Applied Eugenics Part 25

Figures were obtained from some other colleges, which are incomplete and should be taken with reservation. Their incompleteness probably led the number of children to be considerably underestimated. At Amherst, 1872-1879, it was found that 44 of the 440 graduates of the period remained unmarried. The average number of children per married man was 1.72. At Wesleyan it was found that 20 of the 208 graduates, from 1863 to 1870, remained single; the average number of children per married man was 2.31.

The only satisfactory study of the birth-rate of graduates of men's colleges is that recently made by John C. Phillips from the cla.s.s lists of Harvard and Yale, 1850-1890, summarized in the accompanying graph (Fig. 37). In discussing his findings, Dr. Phillips writes:

"Roughly, the number of children born per capita per married graduate has fallen from about 3.25 in the first decade to 2.50 in the last decade. The per cent of graduates marrying has remained about the same for forty years, and is a trifle higher for Yale; but the low figure, 68% for the first decade of Harvard, is probably due to faulty records, and must not be taken as significant.

"The next most interesting figure is the 'Children Surviving per Capita per Graduate.' This has fallen from over 2.50 to about 1.9. The per cent of childless marriages increased very markedly during the first two decades and held nearly level for the last two decades. For the last decade at Yale it has even dropped slightly, an encouraging sign. It is worthy of note that the number of children born to Yale graduates is almost constantly a trifle higher than that for Harvard, while the number of childless marriages is slightly less." This is probably owing to the larger proportion of Harvard students living in a large city.

If the birth-rate of graduates both of separate men's colleges and of separate women's colleges is alarmingly low, that of graduates of coeducational inst.i.tutions is not always satisfactory, either. To some extent the low birth-rate is a characteristic of educated people, without regard to the precise nature of their education. In a study of the graduates of Syracuse University, one of the oldest coeducational colleges of the eastern United States, H. J. Banker found[123] that the number of children declined with each decade. Thus married women graduates prior to the Civil War had 2 surviving children each; in the last decade of the nineteenth century they had only one. For married men graduates, the number of surviving children had fallen in the same length of time from 2.62 to 1.38. When all graduates, married or not, are counted in the decade 1892-1901, it is found that the men of Syracuse have contributed to the next generation one surviving child each, the women only half a child apiece.

Dr. Cattell's investigation of the families of 1,000 contemporary American men of science all of which were probably not complete however, shows that they leave, on the average, less than two surviving children.

Only one family in 75 is larger than six, and 22% of them are childless.

Obviously, as far as those families are concerned, there will be fewer men of inherent scientific eminence in the next generation than in this.

The decline in the birth-rate is sometimes attributed to the fact that people as a whole are marrying later than they used to; we have already shown that this idea is, on the whole, false. The idea that people as a whole are marrying less than they used to is also, as we have shown, mistaken. The decline in the general birth-rate can be attributed to only one fact, and that is that married people are having fewer children.

The percentage of childless wives in the American stock is steadily increasing. Dr. Crum's figures show the following percentage of childless wives, in the New England genealogies with which he worked:

1750-1799 1.88 1800-1849 4.07 1850-1869 5.91 1870-1879 8.10

J. A. Hill[124] found, from the 1910 census figures, that one in eight of the native-born wives is childless, as compared with one in five among the Negroes, one in nineteen among the foreign born. Childlessness of American wives is therefore a considerable, although not a preponderant factor, in this decline of the birth rate.

Dr. Hill further found that from 10 marriages, in various stocks, the following numbers of children could be expected:

Native-born women 27 Negro-born women 31 English-born women 34 Russian-born women 54 French Canada-born women 56 Polish-born women 62

The women of the old American stock are on the whole more sterile or, if not sterile, less fecund, than other women in the United States. Why?

In answer, various physiological causes are often alleged. It is said that the dissemination of venereal diseases has caused an increase of sterility; that luxurious living lowers fecundity, and so on. It is impossible to take the time to a.n.a.lyze the many explanations of this sort which have been offered, and which are familiar to the reader; we must content ourselves with saying that evidence of a great many kinds, largely statistical and, in our opinion, reliable, indicates that physiological causes play a minor part in the decrease of the birth-rate.[125]

Or, plainly, women no longer bear as many children, because they don't want to.

This accords with Dr. Cattel's inquiry of 461 American men of science; in 285 cases it was stated that the family was voluntarily limited, the cause being given as health in 133 cases, expense in 98 cases, and various in 54 cases. Sidney Webb's investigation among "intellectuals"

in London showed an even greater proportion of voluntary limitation. The exhaustive investigation of the Galton Laboratory of National Eugenics leaves little room for doubt that in England the decline in the birth-rate began about 1876-78, when the trial of Charles Bradlaugh and the Theosophist leader, Mrs. Annie Besant, on the charge of circulating "neo-Malthusian" literature, focused public attention on the possibility of birth control, and gradually brought a knowledge of the means of contraception within reach of many. In the United States statistics are lacking, but medical men and others in a position to form opinions generally agree that the limitation of births has been steadily increasing for the last few decades; and with the propaganda at present going on, it is pretty sure to increase much more rapidly during the next decade or two.

Some instructive results can be drawn, in this connection, from a study of the families of Methodist clergymen in the United States.[126]

Although 98 out of every hundred of them marry, and they marry early, the birth-rate is not high. Its distribution is presented in the accompanying graph (Fig. 38). It is evident that they have tended to standardize the two-child family which is so much in evidence among college professors and educated cla.s.ses generally, all over the world.

The presence of a considerable number of large families raises the average number of surviving children of prominent Methodists to 3.12.

And in so explaining the cause of the declining birth-rate among native-born Americans, we have also found the princ.i.p.al reason for the _differential_ nature of the decline in the nation at large, which is the feature that alarms the eugenist. The more intelligent and well-to-do part of the population has been able to get and use the needed information, and limit its birth-rate; the poor and ignorant has been less able to do so, and their rate of increase has therefore been more natural in a large percentage of cases.

It is not surprising, therefore, that many eugenists should have advocated wider dissemination of the knowledge of means of limiting births, with the idea that if this practice were extended to the lower cla.s.ses, their birth-rate would decrease just the same as has that of the upper cla.s.ses, and the alarming differential rate would therefore be abolished.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FAMILIES OF PROMINENT METHODISTS

FIG. 38.--The heavy line shows the distribution of families of prominent Methodists (mostly clergymen) who married only once. Eleven percent had no surviving children and nearly half of the families consisted of two children or less. The dotted line shows the families of those who were twice married. It would naturally be expected that two women would bear considerably more children than one woman, but as an average fact it appears that a second wife means the addition of only half a child to the minister's family. It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the birth-rate in these families is determined more by the desire of the parents (based on economic grounds) than on the natural fecundity of the women. In other words, the number of children is limited to the number whom the minister can afford to bring up on his inadequate salary.]

Against this it might be argued that the desired result will never be wholly attained, because the most effective means of birth control involve some expense, and because their effective use presupposes a certain amount of foresight and self-control which is not always found among the lower strata of society.

Despite certain dangers accompanying a widespread dissemination of the knowledge of how to limit births, it seems to be the opinion of most eugenists that if free access to such information be not permitted that at least such knowledge ought to be given in many families, where it would be to the advantage of society that fewer children be produced.

Such a step, of course, must be taken on the individual responsibility of a doctor, nurse or other social worker. A propaganda has arisen during recent years, in the United States, for the repeal of all laws which prohibit giving knowledge about and selling contraceptives.

Whether or not it succeeds in changing the law it will, like the Bradlaugh-Besant episode, spread contraception widely. This propaganda is based largely on social and economic grounds, and is sometimes unscientific in its methods and avowed aims. But whatever its nature may be, there seems little reason (judging from a.n.a.logy in European countries) to believe that it can be stopped.

The "infant mortality movement" also has an effect here which is rarely recognized. It is a stock argument of birth control propagandists that a high birth-rate means a high rate of infant mortality; but A. O. Powys has demonstrated that cause and effect are to some extent reversed in this statement, and that it is equally true that a high rate of infant mortality means a high birth-rate, in a section of the population where birth control is not practiced. The explanation is the familiar fact that conception takes place less often in nursing mothers. But if a child dies early or is bottle-fed, a new conception is likely to occur much sooner than would otherwise be the case. By reducing infant mortality and teaching mothers to feed their babies naturally, the infant mortality movement is thereby reducing the birth-rate in the poorer part of the population, a eugenic service which to some extent offsets the dysgenic results that, as we shall show in the last chapter, follow the "Save the Babies" propaganda.

With the spread of the birth control and infant mortality movements one may therefore look forward to some diminution of the differential element in the birth-rate, together with a further decline in that birth-rate as a whole.

Such a situation, which seems to us almost a certainty within the next decade or two, will not change the duty of eugenics, on which we have been insisting in this chapter and, to a large extent, throughout the present book. It will be just as necessary as ever that the families which are, and have been in the past, of the greatest benefit and value to the country, have a higher birth-rate. The greatest task of eugenics, as we see it, will still be to find means by which the birth-rate among such families can be increased. This increase in the birth-rate among superior people must depend largely on a change in public sentiment.

Such a change may be brought about in many ways. The authority of religion may be invoked, as it is by the Roman Catholic and Mormon churches[127] whose communicants are constantly taught that fecundity is a virtue and voluntary sterility a sin. Unfortunately their appeal fails to make proper discriminations. Whatever may be the theological reasons for such an att.i.tude on the part of the churches, its practical eugenic significance is clear enough.

