Throughout the world the remarkable growth of great cities is of special significance, and also the manner of growth. There is great difficulty in comparing statistics because of the failure to distinguish the economic from the political unit. It is the territory economically dependent upon the large centre which continues to grow rapidly. The important point to be -toted is, that the in creased size of these cities is doe to suburban extensions. The older portions of the city have the population displaced by business and im provements; rapid-transit facilities remove the residential portions to outlying districts, where better conditions are possible and the congested wards do not grow except where a class of immigrants appear. Ilowever, the incomers to the shuns are largely balanced by the outgoers. Certain forms of industry are also moving to the suburbs.
A principal eanse of urban growth was the industrial revolution which stimulated the in crease of population and concentrated it in large towns. It is noticeable that the tendency to city life in the different countries is coincident with the Lurowth of manufacturing industries. An ad vantageous commercial situation is still a cause of growth for individual cities, as instanced by Liverpool. Montevideo. or Denver. More recent reasons for the depopulation of the country dis tricts have been the low price of farm produets; the improvements in agrieultural machinery, which have reduced the demand for labor: the de ereased demand for rural eraftsm•n, due to the factory products and improved transportation: and the varied opportunities for advancement af forded by the city.
A few of the effects of this agglomeration of population may he enumerated. (1) Economic. Great extremes of wealth are found in the cities, but the possibilities of greater production raise the average of prosperity ;Ind the standard of living. Increased taxation and municipal indebt edness make heavy demands upon the social purse. The cost of living is high, especially in tents, resulting in the horrors of overcrowding. Staples, (Me er, are lower, and consumption can be greatly varied. The existence of an unem ployed class is probably due to the immigration of a low class. _Lssociation is an aid to labor, in that it favors organization. (2) Political. Urban growth has nwant national greatness. National stability was considered to depend upon the con servatism accompanying land-tenure. As urban
life increases, tenancy becomes more general; hut the new simply expanded property interests. Municipal government (q.v.) presents difficult problems. The population con tains floating, non-taxpaying, and foreign ele ments; the opportunities for corruption arc and the needs of administration require an ex pansion in governmental functions. (3) Social. Among the evils of city life are those of disease, dirt, high death-rate. infant mortality, overcrowding. lack of light and air, poor water, the fostering of daring criminals, the nervous tension of the life and the lack of provision for education and recreation, as well as the dangers of class antagonism. Industrial competition has weakened the tendency of cities to be the cen tres of radicalism, but association unconsciously strengthens social solidarity. A humanitarian movement is apparent, as instanced in philan thropic- associations, while common interests have developed municipal activities broadly social in their nature. The cities are necessarily the cen tres of thought, culture. and progress; they make opinions, fashions, and ideas. Urban life must be accepted as a prominent factor of civilization, whose evils are temporary and remedial. Science can provide a solution for every problem. The old cities are in process of remaking; the solu tion of the problem is not a return to rural life, but a better adjustment to the urban environ ment. See MUNICIPAL t;OVERNILENT.
BIlit.10Gli %Pill% Consult : The Law Commenta ries of Blackstone, Kent. and Stephen; also Jhe Evolution of the Aryan (Eng. trans. New York, 1897) : Fustel de Coulanges, La cite an tique (15th ed. Paris, lS95: Eng. trans. Lon don, 1S74) ; Weber, "The Growth of Cities in the Nineteenth Century." in Columbia University Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law.
vol. xi. (New York, 1901), where there is an ex tensive treatment of the subject, with biblio graphical notes; Shaw. ,Ifunicipa-/ COrernment in. Great Britain (New York. 1895) : dames, "The (growth of treat Cities in .:Lrea and Population," in Annaitt of _Liner-lean Academy of und Social Science, vol. xiii.
18991: Ribliography of •Nlunicipal Administra tion and City Conditions. issued by Municipal .1 ffairs, Vol. i. (New York. 1897, United States Census Reports).