Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1879-02-01
Over-density Of Population in Cities.


that result from an over-crowding of the
population in large cities. has lately re-
ceived new treatment at the hands of
the learned DIR. Parr, by the labors of
whom the subject has been reduced to a
science of almost mathematical exact
ness. In a paper entitled density or
Proximity of Population, its Advan-
tages and Disadvantages" recently
presented TO the Congress at Chelten-
ham, England. by this excellent au-
thority. the statistics shown are some
what startling, and put forth in such a
way as to prove exceedingly interesting
and instructive. DIR. PARIS principle is
this: "Observe the effects of the pop
ulation-density; as a rule, the greater
this density the shorter the duration of
life; and this life-duration is seen to
follow ratio appreciable by simple
arithmetic"
That man by his very nature is gre
garious in his habits, and that, follow
ing the dictates of his nature, it is his
wont TO congregate in dense commune
ties, is fact so well known, and one
that has been so often commented upon,
as to appear trite in its repetition. We
can not, perhaps, expect to accomplish
much in the way of changing his habits
in this respect by moral suasion, the
best we can do being to exhibit the re-
suits that modern science has arrived at
in its investigation of the subject OF
overcrowding, not so much to the suf-
ferers themselves from this state of
things, as to the authorities whom they
have elected to look after their welfare.
The gist of the matter is given by DIR.
Parr in the following words: The
nearer people live to each other the
shorter their lives are" and the rela-
tons of this proximity to the duration of
life are ascertained to be as follows:
''In round numbers, where we stand
on an average 400 feet off from each
other, we live on an average 30 years !;
where we are 800 feet off, We live 40
years; where we come within 60 feet of
each other, we live but 30 years; and
where we are but 20 feet off, we live but
% years. 1t does ssot seem likely that
by extending our inte-space beyond the
400 feet we could proiong the average
of life beyond SO years; but it is very
| clear that if we contract the interspace
beyond the limit of 20 feet we must
rapidly reduce the mean of % years to
20, to Is, TO 10, and before long so to
speak, to nothing. Tha. is to say, there
is certain population density with
which, in the ordinary circumstances
attending such condition, human life
could not be sustained at all; and from
this melancholy zero there rises scale
of progression, obeying, of course, a
reconcile, but Ineligible mathematical
law, whereby we may measure off in a
moment, according to the number of
lives per acre, the number of years of
life." Again, from DIR. PARIS actual
figures, we learn that "during the de-
cennial period from 1861 to 1870, inclu-
sive, the death-rate of certain
of the most favorably situated
districts of England, taken at per
1000 of the population, proved to be
II per annum, 16, and even so low as
Is; whereas in certain other places it
stood at 81, SO, and even SO per 1000
per annum. He then tells us that in
those cases where 16 died in 1000, each
individual had to himself, on an average,
acres; where Is died, each had acres;
whereas where 81 died, each had only
one-tenth part of an acre on an aver
age; and where SO died, each had only
one one-hundredth part of an acre. The
writer then goes on to show that, as re-
CARDS the intermediate cases, the re-
gularity of the rule is sufficiently pre-
cise." 1t further appears that the dens-
est and most unwholesome of the dis
tricts in England is Liverpool, where
q square mile holds no less than 63, 1928
human beings-an everage of about one
hundredth of an acre to each, or eaui-
valent to space of II by II feet. Thus
it may be readily seen that if the men,
women, and children of the lower order
we re to be placed on a surface of level