Italys or two Great Britains. When she became a State she had
two square miles of land for each of her inhabitants. She now has about
thirteen people to each square mile. The State of New York has one hundred
and sixty people to the square mile, and is steadily growing in
population. Massachusetts has three hundred and seventy-five to the square
mile, and is steadily growing. Belgium has five hundred and ninety to the
square mile, and is steadily growing. England has six hundred and
twenty-five to the square mile, and is steadily growing. If the present
ratio of increase continues, think of the incalculable growth that the
coming years will bring to the great Southwestern State!
If Texas were peopled as densely as New York State, she would have
forty-two million inhabitants--more than ten times what she has. Settled
as closely as Massachusetts, she would have one hundred millions; as
closely as England, one hundred and sixty-six millions. This American
State is destined to rank with the powers of the world.
Remarkable as was the showing that Texas made at the last census, other
portions of the Southwest could point to a still more phenomenal gain.
While the population of the Lone Star State advanced thirty-six per cent
between 1890 and 1900, that of Arizona rose one hundred and five per cent,
that of the Indian Territory one hundred and seventeen per cent, and that
of Oklahoma no less than five hundred and forty-four per cent in the ten
years.
Texas Now Leads in Railways.
From 1870 till 1904 Illinois had a larger number of miles of railway than
any other State. In 1904 Texas passed Illinois. On March 1, 1906, the
great Southwestern State had approximately twelve thousand miles of main
railway track, or over two hundred miles in excess of Illinois.
Pennsylvania, Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, and New York, in this order, stand
below Illinois in railway mileage, New York's total at the same date being
a little short of nine thousand miles.
In recent years, about half of the country's entire new railway mileage
has been built in the Southwest. The increase of mileage between 1897 and
the end of 1903 was twelve and a half per cent for the United States. It
was ten per cent in the Middle States, seven per cent in the Rocky
Mountain region and on the Pacific Slope, and three per cent in Ohio and
Indiana. It was twenty-seven per cent in the section comprising Arkansas,
Oklahoma, the Indian Territory, Texas, and New Mexico. T
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