326
��Town and City Histories.
��[May,
��cussed one or more topics, and then their work with that of the less famous contributors was arranged chronologi- cally, making a logically consecutive series of essays complete in themselves. The whole was published in four ele- gantly printed volumes, containing, in all, twenty- five hundred and seventy- seven pages.
This is the kind of a history which is of value, not only for immediate use, but also for future reference ; and this is the kind that gladdens the heart and cheers the labors of the student and the writer. It is the lack of such histories which makes incomplete and unsatis- factory such works as the one in the hands of the government which called forth this article. For it must not be supposed that the historical part of The Social Statistics of Cities of 1880 will be either complete in every part or wholly satisfactory. Yet perhaps it will be complete enough to answer its end, which is to afford an opportunity for seeing why the cities and towns described have reached their present condition. It is on the accounts of their present condition that the value of the work must chiefly rest.
To the historians in succeeding gen- erations these accounts will be inval- uable, for they will give information about the cities as they were in the year 1880, which is not likely to be em- bodied in any other permanent form. It has been shown how large a propor- tion of the local histories of America have been found wanting in these things. It is not to be expected that the immediate future will see any de- cided reformation. Then it is clear of how great value to the " future his- torian of recent events," to quote one of Daniel Webster's phrases, will be such work as this that has been under- taken by the National government. It
��will be of so great value because, as we can say with little exaggeration, the history of the cities is the history of the nation. The city to-day plays a most important part in national affairs. It is, indeed, and for aught we can see must continue to be, the Hamlet of the play. Few people realize this. Few people know that over one fifth of the population of the land is gathered in the large towns and cities. At the be- ginning of the century the ratio of the urban population to the rural was only as one to fifteen. No reason is ap- parent why the increase in the ratio should not be equally steady and rapid for many generations. That this same change has taken place in all civilized portions of the world is, in truth, most significant. In England the progress of the cities has been in the same direction, and, as nearly as can be judged, in the same ratio as that of wealth, learning, and happiness.
Call to mind what Macaulay said, nearly half a century ago, in chapter iii of his History of England : "Great as has been the change in the rural life of England since the Revolution (1688), the change which has come to pass in the cities is still more amazing. At present, a sixth part of the kingdom is crowded into provincial towns of more than thirty thousand inhabitants. In the reign of Charles II, no provincial town in the kingdom contained thirty thousand inhabitants, and only four provincial towns con- tained so many as ten thousand inhab- itants." Since this was written, the change, if not so marvelous, has been equally important.
As to our own country, the change can in no way be shown more clearly than by the following table, which will be published in the Census Report : —
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