The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-09-10
More Important Than Population.


 The general pride in the growth of city, peculiar as 1t may be. has almost invariably everywhere centered in the increase in population, less attention being given to the more important ana signal things that demonstrate real urban progress. These other things are treated in forty-three tables by the bulletin and for purposes of compari-
 son should be extremely valuable
 Readers of newspapers have heretofore
 gotten these figures only through the
 periodical reports of city officers, and
 then oftentimes inadequately. while
 such statistics of other cities than any
 given place are not available to Its cit-
 izens for the good of comparison. The
 bulletin just issued supplies this want
 and marks an era begun in the science
 of municipal statistics of quite mani
 fest importance.
 Following the table of population Bulletin 20 carries the tables in the following order:
 Table 2, police and arrests; 3, num-
 Der of retail liquor saloons and amount and appoFtionment of license fee; 4, firemen, fire equipment and property loss from fires;. 5, public schools: and teachers; 6, pupils in public schools; 2, public libraries: 8. almshouses and hospitals; g. water, gas and electric light plants; 10, street lighting; II,
 area and length of paved streets; IT,
 disposal of garbage, cleaning of streets, 1 sanitary inspection and sewers; 13, building permits; IA, marriages and di- vorces; IS, deaths; 16, proportion or deaths from specified causes; IT and IS, death rate per 100000 population. 1s and 20, summary of transactions and balances; 21, general and municipal service expenses; 22, municipal invest ment and industrial expenses; 23. out In, QA fVrfd from Snariflad taxes. 26. receipts from liquor licenses and taxes; 26, government contributions and grants; 27, Ye%elpts from interest; 2s. receipts from municipal industries; 29. departmental receipts from munich | pal service income; 30. receipts from aNsDcial assessments for outlay; 31' prl- vAte trust funds and accounts; 32, pub | lie trust funds; 3a. investment funds; 34. sinking funds; 35, debt obligations
 36, classification of public debt by character of loans; 37, classes of mu- nicipal possessions; 3S, assessed valua- tion of property; 39 to A, inclusive, per capita payments and receipts. The cities having a population over 25, 900 in 1908, numbered 175. These | for convenience are divided into four groups, to wit First, cities having a population of 30O,000 or over; second, Ipopulation of 100000 to S00,000; third, 1 population 0.000 to 100000; fourth, 2o,- 900 to bO,O0O. Tn the nrst group, ranking in the order named. are New York. Chicago,
 Philadelphia, St. Louis, Boston, Balti- more, Cleveland, Buffalo. San Francisco Pittsburg. Cincinnati, Milwaukee, De- troit, New Orleans. New York's popu-
 Iation in 1903 was S.716,13s; Chicagos, 1,S73.SS0; Philadelphia's, 1,3e7,716. St. | Louis, Boston and Baltimore have over 50O, ,o0O. New Orleans, the fourteenth city, has s00.625. and is the only South
 ern city in the first group. Washing ton, D. C., heads the second group, with a population in 1908 of 29S,217H Louis vile and Memphis are the only South ern cities in the second group, Louis ville's population, in 1903, being 215,- | 722 and that of Memphis, 113,669. Eight Southern cities are in the third group
 of cities having between 50.000 and 1O0, ,000 population. They are in the or
 der named: Atlanta, Richmond, Nash vile, Savannah, San Antonio, Norfolk and Houston. Southern cities in the fourth group, having in 1903 a popula- tion between 25.000 and 50,00O number thirteen and are: Covington, Ky; Dal- l las, Tex; Birmingham, Ala; Little Rock, Augusta, Mobile, Knoxville
 Montgomery, JacksonvIlle. Fla; Calves
 ton, Chattanooga, Lexington, Ky; Fort
 Worth. Tex.