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THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
SANTA BARBARA
PRESENTED BY
LEONARD BECKER
SCIENCE OF STATISTICS
PART I
STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY
SCIENCE OF STATISTICS. PART I.
STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY
BY
RICHMOND MAYO-SMITH, PH.D.
PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL ECONOMY AND SOCIAL 8CIENC1
IN COLUMBIA COLLEGE
Nefo
THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
1910
All rights reserved
311
v.
o>
COPYRIGHT, 1895,
BY MA.CMILLAN & CO.
Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1895- Reprinted
August, 1896; July, 1900; March, 1902; February, 1904; Septem-
ber, 1907 ; February, 1910.
Norfnoot
J. 8. CusWngr Co. Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
ADVERTISEMENT.
THE present seems a favourable moment to present in scien-
tific form those statistics of population which are of interest
to the student of sociology and of economics, to the journalist
and publicist, to those interested in social questions, and to
intelligent men generally.
The results of the great censuses of 1890 and 1891 in the
United States, England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, France,
Austria, and India are now available. These data will not be
superseded for at least ten years, nor is it probable that the
next enumerations will be any more extensive or of greater
sociological interest.
For vital and criminal statistics we have the averages for
1871-90. This is a particularly favourable period, because
the unification of Germany and of Italy marked the beginning
of it, and there have been no great political changes since.
At the same time, it has all the characteristics of modern life,
industrial development, commercial crises, migration, and
intense social activity. Statistics based on averages for such
a period, or following the changes from one phase to another,
are of much greater interest than those of a single year, even
the most recent.
On the basis of this material, a systematic effort is made, in
this volume, to present the statistics of population in such a
way as to show their real significance. No figures have been
v
yi ADVERTISEMENT.
introduced unless they seemed to bear on the question in
hand ; while enough have been given to present each topic
objectively. In this way the aridity of the ordinary hand-
book of statistics has been avoided, and also the temptation
to use the material merely to support a particular thesis.
The topical index is intended to make the volume useful as
a dictionary of statistics. The index by countries will facil-
itate reference when it is desired to study the relations of
various facts to each other in the same land. While the
volume is not intended primarily as a manual of statistics,
yet it is hoped that by means of the indexes it will be as
easily manageable as the ordinary manual and much more
suggestive.
The author lays considerable stress upon the somewhat
formal arrangement of the material under the heads, socio-
logical purpose, statistical data, scientific tests, and reflective
analysis. Its purpose is fully explained in Chapter III., on
Method of Study. It has the further advantage that each
reader can find that which is of immediate concern to him.
The first and last divisions are of more general interest to the
ordinary reader. The second presents the material in syste-
matic form. The third (scientific tests) is intended particu-
larly for the student (sociologist or statistician) who desires
to know the exact value of his method and how it is to be
controlled. An experience of some years in lecturing on
statistics has convinced the author that training in statistical
method is one of the most valuable as well as interesting
disciplines for the student of sociology. It is hoped that this
volume will serve as a text-book in the statistical laboratory
which will soon be a necessary adjunct of the teaching of
sociology in college and university.
It has not been thought necessary to refer every particular
statistical figure to volume and page of official publications,
ADVERTISEMENT. yii
which would have multiplied references to such an extent as
to have been wearisome and confusing. The chief official
authorities are referred to whenever a, new subject is intro-
duced, and subsequent statements can be easily verified from
the same documents. Secondary authorities are indicated,
when used.
Great care has been taken to verify all figures and to avoid
errors in transcription and printing. It is impossible, of
course, that mistakes have not occurred. The author will be
grateful for correction of such errors, and also to have his
attention directed to what may be considered mistaken infer-
ences.
The present volume is issued as Part I. of a systematic
Science of Statistics, and is intended to cover what is ordi-
narily termed Population Statistics. The author has in prep-
aration Part II., Statistics and Economics, which will cover
the statistics of commerce, trade, finance, and economic social
life generally.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER I.
STATISTICS IN THE SERVICE OF SOCIOLOGY.
Sociology and social phenomena 1
Difficulties of Sociology . .3
Classification of social phenomena 6
Methods of observation ..... .... 7
The Science of Statistics 8
The service -which Statistics performs for Sociology . . .14
CHAPTER II.
THE CRITERIA OF STATISTICS.
The use of the statistical method 17
Collecting the material 19
Arranging and tabulating the material 22
Comparing the statistics 24
Deducing statistical or sociological laws 26
CHAPTER ILL
METHOD OF STUDY.
Sociological purpose 29
Statistical data ..31
Scientific tests .32
Reflective analysis 36
iz
I CONTENTS.
BOOK I.
DEMOGRAPHIC.
CHAPTER IV.
SEX, AGE, AND CONJUGAL CONDITIOK.
PAGE
Sociological purpose 36
Statistical data : Sex . 39
Sex in cities 44
Population by age 45
Military age 47
Voting age 48
School age 49
Average age of the living ......... 50
Conjugal condition 51
Conjugal condition by age 52
Scientific tests 56
Trustworthiness of statistics of age 59
Statistics of conjugal condition 61
Reflective analysis 62
CHAPTER V.
BIRTHS.
Sociological purpose 65
Statistical data : Birth-rates 67
Influence of climate, geographical position, and race ... 68
Density of population and birth-rate 70
Birth-rate in city and country . . 71
Births according to religious confession, social position, and occu-
pation of parents 73
Influence of war on the birth-rate 73
Births and the price of food 74
Births according to seasons 75
Sex at birth 76
The living and the still-born 78
Multiple births 80
Illegitimate births 81
Scientific tests : Method of observation ...... 84
Basis for comparison 85
Question of the still-born ......... 87
Particular tests 88
Reflective analysis 89
CONTENTS. Xi
CHAPTER VL
MARRIAGES.
PAGE
Sociological purpose 93
Statistical data : Marriage-rates 95
Influence of climate and geographical position 96
Marriages according to seasons 97
Density of population and marriage-rate ...... 97
Marriage-rate in city and country 98
Marriages according to race and religious confession ... 99
Influence of war on the marriage-rate 99
Marriages and the price of food 100
The probability of marriage 101
Age at marriage 103
Probability of marriage at different ages 107
Probability of marriage according to conjugal condition ; by conju-
gal condition and age . . . . . . . . .109
Mixed marriages between persons of different religious confession,
race, or nationality . . . 110
Marriages between blood relations 112
Fecundity of marriage 112
Dissolution of marriage . .116
Dissolution of marriage by divorce 118
Scientific tests : Method of observation 119
Basis for comparison 121
Particular tests 122
Reflective analysis 123
Marriage and population 124
CHAPTER VII.
DEATHS.
Sociological purpose 128
Statistical data : Death-rates 131
Influence of climate and geographical position 132
Influence of race and religion 132
Density of population and death-rate 133
Mortality in cities 134
Death-rates in successive periods of time 136
Effect of war on deaths . 137
Influence of scarcity of food upon deaths 137
Influence of death-rate on birth-rate 139
Deaths according to seasons 140
Deaths according to seasons combined with the ages of the persons
dying 142
xii CONTENTS.
MM
Deaths according to sex ......... 142
Deaths according to age ......... 143
Infantile mortality .......... 144
Deaths according to conjugal condition ...... 146
Accidental and violent deaths ........ 147
Deaths in the United States ........ 148
Scientific tests : Method of observation ...... 148
Comparison of death-rates . . . . ^ . . . . 149
Reflective analysis ....... . . .152
CHAPTER
SICKNESS AND MORTALITY.
Sociological purpose .......... 154
Statistical data : Statistics of sickness ...... 157
Accident insurance ..... ..... 159
The statistics of disease ......... 160
International comparison of mortality from different diseases . . 163
Mortality according to occupations ....... 164
Duration of life ........... 168
Scientific tests : Methods of observation ...... 172
Duration of life : Comparative death-rates ..... 174
Average age of the dying ......... 176
Average age of the living ......... 176
Reflective analysis .......... 177
BOOK II.
SOCIAL.
CHAPTER IX.
SOCIAL CONDITION.
(Families and dwellings, education, religious confession, and
occupations.')
Sociological purpose 181
Statistical data : Families 183
Families of different size ......... 185
Dwellings 187
Kind of dwelling 188
CONTENTS. xiii
PAG*
Education 193
Religious confession 197
Occupations 199
Scientific tests 203
Reflective analysis 206
CHAPTER X.
THE INFIRM AND DEPENDENT.
Sociological purpose 210
Statistical data 212
The blind, deaf-mutes, insane, and idiotic 213
The blind 214
The blind according to sex and age 215
The deaf and dumb 217
The insane and idiotic 219
Double or triple misfortune 224
Other physical infirmities 226
Provision for the infirm 228
Pauperism (Great Britain and Ireland) 228
Sex, conjugal condition, and age (paupers) 230
Pauperism in other countries 231
Pauperism in the United States 232
Scientific tests 233
Reflective analysis 235
CHAPTER XL
SUICIDE.
Sociological purpose 238
Statistical data : The number of suicides 241
Influence of climate and seasons on suicide 242
Ethnological influences 244
Social influences on suicide 245
Influence of economic condition 246
Suicide in cities 246
Individual biological influence 246
Influence of age 247
Combination of age and sex 248
Conjugal condition of suicides . . x . . . . . . 249
Motive for suicide , 251
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Method and place of suicide 252
Scientific tests 253
Reflective analysis , 256
CHAPTER XII.
CRIME.
