

THE FALL OF THE BIRTH-RATE 29 



only marked feature. But looking at the more recent 

 marriages, say those of 10 to 15 years duration which 

 took place in the quinquennium 1896-1901, we see 

 quite a different state of affairs. The fertility of class i 

 is now not n per cent, but 24 per cent, below the 

 general average: that of class 2 is n per cent, below: 

 that of class 3 is just below and of class 4 just above: 

 that of class 5 is 14 per cent, above. The differentia- 

 tion is quite regular and much more emphasised. In 

 the marriages of under ten years duration which have 

 taken place since 1906 the differentiation seems again 

 to be slightly diminishing but, as pointed out by Dr 

 Stevenson, this may perhaps be due to the fact that 

 in' a period of less than ten years the more fertile 

 marriages have not had time fully to exhibit their 

 fertility. 



The data for the special classes, (6) Textile workers, 

 (7) Miners and (8) Agricultural labourers are also 

 very interesting. Even in the marriages of 1851-61 

 the total fertilities of these classes are clearly differ- 

 entiated, standing in the ratio of 94 : 1 08 : 105. The 

 figure for textile workers stands between those for 

 classes i and 2 an extraordinarily low figure for the 

 working class while the figure for miners exceeds 

 that for unskilled labour (class 5). In the marriages 

 of 1896-1901 the differentiation had become very 

 much greater, the percentages being 86, 125, 114: 

 but both the statements as to relative position remain 

 true. The figure for textile workers is still betv 

 the- figures for classes i and 2, and the fertility of 

 miners still i \ceeds that of unskilled labour. Both 

 conclusions, it should also be noted, are confirmed 

 by the births for 1911 as tabulated in Table VI on 

 the married males under 55. 



The pi i'^es given in the table are based on 



total fertilities, i.e. on the total numbers of children 



