TH I. POPULATION HE rapid increase in the population which had characterized the early days of pioneering and land speculation and even the later period of settlement and development had carried Illinois to high rank among the states. By 1860 it held fourth place and a generation later attained third place, a rank which it has since held, being surpassed at present in the size of its population only by New York and Pennsylvania. Proud of its rapid growth, which it accepted as a sign of virility, it boasted with all the hardihood of youth of its accumulating numbers and sought by every legitimate method to attract and hold a still larger population. And to the Illinois of 1870, with its teeming untouched resources, its untenanted farms, and the wonderful industrial opportunities which men of vision saw undeveloped on every hand, a larger population was essential. For the fullest realization of its powers, the utilization of its resources, and the development of the highest type of civilization, a people must secure physical and mental contact; and for this purpose a fairly dense population is necessary. For these reasons the rate of increase of the population was a question of supreme importance in the growth of the state. Illinois has always been an hospitable state and has welcomed the newcomers with open arms. The measure of its welcome has been the political rights and the economic opportunities which it has granted, and in both these respects it responded lavishly in 1870. Liberal franchise laws soon put the stranger upon a political equality with the older citizens. The period since the Civil War has been marked primarily by the exploitation of the natural and agricultural resources I of the country, their utilization in expanding manufactures, and the improvement and extension of transportation facilities. A tremendous demand was thus created for labor and in this need Illinois kept pace with the other states. Indeed its necessities were greater than those of the older states to the east, as they were more urgent than those of the less richly endowed states to the west or south. The response to its call was prompt and unceasing. The year 1870 marks the dividing line between a period of rapid growth in the population of the state and one of much slower growth. During the fifty years from 1810 to 1860 the population of Illinois had increased very markedly, the smallest rate of increase for any decade being seventy-eight and eighttenths per cent between 1840 and 1850, and in every instance showing a growth many times as rapid as that of the country as a whole. But by 1870 the rush of settlement had passed this state and the rate of growth slowed down decidedly. It is characteristic of older settled communities that after the early settlement and the first flush of immigration there should be a steady decline in the rate of increase. Illinois was no exception during the fifty years ending in 1910, and in the last decade even reached the low rate of sixteen and nine-tenths per cent increase. Indeed in every decade since 1870 the rate of increase has fallen below that of the nation as a whole except for the period 1890-1900-the decade of the World's Columbian exposition. On the other hand, while the rate of increase has been falling off, the absolute number of persons added to the population has remained fairly constant and has even grown slightly. This is perhaps a fairer test of growth than the rate, for as the total population increases the latter would normally decline. It is certain that Illinois is by no means overcrowded and that the population of the state may be expected to continue to grow, though at an ever-declining rate, in the future as in the past. The average density of population in Illinois in 1910 was 100.6 persons to the square mile; this was an increase from 45.4 |