Sociological purpose .< 269
Statistical data 263
The kind of crime 266
Particular crimes 268
Influences on crime 269
Influence of climate and geographical position 270
Influence of the seasons 271
City and country 272
General social influences on crime 273
Influence of religious confession 274
Influence of social position 274
Occupation and profession 276
Illiteracy and crime 276
Economic condition, scarcity of food, and war 277
Individual biological influence ........ 277
Conjugal condition and criminality 278
Motives for crime 279
Penalties 280
Habitual criminals 281
Scientific tests 283
Reflective analysis 288
BOOK III.
ETHNOGRAPHIC.
CHAPTER XIII.
RACE AND NATIONALITY.
Sociological purpose 289
Statistical data : Statistics of races 293
Race in the United States 296
Nationalities in the United States 299
Foreign parentage 302
CONTENTS. IV
Intermarriage ........... 304
Scientific tests 306
Reflective analysis 312
CHAPTER XIV.
MIGRATION.
Sociological purpose 314
Statistical data : Emigration 317
Emigration and population 318
Immigration in the United States 321
Immigration according to race 322
Nationalities 322
Immigrants according to sex and age 323
Occupation of immigrants 324
Economic and social condition 324
Causes of migration 325
Balance of emigration and immigration 326
Effect of immigration on population 327
Immigration in other countries 329
Internal migration 329
Scientific tests 332
Reflective analysis 336
BOOK IV.
ENVIRONMENT.
CHAPTER XV.
POPULATION AND LAND (PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT).
Sociological purpose 341
Statistical data : Density of population 343
In Europe 344
In the United States 346
Distribution of population by topographical features . . . 349
Distribution of population according to temperature, rainfall, humid-
ity, and character of the soil . . . . . . . 351
Scientific tests 353
Reflective analysis 356
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVI.
POPULATION AND CIVILIZATION (SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT).
PAGB
The social environment 361
Size of communities 363
Colonial power 364
Concentration of population in cities ....... 366
Wealth and social position 371
Social environment and race 372
The law of population 377
Social environment and statistics 381
Social environment and free-will . . 382
INDEX BT TOPICS 383
INDEX BT COUNTRIES 395
STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER I.
STATISTICS IN THE SERVICE OF SOCIOLOGY.
SOCIOLOGY is the science which treats of social organ-
ization. It has for object of research the laws which seem
to underlie the relations of men in society. The second
definition is no more comprehensive than the first. For
by law we mean the ordinary empirical law, namely, the
necessary connection which subsists between a phenom-
enon and the conditions under which that phenomenon
exists. In formulating sociological laws, therefore, we
are simply describing the facts of social organization and
the way those facts are related to each other. If by syn-
thesis of all the facts and relations we are able to arrive
at any conclusions in regard to the ends of social organ-
ization or are able to detect the goal towards which
changes in social organization seem to be leading and the
successive steps in the line of progress, then we have a
philosophy of society or a theory of social progress, which
is also sometimes called Sociology.
The fundamental thing, however, is the study of social
phenomena or the facts of the social organization. For
whatever our synthesis may be, it will depend for its
2 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
validity upon the correct analysis and interpretation of
the phenomena. Sociology has not yet reached that stage
of development where the discovery of some great cen-
tral truth enables us to change from the inductive to the
deductive method.
What are social phenomena ? They are obviously the
facts and relations existing in human life in society.
They are not the same as the facts and relations of man's
life simply as an animal. If they were, Sociology would
be a branch of biology, and Darwinism would be as true
of the social struggles of man as of the struggles of brutes.
They are not simply psychological, for in many respects
the action of the mass, society, is not explicable by the
psychology of the individual. Since the individual man
is an animal and has a mind, it is true, indeed, that Soci-
ology is intimately connected with biology and psychol-
ogy. The continuance of a society depends upon the
reproductive powers of its individuals, and births and
deaths are primarily pure physiological processes ; but
births and deaths are influenced by many other things
besides the laws of mere animal reproduction and survi-
val. Psychology of the individual reveals the self-regard-
ing motives ; but they are not the only nor even the
dominant motives which hold society together. Social
phenomena are of their own kind. The units which con-
tribute to the social organization, unlike those which make
up an animal organism, are endowed with sensibility and
consciousness. In many cases, especially in the higher
forms of society, they unite among themselves in a purely
contractual relation. 1 There is no doubt, however, that
even these purely contractual relations are subject to reg-
ularities, i.e., law. These relations are sociological rela-
tions and must be treated as such.
Recognizing that Sociology has to do simply with the
facts and relations of social organization, we are confronted
1 De Greef, Les lois sociologiques, p. 25.
STATISTICS IN THE SERVICE OF SOCIOLOGY. 3
at once with two great difficulties, one is the enormous
number and complexity of the social phenomena to be
described ; the seqpnd is the lack of any precise means of
measuring or gauging social forces, that is, of estimating
the degree of intensity in the relations of social phenom-
ena to each other.
