THE DECLINING BIRTH RATE 



^33 



Number of Children per i,ooo Married Women in Different Urban 



Districts 



Very Poor Districts. 



Poor 



Comfortable 



Very " 



Rich 



Very Rich 



Paris 



Berlin 



That similar conditions prevail in American cities is indicated 

 by statistics of the birth rates of different classes in Philadelphia.^ 

 In expensive residence districts the rate is 18; in the well-to-do 

 districts, 21.4. per thousand; among the American born factory 

 workers it is 24.5, while among the worst paid immigrants it is 

 41.9. The death rate in the expensive wards is 14.5 per thousand; 

 while it is higher in the slums, viz., 20.5, it does not nearly make 

 up for the difference in the birth rate. 



It is not easy to compare the eugenic worth of the American 

 and foreign born elements of our population, and it would be a 

 great error to measure the eugenic value of a stock in terms of 

 wealth or social position. Many people of the most desirable 

 types of inheritance can boast of very little of either of these 

 desirable possessions. No small proportion of poverty in our 

 present economic regime is due to accident, illness or other cir- 

 cumstances for which the unfortunate victims are in no way to 

 blame. Nevertheless, it is undeniably true that many people are 

 poor because their iimate shiftlessness, mental inferiority, and 

 unreliability makes them practically unemployable. Such 

 persons, and a good share of their progeny, tend to remain in the 

 ranks of the poverty stricken classes, unable to seize any oppor- 

 tunity that may present itself for improving their condition. It is 

 not uncommon to find pauper pedigrees extending through several 

 generations. People of good stock unless hampered by ill fortune 

 ^ S. Nearing, North American Rev. 197, 629, 191 2. 



