The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-03-07
MENACE OF SMALL FAMILIES.

Es- |a, Nr tG A Girl Must Recognize That Aristocra-
 cy is Brains. Not Millions.
 Seldom has an article on similar subject aroused such widespread inter- est as has Dr. George F. Shrady's pro- test in the Medical Record, few days ago, against present-day conditions, which result in small families among the educated and comparatively we'll to-do classes in this country. It has been taken up in all parts of the coun- try, and in some quarters Dr. Shrady has been criticised for his position, but in most instances he has been praised for his outspoken attitude.
 Dr. Shrady in his article merely set forth the conditions as they exist and deplored deeply the facts as he found statistics proved them to be, but he did not seek to find a remedy for them. In fact, he does not wish to appear in the light of one criticising individual cases where a couple have only one or trw children, but, taking the situation as a whole, he predicts that unless there is change for the better the country is menaced by a serious danger.
 Tt is most deplorable fact,' he said yesterday, that the persons who occu- py the important places in our indus trial. commercial and political life are failing even to reproduce their own number, while it is among the most un- desirable element of our population that we find the greatest fecundity. This is particularly true in the cities, where the average number of children in the families of the well-to-do is certainly not greater than two, while the foreign born population, many of whom are from the lowest classes of Europe, are increasing at a marvellous rate.
 Were it not for the fact that in the rural districts this condition is not so apparent, the danger of the country would be much greater than it is. In the country there. may not be as many children on the average among the families of American parents as formerly, but the rate of increase is still much greater than it is in the cit ies, and merely because the country as a whole, will be secure so long as the rural districts are still able to send their worthiest sons to the cities, there to take the most important places, is no excuse to the parents now living in the cities for not doing their share to reproduce race which has taken first place in the world.
 For the mother who deliberately sac rifices the joys of motherhood in order to be able to devote more of her time to society, and for the father who prefers to be able to have his automobile and his clubs and his handsome city and country homes, without being burdened in even the slightest way by 8 large family of children, there is no excuse, there can be none.
 And for the fashionable mother who delivers her children over to the care of nurse immediately after it's birth there is still less excuse. To this fact, to the unhappy fact that large pro- portion of city-bred children are brought up on bottles, is due the great preponderance of country bred men among those who are filling positions of trust in the cities. Statistics prove that less than fifteen ped cent. of such men were born in cities. Fed when young on bottle, instead of being nourished as nature demands. they are unfit to compete with the boys who come from the mountains and plains, who were started right. and before they entered on their careers gained the strength