156 THE TREND OF THE RACE 
rate in the rural parts of the state being only 18.5. In almost all 
the cities of the state the percentage of foreign born was greater 
than in the country. The percentage of foreign born women in 
cities of over 25,000 was 26.8% as compared with that in the 
whole state which was only 19.2%. Particularly significant is the 
fact that the birth rate per 1,000 married women of 15-44 yrs. in 
1916 was 72 for the native born and 177.3 for the foreign born in 
the country, and 69.3 for native born and 174.8 for foreign born 
women in the cities. Thus in both native and foreign born women 
of child-bearing age higher fecundity was shown by the country 
dweller, but the larger proportion of foreign born women in cities 
made the urban birth rate higher than the rural. 
It is probable that much the same relations would be found to 
be widely prevalent in the United States. In many states there 
are no birth statistics kept which may be depended upon, and 
even in those in which birth registration has been most faithfully 
carried out there is a considerable amount of inaccuracy. The in- 
creasing birth rate which some states of the registration area 
show in the last decade is, I suspect, largely, if not mainly, the 
result of improving registration of births. The low birth rate and 
the surprising irregularities in the records which are shown by the 
statistics of only a few years back naturally destroy confidence in 
the data. I have taken only the most recent available reports 
from states in which there is reason to believe that records are 
sufficiently complete to warrant basing conclusions upon. In 
these states it is not improbable that the rural birth rates are too 
low, as it is probable that births have been more carefully re- 
corded in cities then in the country. However, the inaccuracies 
are, I believe, not sufficient to seriously modify the conclusions 
drawn from the data. 
The evidence afforded by the birth statistics of urban and 
rural communities is supported by the careful compilations of the 
Immigration Commission on the birth rates of native and foreign 
born women. In Rhode Island the average number of children 
born to women under 45 who were married from 10-20 years in 
urban and rural communities is indicated below: 