The first difficulty is recognized on all sides and often
serves sociologists as an excuse that their science is not
more precise and perfect, while on the other hand it leads
to the denial in some quarters that a science of society is
possible. How can we pretend, it is asked, to examine
and understand all the numerous facts of social organiza-
tion and social activity? Take the highly developed
apparatus by which a civilized society satisfies its various
wants, its perpetuation, its material support, its aes-
thetic, ethical, intellectual, and religious needs. Then try
to comprehend all these things for all stages of civiliza-
tion and for all circumstances under which man is placed
in this world. Or take one simple problem, that of the
perpetuation of the race, and explain the variety of
marriage customs and of treatment of children, and the
variation of the birth-rate according to climate, race and
nationality, social and economic condition, city and coun-
try, occupations, social customs and religious influences.
Sociologists try to escape this difficulty by the assertion
that a science may be certain without being exact, but
such a plea is a confession of weakness.
The second difficulty is commonly expressed as that
of defining and measuring social forces. It is very easy
to speak of establishing or discovering relations of cause
and effect. But here as elsewhere every cause is an
effect and every effect a cause, and even between two
phenomena it is often difficult to say which is cause and
which is effect. Still further, ever^ effect in social action
or life is the resultant of many causes, and it is almost
impossible to disentangle and measure the intensity of
4 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
the various causes. Does city life cause the large amount
of crime in large cities, or does the sex, age, and parent-
age distribution of urban populations bring it about that
a large amount of crime is localized, so to speak, in large
cities ? And if both factors are at work as well as, say,
a decline in the religious spirit, what part does each play
in the result ? The large amount of violent crime in the
building trades in Germany is due not to any influence
of occupation, but simply to the fact that many of the
working men in those trades are youths in the passionate
and reckless period of life. On the other hand, the short
life of publicans in England is ascribed to the influence
of the trade with its constant temptations to drink.
It may be remarked in passing that possibly sociolo-
gists have exaggerated the complexity of social phe-
nomena and the action of social forces in comparison
with the difficulties of natural science. To the lay mind,
biological forms, from paleeontological fossils to the exist-
ing mammals, present a bewildering complexity and an
incomprehensible confusion, very similar to that offered
by social phenomena. It is only the " scientific imagina-
tion " that makes the working of natural forces, by which
planets are evolved out of gas and human beings out of
protoplasm, seem so simple that a schoolboy speaks of it
as glibly as we used to speak of the creation of the world
in six days. Are the gaps in Sociology any more serious
than those conceded to exist, when the geologists and the
biologists are honest with us, in the history of the earth
and in the evolution of man ? In the presence of the
" scientific imagination " are not all these difficulties of
the same kind and different in degree only ?
Sociologists themselves have perhaps added to the ap-
parent difficulties of their science as regards both the
collection and the explanation of its data. They have
accumulated an enormous number of facts without dis-
criminating clearly between those which are of impor-
STATISTICS IN THE SERVICE OF SOCIOLOGY. 5
tance and those which are certainly of less importance,
between those which are typical and universal and those
which are accidental and local. They have taken all
history, all archaeology, all observations of travellers, as
material for their science, and have treated all this mate-
rial as equally valuable. Now, all actions of men in
society certainly have some relation to social organiza-
tion and social change. But it is impossible to believe
that all have equal value in revealing to us the principles
of that organization or the direction of those changes.
We must make a choice in some way, or the material will
be unmanageable.
Again, instead of contenting themselves with seeking
simple relations of cause and effect, of co-existence and
of sequence in social phenomena, sociologists have often
substituted an artificial classification with an artificial
terminology, and considered that as an explanation of
social life. These classifications are most often based on
biological analogies, as is the case with the sustaining,
circulating, and regulating systems of Spencer, which cor-
respond to the digestive, vascular, and nervous systems
of vital organisms. Or we have the social anatomy,
physiology, pathology, and psychology of Schaffle. Many
sociologists, it is true, admit that these are merely analo-
gies, and that the social organism, if there be such a
thing, is something different from the organism of an
animal, claiming only that there is an interrelation and
dependence of parts similar to what we find in an animal
organism. But the tendency of all this elaboration is to
give the impression that the analogy is the explanation.
It is not difficult, however, to define with some precision
the range of phenomena which furnish the material for
Sociology, and the method by which this material should
be treated so as to enable us to measure social forces. If
we can do this, we shall escape the danger of being over-
whelmed by the multiplicity of phenomena and avoid the
6 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
cheap and unsatisfactory makeshift of an explanation based
on superficial analogies.
The phenomena which we have to observe in Sociology
are those of the social organization. The social forces
which we have to measure are those revealed by the
relations of these phenomena to each other. But since
Sociology does not deal with the individual man, but with
societies of men, it is evident that its whole material may
be comprehended in the single term, population. Those
facts of population which reveal the laws of social organ-
ization are the facts which are of importance for Sociology,
and no others. That men differ in race, nationality,
religious belief, and ethical standards is an important fact ;
that they differ in height, weight, colour of eyes and
hair, is of much less importance. Our material may be
arranged as follows :
I. Population in itself is a very general conception, and
does not carry us far in describing social organization. It
is necessary to proceed at once to classification. The
most important lines of classification are as follows :
Demographic Classes. The individuals of the popula-
tion are distinguished according to differences of sex, age,
conjugal condition, and physical health. Connected with
this classification we have the social phenomena of births,
deaths, marriages, and sickness. All these are important
facts influencing the social organization of every com-
munity.
