106 



The Journal of Heredity 



Miss Castle's figures* show a correlation marriage. If these superior men would 



of eminence with a very late age at keep their sex records clean, they would 



marriage and a consequent decreased not suffer the severe depreciation which 



racial contril)ution. they do sustain in the eyes of superior 



women. But let us not take that am- 



DELAY IS SERIOUS. biguous shibbolcth "the single standard 



The objection has been made that of morals" to mean a general sex strike, 



eugenists are too much disturbed by that is, ostracizing every man who has 



this late marriage of superior women, had ilHcit sex experience. This is too 



To ijostpone marriage seriously reduces extreme. Early offenses where infec- 



the likelihood of marriage. The critic tion did not occur or has been positively 



says that late marrying women will cured, though properly considered a se- 



have their children closer together and vere drawback, should not be perpctual- 



so eventually have as many. But the ly condemning when followed b\- rcfonn 



facts as collected by Miss Smith do not and real love. Such an unforgiving and 



bear this out. Furthermore, the late uncompromising position can not be ap- 



marriage of superior persons cuts down proved, because it leads a very large 



their contribution to the race stream, number of women into celibate lives, 



because the years of fertility left to the with a serious dysgenic result. In addi- 



wife are reduced. (Now that the aver- tion it increases the temptations of the 



age of human life is prolonged, the cli- men left unmarried. These extremists 



macteric seems to come on start! ingly must remember that it is hard to get 



soon to manv of these late married men to marry at even a normal rate, as 



w^omen). Again, late marriages are current statistics abundantly prove, 



relatively ineftcctive because of the Therefore, the threat of a sex strike will 



lengthened generation. Suppose a gen- never enforce chastity. Slow and hard 



eration to be 25 years or 33 1-3 years as it is, we must content ourselves to 



res]3cctively in two different stocks, and build up a sounder moral basis by better 



that all persons marry and each couple attested methods, 

 have four surviving children or two per 



t %ru u- if^ 2\ ■ +U ^ lu HONOR FOR MOTHERHOOD. 



parent. The result (fig. 3) is that the 



25-year stock constitutes two-thirds Inappreciation of wifehood and 

 of the population at the end of a motherhood by misguided feminists 

 century. must cease, and greater honor and ap- 

 is, it not imperative that something preciation must be meted out to moth- 

 be done to raise the marriage rate of all ers, in order to more than compensate 

 superior women? To this end we must for the recognition that women earn 

 dissuade superior men from shirking in rival occupations. Women should 



*The following tabic from C. S. Castle (Statistics of Eminent Women, in Pop. Sci., Mo., June 

 13) shows the age at which_ eminent women in hist ory h ave married: 



Centiirx ' Average Age Kaiij^c Xo. of Cases 



17 ' I" 16.2 H-M) !^ 



13' ' 16 6 12-29 .S 



14 1.^ cS 6-18 11 



15 17.6 1.^-26 20 



16 I 21 7 12-50 28 



17 200 13-43 50 



18 23.1 13-53 127 



iq;;; ;;;;;;;;;;;;; ; 26.2 i'5-67 i8q 



It is to be noted, furthermore, that if the American \vomen_of the 19th century in this table 

 are separated, their average age at marriage is found to be 27 7 instead of 26 2. 

 Thcjrndikc's statistics on marriages among college women (1901) show that: 

 45 per cent, of college women marry before the age of 40. 

 90 per cent, of all United States women marry before the age of 40. 

 96 per cent, of Arkansas women marry before the age of 40. 

 80 per cent, of Massachusetts women marry l)efore the age of 40. 

 . In Massachusetts 30 per cent, of all women have married at the age at which college women 

 are just graduating. (M;nri;i,i.,'r amdiig college women. Outlook, October 5, '01.) 



