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..................0., 252 
Urban negro... ............00006. 290 
Rural white................0...... 603 
Rural Negros ic) wenansexwreees 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. 
