Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 November 1879 — The Attractions of Cities. [ARTICLE]

The Attractions of Cities.

The November number pi the Princeton Review an article by Mr. Robert P. Porter, of the Inter-Ocean, in which is pointed out the danger which awaits this country if the flow of population to the large cities is not checked, and more attention is not paid to the cultivation of the soil. The writer presents figures to show that no country in the world ever exhibited such a regular and enormous rate of increase in the population as the United States does from 1800 to 1860. In England the rate increased from six per cent, in 1670 to sixteen per cent, in 1821, when a distinct- ana continuous decrease is struck. The rate of sixteen per cent, diminishes successively to fifteen, fourteen, thirteen and twelve, until it seems to have approached a stationary condition at twelve. In regard to ourselves, the census reports show an average rate of increase of thirty-three per cent, every ten years. But it should be borne in mind that an increase of population may be deemed a solid good or a dreadful evil, according to the circumstances of the oountryin which it oocprs. If a commensurate increase of

food and raiment can be produced by agriculture and by manufacture, an accession of consumers in the home market cannot but be beneficial to ail parties; and the increase of population in such case may be deemed equally desirable in itself, and conducive to National strength and National prosperity. In no instance is this better illustrated than in England, where the large manufacturing towns have grown while agriculture has been neglected Ten years ago, Mr. Bright made a series of vigorous speeches, embodying advice ana counsel *to the workingclasses of Great Britain. He pointed out to them the mistake they were committing in crowding into cities and engaging in mechanical and manufacturing work, to.the neglect of agriculture. The burden of the advice was, “Go back to the land." He pointed out how much of the land of Great Britain and Ireland was still lying waste, held as deer-forests and grouse-moors, which, if cultivated, would maintain directly many thousands, and the produce of which would cheapen the necessaries of life to many thousands more who worked in cities. In England, the population is divided into the distinct agricultural and manufacturing masses—contrasted, as they are, in every point of nature, history and social condition. To show that Mr. Bright was right, and that, had his advice been followed, much of the forcing of trade and overproduction of manufactures which have resulted in the present commercial stagnation and disorganization of tne labor market might have been avoided, the writer compares the condition of these two great portions by means of the rates of progress by some of the most purely agricultural and most purely manufacturing counties: AGRICULTURAL counties. I Increase of ver cent. COUNTV. . Fi ? S 5 j|SpS§SjgSgS!gS Buckingham ! 9 14 9 6 5 8 Cambridge.. 13| 21 18 14 13< —6 Devon 13 16, 13 7 6 3 Dorset.... H 16 10 10 5; 8 Norfolk ! 7,18 il3 6 7,-3 Somerset....; 10, 17 1 13 8 2 0 Sussex 191 33 17 10 15 8 Westmoreland I 12 12 7 3 3 4 Wilts i 4 141 8 8 —1 —2 The negative sign ( —) indicates a decrease ofpopulation. To demonstrate how clearly Mr. Bright foresaw the dangers that lay ahead, it is only necessary to glance at the following and compare it with the table above: MANUFACTURING COUNTIES. ! Increase of population. Countv. .j ?| F*j ? F IS Durham 10 Hi 24 20 27: 30 Lancaster...; 2i\ 27 27 : 24! 22 30 Monmouth 36 22 2*! 38l 17| 11 Northumberland.... 19 15 11. 12 14 12 Stafford 21! 17 ig! 24 20 23 Glamorgan 19; 20 24 35 35' 37 Thus, while the population in some of the large manufacturing towns in England has increased at the rate of thirty and thirty-seven per cent., eight per cent, is the highest rate of increase in the agricultural districts, and in three counties the population has actually decreased. But we find that here, as in England, there is a decided tendency to leave the millions of acres of magnificent lands unoccupied, and seek the large towns. Population seems to seek life for the brain, and such excitements as our cities afford prove too attractive for the rural populations, as the following will show: Ve ah Cities and Per n ura i ! P*r~ year. Town*, tent. “unu. celU 1860 3,131,675 23.5 10206,727 76. 1860 5,031,086 28 1:1237,002 73 1870-.. 7,641,950 34 15215,033; 66 No doubt the census of 1880 will show a still larger proportion. In 1850 less than one-quarter of the population of the United States lived in cities; now the towns contain upward of one-third. Mr. Porter thinks the change may be to some extent accounted for in the change of the industrial condition of the West, but in general the immense demand for manufactured products which followed the war drafted the country population into the towns, there to exchange the quiet village for the crowded, squalid alleys, the busy workshop, or the gloomy mine. But it must not be forgotten that in the United States there is a happy medium between the large cities and their toiling thousands and the villages with their naif-dozen stores and school-house each. We allude to the manufacturing cities of from 10,000 to 25,000 inhabitants, which are growing up so rapidly, especially in our Western States. Lots are cheap in such towns, and the careful, industrious mechanic soon has a home of his own, and be becomes identified with the city in which he lives. —Chicago Inter-Ocean.