Telegram-herald. ([Grand Rapids, Mich.) 18??-1892, 1891-03-30
HE ATTACKS THE CENSUS
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Roger Q Mills believes thai ssms sisAa-
tic mistake AAs been made by tins census
sngn-r.tsrs Of 1890, aad Ia . Lengthy
article presents some fresh and In
terestizg arguments in support Of bis
Position he lays down the proposition
~ the outset THAI ths announcement Of
the population WAS = geagins sar2rise,
not alone 70 those who were boxing for
the da-k side Of the picture, bat TO those
whose faith in the census bureau had
never wayersd The increase which 10
denotes Of ~ ~ per cent. Is. according 70
NJ. Mills wholly irreeoneilable With
tas advance Of other decades. He says:
From 1910 To 1850 our decsnniai IN
crease ranged between IS s. and IS IS
per cent. Al 40 period outside the war
period has our increase gone 80 low As
81 20 per cent. To account for this ex-
tFa0rdlnaFy fall in the ratio of increase,
nothing short Of war, postilenee or fam
Inc could De received as at all satisfae-
tory Mr.. Porter says that the general
Law governing the increase OF popula ton
Is that lt goes on at q constantly dimin-
isaing rate. That Is true generally, ent
not universally. From 100 TO 1900 the
percentage was IS 10, in the next decade
IL was 50 81 Here was an increasing
rate, not a diminishing one +.
b decades where the immigration Is
larger the percentages Of increase is larger.
and where il is smaller the reverse IS
true. II additions and sabtractions by
immigration, wars, pestilences and fam
ines are left out OF the computation,
the increase Of population will be by
constantly diminishing rate; but the rate
of diminutioa will bc gradual, and the
proportionate rate OF its decline viii be as
certain as the decline itself It will not be
volcanic or spasmoiic in its movements,
a. the report of tho eleventh census shows
IL 70 be.
I'm order that we may get nearer to the
law that governs the increase OF popula-
ton, we should eliminate immigration
from our estimates It's presence only
tends TO obscure the problem and make it
more difficult OF solution. In the decade
trom 1910 TO 1850, when we had 1851 per
cent. increase, we had more than
million of immigrants In excess Of those
OF the preceding decades, and from 1850
20 1860, when we had 35 IS per cent in
crease, we again had a million Lore
immigrants than In the decade immedi-
ately preceding But from 1860 to 1870.
when our increase was at the rate OF p. 63
per cent, we had decrease Of immigra-
ton "a well as n tremendous civil war
From 1870 10 1880 when our increase was
NJ the rate OF 80 % per cent, the lowest
we had ever had outside of the war
period. our immigration exceeded that OF
the preceding decade by only 400, 900.
Our immigration from 1880 to 1890 was
5.2466i3, without including accessions
from Mexico and the British possessions
since 1885, which the bureau Of statistics
estimates from Canadian records, at 540,-
900, making the total OF immigrants for
the decade 5. ss8,8t3 This il the largest
we have ever had in any decade and moro
than twice "a many rs in any former de-
cadc. and yet the percentage Of increase
falls from 30 0s to "a So Where does this
enormous shrinkage OF population come
from' Certainly noe ffom the falling off
OF immigration. or from wars pcstilences
and famines. for We have not been visited
By any Of these scourgcs during the last
ten years BY substrscting the number
Of immigrants received In each decade,
we may ascertain the rate Of natural in
crease in each. From 1890 to the present
We have the Official report Of immigrants,
and substrscting then from the totals in
each decade. We find that the rate of in
crrase in each decade has been as follows: