The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1921-12-27

hank IN comparison OF reputation
Of cltles
What are the Ave most populous
"urban communities" In the United
States1
The question sounds stilted, a bull
letin from the National Geographic
society admits, but the term refers,
II Is explained, to something entirely
different from "the FIVE largest cities"
For some purposes II Ia more useful
to know where the greatest numbers
OF city jewellers are gathered together
than to know how many live inside
arbitrary political divisions. Continu-
Ing, the bulletin says;
"If the term cities 10 used loosely.
the United States Is In the strange
position Of having two that rank fourth
and two that are fifth In size, al
though these communities are Of diff
ferent magnitude. The mix-up is due
to that artificial thing, the city Limit.
People In establishing their homes
have shown a fine disregard for these
llnes-except as prompted by con-
slderations Of taxation--and have
built on either side and even astride
them. There are many places where
city boundary lines run directly
through blocks or along busy streets,
leaving outside regions as pppulous or
more populous than those included.
Yet when the population Of the city
Is being ascertalned, only the noses
inside the imaginary line are counted.
ITO clear up the difficulty and bring
out the really important fact-where
the greatest concentrations Of city
dwelling populations are to be found,
the United States census has gathered
statistics not only for city political d.
visions but also for metropolitan dis
tricts. These latter include the en-.
tire urban communities made up OF
the big cities inside their political
lines and also the city districts drawn
closely around them, though outside
the arbitrary boundaries. The figures
obtained for these population units
strikingly alter the rank of the cities.
Boston and Detroit.
1.-THE first three places are held by
New York. Chicago and Philadelphia
under both systems of enumeration.
But while Boston, the political d.
vision, ranks seventh and Detroit
fourth, the Boston metropolitan dis
trIct jumps to fourth place and the
Detroit metropolitan district takes the
sixth position. The population fig
ures show that within rough circle
drawn from the center of Boston with
radius OF between ten and fifteen
miles, there are In thlckly-settled com
munlties 1,772,254 inhabitants.
"Ih a similar circle drawn around
Detroit In United States territory,
there are 1,165, 1853 inhabitants. II the
entire population of Wayne county in
which Detroit Is situated were counted
In the Detroit district, and II the pop
ulatlons Of the four counties grouped
around Wayne county were added, the
population would still be less than l.
100000, though the average radius
would then be increased TO nearly 80
miles. The increase Of the radius
around Boston to 20 to 80 miles would
bring into the district between 2,0OO,-
900 and 100000 Inhabitants, for the
eastern end Of Massachusetts is one
OF the most thickly-populated regions
in the United States.
Pittsburgh District Fifth.
'Ilke Boston, Pittsburgh suffers In
comparison OF the population Of
cities by the fact that the official city
boundaries inclose a relatively small
area, while Immediately outside are
numerous populous regions. When
the figures for the Pittsburgh metro
polltan district are used instead Of the
figures for the political division, Pitts
burgh rises from ninth to fifth place
among the urban communities Of the
United States. It's metropolitan dis
trict has a population Of ], 207 ,504, but
within the imaginary lines or the city
boundaries are less than half that
number OF inhabitants.
1.-THE magnitude of the omissions OF
urban territory and populations from
some of the cities In thickly-settled
portions of the country are brought
out by canvasses OF the sizable cities
and towns, left to be separately or
ganized, which cluster just outside the
city limits. Within ten to fifteen miles
Of Boston are three cities with popu-
latlons between 10000 and 10000; six
cities OF between 10000 and 10000;
10 cities and towns Of between $1,000
and 10000; eight OF between 10000
and $4,000, and a large number OF
communities under 10000 population.
Plttsburgh's metropolitan district con-
tains in addition to Pittsburgh itself
IL communities with populations rang
ing from 10000 to $4,000, and 81 with
populations between 5000 and 10000.
Within the Detroit metropolitan dis
trict not included in the Detroit city
limits are three towns and villages
with populations between 10000 and
$4,000, and three numbering between
5000 and 10000 Inhabitants"