Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-02-21
POPULATION CENTRE
SHIFTS ITS COURSE
Chief Geographer Of Census Blu
reau Believes it May Have
Moved Toward East.
BY Frederick J. Haskin.

United States seems 10 have shifted III
course One of the duties of the Censu
Bureau is 10 determine the center o
population. This year the chief geogra
pher of the bureau believes that the cente
may be found to have moved cast instea,
| of travelling as usual to the west
/. has come to be tradition in tn,
| United States to combine progress ane
the west. The primal lure OF the west ha.
| worn off. but there is still far more room
there than in the crowded east. II The
| war had not interviewed since oni natlona
| counting of heads, or had the war beer
! fought in Asia instead of Europe, oui
| center of population would doubtless have
| continued its Journey west In o bug leap
/ As it was, the war attracted the people to
the eastern business and industrial cen
/ ters, and the people thus gathered TO the
cities seem loath TO return 10 the farms.
From the beginning of the republic, the
! census Was taken. and each ten years The
center OF population had moved west
ward in stretches of from Ia to so miles,
showing that the people we're taking
possession OF more and more OF their do
main. AT the first census in 1890, the
| 1000, 900 population OF the United States
ran north and south along the Atlantic
coast with the center % miles east OF
| Baltimore.
By 1900, the center was Is miles west
| OF Baltimore, and from then on 1t con-
tinued west, passing near Washlngton,
Woodstock, w., Moorheld, W. w.,
| Clarksburg, w. Va; Chillicothe, ONO;
east OF Cincinnati, then west OF Cincin.
natl; east of Columbus; southeast of
Columbus, and at the last census NJ
Bloomington, Ind.
LAST CENTER IN INDIANA.
The census oi 1910 Was the first time
that the center ever happened TO be In q
town or city, snd Bloomington, being a
college town. celebrated in college fashion.
Several professors located the exact spot
by astronomical observation. II happened
To be under lumber pile in the yard OF a
furniture factory, but the students made
short work of removing the big logs. and
proceeded to place a stone on the exact
spot and conduct appropriate and tune
full services.
The furniture manufacturer WAS so
proud Of the position OF bis factory, that
he had his stationery engraved with the
heading, Located at the center OF popu-
Iation." After this year, he VIII doubtless
have to preface his assertion with once.
The exact pull of the eastern cities on
the center VI EtaNit*tisth VI tNh f'fNA''-
ton will be known positively only when
the census figures are all collected and
tsbulated. In the meantime, {. ). Sloan,
chief geographer of the Census Bureau, is
of the private opinion that the point viii
be somewhat east of Bloomington, prob
ably still in Indiana.
For the mast two decades our cities
have been growing in size and number
much more rapidly than our rural dis
tricts. Anything over ? 800 population is
now termed a city IN census pariance,
which rather broad construction makes the
growth OF city population seem less ex-
traurdinarv. In 1890 the city claimed over
one third OF the population. In 1900 1T had
about 40 per cent, and by 1910 1t had 4o.S.
This wear the advance may be even
greater, for the attraction OF the cities was
intensified during the war. Every other
gi-i In the United States wanted to be
war worker and 60 TO " ashington, and ap
parently most Of them got what they
wanted. Many Of these girls, country
bred. have found city life with ITS theatres,
rest taurants, libraries and clubs, too fascI-
Mating TO be easily gwen mp. SO they stay
on when they are no longer needed by the
government, or wander to New York or
some other city, in search Of q Job within
waIking distance OF the bright lights
Take the csse of Mamie, a young school
teacher, who came from the country 10 do
war work with her head buzzing from
hectic magazine acquaintance with high
life in the city. Rouge, lip stick, and a
swagger walk, added to natural prettlness,
got her a string of followers, and Mamie
became so enarnored of city life that when
her war Job ended she was fully city broke
and Just couldn't go home.
She answered an advertisement for a
soda fountain clerk, and prefers the city
with it's chances for amusement to her
country home, the little red school house,
and her farmer boy steady.
This is not, perhaps, typical picture
of the war worker from the country, but it
is a faithful likeness Of many OF the ex-war
workers who are represented by the long
columns of unskilled positions wanted in
the daily papers.
Besides the opportunities for enjoy
ment offered by the large cities, there are
the educational advantages and the con-
venicnees. These attract large numbers OF
families with growing children. Indoor
plumbing, electricity and automobiles,
added to the modern country homo, have
done as much TO keep the farmer and his
wife on the farm as all the new inventions
in farm machinery. But farmers who can
not afford these improvements and luxur-
les do rot seem to desire them so much, as
they want better education for their
children. When the teachers IN country
schools are paid enough so that rural
education can be at least as efficient and
progressive as that in the city. we shall
find fewer farmers selling their land and
TO the city 10 give advantages 10
Harry and Ssrah Ann.
BIG CITIES ALLuRrSG.
II is our biggest cities that seem most |
aIhring. New York is the Mecca OF nine |
tenths OF the nation Some people have |
been known to declare that they wouldn't |
live in New York for anything with all |
the noise, and that awful subway" To |
the majority Of Americans, however, |
New York is the place where fortunes are |
made fashions are started, and plays are |
opened.
Added 10 the thousands who come to /
New York TO find excitement or some /
particular ideal, have been those other t
of immigrants who were dump |
ed in New York VIA Ellis Island, and who /
settled down in the city's Immigrant |
3s the easiest thing 10 do. In the /
years preceding the war approximately .
million immip ants came to our shores
every year. OF these New York invariably |
got more than It's share.
Four years cessation IN the immigrant /
stream has gwen the country IN general
spell, but New York has been
more crowded than ever, due TO the hoards