The Mena weekly star., 1907-08-22
KANSAS |S GROWING FASI
County Assessors Reports Show Gain During Past Year of
 3o,540.
POPULATION AT PRESENT IS l,65I,33I
Counties in Western Part of State and Cities in Eastern Portion Show Largest Growth--Compari- son With 1897 Shows Some Re- .narkabIe increases

son With 1897 Shows Some Re
 .narkabIe Increases
 Topeka, Aug. 15.-Kansas gained 39,540 in population in the last year according to the figures of the sworn returns of the county assessors com piled by the state board of agricul tura The population March 1 was l,65l.SSi, or q gain of 2.4 per cen, over the population of last year, ac. cording to the returns. This is the largest population ever reported for the state.
 By far the larger percentages of in crease are in the western counties. Seventy-four counties show an aggre- gate gain of 4S,S36. and loss alto gether of 9,269
 As the officials in Atchson county again ignored and nullified the law and made only such partial returns as suited their convenience giving the county only 5.5S2 population, the fig ures returned for 1905 have been used in this. years computations.
 Cheyenne, Wallace, Hamilton Greeley, stanton, Sherman and Nor ton, the seven extreme western coun- ties bordering Colorado. show an ag- gregate gain of 26 per cent The largest increase reported is in Mont gomery county, which has gained g.. 940, followed by Wyandotte with g.. S70, Crawford with 2,757, Finney with 2,441, and Leavenworth with 2,096 The smallest increase is in Osborne county, which gained two The larg est decrease is in Osage county whose officials certify falling off of l.539 Neosho, Johnson. Jackson and Chautauqua, as named, show the next largest decrease.
 A comparison of the population sta. tistios for 1907 with those of ten years previous shows some very remarkable increases. There were 284,542, or POS per cent more inhabitants this year than in 1897. lightweight coun, ties show increases in the ten years and seventeen counties (all in the eastern half of the state) show de crosses. In the decade Montgomery county has gained more than I36 per cent Wyandotte, S4 per cent; Fin ney, no per cent; Allen, 112 per cent; Comanche. 63 per cent; Edwards, 106 per cent; Ford, 97 per cent; Cove, 119 per cent; Grant, 9S per cent, and Gray, l56 per cent.
 Ninety-three municipalities show an aggregate gain of 29,564, and thir. ty-seven decrease of 4,575. Yates Center neither gained nor lost, and Atchison failed to make complete re. turns. necessitating the use of the 1905 population figures for that city. Kansas City, as in the year preceding, shows the largest increase, 2.6l0, fol. lowed by Independence with a gain of 1881, leavenworth. 1.690: Garden City, l,44l; Pittsburg, 1873; Wichita, 1,357 and Hutchinson, 1,044. Clay Center shows the smallest increase, |. The largest decrease is 5S0, in Sedan.
 There are now fourteen, as against thirteen cities last year. having 10000 or more inhabitants each, Emporia entering the list. Their combined population represents 20 per cent of the population of the state
 With some few exceptions the rank of the thirty leading cities is the same. Kansas City, of course, continues with a wide margin the states me. trolol!s, having well toward twice as maay inhabitants as Topeka, its closest competitor.
 Tho first shift in rank was occa- stoned by the advance of Indepen- dence from tenth place to ninth, changing places with Fort Scott which was ninth last year. Salina and Chanute have also changed places. Salina, which was 10th last year advancing to 18th place. New ton, which was 21st last year, has ex- changed places with GaIena which was goth. Wellington and Concordia have changed places. Wellington this year being 26th and Concordia 27th. Fl Dorado has gained a point in rank, now being 30th and Horton lost a point. Garden City has advanced phe- nomenally in rank in the past two years. or from tooth to seth in 1906, and to 54th place in 1907, the gain in population the past year amount ing 10 @ per cent Other noteworthy changes in rank are shown by Her ington, which has jumped from 42d place in 1906 to 32d place in 1907, Caney which has advanced from 44th 10 s9th place, Fredonia from 67th to 18th place, Weir 67th to 57th place. Oswego Fist to 5Sth place, and Chico pee l22d to seth place Osborne is now S5th in rank instead of 93d year ago Hoisington S4th instead of 9lst. and Pratt s7th instead of tooth.
 Humboldt has dropped from 55th to 65th place. Larned from 5Sth to 66th, Garnett 65th to 73d, Cherokee 74th to sgd, sSedan roth to s7th, Pleasanton S4th to 99th, and St. Marys S3d to l05th, Next to Garden City in percentage Of increase is Chi