Morning journal and courier., 1881-02-01
Tuesday Morning, Feb. 1, 1881.
LIGHT ON A DARK sUBJEcT.

4u6 pOpuihE l00a 1S tnaE Ill O0l06 the p6O- pie are so numerous that they are con- stantly treading on each others toes, and that they are ready to overflow into the free and fertile United States by millions, not to say billions. Against this idea evidence ac- cumulates that China is by no means so pop ulous country as is generally thought, and that the danger of an invasion of this country by C vast hordes of Chinamen has been greatly exaggerated.
 How many people there really are in China no " outside barbarian !" knows, and if cen sus taking is conducted there as it is said to be no Chinaman knows. The lowest esti- mate made by our demagogues is 400, 900, : 900, and Senator Blaine once spoke of the " myriads of millions D of the Chinese The latest and one of the most careful inquiries into the matter that we have noticed is that of Professor Denslow, who comedies to China a population of from 80, OOO, ,o6O to 12o, GOO, 900, with such lack of means of transportaf tion that two-thirds or three-fourths of their tillable acreage is altogether unoccupied. Turning to the census returns we learn from Prof. Denslow that the first alleged census dates from 1898. and puts the population of China proper at O,545, ,S11, a little more than that of the United States at the present time. In 1753, under the Tartar govern ment, the population was numbered at 1O2, 1928, ,25s, an increase of only one-fourth of per cent. per annum. But the alleged census of 1792, only thirty nine years after, assigns population of 3o7, 467, 200, or about fxva fha oka oE f,, <ha ceding period The census said to have been taken in 1912 makes the population 360,- 279, ,897, while figures obtained by Dr. Mor- rison in 179O, and quoted by Dr. Medhurst in his work on The State and Prospects of China" exhibit the population as then amounting to 145, 125, 225, discrepancy be- tween two statements, only twenty-two years apart, of 217, 154, 672, or nearly two-thirds. From 1862 to I'll, there were four Tartar censuses which resulted as follows:
 Year. Population. Year Population. 1662.. 21 068, ,68S 171O.. .23. 3126 200 166S.. ss6,2Os TIL. .2s, ,6O5716
 Mr. Davis, late British Commissioner to China, explains the process of census taking by saying that when the Emperor wants 8 return the local officers take 8 former census and make a Jumping addition to it, please his Majesty with the fattering idea of in crease and prosperity"
 There are three indices of density of pop ulation CD the presence of machine power; (2) the abundance and rapidity of means of (3) the large ratio of culti- vated land to the uncultivated. There is no machine power in China; draught animals are almost unknown; ransportation is on the backs of men or on the water, which lat ter inclines to confine the population to the river banks AS to the third point, MT. Mar tin, compiler of the Statesman's Year Book, and treasurer of the Colonial Consular and Diplomatic service in China, shows that in China proper only one acre in six is cultivat- sd. Further, it appears that the estimates made with regard to some of the Chinese provinces give them population of about }, 400 to the cultivated mile, while Illinois has population of only 157 to the cultivated nile. Estimate the population of China on he basis of France, per cultivated acre, and would be 45, 100000.
 As to emigration Professor Denslow says: :: Tn the debates in the Senate it was conceded hat during thirty years the total number of rrivals of Chinese in this country did not xceed 233, 900. Official figures show that 8, 1000 have gone back again; and estimating leaths at twenty in every thousand per an- lum, there would be left only 1e5, ,O0O, or a mailer number than has often come from Europe in two months. Arrivals at the rate if 4, ,O00 year when European emigration is ] 'ften as large as 6OO,OO0 a year do not pre- ent a very terrifying spectacle" Professor )enslow's estimate of the Chinese now in 1 his country was very close to the mark, as he figures just given out by Superintendent ! Walker show. The total Chinese population ] D the United States on the first of June. 1880, vas 1O5, AS. The Chinese population of | Jan Francisco was stated at 21, 745 that of | he whole State of California 75,O25. In | oregon there were 9,513 in Idaho, 3,37s; l n Nevada, 5,42O; in Washington Territory, 1 !, 1S2 :; in New York State, 919, of which 747 l Tere in the city. There were 160 in Penn ylvania
 With evidence before us that there are not | o many Chinese as demagogues and alarm sts have shaken at us, that their number in | his country is constantly falling of, and that l ,hinamen are not born with and do not all | cquire an eager desire to emigrate to the l Jnited States, we shall be justified in giving he Chinese scare "a rest''