Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-01-11


Washington, Jan. 1.-THE most
prolifc people In the United states,
when they are classified according 10
occupation. are foremen, overseers
and inspectors OF mines. The wives
OF these men bear on an average 4.G
children per wife and each Of them
has on an average OF 3S children now
living.
These interesting figures on the 1
proliferation OF mine foremcn have 1
| just been issued by the Bureau of I
Census as part OF long tabuietion I
OF the American birth rate according /
TO occupation. 1t is n most interest
4 ing tabulation and somewhat be- I
wildering one In a way. IT npscts our
prcconceived notions az to what Kinds |
OF people have the most children and
why. H also sheds some light on
that mich discussed question as to
whether the native population OF the
United States LIS maintaining itself or
slowly dying out and leaving the
country 10 the immigrants.
But before we proceed to generali-
zat;ons let us note some Of the aston
ishing figures which the Census Bu-
reau has brought out Next to mine
foremcn, we find that the post pro-
life occupational class In the United
States is that of former and overseeTs
on steam and electric railroads. Jhe
wife OF traction foreman bears on
an average AZ children OF which 5.s
survive This average mortality OF
less than one-half child per family
Is especially creditable 10 the tran
sportation business.
Forenen and overseers of all kinds
: seem TO have lot OF children and
they seem TO have good luck in raising
them. Perhaps this is not surpris-
] ing. A foreman or overseer is apt TO
be workman OF more than usual in
telligence who has worked his way
up, and who receives a good income
Naturally, having lived on day wages
for long time, his standard Of living
] will not be as high as that Of a law
r yer or doctor. He viii not spend as
, much on Injuries. and so Will be more
Q inclined to raise children.
The Janitor's Family.
SO much for the foreman. The next
most prolific occupational class we
: find TO be that Of janitors and SEX
: tons. The jsnitors' wives average Al
y children per wife. and no less than
s "a OF these children on an average
!. survive 10 cry at night steal milk
, bottles and put dead cats in the dumb
waiter. Why-ss many an apartment
dweller has doubtless asked before
should janitors be so phiIoprogenitive7
e OF course, they get rent ana heat free
: and they have the whole basement for
the kids TO play around in. But it is
y surprising to find that in the whole
: United States. only these two kinds
i" of foremen, janitors and sections and
one other class succeed IN begettine
, an average of four or more children
per family. In all of the other oc-
'e cupa tional classes listed. the averag1
number OF children born is less thar
, four, and in none of them is the
~ average number OF children living as
i' much as four. The mine foreman
with his 3.9 smiling babes, has The
n largest average family in the country
For the registration area OF the
d United States the average number Of
e children born, per mother was 3.3
'e and the average number OF children
living per mother was 20.
IL What we have always heard about
:? the birthrate is that the population
is dying at the top by which 1t i,
m meant that people Of wealth and peo
B. pie in the professions have small
q families. while the laborers and yer,
is poor people generally have larg
I" families. We are usually told that III
81 average woman must raise three chill
~ dren in order to keep up the popula
GO ton and increase it little. IL this /
true, the population of the country a
whole is just barely being main
tanned by the people in il, and the in
crease is due wholly TO immigration
- This study shows once more that th
problem OF restricting and regulatin
immigration is the real populatio
problem in the United States-and on
which seems nowhere near solution.
The surprising thing in this tabula
ton is that it fails TO discover an
/, class which is highly prolific, and re
veals, for instance. that road worker
i, and clergymen run u neck and nee
- race in the production OF children
while garbage men and scavenger
have on an average only lilo Of
- child more per family than lawyers
- justices. and judges.
1t is true that this tabulation show
~, the professional classes as averagin
- about one-third less prolific than. III
people who work for wages In city
$, but II gives one very strongly the in
. preston that the poor mans hug
family, which is always ,held up to l
~ as such an unfortunate and commo
thing, must be much less eonlmo
than is supposed. II it We're common
e some of these averages would il
=. evitably be higher.
ha Factory Workers.
- For example, the largest wag,
earning class in the cities is that
factory workers. In the factories yo
ch. find most of those immigrant fanilit
I which are reputed 10 be SO larg
No This tabulation lists about 40 dlffereI
ou occupations in manufacturing and tf
h, mechanical industries. The highe.
,ut average number Of children livin
'us per family is found among furnac,
on men, smeltermen, heaters and pourer
who perspire TO maintain an averag
Of S.4 children per family. Electrician
a and engravers are found to be II
les least prolific men III the manufactui
ing industries, averaging only
children living per family. The gre
ib- majority of the types of workers
we factories have less than three chi
uld dren living on an average.
Comparing these with the profe