CHAPTER XV. POPULATION. Population-Materialism. THERE was a time when the prosperity, riches, worth, and progress of a state were estimated simply according to its population. But views have undergone such a change in several of the states of Europe, that complaints respecting over-population are now the order of the day; individuals regard a numerous family as a misfortune, and governments would be glad to free themselves by mild and even by forcible means from the weight of this pressing evil and increasing danger. The former view was, it is true, a partial one; but the latter, besides participating in this defect, proves the existence of great social diseases, the true and efficient remedy for which is by no means to be found in a diminution of the population. The decrease in the number of the people and the formation of great estates or latifundia in the Roman empire, were certainly no signs of improving or returning health. Every addition to the numbers of mankind is an increase, a blossoming of the intellectual; and to the intellectual is committed the task of finding out and indicating the ways and means for sustaining the corporeal. If this for many reasons is more easily accomplished in America than in other older countries, it may be disputed whether there is any merit in this condition of superiority; but it certainly is a hap piness, and a proof of vigorous and pleasing youth. The history of the world knows no country of equal size where within a brief period the population has increased so regularly and to such an extent as in the United States. The simple figures are here so eloquent and instructive, that we must present at least a few from the countless mass. The entire population amounted, in the year 1780, to 2,051,000 The vast progress made of late years is exhibited most conspicu * And furthermore in the year 1790, to 3,929,000 66 1840, 17,062,000 Of this last sum there were 7,249,000 white men, ously in the immense valley of the Ohio and Mississippi. Thus in fifteen years the population has increased in New England the middle states the southern " northwestern" southwestern" about 221 per cent. This difference of increase is owing to very various causes; such as freedom or slavery, fruitfulness or barrenness of the soil, immigrations and emigrations, &c. It is only in two states, South Carolina and Mississippi, that the number of slaves exceeds that of the free persons. During the last twenty years, however, the latter have increased faster than the former, which gives rise to pleasing anticipations for the future. The increase between the years 1830 and 1840 was: of the entire population 32.67 per cent. white free people of color slaves 34.66 66 66 entire colored population 23.04 The state of New York numbered, in the year 1702, ་ 20,000 inhabitants 1840, 2,428,000 66 The state of Kentucky, not discovered till between 1766 and '70, had before 1775 no white inhabitants; in 1840 it had 779,000. The state of Alabamat had The population of the several cities has augmented with the Of the entire adult population there are employed, in agriculture Of these there live in the six New England states six middle states (including the District of Columbia) five southern states (including Florida) five southwestern states 675,000 1,251,000 1,073,000 713,000 eight northwestern states (including Wisconsin and Iowa) 1,085,000 * Furthermore, in the year 1731, it had like rapidity.* "How many inhabitants," asked a traveller, "does this city contain?" "Five hundred." "How old is it?" "Twenty-three months." The population of London increased in 30 years, 70 per cent.; that of New York, 235 per cent. Sixty years ago there lived on the other side of the Alleghanies fifteen thousand souls; their number is now five millions. The size of the different states increases from Rhode Island, containing 1340 English square miles, to Virginia, which contains 64,000; and their population from that of Delaware, amounting to 78,000, to that of New York, which numbers 2,428,000. In Michigan and Missouri, there are from five to seven persons to a square mile; and in Massachusetts, about one hundred. Even when the United States shall number two hundred millions of inhabitants, they will not be as thickly settled as Massachusetts is at present; consequently the prospects are well founded of a rapid increase for many years to come. In Mexico, amidst great natural advantages, the population increases but very slowly.‡ The reasons, says Mühlenpfordt (i. 198), are to be found in the operations of the restrictive policy with which Spain oppressed her colonies in the civil wars, pro 3,000 12,000 New York 33,000 60,000 Brooklyn (suburb) Philadelphia 45,000 Buffalo 96,000 123,000 203,000 312,000 364,000 . 