same sum would not
have done more to close the war than has been otherwise done. If so,
the measure would save money, and in that view would be a prudent and
economical measure. Certainly it is not so easy to pay something as it is
to pay nothing, but it is easier to pay a large sum than it is to pay a
larger one. And it is easier to pay any sum when we are able than it is to
pay it before we are able. The war requires large sums, and requires
them at once. The aggregate sum necessary for compensated emancipation of
course would be large. But it would require no ready cash, nor the bonds
even any faster than the emancipation progresses. This might not, and
probably would not, close before the end of the thirty-seven years. At
that time we shall probably have a hundred millions of people to share the
burden, instead of thirty-one millions as now. And not only so, but the
increase of our population may be expected to continue for a long time
after that period as rapidly as before, because our territory will not
have become full. I do not state this inconsiderately. At the same ratio
of increase which we have maintained, on an average, from our first
national census, in 1790, until that of 1860, we should in 1900 have a
population of 103,208,415. And why may we not continue that ratio far
beyond that period? Our abundant room, our broad national homestead,
is our ample resource. Were our territory as limited as are the British
Isles, very certainly our population could not expand as stated. Instead
of receiving the foreign born as now, we should be compelled to send part
of the native born away. But such is not our condition. We have 2,963,000
square miles. Europe has 3,800,000, with a population averaging 73 persons
to the square mile. Why may not our country at some time average as many?
Is it less fertile? Has it more waste surface by mountains, rivers,
lakes, deserts, or other causes? Is it inferior to Europe in any natural
advantage? If, then, we are at some time to be as populous as Europe, how
soon? As to when this may be, we can judge by the past and the present;
as to when it will be, if ever, depends much on whether we maintain the
Union...............

[a page of tables of projected statistics]

These figures show that our country may be as populous as Europe now is
at some point between 1920 and 1930, say about 1925--our territory, at 73
persons to the square mile, being of capacity to contain 217,186