The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-04-21
OUR MODERN CITIES.
James a Troutman Talks on Munich
pal Reform.

In a paper read before the Ministerial
Union on Municipal Problems" James
A. Troutman said:
"Ruskin describes two irresistible i'm
pulses in human nature-''Whatever
we nave, to get more, and wherever we
are, to go somewhere else" Hunger
and love, appetite and affection are the
organic forces which control the move
ments of men. Ever since Abram left
his Mesopotamian birthplace, in obedi-
ence to the command of the Almighty
to, Get thee out of thy country and go
into the land of Canaan, men have been
going somewhere else That some
where else for a generation, or more,
has been the United States. The nat
ural increase of our native population
Will be multiplied by a ceaseleSs tide
of immigration. A large majority of
this population will be massed in our
cities. A hundred years ago one
twentieth of our people lived in cities,
80 years ago one-third, and now more
than half. The exhaustion of our pub
lie domain diminishes the possibility of
cheap rural homes, and increases the
tendency to city life. While our super
fetal area has been computed, the limit
of the productive capacity of an acre
of land has not been approached. am
not at all apprehensive about the means
of future subsistence. The problem
of the coming years will not be one of
production, but of distribution-how the
abundance produced in the country can
be eQuitably distributed among the mil
the best way to solve this problem is
not to solve it ALL simply direct public
attention to it and then leave it to the
universal solvent of time. Cities domi-
nate the state and the nation, with lit
tie restraint, and as their population
grows relatively larger the influence of
the agricultural classes will be proper
tionally reduced. The municipal prob
lem is therefore the problem of national
life and usefulness,
More than four-f1fths ofthe immigra-
I1f%
residences in our cites. Compare the
native and foreign population of our
largest ten cities:
New York, native, S75, 1853, per cent,
81; foreign, 639, 943, per cent, 43.
Chicago, native, 649, 1874, per cent, So;
foreign, 45O,466. per cent AZ
Philadelphia, native, 77,4S4, per cent,
IA foreign, ,4S0, per cent, IS.
Brooklyn, native, 544, 643. per cent, C5;
foreign, 261, 100, per cent, 81.
st. Louis, native, 1886, 1894, per cent, "A;
foreign, ia S76, per cent, &c.
Boston, native, 290,305, per cent, 81;
foreign, 158, 172 per cent, Sc.
Baltimore, native, $685. 436, per cent, "a;
foreign, 1903, per cent, H.
San Francisco. native, 172, 1856 per cent,
81; foreign 1876 81, per cent, 43.
Cincinnati, native, 225, $50, per cent,75
foreign, II, 40S, per cent, %.
Cleveland, native, 164,258, per cent, So;
foreign, 81, 095, per cent, 81
Total, native, 4,401, 3SS; foreign, 2,259,-
644
Average per cent of natives, &c; of
foreigners. "a.
g The relative proportion of the ma
tive and foreign inhabitants in these
ten cities is practically maintained in
all of the 124 cities in the United States,
mentioned in the census report and
classified as to nativity.
1.-THE newer western cities have
smaller percentage of foreigners. To-
peka, for instance, had 27,554 natives
and only 3,453 foreigners
1T will not be inappropriate to
mention here that Topeka has a larger
percentage of colored people (5,038)than
any other city in the nation outside of
the former slave holding states.
1.-The foreign population in Topeka
and in western cities, generally, is of
superior grade, in morality, industry
and intelligence.
Il have culled from the census re-
port comparative statements of the
expenditures of all the cities in the
United States of over $1,000 inhabi-
tants. These figures represent the or
binary current expenses common to all
cities. without burdening this paper
with statistical minutia 1 will place
few figures in significance contrast. The
annual per capita cost of maiptaining
ten of our chief cities is as follows: