364 



The Journal of Heredity 



neither avoided nor postponed as com- 

 pared with a decade or two ago, but that 

 on the contrary it is more general than 

 heretofore and is undertaken at earher 

 ages. 



If now wc carry our inquiry a Httle 

 farther we meet with other surprises. 

 The census classifies the population 

 under four headings, Native White of 

 Native Parentage, Native White ot 

 Foreign or Mixed Parentage, Foreign- 

 Born White, and Negro. The returns 

 show that in every one of these four 

 grou]3s there was a larger proportion of 

 married among both sexes in 1910 than 

 in 1890, except among Foreign-Born 

 Whites where the ijrojjortion was prac- 

 tically the same (62.2 in 1890 and 62.1 

 in 1910). Moreover when age groups 

 arc studied, one finds that the j^ropor- 

 tion of married is greater in 1910 than 

 in 1900 or 1890 in all four nativity 

 classes for both males and females of 

 ages 15-19 and 20-24; and that this is 

 also true for both sexes and all four 

 classes in the age group 25-34, except 

 among foreign-born males where the 

 pro])ortion in 1910, though larger than 

 in 1890, was slightly smaller than in 

 1900. 



We are forced therefore to conclude 

 that in all nativity classes of the popula- 

 tion as in the population as a whole there 

 is a tendency for the proportion of 

 persons married to increase and a 

 tendency for marriages to be undertaken 

 at an earlier age. This is a very un- 

 exix'cted result with respect to the 

 native whites of native parentage. 

 This class includes those whose parents 

 were born in this country; it is to this 

 class that the professional and proper- 

 tied familes belong and it is frequently 

 asserted that this class is avoiding 

 marriage to an extent that shows a 

 decline in their sense of social responsi- 

 bility. While it is true that marriage 

 is later in this class than among artisans 

 and unskilled laborers, and while in 

 certain strata of this class the age of 

 marriage is doubtless later than formerly, 

 nevertheless taken as a whole it is under- 

 taking marriage as readily as, and even 

 more readily than, in past decades. 



Numerous other causes have been 

 brought forward by the French students 

 of this phenomenon. The style of 



women's dress; over-eating, especially 

 consumption of meats; over-refinement; 

 salacious literature, the theatre and other 

 excitants of morbid cravings are believed 

 by some to be causes. Then much 

 stress is laid upon physiological steriHty ; 

 but statistical evidence seems to mini- 

 mize its significance. Doubtless con- 

 siderable importance must be attributed 

 to venereal infections. 



C.\USE IS PSYCHOLOGICAL. 



But magnify as wc may all other 

 causes of the decline, the fact remains 

 that the one conspicuous factor is the 

 changed psychological attitude toward 

 the size of the family. This change in 

 attitude has a great variety of causes. 

 In the first place the very possibility of 

 escaping the normal consequences of 

 natural instincts in this regard would 

 prompt general adoption of the means 

 thereto. Have not various inquiries 

 shown, and is it not self-evident fact, 

 that women have in the past been held 

 in the iron grasp of an inexorable fate 

 which has imposed upon them in a large 

 proportion of cases the complete sacri- 

 fice of themselves to a monotonous round 

 of drudgery and child bearing? The 

 increasing freedom of woman, the grow- 

 ing power and importance of her per- 

 sonality, the inevitable demand on her 

 part to be recognized as an equal in the 

 responsibilities and the honors of racial 

 achievement; all these have reacted 

 upon the size of the family. There has 

 in addition been a great decline in 

 rehgious control; the most Catholic 

 department in France has had in recent 

 years an excess of births over deaths 

 seven times as great in proportion as the 

 rest of the country. 



Then there is the imitation of the rich 

 by the poor, of the social elite by all 

 others. It has been and still is true that 

 the big families live in the little houses 

 and the little families in the big houses; 

 but more and more generally it is be- 

 coming true that the children who grow 

 up in the little houses are demanding the 

 education, the training, the leisure, the 

 social o]>i)ortunities of those who grow 

 up in the big houses, and their parents 

 are aml)itious to give them every pos- 

 sible advantage. Here indeed is the 

 great central fact, — individual ambition. 



