Morning journal and courier., 1880-08-13
STATE REPUBLICAN TICKET.
THE CENSUS IN THE SOUTH.

A good deal is being said and written about the census in the South According to the figures which are going about, all the north ern States have gained less than P per cent in population, while the southern States have gained slightly more than 28 per cent, the former group of States now having 30, 763,- 92O inhabitants and the latter 17,692, 331. This apparent advantage of the South in in- crease of population is entirely unexpected It was known that Texas had received large immigration, and its reported gain of 82 per cent. in population, though larger than was expected, it is conceded may be genuine Florida has grown by the influx of northern people in search of a mild climate and by the opportunities of profit in raising fruits and early vegetables for the northern market The gain of 60 per cent. in that State may thus be accounted for. Missouri, by her nat ural conditions, her large and busy cities and the character of her population, belongs rather to the West than the South, and her rapid growth is not doubted, though her 3s per cent, as compared with lowa's 26, ex- cites surprise and suspicion. These three are all of the southern States which previous to the census showed any symptoms of consid- erable increase. Yet the census figures pub lished indicate that stagnant Virginia has grown faster than Iowa, Illinois or Ohio, and more than twice as fast as New York or Wis consin that West Virginia, largely noun tain region, without cities or manufactures, and whose agricultural regions show no sign that farms are more numerous, has gained in population about twice fast Michigan, and but little less than Minnesota. North Carolina has increased faster than Iowa, and so has Kentucky, while Arkansas has far out stripped in progress any western State except Nebraska Kansas and Minnesota. Maryland has gained trife more than Wisconsin, Alabama more than New York, and Louis jana about as much as Illinois.
 These statistics exceedingly puzzling and the difficulty of reconciling them with known facts or with any tenable theoriesis in- creased by the circumstance that, while in all the northern States except the newest and most sparsely settled the cities have grown more rapidly than the country districts, and in several States have absorbed all the in- have not grown at all or in a much smaller
 
 other perplexing fact is that Georgia, which has seemed one of the most enterprising and progressive of the southern States whose towns have visibly increased in population, which has made some advances in manufac- lures, and in which healthy growth might have been looked for, has not gained nearly so fast such apparently stationary States as Arkansas, North CaroliRa and Kentucky. All these things and others have given rise to the suspicion and charge that there has been fraud in the enumeration in the South. General Walker, Superintendent of the Cen sus, does not share this suspicion or join in this charge, and he gives his reasons for not doing so. He does not place any confidence in the accuracy of the estimates of the popu- lation of the several States which are now be- ing published. He says that surprisingly small proportion even of highly educated people know practically how to work out cor rect results in percentage. There is a natur- al disposition on all hands to exaggerate in matters of this kind A few districts in a State are heard from, and some jealous edi- tor computes the increase of the whole State from the showing they make. The census office does not accept for moment the count of the supervisors. There are made in the census office not less than fourteen different revisions of the work of the enumerators and supervisors, and no dependence is placed on the work of unskilled persons in the matter of counting. It is to be hoped that when the work of the census is finished there will be no ground for charge of fraud in the count in the South, but in spite of General Walk CTS statements many will continue to believe that southern Democrats have falsifed the count in the hope to win back for their party and secti on it's ancient political preponder ance, with it's consequent opportunity for plumber. What they are known to be guilty of encourages this belief. It will however, be easy to test the matter by sending the lists of names for suspected localities to trustworthy persons for verifcation.