The Umpire of the World.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 135, 13 May 1885, Page 3

The Umpire of the World.

The Chicago Herald : (America) says : — M'Let m no* delude oniselvf« with, fictitious greatness. There is another country at whose givatnes* we may pau«e for contemplation. Its area exceeds eight and a-half million uqiiare miles. The ha»is of its power is not lan<l but water. It* greatness is maritime, and iti coast-line u 28, 500 miles long. It lieu on both siflo of the equator, and its howrnlaiies touch the extremes of boat uud cold. ltd uncultivated area, which may be made to feed unborn millions without tin! help of the United States, covers millions of squat e mile* It contains one hundred thousand square miles of forest, which are .being jealously preserved, while ours are being inthles*. ]y sacrificed. Its population amounts to 315,000,000 souls, including pretty nearly all the races known to man. Its levenuo for government amonnts to more than a thousand million dollars a-.nually, only one-fourth of which in levied in direct taxation. It has nearly a million men under arms. It has one policeman for every 1G square miles of its entire area. Its 246 war- Teasels are 'all in commission, not rotting in harbor*. Its merchant nuvy consists of 39,000 ships, mnnued by 270,000 sailors. It snrpasses iu steamers all other Powers on the globe, ami nearly equals their combined total in sailing vessels. Forty* nine per cent, of the carrying power of the world is nnder its flag. More than half the ships' earnings from freight and passenger* belong- to it. The banks of that Empire, transact oue-third of the business of the entiie world. Its nmnnlactutes comprise oaethird lho«ie of all Europe. Its enormous debt, which it uses as the most profitable investment of its o»vn earnings, amounts to nearly nine per cent, of the wealth which it bus inado •by. its exports. Its name i* Great Britain. It sends its phips to every climate ; it oners wares in every port ; it nska no tax on articles offered in exchange; and the caigoes its ships cany back to it.s wharves enrich it as much as those they had borne away,"