Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 November 1890 — “WE ARE THE PEOPLE.” [ARTICLE]

“WE ARE THE PEOPLE.”

THAT IS TO SAY, WE ARE $2,-480,54-0 OF THEM. Supt. Porter, of the Census Bureau, Bays That Is the Total Population of the United States—J«ot Quite aa Large as Was Expected—Porter’s Explanation ot the Falling Off—Growth of the Western States. [Washington dispatch.] Bulletin No. 12 on the population of the United States has been issued by the Census Office. It says: The population of the United States June 1, 1890. as shown by the first count of persons and families, exclusive of white 1 ersons in Indian Territory, Indians oh reservations, and Alaska, was 62,480,549. These figures may be slightly changed by. lator and more exact compilations, but such changes will not be material. In 1880 the population was 50,155,783. The absolute increase ot 'the populatMh In the ten years intervening was 12,324.757 and the percentage of increase wit5,,24,5(7; '.ln 1870 the population was stated as §8.558,371. According to these figures the aj solute increase in the decade detyrepn 1870 and JBBO was 11,597,412 ana thO percentage 6f Increase was 30.08. Upon their slice these figures show'that the population has increased bfitwetm iBBO and 1899 only 727,345 more than between 1870 and 1880, while the rate of ipcrease has apparently diminished from 30.08 Jo 24.57 per cent If these figures were derived from correct data, they' would be mdeed disappointing. Such a reduction in the rate of increase in the face Of the enormous immigration during the last ten years would argue a great diminution In the fecundity of the population or. a corresponding increase in its death, rate. These figures.are, however, easily explained when the, character of the data used is understood. It is Well known, the fact having been demonstrated by extensive and thorough investigation, that the census at 1870 watt grossly deficient in the Southern States, so iquch so as not only to, give aji exaggerated rate of increase of the population between 1870 and 1880 in these States but to affect very materially the rate of increase In the country at large. These omissions were not the fault nor were they within the control of the Census Office. The census of 1870 was taken under a law which the Superintendent, Gen. Francis A. Walker, characterized as “clumsy, antiquated, and barbarous.” The Census Office had no power over its enumerators save a barren protest, and its right was even questioned in some quarters. Some of Superintendent Porter’s comments on the conditions governing the spread of population are fateresting, particularly as regards the Western States. In Ohio, Indiana, lowa, and •Missouri, and in Illinois, if the city of Chicago be dropped from consideration, the rate of increase has declined decidedly. In Ohio it has fallen from 20 to 15 per cent.; in Indiana, from 18 to 11; in lowa, from 36 to 17; in Missouri, from 26 to 23 per cent., in spite of the rapid growth of St. Louis and Kansas City; and in Illinois, dropping Chicago from consideration, from 14.9 to 5.6 per cent. In these States the agricultural industry, which is still the prominent one, has begun to decline, owing to the sharp competition of Western farms. The farming population has migrated westward, and the growth of manufactures is not yet sufficiently rapid to repair these losses. The southern portions of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota are under similar conditions, but the northern parts of these States, lying upon the frontier of settlement, have filled up with sufficient rapidity to repair either wholly or in part the losses of the southern parts. Michigan increased at the rate of 38 per ceiit, between 1870 and 1880, while between 1880 and 1890 the rate was but 28 per cent. The increase between 1880 and 1890 was cut into unequal parts by the State census taken in 1884. In the first four' years of the decade the increase was j 13.2 per cent., while in the last six it was 12.7 per cent. In Wisconsin the last decade shows an increase of 28 per cent., as against an increase of 25 per cent, in the decade between 1870 and 1880. The State census of Wisconsin, taken in 1885, cuts the decade into two equal parts, and shows an increase in the first half of 18.8 per cent., and during the second half of but 7.7 per cent. Minnesota [mcreased 78 per cent, between 1870 ana 1880 and 67 per cent, between 1880 and 1890, the numerical increase being over half a million in the last decade. The State census, taken in 1885, shows that the bulk of this increase occurred between 1889 and 1885. The numerical increase during the first years was 337,025, and the rate of increase 43 per cent., while during the last half of the decade the numerical increase was 182,219 and the rate es increase 16.3 per cent. , During the last ten years the population of Dakota, considering the two States of North Dakota and South Dakota together, has increased from 135,177 to 5y),273, or 277 percent.; Nebraska from 452,402 to 1,056,793, or 134 per cent.; and Kansas from 996,096t0 1,423,485. or 43 per cent. This increase has not, however, continued uniformly throughout the decade. In 1885 Dakota contained 415.610 inhabitants, or more than four-fifths of its present population. Nebraska contained 740,645 inhabitants in the same year, thus dividing the numerical increase quite equally between the two halves of the decade, but leaving the greater percentage in the first half. In the Same year Kansas by its State census had 1,268,530 inhabitants, showing that nearly two-thirds of the numerical gain was acquired during the first halt of the decade. The industries of these States are almost purely agricultural, and are dependent upon the supply oi moisture, either in the form of rain or by Irrigation. Through these States passes what is known as the subhumid belt, a strip of country several degrees in width, in which during rainy years there is an abundance of moisture for the needs of crops, while in the years when the rainfall is below the average the supply is deficient. In this region little provision has been made for artificial irrigation, the settlers having thus far been content to depend upon rainfall. Into this region the settlors flocked in large numbers in the early years of the decade, drawn thither by the fertility of the land and by the fact that for a few years the rainfall had been sufficient for the needs of agriculture. During the last two or three years, however, the conditions of rainfall have materially changed. It has fallen decidedly below the normal, and settlers have thereby been forced to emigrate. Thousands of faifiilies have abandoned this region and gone to Oklahoma and the Rocky Mountain region. This migration is well shown in the progress of Kansa-, as indicated by its annual censuses. These censuses show a rapid increase in population from 1880 up to 1887; 1888 shows but a slight increase over 1887, while 1889 shows a reduction in the population, leading up ,

