THE RISE IN THE VALUE OP BABIES 5 



terrifies the nations. Of the facts there can be no 

 question; the decline in fertility of the human species 

 in highly civilized countries ranks among the most 

 challenging social phenomena which sociologists are 

 trying to explain. That the birth-rate should be 

 decreasing so rapidly in the newer countries is 

 an astonishing condition of the problem. Canada, 

 sparsely populated, with an immense empire of terri- 

 tory and practically boundless resources, presents an 

 interesting study. There the decline in fertility 

 seems to be greatest among people of Anglo-Saxon 

 inheritance. In the Province of Quebec, which is 

 mainly populated by French Canadians, the birth-rate 

 per thousand in 1901 was 35, while in Ontario, a prov- 

 ince populated mainly by people of British origin, the 

 birth-rate in the same year was only 21.1 per thou- 

 sand.' In Montreal, in 1902, the birth-rate of each 

 of the three classes into which the vital statistics 

 of the city are distributed was as follows : — 



French Canadians 43.5 



Other Catholics 22.4 



Protestants 23.7 



The great majority of the second and third classes 

 were undoubtedly of British origin, so that the figures, 

 taken in conjunction with those already cited, suggest 

 a racial decline — the comparative infertility of the 

 British descendants and the superiority of the 

 French.* 



