The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-01-10
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN, Director.
Washington, D. G.
THE PROLIFIC FOREMAN.

THE PROLIFIC FOREMAN.
washington, D. c., Jan. THE
most prolific people in the United
States, when they are classified ac-
cordins to occupation, are foremen,
overseers and inspectors of mines.
The wives of these men bear on an
average 4.6 children per wife and
each of them has on an average of
3.9 children now living.
These interesting figures on the
proliferation of mine foremen have
just been issued by the bureau of CEN
sus as a part of a long tabulation of
the American birth rate according to
occupation. It is a most interesting
tabulation and a somewhat bewilder-
ing one in way. It upsets our pre-
conceived notions as to what kinds of
people have the most children and
why. It also sheds some light on that
much discussed question as to whether
the native population of the United
States is maintaining itself or slowly
| dying out and leaving the country to
| the immigrants.
But before we proceed to general
izations, let US note some of the as
| tonishing figures which the census bu-
reau has brought out. Next to mine
| foremen, we find that the most pro-
| life occupational class in the United
| States is that of foremen and over
seers on steam and electric railroads.
| The wife OF a traction foreman bears
/ on an average AZ children, of which
S.S survive. This average mortality
of less than one-half a child per fam
| lily is especially creditable~ to the
| transportation business.
| Foremen and overseers of all kinds
| seem to have a lot of children and
| they seem to have good luck in rails
/ ing them. Perhaps this is not surpris-
| ing. A foreman or overseer is apt to
7 h. ra1
telligence who has worked his way up,
and who receives a good income. Nat
urally, having lived on day wages for
a long time, his standard of living
will not be as high as that of a lawyer
| or doctor. He will not spend as much
on Iuxuries, and so will be more in
| clined to raise children.
The Janitor's Family.
| So much for the foreman. The
next most prolific occupationaI class
we find to be that of janitors and sex
| tons The janitors' wives average Al
children per wife, and no less than "a
| of these children on an average sur
vive to cry at night, steal milk bottles
and put dead cats in the dumb-waiter.
| Why-as many an apartment dweller
has doubtless asked before-should
janitors be so philoprogenitve? OF
| course, they get rent and heat free and
! they have the whole basement for the
kids to play around in. But it is
surely surprising to find that in the
whole United States, only these two
kinds Of foremen, JanitorS and sections
and one other class succeed in beget-
ting an average of four or more chill
dren per family. In all of the other
occupationaI classes listed, the average
number OF children born is less than
| four, and in none of them is the aver
| age number of children living as much
as four. The mine foreman, with his
| q iTe hos has na
age family in the country. For the
registration area of the United States
| the average number of children born
per mother was 3.3, and the average
number of children living per mother
was 20.
the birthrate is that the population is
| dying at the top" by which it is
! meant that people of wealth and peo-
! pie in the professions have small fami-
| lies, while the laborerS and very poor
| people generally have large families.
We are usually told that the average
woman must raise three children in
order to keep up the population and
increase it a little. If this is true, the
population of the country as a whole
is just barely being maintained by the
people in it, and the increase is due
wholly to immigration. This study
| shows once more that the problem of
restricting and regulating immigration
is the real population problem in the
United States-and one which seems
nowhere near solution.
The surprising thing in this tabula-
| ton is that it fails to discover any
| class which is highly prolific, and re-
| veals, for instance, that road workers
and clergymen run a neck and neck
race in the production of children
| while garbage men and scavengers
have on an average only 40 of a
child more per family than lawyers,
justices and judges.
1t is true that this tabulation shows
the professional classes as averaging
about one-third less prolific than the
people who work for wages in a city;
but it gives one very strongly the i'm
preston that the poor mans huge
family. which is always held up to us
as such an unfortunate and common
thing, must be much less common
than is supposed. If it were common,
some of these avera ges would inevita-
bly, be higher.
Factory Workers.
For example, the largest wage
earning class in the cities is that of
factory workers. In the factories you
find most of those immigrant families
| which are reputed to be so large. This
tabulation lists about forty different
! occupations in manufacturing and the
| mechanical industries. The highest
average number of children living per
family is found among furnacemen,
smeltermen, heaters and pourers, who
perspire to maintain an average of 3.4
| children per family. Electricians and
| engravers are found to be the least
prolific men in the manufacturing in
dustries, averaging only 2.1 children
living per family. The great majority
of the types of workers in factories
have less than three children living on
an average.
Comparing these with the profess
SIGNALS we find that clergymen are the
only professional class having an
average of three living children.
Architects artists and sculptors have