The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-10-14
FATAL TO BOY BABIES |
REV. s. G. SMITH SAYS STATISTICS
SHOW CITY LIFE SEVERE
ON THEM
STUDY IN MUNICIPAL LIFE
st. Paul Would Have Been Much
Bigger If the mississippi Had
Flowed East Instead of South
Promised Next in the Civic
League Lecture Course,

Representatives from the Woman's Civic
| league, School Teachers union and a
| sprinking Of city officials attended thesec~
| ond of the series of lectures given by Rev
S. G. Smith at the Y. M. c. A. rooms
| last evening. The subject was Making
of Cities" and the lecture was more in
| teresting and entertaining than the 1lrst
of the series. There was no discussion
following the talk, but Mr.. Smith an
Eounced that next Friday evening there
would be a feast of reason following the
lecture on the subject of Municipal Char
ters.' Gen. Sanborn and Comptroller Nc
Cardy, he said, would present their views
on how charter should be made, ana
following them Webster Wheelock and
Franklin H. Griggs would BE- heard. From
this the lecturer deduced that the next OF
the series would be worth going miles to
hear.
After touching briefly on the ancient
cities OF Ninevah, Babylon, Thebes and
Memphis, and the later cities of Athens
and Rome, the speaker took up the sub
ject of modern cities. He spoke in part
as follows:
This century has been the great CEN
! fury for the growth of cities. The city is
modern creation. The first foundation
for a city is the growth Of population.
The absence of war, pestilence and lam
inc accounted for rapid growth Of pop
ulation. The growth of cities has been
| larger than the growth Of population. one
| hundred years ago 8 per cent only of the
population lived in cities. In 1900 the five
largest cities in the United States had
only as many people as ST. Paul has at
| present In 1850 IL per cent of the pcpula-
| ton lived in cities, and in 1880 n per cent
| lived in cities. France had an urban
! population of 81 per cent, Spain, greece
| and Turkey only 8 per cent. Russia, with
a population of 126,000,000, but II per cent
| China %, Japan Is and India ~ per cent
The United States tends to the making
more than any other country in the world
| One reason for the growth of cities is
changes of agriculture. The matter OF
transportation also figures largely In the
| growth of cities. Cities that grow most
rapidly are those situated on water. ST.
! Paul would have been one of the largest
| cities in the country had the Mississippi
/ river flowed east and west rather than
north and south. AS it was, the river did
not flow where the people wanted to 60
I'aul would have been port of lading
| for the country.
Between 1880 and 1890 there was the
most rapid growth of cities in the United
States and this was partly due to the in
| creased miles of railroad, as the total
mileage in 1880 was $1,000 miles, and In
1896 it had increased to 1877 Zoo miles. The
! growth of cities in England between 1840
! and 1850 was particularly noticeable, and
was owing to the same cause. In 1910 there
was but 500 miles of railroad in England,
while at the close of 1850 there was 1000
miles The development of steam is an
other factor in the making of cities Com
merce and manufacturing also assisted the
growth Cities are magnets, the larger
| they are the more rapi1 their growth.
Legislation and Capitalization also had a
deal to do with the growth of large Cit
les The social causes also tend to the
| growth of cities. The rural resident, after
making his money, comes to the city to
give his children better advantages in the
way of schools. The standard of living
| is also higher, there are more places OF
| amusement and all these tend to the
growth of cities
"Cities are more favorable to women,
| for statistics show that more boy babies
| die under six months in cities than girl
| babies. Families, according to the sta
| tistics, are larger In cities than in the
| country. There are more marriages in
proportion to the population in cities than
in the country, and also more divorces.
| The foreign population in cities is being
eliminated and in twenty years from now
we shall practically have nothing but
American cities.