United States

a republic of North America. It comprises the main body, Alaska, the Hawaiian Islands, Porto Rico, the Philippine Islands, Guam, Samoa, and Wake Island. As given in the United States census reports, the area of the main body is 3,317,494 square miles; that of the outlying territory is 720,593 square miles; total area, 4,038,087.

The United States proper extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific, an extreme east and west distance of 3,100 miles; and from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, an extreme north and south distance of 1,780 miles. The longest straight line wholly within the United States extends from Florida to the state of Washington. The Canadian boundary is 3,700 miles long. The Mexican boundary is 2,105 miles in length. Counting ocean, lake, and river, the water boundary is 11,075 miles in length. The 49th parallel, running from the Lake of the Woods to the Pacific, is the longest uniform mathematical boundary shown on the map of the world.

TOPOGRAPHY. Seen from a great height, the surface would seem very simple--a narrow mountain region parallel to the Atlantic coast, a wide mountain region parallel to the Pacific coast, and the vast basin of the Mississippi between. A coast plain borders the Atlantic and a narrow foot plain follows the Pacific. The widest part of the western mountain region includes the Great Basin, a large, elevated area of inland drainage. As reported by the United States Geological Survey, the most elevated mountain peak in the United States is Mount Whitney of California, 14,502 feet high. The portion of land surface nearest the center of the earth is the most northerly point of the coast line of Washington. The greatest drainage basin is that of the Mississippi. The largest body of fresh water wholly within the United States is Lake Michigan.

MINERALS. The mineral wealth is very great. There are vast supplies of the useful minerals and they are well distributed. About half a million persons are employed in mines and quarries. The United States produces a half of the world's copper and petroleum; a third of the iron, coal, and silver; and a fourth of the gold, lead, zinc, mercury, and salt. According to the United States Geological Bulletin issued January 1, 1909, the mineral products for the year were valued at over $2,000,000,000. In point of money value, coal led with $614,798,898. Pig iron was second with $529,958,000. Next in order were copper, petroleum, gold, and stone. A complete list includes pig iron, silver, gold, copper, lead, zinc, quicksilver, aluminum, antimony, nickel, tin, platinum, bituminous coal, Pennsylvania anthracite, natural gas, petroleum, brick clay, cement, slate, stone, corundum and emery, crystalline quartz, garnet, grindstones, infusorial earth and tripoli, millstones, oilstones, arsenious oxide, borax, bromine, fluorspar, gypsum, lithium minerals, marls, phosphate rock, pyrite, sulphur, salt, barytes, cobalt oxide, mineral paints, zinc white, asbestos, asphaltum, bauxite, chromic iron ore, clay, feldspar, fibrous talc, flint, fuller's earth, glass sand, graphite, magnesite, manganese ore, mica, mineral waters, monazite, zircon, precious stones, pumice stone, rutile, molding sand, talc and soapstone, and uranium and vanadium. A separate article on each important mineral may be consulted.

CLIMATE. In latitude the United States extends from 24 deg. 30' to 49 deg. N. with corresponding range in climate. The coast of New England is affected by a cold ocean current from Labrador. The temperature of the Gulf States is raised by the Gulf Stream. The region between the Great Lakes and the Rocky Mountains has a continental climate--warm summers and cold winters. Arid conditions raise the summer temperature in the Great Basin. The greatest degree of winter cold is found in northern Minnesota, North Dakota, and eastern Montana, where the thermometer falls as low as--40 deg. F. and occasionally lower. The highest summer temperature, about 120deg, is found in Arizona. The most equable temperature is found on the Pacific coast. The rainfall is uneven. Roughly speaking, the 100th meridian marks a falling off in rainfall. East of that line twenty inches of precipitation, well distributed through the year, may be depended upon. The Appalachian region has an average of forty inches or over. The eastern coast of North Carolina and the Gulf coast for a distance of two hundred miles eastward and westward of Mobile have over sixty inches of rain annually. Advancing eastward from the coast of Oregon the precipitation falls off from sixty inches and upward to practically zero in portions of the Great Basin. The annual rainfall for Boston, New York, Charleston, and New Orleans is 55 inches; Chicago, 40 inches; St. Paul, 27 inches; Denver, 15 inches; Yuma, 3 inches; San Francisco, 24 inches; Tacoma, 86 inches.

FORESTS. With certain exceptions in favor of Illinois and other states of partial prairie, the region east of the Mississippi was originally heavily wooded. The same statement holds true for that portion of the Pacific coast within reach of the fogs and rains of the ocean. A recent writer ventures the statement that during the past 300 years the forests of the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Great Lakes have yielded 1,000,000,000,000 feet of lumber. Settlers have piled up and burned half as much more to clear land for farms. It is to be expected that the native forests will last about fifty years more.

STOCK RAISING. Stock raising may be divided into two great branches--stock raising on farms and stock raising on the ranches. Of domestic animals, cattle, hogs, horses, and poultry are most widely distributed. Hogs and poultry are raised for market chiefly in the corn belt. A vast extent of territory extending from Texas to Montana is devoted largely to cattle ranches. The cattle pasture summer and winter on native grasses either green and growing or cured on the stalk. Montana and Idaho form the center of the American sheep industry. Of late farmers have passed into the ranges and many owners of large ranches have divided their holdings into farms and have sold them.