Social Glasses. Men differ in social position, religious
confession, occupation, material condition, and ethical con-
duct. The differences in societies in these respects often
mark the stages of social well-being and make for progress,
peace, and stability on the one hand, or retrogression,
discord, and instability on the other.
Ethnographic Classes. Men differ in race, blood, and
nationality ; hence societies differ in ethnic composition,
race character, national ideals, and political allegiance.
STATISTICS IN THE SERVICE OF SOCIOLOGY. 7
These facts have attracted much attention because they
underlie political science.
II. Physical Environment. Population is possible, of
course, only as conditioned by physical environment.
The relations of population organized in society to the
land are important facts for Sociology, and these relations
have to be followed out in all the divisions of population
noted above.
III. Social Environment. As men live together in
social relations they develop language, customs, institu-
tions, social and ethical standards and ideals. These
constitute what Herbert Spencer calls the superorganic
environment. By them all the phenomena of social life are
modified, and the new relations thus established are, per-
haps, the most important elements of social organization.
The relation of population to the physical environment
is also very much modified by these influences.
IV. Finally, we have the fact that social relations are
changing. It is necessary to trace these changes and how
they affect social organization. It is here that we come
across the doctrine of social forces and need some scientific
method of measuring their strength. This is sometimes
called dynamic sociology, but the distinction is not an
important one for us, as in our study we shall find that all
society is dynamic.
Such is the field of Sociology, large, indeed, but perfectly
well defined.
The next question is, what methods shall we use to ob-
serve these facts of social organization and social change ?
The methods to be employed are those common to all
exact sciences, viz., observation, analysis, induction, and
generalization. We first observe the facts and relations of
the social organization. We then analyze and classify
according to similarities and dissimilarities. By induction
we reach to relations of co-existence or sequence, and by
generalization we strive to attain to formulae expressing
8 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
these relations. We strive, in short, to describe the social
organization in its main lines and the nature of the changes
going on. 1
Thus far our method is purely descriptive, or, as regards
the changes in society, it may be termed historical. Up to
this point the analysis is purely qualitative.
But in order that Sociology shall become a science
it is necessary to have not only qualitative distinctions,
but also quantitative measurements. Description itself
often implies at least enumeration, as when we describe
population according to sex, age, and conjugal condition.
Classification, again, is a method of description by enu-
meration, as when we arrange societies according to form
of religious belief, fetichism, polytheism, and monotheism,
or classify the members of a given community, as Protes-
tants, Catholics, and Jews. Mere description may, indeed,
suffice to prove the co-existence of social phenomena, as
we find savagery accompanied by fetichism, a rude eco-
nomic organization, little government, and low standards
of conduct. But co-existences may be defined more sharply
by enumeration, as when we compare the number of
illegitimate births in a Catholic population with those
in a Protestant similarly situated. And when we come
to sequences in time which seem to bear the relation of
cause and effect, we need quantitative measurements.
A scarcity of food retards the natural increase of popu-
lation. This may be demonstrated more conclusively by
comparing the increasing price of food with the increased
death-rate and the diminished marriage and birth-rate.
Wherever it is possible, we seek to supplement our quali-
tative descriptions with quantitative measurements.
It is the Science of Statistics that serves this purpose.
It gives us the quantitative measurements of social phe-
nomena which are required for the analysis of social
organization, i.e., for Sociology.
1 De Greef , op, cit.
STATISTICS IN THE SERVICE OF SOCIOLOGY. 9
Statistics consists in the observation of phenomena which
can be counted or expressed in figures. It always finds
a quantitative expression for phenomena or their rela-
tions.
It must be observed that the method of statistical ob-
servation is not of universal application. In some cases
it is unnecessary, in others it is inadequate. In order
to perceive the connection between savagery and fetichism
it is not necessary for us to have statistics either of eco-
nomic condition or of religious confession. The fact stands
out of itself simply by the consensus of observation of trav-
ellers and historians. On the other hand, it is difficult to
express the relation between economic condition or relig-
ious feeling and aesthetic development, in a civilized state,
because music, painting, and sculpture cannot in any way
be measured statistically. This is a question of quality,
and not in any sense one of quantity.
But there are many phenomena which allow of quanti-
tative measurement, or at least of comparison of greater
or less. In mentioning these we shall follow the order
indicated above.
All classification of population, whether on demographic,
social, or ethnographic lines, is on the basis of statistics.
