, 1880-08-22

That Chicago within the city limits con-
tains more than half million souls, and in-
cluding its immediate suburbs, which are
counted III the enumeration of many largo
cities, more than 100000, Is a fact that frets
which have been persistently misrepresent-
ing their own size and growth. Their
humiliation and resentment find malicious
expression In al attempt to impeach the cor
rectness of the Chicago enumeration. A fair
sample of their cllagrln may be found III the
following paragraphs taken from one Of the
newspapers published in West St Louis.
Mo-:
TIE CHICAGO TRIBUNE expands into whole
column Of virtuous wrath over tho census
stones o 80 % viz Vigorousy % over @ Mason " ana % Dixops
line, foryets Its own glass house. There Is
district III the South which cun be churged with
tho charge can be laid at Chicayos doors. If
there is to be any going behind tho census re-
turns Chicago must nut bo left out. a recount
In that city, conducted in the same hostile spirit
with which ST. Louis WAS enumerated u1ld rt,-
enumerated. would make suea mortality in its
assumed hull million Of people Is has never 1e.
enumeration of ChicAgo's population, which
fts generous enulneraturs have put down at
500,UuJ. wuuld result IN literal defamation,
for 1t would wipe out one out Of every ten
MINES on the lisi and send back to their graves
ut lenst 50,0j0 ghosts who were summoned from
the cemeteries to pose As live mon for census
purposes. After all, tho Chicago cnumerntors
appear to have made Il great lnistake against
M that o5 " n. her ate ee1sis; They took i at
WIS sitting, and when 1t WIS estimated there
we're , lsyp9 e. " st1angers IN the city from first to
nlerauon. But the Chicugo papcrs tell US that
during the recent Knights Templar meeting
thorc were 3oo,oN visitors i'll the city from nrst
70 1nnf Vh,1$ bY,lnr II
waited for tue Knights Templnr Encampment,
which would have increased the population 90
o0O, making 1t 552.0lU!
For the benefit of Chicago people, and in
deed discerning people everywhere, it would
be sufficient merely to reproduce the above
utterances, which readily bstray the animus
behind them. It may be, however. that the
unwarranted inslnuati0ns that emanate from
West St, Louis, No., will be accredited with
some basis Of fact, as lie may be retolL So
often as to take on the appearance Of truth;
and, consequently, It may be worth while to
show how utterly such statements lack the
elements Of probability.
Any comparison between the obvious cen
sus frauds Of South Carolina and the actual
increase Of Chicago's population is prepos-
ferrous. In the former case, the cities show {.
small increase, while backwoods commune
ties, which were less numerous ten years
ago than they were forty years earlier, now
claim an increase Of 50 per cent! All the
statistics of business, revenue, mali distribu-
tion, education, ETC., are almost in inverse
ratio to the alleged increase in popula-
ton. In fact, all the collateral con-
ditions Of growth are absent, while
an increase is claimed in pro-
portion about double that Of prosperous
Western States. On ali sides there is ex-
ternal evidence of fraud in the case of South
Carolina and other Southern States pro-
Tossing an exaggerated growth in popuia-
ton. In the case Of Chicago the external evil
Gences are all favorable to the extraordinary |
increase in population during the past ten
years. The growth of Chicago has always
been marvellous. The general Increase III !
population throughout the country during
the past decade has been In the cities and !
towns, and there have been ABUNDANT signs |
all along that Chicago was growing more
rapidly than any other large city. The bust
ness, the manufacturing, the consumption OF !
food, the reverue and postal statistics, the !
oyercrowded schools, the tide of emigra-
uon,-au these elements, or evidences, of
growth have been as striking in their abun-
dance in Chicago as they are conspicuous By
their absence in the case Of the Southern |
States rs whole.
The intimation that Chicago's census was
swollen by enumerating some Of the visitors
to the Republican Convention, implied by the
slnr that Chicago ought to have waited for
the greater crowd at the Triennial Conclare,
affords an opportunity to clinch the iie that
was some time since set on foot in West st.
Louis, Mo. There are two circumstances
that completely disproye this instnuatlon-
VIZ: ~ The concourse Of strangers at the
time OF the Republican Convention, or upon
any occasion when a crowd is attracted, is
housed maintr In the farua l,oto1c iaass,.ax |