THE JEWS: RACE AND ENVIRONMENT 263 



The average number of children per marriage was during 1876-80, 

 4.75; it decreased during the next five-year period to 4.15; during 

 1886-90 to 3.49; then a further fall was observed to 3.01; during 

 1896-1900 it was only 2.50, and during 1902 and 1903 it again de- 

 creased, falling to an average of 2.20 and 2.31 children, respectively, 

 per marriage. 



In western Europe, where the birth rates of the Jews are lower, 

 their fecundity is also lower. As will be seen later, this goes hand- 

 in-hand with late marriges, celibacy, etc., among the Jews. In Russia, 

 Poland, Galicia, Algiers, etc., where they are isolated from their chris- 

 tian neighbors and remain unaffected by what is generally known as 

 modern civilized life, they marry earlier, have few celibates and raise 

 large families. The birth rates are as a result quite high, though not 

 as high as among the christians, who are largely engaged in agricul- 

 ture and marry even earlier, as is the case in Russia and Galicia. Yet 

 it must be remembered that in small cities in eastern Europe it is con- 

 sidered a sin for a Jew to remain unmarried, and an old maid in the 

 family is a disgrace. In western Europe, on the other hand, the Jews 

 are on a high social, economic and intellectual plane. Such people can 

 not afford to marry early, and, after marriage, are not anxious to 

 raise large families, for reasons known to-day in every large city. As 

 a result they bear fewer children. Striking illustrations of this con- 

 dition are presented in Austria. In Galicia and the Bukowina the 

 rates are high, which goes hand-in-hand with poverty and strict ad- 

 herence to their religious belief; in Bohemia and Lower Austria the 

 rates are low, corresponding to the social and economic prosperity of 

 the Jews in these provinces with the concomitant late marriages, 

 celibacy, voluntary restriction, etc. In the United States also the 

 newly arriving immigrants have a high fecundity, while the native 

 Jews rarely raise large families. 



Sex at Birth 



The number of boys at birth exceeds the number of girls among 

 most European nations. In some countries, like Greece and Roumania, 

 the ratio is 112 to 100 girls, but the average appears to be about 103 

 and 105 for European countries. It was alleged that among the 

 Jews this excess of male births is more pronounced than among the 

 non-Jewish population. Ignorant, as we are, of the cause of the pre- 

 ponderance of males at birth, this excess, not being influenced by the 

 social and physical environment, was considered a race trait of the 

 Jews. 



From statistics of the Russian Pale of Jewish settlement it is seen 

 that there is actually a very large excess of male births among the 



