The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-08-17
FALLING BIRTH RATE.
Census Bulletin Shows a Steady De-
cline Since $780,

1
birth rate in the United States since
| 1862 is the conclusion reached in a
bulletin issued by the census bureau.
The bulletin was prepared by Professor
Walter F: Wilcox, of Cornell university,
and it is explained that although an
| analysis made offers many suggestions
as to probable tendencies in the birth
| rate of the United States, it is, primari-
| ly, mot a study in birth rates, but a
| study in the proportion of children to
4 the number of women of child bearing
age"
| The result of the study shows that at
| the beginning of the Nineteenth century
| the children under 10 years of age con-
/ stituted one-third, and at the end less
than one-fourth of the population. The
| decrease in this proportion began as
| early as the decade 1910 to 1920 and con-
tinued uninterruptedly, though at vary
4 ing rates, in each succeeding decade.
| Between 1850 and 1860 the proportion
| of children to women between Is and 40
years, the child-bearing age, increased,
but since 1860 it has constantly de-
| creased.
It is stated that the decrease has been
very unequal from decade to decade,
| but that if the computation is made
upon the basis of twenty-year periods
1T has been regular. In 1860 the number
1 of children under years of age to 1000
women Is to 40 years of age, was 634; in
| 1900 it was only Alta. The proportion of
4 children to potential mothers in 1900
i
| 1860.
| No attempt is made by the author of
| the bulletin to determine the probable
| cause of this decline. An extended
argument by General Francis A. Walker
| is given suggesting that it is largely due
| to the influx of foreigners and the re-
sultant shock to the population instinct
| of the natives But Professor Wilcox
| does not express a definite opinion,
claiming that the vital statistics of the
1 States r. GfIffini0f7flU
| veloped to afford sound basis of judg-
ment. He notes, however, that there
has been a similar marked decline in
the birth rate of Australia, when there
| has been no such torrent of immigra-
ton.
Considered by Sections.
Considered sectionally it is found
| that in the north and west there has
| been a more or less regular decline,
while in the south the change has been
less regular and the decline less mark
ed. In 1850 the proportion of chill
dren to 1000 women in the north and
west was five-sixths of what it was in
the south; in 1900 it was less than
three-fourths. In 1900 the smallest
proportion of children was in the Dis
trict of Columbia, where the number
of children under was hardly more
than one-fourth the number of women
of collaborating age. The next smallest
proportion was in Massachusetts,,
| where it was slightly more than one
third. The largest proportion was in
North Dakota and Indian territory, in
each of which it was two-thirds.
In the general decrease between
| 1880 and 1900 not a single state of the
| North Atlantic division took part In
seven other states also there was no
! decrease. In only six states, Mary
land, Michigan, Ohio. Illinois, Ken
lucky and Indiana, did the proportion
decrease in each of the five decades;
and in only Delaware. District of Co
H. 1T
/ Oregon and Colorado did it follow the
tendency for the country as a whole
| that is. increase from 1850 to 1850,
and decrease in the four succeeding
decades.
In 1900, for the United States as a
/ whole, the proportion of children was
only two-thirds as great in cities as in
the country districts. In the North
most as great in the cities as in the
country. In the southern division it is
hardly more than half as large in the
cities as in the country, while in the
far west the difference is intermediate
in amount.
More Children at the South.
This" it is explained, sis probably
due in large measure to the fact thai
the immigrant population, who have
been swarming into the northern cities
of recent years, especially into the cite.
of the North Atlantic states, have beer
! multiplying by numerous births witt
much rapidity, while the corresponding
laboring classes which has immigra tee
to southern cities from the surrounding
country districts has not been thus in
creasing.''
A comparison is made between thu
proportion Of children born of nativ,
mothers to 1000 native women of child
bearing age, and the proportion of chill
dren born to foreign born mothers to l,
900 foreign born women of child-b bearing
age. In 1900 the former proportion wa
462, the latter 10, the difference indi
eating the greater fecundity Of foreign
born women The bulletin continues:
THE comparison also indicates tina
the total DECREASE in fecundity of whit
women between 1880 and 1900 was tn
result of decrease for native whit
women partly offset by increase for for
eigli born white women.
I'm the Atlantic division, however
there was slight increase in the pro
portion of children born to native whit
mothers and in the south central diyis
ion there was but slight decrease. TIL
decrease for the whole country, there
fore was the result very largely of tn
great decrease in the north central an
western divisions.
1.-THE decrease in the proportion o
! children born to native white wome
) was confined chiefly to cities"
: The proportion of negro children t
: negro women, Is to 40 years of age, wa
largest in 1880 and smallest in 19Ot
: There has been uniformly larger pro
. portion Of negro children than of whit
) children That difference more tina
i doubled between 1860 and 1880, but il
) 1900 it was less than half what it wa
: in 1880 and less than at.any other censu
except 1860.
Though the negroes have a large
proportion of children than the whites
it has been noticed that the whites G
| the south have a larger proportion tina
the whites in other sections of tn
> country.
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