INFLUENCE OF INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT 335 



to the Census Report for 1910, "The only countries whose natives 

 show a lower proportion residing in urban communities in 1910 

 than is shown for the white population of the U. S. (44.2 per cent) 

 are Norway, Montenegro, and Mexico, and of these Mexico is the 

 only one for which the percentage (34.2) was lower than that for 

 the native whites of native parents (36.1 per cent)." 



The general city-ward migration of the population has had a 

 marked influence on the negro population of the nation, a fact of 

 no small consequence for the biological fortunes of that race. 

 In the decades ending in 1890, 1900 and 1910 the percentage of 

 negroes living in cities of 2,500 or over was 19.8, 22.7 and 27.4, 

 respectively. In the Southern States the negro population, like 

 the white, is largely rural (over 75 per cent), but it is becoming 

 gradually urbanized like the white race and at about the same 

 rate. In the north, however, the negro becomes decidedly urban. 

 In the New England States in 1910, 91.8 per cent of the negroes 

 lived in cities; in the Middle Atlantic States the urban percentage 

 was 81.2 per cent, in the Atlantic East North Central States 76.7 

 per cent, in the West North Central 97.7 per cent. New York 

 with its 91,709 negroes and Washington with its 94,446 are the 

 two largest negro cities in the U. S. Next in order come New 

 Orleans (89,262), Philadelphia (84,459), Baltimore (84,749), 

 Memphis (52,441), Atlanta (51,902), Richmond (46,733), Chicago 

 (44,103), St. Louis (43,690), Nashville (36,523). 



In the cities of the north, as a rule, the negro population has 

 increased at a greater rate relatively to the number of negroes 

 30 years ago, than in the south, due largely to the fact that before 

 and during the war the negro population was largely confined to 

 the south. It is noteworthy, however, that in some of the colder 

 cities such as St. Paul, Minneapolis and Milwaukee the negro 

 population remains very small, less than 2 per cent. 



How do cities affect those who dwell in them? The general 

 effect of city life in the past, and to a considerable extent up to 

 the present, has proven to be deleterious to a large part of their 

 inhabitants. As destroyers of humanity they have ranked among 

 the most potent. "Anthropologically," says Nordau, "the large 



