758 



UNITED STATES CENSUS OF 1870. 



the approval of the Superintendent, but, owing 

 to the opposition against this feature of the 

 census bill, which was defeated in Congress, 

 this system was not adopted. In a few cases, 

 assistant-marshals of their own accord and at 

 their own expense adopted this scheme in an 

 informal way with good results. One of the 

 marshals for the city of Covington, Ky., re- 

 ports that he left in advance 3,000 family 

 schedules at the houses of his subdivision, and 

 upon collecting them found 2,300 satisfactorily 

 filled. The advantages of this system are a 

 great saving of time, and a high degree of ac- 

 curacy in the enumerations. It is worthy of 

 remark that few, if any, serious complaints 

 have been made in regard to the results of 

 the census in cities of the second or third 

 class. The complaints have generally arisen 

 in the smaller cities, as also in cities of the 

 first class. In New York City and Philadel- 

 phia reenumerations were made. In the for- 

 mer the gain upon reenumeration was but 

 18,348 on an original return of 923,944, being 

 as nearly as possible two per cent., while in 

 the latter the gain was but 16,745 on a former 

 return of 657,277, or two and a half per cent. 

 The aggregate constitutional population of 

 the United States (excluding, i. e., Indians not 

 taxed, and the inhabitants of the Territories), 

 upon the 1st of June, 1870, as finally de- 

 termined by the complete census, was 38,113,- 

 253, showing a positive increase during the 

 decade of 6,929,509, a gain of 22.22 per cent. 

 The greatest percentage of gain has been in 

 the Western States, and the least in the New 

 England. The gain in Illinois was 48.36 per 

 cent., rank four, as in 1860 ; Iowa, 76.58 per 

 cent, rank 11 instead of 20; Kansas, 239.90 

 per cent., rank 29 instead of 33 ; Michigan, 

 58.06 per cent., rank 13 instead of 16; Min- 

 nesota, 155.61 per cent., rank 28 instead of 

 30 ; Missouri, 45.62 per cent., rank 5 instead 

 of 8 ; Oregon, 73.30 per cent., rank 36 instead 

 of 34. There has been a loss in the total 

 population in two States. Maine has decreased 

 from 628,279 to 626,915, a loss of 0.22 per 

 cent., rank 23 instead of 22 ; New Hampshire, 

 from 326,073 to 318,300, a loss of 2.38 per 

 cent., rank 31 instead of 27. During the de- 

 cade there was an increase in the white pop- 

 ulation of 6,509,960, or 24.39 per cent. In 

 two States there was a decrease in the white 

 population. In Alabama, the loss amounted 

 to 0.93 per cent., and in South Carolina to 

 0.56 per cent. In the total colored population 

 of the United States there has been a gain 

 since 1860 of 9.21 per cent. The greatest per- 

 centage of gain is shown in the following 

 States : Illinois, 277.06 per cent. ; Indiana, 

 114.91 per cent.; Iowa, 439.01 per cent.; 

 Kansas, 2,628.55 per cent, (in 1860, the num- 

 ber of colored was 627 ; in 1870, 17,108) ; Min- 

 nesota, 193.05 per cent. ; Oregon, 170.31 per 

 cent. In three States there has been a loss in 

 the colored population, amounting in Ken- 

 tucky to 5.91 per cent. ; in Missouri, 0.36 per 



cent., and in Virginia including West Vir- 

 ginia, 3.29 per cent. In South Carolina the 

 colored population exceeds the white by 

 126,147; in Mississippi, . by 61,305; and in 

 Louisiana, by 2,145. In Florida the white 

 and colored are nearly equally distributed ; 

 the former exceeding the latter by only 

 4,368. Twenty-three of the States were found 

 to contain Chinese. In California there 

 were 49,310 ; Oregon, 3,330 ; Nevada, 3,152, 

 while in the other States the number was in- 

 significant. Indians, forming a part of the 

 constitutional population, were returned from 

 every State except Delaware. The largest 

 numbers were in California, 7,241 ; North 

 Carolina, 1,241 ; Wisconsin, 1,206. The effect 

 of emancipation, by adding the two-fifths of 

 the slave population formerly excluded from 

 the basis of representation, has been to add 

 13.92 per cent, to the otherwise representative 

 population of the Southern States, and 4.60 

 per cent, to the otherwise representative pop- 

 ulation of the United States. The joint result 

 of the changes in the constitutional population 

 of the several States, and of the emancipation 

 of the slave population in the fifteen Southern 

 States, is to increase the representative popula- 

 tion of the Union to 38,113,253, as against 29,- 

 550,028, being a gain of 28.98 per cent, over 

 that of 1860. 



There is no provision in the Constitution or 

 the census law of 1850 for an enumeration of 

 tribal Indians, but inquiries were conducted 

 extensively through the agents of the Indian 

 Office during the year 1870, and a closer ap- 

 proximation to the true numbers of this class 

 of the population obtained than has ever before 

 been effected. The total number in the United 

 States and Territories is 383,712, of whom 

 111,185 are in the States, and 272,527 in the 

 Territories. Of the whole number, 25,731 are 

 out of tribal relations, and 357,981 sustain 

 tribal relations, of whom 123,241 are on res- 

 ervations and at agencies, and 234,740 are 

 nomadic. The aggregate true population of 

 the United States and Territories is 38,923,- 

 210, of whom 720,000 are in the Territories. 

 " Undoubtedly much disappointment," says 

 Superintendent Walker, " exists at finding the 

 population of the country below forty-one mill- 

 ions exclusive of Indians." The difference, 

 about 3,000,000, between the population of 

 the country, as projected from previous ex- 

 perience, and the population reached by the 

 census, is attributed by the Superintendent 

 almost wholly to the effects of the war: 1. 

 There has been a retardation of increase in the 

 colored population. The proportional gain of 

 this element in ten years, according to previous 

 experience, should have been about one million. 

 The actual increase was 438,179. 2. The direct 

 losses by wounds and diseases are estimated 

 at not less than 850,000 ; 500,000 among tho 

 Union armies, and 350,000 in the Confederate. 

 3. The indirect loss by the war in the check 

 given to the increase of the native population 



