The Washington times., 1902-01-19
Rural Figures Swell DiXie'S
Population.
CENSUS BUREAU MAKES REPORT.
Big Cities Have Grown with Twice
the Rapidity of the Rest of the
Country Northern Communities
Triple Their Rivals in All Other
Sections.

The Director of the Census yesterday
ence to the growth of urban population in
| the North and South:
at was recently shown from the figures
| of the Twelfth Census that for the first
time in our national history the South Is
, growing in population as rapidly as the
North. 1t Is not clear at first how this
deduction from the figures is to be har
monized with the well-known facts that
in the North the proportion of inhabitants
living In cities is much larger than it is
in the South. and that as a rule cities in
than country districts.
Gains in Cities.
"In the North the proportion of the pop
ulation living in large cities is more than
three times as great as 1t is in the South.
The population living in cities of over
$4,000 inhabitants increased Al per cent
between 1890 and 1900, partly by the
growth Of 124 cities of that size In 1890.
and partly by the addition during the fol-
lowing ten years Of 36 other cities to the
list The population of the country outside
these cities increased. between 1890 and
1900, 14.9 per cent.
Comparison In Growth,
IA comparison in which the same cities
are included at each decade is more sig
nihcant, although even this takes no ac-
count of the annexation of suburbs by
some Of these cities between 1890 and
1900. The 16O cities of the United States
each Of which had over $4,000 inhabitants
in 1900. increased in population 32.5 per
cent between 1890 and 1900.
THE rest Of the United States, exclud-
ing Alaska and the recent insular acces-
sions. increased Ill per cent. In this
way it is sown that the large cities
are growing with almost double the
rapidity of the rest Of the country.
That the percent of the population
Of Northern States living in large cities
is nearly three times as great as the cor
responding per cent in the South; that
large cities taken collectively are grow
ing nearly twice as fast as the rest of the
country, and yet that the North has rate
of increase no greater than that of the
South seems anomalous and almost para
doxical.
Contradiction Not Real.
'The following figures show that tho
apparent contradiction is not a real one.
The population of the three great sections
of the country-the North, the South. and
the West-has been divided into five
groups. based upon the number Of in
habitants in the city or town, and the
per cent of increase of population in each
group between 1880 and 1900 computed.
The large cities in the North are
growing much faster than those of the
same size in the South, but this diff
ference is balanced by an extremely rapid
growth OF snail towns, and cities In tha
South. and especially by the high rate
of increase of Southern rural popula-
tior."
Small Towns Pick Up.
"How far this slight growth of rural
in the North as whole is
influenced by the transfer Of places
classed as rural in 1890 to higher classes
in 1900, cannot be told frcm these figures.
They Go show that the present growth of
population is resultant in the North OF
very rapid growth of large cities, slower
growth of small cities, and very slight
growth in the country; and asa resultant
in the South of a rate of growth of large
cities below the average for the country,
balanced by q striking growth OF small
cities and an increase OF rural population
twice as fast as the average for the Unit
ed States