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Show JaU JsaCaJJJtra-Wl-aVMBFy 'dfcS)WaaCfcatAaaaaTr . T-Vf f fHR celebration of Thanksgiving Thanks-giving day 40 years ago, In 18G.r, was tho tlrst after tho close of tho civil war. Thero are somo things about this country to-day with which oven a good-natured good-natured person can find fault. Hut n cursory contrast of the condition of tho country an It was then nnd as It Is now shows vast general Improvement. Improve-ment. To begin with, Thanksgiving day, 18C5, found the country ns yot practically prac-tically unaddrcsBcd to tho problem of getting over tho frightful struggle thnt had rent and toni and well-nigh disrupted it. Not only woro the wounds of sectional ill-feeling still open nml unhealed, but most of the Industries In-dustries of ono great section wero still practically prostrated. The readjustment of tho country's business, dlfllcult always after a great war, but doubly so after the civil war, bccatiBO of tho enormous Inflation to which tho currency hnd been subjected, subject-ed, wns yet to bo undertaken. Most important agencies In the new and stronger union which hns como to thu United States slnco 18C5 havo been furnished by tho tremendously Improved Im-proved means of communication and transportation. Most folk accept It today to-day as a matter of course. To tho jounger generation It seems llko nn Institution In-stitution that hns ulwnys existed, without with-out which, no matter how much fault may bo found with Its rates, the business busi-ness of the country could nut well go on. Hut whllo there woro about GO.OOO miles of rnllrond In 18C5, thero nro moro than four times that many today, to-day, or about li 15,000, moro than seven miles for overy 100 square miles of territory. Then, as tho old heads remembor very woll, there wns no steel highway linking the coast or tho Atlantic with the coast of tho I'ncillc. Then thoio woro three ways by which ono wishing wish-ing to trnvol from Now York or Hos. ton or Washington, to Snn Francisco or Portland, could do so: Overland by a combination of rail to tho Mississippi, Missis-sippi, and stage conch and horseback westward fiom the river, a Journey requiring re-quiring many days, by steamer or sailing ship nround the Horn, a voy-ago voy-ago of months, or by steumor to thu Isthmus of Panama (thoy called It Darlen, thon) across on the Panama railroad, and thoncu by steamer again up tho coast to San Francisco. It cost several hundred dollars to get from ono sldo of the country to tho other, thou. Now, nt the lowest rnte, you may travol from one ocean to the other for 50; tho highest rnte, unless you wish to go on a private or special car a voritnble palace on wheelb Ib Jllfi.75. Tills Includes sep-lug sep-lug car, birth and meals. Slnco 18G5 the general material da velopment of tho country has been such as to transcend nil ordinary human hu-man understanding. Vast now mining fields have been opened, whole aroas of coal deposits, many of them entirely unsuspected, havo been found nnd developed slnco 18(53. The enormously valuable deposits depos-its of copper In Montana havo all been discovered and developed slnco 18C5. Michigan's, though known before then, have also been mainly developed Inside In-side of 10 yenrs. So have the great Iron deposits of Michigan, tho zinc deposits of Missouri nnd countless beds of niliieinl wealth of all Borts in tho south and In the almost boundless trnns-Mlsslsslpiil regions. Secretary Seward know that there wus almost fabulous treasuio under the surfneo of what wus colled Russian Rus-sian America when ho bought It from the czar's government, but tho gold nnd silver nnd other inlnoral wealth of Alaska has practically all been found and dovelopod within the last ten years. In 40 years tho addition from mineral hources alono to tho wealth of the country has nmoiintod to billions on tho back of billions. Poll oleum wus discovered beforo 1SC5, nnd tho development of tenltory which yielded It wub begun 40 yenra ago, but by far tho grentor part of that development hns been accomplished since then. Along with nil these things tho area of cultivated land has been Increased In-creased so that tho whent and corn and cotton nnd other crops of tho present pres-ent aro enormously vaster than they woro In 1SC5. Manufactures of all sorts havo Increased enormously also, the total for 18i5 being worth rnthor moro thnn two billions of dollars; this yonr tho total value of our manufactures manufac-tures will not be fnr from fifteen billions bil-lions of dollars, roughly estimating the figures f Kim tho census of 11)00. Stimulated by thu extension and development de-velopment of tho rallrouds, and In turn stjmulntliig their tlovelopment.lntl-mately tlovelopment.lntl-mately Interlocked nnd Interdependent with tho growth of mining, ngilculturo and manufacturing, there has been an unbellovnblo growth of cities and towns. ' And, as Undo Sam, aftor a right good dinner of turkey and pumpkin plo and other standard Yankee viands, contomplutes thu tremendous advance his settlements havu made ho may also dwell la thought upon the fact that tho total of tho country's population popula-tion has grown from about 33,500,000 In 18C5, to more than 80,000,000 In 190S. Now theso matetlal good things aro I all well worth being grateful for; no I other people on tho green eatth have I so many reasons or the sort for thank. fulness as the Americana |