Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-17
MAY Be RACE SUICIDE
Alarming Deolinein the Ooun-
try's Birth Rate.
REPORTOF PROF.WILOOX
DECREASE GREATEST IN THE DIS
TRICT OF COLUMBIA.
Number Of Children Under Ten Years
Of Age Less Than 0ne-Fourth Of
the Total Population.
REPORT OF PROF.WILCOX

The birth rate in the United States has
persistently declined since 1860. This
statement Is made on the authority of
Prof. Walter F. Wilcox of Cornell Uni
versity, who Is the author OF a bulletin
issued by the census bureau yesterday
dealing with the subject Of birth in the
country. AS a result of his investigations,
Prof. Wilcox states that the number OF
children under the age of ten years has
declined. From being one-third OF the
population in the beginning Of the nine
tenth century 1t has become one-fourth.
During only one decade of the last century,
from 1850 to $780,, did the birth rate show
an appreciable increase. The decrease be-
gan with the decade between 1910 and
1920, and, with the exception of the period
noted, has continued without Interrupt
ton. It is stated that the decrease has
been very unequal from decade to decade.
but that II the computation Is made upon
the basis Of twenty-year periods 1t has
been regular. In 1860 the number of chill
dren under five years Of age to LOCO wo-
men, fifteen to forty-nine years OF age
was 634; in 1900 1t was only 474. The por-
ton of children to potential mothers In 1900
was only three-fourths as large as In 1850.
Least Decrease in the South.
No attempt is made by the author Of the
bulletin to determine the probable causes
OF this decline. An extended argument by
General Francis A. Walker Is given. sug-
costing that 1t Is largely due to the influx
Of foreigners and the resultant shock to
the population instinct of the natives
But Prof. Wilcox does not express a
definite opinion, claiming that the vital
statistics Of the United States are not suf-
ficiently developed to afford a sound basis
of Judgment. He notes. however. that there
has been similar marked decline In the
birth rate OF Australia, where there has
been no such torrent Of immigration. Con-
sidered sectionally. it is found that in the
north and west there has been more or
less regular decline while in the south the
change has been less regular and the de-
cline 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 1t was less than three
fourths. In 1900 the smallest proportion OF
children was in the District Of Columbia,
where the number of children under was
hardly more than one-fourth the number
of women of child bearing age. The next
smallest proportion was Massachusetts,
where 1t was slightly more than one-thlrd
The largest proportion was In North pa
kota and Indian territory, In each or which
it was two-thirds.
More Children In Rural Districts.
In the general decrease between 1880 and
1900 not single state of the North Attain
tic division took part. In seven other states.
also, there was no decrease. In only six
states-Maryland. Michigan. Ohio, Illinois,
Kentucky and Indiana-did the proportion
decrease in each of five decades. and In
only Delaware. District of Columbia. Wis
consin, Minnesota, Iowa, Oregon and Colo
RADIO did 1t follow the tendency for the
country as a whole-that is. increase from
1850 to 1860 and decrease In the four sue
ceeding decades. In 1900 for the United
States as whole, the proportion OF chill
dren was only two-thirds as great In cities
as in the country districts. In the North
Atlantic division. however, it was almost
as great in the cities as in the country. In
the southern divisions 1t Is hardly more
than half as large in the cities as IN the
country, while In the far west the differ
ence is intermediate in amount. This" it
is explained, sis probably due in large
measure to the fact that the immigrant
population which has been swarming into
the northern cities Of recent years, espe-
cially into the cities of the North Atlantic
states has been multiplying by numerous
births with much rapidity, while the cor
responding laboring class which has mmi- 1
grated to southern cities from the sur
rounding country districts has not been
thus increasing.
Foreign Parents Most Productive.
A comparison is made between the pro-
to 1000 native women of child-bearing age,
and the proportion of children born of for
eign-born mothers to LOCO foreign-born
women of child bearing age. In 1909 the
former proportion was 49, the latter TO,
the difference indicat ting the greater fecun-
dity of foreign-born women. The bulletin
continues:
THE comparison also indicates that the
total decrease in fecundity of white women
between 1890 and 1900 was the result of a
decrease for native white women partly
offset by an Increase for foreign born white
women. In the Atlantic divisions, how
ever, there a slight increase In the
proportion of children born to native white
mothers, and in the south central division
there was but a slight decrease. The de-
crease for the whole country, therefore,
was the result very largely of the great
decrease in the north central and western
divisions. The decrease in the proportion
of children born to native white women
was confined chiefly to cities.''
Among the Negroes.
The proportion OF negro children to negro
women fifteen to forty-nine years Of age
was largest In 1880 and smallest In 1900.
There has been uniformly larger proper
ton Of negro children than of white chill
dren. That difference more than doubled
between 1860 and 1880, but in 1900 1t was
less than half what 1t was in 1890 and less
than at any other census except 1860
Though the negroes have a larger propor-
ton of children than the whites, 1t has
been noticed that the whites of the south
have larger proportion than the whites
In other sections of the country.
ROCKVILLE AND VICINITY.