Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1855-09-20
From the New York Tribune.
The Censns Of 1883


The Census Of le40 gave a55 600 A. the pOpu-
lation of this City. Brooklyn add Williams
burgh, and that OF 1850 gave 643.G1n. showing
an increase of 81 ,001. The Increase Of the
State in ihat period ws> go 900, and thus We
find that outside of oar " immediate vicini-
ty there had been an addition of SOB 600. Ia
the same period Buffalo grew from eighteen To
forty thousand aud II We dcducJ these - ,000
we obtain 36l 900 a. the amount of increase in
the interior towns and rural districts If the
State.
The year lSa5 EXHIBITS asta5e of things wide
" different. This City aud its vicinity have a
population of D 10000, and Buffalo has grown 10
near eO,0O0, showing "A Total Increase of nearly
300, 400, whereas vi the interior towns Inany
have ceased altogether 10 grow, while others
have grown in a greatly diminished ralio. and
many have actually declined in numbers The
rural population has largely diminished and
the total result seeIns clearly Ia establish the
fact that outside of he Two commercial capitals,
this City and Buffalo. the State ha, become al
together stationary, as preparatory TO a large de-
crease that will probably make itself visible in
The Census of 1860.
The facts thus recently brought 10 light have
attracted much attention: and, as might natur-
ally have been expected, the parties by -hom
they have been treated differ widely in their
manner of accounting for them, What are our
own views on the subject our readers already
know. but, desiring once again 10 invite atten-
tlsn 10 a state Of things 80 remarkable and so
much opposed TO what had generally been anti
cipated. we give in another column the views Of
one OF our most respectable contemporaries, The
Examiner, a journal well known as the organ
of the Baptist persuasion, and remarkable for
the fairness and honesty with which il ende-
vors to find the truth.
The reasons here given for the state of things
We now observe are--the disappearance Of
household manufactures and The centralizing
tendencies of establishments like Lowell, Man
chester, and Lawrence; the growth of large es-
Adjustments for the manufacture Of nails. horse
shoes, clothing, shoes, window frames and 9th
er commodities. with corresponding diminution
in the local demand for blacksmitls, tailors,
shoemakers, carpenters and other mechanics
aud the introduction of reaping and moving
machines, followed by a reduction in the de-
msnd for agricultural laborers. Being thus a
consequence OF the action OF natural causes
the change indicated by the Census is regard
ell by our contemporary as one that could not
have been avoided in time past, and that cannot
of course fail to be exhibited on a larger scale
in time to come. So far as il has advanced, 1T:
/ effects are regarded as having been highly in
5 furious. as with the increase of the population
{ OF large places there is almost uniformly an in
D crease Of temptation and vice" upon which i
I is impossible TO reflect without the most seriOu:
apprcfensions." The growth of cities and a
vice a. thus given as a necessary result Of mat
: ural causes" while rural congregations declin'
IN numbers and in the power TO obtain reh
gious instruction for themselves or secular in
s%truction for their children; and thus it is tina
we have a state of thing involving a constau
and decreasing deterioration of moral condition
=, presented as 4 necessary consequence Of tn
! laws of God, and therefore totally beyond th'
reach of man for its correction.
: Where, then, shall we land at the close o
even another half century? Every improvement
of machinery Is but the preparation for a ney
and greater one, and those already made hav
: produced the NITROUS effects already observed
how much greater must be those in prospect
: Half a century since, W. knew nothing of th
steamboat. Thirty years since, the rallroa
was scarcely known. Twenty years since, TIA
electric telegraph had not been invented, no
had the planning machine been thought of. Tie
I years since, the sewing machine was a thin
: To be dreamed of, but it was a dream whose r'
~alization was not 10 be expected. Five yeai
$ since, the composing machine still ii
manned among the desiderata of the printing .
flee, and yet it is now in full operation. I'll
!" machine for the preparation Of flax cotton is "
: to ia invented. but a dozen years can searcel
= elapse before it, and hundreds of other inyer
u tons unthought of. will lie seen in full AZ
= tiyity.
y If, then. the improvements of The last fe
: years have really brought about the eentralizin
results we now witness, is it not evident ia;
81 the next half century must exhibit them in II
= fnitely grander proportions? Will not ii
close Of the century witness the consolidation
> land on a scale similar to that observed in Gre;
Britain and Ireland, and almost equal to th'
tax of the declining days of Rome. when ind
< viduals ~monopolized the land that in earli'
and better days had furnished food to Thousand
= of small proprietors!
To this question, having once admitted hi
e the facts of the late census are the inevitable
!" effects of natural causes there can be nor
but an affirmative reply; for nature works a
y ways in the same direction, and the longer 81
u works the more distinct bee me the evidenc
; of her labors.