New-York tribune., 1905-01-14
ANOTHER "GREATER CITY"


Pittsburg, we are told, is preparing TO take a
place in the front rank Of American citias
Plans nave been matured for the creation of
great municipality out Of the towns and cities
whlcn una natural centre at the junction of
the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers and
now an agitation for consolidation is 10 begin
al earnest. Including Pittsburg proper Ale
gheny City and number of busy manufactur-
ing suburbs, the new municipality will have to
start with an area of sixty square miles and a
population Of about 600OOO According to the
census Of 1900. only three cities in the United
States-New-York, Chicago and PHILADELPHIA
had populations exceeding 100000. SO the greater
Pittsburg would probably win fourth place in
the next census list
Tie movement for consolidation now begun
seems eminently sensible and logical VirtuaIIv
the same conditions exist in and about Pitts
burg as forced the merging of New-York and
Brooklyn and the creation of our own greater
city. Plttsburg proper and Allegheny City are
separated by even less of a barrier than the
East River. and the other towns to be alb
sorbed are as distinctly tributary to the one
centre as were Long Island City, Jamaica
Staten Island and the other outlying areas taken
over by our consolidation act In addition 10
county lines have to be crossed in effecting a
union for municipal purposes. All the new
Pittsburg will lie within a single county
AlleSheny. Every argument urged here for
unidcation applies, therefore with equal or
greater force TO Pittsburg's consolidation prof.
ect. Local jealousies and frictions worked
delay in one case. and they may do so in the
other. But the logic of the situation and the
unyielding American demand for progress will
in the end make union inevitable
BY the census Of 1900 Pittsburg stood eleventh
on the list of our great cities. 1t had popula.
ton Of 321,616. Its growth in the decade was
S2,999-or 34.7 per cent. This gain enabled it
TO pass NewOrleans. which stood one rung
above it in 1890. The population of Allegheny
City in 1900 was 129,S96-a gain of 2460sj, or
23.3 per cent. Together the two cities had four
years and a half ago a population of 451,5l2
The natural increase since and the new popu.
lation absorbed from the surrounding towns are
expected TO bring the total for the greater mu-
nlcpality to about 100000
st. Louis. now the fourth city in the United
States had population in 1900 of SO 23S It's
growth for the decade was 2T.3 per cent-some-
what below that for Pittsburg. Boston had
population Of 560.S92. But Its growth was only
% per cent. Baltimore. next IN rank, had n
population Of 5QS,957. It's rate Of increase, how
ever was only 1T1-half that Of Pittsburg.
Other cities outranking Pittsburg in 1900 were
Cleveland, with 3S1, ,76S inhabitants; Buffalo
with 352, 3S7: San Francisco, with $40 1872 and
Cincinnati. with 325,902. OF these towns only
Boston and St Louis can challenge the mll-
nicpality to be created in Western Pennsyl-
vana. greater Boston would muster a.popu-
lation much greater than 100000. But the OBJ
stacles to consolidation in Boston will not be
easily overcome. st. Louis has no outlying ter
ritory available for consolidation. Pittsburg.
moreover, seems assured of n rapid and solid
growth. 1t will under its new charter have to
be reckoned with as one OF our notable centres
of industry and population.