Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 58, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 March 1907 — Fix United States Area. [ARTICLE]

Fix United States Area.

The United States geological survey has issued bulletin 302, by Henry Gannette; which represents the result of conference and co-operation of the land office, census bureau and geological survey in an effort to agree on what constitutes “the area of the United States.” The absence of a standard of measurement for determining the area led to a discrepancy between the tables of the census bureau made in 1887 and those of the general land office prepared in 1599. The result of the cooperation of the departments is that the area of the U’nited States, proper, which is given as 3,020,789 square miles, has been increased over the census figures by 1,188 square miles. The bulletin gives the area of Alaska as 590.884, the Philippines. 115.<‘2t>; Hawaii, 0.449; Porto Rico. 3.435; Guam, 210; Samoa 77, and the Panama canal strip, 474 square miles. All of the detached territory is subject to change as the limits become more correctly • defined.—Scientific American.