47 8 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



families. This is an exceedingly vital question, and much light 

 will be thrown upon it under future statistical investigations. 



In discussing the number of families and the composition there- 

 of, it is interesting always to learn the relation of persons to 

 dwellings. The following table gives the total number of dwell- 

 ings and persons to a dwelling, by geographical divisions, under 

 the census of 1890 : 



An examination of the foregoing table proves that the number 

 of persons to a dwelling is constantly decreasing, although slight- 

 ly, thus indicating increased comfort on the part of the population 

 as a whole. In 1850 there were 5'94 persons to each dwelling in 

 the country, while in 1890 the average was 5*45. In the West, 

 however, this statement is reversed, for in 1850 the number of 

 persons to a dwelling was 4*27, and in 1890 it had increased to 5*05. 

 This, as in the case of the increased size of family, shows the 

 effects of the new settlements. 



A dwelling, for census purposes, means any building or place 

 of abode in which any person was living at the time the census 

 was taken, whether the abode was a room above a warehouse or 

 factory, a loft above a stable, a wigwam on the outskirts of a 

 settlement, a hotel, a boarding or lodging house, a large tenement- 

 house, or the dwelling-house ordinarily considered as such. On 

 this basis the number of dwellings in 1890 had increased 28*22 per 

 cent over the number in 1880. In 1890 there were 11,483,318 

 dwellings and 12,690,152 families, there thus being 10*51 per cent 

 more families than dwellings, while in 1880 the excess was 11*06 

 per cent, and in 1850 it was 7*02 per cent. 



It should be remembered, in making any comparison between 

 dwellings and persons from 1850 to 1890, that in 1860 and 1870 the 

 total number of dwellings included both occupied and unoccupied 

 dwellings, while in 1850, 1880, and 1890 the total number of occu- 

 pied dwellings only was reported. Again, in 1850 and 1860 the 

 number of dwellings stated was for the free population only, the 

 dwellings of the slave population in those censuses not being re- 

 turned. Any figures, therefore, for 1850 to 1870, inclusive, do not 

 afford a very fair basis of comparison. The table just given 

 should be used in the light of these remarks. 



