RACE SUICIDE IN THE UNITED STATES 209 



agency. The attempts to approximate (he birth rate on the 

 basis of census figures have been far from satisfactory. As a 

 resuh the birth rate in the United States, past or present, is 

 unknown. 



The ratio of the Uving children under 5 years of age to 

 each 1,000 living women of child bearing age is used as the best 

 available substitute for the birth rate during the last half of 

 the nineteenth centur}^ 



The proportion of children under 10 years of age to the 

 total population can be ascertained for a longer period. It 

 has decreased almost uninterruptedly since the early part of 

 the century, the number of such children constituting approxi- 

 mately one third of the total population at the beginning of the 

 century and less than one fourth at the end. The decrease in 

 the corresponding proportion for whites began as early as 1810 

 and continued uninterruptedly to the end of the century. 



Since 1830, when the figures were first obtained, the pro- 

 portion of negro children under 10 years of age to the total 

 negro population has decreased. There w^as, however, an 

 increase from 1860 to 1880. On the other hand, there was a 

 rapid decrease from 1880 to 1900. The proportion of white 

 children imder 5 years of age to the total population decreased 

 steadily, except from 1850 to 1860, the number of such children 

 being in 1900 about three fifths of what it was in 1830. The 

 decrease during the last decade of the centur}^ was insignificant. 

 The corresponding proportion for negroes was at its height in 

 1850 and 1880 and except for 1870 was least in 1890. 



The decades of great immigration and the Civil war 

 showed the greatest ratio of decrease in the proportion of chil- 

 dren. The decades immediately following those of great im- 

 migration showed a reduction in the rate of decrease, probably 

 because of the high birth rate among the immigrants. The 

 reduction in the proportion of children to total population 

 during the centur}^ suggests but does not prove that the birth 

 rate was lower. The increase in the proportion of children 

 among negroes from 1860 to 1880 and the decrease from 1880 

 to 1900 suggests a high birth rate during the twenty years 

 following emancipation and a rapid fall in the bu*th rate there- 

 after. 



Vol. 10-14. 



