A Social Study of the Russian German 53 
came, as young girls, to America a decade or more ago; and either 
the warning of physicians or the considerateness of their hus- 
bands results in a material decrease in the size of their families. 
The criminal means of prevention found among so many of the 
younger generation of women of foreign-born parents is not in 
evidence among the Russian Germans, except occasionally in 
cases of illegitimate relations. As pointed out later, almost with- 
out exception the Russian German girls drop out of organized 
industry when they marry, and this removes one of the greatest 
temptations which exists to interfere with the course of nature. 
Different ideals of family life will also tend to reduce the birth 
rate among the Russian Germans in Lincoln. Everywhere in 
Europe, particularly under the village system of Russia, the child 
is looked upon as an economic asset. Among the German 
colonists, the girl, if necessary, takes her place beside the male 
workers in the field during the summer, substituting for her 
brothers when they are drafted for military service; while through 
the leisure season she is the chief factor in the industries which 
are carried on in the home. On the other hand, every boy born 
means an added dusch to the family income, for each housefather 
receives as many shares as there are males in his househola. 
Where the shares are so small as they are at the present time 
among the German colonists, every added one is of especial value, 
and the death of male children is particularly mourned because it 
represents a very definite economic loss. In America the child is 
still considered an economic asset, but the demands of the state 
for its education reduce its value far below what it would other- 
wise be. Moreover, while it is customary for Russian German 
children, so long as they remain in the home, to turn over all their 
wages to their parents, the law in America absolves them from 
the necessity of it after they have attained their majority, and very 
often they avail themselves of the privilege of the law. 
More important still is the disintegration of the family which 
occurs in this country. A very definite thought in the rearing of 
children is the idea that they will repay the trouble they have cost 
by caring for the parents in their old age.. In America, however, 
the economic organization of society is not such as to insure them 
179 
