Hunt: Collep-e Birth Rate 



55 



figure decreased to l.On children for the 

 classes graduating in lST2-18cSl, and 

 to .53 of a child for the period 1892- 

 1901. Likewise the average numher 

 of the men graduates' children sur- 

 viving, per graduate, declined from 

 2.12 for the "classes of 1852-18(il. to 

 one child each in the period 1892-1901. 



The writer'" found that l)etter matri- 

 monial ideals prevail among the stu- 

 dents of the University of Mississippi 

 than seem to have dominated recently 

 the students in the institutions just 

 mentioned. 



The foregoing discussion prepares us 

 for a more intelligent appreciation of 

 the facts bearing on the marriage and 

 birth rates among the Allegheny Col- 

 lege graduates. 



Families of Allegheny Graduates 



The collection of data presented 

 many practical difficulties. In the first 

 place the college has not preserved 

 adecjuate records of marriages, and 

 none of births. It was therefore neces- 

 sary to mail questionnaires to surviv- 

 ing men and women graduates, depend- 

 ing entirely upon their interest and 

 good will for satisfactory replies. The 

 Alumni Register of 1921 furnished the 

 names and addresses and indicated 

 those graduates who had died. A valu- 

 able supplementary source of informa- 

 tion was a booklet published bv the 

 Class of 1890. 



A study of the birth rate in such a 

 group would be of little value if the 

 families were not complete, or for the 

 most part nearly so. Hence the class 

 graduating in 1899 was the latest one 

 studied. It was assumed that the ages 

 of the wives in families one of whose 

 consorts graduated not later than this 

 date, would as a rule approach or ex- 

 ceed 45 years, the usual limit of the 

 child bearing period. The collected 

 data accorded with this belief in a 

 general way. 



The proportion of deceased members 

 in the classes before 1870 was so large 

 that it was deemed unwise to attempt 

 to study classes of an earlier date. 



A questionnaire was sent in January 

 and February 1922, to each of the liv- 

 ing graduates of the classes of 1870 to 

 1899. In April a second copy of the 

 questionnaire was mailed to each per- 

 son who failed to return the first, with 

 the urgent request that the data be 

 forwarded. This somewhat enlarged 

 the returns, but not enough to warrant 

 a third attemi)t. Fifty-seven per cent, 

 of all questionnaires were returned. 

 Criticisms based on the incompleteness 

 of our data, however justifiable sta- 

 tistically, should be tempered by the 

 fact that much desirable information 

 was a])parently not obtainable by any 

 readily available means. 



The essential features of the ques- 

 tionnaire sent to the men are repro- 

 duced below. After a brief preliminary 

 explanation, the following questions 

 were asked : 



( 1 ) Name. 



(2) .Are you single, married, divorced, 

 or a widower? 



(3) What was your age at graduation 

 from /Mlegheny ? 



(4) If married, what was your age at 

 marriage? 



(5) If married, how many children have 

 you? Number living Number de- 

 ceased 



(6) If married, what is your wife's 

 present age? 



(7) Supplimentary information or re- 

 marks. 



The following persons who graduated 

 from .Mlegheny College in your class are 

 now dead. Please answer the above cjues- 

 tions for each one of these deceased class- 

 mates, as far as you can do so accurately. 

 Write the information on a separate sheet 

 of paper, or on the back of this sheet. 



The women's questionnaire so close- 

 ly resembled the men's that it need not 

 be reproduced here. 



Table 2 shows the total number of 

 alumni, the number living, and the 

 proportion of questionnaires filled out 

 and returned. 



Before proceeding to a critical anal- 

 ysis of the marriage and birth rates a 

 glance at some of the raw data may be 

 of interest. These are presented in 

 Table 3. 



The discrepancy between the total 

 number of individuals listed in Table 



