XXIV

OUR COUNTRY TO-DAY

THE United States is one of the youngest nations of the world. Civilized men first went to England nearly twenty centuries ago, Epochs in American but since Columbus discovered America only four centuries have history passed. Each of these four centuries has a character of its own and is quite unlike the others. The first was the time of exploring, the second of colonizing, the third of deciding who should rule in America, and the fourth of growth and development.

During the first century explorers from France, England, and Spain visited the New World, each claiming for his own country Exploration the part that he explored. Each hoped to find gold, but only the Spaniards, who went to Mexico and Peru, were successful. There was little thought of making settlements, and at the end of the first century the Spanish colonies of St. Augustine and Santa Fé were the only ones on what is now the territory of the United States on the mainland.

The

During the second century much colonizing was done. French settled chiefly along the Saint Lawrence River; the Eng- Colonization lish settled along the Atlantic coast of North America; the Spanish in Mexico and South America; the Dutch by the Hudson River; the Swedes by the Delaware. The European nations discovered that it was worth while to have American colonies.

During the third century there was a long struggle to see which nation should rule in America. England and France were Struggle for control far ahead of the others, but which of them should it be? The French and Indians Wars gave the answer, "England." Then

Territorial growth

THE UNITED STATES AND ITS POSSESSIONS
(Shown by shading and names in heavy type)

another question arose, Should it be England or the thirteen
colonies? The Revolutionary War answered, "The colonies."
At the end of the third century the United States had been estab-
lished and the land east of the Mississippi was under her rule.

During the fourth century our country grew and developed. Between 1800 and 1853 we acquired Florida and the land west from the Mississippi to the Pacific. Since 1853 our only acquisitions in territory have been Alaska and our island possessions.

There has been a gain in the United States during the last Population hundred years in people as well as in land. There were so few inhabitants in the colonies at the time of the Revolution that during the early part of the war European nations thought it impossible for them to win their freedom. To-day there are twenty times as many. They would be badly crowded if they had to live within the limits of the original colonies, and they have spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific and even upon the islands of the Pacific.

How has it come about that the number of people in the United States has increased with such rapidity? It is partly because Emigration to America more have been born than have died and partly because so many have come from foreign countries. Fifty years ago large villages were common in which there were hardly any foreigners. Now one sixth of the whole number of inhabitants of the United States are people who were born in some other country, most of them in some European state.

These people are glad to come because the workingmen of America receive higher wages than those of any other country, Education of the people and because in America a man is free to rise to any position that he is fitted to hold. The country is ready to give the education that will prepare her citizens to rise to high positions. It is believed that an educated man is likely to make a better citizen than an ignorant man, and therefore the public schools of the United States are entirely free. More than that, many states have passed such laws that it is almost impossible for a child to grow up in ignorance. Then, too, there are public libraries not only in the cities but in many of the little villages, so that men who are too old to go to school may educate themselves by reading. There is opportunity to use all kinds of knowledge in carrying on the manufactures of the country. Almost everything that Great oppor. used to be made by hand is now made by machinery, and the skill to invent a machine that will work a little better than the one in use is always well rewarded. Knowledge is also needed to develop the mineral wealth of the country. Within the limits of the United States are metals, coal, natural gas, and petroleum, and it is the skill and inventive genius of her citizens that have brought such great wealth to the country from these products.

tunities

This inventive genius has also given us rapid and cheap transportation. In the old days a man had to make or raise most Rapid transthings for himself. Manufactured articles that could be made portation

Foreign trade

very cheaply in one place became exceedingly dear when they had to be carried long distances by wagon, and few of the food-stuffs could bear such long, slow journeys. Now fruit can easily be sent from California to Maine. Furniture can be made where wood is cheap and plenty, and sent to all parts of the country at a small expense. The cheap and rapid transportation of people is a great convenience. Business men do not need to live in cities near their offices or manufactories, for the steam or electric cars will carry them six or eight miles in the time that it would take to walk one mile. Mail matter, too, is transported with the greatest rapidity and certainty. Letters used to come every once in a while." Now we are surprised and indignant at an hour's delay in the arrival of the mail.

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This rapidity of communication and transportation makes it possible to carry on trade with the most distant parts of the world. When we find the mail too slow, we use telephone, telegraph, or wireless "; a message can now be sent in a few minutes whose delivery a century ago would have required many weeks. It is from this commerce that much of our country's wealth has arisen. The amount of it is greater than figures will make clear to us. We cannot have any definite idea of what one million is, and one billion really means nothing to us, but $1,500,000,000 represents the value of our trade with other parts of the world during the first year of the twentieth century.

What the United States shall become to-morrow will lie in the The outlook hands of those who are the children of to-day. Abraham Lincoln said at Gettysburg, “We here highly resolve that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth." If every citizen cares for his own gain alone, the country will become weak; but if every one cares for the gain of all, it will become strong, and the world will be the better because of the power and the greatness of the United States of America.

INDEX

AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY

KEY TO PRONUNCIATION. — Marked vowels are pronounced like the same vowels similarly marked
in the following words: fāte, făt, fäther, fall, câre; thēme, yět, hêr; pīne, pĭn; bōne, not, ôrb; moon,
foot; tūne, but, bûrr. The obscure vowels are pronounced like å in Durham, è in Jerusalém, ở in
Burton, and occur only in unaccented syllables. g is like g in go.