of Great Britain six to one, and have nearly half a dozen daily papers which print more copies every issue than does the London Times."

And nature herself, by the physical features she has stamped upon our country, has seemed to lay it out as a field for national development on the most magnificent scale. Here we have the largest lakes, the longest rivers, the mightiest cataracts, the deepest caves, the broadest and most fertile prairies, and the richest mines of gold and iron and coal and copper, to be found upon the globe. "When America was discovered, there were but sixty millions of gold in Europe. California and the Territories round her have produced one thousand millions of dollars in gold in twenty years. Sixty one million dollars was the largest annual gold yield ever made in Australia. California has several times produced ninety millions of gold in a year." (Townsend, p. 384.) "The area of workable coal beds in all the world outside the United States is estimated at 26,000 square miles. That of the United States, not including Alaska, is estimated at over 200,000 square miles, or eight times as large as the available coal area of all the rest of the globe!" (American Year Book for 1869, p. 655.) "The iron product and manufacture of the United States has increased enormously within the last few years, and the vast beds of iron convenient to coal in various parts of the Union are destined to make America the chief source of supply for the world." "Three mountains of solid iron [in Missouri], known as Iron Mountain, Pilot Knob, and Shepherd's Mountain, are among the most remarkable natural curiosities on our continent." (Id. p. 654.)