The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1856-07-19
PROt:REsSlvE GROWTH OF CITIES

"'"" y. w Nus. 4. l. cleveland, CYRUS Aid
r'ch, Committee, g..
PROGRESSIVE GROWTH OF CITIES
From Hunts Merchants Magazine
London is now the greatest concentration
Oh human power the world has ever known
WIZ ITS supremacy be permanent : or will
H. Ike ITS predecessors, be ecipsed bv West
ern rivals
New lorkers do not doubt. and ;nJecd
nave no reason to doubt. that their CITY now
numbering 'iftle more than one-third Of the
/ population OF London. will, within the nex,
MY years, be greater than the metropols of
the British Empire.
! New York, with her immediate dcpender.
cies, numbers about 100000. Since 100
she has established Law of growth which
doubles her population once in fifteen wears
IL this law continues to operate, she NAV be-.
expected to possess 100000 in 1871: 3.
Goa. 900 in lSSG; and 200. 900 in 1901 II
twenty years tie allowed New York AZ ber
future period of duplication. she would still,
I"'er'ake London by the end of fifty years. -
London may then have five millions. New
York will almost certainly have more than
that number.
! Wi: the star of empire become stationary
at New York d:
The interior plain of North America ha,
within itself more means 10 sus,a;p d.nso
poiu'a'lon IN civilized! comfort than aay 9th
er re-ion OF the world The star Of cmr;rp
cannot hr arrested in its western co,rsc no.
tore 1t reaches this plan. lis mos, pron,is-
M city at present. is Chicago. The law Of
as growth since 1910 seem. 70 I've a d,nl,.
ton within four years. In 1890. it number.
ed 4.4'9. In June of this year it will contain
$4,000. Al the same rate of increase carri
ed forward, it would ovcrtake New York
within twenty years. Ii six wears be allowed
Tor each future duplication. Chicago would O.
v"rtake New York in tlirty-three wears. -
II the growth of Chicago should in future be
measured by duplication every seven
wears. ii would contain :;,G22 900 in forty.two
years. In 1901, forty five years from thi,
'ime' the central PLAIN. ncluding the Cana
'as' Will contain about s".ooo.ooo OF people
Its chief city may reasonably he expected to
contain about e-tenth of this population. -
Before the end Of this century, the cities and
towns of the central plain will contain. with
their suburbs, not less than half Of th. entire
population that is to saw. forty millions. -
How these millions shall be appor'ioncd a.
mon- the cities of'hat day is asuljcct for
cu:ions speculation.
Some twentvcisht wears AGO. it was pre.
dlctcd bv the writer that one or more inter-
or 'ltlcs OF North America would. within fiji.
~ years become larger than New Orleans
ana ultimately second only to New York. -
I'ncInna'l and s.; Louis were then supposed
to be the favored points. About sixteen
wears a.o, canals and railroads cave in,lira.
tons ofthrir ability to transfer the seats Of
commerce o: the interior plain from the riv-
er to the lake borders. 1t was then conf
IDENTIFY asserted tie greatest cities woull
grow up at Chicago. Toledo. and other com
mercial points on the great lakes To mos,
men. at that time. the idea that anv lake cit,
west OF Buffalo, could become larger than
that chief receptacle of lake commerce. seem
ed prepo>tcrous as did the opinion, a dozcr
years earlier, that New Orleans could be RI;
vailed by Cincinnati. Tc him it appeared
as certain as the movement of time, tha
Chicago, Toledo, Cleveland, and some othe,
points on the lakes, would become create,
than Buffalo. Chicago leads the procession
having passed Buffalo the present year -
Gle, eland and Detroit are to follow next. Z,
be succeeded by Toledo, which will ccrtainl,
pass these ard bc only seco nd to Chicago, if
indeed she becomes not successful rival of
that city, in the long race for supremacy.
Between 1910 and 1876, the chief cities
of the central PLAN, taken together, increased
at the rate OF l per cent, compounded -
This rate was mrch exceeded by the mos,
fourishing st. Louis had an average annu.
al increase OF IS per cent; Chicago of over
20 per cent: and Milwaukee of &c per cent
Since 1850, for six years to June, 1856, Chi
cago has continued to increase at the aver
age rate OF 20 per cent compounded yearly
Toledo has little exceeded that rate. De-
tror and Cleveland have bad a like annual
increase of is per cent. Ofthe Canadian
cities Of the plain, no one, except perhap.
Montreal, can claim to be numbered among
the future great marts Of the world.
! T. " S