The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-04-02

until the middle of the eighteenth cen
ltnry Boston was the most pOpulous
town in the American colonies. Phila
delphia then took the lead, which il
retained until it in turn was passed
by New York, after the establishment
of constitutional government. Hence
each of these three cities at some
period has been the leader in popula
ton.
All of the great area lying south OF
+, the Potomac must be regarded as hav'
ing been distinctly rural in the colonial
period. In North Carolina, one of the
larger commonwealth, even as late as
1870 no community existed in which
the population exceeded 1000 inhabi-
! tants.
In 1870, 800 per cent of the popua-
! ton was male and 40.l per cent
, female. In 1900 the proportion for
p, the entire United States had changed
but little, being 500 per cent male
and 49.S per cent female.
Decline in Birth Ratios.
On the basis of the proportion shown
| in 1900 there would have been, in
1890, $4,000 children, as compared
with more than 100000 actually
enumerated. The twelfth census show
ed less than 24,0O0,000 children in the
United States. If the people OF the
republic We're as prolific as they were
100 years ago, there would have been
over l50000OO more children in the
United States than were actually re-
ported.
In 100 The aggregate population of
the three leading cities-Boston, New
York and Philadelphia-wa approx
mately $500 Ninety years later the
aggregate population of these three
cities was $4,000. In 1900 the pOpu
latiOn of the three was 1921 ,79l. An
increase of 10000 in the first century
of existence is therefore to be com
pared with an increase of 100000 in
the second.
The population of the United States
increased nineteenfold from 1870 to
1900, and nearly tenfold in the area
enumerated at the first census. The
increase of the New England states
has been slightly more than fivefold,
that of the middle state ffteenfold,
and of the southern states little
more than skiold.
The white population of the United
States increased from 3,l73,444 i'm 1870
to 66,S09,l9G in 1900, or 2,Oll6 per
cent; the negro population increased
during the same period from 1873 to
S.s33,994, or 1868 per cent.
The total value of all property in
the republic at the period of the first
census was probably not less than
O0,OO0,O00 and not more than $780,
100000. The standards of value at that
time were much less than they are
now. Hence, in terms of present values,
it is probable that all property in
1870 was worth approximately one
billion to one billion and Il quarter
dollars. The total per capita wealth
in 1900 was about Sl7l-in New Eng
land, $l3S; in the middle states, $l45;
in the south, $2l7; but on the basis
of present money tables these figures
should at least be doubled.
Statistics as to Slavery.
The number of slaves in the United
States in 100 was approximately 7OO,-
600. Slaves were owned in each state
and territory of the union except Yer
mont, Massachusetts,, and the district
of Maine. About one fourteenth of
all the slaves in d the United States
were owned outside of the southern
states. As slave state Virginia
ranked first, reporting nearly 100000.