INFLUENCE OF IXDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT 343 
of venereal disease, a percentage which becomes relatively greater 
with the increased size of the city and which cannot fail to have a 
marked effect on individual and racial vitality. 
Cities generally exceed the neighboring country in the per 
centage of illegitimacy, the proportion of stillbirths, the relative 
number of married women who are sterile, the proportion of 
mothers unable to nurse their children, and in the prevalence of 
alcoholism and addiction to drugs. All these facts are indicative 
of the deteriorating effects to which city populations are subject 
and which cannot fail to affect either the average longevity of the 
stock or its power of perpetuation. 
Further indications of the effects of the city are afforded by 
the extensive statistics on the fitness of recruits for military 
service. Where compulsory military service is in vogue and 
where all classes are subjected to examination, the data yielded is 
of much value. The percentage of recruits meeting the require- 
ments for military service in Germany for 1907 and 1908 is given 
in the following table which shows the proportions accepted from 
cities of different sizes and from the country: 
Percentage of Recruits Qualifying for Military Service in Germany 
Size of City 1907 1908 
Cities over 1,000,000...............-.. 31.4 28.2 
*£ §00,000—-1,000j000. occ eee ees 39-9 44.0 
*€ 200,000-500,000........0 .....008 50.1 49.8 
tS SOG: 000=200 0062s 5 a eiaus eis 47.9 48.2 
© GO;000-100000:w bi nee eee ee 51.8 51.5 
Country...... Phas suslanlh Na Dassen aed A Goa can. 58.0 57-7 
According to Bindewald the superiority of rural recruits is 
not dependent upon occupation since it obtains within the limits 
of each trade or profession. He cites the following statistics of 
the percentage of those meeting the military requirements: 
