1 78 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



cent., decreased during the last decade. New York shows little change, 

 the figures for the two decades being nearly identical. In Massachu- 

 setts, only 34 per cent, of the townships show a decrease in population 

 during the last decade. 



The above table presents several important and interesting facts 

 regarding distribution of the increase in population of the nine states 

 studied. All except Delaware show a greater increase in the popula- 

 tion of the large cities during the period 1890-1900 than during the 

 preceding decade. Delaware and Ohio, outside of the large cities, in- 

 creased less during 1890-1900 than during 1880-1890. In Delaware 

 alone the entire population of the state increased less during 1890- 

 1900 than during the decade preceding. In these nine representative 

 states, the population of the large cities increased 347,327 more during 

 1890-1900 than during 1880-1890; while the remaining portion of the 

 states, the rural districts, increased 517,313 more (hiring 18!)0-1900 

 than during 1880-1890. 



These figures indicate that, although the growth of our large cities 

 is still more rapid than that of the remaining parts of the country, the 

 rural districts are not being depopulated ; but, on the contrary, are rap- 

 idly increasing in population. The growth is by no means uniform. 

 The counties near the rapidly growing cities of Chicago, Cleveland 

 and Toledo are increasing in population; while many in central and 

 southern Ohio are decreasing. The contrast between New Jersey and 

 Delaware, as shown in the table, is undoubtedly to be attributed to the 

 influence of New York City and Philadelphia in the case of New Jersey, 

 and the lack of such influence in the case of Delaware. The writer 

 attributes much of this groAvth in the vicinity of these cities to the 

 development of an extensive suburban electric railroad system. This 

 may be objected to on the ground that the electric roads were not in 

 operation long enough before 1900 to produce an appreciable effect. 

 In order to prove or disprove definitely the census of 1910 will be 

 required. 



In the state of New Jersey only one county, Huntingdon, de- 

 creased in population during the last decade. Of the 104 cities, towns 

 and boroughs in this state separately returned in both 1890 and 1900, 

 86 increased during that period. Only two counties, Barnstable, in 

 the Cape Cod district, and Nantucket, an island, in the state of Massa- 

 chusetts, show a decrease in population during the last decade. The 

 three New England states, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, 

 report only two cities having a population of more than 25,000 people ; 

 they may, therefore, be called 'rural' states. An examination of the 

 population of these three states reveals one significant common tend- 

 ency — the percentage of increase was greater in each state during 

 1870-1880 than during 1880-1890 ; but the percentage for 1890-1900 



