manufacturing; it has its railroad terminals and often its wharves and
shipping, its libraries, museums, schools, and churches. All these are
gathering places for groups of people. But there is no one social
centre for all classes; rather, the people of the city are associated
in an infinite number of large and small groups, according to the
mutual interests of their members. But if the city has no four
corners, it is itself a centre for a large district of country. As the
village is the nucleus that binds together outlying farms and hamlets,
so the city has far-flung connections with rural villages and small
towns in a radius of many miles.

184. =The Importance of the City.=--The city has grown up because it
was located conveniently for carrying on manufacturing and trade on a
large scale. It is growing in importance because this is primarily an
industrial age. Its population is increasing relatively to the rural
population, and certain cities are growing enormously, in spite of Mr.
Bryce's warning that it is unfortunate for any city to grow beyond a
population of one hundred thousand. The importance of the city as a
social centre is apparent when we remember that in America, according
to the census of 1910, 46.3 per cent of the people live in
communities of more than 2,500 population, while 31 per cent of the
whole are inhabitants of cities of 25,000 or more population. When
nearly one-third of all the people of the nation live in communities
of such size, the large city becomes a type of social centre of great
significance. At the prevailing rate of growth a majority of the
American people will soon be dwelling in cities, and there seems to be
no reason to expect a reversal of tendency because modern invention is
making it possible for fewer persons on the farm to supply the
agricultural products that city people need. This means, of course,
that the temper and outlook of mind will be increasingly urban, that
social institutions generally will have the characteristics of the
city, that the National Government will be controlled by that part of
the American citizens that so far has been least successful in
governing itself well.

185. =Municipal History.=--The city has come to stay, and there is in
it much of good. It has come into existence to satisfy human need, and
while it may change in character it is not likely to be less important
than now. Its history reveals its reasons for existence and indicates
the pro