Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1878-02-08
TOWN VERSUS COUNTRY.
Comparative Growth of Urban and Rural
Population.


Population.
iScribneT''s Monthly for January con-
taifls an article on the comparative In
crease of urban and rural population in
the United Statesj but it only gives the
chief cities, leaving out the large town
and village population. The Cincinnati
Commercial has tried to supply this
omission in the case of ten States, and
it points out the following among the
consequences of excessive urban growth: :
l. Concentration of population.
2. Concentration of wealth.
8. Breaking down the great middle
class. ....- ......
A. The increase of the poor at very
much greater ratio than that Of the popu-
lation.
8. The increase Of the power of re-
allied wealth. i - egss ttl yrE
6. Increase of mortality and effemin-
acy.
7. Increase of vice and crime.
s. Physical and moral degeneracy.
9. Increasing peril to free institutions.
Accurate statistics, carefully and hon.
estly handled, are indispensable to full
understanding of our economical, social,
political, moral and educational rela-
tions. We have made somewhat tedi-
GUS scrutiny of the State of New York,
and separated the entire town popula
tion from that of the purely rural, and
find that the grand aggregate to have
been in 1870, 1924, 9S6, against ,652,-
BIT in 1850. We have now the follow
ing: a.
Total population. ........ 1882, 750 3,097 394
Urban population, ...... 2,824, 1886 1851, ,3l7
Rural population. =. 1,557,778 1,A5 OFT
Increase OF total population. ...... 1, 285, 1865
Increase of urban population. .....,. 1,172 669
Increase of rural population. ..... 112,69
Increase per cent. Total, 49; urban, IL
rural s.
A thorough analysis for the whole
State of Massachusetts, gives a rural in
crease during the two decades, of but
seven per cent, against an urban in
crease of ninety-two per cent. Were all
the town population of Pennsylvania
gathered up, the rural increase would be
found to have been about ten por cent.
and the urban 120 per cent In Illinois,
a comparatively new State that was
chiefly settled during the two decades,
we find thirteen cities and towns of over
1000 people in 1870 that can be com.
pared with 1850. The aggregates are:
1870. 1850
State population. 2,539,S91 S5i, 40
Urban n.................. 44S,475 &C.,
Rural ural............... 2,091,416 7S5, 28S
Increase of State population. ........ 1,GS7, 42l
Increase Of urban population. ....... 382, 2Ss
Increase of rural population ....... ], 1906, 13t
Rural, 166 per cent; city, 579 per cent.
Were all the towns and villages of the
State sifted out, the rural increase woule
be found to have been much less thar
166 per cent. Ohio is q fair average be
tween the old and the new States. After
scanning all the townships of Ohio, and
separating the village, town and city
population from the grand total of the
State, we have reached the following re
suits: -.f
1870. 1850.
Urban population 80. 1,000, ,000 $50, ,00
Purely rural. al............ 1,655,2 1,50O,3 ,32
Urban increase. .......... 55,,Ooo i Sper ct
Rural increase. ............ 1884, 1891 II per ct
The aggregates for ten of the prlncl
pal northwestern States are as follows
1870. 1850
Ten States ........... 20, 985, ,767 IL, 1872 02
Seventy cities. ........ 5,141, 1926 2,l9S, 10
Cities deduct d.. 80. 15,846,S42 9,99987
Increase of population. ........ S.796, 73
Increa g Of urban population 49,. 2,943, ,76
Increase OF rnr population. ..... 5,s52, &c
Increase per cent total popul ton, 49, {
city,l37; rural, So. ..s.. ..........
These States are New York, Massa
chusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio
Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin
and Michigan. The great lesson from
these facts is that efforts to prevent th
increase of vice and crime, and to miti
gate the calamities of poverty in on
cities, should be increased in proportiol
to the increase of concentration. Th
philosophers and philauthropists cal
study the problem at their leisure, ant
the more they study the more they vii
find it necessary to do in order to eoun
teract the unfortunate results of thi
tendency of population. s q