The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-08-21
FALLING OFF IN
THE BIRTH RATE
Persistent Decline Shown by Census
Office Bulletin.
SOME STARTLING FIGURES
GREATER FECUNDITY OF FOR
EIGN-BORN WOMEN.


rate in the United States since 1860 is
the conclusion reached in a bulletin is
sued by the census bureau. The bull
letin was prepared by Prof. Walter f.
Wilcox of Cornell university, and it
is explained thai although the analysis
made offers many suggestions as to
proba bic tendencies in the birth rate OF
the United States. it is primarily not
study in birth rates. but study ia
the proportion of children to the total
population OF to the number of women !
or child bearing age.
The result of the study shows that at
the beginning of the nineteenth cen
fury the children under 20 years OF
age constituted One-third, and at the
end less than one-foUPth of the total
pcpula ton The decrease in this pro-
portion began as early as the decade
1910 to 1920 and continued uninter-
ruptedly. though at varying rates, IN
each successive decade.
Between the years 1850 and 1860. the
proportion of children to women
between u and. AZ years of age, I
the child bearing age. increased, but
since 1860 il has constantly decreased. /
II is stated that the decrease has been |
very unequal from decade to decade, !
but that if the computation is made up |
or the basis of 20 years period it has
been regular. in 1860 the number of
children under years of age to 1000
women. 10 to 40 years of age was 634;
in 1900 it was only 474 The proportion
o. children to potential mothers in 1900
was only three-fourths as large as in
1860. !
The Cause a Mystery.
No attempt is made by the author of
the bulletin to determine the probable
cause of this decline. An extended ar
gument by General Francis A. Walker
Is given, suggesting that it is largely
due to the influx of foreigners and the
resultant shock to the population in
stinct of the natives. Prof. Wilcox
does not profess a definite opinion. The
vital statistics of the United States
are not sufficiently developed to afford
a sound basis of judgment He notes,
however. that there has been a similar
marked decline in the birth rate of Aus
tralia when there has been no such
torrent of immigration.
Considered sectionalIy. it is found
! that in the North and West there has
been more or less regular decline,
while i'm the South the change has been
| less regular and the decline less
marked. In 1850 the proportion of
children 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 ardly more than
I one-fourth the number of women of
collaborating age The next smallest
proportion was in Massachusetts. where
II was slishtly more than one-third
The largest proportion vas in North
Dakota and Indian Territory, in each
of which il was two-thirds
In the general decrease between 1890
ana 1900 not a single state in the north
Atlantic division took part. In seven
other states, also, there was no de-
2 In ~a3al4- e-4-
Michigan, Ohio, illinois, Kentucky and
I Indiana-did the proportion decrease
| in each of the five decades. and in only
/ Delaware. District OF Columbia. Wis
| consin' Minnesota. Iowa, Oregon and
I Colorado did it follow the tendency of
the country as a whole-that is. in
crease from 1850 to 1860 and decrease in
four succeeding decades
IN 1900, for the United States as a
whole, the proportion of children was
only two-thirds as great i'm cities as,in
the country districts. In the North At
lantic division, however. it was almost
as great in the cities as in the country.
Half as Large.
IN the southern divisions 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. This it is explained, lis
probably due in large measure to the
TACT that the immigrant population
who have been swarming into the
northern cities of recent years, espe-
ciaiiy into the cities Of the North Allan
tic states. have been multiplying. by
numerous births with much rapidity,
while the corresponding laboring class
which has iInmigrated to southern cit
les from the surrounding country dis
tricts has not been thus increasing
A comparison is made between the
proportion of children born of native
mothers to 1000 native women of child
bearing age and the proportion of chill
dren born to foreign born mothers TO
1000 foreign born women of child-bear-
ing age. In 1900 the former proportion
was 49,. the latter 710: the difference
indicating the greater fecundity of for
eign-bOrn women.
The bulletin continues: The COM
parison also indicates that the total
decrease in the fecundity of white wo-
men between 1890 and 1900 was the re-
suit of a decrease for native white wo-
men partly offset by an increase for
foreign-born white women.
In the Atlantic division. however.
there was a slight Increase in the pro-
portion of children born to white moth
ers. and in the South Central division (
there was but slight decrease. The /
decrease for the whole country there /
fore, was the result of the very large /
decrease in the Central and Western
divisions.
The decrease in the proportion of
children born 10 white women was con I
fined chiefly TO cities
The proportion Of negro children to /
negro women 10 to - years of age wIs I
largest in 1880 and smallest in 1900. I
There has been uniformly q larger pro- /
portion of negro children than of white /
children. That difference more than I
doubled between 1850 and 1885, but in 1
1900 it was less than half what it was
in 1880 and less than at any other cen
sus except 1850
Though the negroes have a larger 4
proportion OF children than the whites |
it has been noticed that the whites /
of the south have a larger proportion /
than the whites in other sections of the /
country
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