The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-09-06
The Census Of 1900.


completed checking the returns from
the, $500 enumeration districts into
which the country was divided. and.
according to the estimates based upon
the returns thus far analysed. the pop
ulation of the United States win be
about 75.000.000 This will be an In
crease OF approximately l2.500.oO0 over
the census Of $780, which was 62,600, 900.
This growth for the decade will not
come mp to the expectations OF many
people who have been making extrav-
agant estimates and hoping for total
that would mean a phenomenal In
crease Eighty-hve years ago Elkanah
Watson predicted that the United
States would have loo,ooo,ooo people at
the end OF the century, and our growth
up to 1860 tailed so exactly with his
estimates that for a time he held a
great reputation as a statistician. and
many people became convinced that his
figures were correct. For the last
forty years, however. the Watson fig
ures have not been in accord with the
actual facts. and the country's upru-
iation in 1870 1880 and 1880 was con-
~siderably below what he predicted II
would be In those years.
Statistioians OF later years have been
more conservative n estimating our
probable population for the future, and
by careful calculation according to
scientific methods have been able 10
make predictions OF surprising accu-
racy. Prof. George Tucker, Of the Uni
versity OF Virginia. said In is4a that the
population OF this country In 1900
would be 74.o0o.ooo. provided the rate
OF immigration remained the same.
immigration increased tin 1890. but
during the past decade has decreased
and fuckers figures are not far from
the actual population as II win be dis
closed by the present census. Gen.
Francis A. walker. who was director
1850. made careful investigation Of
the subject in is73 and came to the
conclusion that our population would
not exceed 5000 900 In 1909. His pre-
dic,ion was substantially correct.
II has been the contention OF these
more conservative statistic,ans that
all the conditions are against surpris-
ingly rapid INCREASE in the future. The
public domain has been RAPIDLY set
tied. - standard OF living has risen
and the crowding OF cities has been ON
the Increase. They hold that as Pop
uiation becomes more dense the strug-
Ele for existence BECOMES Mercer and
tho natural growth slower. The sEures
q the present census. as far as tab
uiated, show that "a per cent. Of the
population u living In cities Of 5000
or over. In 1890 I, was 20 per cent.
ard In 1880 ealy . per cent
II Is the opinion OF census experts
that in the lnng rpm Immigration does
not have an sppreelahle effee, on the
total population ~ the country. They
hold that when the population becomes
dense the rate Of increase becomes
slower. and that ss immigrants con-
tribute 20 the crowdlng process they
sre creating conditions which In the
long run neutrallze the effect II their
coming. so far as the totals are con-
cernsd. In support OF this view. they
can attention 20 the fact that from 1879
to isss, before the great tide Of imrni-
grafton hegsn 20 fiow m the direction
OF the United States. the rate OF In
crease In this country was actually
greater than II has been during the
last half century when the immlgra-
ton has been heavy