5 children each, and the native-born women 2.7
each.
Frederick S. Crum's careful investigation[119] of New England
genealogies, including 12,722 wives, has thrown a great deal of light
on the steady decline in their birth-rate. He found the average number
of children to be:
1750-1799 6.43
1800-1849 4.94
1850-1869 3.47
1870-1879 2.77
There, in four lines, is the story of the decline of the old American
stock. At present, it is barely reproducing itself, probably not even
that, for there is reason to believe that 1879 does not mark the lowest
point reached. Before 1700, less than 2% of the wives in this
investigation had only one child, now 20% of them have only one. With
the emigration of old New England families to the west, and the constant
immigration of foreign-born people to take their places, it is no cause
for surprise that New England no longer exercises the intellectual
leadership that she once held.
For Massachusetts as a whole, the birth-rate among the native-born
population was 12.7 per 1,000 in 1890, 14.9 in 1910, while in the
foreign-born population it was 38.6 in 1890 and 49.1 in 1910. After
excluding all old women and young women, the birth-rate of the
foreign-born women in Massachusetts is still found to be 3/4 greater
than that of the native-born.
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