Nothing can be more certain than that, if present conditions continue, Roman Catholics will soon be in an overwhelming preponderance in the eastern United States, because of the differential birth-rate, if for no other reason; and that the Mormon population will steadily gain ground in the west. Similarly, it is alleged that the population of France is gradually a.s.suming the characteristics of the Breton race, because that race is the notably fecund section of the population, while nearly all the other components of the nation are committing race suicide (although not so rapidly as is the old white stock in New England). Again, the role of religion in eugenics is shown in China, where ancestor worship leads to a desire for children, and makes it a disgrace to be childless.

A process a.n.a.logous to natural selection applies to religions much as it does to races; and if the Chinese religion, with its requirement of a high birth-rate, and the present-day American Protestant form of the Christian religion, with its lack of eugenic teaching, should come into direct compet.i.tion, under equal conditions of environment, it is obvious that the Chinese form would be the eventual survivor, just because its adherents would steadily increase and those of its rival would as steadily decrease. Such a situation may seem fanciful; yet the leaders of every church may well consider whether the religion which they preach is calculated to fill all the needs of its adherents, if it is silent on the subject of eugenics.

The influence of economic factors on the birth-rate is marked. The child, under modern urban conditions, is not an economic a.s.set, as he was on the farm in earlier days. He is an economic liability instead.

And with the constant rise of the standard of living, with the increase of taxation, the child steadily becomes more of a liability. Many married people desire children, or more children, but feel that they can not have them without sacrificing something that they are unwilling to sacrifice.

a.n.a.lysis of this increase in the cost of children, reveals not less than five main elements which deserve attention from eugenists.

1. It costs more to clothe children than it used to. Not only does clothing of a given quality cost more now than it did a decade or two ago, but there are more fabrics and designs available, and many of these, while attractive, are costly and not durable. Compliance to fashion has increasingly made itself felt in the clothing of the child.

2. It costs more to feed them than it used to. Not only has food for everyone increased in price, but the standards for feeding children have been raised. Once children were expected to be content with plain fare; now it is more frequently the custom to give them just what the rest of the family eats.

3. The cost of medical attention has increased. All demand more of the doctors now than they did in the last generation. The doctors are able to do more than they formerly could, and particularly for his children, every man wants the best that he can possibly afford. Hence medical attendance for a child is constantly becoming more costly, because more frequent; and further, the amount of money which parents spend on medical attendance for their children usually increases with any increase in their income.

4. The cost of domestic labor is greater. Most kinds of domestic service have more than doubled in price within the memory of relatively young people. Moreover, it is gradually being realized that a high standard is desirable in selecting a nurse for children. As a fact, a children's nurse ought to have much greater qualifications than the nurse whose duty is to care for sick adults. If a mother is obliged to delegate part of the work of bringing up her children to some other woman, she is beginning to recognize that this subst.i.tute mother should have superior ability; and the teachers of subconscious psychology have emphasized the importance of giving a child only the best possible intellectual surroundings. Ignorant nursemaids are unwillingly tolerated, and as the number of competent a.s.sistants for mothers is very small, the cost is correspondingly high. An increase in the number of persons trained for such work is to be antic.i.p.ated, but it is likely that the demand for them will grow even more rapidly; hence there is no reason to expect that competent domestic help will become any less costly than it is now.

5. The standards of education have risen steadily. There is perhaps no other feature which has tended more to limit families. Conscientious parents have often determined to have no more children than they could afford to educate in the best possible way. This meant at least a college education, and frequently has led to one and two-child families.

It is a motive of birth control which calls for condemnation. The old idea of valuable mental discipline for all kinds of mental work to be gained from protracted difficult formal education is now rejected by educational psychologists, but its prevalence in the popular mind serves to make "higher education" still something of a fetish, from which marvelous results, not capable of precise comprehension, are antic.i.p.ated. We do not disparage the value of a college education, in saying that parents should not attach such importance to it as to lead them to limit their family to the number to whom they can give 20 years of education without pecuniary compensation.

The effect of these various factors in the increasing cost of children is to decrease fecundity not so much on the basis of income of parents, as on the basis of their standards. The prudent, conscientious parent is therefore the one most affected, and the reduction in births is greatest in that cla.s.s, where eugenics is most loth to see it.

The remedy appears to be a change in public opinion which will result in a truer idea of values. Some readjustments in family budgets are called for, which will discriminate more clearly between expenditure that is worth while, and that which is not. Without depriving his children of the best medical attention and education, one may eliminate those invidious sources of expense which benefit neither the children nor anyone else,--overdressing, for instance. A simplification of life would not only enable superior people to have larger families, but would often be an advantage to the children already born.

