THE DECLINING BIRTH RATE 



129 



stock, the Society of Mayflower Descendants.* By means of 

 questionnaires we have obtained data concerning families of the 

 California branch of this Society. The size of the family was 

 found to decrease with the recency of the birth of the parents. 

 The size of the family of parents born in successive periods is 

 shown in the following table: 



Declining Birth Rate of the Mayflower Descendants 



No. of children. 



Mother's family 

 Father's family. 



Husbands &" 

 wives born 



between 

 1810-1830 



6.0 

 8.0 



Husbands 



born 



between 



1830-1840 



wives after 



1840 



S-6 



(4 families) 



Husbands &• 

 wives both 



born 



between 



1840-1860 



3-33 



(27 families) 



4.S2 

 S-iS 



Husbands 



born 



between 



1850-1860 



wives after 



i860 



30 



(8 families) 

 4.28 

 5.62 



Husbands &• 

 wives both 

 born 

 between 

 i860- 1880 ; 

 families 

 probably 

 completed 



2. II 



(4S families) 

 3-54 

 3-94 



Husbands &• 



wives both 



born 



between 



1870-1880 



(20 families) 

 382 

 4.0 



It is possible that a few children may yet be born to the parents 

 of the last age group, viz., those in which the mothers were bom 

 between 1870 and 1880. As only 8 of the mothers in this group 

 were less than 45 years of age, and as all of them are over 38, the 

 children from this group will be very few. Perhaps the average 

 number of children per family of the Mayflower descendants 

 is somewhat larger than our results indicate, but it is not probable 

 that the number of children would be more than two and a half 

 per married couple, a number obviously insufficient to main- 

 tain the stock. 



Whatever we may say for the eugenic qualities of our citizens 

 of foreign extraction, and many of them doubtless represent an 

 excellent inheritance, we cannot but regard the disappearance 

 of such stock as the Adams, Lowells, Edwards, and Lees as noth- 

 ing short of a grave national misfortune. 



The most serious menace to racial welfare, not only in America, 

 but in most civilized lands, is the relative sterility of superior 



1 Jour. Hered., Vol. 9, 296-3cx3. 



