El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-11-25

is so of Iowa. Illinois and others Of
our richest farming states. In Ind1-
ana, Iowa and Missouri more than half
OF the counties have fallen off in popu-
lation. The same condition holds true
Of eastern Kansas and others of our
most important farming sections.
How the Cities Grow.
On the other hand the cities are
growing faster than Jonah's gOurd,
which sprOuted up into shade tree in
a night. Those which contained $4,000
and over increased more than 30 per
cent between 1900 and 1910, and this
Notwithstanding there has been an in
crease of 81 percent during the ceQsus
preceding. Some of the cities have had
on seven league boots. The growth of
Birmingham, Ala, has been more than
245 percent in IA decade, that of Los
Angeles 211 percent ard Of Seattle 1914
percent. Spokane has grown 1873 per-
cent in the past ten years, Portland
l2g and Detroit So.
All OF our biggest cities are grow
Ing. New York, which is now fast
climbing toward 100000. increased
over 38 percent between 1900 and 1910.
chicago then increased almost 2S per-
cent and Philadelphia almost 20 per-
cent. St Louis has now nearly zoo, 600
people, and Cleveland more than 5O0,
600, while Baltimore and Pittsburg
are close upon CIeveland's heels. One
Of the fastest growing cities of all
Is Cleveland, which has gained almost
A percent in the last ten years.
the farms. Some is by immigration
and some from other sources, but a
great deal of 1t is from the rural dis
tricts, and IL means a less number of
producers and more Of consumers.
A Nation of City DweIIers.
Indeed, we are fast becoming a. ma
tiOn OF city dWellers. We have 2,4O0
towns each of which has more than
$500 population. We have three cities
of more than a million, five which
-rrr from half million tn mil l.
lion in size, and in the quarter
million grade there are eleven,
while of those from 100000 to
$50, 900 we find 81 New York and
Chicago have twice as many people as
the whole United States had 100
years ago, and New York alone has
a million more inhabitants than the
whole nation mad when the 11rst- cen
Sus was taken. in 1890. Indeed, il was
not until 1920 that we had a single
city which contained 100. 600, and in
1900 we had only q municipalities all
told. At that time New York had Co.
900; Philadelphia, about 40. GOO; Boston
$4,000, and Baltimore, $4,000. The
smallest incorporated town mentioned
in the list was Erie, Pa, which then
had only 81 souls, so few that It would
be a village in the census Of today
From the Farm to the Factory.
Moreover, the figures giving the size
of the cities do not indicate the enOr-
nous growth of our manufacturing
centers. New York has factories all
about it. and the suburban towns de-
pendent directly upon it give ii a pop
ulation Of more than six millions. In
this sense Boston has twice the size
mentioned in the census and Pittsburg
may possibly be bigger than st. Louis.
The urban center Of san Francisco has
radii including $4,000 people while
Philadelphia is enormously larger than
the census figures show.
From this standpoint of urban cen
ters we have at least ten which are
of 100000 and upwards in size. All
these centers are rapidly increasing in
population, and the increase is largely
made up of the rush from the farms
to the cities The smaller cities have
grown as we'll as the larger ones, and
the rush seems to be going on all over
the Union This is so Notwithstanding
the popularity which farming seems to
be having, and to the increased profits
which are coming therefrOm-
Uncle sam. Manufactures.
We are, in fact rapidly changing
from an agricultural nation to manu-
featuring one. This is shown by the
figures which the census employees are
now tabulating- Our industrial growth
is such that a census of such matters
is taken every five years, and 1t
would, perhaps, pay to take it oftener.
Within the five years from 1904 to 1909
the increase in the capital employed
by our factories was 40 percent and
cost of the materials used 43 percent.
The salaries and wages paid for
manufacturing now amount to more
than four thousand million dollars
year, a sum which, if it could be
divided, would be enough to give more
than 5000 to every family in the
United States.
Our manufactures sell for something
like 20 billion dollars per annum which
would equal $1,000 per family, and
this means an increase in such sales
of six billion dollars within five years.
The increase has been 81 percent in
ten years and 40 percent in five. It
represents a growth in manufacturing
of more than thousand million dol
lars a year for the past five years.
These figures are impossible to COM
prehend but they indicate something
Of the progress of this great billion
DO you wonder that the farmers are
attracted by them2 The wages of the
factories are paid without regard to
whether it rains or shines, and they
exceed in value the wages paid upon
the farms. The increased cost of liy-
ing is not taken into account until
after the man has become settled in
the city. And so the rush goes on.
The increase in the number of factory
employees over 1900 is already more
than million, and we have now work
ing in manufacturing establishments
between six and seven million men and
women. This is an increase Of 40 per-
cent over the number employed ten
years ago.
Our Prosperous Farmers.
never LllE4eSSst farming Is pay ING DGL-
ter than it has ever paid and, strange
to say. notwithstanding this loss of
labor the crops seem to be as large
or larger than ever before. Our big
gest crops of all time were in 1910.
Mr.. Durand rightly says however. that
the census figures Of crops cannot be
relied upon as indicative of the ex-
act growth of our agricultural empire,
for the reason that each census rep
resents but one year. For instance.
the census Of 1900 shows the crops Of
the year in which the census enumer-
atOr collected the material and that
only. If it be a fat year the figures
will be very large, but on the other
hand, if a lean one, they may be con-
siderably smaller. The census Of 1900
might have recorded a year which had
bumper crops. and that of 1910 one
when famine was abroad in the land.
Nevertheless, such figures are approx
imately correct.
As to the number Of farms, these are
not affected by such changes The
ch0vr-e that boI