| Population. | Gain. 1870 to 1890. |
Percentage of gain. 1870 to 1890. | |||
| 1870. | 1880. | 1890. | |||
| New York. | |||||
| Total all wards | 942,292 | 1,206,299 | 1,515,301 | 573,009 | 60·81 |
| Total congested wards[1] | 545,633 | 593,314 | 596,831 | 51,178 | 9·38 |
| Total remaining wards | 396,639 | 612,385 | 918,470 | 521,831 | 131·56 |
| Philadelphia. | |||||
| Total all wards | 674,022 | 847,170 | 1,046,964 | 372,942 | 55·33 |
| Total congested wards[2] | 436,272 | 401,795 | 407,631 | [3]28,641 | 6·56 |
| Total remaining wards | 237,750 | 445,375 | 639,333 | 401,593 | 168·91 |
| Boston. | 1880 to 1890. | ||||
| Total all wards | . . . . . . | 362,839 | 448,477 | 85,638 | 23·60 |
| Total congested wards[4] | . . . . . . | 98,074 | 99,094 | 1,020 | 1·04 |
| Total remaining wards | . . . . . . | 264,765 | 349,383 | 84,618 | 31·96 |
| Boston. | |||||
| Total | 250,526 | 362,839 | 448,477 | 197,921 | 79+ |
| Boston proper | 138,781 | 147,075 | 161,330 | 22,549 | 16+ |
| Annexations | 111,745 | 215,764 | 287,147 | 175,402 | 156+ |
A study of this last table throws great light upon the supposed concentration of population in the slums of the cities named. In New York the increase in the congested wards (and I have taken for this purpose all the wards south of Fourteenth Street) was in the twenty years from 1870 to 1890 but 51,178, or 9·38 per cent; while the increase for the whole city for the twenty years was 573,009, or 60·81 per cent. The remaining wards, or those north of Fourteenth Street, were the territory where nearly all this last-named gain took place. It was 531,831, or a gain from 1870 to 1890 of 131·56 per cent. Certainly during the twenty years there has been no perceptible increase of population in the congested territory described.
Turning to Philadelphia, and taking the compact wards, we find there has been a loss in the twenty years of 28,611, or 6·56 per cent, the wards other than the congested wards showing a gain of 101,583, or 168·91 per cent, while the total gain for the whole city was 372,912, or 55·33 per cent.
Similar conditions are shown for Boston. In the first section of the preceding table relating to Boston the population for 1880 and 1890 only is given, as explained. This shows that in the ten years named the congested wards, which include all the slum population of the city, the gain was only 1,020, or 1·04 per cent; while in the remaining wards there was a gain of 84,618, or 31·96 per cent. The second section of the table relating to Boston shows the population for 1870, 1880, and 1890 for the whole city—for Boston proper, that is, the old city territory prior to any of its
