The Wilmington daily Republican., 1902-01-07
FAR TOO. MANY MEN.
Preponderance Of Masculines in the
"
United States. -
Twenty-FOur More. Males Than Fe.
males In Every One Thousand
Of Our Population - More
Men In the West,

l u
OF the census bureau. The enumera
tion of 1900 shows that there are nor,
men and boys than women and girl
in this country and that the differenc,
exceeds 100000 in population O.
S6,3O3,3s7. The excess appears NOR,
distinctly perhaps. when it is said thai
there are 512 males and only 48S fe
males in every thousand people in the
United States, says the Chicago Trib
une.
What is more this sort of thing has
been going on, with some little fluc
tuation in the percentage, for over hall
a century. As long ago as 1850 there
was distinct numerical superiority
OF the male over the female element
By 1860 the preponderance was even
more conspicuous. but in 1870 less than
for several decades. The returns for
1880 show "A slight gain once more,
though the disparity of 1860 was not
quite reached, and those for 1890 still
further increase. The situation has
scarcely changed in the last ten
| y AhuSNds LhC CSIlSuS DuTSH u
figures out a microscopic falling
OFF in the growth OF the male popula-
tion as compared with the female. To
be sure, the excess was only 1860, O97 in
1890, and has since been enlarged by
254,727; but the bureau finds that the
percentages Of gain are no, quite alike,
and there are faint indications of fu-
t,lre reaction.
The state OF things here revealed is
the more striking when compared with
that existing in Europe. Both in the
United Kingdom and on the continent
the women are more numerous than
the men. il is possible to detect forces
that disturb the balance in some of
these countries. But Mr.. Porter, su-
peX ntepdent If the census of 1890, was
inclined to think that these influences
gid not operate perceptibly in Austria
and the Netherlands, and hence that
normally the female sex ollnumbers
the male in nearly the proportion ST
81 to 40. Comparison with the stand
ard. then, makes the excess of males in
America stranger than if nature en-
hibted strict impartiaI:ty.
The two forces which appear to be
chiefly concerned in upsetting the
equilibrium are war and immigration.
And of The two the former is much less
effective. Still, il was powerful enough
to Influence the returns in Germany
and France after The famous struggle
OF lS10-7l And in the United States il
pulled down the male proportion Of
II" in every 10000 in 1850 TO 5.O5G IN
1870.
Migration, Of course. works in two
ways. The majority of immigrants are
men. The departures from one. co,ln-
Try, therefore. leave the other sex in
excess in one part of the world. while
they promote the preponderance Of
their own in annther. Thus in some
European countries the proportion Of
males to females is about ass TO 515.
NOW. inasmnch as three ont of every
five immigrants who come to the Unit
RI states are men and ten out of every |
seveniy-fve people here are of foreign
o'r'h II IS easy to see how important |
is this factor in establishing he ratio
he'Ween the sexes. In 1890. for in
stance. the excess Of males here was
made up IN this proportions: Native
born. s,7"1: foreign born. ss4.713. |
and yet scarcely seventh of the pop !,
l'at'on came from other lands. 1t is
fhlS Tact, no doubt. Thar immip1a-
ION has experienced slight check in
ne last few years and that the recent
'igh falling Off in masculine ascend
ury here is due.
Hnt people migrate not only from
me country to another, but also from
me part OF the country to another,
ms Is peculiarly true in the United
ta1es In consequence. there is a de-
le'i"n OF the ranks of the sterner sex
n he east and " strong reenforce-
ntnt in the west. Indeed, in he latter
narf'r there is a double invasion
rom the more densely populated parts
! our own land and from the old
'ortd. Hence the distribution of The
eNes is not uniform. Along the Allan.
&c srahoard for at least half a centurv
lrre has been practically no excess of
'ales' and on the whole slight de- ,
'rnrN. The superabnndance of vom-
II has been most conspicuous. though,
Massachusetts. Rhode Island and
lr District of Columbia. just WHY
''r" should he such situation at the
capital is not clear. But in
e" England special local agency
us hfrn at work--an influx of factory
MS from Canada. Thus there is an
'cas'onal exception to the rule that
'e majority of the immigrants are
ales.
As might be expected, The great
It excess Of men is to be found
he far west, in the great ac-
cultural and mining districts,
Minnesota and Nebraska there
ere at least "a men on, of ever,
D people for long time. from IS to
in The Dakotas, and from 60 TO 6s in !
ost of the regions of the west and Il
"'hWest. The ratio in Montana was q
zee as great as 81 ont Of 100, and even '
1890 was 66H to 33%. A slow. C
eady tendency toward equality has e
en- observable, however. except in b
an. where the excess of men kent II
low the national average until 1850 t
d then increased only slightly. The &
between this fact and DO p
samy IS too obvious to need pointing il
(.
An Easy Conscience.
we do not believe. says the Chicago :,