ABSTRACT
The people create new opportunity chiefly in two ways: through congregating in places that seem advantageous, thereby developing community life; and through a high birth rate, favored by the thriving cities and in turn stimulating further growth. Thousands of people crossed the desert, the mountains, and the sea to reach that blessed bit of land where commerce flourished in spectacular fashion. The new industrialists found easier to employ people and to operate plants outside of the established towns where the guilds insisted upon strict regulation and control of manufacturing activities. Population increase and the accompanying growth of towns and cities had important consequences for economic, political, and social development in Europe. As population growth creates opportunity for the development of society, decline in population tends to reverse the process, forecasting a long-range decline of the nation. The increase in the number of aged persons is accompanied by a corresponding decline in the number of young persons in the United States.
