Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1884-11-10
miscellaneous.
The Family in The Census.

of families in the United States. and IN
each of she States, at that date and in three
preceding decades It illustrates the eff
feet upon the natural increase of our pop
ulation, of the progre OF settlement. and
of other changes of conditions. 1t points
MS to some of the causes which govern
the numerical advance OF a people. 1t
shows strikingly the preparatory forces
which come into play upon the heels of
destructive war. 1t compares. succinctly.
the history of the individual family for 80
wears in AZ communities, united under one
general government. yet in their internal
political life almost as independent as an
equal number of European States, and
embracing q greater diversity of soil and
climate than can be found on that CONT
nent. The single paper upon which this
exhibit is presented is a condensed vol
ume.
| The number of persons to family was
In 1850, $50; in 1860. 5,2S; in 1870. 500,
and in 1880, 5.04. This shows a steady
decrease, in the United States as whole,
of q. 50, or about nine and halt per cent.
But the rate of decline was not steady. In
the first decade it was almost exactly five
per cent, O: more than halt of the entire
| loss In the second it was three and six
tenths per cent. while ia the third it furth-
er fell to little under one per cent. For
the principal explanation of this fuctua-
ton we must look to the war. The fact,
| long ago established by statisticians. of
the impulse given 10 the rate of natural
increase by some great catalysis such as
war ,pestilence and famine.is exempli6ed
by comparison among the several States
according to the degree in which they
relatively suffered from the devastations
of 1876. In the Southern States, which
were the seat of operations, or which lost
most heavily, in proportion, in men and
property. the normal strength OF the fam
| lily, which declined in the first decade at
about the same rate with the rest of the
| Union, in the third, from 1870 to 1880,
when recuperative power first began to
show ITSELF actually increased. This pos.
tive reversal of the downward movement
does not, 1t is true. appear in all the States
OF the late Confederacy. but we may say.
roughly speaking, in avoidance of detail
of figures, that the check is far more
marked in each and all of those States than
any of the Northern States of the Mssis-
sippi. In Georgia, for instance, the family
rose from 4.9S to 500; in South Carolina
from 4 81 to 1893; in Mississippi from4 90
TO 5.26; in Virginia from 5 20 to 4. &c, and
so on. Tennessee shows a slight loss.
from "A to 5.3S, and North Carolina
from 3. 20 to 5.17; but Louisiana, Florida,
Arkansas, and Alabama. all show heavy
gains. and Texas slight one. In each
and all of the old Northern States the de-
cline is greater than the average in the
whole Union, showing that at the South
has been arrested the tendency of the fam
lily to fall off in number. There is slight
decline of the rate at the North also, taken
as "a unit, due, doubtless, to the same
cause. Some Northern States. on the 9TH
er hand, show an increase in the rates.
the average family in Illinois, for exam
pie, being 500 in 1880, against 5.35, 543
and All at the three preceding enumera-
tons. New York, Ohio and Massachu-
sets, again, have somewhat checked the
rate of their decline.
The effect of the war in this regard may
now perhaps be said to have been nearly
discounted That influence eliminated,
for the future-and for the present as re-
lates to those States which so far we have
thrown out of our calculations-we must
seek other causes as governing the MEM
bers OF the household.
IL,
the family at first was hardly known. The
forty miners" were as desolate, in their
domestic surroundings, as the builders OF
Rome: although their dance around a
cast-off bonnet was more decorous. if a
less romantic. expression of their loneli-
ness, than the raid upon the Sabines.
The California family. beginning in 1850
at 3.77-sav three-fiiths OF the average in
| tho Trninp- in 1890 IN tho warn oi; obt
Improvement of 1856. and then as society
rapidly gained in stability and culture, to
4 35 and 4 81 in 1870 and 1880. Montana
had, in 1870, even a humber start. rising
from 2.92 to 394 in 1880 We observe
something like this. in a less marked de-
gree, Throughout the new States of the far
West; the solitary pioneers being gradual
ly reinforced bv emigrating households.
among whom they were themselves alb
sorbed by alliance. The case of Utah is
exceptional. The average Mormon fami-
ly, 80 wears ago below the ratio of the
Union. rose steadily, unaffected by''malice
domestic or foreign levy" from 400 to
5.07; in the latter figure slightly exceed
ing the rest of the country. Besides Utah,
California, Idaho. Washington and Wyo-
ming, are the only ones of the 47-State.
Territory or Distrct-to show an absolute
gain within the period tor which returns
are given. The loss. during this period,
is most mark ed in such old States as Maine.
New Hampshire and Vermont. where pop
ulation is at a standstill, and where the
muster-role of the Preside has within the
generation fallen off about one-sixth. or
nearly twice the average rate of decline.
In Maine, the family has lost l,06, in New
Hampshire 0S3, and in Vermont O.SI. In
no other States but New York, Ohio.
Alabama. Indiana, has the decline reach
ed 0.70.
1t is obvious that estimates of the future
population of the United States. based
upon the rate of natural increase which
has heretofore been assumed as equivalent
to doubling every rs years. will have to
be revised In some of the older States the
rural population is hardly advancing at all.
In the Union. as whole. the cities are
growing more rapidly than the counties
tor that progress they are dependent upon
the latter, their own deaths frequently ex
ceeding the birth within their limits wear
by year. This gain of the towns at the
expense of the rural districts has a certain
correspondence in ratio with the dwindliug
fthe average family. Yet we must not
attach too much weight to this cause. In
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