Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-03-26

vast population, and glance
at the area rof that city in
the time of Herod the Great shows that it
could never have attained such a popuia-
ton as it is sometimes said to have had.
In the Middle Ages no city anywhere at
tanned to great size. For example, Lon
don, which was called an illustrious city
by the venerable Bede. had a population
in Shakespeare's time no larger than
Boston has now. A hundred years later
it had population equal to the present
population of Chicago. 1t was not for
hundred years more-that IS to say, not
before the American revolutlon-that
London had come to have as many IN
habitants as Philadelphia now has.
Since then the growth has been lncredl,
bly, rapid. Fifty years ago London had
a population equal to that OF New York,
Brooklyn and Jersey City put together,
and in 1880 it had no less than 5,500,Ooo
that is to say, as large a population as
New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia. Chi
cago. St. Louis, Baltimore, Cincinnati
and San Francisco had in the same year;
or, to put it another way. the population
of London alone IN 1880 was as large as
the population of all England and
Wales at the time of Shakespeare 5
death. No other city in the world
has grown as London has grown, but
through the whole Of Europe there has
been marvellous growth OF city popula-
tions during the present century. In
England alone there are now seventy-hve
cities. the smallest of which has $4,000
inhabitants; and if suburbs could be
counted the figures would be still high
er. A circle, for example, drawn with
radius of fifty miles from Manchester as
a center, would include as large popula-
ton as circle of the same radius and
having its center at Charing Cross. Hun
dreds of square miles of land in Scotland
have been cruelty depopulated, and yet
the population of Scotland continues to
grow, but the increase is in the cities.
Glasgow, which had 1900 inhabitants
fifty years ago, has now as many as chi
cago, and is growing faster than Chicago.
In Ireland, too, in spite OF its enormous
emigration, the city population does not
fall off, for the statistics of emigration
show that for every two emil
grants from Irish cities there have been
ninety-eight from country places. On
the continent the same law holds. While
the population of Belgium has increased
II per cent, that of Brussels has gained
20 and that of Antwerp has gained 80.
In Denmark the increase of city popula-
lations to the increase of the whole coun-
try is as to /; in Sweden it is as to l !;
in Norway it is as 10 to 1. In Prussia,
while the population of the country is
stationary, the increase in cities is 20 per
cent: and Berlin alone, which in 1850
had $1,000, has now 100000. In Rus
STA the four chief cities have doubled
their population in twenty years. Since
the war with Germany Paris adds 90, 900
to her population every year. Compared
with the changes going on and hardly
observe in this country, even the enQr-
nous facts stated are almost insignifi-
cant. 1t. is startling to be told
that in 1900 there were in this
whole country only six cities of over 5000
inhabitants! There are now, or rather
there were in 1880, 2S6. The shift of
population is well shown by the follow
ing figures of N. Loomis: In 1870 only
one-thirtieth of the people of the United
States lived in cities of 5000 inhabitants
or over; in 1900, one twenty-fifth; in
1880, one-sixteenth; in 1910, one-twelfth;
in 1850, one-eighth; in 1860, one-sixth; in
1870, one-ffth; in 1880, nearly one-fourth.
These facts require no comment; they
speak for themselves. They show a
change in the habits Of the people Of the
present age, and especially in this
country, which must bring with it a
radical change in all the social condi-
tons of life.