History of the United States Volume Vi Part 23

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Photograph, Copyright, by Clinedinst. Washington.

President Taft signing the proclamation making New Mexico a State, January 6, 1912.

January 6, 1912, New Mexico, having complied with all conditions, was formally admitted into the Union as the forty-seventh State.

Arizona, having an area of 113,000 square miles, was organized as a territory in 1863 and appeared in the federal census reports for the first time in 1870 with a population of 9,658. From 1870 to 1890 its growth in population was rapid, increasing a little more than four times during the decade 1870-1880 and doubling during the succeeding ten years. The population in 1900 was 122,931 and in 1910 it was 204,354.

During the last decade, therefore, the increase in population has been 66.2 per cent, while the percentage of increase in the United States as a whole has been only 21 per cent. According to the thirteenth census, Arizona contained eight cities with an aggregate population of 58,414.

The largest cities were Tucson, with a population of 13,193, and Phoenix with 11,134.

Arizona produces more copper than any other State in the Union. Of the total copper ore mined in the United States (1909) 27.7 per cent was from Arizona. There are also good mines of gold and silver. Coal-mining, marble-quarrying, lumbering, raising cattle, sheep, and ostriches are also important industries in Arizona. Through the efforts of the Reclamation service in completing the Roosevelt Dam and a dam at Parker, and by the use of pumps, it is estimated that 1,000,000 acres of fertile land will become available for cultivation. Other large areas are also susceptible of irrigation.

In 1850 the territory of New Mexico was organized and in 1863 it was reduced to its present limits with an area of 122,000 square miles. The population of New Mexico in 1900 was 195,310 and in 1910 was 327,301 an increase of 67.6 per cent. Albuquerque, with a population of 11,020, and Rosewell with 6,172 were the two largest cities. Like Arizona, New Mexico possesses great wealth in mines and forests, but the foundation for her future industrial progress lies in her farms. In 1910 New Mexico possessed 500,000 acres of irrigated land. It was estimated that 3,000,000 acres more were amenable to artificial watering and the government is expending millions of dollars on projects which will fertilize vast areas of this land.

During the year 1911 the world was astounded at the unparalleled exhibitions of the possibilities of the aeroplane. The dream of centuries had been realized, and American genius was responsible for the achievement. In 1896, a model machine which had been constructed under the direction of Professor Langley, secretary of the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution, driven by a one horse-power steam-engine, made three flights of a mile each near Washington. Congress appropriated $50,000 for the construction of a complete machine, but after two unsuccessful attempts to fly, with an operator, the project was abandoned.

Wilbur Wright and his brother Orville, bicycle manufacturers of Dayton, Ohio, did not share in the general ridicule which followed this failure, and after three years of experimentation demonstrated that the principles upon which Professor Langley had constructed his machine were, in the main, sound. The first successful flight of a few seconds by one of their machines weighing 750 pounds was made in 1903. Two years afterward a flight of 24 miles was made at the rate of 38 miles an hour.

Other successful experiments followed, and the claim of the Wrights to be considered the inventors of the first successful man-carrying flying machine was established. French inventors at about the same time were carrying on successful experiments with machines similarly constructed.

September 16, 1908, Wilbur Wright, at Le Mans, France, demonstrated that his machine could remain in the air for over an hour and at the same time fly across country at a high speed. In that year, also, Orville Wright, in a government test at Fort Myer, Virginia, not only made flights lasting over an hour, but carried a companion with him. During July, 1909, a French aviator, Bleriot, flew across the English Channel, a distance of 32 miles. That year, also, Orville Wright ascended to the height of 1,600 feet; with a pa.s.senger, made a record flight of 1 hour, 12 minutes and 36 seconds; and flew across country with a companion for 10 miles at the rate of 42 miles an hour. Thus it was shown that a machine had at last been constructed which would not only fly, but would remain in the air at the will of its pilot and subject to his guidance.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Automobile and airplane racing.]

From a photograph by H. H. Morris.

Charles K. Hamilton racing an automobile on the beach at Galveston, Texas.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Photograph by Brown Bros., N.Y.

Wilbur and Orville Wright, and the late King Edward of England.

[1911]

In the aviation meet at Los Angeles, January 10, 1910, Louis Paulhan, a Frenchman, established the record of 4,000 feet for height and Glenn H.

Curtiss with a pa.s.senger set a new world's record of 55 miles.

Shortly afterward Curtiss demonstrated for the first time that it was possible for an aeroplane, especially constructed, to rise from the surface of water, make a flight in the air, return to the starting-point, and again alight on the water.

The great possibilities as well as the dangers connected with aviation were brought out in the meet at Chicago during August, 1911, where two aviators lost their lives. C. P. Rodgers, in a Wright machine, remained in the air twenty-six and one-half hours out of the possible thirty-one and one-half hours. Lincoln Beachey set a new world's record by ascending 11,642 feet. This record was again surpa.s.sed within a month by Ronald G. Garros, a French aviator, who ascended 13,943 feet.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Wilbur Wright in his aeroplane at Pau, France, with King Alfonso of Spain.

