THE FUTURE OF BROOKLYN.
THE CITY'S PROMISED GROWTH AND INCREASE,
WITH COMMENTS ON THE BUILDING STATISTICS
FOR THE YEAR 1888.
MESSAGE
OF THE
HON. ALFRED C. CHAPIN,
MAYOR.
DECEMBER 13, 1888.
| Mayor's Office, |  |
| City Hall, Brooklyn | |
| December 13, 1888 |
To the Honorable, the Common Council:
Gentlemen:
In this message I shall attempt a general statement of the conditionof the city, and of its building operations. For the purpose ofbroadly considering the city's present condition and standing amongsimilar communities, the returns of the recent Presidential electionfurnish valuable data. Presidential elections call out a full vote,and thus afford an indication of the relative growth of the differentcities of the country. The following table is believed to correctlystate the total number of votes cast in the four leading cities forPresident at the recent election:
Total vote cast in 1888.
| New York | 270,194 | |
| Philadelphia | 205,747 | |
| Brooklyn | 148,868 | |
| Chicago | 123,475 |
In 1880 the vote of these several cities in the Presidential electionbore the following proportion to the population as shown by the censusof the same year:
Number of population to each voter in 1880:
| New York | 5.87. | |
| Philadelphia | 4.92. | |
| Brooklyn | 5.29. | |
| Chicago | 6.06. |
The following table contains the population of each city in 1880, andthe apparent population at present, basing the estimate upon the voteof this year, and assuming the ratio of population to the numbers ofvoters to remain the same as in 1880:
| Apparent | ||
| Population in 1880. | population in 1888. | |
| New York, | 1,206,299. | 1,585,529. |
| Philadelphia, | 847,170. | 1,014,332. |
| Brooklyn, | 566,663. | 782,221. |
| Chicago, | 503,185. | 748,258. |
The method of reaching this conclusion cannot be called undulyfavorable to our city. The difference in the ratio existing betweenthe population and the voters in 1880 in Chicago and in Brooklyn wouldseem to indicate either that Chicago possessed an unusually largeunnaturalized population, or else that it did not poll its full vote.If the unnaturalized population of our own ci