AGRICULTURE. The United States is preeminently an agricultural nation. A full third of the population is engaged in farming, gardening, raising fruits, dairying, and in kindred pursuits. The United States occupies one-sixteenth of the earth's surface, and has one-twentieth of the world's population. The American farmer tills a third of the entire amount of land under cultivation. He produces three-fourths of the world's cotton and corn; a third of the world's tobacco and meat; one-fourth of the wheat, oats, butter, and cheese; and a tenth of the wool and sugar. The range of climate and soil is such that all the cereals, the useful vegetables, and the fruits of temperate and subtropical regions are raised with success.

MANUFACTURES. In manufactures the United States has attained a leading position. The nation now ranks first in the total value of manufactures. We now produce one-half of the world's paper, one-third of the world's glass, steel, and cotton cloth, one-fourth of the leather, and one-fifth of the woolen cloth.

In addition to being first in farming and in manufacturing, the United States is first in mining, first in wealth, fourth in population, first in the number of children in school, first in the number of newspapers, telephone and telegraph messages, and railroad mileage. The United States is second in ship owning, third in foreign trading, third in the list of naval powers, third in order of national expenditure, and tenth in size of national debt. The national appropriations for 1909 were $1,008,884,884. The expenditure per person has increased rapidly. In Washington's time it was $1.32 per capita; prior to the Civil War it had reached twice that amount; in 1907 the national per capita expenditure was $6.77. Prices have risen and the government does more for the people than it used to do.

HISTORICAL. The United States as a nation may be said to date from the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. The territorial growth is as follows:

Original Territory--827,844 square miles. From Great Britain by Treaty of Paris, September 3, 1783.

Louisiana Territory--1,171,931 square miles. Purchased from France by Treaty, April 30, 1803, for $15,000,000.

Florida--59,268 square miles. Purchased from Spain by Treaty, February 22, 1819, for $5,000,000.

Oregon--291,000 square miles. By discovery 1792, exploration 1805-6, settlement 1811; and treaties with France (1803), Spain (1819), Russia (1825), and England (1846).

Texas--376,133 square miles. By convention with Texas Republic, March 2, 1845. In 1850, Texas relinquished to the United States all her territorial claims to New Mexico for $10,000,000.

First Mexican Cession--545,783 square miles. By conquest and purchase from Mexico for $15,000,000 by Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848.

Second Mexican Cession--45,535 square miles. Purchased from Mexico for $10,000,000 by Gadsden Treaty, December 30, 1852.

Alaska--590,884 square miles. Purchased from Russia, March 30, 1867, for $7,200,000.

Hawaiian Islands--6,449 square miles. Annexed by Joint Resolution of Congress, July 6, 1898.

Porto Rico--3,435 square miles; Philippine Islands, 119,542 square miles; Guam, 201 square miles. By Treaty of Paris, December 10, 1898, and payment to Spain of $20,000,000.

Samoa--Eighty-one square miles.

Wake Island--One square mile.

Total area United States--(main body) 3,317,494 square miles; total area outlying territory, 720,593 square miles. Grand total--4,038,087 square miles.

GOVERNMENT. The government of the United States is based on the Constitution, adopted in 1787, to which ten amendments were added in 1791; one in 1798; one in 1804; one in 1865; one in 1868; and one in 1870. Separate articles may be found relating to the Presidency and to Congress. The Union comprises thirteen original states, seven states that were never territories, and twenty-eight states that had been organized previously as territories. Each state has its own constitution, consisting of such provisions as may be adopted by the people of the state and not contrary to the national Constitution.

For details, the reader may consult separate articles as follows:

Topography--Articles on the several states, mountain ranges, lakes, and rivers, GREAT BASIN, etc. Minerals--GOLD; IRON; SILVER; COPPER; COAL; PETROLEUM; MARBLE. Forests--PINE; OAK; WALNUT; COTTONWOOD; ELM; TUPELO; LUMBERING. Plants--CORN; COTTON; SUGAR-CANE; APPLE; PEACH; ORANGE; STRAWBERRY; BLUEBERRY; CRANBERRY; CACTUS; SEQUOIA; PECAN; SYCAMORE; MAGNOLIA. Fruits--APPLE; STRAWBERRY; PEACH; GRAPE. Wild Animals--BEAR; RACCOON; FOX; WOLF; BISON. Domestic Animals--CATTLE; SHEEP; HORSE; HOG; CHICKEN. Farming--COTTON; RICE; SUGAR; OATS; WHEAT; CORN; TOBACCO; THRESHING; PLOW. Manufactures--STEEL; WEAVING; SILK; NAILS. History--DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE; CIVIL WAR; SLAVERY; REPUBLICAN PARTY; DEMOCRATIC PARTY; PRESIDENT; COMMERCE; PENSION; DEBTS; CONSTITUTION. Cities--NEW YORK; BALTIMORE; SAN FRANCISCO; NEW ORLEANS; ST. LOUIS; CHICAGO, etc. Internal Improvements--STEAMBOAT; RAILROAD; TELEGRAPH; PHONOGRAPH; BANK; CANAL; NEWSPAPERS; PERIODICALS. Education--UNIVERSITY; HIGH SCHOOL; NORMAL SCHOOL; COMMON SCHOOLS. Government--ARMY; NAVY; PATENTS; POSTOFFICE; PRESIDENT; VICE-PRESIDENT; CONGRESS; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; PUBLIC LANDS; CENSUS; MINT; CONSUL.

The following statistics are based on the latest government reports. Some reports are delayed; others cover a period not coinciding with a calendar year. The figures as given are for a year ranging within 1908-1910:

UNITED STATES

The following table gives the states and territories of the Union, their area, date of admission or organization, as the case may be, representation, capitals, and principal cities. The original states are designated by a star. For each state the number of presidential electors is two greater than the number of representatives: