The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1895-01-06

construction ana government of modern
cities. Although young man DR., Shaw
has already attained distinction In various
lines of W TX. being at present not onlv
appoin ed to deliver a series of lectures at
the Johns hopkins University on munich
nal conditions in Europe, of which he has
made profound study, but being also the
editor of the American Review of Re-
views, the extraordinary success of which
is largely due to his wise management and
personal influence. An important work,
entitled Municipal Government In Great
Britain" will be published by DIR. Shaw
early this year. to be followed by a similar
work on municipal government In Cont
mental cities. Il has been my privilege to
have several very full talks with Dr. Shaw
lately on h is observations and studies Of
the life and COVER nment of cities. and the
following paper is a summary of the n
formation be gave De and of tue views he
urged.
Men like Dr.. Shaw, who are working
for or toward an ideal city, maintain that
the conditions of life in that city should
be so wh0leS ONE that the average work
man there will have as GOOD a chance for
health and long life. in fact slightly bet
ter chance than he would have had by re-
II
dreams of these practical theorists, while
net fully realized, is more fully so IN some
cities OF Great Britain and the Continent
than in any cities of the United States. 1t
is well, therefore. that persons interested
in this great effort to make our cities
pleasanter and more Wholesome places Tor
the toiling millions should listen carefully
to what DR.. Shaw has TO say regarding the
superiority of these foreign municipalities.
In spite of the STEADY increase in the
population of the United States it is q lact
that there ara large rural districts IN many
parts of the country whose population IS
today considerably less than II was tWeD-
tv- five wears ago. There is a vast region
in Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois as large
as ENGLAND where this condition exists,
and where the population is materially
less than 1t was in 1870. The chief ex-
planalion of this seemingly unnatural de-
pletiOn of population over extensive farm
ing areas is t. be found in the wide intro
ductinu of agricultural machinery during
the last generation, the result being that
the same amount of land can be made to
produce to-day almost larger crops than 1t
produced a quarter Of a century ago Win
the labor OF considerably fewer hands,
machines taking the pIace of men.
The result has been that the population
of these rural districts has gone on in
creasing from year to year at the normal
rate, while the outlet for their energies In
agricultural pursuits has been steadily de-
creasing. Lar2e numbers Of men, there
fore, VINO would have naturally remained
in the country as farmers or farmhandS
have been forced to leave the country
districts and seek a livelihood in the
towns and cities. The larger the cities the
greater has been the influx from these
causes, the final result being that the great
American cities have been and are increas-
ing in population at a rae considerably
beyond what would be called Tor by the
natural law Of increase.
These same causes have been at work
all over Great Britain and Europe during
q similar period. producing similar effects,
SO that it may be said to-day that in all
civilized countries there Is marked ten
dency for the large cities to absorb the
populations of the adjoining rural districts.
There is thus gong on throughout Europe
and America a regrOuping of populations,
the large towns and cities increasing not
only by the natural augmen tatlon IN
births but by reason or a veritRble influx
of population from small villages,
boroughs and the farming regions. To
such an extent has this process of re-
grouping been already carried that one
: half the entire population of Scotland is
living to-day in the large towns, while
taking the whole OF Great Britain 1t may
be safely stated that tnree-fourths of the
entire population is now living under
urban conditions.
In France, where the national pOpHla-
ton is almost stationary, the census re-
ports for the last two decades show
considerable increase in city popula-
tiOns through the shrinkage in the peas
ant population. In Germany, where the
population is increasing quite as RAPIDLY
as-in the United States, the same engorge-
meDt of the cities at the expense or the
rural districts has been constantly noted.
Berlin is increasing in population as fast
as Chicago is, while German cities which
rank in size with Denver, Minneapolis
and st. Paul are increasing even more
rapidly than those American cities.
II might be supposed that this great
influx OF an outside popul alton into the
large cities would canse such a crOwding
in them as TO seriously interfere with the
comfort and wholesomeness of city life.
Such is not the case, one OF the very
hopeful signs in the present shifting Of pop
uiatiOn being the fact that the cities them
sleves have shown a tendency 70 spread
out and enlarge their limits, even greater
than the tendency of peOpla 10 crowd them.
Old London, for instance. contained an
area OF 10 square miles, and within
this region thirty years ago was a pOpula-
ton or 100000. To-day this region has
only population of 3,0OO 600, although. as
stated before. the real population of Lon
don is IN the neighborhoOd of 5000, 600.
That means that 2,000, O00 Londoners are
not living in London proper at ali. but in
a. Greater London, which Will doubtless
one day be INCORPORATED into the metropo-
lis and is already included under the
municipal police. The area of this Greater
London is enormous, not less Than 600
square miles, thus showing clearly the
tendency of the incoming city population
toresist being packed together in confined
areas.
Another encouraging fact noted in the
recent rapid growth of cities is that the
accretions in population come chiefly In the
*ouier belt of the territory, as far away as
possible from the old CITY at the center
Taking Charng Cross station as The center
Of London it would require a radius not
less than fifteen miles long to describe The
circumference which would include the
Greater London of to-day. The areas
Immediately about the center have
shown a marked and constant falling
off in population, so that where the
population at present is about 1,O00,-
coo three years ago it was 1850. 600,
and In still narrower area, where
there is now a population of only 50, coo,
there was thitiy years ago one Of 100000.
Meanwhile, ia the outer belt the popuIa-
tionis growing at the rate Of 30 per cent
per decade. and as this belt already con-
tains 100000 people, one arrives at a
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