THE POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES 



By Henry Gannett 



THE population of the United 

 States as announced by the Bu- 

 reau of the Census was, on April 

 15, 1910, 93,402,151. This figure includes 

 not only continental United States, but 

 its detached territories — Alaska, Hawaii, 

 and Porto Rico. Excluding these ter- 

 ritories, continental United States con- 

 tained 91,972,266 inhabitants; or, in 

 round numbers, 92,000,000, a number 

 much larger than was generally antici- 

 pated. 



Compared with the population of the 

 same area in 1900, 75,994,575, our num- 

 bers increased in 10 years not less than 

 15,977,691, or at the rate of 21,0 per 

 cent. The per cent of increase was 

 slightly greater than in the preceding 

 decade, 1890 to 1900, when it was 20.7 

 per cent. 



It is probable that our natural increase 

 has diminished considerably, but the net 

 immigration — i. e., the excess of arrivals 

 over departures — has been decidedly 

 greater, more than offsetting this de- 

 crease in the natural increase. 



In the matter of numbers, this country 



POPULATION 



MILLIONS 

 O 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 



DIAGRAM SHOWING OUR POPULATION AT 

 £ACH CENSUS PERIOD 



of ours is the fourth on earth, being ex- 

 ceeded only by China, India, and Russia, 

 all of them much lower in the scale of 

 civilization than ourselves. Measured by 

 efficiency, our 93 millions produce in the 

 world's goods many times that produced 

 by China's 420 millions, India's 300 mil- 

 lions, or Russia's 161 millions. The 

 number of inhabitants exceeds those of 

 the United Kingdom and France com- 

 bined. 



The decade 1890 to 1900 was one of 

 depression in business, which showed 

 itself in many ways, but perhaps most 

 markedly in the decrease of immigration 

 and increase in the number of returning 

 immigrants, the result of which was to 

 actually reduce the number of foreign 

 born. This depression in business was 

 felt more severely in the West than else- 

 where, for to other causes was added the 

 reduction in the price of silver and the 

 consequent closing down of many mines 

 of that metal. 



In the decade just closed all this was 

 changed The times have been prosper- 

 ous ; immigrants have flocked to our 

 shores in unprecedented numbers ; the 

 mines of the West have been reopened 

 and are working full-handed ; the farm- 

 ers have produced full crops, and have 

 realized high prices for them. 



The first census was taken in 1790, 

 and showed a population of a little less 

 than four millions, spread along the At- 

 lantic seaboard from Maine to Georgia. 

 In this census little was done except to 

 count noses. Every tenth year there- 

 after a census has been taken, and with 

 each succeeding census the scope and 

 variety and the value of the statistics 

 have increased. At present the taking 

 of a census is a very serious task. The 

 population alone has multiplied nearly 

 25 times. The information which is ob- 

 tained concerning the population is vastly 

 greater than in the earlier censuses ; and, 

 moreover, we have for the past 60 years 

 taken also a census of our industries and 



