Population and Economic Activities.

Population. The USA numbers over 190,000,000 people and ranks fourth among the countries of the world in quantity of population after the Chinese People's Republic, India and the U.S.S.R. The average density of population in the country is not high, how­ever, amounting to 20 persons to the square kilometre. Most thickly populated is the north-east, most thinly populated are the western desert areas of the Cordilleras and Alaska.
Almost two-thirds of the population is urban. There are many large cities in the country, some containing over 1,000,000 inhab­itants. Characteristic of American cities and towns are long, straight streets crossing each other at right angles and two or three-storeyed houses. In the centre of the large cities stand enormous buildings, so-called sky-scrapers, dozens of storeys high. Here, too, are the luxurious palaces of the millionaires. The poor live in tumbledown houses and wretched shanties in the outskirts.
The majority of the people are of European descent. The common language is English. The few remaining Indians (less than 500,000) have been herded into special reservations on land that is unfit to live in and which they may not leave without permission. There are about 18,000,000 Negroes in the United States, descendants of former slaves brought from Africa, who live mainly in the south­east of the country.

Economic Activities. Economically the United States of America has outstripped all other capitalist countries of the world.
It extracts oil, gas and coal in enormous quantities and is a great producer of cast iron, steel and other metals. Manufacture includes various machines (motor-cars, tractors, etc.), chemicals, textiles, food-stuffs and household articles. Most of the factories and plants are located in the north-east and near the Great Lakes.
As for agriculture, special attention is given to stock-raising. The main agricultural district is the Great Central Plain in the forest-steppe and prairie belt, where much corn, wheat, fodder, dairy products and meat is produced. There are large plantations of cotton, tobacco and soyas in the south. In Florida and the Valley of California oranges, lemons and other fruits are grown. In the arid highlands of the west sheep are bred.
This wealth, however, belongs not to the great mass of the people but to the big capitalists and landowners, who have farms and ranches hundreds of hectares in size. The small farmers are constantly un­dergoing ruin and the number of farms is growing smaller.
There is a sharp contrast between the enormous riches of the few billionaires, who own billions1 of dollars, and the poverty of the rest of the people. The workers suffer from unemployment, big taxes, high prices, high rent and back-breaking toil at sweat-shops and plants.
Especially hard is the life of the Negroes, who work as labourers
or metayers on the southern plantations and do the heaviest and dir­tiest work at factories and plants for less pay than white workers. In many places, especially in the South, Negroes are not allowed to study at the same schools or ride in the same trams and trains as Whites. They are sometimes lynched on false charges by angry crowds of racists.

The entire power in the United States rests in the hands of a small group of multimillionaires. Nowhere in the world is capitalism so powerful. The press, schools, cinemas and television broadcasts are used to impress on the minds of the common people that

money is all-powerful. Many capitalist countries receive loans and bribes from the United States and are, therefore, completely dependent on that country.
The capital of the United States is Washington, a city of 1,900,000 inhabitants together with its suburbs, specially built to be the seat of the government. It contains the government depart­ment buildings and the residence of the president. Washington is a spacious and green city. There are no tall houses and very few factories and plants. The population consists mainly of officials, office employees, smart dealers after profitable government orders and servants: charwomen, laundresses, footmen, servants and others. These last are sometimes Negroes dwelling in very cramped quarters on the outskirts of the city.
New York is the largest city not only of the United States but of the whole world. It numbers almost 14,000,000 inhabitants together with its suburbs. It is situated in the north-east of the coun­try at the mouth of the Hudson River. New York is the chief port of the United States, its leading commercial centre. It has numerous stores and shops, storehouses, offices, banks and industries. New York is a city of sky-scrapers. Standing in the centre of the city, they tower high above the rest of the houses. The tallest has 102 storeys and is 380 metres high. The rich live in luxurious palaces. The homes of the workers, on the other hand, are uncomfortable tumbledown houses in dirty streets void of trees and grass. The fumes from the numerous automobiles and the stale air from the subway ventilation gratings along the pavements make it hard to breathe in the narrow streets amidst the tall buildings. New York is a very noisy city. The din of the traffic, loud speakers, publicity agents and newsboys never ceases, either day or night.
The second city of the country in size and importance is Chicago, numbering almost 6,000,000 inhabitants together with its suburbs. It stands on the southern end of Lake Michigan, where the latter is connected with the Mississippi River by a canal. Chicago is a great railway junction, the focus of about 40 lines. Its industries include machine-building and others.

San Francisco is an important city on the Pacific coast. Together with its suburbs it numbers 2,600,000

inhabitants. It stands on the shores of a beautiful bay that is crossed by a bridge almost 7 kilometres in length. San Francisco is a large port and an important commercial and industrial centre of the Far West.
Questions and Assignments.

1. Mark on the outline map of the United States of America the
   areas chiefly inhabited by the Negroes and Indians.
2. Mark and name on the outline map the large cities of the
   USA.
3. Examine the plan of New York (Fig. 185) and point out:

1. the Hudson River falling into the Atlantic Ocean;
2. Manhattan Island, the central part of the city;
3. Wall Street, the 'street of banks';
4. Harlem, the Negro quarter.

Use the symbols on the map to locate the railways, subways, bridges, tunnels, ferries, lighthouses, aerodromes, bogs and ceme­teries.