to the further reduction shown by the Federal census in 1890. Throughout the South Atlantic and Southern Central States the rate of inctease has diminished, and in most of these States it has diminished materially/! A certain reduction tn the percentage of increase, especially in the eastern part of this region, was to be expected, due not only to the operation of general laws but also to the fact that there has been considerable emigration from the States east of the Mississippi River to the westward and but little immigration. Taken together, however, these two causes by no means account for the reduction in .the rate of increase in these States. The real cause is to be found, it is stated, in the imperfections of the census of 1870. These imperfections resulted in giving a comparatively low rate of increase between 1860 and 1870 and an exaggerated increase between 1870 and 1880. Arkansas has continued to grow at q, rapid rate, having increased 40 per cent, in the last ten years. Texas also has increased with great rapidity, the numerical increase of its population being 640,471, or over 40 per cent. In the far Western section the conditions of growth have been varied. In the earlier years of the decade the discovery of valuable silver and copper mines in the mountains of Montana in the neighborhood of Butte drew to that State a large Immigration, which is engaged not only in mining but in developing the rich agricultural resources. Wyoming has continued to grow with accelerated rapidity. The census of Colorado in 1880 was taken on the top wave of a mining excitement, which had filled its mountains with miners, prospectors, and speculators, increasing its population enormously, especially in the mountainous country. The census of the State taken in 1885 was, on a superficial view, surprising. It showed that most of the mining counties had lost population during the five years preceding. This loss was, however, more than made up by the growth of its cities and its agricultural counties. The census of 1890 shows still further reduction of population in the mining regions of the State and an extraordinary ,development of its urban population and its foating element. New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah show rates of incrca’e vWiich are small when the sparsely settled condition of these territories is considered; while Nevada shows an absolute diminution of population of 17,939, or nearly 29 per cent, leaving ft the smallest of all the States.