Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1876-03-10
The Great City OF London.

No better idea can be got of the i'm
mensity of London than from the weekly
health report of the United Kingdom, en-
braclng London and twenty other large
cities In Great Britain. This report in
cludes the record of births and deaths,
with information of prevailing diseases,
comparative rates of mortality, etc. In
London, during the week for which the re-
port is at hand, there were 2.44S births
and / 1926 deaths, which, allowing for the
increase of the population, was 100 births
less and 223 deaths less than the average
for the corresponding week during the
ten preceding years. At this rate there is
one birth for every four minutes during
the year, and one death for every eight
minutes, in the City of London. The an
nual death rate during three weeks was,
respectively, 243, 81, and 22.S per 1000
in London, which is much less than the
average of many large cities throughout
the world, the last report of which made
the following showing:
The annual rate Of mortality, according to the
most recent weekly returns, in Calcutta was. 81;
q; Rotterdam, ~; The Hague, IS; Copenhagen,
49, Christiania Al; Berlin, 20; Hamburg, 26; Bres-
Ian, 81; Munich, ST. Vienna, IS, Buda-P esth, 49,;
Turin, &c; Brooklyn, 20; and Philadelphia 81
For London, with four and quarter
millions of people to care for, including
the inner and outer circles of its popula-
ton, this showing is certainlymos credit
able. The health report also takes ac-
count of the condition ofthe water supply,
the sewerage and other adjuncts Of city
life affecting the general health. Itseems
that the system of private filtration of wa
ter has been widely adopted with good re-
70 ;a1
which converts the organic matter into
ammonia, which is harmless. The
metropolitan character Of London life is
illustrated by the large number of deaths
from violence, of which there were sixty
eight during the week referred to; fifty
six deaths were the result of negligence or
accident, four of infanticide, and six of
suicide. The street-accidents numbered
three deaths and twenty nine cases of In
jury, many of which could probably be
traced to the dangerous snoothness of the
large amount of asphalt pavement used.
There were 265 deaths from what are
called the seven principal diseases of
the Zymotic class, sixty nine from
whooping cough, eighty-three from scar
let fever, fifty-five from measles, thirty
from different forms of fever, eight from
diphtheria, twenty from diarrhea, and
not one from smallpox, which is remarks
BILE as compared with the ravages of this
disease elsewhere.
The world is trying great expert
ment on the banks of the Thames. 1t is
building up there q city which is vast al
most beyond human comprehension. The
population of London Ghe city proper
will be almost exactly 3,500000 in the
middle of 1876. But even these we'll nigh
incredible figures do not tell the whole
story. The city is surrounded by ring of
closely-packed suburbs, which, with their
population of 800, 900, are really part oft
They are officially known as "Outer
London" The whole metropolis, there
fore, can lay claim, according to the Lon
don Times, to more than 4,250,000 inhab-
itants! In 1890, fourteen years after the
thirteen colonies had declared their indie
pendence, the United States had less than
100000 inhabitants, including slaves,
and London at that time only 100000
At present, the births in both Outer and
Inner London largely outnumber the
deaths, and immigration exceeds emigra-
ton. A great city always acts like a
sponge. 1t sucks population from the
surrounding country. This process is
going on all over England, and yet the
nineteen largest towns IN the provinces,
from Liverpool, with its sgt ,544 inhab.
itants, to Plymouth, with its ~, 230, have
q smaller population together than London
has alone.
Facts like these show what a world of
knowledge is to be won by a study of the
metropolis of England In forms of gov
eminent, in methods of sewerage, and
drainage, In arrangements for extinguish-
ing fires, in the death-rate, in the preven-
| ton and punishment of crime, in the dis
tribution of wealth, in the homes of the
poor, in rapid transit, in water and gas
supply-in these and many other fields of
social science, London can teach the
world, doing so by failure as we'll as sue
cess But, allowing for the enormous
population, and comparing the results Of
the city government there with other cities
| of the world, there has been larger pro-
portion of success than failure, and Lon
don is still the marvel of the world
| Chicago Tribune.