The Increase of Town Populations. 79 



probably there are few — even school children — at the 

 present day who do not know that out of every thousand 

 persons living at the present epoch only about half as many 

 die annually as did from a similar number say 50 years 

 ago. This, coupled with the natural increase of the 

 community, forms annually a very appreciative addition 

 to the population, and so far such information is most 

 satisfa6lory. There are however various ways in which 

 such a fa6l may be considered, and for the present it may 

 be sufficient to allude to one circumstance which is 

 making itself very measurably felt by the present aug- 

 mented population, and that is the increasing compe- 

 tition for almost standing-room and for the means of 

 an honest and independent existence. The fa6l of such 

 a struggle if it but leads to the desired goal is in the 

 absolute but a question of sentiment and probably un- 

 worthy of a community's consideration — but the effe6l 

 it has on the majority of those who fall short of the 

 mark is a different matter, and in so far as it injuriously 

 recoils upon the masses becomes worthy of every con- 

 sideration in our power. 



A contributor to a back number of the Contemporary 

 Review points out that " one-fourth of the people who 

 attain the age of 65 are compelled to resort to the Reliev- 

 ing Officer for that bare subsistence upon which they 

 linger out their lives." This largely arises from the fa6l 

 that the younger population is quite unable to assist in 

 supporting the elder, no matter how closely they may be 

 related. The outbidding each other which is going on 

 on all sides leaves a man hardly able to do more than 

 support himself ; and should he be married, as too many of 

 these poor men men are, he finds his difficulties in making 