Demographic distinctions (age, sex, and conjugal condi-
tion) are fundamental for any society, and their influence
pervades the whole social organization. The distinctions
seem to be very simple, being given either by nature (sex
and age) or by well-established social institutions (conjugal
condition). But back of the mere classification lie the
great social factors, birth, marriage, and death, which
make up and control the life both of the individual
and of society. Vital statistics not only measure the
growth or decay of population, but reveal to us normal
and abnormal conditions, the working of great social in-
fluences or the presence of anti-social forces. A decreas-
ing marriage-rate, is it a sign of forethought and pru-
10 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
dence or an indication of luxury and vice ? and what will
be the result on population and social morality ?
Social classes may be differentiated according to relig-
ious confession, economic condition (paupers), degree of
education (illiterates), ethical conduct (criminals), occu-
pation (professional classes), or acquired position (upper
and lower classes). The distinctions are not always
easy to make, but when we consider the bitterness of
the struggle associated with these divisions of society
into groups, their importance for Sociology must be
apparent.
Ethnographic grouping is on various lines. We have
first the races of man, t.e., groups characterized by com-
mon descent or by association for so many generations
that the individuals have acquired a common trait such as
colour of skin, shape of head, or quality of hair. Or we
may have nationalities speaking the same language, or
living in the same territory, or owing allegiance to the
same government.
Any analysis of mankind according to these various
forms of association depends upon statistics, for the only
quantitative measurements we have for these relations is
enumeration of the number of individuals in a group.
This enumeration seems to be a very simple matter, but
it is of fundamental importance. The mere size of ethno-
graphic groups, for instance, is of sociological interest.
A large number of petty hordes in a state of constant
hostility, and a small number of powerful nations whose
dealings with one another, if not always peaceful, are at
least regulated by more or less well-defined rule or cus-
tom, these constitute two widely different types of hu-
man society. The social activity of the petty republic of
Andorra with its population of 6000 souls is not the same
as that of the British empire with its 350,000,000. The
difference is primarily one of mere numbers, but it per-
vades all the relations of social life, even the intellectual
STATISTICS IN THE SERVICE OF SOCIOLOGY. 11
und artistic. The relative size of demographic and social
groups is even more important.
Still further, statistical analysis is not confined to the
mere enumeration of population according to these classifi-
cations. Each group must in turn be studied according
to the characteristics of the other methods of association.
If we analyze society into political groups, that is, bodies
of men inhabiting a fixed territory and under the same
government, the population in each of these groups may
be still further analyzed according to sex, age, and con-
jugal condition, according to economic condition and
social position, and according to race, language, and
nationality. Two political groups numerically equal may
possess a very unequal political significance if their popu-
lations exhibit great differences of constitution on eco-
nomic or ethnical lines. Roumania does not have the
same social significance as Belgium with the same popula-
tion. Switzerland is peculiarly constituted with its three
equally privileged nationalities. Who will say what the
characteristics of the future population of the United
States will be with its mixture of nationalities? How
often the social prosperity of a country has been sacri-
ficed by religious divisions ! How often has a state been
wrecked by social and economic antitheses ! In fact,
we find here one of the favourite devices of the old phi-
losophy of history which explained the decay and fall of
nations or civilizations by these irreconcilable antitheses.
Sociology cannot refuse to notice these same relations, and
it measures them by means of statistics.
The task of Statistics in all this classification is not one
of mere enumeration, but of distinction. What are the
real marks of race ? What is the real meaning of nation-
ality, and what can we take as a distinctive trait,
language, common origin, or subjection to the same gov-
ernment ? Are the Germans of Austria and the Ger-
man speaking Swiss of the same nationality? Are the
12 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
Englishman and the Irishman of the same race ? Are the
negro and the white in the United States alike Amer-
icans? In social grouping these questions of statistical
method are of equal difficulty and importance. What is
the true line between the rich and the poor, the mental
and manual labourer, the moral and the vicious, the crim-
inal and the ignorant trespasser ?
We have thus far considered only the analysis of popu-
lation or societies according to certain characteristics.
But this is mere descriptive sociology. We cannot stop
here. Sociology demands not only description but com-
parison. According to what rules do these social facts
co-exist? What is their relation to each other? What
economic constitution of a society is able to co-exist with
what moral condition ? What race condition is able to co-
exist with what intellectual or political condition ? Here
everything does not lend itself to statistical measurement,
but it is not too much to say that the statistical method is
our most important instrument of investigation.
We have here the relations existing between population
and the external world. We study the density of popula-
tion in accordance with the fertility of the soil, the climate,
and the orographic and hydrographic character of the land.
We study the economic condition of the population (its
average wealth) under these same categories. We study
vital conditions (births, deaths, infirmities, and disease)
in the same way. We study moral conditions e.g.,
suicide and crime according to climate and season of
the year. The method is a very simple one it is simply
the plus or minus, the greater or less frequency of one
characteristic of the population (e.g., disease) compared
with the plus or minus of some characteristic of the
physical environment (e.g., elevation above the sea).
