THE DECREASE OF RURAL POPULATION. 



6 33 



of them contain more or less rural population, while many of the 

 less populous are purely rural. An accurate idea of the relative 

 rates of growth of the different grades of places can therefore be 

 obtained only by excluding the cities and towns of the New Eng- 

 land States from the comparison. In the following table, the cit- 

 ies, towns, and villages of the country are classified according to 

 the number of their inhabitants in 1890 ; the number of each class 

 in 1890 is given, together with the aggregate population in 1890 

 and 1880 of the cities which in 1890 were in each class, the in- 

 crease during the decade, and the percentage of that increase. 

 In the column to the extreme right is given the percentage of in- 

 crease of each class of cities, exclusive of those in the New Eng- 

 land States : 



From the above table it appears that, as a rule, the cities which 

 now have a quarter of a million or more inhabitants have not in- 

 creased during the decade as rapidly as those having a smaller 

 population. The difference would have been even much more 

 marked than it is, if it had not been for the wonderful growth of 

 Chicago. The ten cities, outside of New England, with more 

 than a quarter of a million inhabitants each, have gained at the 

 rate of 40"28 per cent during the decade, while the rate of increase 

 in the 2,881 cities, towns, and villages having in 1890 from 1,000 

 to 250,000 inhabitants each, averaged 60.19 per cent, or nearly one 

 half greater. Among the various classes of cities included in 

 these 2,881 places, there was during the decade no important dif- 

 ference in the rapidity of growth perceptible, although, on the 

 whole, the places with from 20,000 to 250,000 grew slightly, but 

 only slightly, more rapidly than those having less than 20,000. 

 Although the smaller cities considered together have grown as 

 rapidly as have the larger, the difference among the respective 



VOL. XJLII. 42 



