PERILS. — tup: city. 180 



general Avill, and make the community submit to their 

 exactions as effectually as their prototypes of old. Mani- 

 festly those who framed your Constitution never dreamed 

 that twenty thousand citizens would go to the polls led 

 by a ' boss.' " 



As a rule, our largest cities are the worst governed. 

 It is natural, therefore, to infer that, as our cities grow 

 larger and more dangerous, the government will be- 

 come more corruj^t, and control will pass more com- 

 pletely into the hands of those who themselves most 

 need to be controlled. If we would appreciate the sig- 

 nificance of these facts and tendencies, we must bear 

 in mind that the disproportionate growth of the city 

 is undoubtedly to continue, and the number of great 

 cities to be largely increased. The extraordinary growth 

 of urban population during this century has not been 

 at all peculiar to the United States. It is a character- 

 istic of nineteenth century civilization. And this growth 

 of the city is taking place not only in England and Ger- 

 many, where the increase of population is rapid, but 

 also in France, where population is practically station- 

 ary, and even in Ireland where it is declining. This 

 strong tendency toward the city is the result chiefly of 

 agricultural machinery, of manufactures and railway 

 communication, and their influence will, of course, 

 continue. If the growth of the city in the United States 

 has been so rapid during this century, while many mil- 

 lions of acres were being settled, what may be expected 

 when the settlement of the West has been completed? 

 The rise in the value of land, when once the agricultural 

 lands have all been occupied and population has become 

 dense, will stimulate yet more the growth of the city ; 

 for the man of small means will be unable to command 

 a farm, and the tow^n will become his only alternative. 

 When the public lands are all taken, immigration, 

 though it will be considerably restricted thereby, will 

 continue, and will crowd the cities more and more. 

 This country will undoubtedly have a population of 

 several hundred millions, for the simple reason that it 



