The Washington herald., 1922-07-05
A Wasted Warning.

ifI concerning the future of civlizaton--espe-
eAly American civilization. He has just published
book to prove that the of northern and
western Europe in serious danger of being
wiped out by the tide of inferior humanity sweep
ing westward from Asia and eastern Europe. We
think Mr.. Stoddard is unduly alarmed Even il the
Russians the Chinese, ETC., gaining in strength
1t is hard to look upon the situation as alarming
so far as civilization is concerned. To prove his
point Mr.. Stoddard has accumulated creditable
volume of facts and figures If he has failed to
impress the world he intended he has demon
strated, at least, a number of other situations
which should be considered seriously in the United
States.
We believe that the United States is healthier,
mentally and physically, because of the enormous
river of fresh blood that has been injected into its
veins every year-that the unheathest sections
OF this country the backwashes in New Eng
land and the South. into which no immigrants have
penetrated since the Civil War. Mr.. Stoddard, of
course. will not agree to this. He has sounded
warning buge to that section of the American
populace where the greatest number of seeds of
stagnaton to be found
The following statement is which be
taken to heart without admitting the main premise
of the author
Outside of the South and parts of the West
the old native American stock is not reproducing
itself, the birth rates OF immigrant stocks from
northern and western Europe rapidly falling
while the birth rates among the immigrant stocks
from southern and eastern Europe remain high
and show comparatively slight dimnution. The
American intellectual groups much less fertile
than similar European groups The average num-
Der of children per married graduate of the leading
American colleges like Harvard and Yale is about
two. while among the leading women's colleges it
is about and one-half.
Furthermore, the marriage rates of college
men and women low that, considering mar
red and single graduates together, the statistical
average is about and one-half children per
college and something less than three -fourths
of child per college woman. Professor Cattel
has investigated the size of families of 44o Ameri-
can men of science choosing only those cases in
which the ages of the parents indicated that the
family completed. Despite very low death
rate the birth rate much lower that. as he
himself remarks it is obvious that the families are
not self-perpetuating.
The scientific men under fifty of whom there
26i with completed families have on the aver
age of I8S children, about IL per cent of whom
die before the age of marriage. What proportion
will marry do not know; but only about Is per
cent of Harvard and Yale graduates marry; only
so per cent of the graduates of colleges for women
marry. scientific man has the average about
seven-tenths OF an adult If three-fourths of
his sons and grandsons marry, and their families
continue to be of the same size 1000 scientific men
will leave about $50 grandsons to marry and trans
| NIT their names and their hereditary traits. The
determination will be still more rapid in female
lines"
So much for the intellectuals. But We still
have Americans who do not come under this head
ing who not dereict in their duty to posterity
While we have detailed statistics at hand we
venture to assert that any want of productivity
among intellectuals is than made up for
by the rugged tillers of the soil, stout workmen
and healthy, keen citizens who make up the bulk
of Americas population