The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-10-17
The Wessengm.
GROWTH OF CITIES.

The vast growth of the urban popu-
-Iaffon of the United States and other
countries in this century is a marvel
indeed In the time of Shakespeare
London, now a nation in size with its
nearly 5000, 900 of people, had not more
than ESQ, 900. This was in 1000 or a lit
tie later. We were in New York City
in 1849. Lit had only some 300,0 900 inhab-
ifan1s, now it has nearly 2,000.0 900 exclu-
-sfve of the Greater New York ar
rangement. In 1900 It had but GO, 4S9.
Then Philadelphia led with 69,403, while
Boston n Baltimore had ony about
q. ZOO. Now Philadelphia has about l.
1000 900, and Baltimore over 5Oo,oO 0
The people in the rural districts have
rowde into the cities during the last
century. OF course from early antiqui-
fy there ave been large cities. But
the per centage is greater now than
then of the population in the cities.
From a work lately issued by Prof.
Weber, of Columbia University, New
York City, entitled 1.-The Growth of
Cities in the Nineteenth Century" a
sTEdL led IllnJ NC iVdA Y w oDN
\ few items tina may interest others as
they nave interested us. So far from
our own country leading in the per
centage of urban population it is only
thirteenth. Prof. Weber tells that mot
.ony do England and Wales lead 1t,
with 81 per cent. thus grouped, but
Australia, Uruguay and Argentina are
a.-L-- - L. lit NJ a~o Mt q oa nf
the United tates is 27.6, and Scotland,
Belgium, Saxony, Holland, Turkey,
Prussia, and Germany, are countries of
Europe that have a higher proportion
than this of their inhabitants in cities.
France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria and
are among the notable Euro
Dean nations which are given below it.
In Abyssinia and the Orange Free
State there are 10 city dwellers."
One item of interest is the density Of
population in the entire countries. Ben
gal has as many inhabitants as the
United States, crowded in a territory
scarcely larger than Great Britain and
Ireland. The density of it's population
thus approaches Belgium's, where 4S
per cent. of all the inhabitants live in
.agglomerations Of 5000 or more each.
hut in Bengal only 5 per cent. are so
grouped. Furthermore, in a table
showing the density of population for
all countries, India, Italy, and Japan
are found to rank very high, while their
urban population is not to be compared
with that of the United States and
Australia, which, by contrast, are thin
ly peopled.
The tendency to abandon farms in
England in the days of Queen Eliza
beth and later, was so great that 1t was
forbidden by law. The cities had a
high death rate, and the plague, small
pox, etc, decimated them. Sanitation
and common sense applied have great
Iy Iessened the urban death rate. 1t is
mentioned that only about 20 per cent.
-one-fifth-of the population of a
great city are born there. More women
than men crowd the cities. We quote
from a review of Prof. Weber's book
in the N. Y Saturday Review:
'The matter is treated extensively,
and the influence of the factory sys-
tenn and the employment of children is
explained, but in general 1T may be said
that. in SO far as cities represent the
highest culture and comfort of a coun-
try, so far will they have a low birth
rate and small-sized families. Mar
rage is affected little. The rate is al
WAYS higher in industrial cities where
women have employment, but the per-
ycentage of married couples in the large
cities is Unexpectedly small. The drift
to the suburbs largely explains that.
Death rates are relatively high. In the
United States the mortality is heavier
in the city than in the country in every
period of life, and, as a rule, increases
i'm severity in the same ratio as the
magnitude of the city. The condition
is international. But urban death
rates, as we ave seen, have fallen
greatly"