Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-02-27
ENGLAND'S METROPOLIS
Some Of the Vital Facts Of the British
Capitals Life and Population.

A city that exceeds Greater New York
by 10000 that is three and a half times
large as Philadelphia, with our popula-
ton in round numbers standing at 1909 =
000 is one of those huge phoIcmenons of
the worlds growth that arrests attention
every time the impressive facts are
brought to light, says the Philadelphia
Press. This is apropos of the recent re-
port Of the rec .strar general of London on
some of the vital facts OF life and popua-
ticn In the great metropolis. whose total
OF 4, 1856 34 inhabitants, Utmost that of Can
ada as a whole, represents a Congeries of
houses and people surprising every city in
ancient and modern times.
The London 4 the 4,536 341 population Is.
hcwoVer, not the Greater London" blt
Is the London that is made UP of - Dor
'ughs, whose collective affairs are admin
astered by the LondCn county council. and
II covers "A, S39 acres. OF these buroughs
The old city of London. with hut 9i92i resi-
dents. Is the smallest division. and Isling-
ton with "A population of "a pol, somewhat
larger than Pittsburg the largest. Out
side of the county councils circle there IS
Greater London that forces the urban
and suburban population Of what is es-
sentially one great center Of human activ-
itY far above the 100000 level so that
within few miles If the old city OF Lon
mon most th a aT rs sons of of P P6 o al
Pennsylvania Aside from the fact there
fore. that London Is the hub of the Brit
fsh Empire. it IL this physical visible dem
onstraton of enormous size in the way OF
a. contiguous and continuous built-up re-
pion that makes n profound impression
and gives a sense Of unity in all the varie-
~ that makes up London; a variety that
ranges from the mos. abject squalor the
world knows to a superfne elegance and
magnihccnce seen nowhere else the globe
over.
some idea of what the struggle for OK
tstence means in London Is shown in that
there are in London q ESQ tenements where
people live three in a room: 1l,770 where
they live four in a room: 1901 with five in
ROOM and so on down 10 six with u or
more in rooml There are however, 81. 20
76S houses In London, which Is not n bad
average for the total population on tho
whole, and as the county council and mi
vate phllanthropists are attacking the
housing problem the general social Condj-
ton of poorer London is not altogether
hopeless. TO the Londoner the true Cock
ney, London Is the only place In England
worth living in. and while it gains greatly
by the steady annual tribute from all over
the United Kingdom, its main increase
comes from its own birth rate. OF its pon-
ulatiCn of 1855 1 last year. 30l6 $50 wcro
London born, while the births reached I. .
329,+2s
And yet with all its size, with all IT'S
Ccntripetal influences the mGtropolis
which passed its million level IL 1911 has
seen Its rate CT growth decrease steadily
ever since 1851. At present the percentage
of growth II but 73, which is quite small
compared with Philadelphias steady 20 per
cent, of New York; ~, or Chicago's phe.
nomenal 81 per cent, If the rate OF growth
keeps on decreasing 1t IL clear THAI in a
few years Lcrdon will Rave reached it's
limit OF possible growth, and though tn,,
outer ring OF Greater London" will no
doubt continue to grow rapidly by taking
up the excess from the overcrowed city,
~ 1t Is wing to-day it is quite possible