the American railroad and business situation are using the words “system” and “big business” as if they were in and of themselves a crime against society and inimical to the forward march of the country to a higher and better order of things.
To bring out some points it will be necessary to burden you with some figures showing the growth of the country. The continental area of the United States has increased from 820,377 square miles in 1800 to 2,974,159 in 1910. In 1800, 305,708 square miles had at least two persons to the mile and in 1900, 1,925,590 square miles had that number or more per square mile. In 1800 the population of the country was 5,308,483, of which only 4 per cent lived in places having 8000 or more people, while in 1910 the population was 91,972,266, and probably 40 per cent lived in places of 8000 or over. In 1910 in 228 cities of 25,000 population or over there were 28,508,007 of people or 31 per cent of our population. 1840, 77.5 per cent of the people at work were employed in agriculture, and in in 1900, 35.7 per
