The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1890-11-06
washington dispatch.

" dSH1IS OOH OlSpdtCu.
Bulletin No. - on the population of
the United States has been issued by the
Census Office. 1t says:
The populat ion OF the United States June
1, 1890, as shown by the first count Of per-
sons and families, exclusive of white Ier-
sons in Indian Territory, Indians on reser-
vations, and Alaska, was 90, 4S0, $40. These
figures may be slightly changed by later
and more exact compilations but such
changes will not be material.
In 1880 the population was So 155. 1873.
The absolute increase of the population in
the ten years intervening was 10, 324.757 and
the percentage of increase was 24.57. In
1870 the population was stated as 3S. SIS, 371.
According to these figures the absolute in
crease in the decade deUween 1870 and 1880
was II ,597, 412 and the percentage of in
crease was 30.08.
Upon their face these figures show that
the population has increased between 1880
and 1890 only 727, 345 more than between
1870 and $780, while the rate of increase has
apparently diminished from 30. 0S to "A. 81
per cent If these figures were derived
from correct data, they would be indeed
disappointing. Such reduction in the rate
of increase in the face of the enormous i'm
migration during the last ten years would
argue great diminutiOn in the fecundity
Of the population or a corresponding in
crease in its death rate. These figures are,
acter Of the data used is understood. 1t
is we'll known, the fact having been
demonstrated by extensive and thorough
investigation, that the census of 1870
was grossly deficient in the Southern States,
so much so as not only to give an exag
gerated rate Of increase of the population
between 1870 and 1880 in these States but to
affect very materially the rate of increase
in the country at large These omissions
were not the fault nor were they within the
control of the Census Office The census of
1870 was taken under a law which the Su-
perntendent Gen. Francis A. Walker, char
acterized as "clumsy, antiquated, and bar
barOus." The Census Office had no power
over it's enumerators save a barren protest,
and its right was even questioned in some
quarters.
Some of Superintendent Porter's COM
ments on the conditions governing the
spread of population are interesting,
particularly as regards the Western
States. In Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, and
Missouri, and in Illinois, if the city of
Chicago be dropped from consideration,
the rate Of increase has declined decid-
edly. In Ohio it has fallen from 20 to Is
per cent; in Indiana, from 10 to II; in
Iowa, from SO to II; in Missouri, from
26 to % per cent, in spite of the rapid
growth of st. Louis and Kansas City;
and in Illinois, dropping Chicago from
consideration, from 14.9 to SO per cent.
In these States the agricultural 81
dustry, which is still the prominent one,
has begun to decline, owing to the sharp
competition of Western farms. The farm
ing population has migrated westward,
and the growth of manufactures is not
yet sufficiently rapid to repair these
losses. The southern portions of Michi-
gan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota are under
similar conditions, but the northern parts
of these States, lying upon the frontier
of settlement, have filled up with Suf-
ficient rapidity to repair either wholly or
in part the losses of the southern parts.
Michigan increased at the rate of SO per
cent. between 1870 and 1880, while be-
tween 1880 and 1890 the rate was but %
per cent. The increase between 1880 and
1890 was cut into unequal parts by the
State census taken in 1884. In the first
four years of the decade the increase
was 1872 per cent, while in the last six
it was 1877 per cent. In Wisconsin the
last decade shows an increase of % per
cent, as against an increase OF 25 per
cent. in the decade between 1870 and
1880. The State census of Wisconsin,
taken in 1885, cuts the decade into two
equal parts, and shows an increase in
the first half of 1873 per cent, and dur
ing the second half of but TT per cent.
Minnesota increased 78 per cent. be-
tween 1870 and 1880 and 67 per cent. be-
tween 1880 and 1890, the numerical in
crease being over half million in the
last decade. The State census, taken in
1885, shows that the bulk of this increase
occurred between 1880 and 1885. The
numerical increase during the first years
was 337, 1925, and the rate of increase
43 per cent, while during the last half
of the decade the numerical increase was
1872, 219 and the rate of increase 1873 per
cent.
During the last ten years the popula
ton of Dakota, considering the two
States of North Dakota and South Da-
kota together, has increased from 1885,
TT to $40, 273, or 277 per cent; Nebraska
from 452, 4O2 to 1856, 1893, or 1874 per
cent; and Kansas from 996, 096 to /, 423,-
485, or 43 per cent. This in
crease has not, however, con-
tinued uniformly throughout the dec
AIDE. In 1885 Dakota contained 415.61O
inhabitants, or more than fOur-ffthS of
it's present population. Nebraska con-
tanned 74O,645 inhabitants in the same
year, thus dividing the numerical in
crease quite equally between the two |
halves of the decade, but leaving the |
greater percentage in the first half. |
In the same year Kansas by it's State
census had 1903, $50 inhabitants, show /
ing that nearly two-thirds of the numer-
ical gain was acquired during the first |
half of the decade. The industries Of
these States are almost purely agricult- |
ural, and are dependent upon the supply |
of moisture either in the form of rain
or by irrigation. Through these States !
passes what is known as the subhumid |
belt, a strip Of country several degrees |
in width, in which during rainy years !
there is an abundance of moisture for |
the needs of crops, while in the Years !
when the rainfall is below the average |
the supply is deficient In this region
little provision has been made for |
artificial irrigation, the settlers hav-
ing thus far been content to de-
pend upon rainfall. Into this region the
settlers fiocked in large numbers in the |
early years of the decade, drawn thither
by the fertility of the land and by the
fact that for a few years the rainfall had