EUROPEANS IN UNITED STATES—-RIPLEY. 605 
novel opportunity makes itself apparent in the sharp decline of fecun- 
dity. In some communities the Irish-Americans have a lower birth 
rate even than the native born. Doctor Engelmann, on the basis of 
a large practice, has shown that among the St. Louis Germans the 
proportion of barren marriages is almost unprecedentedly high. 
Corroborative, although technically inconclusive, evidence from the 
registration reports of the State of Michigan appears in the follow- 
ing suggestive table, showing the nativity of parents and the number 
of children per marriage annually in each class: 
Children. 
German father, American-born mother__--_-~____________-__ 2. DB 
American-born father, German mother_______________________ 2.3 
Germanitather, German MoOGher. 2= == 22. = Pe sires 5) 
American-born father, American-born mother_______--___-__~ 1S 
I have been at some pains to secure personal information concern- 
ing the foreign colonies in some of our large cities, notably New York. 
Dr. Maurice Fishberg for the Jews and Dr. Antonio Stella for the 
Italians, both notable authorities, confirm the foregoing statements. 
Among the Italians particularly the conditions are positively alarm- 
ing. Peculiar social conditions influencing the birth rate and the 
terrific mortality induced by overcrowding, insanitation, and the un- 
accustomed rigors of the climate make it doubtful whether the Italian 
colony in New York will even be physically self-sustaining. Thus it 
appears that forces are at work which may check the relatively 
higher rate of reproduction of the immigrants and perhaps reduce it 
more nearly to the Anglo-Saxon level. 
The vitality of these immigrants is surprisingly high in some in- 
stances, particularly where they attain an open-air rural life. The 
birth rate stands high and the mortality remains low. Such are the 
ideal conditions for rapid reproduction of the species. On the other 
hand, where overcrowded in the slums of great cities, ignorant and 
poverty stricken, the infant mortality is very high, largely offsetting, 
it may be, the high birth rate. The mortality rate among the Ital- 
ians in New York, for instance, is said to be twice as high as in 
Italy. Yet some of these immigrants, such as the Scandinavians, are 
particularly hardy and enduring. Perhaps the most striking in- 
stance is that of the Jews, both Russian and Polish. According to 
the census of 1890 their death rate was only one-half that of the 
native-born American. For three of the most crowded wards in New 
York City the death rate of the Irish was 36 per 1,000; for the Ger- 
mans, 22; for natives of the United States, 45; while for the Jews it 
was only 17 per 1,000. By actual computation, at these relative rates, 
starting at birth with two groups of 1,000 Jews and Americans, re- 
spectively, the chances would be that the first half of the Americans 
would die within forty-seven years, while for the Jews this would 
