Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1873-05-28
POPULATIONAL METERS.
Nebraska Increment In Two Years,
6S,935 Total in 1872, l91, ,92S.
BY PROF. ]. D. BUTLER.
LINCOLN. 1873.

LINCOLN, 1878.
Hume speaks of Roman Emperor,
who, wishing to learn something about
the.population of his metropolis, issu-
ed an edict requiring everybody to
bring to his palace all the cobwebs
they could find. There were enough
to prove Rome a very large city
When Arthur Young wished TO COM
pare the different French depart
ments, he could devise no better
method than to cut them out one by
one from a map, and then ascertain
their comparative weights in scale.
One of the earliest modern exam
pies of accurate enumeration through
out a wide country, was the United
States census of 1791. Each new de-
cade some new specifications have
been added to those before made.
The prosperity of State is now
measured, by all political economists,
by its populational growth. Hence
all States are prone to oYer-estimate
the rapidity Of their increase, and so
at every census are mortified that
their numbers are proved so few
So chagrined were several cities in
1870, that they paid for taking sec
ond census in hopes to show that their
inhabitants had not been all inclu-
ded in the government returns.
The biennial census which was long
taken by the State of Iowa, furnished
to every Iowa editor an exhaustless
treasury of items-never in the way,
and never out of the way.
In the absence of an oft repeated
census, there is an infinity of uncheck-
ed guessing, especially in new States
where growth is most wondered at,
being transition from nothing TO
something.
Accordingly, on the Atlantic slope.
there is great distrUst of all reports
concerning western progress, till they
are confirmed by an official census
The Nebraska superintendent of I'm
migration has estimated the influx
into that State at 10000 persons d
year. His estimate has been much
ridieuled as q wild exaggeratiOn, of q
piece with Yankee DoOdle's reconing
| of the continental host when his faith.
er and he went down to camp.
"And there was Captain Washington
Upon a strapping stallion,
A giving orders TO his men,
| 4 GAca3 GtcIG Ll1 V hss-AAes~s
But it can be proved mathematical
| ly, that Mr.. NOteware's estimate II
very nearly correct. Thus, in 1870
the school children numbered 81, 762
and the population 10, ,S93. But, IN
1872 the school children had increas-
ed to 81 ,I23. Therefore, as all those
scholars who have reached the Rule
of Three can demonstrate, the Ne
braska population in 1872 amounted
to 191 ,92S, showing a gain of 6S, s3s
within two years.
The lists OF school children, besides
showing the growth OF the State a
large, are a meter of local progress.
Look, for instance, along the maiI
line of the Burlington & Missouri
River Railroad. 1t runs through
eight counties. Adams, Cass, Clay
Fillmore, Kearney, Lancaster, Saline
and Saunders. Their school children
in 1870, were 1912, and their popula
ton q, ,247. In 1872 their school child
rem had multiplied to II 10, there
fore their population then can no
have been less than "A, ,079s.
Nebraska, at large, has been excep
tionally prosperous, for its population
al increment IN two years mas oeeL
Sc. .O4 per cent. But even this per cent
tage falls far below that of the eigh
counties traversed by the b. & NJ
railroad line. Their populationa
advance between 1870 and 1872 ha
been at the rate of S9.6 per cent.
In the next two years their growth
will be still greater than in the las
two, for half of them had no schoo
children two years ago, and locomo
tives not yet having traversed then
all for more than four months, have
but Just begun to put forth their mGgi
cal influences in making solitude
pOpulous.
Yet the railroad above mentioned
within thirty-three months afte
putting its land in market. had sOi'
AIS, ,9SS acres to 4,525 purchasers, oI
ten years credit and six per cent. in
terest, and on sales since 1872 nothing
Of the principal is payable till the en'
of four years.