JENKS— ETHNIC AMALGAMATION 



ing somewhat generation by generation, tends to reduce the number 

 of children per family. The usual urban conditions also tend to reduce 

 the size of the family; not least among these factors operating in 

 American cities is the apartment house, which almost uniformly will 

 not allow children an entrance even at the rear door where servants 

 and groceries are allowed. There is also the factor of the high cost of 

 living. But amalgamation seems to be the most constant factor 



TABLE E 



FECUNDITY OF "AMERICAN" FAMILIES IN MINNEAPOLIS 



Number of Families per 



Number of Unmarried 



Total Number of Children 



Fecundity Group 



Children per Family 



per Fecundity Group 



2624 



O 







2144 



I 



2144 



2037 



2 



4074 



993 



3 



2979 



465 



4 



i860 



173 



5 



865 



81 



6 



486 



62 



7 



434 



18 



8 



144 



7 



9 



63 



5 



10 



50 



3 



11 



33 



2 



12 



24 



Total.. . . 8614 



13156 



Average of 1.527 unmarried children per family. 



among them all. A detailed survey was made by a graduate student 

 of 50 families with three children each, in the following seven ethnic 

 groups in Minneapolis: American, German, Irish, Jew, Norwegian, 

 Pole, and Swede. Data were tabulated on the vital, intellectual, 

 social, and economic life of these families. Neither among the fam- 

 ilies of any ethnic group nor among any series of the ethnic groups 

 were there discoverable vital, intellectual, social, or economic facts 

 which seemed to coordinate with the fundamental fact of three 

 children each, which was common to all families studied. 



From these studies in a city of 300,000 population, of 20,000 

 population, and of a country district, it is evident that ethnic amal- 

 gamation, or human hybridization, is a powerful factor in America, 

 that it does affect fecundity — being a process toward the gradual 

 numerical weakening of the groups amalgamating. It is thus an 



[ 239] 



