The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-06-21
YANKEE TOWNS GoING TO DECAY.
The Drift Towards Rscs suicide In
 Connecticut.


 Connecticut. Hartford Special.
 Striking evidence of the decadent tendencies of some of the rural com munities of Connecticut is supplied by official statistics which have recently been compiled and cover the calenda, year 1908.
 In nearly a quarter of the country communities the undertaken does a bigger business than the midwife. The sale of coffins exceeds the sale oi baby carriages.
 In thirty-three of the towns whose population Is less than 5000 the deaths during the year were more numerous than the births. In other words. in slightly over 24 per cent of the small towns the obituary department con tained more subjects than the birth column.
 Moreover. in ten towns--Andover, Ashford, Bethlehem. Brookneld, Ca naan. Chaplin. Litchheld. Rocky Hin Simsbury and Westbrook-the census of birth and deaths maintained an ex- act balance on the teeter board of vital statistics. Kiilingiy Is the only town of over 5000 inhabitants in which there was a surplus of deaths. and as the natural loss of population there WAS only d Slu8lo Ahat at SD hoA~> ' worth mentioning.
 The total number of births in the decaying small towns was s07. while the aggregated mortality footed up T. 12O. The excess Of usaths over births was 213. Twenty-four of the towns in which crepe was hung on the door more frequently than the cradle was taken down from the attic have population of less than 2.000.
 The towns which have developed a mild drift towards race suicide are scattered over the Commonwealth, al- though some districts are only slight ly affected. Based upon the vital sta tistics of 1906 Fairfield County has more patches of decadence than any other.
 Eight towns Nh that county furn- ished more jobs for the gravedigger than for the stork. windham and LitchheId counties, each with total of five towns in which there was a shortage of births, are tied for second place. New Haven. New London and Middlesex counties each showed four towns of dwindling tendencies, while Hartford and Holland counties each have two entries in the list.
 Brooklyn, in Wyndham County, de- veloped a greater excess of deaths over births than any other town. Ths figure was sixteen, while Cheshire, in New Haven County, and Lebanon, in New London County. each with an un- lucky mortality surplus of thirteen followed closely. In each of three towns the death certificates outnum- bered the birth certificates by only one.
 The distribution of the excess Of deaths by counties is rather interest. ing, and 1t is as follows: Hartford, 8 New Haven, 42; New London. S5; Fair. A~rA Ty.r.A lV.. O. FtAI. Middlesex 14 and Holland 10.
 suggestive and enlightening fact is that in most towns in which the processes of physician and social decay are operating the native Yankee stock still predominates. In a large ma jority Of them the infusion of alien blood has been small. Examination children and of the nativity of the dead indicates the comparatively small part which the immigrant plays in the population of the affected towns.
 The case of the agricultural town of Canterbury, in Wyndham County. may be cited as an example. Its nine births were more than offset by its births, the parents, except in three cases, were native Americans. while nineteen of the twenty decedents were born under the Stars and Stripes.
 The town has been irregularly de- clining for over a century. It attain ed it's maximum development in 17s2, when it's population. now fallen to sT6. was 2.sll..
 CoIebrook. located up among the hills of Litchfield County Is another town which reveals the trend toward deterioration in various Connecticut communities, where the native stock still holds sway. Six of it's seven births tor 1906, were issues of Ameri- can born parents, and of eleven per an immigrant. When the census emu nerators were last around they were able to count only half as many noses in Colebrook as they did in 1860.
 In spite of the social decay which is affecting various localities the situa- tion is not barren of hopeful aspects. The inquiry which the late Rev. Henry as agent for the Connecticut Bible So- ciety, made into rural decadence In this State, and the results of which he incorporated into notable address de- iivered in 1908. mixed both light and dark colors in the picture which he 2ainted.
 ''There is much Yankee blood ~ In thes towns" he said. The stamp of deegneracy Is upon It. But the alien has lately come into some of these towns, Tn some instances in great num- bers, amounting almost to an invasion and numbering from Is to 6S per cent. There are extensive settlements of Russian Jews, Swedes, and Italians. where once were aristocratic neighbor- hoods of the best New England blood. Some come and buy the old farms out right. Many come as hirelings and with industry and shredwness they be- come property owners"
 In the five years since MT. Hutchins announced the conclusions of his study the invasion from over the sea of which he spoke has continued and the thrifty immigrant is exercising a re- vivifyIng influence on many commu- mites and Is cutting out the social dry rot. Moreover. the development of trunk lines of good roads and the ex- tension of the trolley into the country regions are other forces which will help stay the spread of rural degen. eracY.
 Although the figures of the present situation taken at taken at their face value are grim enough, the conviction ia growing that the areas of social de terioration are more likely to contract than to expand.
 Gloves Ten Cents--Ladies.