Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-02-07
The PROLIFIC FOREMAN
Census Department Issues Interest.
Ing Figures About Birth Rate.
ASTONISHING FIGURES ARE! REVEALED
overseers as Well as Foreman Have
Lot of Children and Good Luck in
Raising Them-clersynnen are Only
Professional Class Having An Aver
age of Three Living Children.
d.. IN.olo.;o IL,
BY Frederic ]. Haskin

age of Three Living Children.
BY Frederic j. Haskn
Washington, D. C.-|The most proli-
&c people in the United States, when
they are classified according to occu-
patton, are foremen, overseers and in
spcctors of mines. The wives Of these
men bear on an average of 4.6 children
per wife and each of them has on an
average of 3.9 children now living.
These interesting figures on the pro-
liberation of mine foreman have just
been issued by the bureau Of census as
part Of a long tabulation of the
American birth rate according to oc-
cupation 1t Is a most interesting tab
ulation and q somewhat bew:idering
one in q way. 1t upsets our precon-
ceived 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 wheth-
er 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: generali-
cations, let us note some Of the aston
ishing figures which the census bureau
has brought out. Next to mine fore
men, we find that the most prolific oc-
cupational class in the United States
is that of foremen and overseers on
steam and electric railroads. The wife
of traction foreman bears on an
average AZ children, of which 3.S sur
vive. This average mortality of less
than one-nalf child per family Is es-
pecially creditable to the transporta-
tion business.
Foremen 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 surprising
A foreman or overseer Is apt to be
workmen of more than usual intelli-
gence 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
luxurfes, and so VIII be more inclined
to raise children.
The Janitors Family. *
So much for the foreman. The next
most prolific occupational class we
find to be that of janitors and sections.
The janitors' wives average Al chill
dren per wife, and no less than S4 OF
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 ph.loprogenitive? or
course, they get rent and heat free
and have the whole basement for the
! kids to play around in. But It Is sure
| ly surprising to find that In the whole
| United States, only these two KINDS OF
fcremen, janitors and sections and one
other class succeed in begetting an
average of four or more children per
fomily. In all of the other occupation
al classes listed, the average number
of children born Is less than four, and
In none OF them Is the average number
of children living as much as four.
The mine foreman, with his 3.s smiling
babes, has the largest average 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 2.s.
What we have always heard about
the birth rate is that the population Is
dying at the top" by which 1t is
meant that people Of wealth and peo-
pie in the professions have small fam
lilies, while the laborerg 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 O 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 immigra-
grafton 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-
yeals for instance that road-workers
and clergymen run neck and neck
race in the production of children,
while garbage men and scavengers
have on an average only 7-10 Of
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 la 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 averages would inevitably be