Harry K. Atwood flew from St. Louis to Chicago in one day, a distance of 315 miles. He continued his flight to New York, and in eleven days reached that city. He had travelled 1,265 miles in the actual flying time of 28 hours. C. P. Rodgers eclipsed all records for long-distance aeroplane flying by crossing the continent from Sheepshead Bay, New York, to Pasadena, Cal., a distance of 4,231 miles. He accomplished this feat in the total time of 49 days, September 17 to November 5, 1911. His actual flying time was 82 hours.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Harry K. Atwood with Lieut. Fickle flying over Governor's Island, N. Y., after completing his flight from St. Louis to New York.

These flights served to demonstrate that the permanent triumphs of aeronautics are to be won by steadiness and efficiency and not by recklessness.

Among the significant legislation of the Sixty-second Congress, the pa.s.sing of the "publicity law," August, 1911, is deserving of especial commendation. The Democratic platform, 1908, demanded publicity of campaign contributions, and Mr. Bryan announced that no funds would be received from corporations. According to a New York statute, all campaign receipts and expenditures must be filed. The Republican campaign committee agreed to apply this law in the presidential contest.

According to the federal Publicity law no candidate for member of the House of Representatives may spend more than $5,000 in his campaign for nomination or election, and no candidate for United States senator may spend, legally, more than $10,000 in his campaign, Candidates are prohibited from making promises of office or other promises in order to obtain votes, and no candidate for senator may aid in the election of members of the legislature that is to fill a senatorial vacancy. At the time, two United States senators were under indictment for the purchase of their seats, and one of them acknowledged that he had expended nearly $100,000 in his primary campaign.

In partial fulfilment of the declaration that his policy was to bring about legislation for the benefit of the whole country, President Taft in his message to Congress, December, 1911, asked that the appointment of local federal officers throughout the country should be placed under the cla.s.sified service. "I wish," he wrote, "to renew again my recommendation that all the local officers throughout the country, including collectors of internal revenue, collectors of customs, postmasters of all four cla.s.ses, immigration commissioners, and marshals should be by law carried into the cla.s.sified service, the necessity for confirmation by the Senate be removed, and the President and the others, whose time is now taken up in distributing this patronage, under the custom that has prevailed since the beginning of the Government in accordance with the recommendation of the senators and congressmen of the majority party, should be relieved from this burden. I am confident that such a change would greatly reduce the cost of administering the government and that it would add greatly to its efficiency. It would take away the power to use the patronage of the government for political purposes."

President Taft took an advance position also in his advocacy of the subst.i.tution of the appeal to reason for the appeal to force in the settlement of all international difficulties. The treaties of arbitration which were agreed upon during the summer of 1911 between Secretary Knox and the representatives of Great Britain and France ill.u.s.trate the general type of treaty which the President hoped would be negotiated with other nations. Heretofore, the treaties to which the United States has been a party have accepted as suitable for arbitration all questions save those which concerned "vital interests and national honor." It was a great step forward, therefore, when the agreement was reached between the powers that all disputes that are justiciable and cannot be settled by diplomacy are to be submitted to arbitration.

In case of a difference on whether the dispute were justiciable or not, it was to be submitted to a commission of inquiry for decision. If the commission found it was justiciable the question in dispute must be submitted to arbitration. Should the commission find it was not justiciable there would still exist the possibility of war. But either nation has the power to delay the findings a year during which time diplomatic action may be resumed. The arguments against the ratification of these facts in the Senate were based on the plea that they provided for compulsory arbitration and thus tended to deprive the Senate of its const.i.tutional prerogative. The wording was so greatly modified in the Senate that the form of treaty which was finally ratified differed but little from the arbitration treaties of 1908.

CHAPTER XVI

THE THIRTEENTH CENSUS, 1910

[1910-1911]

After many years of urging on the part of statisticians and public men, Congress, in 1902, pa.s.sed a bill which was signed by the President providing for a permanent census bureau connected with the Department of Commerce and Labor. This bureau, as shown in the taking of the thirteenth census, serves to promote both efficiency and economy in the collection of statistics a.s.sociated with the census work. Heretofore the Director of the Census had enormous patronage at his disposal which he farmed out among congressmen and other political leaders.

E. Dana Durand, a trained statistician of wide experience, was appointed Director of the Census. He announced that so far as possible the 65,000 enumerators would be selected under civil service rules and for supervisors of the census he selected men on the basis of their special fitness for the work. President Taft was in complete agreement with this programme and insisted that local enumerators were to be appointed for the purpose of getting the work properly done and not to a.s.sist any would-be dispensers of local patronage.

