The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-09-09
They Grow Big Out West
Children of Pacific Coast Taller and Heavier Than Other
Sections of United States.

scale had ever before been conducted
IN this country. The records have now
undergone analysis by the government
statisticians and their conclusions are
OF great great practical interest.
The tabulations show that California
children are two-fifths of an inch tall
er and three-quqarters of a pound
heavier than children of the same age
the country over. These quantities
by themselves seem small, but as
averages they are large They are
so large that it is probable that an
observant traveller, going directly into
California from the East, could with
his own eyes notice that the Pacific
Coast children are bigger than those
in the rest of the country.
American Bred Are Largest
CALIFORNIA; showing is the more re-
markable because of the large per
centage of Italians among the school
children weighed and measured there.
The Italians, these statistics demon
strate, are below the general stature
Scandinavian parents in the United
States are considerably, and those OF
German parentage somewhat. above
the national averages in weight and
height; yet the percentage of children
of these stalwart nationa1ities is ex-
ceedingly low in California But with
no racial reasons for large stature in
California-on the contrary, with ali
adequate racial reason to account for
staure lower than average-the Cali
fornia children nevertheless proved to
be as much bigger and heavier than
the American average as are the child.
rem of pure Scandinavian blood.
1t is evident therefore that, so far
as the children are concerned, Cali
fornia is breeding a race of people as
large as the Swedes, NorWegians and
Danes. The scientists do not attempt
to account absolutely for this fact
They suggest favorable climate as a
possible cause. They also suggest
another reason which may commend
itself even more strongly to the biolo-
gist-namely. the principal of selection
in the parents. The human stock OF
California is a pioneer stock. The
pioneer is a person of superior courage
and initiative. 1t is reasonable to con
meet courage and initiative with rug
ged health and health with superior
physique. Thus the parent stock OF
California may be regarded as physi
cally select
Iowa furnished an interesting study
for the scientists in that the percent
age of native parents in that state
was higher than in any district stud
led. Less than 20 percent of the child
rem examined had foreign-born par
ents. In New York City it was jus
I hn L. .,
the children examined having native
parents. The Iowa children were
slightly above the national average il
height and slightly below it in weight
N@w York children averaged more
than half inch shorter than average
American children of the same ages
The New York children were weighe,
in their underclothing, and so thu
scientists have made no attemnt Il
compare their weights with those o
other children. On the average, New
York children are nearly an incl
shorter than those of California.
| Children Thrive in the Country
| Whatever satisfaction the cities o
America may take in their low dealt
rates as compared with the rura
death rate, it is shown by this stud,
| that the country is more favorabl
than the city to the growth of tn
child. Rural children measured il
1918 averaged one-quarter of an inc
taller and nearly ont-quarter of
pound heavier than city children.
Colored children averaged shorte
and lighter than white children. Tn
weight and stature deficiencies i
colored children however. occurre
only in the younger ages. From az
four on, colored children proved t
be, If anything, little taller an
heavier than white ones. The reaso
for this may be that high child mo
tally among negroes kills off tn
stunted and starved victims of poe
nutrition and leaves at age four an
onward only the vigorous survivor
who compare favorably with whit
children in stature Or it may be
negro racial characteristic to gro
slowly the first three years of Iit
and then to gain weight and height q
an accelerated rate as compared wit
growth of whites
The less serious physical defects I
which children are subject-adenoid
enlarged or diseased tonsils, or ba
teeth-seemed to have no great effet
upon height and weight, althoug
children so afflicted were shorter al
lighter than the average. ricketts, al
malnutrition, however, were shown l
marked deficiencies, malnutriticn< T
sulting in children an inch and on
third below average height and near
three and one-half pounds belo
average weight.
- In thousands of American homes D