The morning call., 1893-03-31
THE CENTER OF POPULATION.

Senator Dawes of Massachusetts lately
delivered a curious speech on the gradual
travel westward of the center of popula-
ton. When the first census was taken, in
the year 1890. the center of population was
at point twentY-tbree miles east OF Balti-
more, Md. Even at that time the dwellers
in the interior balanced the Inhabitants of
New England. Sixty years later, in 1850, the
center was twenty-three miles southeast of
Parkersburg. w. Va. At this time The peo-
pie Of the grain States and of the Mississippi
Valley outweighed New York, Pennsyl-
yania and the coast cities and pulled the
center further toward the setting sun. The
movement was even more marked in the
decade of 1S5O-60 when California began to
be peUpled, and the migration of Europeans
to the prairies became active. In that dec
ade the center moved eighty-one miles west,
the longest distance ever Travelled in
single decade. In 1890 the center was
twenty miles east of Columbus, Ind, and
at the present rate of travel the census of
1900 will reveal thu center nearly at the
town of UniOnville in the same State. The
present rate of westward travel has been
ascertained to be about Eve miles year.
The geographical center OF tie United
States, leaving Alaska out of the calcua-
ton, is somewhere on the one hnndredth
meridian. near the point where that parallel
is cut By the Smoky Hill River. At what
period, If ever, the geographical center coin
cides with the center Of population will de-
pend on the rapidity with which the arid
area is rendered fit for human occupation by
the application OF water. There is land
enough west of the one hundredth meridian
to support the whole American people il it
al
ton OF comprehensive schemes of irrigation
Is evidently going TO be so slow that the ex-
tension of the occupied area in a western
direction is not likely to be as rapid in the
future as 1t has been in the past. 1t is In
probable that the rate Of five miles a year
of westing will be kept up. and the chances
are that the center will remain for many
decades within the State of Indiana
OF course it is easy to figure OH mierations
which would disturb the even tenor of the
movement. If Eastern people were WISE
they would flock to California, and they
would not be the only outsiders who would
make this their home. 1t is easy to see
how 100000 people could be accommo-
dated 10 this State. Japan, with about the
same area as California but with soil less
naturally fertile, sustains a population of
100000 II any sudden rush of human
beings toward San Francisco should occur
the center Of population might be shifted
toward Colorado. But this could hardly
take place unless there was q simultaneous
depletion of some of the Eastern States,
and of that there is no present indication.
Maine and New Hampshire are stationary
in population; few other States like Della
ware, North Carolina and South Carolina
make but small gains from decade to dec
ade, but none of them show any such act
ual falling off as would preigure their de-
population. Nor can this be expected so
long as Europe empties 1901 coo people each
year upon our eastern shores
The late Louis AgassiZ used to say that
to the best of his judgment there had al
ways been about the same number Of peo-
pie in the world, and that the only changes
which time had brought forth had been in
their distribution. This is matter Of pure
conjecture. Population can always be in
ferred from production. A country rarely
contains more people than ii will feed, and
conversely, countries generally fill up with
people when food is abundant. Thus it is
easy to understand that when the water
systems Of India, Ceylon and Mesopotamia
were in full working order. those countries
may have contained more people than they
do now. and in the same way. when the
ke7eEantry in Africa and the Upper Nile
Valley were all under cultivation they may