Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1870-10-11
"when RoSnes Fall Ont

Chicago has never been charged With losing
an opportunity to blow its own horn, and there
fore il is q little amusing 10 see that yjrtuops
and therefore happy city in a towering ASTON
over the cheeky rascalities prac;ised by its
rival, St Louis, in getting NJ a cersus bv which
chicago is beaten over thirteen thorsand. and
ST. Louis is made the fourth city in the country
in population.
The St Louis papers crow exuberantIy over the
result, and argue with no little compIaceuca
that Chicago has reached its MAXIMUM imrort-
ance, and that ST. Louis has not only no rival
hencefOrth among the interior cities OF the con-
tlnent," but that in q couple or decldSs it III
surpass one OF both OF the great Atlantic cities
in population.
The value of the data on which the St I 1uis
papers base their estimates is somewhat i'm
paired by the gross blunders they make in
stating the present population OF other ci,ies
Thus the present population of Baltimore is MT
down By the ST. Louis Demoeras at only 2i0, 900.
whereas it is certainly not less than 2l5 OO1, and
at is clsimed to be above $4,000.
The Chicago papers, however, do not for a
moment concede the modest claim put forth by
the rival city, and they go into an elab ,rate
analysis TO show the fraudulent nature OF the
pretersiOn. They charge that the st. Louis
williams waited until Chicago and Cincinnati had
already made their returns, and then, knowing
exactly what figures to cover, they summoned
thirty to forty thousand Of the agricultural pop
ulaton OF the rural districts into the CITY II at
tend the State Fair, and counted as msny of
them as were necessary TO "fil the bill, "By
this maneuver," says the II ibane; "by the an
nexation of Carondelet; by opening subscription
books for months in advance In which all persons
were invited to register h,ir names as residents;
and the names of all others whom they supposed
TO be residents but were temporarily absent:
by appropiating $4,000 from the city treasury
to assist the marshals in swelling the returns.
and by making it a leading city enterprise to
get mp the largest census returns possible, ST.
LOUIS has appeared to have leaped suddenly IN
TO $4,000 people? In 1868 st. Louis, by its own
returns, had a population OF but 100 900, and
we are asked now to believe that it has gained
the enormous increase OF 10000 in two wears.
while its whole increase during the previous
eight years, from 1850 to 1858, was only $1,000
ST. Louis Is asked to show where she has slowed
these additional 11O,O "where, Tits demand
eh, " are the new blocks, and the long miles OF
new streets in which the 10 900 new pconIe that
have Hooked into St Louis within two wears.
reside, and do business ?'
In one respect, this piece of sharp practice
by 81. LOUIS at the expense Of Chicago, is a
deserved lesson. Chicago, or CERTAINLY its lead
ing newspaper hrst put the notion of getting
the natioDal capital into the head of ST. I,ou;s,
10" the pois oned chalice is placed at her own
lips, for this same Chicago paper now charges
'haI the disposition OF St Louis ID overst ate its
population Is due to its itching 70 be the seat of
government. We are not very sorry to see Chi
Cages chickens thus getting home to roost.