On April 15 the enumerators began their work of gathering statistics.

The usual inquiries were made on population, mortality, agriculture, manufactures, etc. Prior to April 15, an advance schedule was sent to practically every farmer in the country, and he was asked to fill it out before the coming of the enumerator. Similarly, in the cities, the enumerators distributed advance population schedules which the head of the family was requested to fill out before the official visit of the enumerator. In taking the thirteenth census, greater attention was given than ever before to perfecting the schedules and weighing each question with regard to its precise significance and scientific value. To that end a group of trained investigators, familiar with the various topics which the census would cover, spent several months on a preliminary study of the character of these questions. In addition to the nationality of each person as determined by the mother tongue of the foreign-born inhabitants, additional inquiries were made relative to the industry in which each person was employed and whether the person was out of work on April 15.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Portrait.]

Copyright by Clinedinst. Washington.

E. Dana Durand, Director of the Census.

Population schedules in the cities and large towns were required to be completed within two weeks and in the rural districts within thirty days. The enormous labor of tabulating and cla.s.sifying these answers was then begun by the 3,500 clerks in the Census Office at Washington. Much of this labor was performed by machines each capable of making 25,000 tabulations a day. Results of the first tabulation of the population in the cities were made known about June 1 and the count of the princ.i.p.al cities was completed by April 15. During September the population of the entire country was made known. Within two years the leading facts in the census were compiled and published as special bulletins. The entire cost of the census was about $13,000,000.

The total population of the United States, including our territorial possessions and dependencies, was found to be about 101,000,000, thus for the first time pa.s.sing the hundred million mark. The population of the United States proper was 91,972,266; of Alaska, 64,356; Porto Rico, 1,118,012; Hawaii. 191,909; Guam and Samoa, 15,100; the Philippine Islands about 7,700,000. These numbers indicate an increase in the population of continental United States of 21 per cent in the decade, or a slightly larger growth than the 20.7 per cent made during the preceding ten years.

One of the striking facts brought out in the census is the absolute decline in the percentage of population compared with the previous decade in a number of the States of the East, South, and Middle West, and an increase of this percentage in the other States, especially among those of the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Coast. The percentage of total increase of population in Alabama was 16.9 and the increase, according to the twelfth census, was 20.8; in Illinois, 16.9 as against 26 for the preceding census; Indiana, 7.3 against 14.8; Kentucky, 6.6 against 15.5; Ma.s.sachusetts, 20 against 25.3; Minnesota, 18.5 against 33.7; Texas, 27.8 against 36.4; Montana, 54.5 against 70. Iowa showed an actual loss of three-tenths per cent of her inhabitants, while according to the preceding census there was a gain of 16.7 per cent in that State.

In the following States the gains in percentages were as follows: North Dakota, 80.8 against 67.1 for 1900; South Dakota, 45.4 and 15.2; Kansas, 15 and 3; Nebraska, 11.8 and 0.3; Colorado, 48 and 30.6; Oklahoma, 109.7; Utah, 34.9 and 31.3; Nevada, 93.4 and 10.6; Idaho, 101.3 and 82.7; Washington, 120.4 and 45; Oregon, 62.7 and 30.2, and California, 60.1 and 22.4.

In numerical advance, New York, Pennsylvania, California, Texas, and Illinois led. The increase in New York was nearly 2,000,000, in Pennsylvania over 1,000,000, and in the other three States nearly 900,000 each.

Another notable fact brought out by the thirteenth census was that the growth of the cities was greater than during the preceding ten years.

The rate of growth of the medium-sized cities was more rapid than that of the large cities. This was not the case during the preceding decade.

Of the total population of continental United States, 46.3 per cent were urban. That is, 42,623,383 of the inhabitants resided in cities and towns having a population of 2,500 or more. The same territory in 1900 and 1890, similarly cla.s.sified as urban, contained 40.5 and 36.1 per cent, respectively, of the total population of the country. In all but two States, Montana and Wyoming, the urban population has increased faster than the rural population. The increase, since 1900, in the population living in urban territory was 11,035,841 or 34.9 per cent, while the increase in population living in rural territory during the same period was 4,941,850 or 11.1 per cent. For the United States as a whole, therefore, the rate of increase for the population of urban areas was three times that for the population living in rural territory. In the States of the east north-central division, including Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, the urban gain was 31.2 per cent, but there was a decrease in rural population of 0.2 per cent. The urban increase of Illinois was 31.2 per cent, but the rural territory of the State showed a loss of 7.5 per cent. The rural loss in Indiana was 5.5 per cent, and in Ohio 1.3 per cent. Michigan's rural gain was 2 per cent and Wisconsin's 5.7. per cent. There were fourteen States in which more than one-half of the population in 1910 were living in urban territory.

Among these States were Ma.s.sachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut with nine-tenths of their population urban; Illinois with 62 per cent, and Ohio with 56 per cent.