152 THE TREND OF THE RACE 



An important circumstance that brings down the birth rate is the 

 increasing urbanization of the population which in many coun- 

 tries has occurred to such a remarkable extent during the past 

 half century. City life affects fecundity in many ways which we 

 need not here attempt to specify in detail. The many conditions 

 which sap the vitality of the urban population, and which are 

 partly expressed in the greater death rate, are doubtless respon- 

 sible for much of the decline, but the economic, psychological and 

 social factors probably operate more strongly also than in the 

 rural districts. Life in the country is more normal and whole- 

 some than in the city; the children are more of an asset on the 

 farm than they are in the cities and towns, especially since the 

 passage of legislation restricting the employment of child labor; 

 facilities for rearing children are on the average much better in 

 the country; the use of preventives and abortion are less prev- 

 alent; and the search for pleasure and the desire for social life 

 have less influence upon the country housewife than upon her 

 urban sister. In general, city life may be said to intensify the 

 action of most of the agencies that are responsible for the dimi- 

 nution of births. 



The inadequate birth statistics of the United States afford 

 little opportunity for comparing directly the urban and rural 

 birth rates for the country in general, although fairly reliable 

 data are furnished by a few of the states. However, the census 

 returns give the number of individuals under five rears of age per 

 thousand women between 25 and 45 years in rural and urban 

 communities for the United States as a whole. These numbers 

 are as follows: 



Urban white 252 



Urban negro 290 



Rural white 603 



Rural negro 652 



With both negroes and whites the number of children under 

 five is much larger in the country than in the cities; and the 

 same statement holds for each group of states taken separately. 



