48 Hattie Plum Williams 
-Another measure of the natural increase of population is the 
crude birth rate; 7. e., the number of births per annum per 1,000 
of the total population. 
TABLE X. BrrRTHS PER 1,000 ToTAL PoPpuLATION?!® 
Riassiank German elOlie nc thee Oe te Cee 60.0 
INbiscraim (GSRMeia, WO osooccdceocodupUccdconcdedobodeO 60.8 
Ieinicolnas GrOtall))\ maT OUOW eye rie oie rsccieas, ockcie create a ere 25.1 
Russia, TOTO eee a a Oe ee Pa 44.2 
Germany, TO EO oe sielcis ahs ore SR See ee ee Ee 30.5 
The figures however do not show the actual fecundity of 
marriage among the Russian Germans because there is not the 
same proportion-of women from 15 to 45 years among the 
Russian German and the city populations; nor is there the same 
proportion of married persons in the two groups. For example, 
28 per cent. of the total population of Lincoln is composed of 
women between 15 and 45 years, while only 20 per cent. of the 
Russian German population are women of that age group. 
Based upon the number of women between 15 and 45 years, the 
birth rate for the Russian Germans was 318.6 births per 1,000 
and for the city of Lincoln 73.2 per 1,000. A similar comparison 
of the fecundity of marriage between native-born and foreign- 
born women in Michigan for the five-year period, 1890-1894, 
shows 111 births per 1,000 native, and 232 births per 1,000 
foreign, women.** 
15 The data for 1914 are based upon the writer’s census of the Russian 
Germans in that year. The Russian German population in 1910 is esti- 
mated from the United States Census as 5,000. The number of births is 
taken from the total christenings of the eight Russian German churches, 
which record 304 births in 1910 as compared with 236 registered at the 
health office. The former would not include a few births where families 
belong to other churches-nor the still births. Moreover, it might include 
some born outside the city, viz., in the beetfields, but these would be only 
a few. These facts illustrate, however, the impossibility of ascertaining 
an absolutely correct rate. The data for Lincoln are based on the United 
States Census for 1910 and the city health records, which latter are incom- 
plete and make the rate somewhat lower than it should be. For Russia 
and Germany, see Statesman’s Year Book, 1912, 1914. 
16 Cf. Chart II. Distribution by Age Periods and Sex Groups, 36. 
17 Newsholme, The Elements of Vital Statistics, 65. 
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