Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-08-27
OUR POPULATION.
Interesting Government BulIe-
tin on Recent increases.
Concentration in Cities Not So
Marked as Formerly.
Mo Great Country Gaining Population
so Rapidly.

i'm, the increase OF population III unc
united states has been ISSUED by the
cepeus office, as prepared under the
suncrvision of Walter F. Wilcox, spec
ial agent. -
Tho numerical increase in the popu-
,.+ion of the United States between
1870 and 1900 (21 ,253,So3), was probably
e,reetn, than that of any other country.
This figure may be analysed as fol-
lows. Increase within the limits OF the
I-nited states as they stood June l, 1881,
19n7 4O1. rersons stationed abroad In
1ouo al 90. increase due to the lnclu-
sion Of new territory Hawaii, Porto
Rico, the Philippine Islands, Guam anu
son,oa) 3. OS3. 6S3 Thus three eighths
(9S.U per cent? of the increase IN the
uc,ulla ton of the United States, 1851 10
, lsOO. is due to accession of territory.
The United States has been divided,
for purposes of the census, into the
outlying districts and continental Unit
ed States. There are six outlying dis
trcts, and the increase or decrease OF
population has been determined by the
census in three of them, Alaska,
| Hawaii and Porto Rico; is largely a
matter of conjecture in one, the Phil
! ippine Islands, and is unknown in TWO,
Guam and Samoa.
In the last ten years Alaska has
nearly doubled in population, while for
; the nine years Prior to 1886 the Phaip-
pine Islands increased very slowly.
AS the ropula ton of Indian TerritoYy
and the Indian reservations has been
reported by the census only for 1900
and 1850, it is impossible to state exact-3
, ly the total increase in the population
! Of continental United States, except for
the last ten years. In 1890 the popula
! ton was 62,947, ia. in 1900 lit was 75,-
! 9J4,575. The decennial increase was
13,046, S61, or 20.7 per cent
The present rate of increase in
Argentine is more rapid than that of
the United States The rates of growth
! in the two neighbors of this country,
Mexico and Canada, are ncticeably less
than the rate in the United States.
| Even Australia is increasing at present
less rapidly than this country.
| Accordingt to the foregoing figures the
populat ton of Europe increased 145spef
cent. between 1850 and 1880, and 21.EpeE
cent between 1880 and 1900. The popuias
ton Of continental United States in
twenty-year period and 5l5 per cent.
in the later.
Thepresent rate of deceunial increase
in Europe. derived from the estimates
of population for 1886 and 1900, is IL
per cent, or a little more than half
that in continental United States.
namely, COZ. The figures indicate,
however, that the rate of increase in
! Europe has risen since 1850, while that
CT the United States has fallen. In this
Prospect, therefore, the conditions on the
two sides of the northern Atlantic have
been approaching equality.
At the beginning of the nineteenth
century Russia, France, Germany. Aus
tria and even Spain and Turkey, had
larger populations than the United
IStatrs; at the beginning of the twenti-
eth century the United States had out
stripped all but Russia, and was in
creasing with somewhat greater rapid
ity than that power. The comparative
straightness of the line representing
the increase in the population Of the
United states during the last three
during each of those decades was not
far from the same.
The rate of growth in the population
of continental United States was high
est from 1900 to 1910, and lowest from
1890 to 1860. Between 1890 and 1860 il
was nearly constant, being, for each
decade, between So and 81 per cent
For each decade since 1860 (allowine
for omissions in the count of 1870 il
has probably been below SO per cent
1t has also declined, at least since the
decade 1870 to 1880
In the North Atlantic division and il
each of it's parts the rate of increase
, was highest between 1890 and 1900, ant
T lowest between 1860 and 1870, the dec
AIDE of the civil war; since that period
it has been rising steadily, a note
, worthy contrast to the trend in tn,
) country as a whole. In the South At
lantic division the rate of growth wa:
the lowest for the decade from 1880 t,
I l840, and, if the figures for 1870 to 1891
5 be disregarded as of doubtful accuracy
the growth in this division. as in tn,
North Atlantic, was highest for tn.
decade from 1890 to 1900.
The fact that the most rapid growth
r continental United States occurred il
IlIc ueCdQe from 1oVU 10 lolu, Is uut
largely to the great increase during
| that decade in the two central divis
ions. Their total increase from 1890 t.
$500 was 217.045, but from 1900 to 1871
| it was $40, 302. In the two parts of tn.
north central division the maximum
= rate of growth was in the first decade
7 for which figures appear, and the min
: imum in the last decade of the century
between these limits the rate almos
| steadily declined.
, In the south central division and bot
| of it's parts, on the contrary, while tn
| maximum was reached in the earlies
| decade, the minimum (disregarding tn
y figures for 1860 to 1870 was reached il
the decade from 1880 to $780, the decad
ended with 1900 showing an increases
rate of growth both east and west o
| the lower Mississippi.
$ The bulletin states that in the regio
r | extending from Pennsylvania to Soutl
2 | Carolina, inclusive.fand thence west
!. | ward to South Dakota, Nebraska an,
Kansas, the only states having a Eai
: of more than 20 per cent. We're the Dis
4 | trict of Columbia, West Virginia an