The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-22
SOUTH GROWING FASTER.


WASHINGTON, Aug. 2l.--The Census
| Bureau published to-day a bulletin on the
increase of population in the United States
from 1880 to 1880 and from 1890 to 1900.
The increase in the population Of the
United States between 1890 and 1900 was
| about 81 $4,000. or this increase three
Fights was due to the extension OF the
boundaries of the United States in the decade
1890 to 1900, and fve-eights to the increase
Of population within the boundaries OF
| 1890
The increase in the population of CONT
mental United States that is, the United
States exclusive of Alaska and the recent
nsular accessions Hawaii, Philippine
Islands, Porto Rico. Guam and Samoa) So
was l3,O48 1851, or 2O.7 per cent. Only one
country, Argentina, has shown by the
most recent figures more rapid rate OF
growth. The present rate of growth in
continental United States is probably
nearly double that Of Canada, exceeds
by one-sixth that Of Mexico. and by one
tenth that OF Australia.
In 1890 the northern and southern groups
OF States had almost equal populations, but
through the following hundred years
with an insignificant and probably only
apparent exception in one decade-the
North steadily gained, until in 1890 its
population was almost double that OF the
South.
In the decade $50 to 1900, on the contrary,
for the first time in our national history,
the Southen States increased faster than
the Northern, if allowance be made for the
undercount in 1870, East Of the Mississippi,
however. the Northern States as group
have grown in the last ten years some
what more rapidly than the Southern; but
west OF that river the Southern States have
increased almost two and one-half times
as rapidly US the Northern, and ii Ia this
fact which makes the growth Of the South
as a whole exceed that Of the North.
In the North Atlantic division the rate Of
increase has risen steadily since the civil
war, a notable contrast to the trend in the
country as a whole.
The population u the region east Of
the Mississippi increased more rapidly
from 1890 to 1890 than from 1880 to
1890, while that west OF the Missis-
more than half as fast as in the earlier.
The increased growth of the East and the
decreased growth Of the West may be
connected with a probable decline in the
current of westward migration.
While the rate OF increase for continental
United States from 1890 to 1900 was 20 per
cent, the rate of increase shown by the
largest number Of counties was from 4
to per cent. The typical rate of growth
for an American county, therefore, is about
5 per cent.
The rates Of increase in the North and the
South during the last twenty years were
practically the same. But in the character
of this growth the two regions differ widely,
there being relatively uniform growth
over the whole South, equalled by bal
ance in the North between lower rate
Of rural growth and higher rate of urban
growth
The most noteworthy result of the ertire
discussion is the cumulative evidence OF
the rapid approach to equality in the rates
Of increase Of various parts Of the United
States. This appears whether North be
compared with South, Fast with West or
city with country.