UNITED STATES, CENSUS OF. 



815 



of excavation has already been begun at two 

 points on the line ; that the increase of means 

 of transportation, which has heretofore been 

 insufficient, and the completion of machinery 

 now on the Isthmus will soon enable the work 

 to advance rapidly ; that there can no longer 

 be doubt as to the intention of the company 

 to carry out the proposed plan of this canal. 

 The date fixed by M. de Lesseps for its comple- 

 tion is 1888, and the present superior agent. 

 Captain Richier, is sanguine that this will be 

 accomplished. He also believes that the canal 

 can be made for the amount estimated 600,- 

 000,000 francs. But I infer from conversation 

 withcanal engineers and with others well versed 

 in affairs that the canal will not be finished for 

 some years later, and that the cost will largely 

 exceed the estimate. And it seems probable 

 that this will undergo the experience of many 

 other great projects that the original sub- 

 scribers must again subscribe or lose their ven- 

 ture, and that new stockholders will be the 

 ones to share the profits. Up to the present 

 date about 130,000,000 francs have been ex- 

 pended. In this amount the cost of all ma- 

 chinery, ordered or received, is included, as 

 well as the purchase of property. The cost of 

 the Panama Railway, believed to be about 

 $17,000,000, however, is not included in this 

 amount, special arrangements having been 

 made for its purchase. A short time since the 

 eminent New York engineer, Mr. Stevens, was 

 invited to inspect the works and the studies for 

 plans. I hear he suggested that two or three 

 locks be introduced in order to simplify the 

 difficulties and to lessen the cost of construc- 

 tion. But a canal d niveau has been deter- 

 mined upon, and is to be built if the money 

 can be raised, and the climate does not prove 

 too deadly to the laborers. It seems probable 

 that, with the work well begun and advanced, 

 neither difficulty will prove insurmountable." 

 (See COLOMBIA and RODGERS.) 

 UNITED STATES, CENSUS OF. In the 



"Annual Cyclopedia" for 1881 were given 

 the most important returns of the census of 

 1880 then reported. Additional results are 

 given in the following pages, and statistics re- 

 lating to special topics will be found in this 

 volume under the titles : COTTON PRODUCT AND 

 MANUFACTURES ; CRIMINAL JURISPRUDENCE ; 

 EDUCATION AND ILLITERACY ; FARMS ; INDEBT- 

 EDNESS OF THE UNION, AND OF THE STATES, 



CITIES, COUNTIES, ETC. ; INSURANCE ; MANU- 

 FACTURES OF THE UNITED STATES ; RAILROADS ; 

 and TELEGRAPHS AND TELEPHONES. 



Of the total population (50,155,783) in 1880, 

 25,518,820 were male and 24,636,963 female. 

 The number of males eighteen to forty-four 

 years of age, both inclusive, was 10,231,239 ; 

 the number of males twenty-one years of age 

 and over was 12,830,349; the total population 

 ten years of age and over was 36,761,607. 

 The number of persons to the square mile, 

 excluding the Territory of Alaska and the 

 Indian Territory, was 17'29. The number of 

 dwellings in the United States was 8,955,812 ; 

 persons to a dwelling, 5 '6 ; number of families, 

 9,945,916; persons to a family, 5-04. The ur- 

 ban population of the United States, from 1790 

 to 1880, is shown in the following table: 



The percentage of increase of population 

 during twenty years in the several States and 

 Territories has been as follows: 



* Decrease. 



t Of Virginia and West Virginia together. 



