New-York tribune., 1917-07-14
Census Gue;sses
Why the Draft Figure for New
Is a Million Too u;.l u
To the Editor Of The Tribur.

To the Editor Of The Tribup.
Sir: The announcement in ,o..
that New York is credited in d.,.-s,' Hs
portiOnments for the new N,,,a.N, \
with a population Of over six ara AZ
ions is likely to mislead hurried r,.l ~
They may not note the ca,.,a, 'n
tions Of the estimate by the p.Is.S S'..s
Bureau, which plainly states tka, ~ Tee
is not to give exact figures. bu, s. WA
ful to the military draft. a "
Some speculative realty holder,
may be willing to forge, Qualls.,s.'' .s''''' \
gether when advertising New Yo,. ', va L.
sale.
May ! not, therefore, plainly A..
show that the figures are a milIor :, VIC
reality Of New Yor&'s population,
The statistical base Of the con,...
the population Of the nation a.
1917 It assumes an annual ine,.,,.
617,994 persons in continental unn..,
since April Is, 1910. or the same d..
as for the nine and seven-eiehth, - y
/, 1900, TO April IS, 1910.
/. The announcement from v,a.
lists. in addition to New York ca, :
ono other cities as having over ga os.
lation. Three Of these were under e,.s
in 1910, and one, Akron, Ohio. no, ,..s
with 33S,34S, then had only Gs,Osy
Continental United States is ere5i,,,.
computation with an increase Of u,s'l
persons.
The twenty-five cities are credited J..
1917, with 23,43S,603 In 1910 th.v /. i
913,496, an increase Of 7525,lO7
In other words, nearly two.thirl, >. q.
increase Of the whole population Of t.,r.
States since April Is, 1910, is ir,,..
these twenty-five cities.
This is excellent military sdmlre,.
to draw the new army in the main -. /.
cities and keep the maximum nunb,,S
on the farm. but the estimates Of s.t.' :
ulation should be regarded as good r...
for this purpose, and not as actual y,
figures for New York, or perhaps f,r
the other twenty-one cities in the list
,. If New YORK, July /, 1917, had tav
people, il holds 6.27 per cent Of The -
ton Of the nation, whereas on April 4 n
il held only SIS per cent This wogg y,
in New York on July 4, 1917, 627 a ~.
10000 persons in the Ua.,cd States. u,s.
SIS in every 10000 ADri, l5 1910, an i,ru
Of l09 of every 10000 people in he v,,,
in seven and one-third years.
In no decade since Washington va =
gurated President Of the United Sa.y
New York has the city added more hr |
Of every 10000 people n the nation il a.
year period. That was the decade 1871
and the growth compared with the u.
from lS40-lS50, which was Il peron
of every 10000. made the up-curs e. i
growth of New York even sharper th.s &,
l90O-19lo. when the increase was vi, |
persons out Of every 10000
Il is incredible that IN the curer, all
the up-curvo Of the growth Of New Ym !.
been so much more pronounced thar g.
1900 to 1910, or from 1850 TO 1850
3. New York grew from 1880 to ls2r,e
cent on l,9l1.C99; from 1890 to 1900 rlg
cent on 2,5074i4, and from 1900 to Mi q
per cent on 3,437,20
In other words. the percentage trv.
New York was almost stationary, us-H
with lS90-1900, during the decade A.sA
\ growth Of 3T3 per cent per .taa -
April IS. 1910, would give the city o,J ia
PAP persons on July IS, 1917
4. The state census Of June !, XS r''
the city's population 5,0iT22L
BY a process too minute 10 be ssn 4
scr.bed I have persuaded myself nr II
census was 2lI904 below the rsi-g !.
New York cannot have increased 6o@ 7
annum since that time
The minimum population FOR New Y''t
July /, 1917, would place at 536s@e "
SIS per cent OF the population Of ne ..
on July ], 1917; the uaxmum OF !'l
1910, at 5,SS6,4GS. being 5.6S per e''i r.
100000, round figures. as a best C.a
the actualities July I. 1917
WALTER LAIDLV
Executive Secretary the New Yora isa'|
ton of Churches
New York, July j.. 1917