The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-05-26
DENY RACE SUICIDE
BY THEIR ALUMNAE
Heads Of WOmen's Colleges Say
Statistics Fail to Prove
the Charge.
BEAR BETTER CHILDREN

ueads Of women's colleges did not
,,,ear yesterday to be much perturbcd
Ne ,he report OF rrof Roswell johnson
and Bertha J. Stutzmann of the Uni
yersi,y Of rIttsburg that colleges for
women only breed !,sals that result in
race suicide.
Mary Z. Woolley OF Mount Holyoke
College denies outright hat statistics
r,hold rrof. Johnson's contention. and
o,her women teachers take the ground
ina, college women are apt to become
the best mothers. one questions whether
failure - bear four children should be
t,igmat!zed as race suicide.
pesn Giidersleeve of barnard College
refused to discuss the matter at all. and
Or. Nicholas VI. Butler said
we are not a matrimonial agency"
Kerr u. Macmillan, president OF Wells
College. said;
IN general my observation goes to
shoy that the graduate OF a woman's
college ls no more averse to the com
pany OF the other sex or to matrlmony
and It's responsibilities han her less
fortunate sisters. Whether her family
exceeds that OF the coed In number or
quality | am not In a position to say.
Many Things to Consider.
IN any case there are other things.
such as heredity. health. early training
and surroundings, to be considered before
any sweeping conclusions can be drawn.
Il, would be necessary to show that
these same ONE who have failed In
their duty to the race az Prof. johnson
thinks, would have more nearly approxi-
mated his ideal had they 10 come under
the influence Of a college for women
only, or. falling this, a degree OF proba-
bility might he established by means Of
comparison with an equal number OF
women from the same homes and sur
rcundinss who had escaped the malevo-
lent influences OF UGH institutions.
Moreover. there IL another and larger
question lying at the threshold OF this
whole problem; namely. whether a
woman that does not bear four children
ray he fairly stigrnstized as guilty OF
race suicide M the institution that
gave her part OF her training be
fq.thematized as a historic blunder.
There are childless women whose lives
appear 10 some Of us to Justify their ex-
istence and others that have longed for
tie children but have never seen them"
No Causc for Worry.
William A. Webb. president OF Ran
dolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynch
burg, Va. said:
Judging by the IImber Of marriages
that have already taken place among
our aIumne and by tn, number OF chill
dren born Of these marriages. We are not
worrying much bout race suicide among
college trained IN NV own obser-
vation and q fairly accurate knowledge
Of educational matters would lead me IL
the conclusion that college trained
women are apt to become the best
mothers In the country and that the
Character Of children born in UGH homes
Is pretty apt to be OF a very superior
quality"
Mary l.. woolley Of Mount Holyoke
College said:
The colossal race suicide In belliger-
et Europe would seem to make il rather
difficult for intelligent people to be
greatly excited over race suicide as the
result OF educating m However
for the assurance Of those who are
troubled il may be stete1 that statistics
as far as they I'VE been collected dc
not s~ubstantiate the theory that rae
suicide is more marked among gradu'
ates OF our women's colleges than among
DER women OF the classes to which
- belong"