On the other hand, the fact that higher standards in a population lead to fewer children suggests a valuable means of reducing the birth-rate of the inferior. Raise their low standards of living and they will reduce their own fertility voluntarily (the birth control movement furnishing them with the possibility). All educational work in the slums therefore is likely to have a valuable though indirect eugenic outcome.

The poor foreign-speaking areas in large cities, where immigrants live huddled together in squalor, should be broken up. As these people are given new ideas of comfort, and as their children are educated in American ways of living, there is every reason to expect a decline in their birth-rate, similar to that which has taken place among the native-born during the past generation.

This elevation of standards in the lower cla.s.ses will be accomplished without any particular exertion from eugenists; there are many agencies at work in this field, although they rarely realize the result of their work which we have just pointed out.

But to effect a discriminating change in the standards of the more intelligent and better educated cla.s.ses calls for a real effort on the part of all those who have the welfare of society at heart. The difficulties are great enough and the obstacles are evident enough; it is more encouraging to look at the other side, and to see evidences that the public is awakening. The events of every month show that the ideals of eugenics are filtering through the public mind more rapidly than some of us, a decade ago, felt justified in expecting. There is a growing recognition of the danger of bad breeding; a growing recognition in some quarters at least of the need for more children from the superior part of the population; a growing outcry against the excessive standards of luxury that are making children themselves luxuries. The number of those who call themselves eugenists, or who are in sympathy with the aims of eugenics, is increasing every year, as is evidenced by the growth of such an organization as the American Genetic a.s.sociation. Legislators show an eager desire to pa.s.s measures that as they (too often wrongly) believe will have a eugenic result. Most colleges and universities are teaching the principles of heredity, and a great many of them add definite instruction in the principles of eugenics. Although the ultimate aim of eugenics--to raise the level of the whole human race--is perhaps as great an undertaking as the human mind can conceive, the American nation shows distinct signs of a willingness to grapple with it. And this book will have failed in its purpose, if it has not convinced the reader that means are available for attacking the problem at many points, and that immediate progress is not a mere dream.

One of the first necessary steps is a change in educational methods to give greater emphasis to parenthood. And this change, it is a great pleasure to be able to say, is being made in many places. The public schools are gradually beginning to teach mothercraft, under various guises, in many cities and the School of Practical Arts, Columbia Univ., gives a course in the "Physical Care of the Infant." Public and private inst.i.tutions are beginning to recognize, what has long been ignored, that parenthood is one of the functions of men and women, toward which their education should be directed. Every such step will tend, we believe, to increase the birth-rate among the superior cla.s.ses of the community; every such step is therefore, indirectly if not directly, a gain for eugenics; for, as we have emphasized time and again, a change in public opinion, to recognize parenthood as a beautiful and desirable thing, is one of the first desiderata of the eugenics program.

The introduction of domestic science and its rapid spread are very gratifying, yet there are serious shortcomings, as rather too vigorously set forth by A. E. Hamilton:

"There are rows of little gas stoves over which prospective wives conduct culinary chemical experiments. There are courses in biology, something of physiology and hygiene, the art of interior decoration and the science of washing clothes. There is text-book sociology and sometimes lectures on heredity or eugenics. But the smile of incredulity as to my seriousness when I asked a Professor in the Margaret Morrison Carnegie School [a college of Practical Arts for Women], 'Where are the babies?' is typical. Babies were impossible. They would interfere with the curriculum, there was no time for practice with babies, and besides, where could they be got, and how could they be taken care of? The students were altogether too busy with calories, balanced rations, and the history of medieval art."

Perhaps the time is not so far distant when babies will be considered an integral part of a girl's curriculum. If educators begin systematically to educate the emotions as well as the intellect, they will have taken a long step toward increasing the birth-rate of the superior. The next step will be to correlate income more truly with ability in such a way as to make it possible for superior young parents to afford children earlier. The child ought, if eugenically desirable, to be made an a.s.set rather than a liability; if this can not be done, the parents should at least not be penalized for having children. In this chapter, emphasis has been laid on the need for a change in public opinion; in future chapters some economic and social reforms will be suggested, which it is believed would tend to make superior parents feel willing to have more children.

The education of public opinion which, acting through the many agencies named, will gradually bring about an increase in the birth-rate of superior people, will not be speedy; but it has begun. The writers, therefore, feel justified in thinking, not solely as a matter of optimistic affirmation, but because of the evidence available, that the race suicide now taking place in the old American stock will soon reach its lowest limit, and that thereafter the birth-rate in that particular stock will slowly rise. If it does, and if, as seems probable, the birth-rate in some inferior sections of the American population at the same time falls from its present level, a change in the racial composition of the nation will take place, which, judged by past history, is bound to be of great eugenic value.