Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 165, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 July 1920 — BIRTH RATE OF AMERICAN FAMILIES IS ON DECLINE [ARTICLE]

BIRTH RATE OF AMERICAN FAMILIES IS ON DECLINE

Economic Conditions and Marriages Late in Life Are Held Responsible. The birth rate of families of native American stock As en the decline and in danger of reaching zero within a few generations, if statistics complied by students of Mount Holyoke can be given credence. Dr. Amy Hewes, professor of economics and sociology at Mount Holyoke, directed the Investigation, which was made public by the alumni committee In New York. The families of the undergraduates at Mount Holyoke were taken as a basis of the study as representative of native American stock. Less than one per cent of the students were foreignborn, while 82 per cent were nativeborn es native parents. Data were obtained from 620 families of the students as to the number of children of their own mothers, of their grandmothers and of their greatgrandmothers on the maternal side. The report shows that, while the average number of children in the families es the great-grandmothers was 6.19 and in the grandmothers’ families 5.09, the number shrunk to 8.15 In the mother’s families. “The average number of children in the families of the present generation,” the report reads, "was found to be slightly in excess es three, which is only a little more than half of the average number of children In the grandmother’s generation. If a similar decrease should take place for another two generations, the average number of children would be less than one.” The cause in the decline in birthrate Professor Hewes attributes to the economic conditions and to marriages late in life. The most general cause she finds to be the emphasis upon a higher standard es living and the conditions which make Increased effort necessary to realize that standard. Professor Hewes offers a radical solution for the problem es the declining birth rate. She suggests that the obstacle of marriage late In life could be removed to a large extent if the wife continued to work after marriage, thus adding to the income of the family.