4. Estimated Surface of the Territories of the United States north and west of the regularly organized States of the Union, and the Portions of Territory thereof situated north and south of the Parallel of 36° 30' North Latitude. [From a Statement of Hon. Richard M. Young, Commissioner of the Land Office, bearing date July 21, 1848, and published in the Washington Union.] 33,291,520 52,018 33,291,520 27,863,680 81,396 52,093,440 124,933 79,957,120 27,863,680 133,414 85,384,960 176,951 113,248,640 *This estimate excludes all that part of Texas which lies outside of its limits, as designated by the yellow shaded lines on Disturnell's Map of Mexico. This estimate limits, as will be seen, our acquisitions of territory from Mexico, by the late treaty, exclusively to those portions of country lying west of the Rio Grande. 5. Quantity of Public Land sold, and the Amount paid for it, in each Year, from 1833 to the Third Quarter of 1847. 2,263,730.81 2,904,637.27 1,839,024.21 2,366,352.04 1839 4,976,382.87 6,464,556.79| 1847* 1840 2,236,889.74 2,789,637.53 Total, 68,983,402.1487,653,534.99 6. Quantity of Land to which each of the new States is entitled under the Act of September 4th, 1841, § 8; the Number of Acres located by each and approved by the Secretary of the Treasury up to November 30th, 1847; the Number located, but suspended; and the Residue to which each of these States is respectively entitled. Ir is lawful for any person or persons to bring to the Mint gold and silver bullion to be coined; and the bullion so brought is there assayed and coined, as speedily as may be after the receipt thereof; and if of the standard of the United States, free of expense to the person or persons by whom it has been brought. But the Treasurer of the Mint is not obliged to receive, for the purpose of refining and coining, any deposit of less value than one hundred dollars, nor any bullion so base as to be unsuitable for minting. And there must be retained from every deposit of bullion below the standard, such sum as shall be equivalent to the expense incurred in refining, toughening, and alloying the same; an accurate account of which expense, on every deposit, is kept, and of the sums retained on account of the same, which are accounted for by the Treasurer of the Mint with the Treasurer of the United States. * Embracing only three quarters of the year. †Total for 14 years and three quarters. Officers of the Mint at Philadelphia., R. M. Patterson, Director, Salary.1 $3,500 Richard J. McCulloh, Melter Officers of the Branch at New Orleans, La. J. M. Kennedy, Superintend., $ 2,500 John Brooks, Coiner, Salary. $2,000 2,000 1,300 $2,000 2,000 John R. Macmurdo, Treasurer, 2,500 John L. Riddell, Melt. & Refin., 2,000 Officers of the Branch at Dahlonega, Ga. J. F. Cooper, Superintendent, $2,000 Daniel H. Mason, Coiner, 1,500 Officers of Branch at Charlotte, N. C. W.J. Alexander, Superintend., $2,000 John R. Bolton, Coiner, $1,500 $1,500 1. Statement of the Deposits for Coinage, at the Mint of the United States and its Branches, in the Year 1847. 2. Statement of the Coinage of the Mint of the United States and Branches, 3. Coinage of the Mint of the United States, from 1792, including the Coinage of the Branch Mints from the Commencement of their Operations, in 1838. 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 8,108,797.50 1844 2,230.00 1845 3,756,447.50 1846 4,034,177.00 1,148,305.00 2,096,010.00 55,583.00 13,010,721 3,299,898.00 53,702.00 15,780,311 4,206,540.00 XIII. INCREASE OF POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES AS AFFECTED BY IMMIGRATION. It is an object of considerable importance to ascertain how rapidly the population of this country increases from natural causes alone, or what would be the rate of increase if no immigrants came hither. There is reason to believe that great mistakes have been committed in this respect; that writers on the law of population - the Malthusians particularly, who wish to make out the human race to be as prolific as possible — have not made allowance enough for the effects of immigration, and therefore have greatly over-estimated the rapidity of increase here, where it is certain that the growth of the population is not checked by a deficiency of food. A census of the people is taken every ten years, and these decennial returns would show very clearly what the rate of increase is, if it were not for the disturbing and fluctuating effect of the tide of removal, which constantly sets westward, and the magnitude of which it is impossible to ascertain from official returns with any approach to correctness. A list is made up, from year to year, of the number of passengers who arrive in our Atlantic and Southern ports, and the total is published in official documents, with an air of precision and minuteness, as if the information were of some value. But it is notorious, that the enumeration is carelessly made, at many points of arrival no record is kept, no account is taken of those who subsequently return to the Oid World, and the multitudes who yearly cross the Canada frontier are not counted at all. Overlooking these causes of error, these yearly returns have been held to prove that the effect of immigration was very slight, and during certain periods of our history, that it might be left out of the calculation altogether, without materially vitiating the result. Thus, Dr. Seybert estimated that, from 1790 to 1810, the immigrants did not exceed, on an average, 6,000 a year; and as, in that interval, the population increased from less than four millions to more than seven and a quarter millions, he held that the effect of immigration was very slight indeed; and in this conclusion he has been eagerly followed by the Malthusians, whose doctrine is, that our population doubles at least as often as once in twenty-five years, from the natural excess of births over deaths. Again, Seybert says that the year 1817 was remarkable for the great number of foreigners who came hither, owing to the recent close of the war, and the agricultural distress which then prevailed in England; yet he places the number of immigrants for this year at only 22,000; and as there were certainly very few during the three years of the war, the yearly average for this decennial period was supposed to be very small; though absolutely larger than it was during the preceding twenty years, yet relatively to the total increase of the population it was hardly as great. Out of an increase of 2,400,000, not more than 120,000 was attributed to immigration. |