Evening star., 1937-12-18

by ana large, Lne UnlLeo states Is get
ting older.
The birth rate is declining and the
length Of life is increasing This means
that the average age is greater. There
are fewer children, more who survive
through middle life, and a greater per-
centage of elderly persons.
This trend has been under way for at
least three decades. It appears to be
common both to the United States and
Western Europe. 1t is due partly to
the triumphs of medicine. partly to more
abundance Of food and partly to the fact
that children have become an economic
liability rather than asset to the average
family. Far-reaching economic and social
changes may attend this age trend. II
1t keeps on long enough some toy fac
tories will have to be converted to wheel
chair factories and some schools into
homes for the aged.
But now comes DR.. Howard w. Odum,
professor of sociology at the University
OF North Carolina, with the records of
curious phenomenon. The Southeast
ern states are growing younger even
more rapidly than the country as whole
is growing older. Virginia, the Carolinas,
Georgia. Alabama. Mississippi, Tennes-
see, Louisiana and Arkansas are becom-
ing Americas nursery, with an enormous
surplus OF children compared with the
rest Of the United States This holds
equally for both whites and colored. At
the same time this section of the country
is least able to feed it's children ade-
quately. Its agriculture tends to be spe-
cialized without the diversity of food
crops necessary for q well Unbalanced diet
This part of the country is most con-
spicuous for such dietary diseases as
pellagra.
DR.. Odum presented his thesis before
the American Dietetic Association at its
annual meeting in Richmond. The reju-
venation Of the South is taking place in
the face Of extremely adverse conditions,
ne pointed out, in spite of its sif1nificance
Tor the country as a whole. Said DR..
NOdum:
The population of the Southeast tends
TO reproduce at higher rate and has
larger proportion OF children and young
people than any other section. The ratio
Is much larger than for the Nation as
whole and nearly twice as high as for
number of States For instance, the
average Of all the Southeastern States
shows more than double the number OF
children under five years of age, with
native white mothers, per 1000 native
White women between 20 and A years OF
age, than for the State of California.
Cahfornias BAL stands in stark contrast
to North Carolina's 827. Connecticut's
I'll, Rhode Islands 1888, New York's 1862,
and Massachusetts, 359 are more than
doubled by Alabamas 786, South Caro-
hnas TIT. Mississippi's 740 and Arkan-
sas' 7e8.
TO cite an index of net reproduction
per generation in which 100 represents
the trend toward a stationary popula-
ton, all the Southeastern States except
Florida show an index Of over 100. Four
States have an index of over $50, as COM
pared to all the Far Western States, six
of the Northeastern States and Illinois
In the Middle Western States, which are
below the 100 index. With the exception
OF the Dakotas, Idaho and West Virginia,
no State outside the Southern regions
records as much as 40 per cent of its
population under 19 years of age, and no
Southeastern State except Florida shows
q ratio as low as 40 per cent. In contrast
with the low States of California and
Nevada, with 30 and 81 per cent, are the
Carolinas with SO and 49,
These figures apply only to the white
population. The colored superabundance
Of people and reproductive capacity is
approximately the same-a little more
than the white groups which have the
largest birth rate-so thu the South