Yet it is. always a quantitative measurement, and without
statistics we should be helpless. And here the office of
Statistics, as we shall see in the next chapter, is not merely
STATISTICS IN THE SERVICE OF SOCIOLOGY. 13
to count, but to say what shall be counted and how that
which is counted in one direction (population) shall be
compared with that which has been counted in another
direction (environment). This embraces the whole tech-
nique of statistical method. And any sociology which
springs from the notion that man and society are the
expression of the working of natural forces, must depend
upon statistics for its material and its proof.
But an even more delicate and important field for statis-
tical inquiry is the co-existence of these social phenomena
among themselves. This is the Spencerian influence of
the superorganic environment. It is the interlacing of
the different social phenomena so that they form together
something different from their mere sum, viz., an organic
whole. The economic phenomena cannot exist and be as
they are without the political, or the moral, or the relig-
ious phenomena ; and each of the latter is equally depend-
ent upon the others. It is the delicate office of statistical
science to prove this relation and to give a quantitative
measurement of it.
Examples abound on all sides. The distinction of sex
is accompanied by a different age classification, by differ-
ent average length of life, by different disposition to com-
mit crime. Varying age constitution of populations means
different economic power, different rate of natural increase,
different military strength. Economic condition is a con-
trolling influence apparently in the relative frequency of
crimes against the person and against property. Illiteracy
is accompanied by a low rate of suicide and a high rate of
crimes against the person. Race seems reflected with con-
stant fidelity in some of the phenomena of man's social
life, while religious confession has influence in directions
where we should scarcely expect to find it, such as insan-
ity, still-birth, and illegitimacy. We have here the true
field for statistical comparison. We do not get exact pro-
portions, but we get corresponding elevations and depres-
14 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
sions. As, for instance, in those counties of Bavaria where
the women are employed in factory and field, we get
constantly high rates of infant mortality. In the same
country when the laws (juristic organization) made mar-
riage difficult, we had an enormous rate of illegitimacy,,
and the rate continued high even after the laws had been
repealed, showing that the acquired social disposition was
more powerful than legislation. When now we find
everywhere corresponding economic conditions accompa-
nied by the same social results, we begin to discern regu-
larities which may be called sociological laws.
Dynamic sociology gives us precisely the same opportu-
nity of measuring social phenomena by the statistical
method, only the application is more delicate and difficult.
Societies are constantly changing and the relations of
functions and organs constantly change. In these changes
can we detect cause and effect ? When the food supply
decreases and crime increases, is the former the cause of
the latter ? As intellectual progress proceeds and suicide
grows more frequent, is the latter phenomenon the neces-
sary result of the former ? We have here all the facts of
vital statistics to be brought into sequence of time with
each other and with the remaining social facts. A society
grows by the excess of births over deaths. What is the
relation of the two to each other and to that great social
function, marriage ? Marriages become more frequent
with economic prosperity. The number of births is
influenced (although not always to the same degree) by
the number of marriages. Mortality increases with births,
but in a peculiar way. How shall we watch these funda-
mental phenomena of a growing society except by the
statistical comparison of the relative number of marriages,
births, and deaths through successive years ?
The service which Statistics performs for Sociology is not
always of the same kind nor of the same degree of exact-
ness. Sometimes statistics reveal only regularities which
STATISTICS IN THE SERVICE OF SOCIOLOGY. 15
we have as yet been unable to explain, as, for instance, the
constant excess of boys over girls among the new-born.
It sometimes points out regularities which are explicable,
but which become very striking when the regularities
continue, as the proportion of male criminals to female.
The man, more violent, more impatient, more subject to
temptation in life than the woman, might naturally enough
be expected to be represented more numerously in the
criminal class than the latter. But when we find the pro-
portion remaining the same year after year, the strength
of these influences is strikingly apparent.
But the grand office of Statistics is to direct our atten-
tion to possible relations of cause and effect which might
otherwise have escaped our notice, or which would scarcely
have been thought of as invariably present. That the
infliction of certain penalties has little effect in prevent-
ing crime is brought home to us painfully by the statistics
of the habitual criminals. That it has less effect on
women than on men might not have been suspected,
except from the actual statistics. We get from statistics
indications of relations which maintain themselves with
a persistence and constancy that give us an impressive
sense of the reign of law in the social actions of men.
It is this reign of law which we desire to see revealed.
We desire to look beyond the accidental and temporary
and see the grand forces by which human affairs are gov-
erned. This is not atheism or rationalism, for we say
nothing about the first cause, and to discover regularities
in the social world no more impeaches the divine goodness
than to discover that a flower is built upon a symmetrical
plan. Nor is it fatalistic, for it does not deny that man's
actions are governed by subjective motives, but it shows
that in many cases these motives are controlled by great
influences exerting themselves on masses of men. Nor
does this attempt to show the reign of law result in pessi-
mistic views as to social reform and amelioration, for if
16 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
certain causes produce certain effects, it is obvious that
by changing the causes we shall produce other effects, and
this is the only basis for the possibility of social reform.
