276 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the U. S. Census Vital Statistics, Part 

 1, page 356, for the census year ending 

 May 31, 1900. This does not indicate 

 that the native is dying out in Massa- 

 chusetts. 



Massachusetts : Births and Deaths. 



Both parents native, births. . . . 21,343 



Botli parents native, deaths (all 



ages) 15,357 



Natural increase 5,986 



One or both parents for- 

 eign 44,252 



Foreign born 624 44,876 



Natives, one or both par- 

 ents foreign, deaths 

 (all ages) 16,194 



Foreign born 13,645 29,839 



Natural increase 15,037 



While the above shows a very 

 healthy increase among the natives of 

 Massachusetts it also indicates a larger 

 increase among the foreign element. 

 But in this connection it must not be 

 forgotten that a very large proportion 

 of those included in the foreign ele- 

 ment are of the same stock as tne na- 

 tives. Thus in Massachusetts there are 

 nearly a half million English, Scotch, 

 Welsh and English Canadians, both for- 

 eign and native born. I think the fore- 

 going shows pretty conclusively that 

 the natives are not dying out and that 

 all opinions to the contrary are based 

 on a false foundation. 



C. E. Smith. 



Brooklyn, N. Y. 



[We publish Mr. Smith's letter as 

 the question is of such importance 

 that it should be discussed from all 

 sides. It ought to be said, however, 

 that statisticians hesitate to di-aw con- 

 clusions as to racial increase from the 

 figm-es of the census. When the na- 

 tive population increases from one cen- 

 sus to another, this is partly and may 

 be entirely due to the childi-en of for- 

 eign parents who are counted as na- 

 tives. When Mr. Smith gives figures 

 showing that in Massachusetts the 

 births when both parents are natives 

 exceed the deaths when both parents 

 arc natives, it should be noted that the 



births come from a considerably larger 

 group than the deaths. The native 

 children of foreign parents are not 

 counted among the deaths, but their 

 children are counted among the births. 

 It is also true that after a period 

 when the native population has in- 

 creased (perhaps only by children of 

 foreign parents) there would be an 

 excess of births. Mr. Kuczynski in 

 his careful analysis of the fecundity 

 of the native and foreign-born popu- 

 lation in Massachusetts {Quarterly 

 Journal of Economics, November, 1901, 

 and February, 1902) states that in 

 Berlin, where proper statistics are col- 

 lected such as do not exist in this 

 country, the birth rate is not suffi- 

 cient to maintain the population. But 

 in Berlin there was an annual birth 

 rate of 10 for every 100 married 

 women in child-bearing age, w^hereas 

 it was only 6.3 in the native popula- 

 tion of Massachusetts. 



It seems also fair to our readers to 

 state that we do not accept the con- 

 clusions of Dr. Engelmann published 

 in the last number of the Monthly. 

 In an article such as Professor Flem- 

 ing's on ' Wireless Telegraphy,' we 

 have simply to learn what the leading 

 authority on the subject teaches us. 

 Wlien we leave the exact sciences, and 

 especially when we enter the field of 

 applied sociology, we have our science 

 to make. The fact that sociology is 

 now in about the condition of the 

 physics of three hundred years ago 

 does not detract from its interest, but 

 rather adds to the possibilities of 

 progress. Readers should, however, 

 remember that while a physicist can 

 usually speak for the science of phys- 

 ics, a sociologist can usually only 

 speak for himself. The fact that the 

 editor of this journal does not agree 

 with Dr. Engelmann in regard to the 

 interi)retation of statistics does not 

 necessarily mean that Dr. Engelmann 

 is mistaken, but only that the subjects- 

 are not yet in the field of exact sci- 

 ence. 



