Second Edition.

THROUGH

THE

LIGHT CONTINENT;

OR,

THE UNITED STATES IN 1877-8.

By WILLIAM SAUNDERS.

"There is the marked peculiarity of the American people apparent almost from the
first; the singular buoyancy and clasticity both of the national and individual
character. It may be the product of their brilliant, exhilarating, invigorating climate;
it may be the accompaniment of the vast horizon opened out by their boundless
territory; it may be partly the youth of the nation, but its existence is unquestionable."
DEAN STANLEY.

"I do not think there is any subject to which leaders of working men can more
asefully turn their attention than the supplying to those who want it here-accurate
and trustworthy intelligence as to their chances beyond the Atlantic."

LORD DERBY, at Rochdale.

CASSELL, PETTER, AND

GALPIN:

LONDON, PARIS, AND NEW YORK,

GIFT OF

Bancro

LIBRARY

PREFACE.

WITH a mind full of notes of interrogation, I landed at Boston in September, 1877. The information

that I obtained proved to be more interesting and useful than I expected, and, withal, much more difficult of attainment.

Never was such a field for human energy offered to mankind as that which the United States presents-so vast, so free, and so fair. We see three million square miles of the earth's surface combined under one Government, and that Government freely offering inducements to labour and capital from all parts of the world. The efforts of politicians have been supplemented by those of engineers, who have intersected this vast space with railways; thus making the land accessible to all comers, and its produce available for all

:onsumers.

We are surprised to find corn and beef pouring

into this country, and Americans underselling our farmers at their own doors. Investigation will diminish the wonder, for the secret is an open one; in the States, land is free, and industry is stimulated by the reward of ownership.

The various aspects of political and social life in the United States afford topics of the highest interest; and I wish that an improved telephone could convey to our minds the tone and feeling of American life--not in all cases for adoption, but certainly for consideration.

A small portion of the following pages appeared in English newspapers during my visit to the States. More time than I anticipated has been occupied in the preparation of this volume, and thus its publication has been delayed; but I have availed myself of this extension of time to bring down some statistical information to the latest date.

Mount View, Streatham, S.W.,

May 27th, 1879.

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Constitution and Government of the United States

English and American Agriculture

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