RACE DECLINE. i8i 



family as all seem to assume ? Because the years of marriage are less ? 

 This is a hasty assumption as will ajipear when we recall that all 

 children are born on an average within 7V2 years after marriage, some 

 authorities even say within 5 years. Accepting the longer term of 7y^ 

 years, this leaves the alumnus who marries 7 years after graduating 

 in his thirtieth year, at SYi'o, and his wife, who marries at the latest 

 at 26.4, in her thirty-four year. The end of the average child-bearing 

 period falls accordingly for both the late marrying graduate and his 

 spouse, still in the most vigorous period of life, 37^ for the educated 

 male, 34 for the female, not so late as to interfere in any way with the 

 family prospects. This is true for the college graduate ; for the entire 

 highly educated portion of our population I have no data and make 

 no assertions. No figures are available for a group such as this, and 

 this must be noted as the family size of this class has of late been 

 considered. It is too comprehensive a term, and has been somewhat 

 indiscriminately used in recent discussions of race decline; even far- 

 reaching conclusions bearing upon this large group of the highly edu- 

 cated have been based upon data derived from the graduates of a single 

 institution. Not even from those of several institutions if under 

 similar conditions or even if of the same sex are we warranted in judg- 

 ing of the entire highly educated part of our population. The female 

 college graduate must be classed among the highly educated, and the 

 number of children in her family is below that of the native popu- 

 lation; it is lower than that of any other group, whilst that of the 

 average male graduate family is higher. Then again the college alum- 

 nus can not without further investigation be accepted as a standard, 

 for even the highly educated male, as appears from the facts presented 

 by Professor Dexter in his recent study of ' High Grade Men : in College 

 and Out.' He shows that hardly more than one third, 37 per cent, of 

 the 8,603 supposedly successful and prominent Americans mentioned 

 in 'Who's Who' are college graduates, and only 2.2 per cent, of all now 

 living alumni are included among these 8,000 supposedly higher type 

 and most representative of living Americans. Eegardless of this 

 the variation in marriage and birth rate of the different elements of this 

 group of the highly educated make it impossible to consider them 

 jointly. 



These facts, together with the limited data on hand, make it im- 

 possible as yet to reach conclusions of any kind as to the part taken 

 by the highly educated portion of our population as a class in race 

 reproduction; it is the male college graduate whom we here consider 

 and compare, not with the male of the entire population, but with the 

 native-born American only. I emphasize this as the two groups, the 

 native- and foreign-born of our citizens differ widely as to the part they 



