Notwithstanding the war, immigration to the United States is
progressing with more than its usual volume, caused by the very high
wages for labor, the great benefits of our recent Homestead Bill, and
the exclusion, by recent act of Congress, of slavery from all this vast
domain.
It will be observed, that, whilst the _lands_ constituting these
Territories remain _public_ lands, no estimate is made of them as wealth
in the national census. It is only when these public lands become farms
and private property, that they are valued as part of the wealth of the
nation. This remark also applies to that 255,000,000 acres of public
lands in the sixteen _Land States_ of the Union. Hence the amazing
increase of wealth at each decade, in the new States and Territories.
Thus, by Table 35 of the Census of 1860, page 195, the rate of increase
of wealth in the following States and Territories, from 1850 to 1860,
was:
_Territories._
Washington, 5,000 per cent.
Nebraska, 4,800 "
Utah, 467 "
New Mexico, 302 "
_States._
Kansas, 8,000 per cent.
Iowa, 942 "
California, 837 "
Minnesota, 6,000 "
Michigan, 330 "
Oregon, 471 per cent.
Illinois, 457 "
Wisconsin, 550 "
It is thus that the wave of population moves onward in our Western
States and Territories, that the axe and the plough are the pioneers of
civilization, that farms, cities, and villages, the schoolhouse, and the
church, rise from the wilderness, as if by the touch of an enchanter's
wand.
Pages:
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127