A Social Study of the Russian German ou 
depends partly upon the comparative number of males and females 
in a community, and partly upon the percentage of males of the 
criminal age. Illegitimacy, or the lack of it, depends upon the 
number of single persons of marriageable age, as well as upon 
the social customs and ideals of the groups. These factors must 
all be kept in mind in any discussion of social conditions among 
the Russian Germans, for upon them depend largely the test of 
the morality or the immorality, of the desirableness or the unde- 
sirableness, of the group. 
The distribution of the Russian German population of Lincoln 
according to age periods is shown in Chart IT.** 
The most striking thing is the abnormally large proportion of 
persons in the lower age groups: 22.1 per cent. under five years 
of age among the Russian Germans as compared with 9.9 per 
cent. for the city of Lincoln and 11.6 per cent. for the United 
States. The local charts show increases in the middle age periods, 
the total city population being swollen most largely by young 
people (20-24 years of age) who come from the rural districts 
either to enter industry or to attend school, and the Russian 
German population being most largely increased by immigrants 
(25-35 years of age) who come here direct from Russia. The 
small proportion of Russian Germans above sixty years of age 
indicates the comparative recency of the immigration and the fact 
that few old people emigrate from Russia.** The small propor- 
tion of young people from 15 to 25 is striking, and somewhat 
difficult to account for. The smaller number of males in these 
groups is due to the Wanderlust of youth which leads a large 
number of young men to leave their father’s house, usually with- 
out parental consent, and seek adventure or labor elsewhere. 
88 Incidentally this chart illustrates the principle of the stability of large 
numbers and the instability of small. The figure for the United States 
shows a gradual decline, while the variations of the other two are neither 
uniform nor gradual. 
84 The top of the pyramid for Lincoln cannot be completed because the 
census of 1910 gives only broad-age periods above 40 years. The group 
from 40-49 years was resolved into two five-year periods on the basis of 
proportions given in the census of 1900, but no further estimate was 
possible. ; 
163 
