604 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1909. 
Baldly stated, the birth rate among the foreign born in Massachu- 
setts is about three times that of the native born. Childless marriages 
are one-third less frequent. This somewhat exaggerates the contrast, 
because of differing conditions as to age and sex in the two classes. 
The difference, nevertheless, is very great. Kuczynski has made de- 
tailed investigations as to the relative fecundity of different racial 
groups. The fruitfulness of English-Canadian women in Massa- 
chusetts is twice that of the Massachusetts born; of the Germans and 
Scandinavians it is two and a half times as great; of the French- 
Canadians it is thrice; and of the Portuguese four times. Even 
among the Irish, who are characterized nowadays everywhere by a 
low birth rate, the fruitfulness of the women is 50 per cent greater 
than for the Massachusetts native born. The reasons for this rela- 
tively low fecundity of the domestic stock are, of course, much the 
same as in Australia and in France. But with us it is as well the 
“poor white” among the New England hills or in the Southern 
States as the town dweller, who appears content with few children or 
none. The foreign immigrant marries early and children continue 
to come until much later in life than among the native born. It may 
make all the difference between an increasing or declining popula- 
tion whether the average age of marriage is 20 years or 29 years. The 
contrast between the Anglo-Saxon stock and its rivals for supremacy 
may be stated in another way. Whereas only about one-ninth of the 
‘married women among the French-Canadians, Irish, and Germans 
are childless, the proportion among the American born and the Eng- 
lish-Canadians is as high as 1 in 5. A century ago about 2 per 
cent of barren marriages was the rule. Is it any wonder that serious 
students contemplate the racial future of Anglo-Saxon America 
with some concern? They have witnessed the passing of the Ameri- 
can Indian and the buffalo. And now they query as to how long the 
Anglo-Saxon may be able to survive. 
On the other hand, evidence is not lacking to show that in the 
second generation of these immigrant peoples a sharp and consider- 
able, nay, in somé cases, a truly alarming, decrease of fruitfulness 
occurs. The crucial time among all our newcomers from Europe has 
always been this second generation. The old customary ties and 
usages have been abruptly sundered and new associations, restraints, 
and responsibilities have not yet been formed. Particularly is this 
true of the forces of family discipline and religion, as has already 
been observed. Until the coming of the Hun, the Italian, and the 
Slav, at least, it has been among the second generation of* foreigners 
in America, rather than among the raw immigrants, that criminality 
has been most prevalent. And it is now becoming evident that it is 
this second generation in which the influence of democracy and of 