67,000 70,000 96,000 119,000 167,000 228,000 301,000 in the year 1825, 2,300 18,000 In the year 1840 the population of the following cities was: Albany 33.000 Rochester 20,000 About one eighth of the population live in cities of over 2000 inhabitants. † Reed, i. 114. Chevalier, Voyes de Communication, i. 13, 83. In Mexico, whose population is estimated at between nine and ten millions, the several classes of inhabitants bear an entirely different proportion to one another from what they do in the United States. There are reckoned (Kennedy's Texas, i. 7) to be: Pure Europeans Creoles Mestizoes Mulattoes Negroes Indians Samboes from 10 to 20,000 1,000,000 2,000,000 400,000 100,000 3 to 4,000,000 2,000,000 scriptions, celibacy of the priesthood, the numerous convents, the neglect of children, epidemic diseases, &c. Notwithstanding the prevalence of the yellow fever in many of the sea-port towns, and the unhealthiness of swampy or too thickly wooded regions, the average duration of life in the United States seems to be not lower than that of Europe. Rapidly as the number of inhabitants increases, it can still be maintained with certainty, that the growth of capital far outstrips that of the population; and nowhere has such ocular demonstration been afforded as in America of the proverb, Mens agitat molem. That which in this tendency is termed materialism and mechanism, has not shown itself as obstinate, presumptuous, intolerant, dangerous, and cruel, as fanatical spiritualism and mysticism; hence on both sides it is necessary to separate the gold from the dross. The spiritual developes itself in the mass in proportion as it becomes master of the material, and satisfies the indispensable outward wants and aims in a shorter time and with better and easier means. Thus mechanism liberates the mind, procures leisure, and releases from mere corporeal exertion; not however to resign itself to luxurious indolence, but to begin labor in higher and nobler paths. The more the North Americans acquire the mastery over nature, the more powerful become their minds. Nature has been far more prodigal of her gifts to the South Americans; but they, often despising so-called material industry, have made no progress in the path either of outward or inward improvement. Men must not only be counted; we must also examine into what they accomplish, and how much the result of their exertions is worth. To such an investigation let the foregoing remarks serve as a clue. CHAPTER XVI. AGRICULTURE. Grain, Horticulture, Culture of the Vine-Sugar, Rice, Silk, Tobacco, CottonProduce and Improvements. IN a country of such great extent and diversified climate as the United States, the working of the soil must be very various, and of such a kind that a judgment and estimation of the process without the closest observation of local and personal peculiarities, would be wholly incorrect. At least we must not lose sight of some few essentially important points. These are: 1. That a principal object is, to obtain the greatest returns with the least labor; for the laborers are so scarce and wages so high, that it is necessary to employ quite other means and follow other modes than in countries where wages are low and laborers plentiful. 2. The land is mostly very cheap; it consequently yields of itself no rent, and is tilled almost exclusively by the proprietors. The class of farmers, intermediate between that of proprietor and laborer, has developed itself but rarely; it is also of no advantage, especially in the free states, to acquire and cultivate great tracts of land, except for the purpose of soon selling them again. 3. The North Americans too are certainly, next to the English, the greatest trading people in the world; but this has often been erroneously so understood and explained, as to mean that the inhabitants of the United States consist almost exclusively of traders and shopkeepers smitten with the love of gain; whereas by far the greater part cultivate the ground, and six sevenths or perhaps nine tenths of all exported articles are the produce of the soil. By the cultivation of all known sorts of grain, not only are the daily increasing inhabitants provided with a sufficiency of food, but there remains also a considerable surplus for exportation. Nay in Boston, between 1795 and 1834, and in contradiction to the theory of Malthus, almost all the articles of food, as wheat, rye, barley, rice, fish, meat, coffee, tea, and sugar, became cheaper. Horticulture is injuriously affected by the rapid changes of the climate, heat, drought, and cold; yet the great advances which have been made are quite evident. Thus from the rich produce of the orchards of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, &c., a great deal of cider is made; and perhaps nowhere in the world are there so many peaches as in New York and New Jersey. In New Hampshire, he who injures or destroys trees is fined ten times their value.* And also in regions which are richer in trees and forests, experience has shown that the practice of burning down the trees and leaving the stumps, is neither the cheapest nor the most convenient mode of preparing land for tillage.† The culture of the vine has been attempted at Vevay in Indiana and in Kentucky (from grapes of the Cape of Good Hope); a pleasant wine is also made by the Jesuits, at Georgetown, near Washington.‡ *Laws of New Hampshire, 1834, p. 167. † M'Gregor's America, ii. 57. Ernst, Bemerkungen auf einer Reise in Nordamerika, p. 42. Hinton, ii. 214. |