CHAPTER III.
The Influx of Population into Large Towns.
Sec.1.Movements of Population between City and Country.

The growth of large cities is so closely related to the problems of poverty as to deserve a separate treatment.

The movements of population form a group of facts more open than most others to precise measurement, and from them much light is thrown on the condition of the working classes.

That the towns are growing at the expense of the country, is a commonplace to which we ought to seek to attach a more definite meaning.
We may trace the inflow of country-born people into the towns by looking either at the statistics of towns, or of rural districts.

But first we ought to bear in mind one fact.