"Well, did I say anything about going to New York?" returned Hugh, carelessly.
"But you spoke of visiting the metropolis."
"There can be but one metropolis in a country."
"And that must be New York for this country."
"And that is not New York for this country." This with a decided emphasis. "I am going to take you to Chicago; to the metropolis of the United States; to the greatest city on earth."
He noted the expression of wonder which came over the other's face.
"And do you mean to tell me that Chicago is a greater city than New York? Chicago, an inland town, to compete with and excel New York, a sea-port city?" and Cobb shook his head as if he doubted the possibility of the truth of such an assertion. "Why, you have told me that New York has over four million inhabitants; has Chicago more than that number?"
"Yes," returned Hugh; "nearly double that number. By the census finished last June, Chicago had, at that date, 7,345,906 souls living within its corporate limits."
"Come, Hugh," pettishly exclaimed Cobb, "that's a little too strong. I remember that it was estimated, in 1887, that Chicago would have about 1,500,000 in 1890, and if that estimate was correct, this vast population given by you could never have been obtained through ordinary growth."
"Nor was it, Junius. The growth was extraordinary," lightly returned the other.
"Humph! So I should say. Why, it is equivalent to a gain of 53,000 persons every year since 1890. Such a rapid growth for so many years is an absurdity."
"As you please; have it so. But let me enlighten you a little. In 1910 the population of Chicago was 1,800,000--a rapid but fair growth for a city possessing the surrounding country, energy, resources, and natural attractions of Chicago. But it was after the year 1916, and for the next ten years that Chicago, as well as many other towns and cities in the West, received the greatest addition to its population. After the great cataclysm of 1916 the vast numbers of people who were driven from their homes by the rising of the waters over the doomed area of the Ohio basin, sought temporary shelter in all the towns and cities surrounding the Central Sea. As time progressed and showed the future destruction that would be wrought as the waters rose, the people emigrated in great numbers. The movement was westward, only a small portion going East or to the South. The great cities of Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Kansas City received vast additions; but of them all, Chicago, being the nearest and largest, gained the most. From a million and three-quarters, in 1910, that city had over four million in 1930. The rest of her immense population has been gained through natural increase and immigration, being at the rate of about 50,000 per year, or less than one and-a-half per cent. increase."