WAR IN THE PHILIPPINES.—When our forces entered Manila (August, 1898), native troops under Aguinaldo (ahg-ee-nahl'do), who had revolted against Spanish rule, held Luzon [8] and most of the other islands. Aguinaldo now demanded that we should turn the islands over to his party, and when this was refused, attacked our forces in Manila. War followed; but in battle after battle the native troops were beaten and scattered, and in time Aguinaldo was captured. The group of islands is now governed as a dependency.
WAR IN CHINA.—The next country with which we had trouble was China. Early in 1900 members of a Chinese society called the Boxers began to kill Christian natives, missionaries, and other foreigners. The disorder soon reached Peking, where foreign ministers, many Europeans, and Americans were besieged in the part of the city where they were allowed to reside. Ships and troops were at once sent to join the forces of Japan and the powers of Europe in rescuing the foreigners in Peking. War was not declared; but some battles were fought and some towns captured before Peking was taken and China brought to reason. [9]
[Illustration: SETTLED AREA IN 1900.]
THE CENSUS OF 1900.—At home in 1900 our population was counted for the twelfth time in our history and found to be 76,000,000. This census did not include the population of Porto Rico, Guam, or the Philippines. In New York the population exceeded that of the whole United States in 1810; in Pennsylvania it was greater than that of the whole United States in 1800, and Ohio and Illinois each had more people than the whole country in 1790.
IMMIGRATION.—In 1879 (p. 403) a great wave of immigration began and rose rapidly till nearly 800,000 foreigners came in one year, in 1882. Then the wave declined, but for the rest of the century every year brought several hundred thousand. In 1900 another great wave was rising, and by 1905 more than 1,000,000 immigrants were coming every year. For some years these immigrants have come mostly from southern and eastern Europe.
GROWTH OF CITIES.—Most remarkable has been the rapid growth of our cities. In 1790 there were but 6 cities of over 8000 inhabitants each in the United States, and their total population was but 131,000. In 1900 there were 545 such cities, and their inhabitants numbered 25,000,000— about a third of the entire population; 38 of these cities had each more than 100,000 inhabitants. By 1906 our largest city, New York, had more than 4,000,000 people, Chicago had passed the 2,000,000 mark, and Philadelphia had about 1,500,000.
THE NEW SOUTH.—The census of 1900 brought out other facts of great interest. For many years after 1860 the South had gone backward rather than forward. From 1880 to 1900 her progress was wonderful. In 1880 she was loaded with debt, her manufactures of little importance, her railways dilapidated, her banks few in number, and her laboring population largely unemployed. In 1900 her cotton mills rivaled those of New England. Since 1880 her cotton crop has doubled, her natural resources have begun to be developed, and coal, iron, lumber, cottonseed oil, and (in Texas and Louisiana) petroleum have become important products. Alabama ranks high in the list of coal-producing states, and her city of Birmingham has become a great center of the iron and steel industry. Atlanta and many other Southern cities are now important manufacturing centers.
With material prosperity came ability to improve the systems of public schools. Throughout the South separate schools are maintained for white and for negro children; and great progress has been made in both.
THE ELECTION OF 1900.—One of the signs of great prosperity in our country has always been the number of political parties. In the campaign for the election of President and Vice President in 1900 there were eleven parties, large and small. But the contest really was between the Republicans, who nominated William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, and the Democrats, who nominated William J. Bryan and Adlai E. Stevenson, indorsed by the Populist and Silver parties.
[Illustration: THEODORE ROOSEVELT.]