232 FROM A NEW ENGLAND HILLSIDE. 



XLV. 



A SHORT time ago I had something to say 

 upon the matter of population, and the 

 assumed value of a dense population, a most 

 singular and elaborate piece of self-decep 

 tion. It is, I suppose, a natural, though 

 even in that case, a questionable policy, 

 which animates the West in encouraging 

 immigration, for with native resources 

 greatly in excess of the demands upon 

 them, a greater density in population may 

 aid in promoting prosperity and physical 

 in some cases even mental and spirit 

 ual, well-being. But in the more fully occu 

 pied Eastern states this is much more 

 rarely the case : in many places it is not so 

 in any sense, and in the cities the contrary 

 is so, with great emphasis. The tendency 

 to congregate in the cities is notorious, and 

 this makes our municipal problems the most 

 serious with which we have to deal. 



There has been in the past much contro 

 versy over the contention of Malthus that 

 population tends to increase with greater 



