INFANT SURVIVAL AND SOCIAL STATUS IN THE UNITED STATES 



The infant death rates shown In solid black are for white babies. Averages for en- 

 tire population are shown by tops of gray bands, from about 100 in 1915 to less 

 than 50 in 1940. The highest rates are for nonwhites. We might interpret the dif- 

 ferences as organic or inherited differences but for the fact that, as social and 

 economic conditions improved, the Infant death rates went down more rapidly for 

 the nonwhites than for the whites 



