The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1902-01-24
FAR TOO MANY MEN.
Preponderance of Masculines in the
United States.
Twenty-Four More Males Than Fee.
males in Every One Thousand %
of Our Population More
Men in the West.

Curiosity, not to say establishment,
is excited, by the recent announcement
of the census bureau. The enumera-
ton of 1900 shows that there are more
men and boys than women and girls
in this country and that the difference
exceeds 100000 in population of
&c, 1903, 1857. The excess appears more
distinctly perhaps, when it is said that
there are SIP males and only 4SS 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 fiuc-
tuation in the percentage, for over half
a century. AS long ago as 1850 there
was a 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 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
years. Indeed, the census bureau
figures out a microscopic falling
off in the growth of the male popula-
ton as compared with the female. To
be sure, the excess was only 1850, 097 in
1890, and has since been enlarged by
254,727; but the bureau finds that the
percentages of gain are not quite alike,
and there are faint indica tons of fu-
ture 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. 1t is possible to detect forces
that disturb the balance in some of
these countries. But Mr.. Porter, SUI
perintendent of the census of 1890, was
inclined to think that these influences
did not operate perceptibly in Austria
and the Netherlands, and hence that
normally the female sex outnumbers
the male in nearly the proportion of
81 to 40. Comparison with the stand
ard, then, makes the excess of males in
America stranger than if nature ex-
hibited strict impartiality.
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, it was powerful enough
to influence the returns in Germany
and France after the famous struggle
of 1901. And in the United States it
pulled down the male proportion of
SLIP in every 10000 in 1860 to 5,056 in
1870.
Migration, of course, works in two
ways. The majority of immigrants are
men. The departures from one coun-
try, therefore, leave the other sex in
excess in one part of the world, while
they promote the preponderance of
their own in another. Thus in some
European countries the proportion of
males to females is about 4s5 to SIS.
Now, inasmuch as three out of every
five immigrants who come to the Unit
ed States are men and ten out of every
seventy-five people here are of foreign
birth it is easy to see how important
is this factor in establishing the ratio
between the sexes. In 1890, for in
stance, the excess of males here was
made up in this proportions: Native
born, 62s,797; foreign born, ss4,713.
And yet scarcely a seventh of the pop
nlation came from other lands. 1t is
to this fact, no doubt, that immigra-
ton has experienced a slight check in
the last few years and that the recent
slight falling off in masculine ascend
ency here is due.
But people migrate not only from
one country to another, but also from
one part of the country to another.
This is peculiarly true in the United
States. In consequence, there is de-
pletion of the ranks of the sterner sex
in the east and strong reinforce
ment in the west. Indeed, in the latter
quarter there is a double INVASION
from the more densely populated parts
OF our own land and from the old
world. Hence the distribution of the
sexes is not uniform. Along the Allan
tic seaboard for at least half century
there has been practically no excess of
males, and on the whole slight de-
ficiency. The superabundance of wom-
en- has been most conspicuous, though.
In Massachusetts,. Rhode Island and
the District of Columbia just why
there should be such a situation a the
national capital is not clear. But in
New England special local agency
has been at work--an influx of factory
girls from Canada. Thus there is an
occasional exception to the rule that
the majority of the immigrants are
males.
AS might be expected, the great
est excess of men is to be found
In the far west, in the great ag-
ricultural and mining districts.
In Minnesota and Nebraska there
were at least "a men out of every
100 people for a long time, from SIS to
So in the Dakotas, and from 60 to 6S in
most of the regions of the west and
southwest. The ratio in Montana was
once as great as 81 out of 100, and even
in 1890 was 66h to 33k. A slow.
steady tendency toward equality has
been observable, however, except in
Utah, where the excess of men kept
below the national average until 1880
and then increased only slightly. The
connection between this fact and po-
lygamy is too obvious % need pointing
out.
Am Easy Conscience.
We do NOT believe saws the Ch;oono