Statistics enables us to catch glimpses of these relations
and hence to predicate the existence of social laws. It
may not enable us to formulate the law exactly, or to con-
struct a perfect system of sociology, but it helps us on our
way to attain the desired end.
This leads us to say one final word about Statistics in
the service of Sociology. We are surrounded by socio-
logical or social problems which urgently demand solu-
tion. We cannot wait for the completed science ; we
must seek to understand the conditions affecting the
particular problem before us. This may be called practi-
cal sociology. Everywhere in this domain we find Statis-
tics a useful instrument of investigation. In fact the
primary object of collecting statistics is to serve adminis-
trative purposes and to guide legislation. A government
must know about the statistics of trade, of finance, of the
military and economic resources of the nation. It should
know equally about the economic and social condition of
its citizens. Evils which are to be remedied, such as the
prevalence of disease, of vice, of crime, and their connec-
tion with other phenomena, such as economic condition,
sanitary surroundings, illiteracy, vicious moral training,
etc., must be clearly described before they can be pro-
ceeded against practically. Many schemes of social
amelioration are altogether illusory because they do
not comprehend the real cause of the evil. In practical
sociology thus we have a constant demand for scientific
statistical measurements and descriptions.
CHAPTER II.
THE CRITERIA OP STATISTICS.
STATISTICS is one extremely useful instrument of in-
vestigation in Sociology. It has lately been affirmed that
it is the most useful and potent instrument which that
science possesses, and there has been and is a tendency
among some writers to expand Statistics, so that it be-
comes in itself a scheme of social science, covering all
the phenomena of social human life. 1 It is not necessary
for our present purpose to discuss the question whether
Statistics is a science like Sociology, or is only a scientific
method of investigation like the science of microscopy.
It is certainly the latter even if it be not the former.
But if Statistics is a scientific instrument of investiga-
tion it must be used scientifically. It must first of all
be used for the purposes for which it is fitted. We do
not take a sledge-hammer to regulate a watch, or a pair
of tweezers to mend an iron gate. We cannot measure
the merits of a painter by the square yards of canvas he
covers, or the morality of a nation by the seating capacity
of its churches. The statistical method is fitted for some
purposes ; for others it is quite unfitted. This is often
misunderstood. We continue to gather statistics which
neither are nor ever can be of use, simply because they
are statistics.
Still further, with the collection of the statistical data
1 Reichesberg, Statistik und Socialwissenschaft. Engel, Zeitschrift
des Preuss. Bureaus, 1871, p. 181. Von Mayr, Statistik und Gesell-
schaftslehre, 1895. This is the latest and most complete treatise on
statistics that we possess.
c 17
18 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
only the first step has been taken. The statistics in that
condition are only raw material showing nothing. They
are not an instrument of investigation any more than a
kiln of bricks is a monument of architecture. They
need to be arranged, classified, tabulated, and brought
into connection with other statistics by the statistician.
Then only do they become an instrument of investiga-
tion, just as a tool is nothing more than a mass of wood
or metal, except in the hands of a skilled workman. It
is here that we have a science of statistics in the sense
of the ability to use what would otherwise be useless.
And this skill extends in all directions, in the methods of
collecting statistics, in arranging and tabulating them, in
comparing them with each other, and especially in judg-
ing of the validity of the deductions or inferences to be
drawn from them. The statistician is not a mere col-
lector of figures, any more than the chemist is a mixer
of chemicals. He is an investigator of the phenomena
behind the figures.
It is not our purpose in this book to enter into the
practical details of statistical method, or into the refine-
ments of statistical theory. There are, however, some
obvious conditions which must be satisfied in order that
any mass of statistics shall have the slightest scientific
value, and it is necessary to bear these in mind whenever
using statistics either in general or in practical sociology.
I have called these things the Criteria of Statistics. They
are most of them so obvious that they are self-evident
when stated, but many of them are flagrantly disregarded
in practice. Before going on to our actual statistics it
has seemed to me useful to summarize these criteria once
for all so that we can refer to them later on. This will
be done as briefly as possible.
The work of Statistics falls under four heads : (1)
Gathering the material ; (2) tabulating and arranging
it ; (3) comparing one set of statistics with another in
THE CRITERIA OF STATISTICS. 19
order to discover relations of co-existence ^r of cause
and effect ; (4) formulating statistical or sociological
laws. The criteria which it is necessary for us to bear
in mind attach themselves to these four stages and may
best be considered in this order.
I. Collecting the Material. This is a matter not only
of administrative technique, but also of scientific judg-
ment. In the first place, what statistics shall we gather ?
Many social phenomena are capable of statistical meas-
urement, and we cannot always tell in advance which will
prove to be of scientific value. But it is obviously im-
possible to collect them all, and so we are obliged to make
a choice. There are many actions of men of so trivial
or indifferent a nature that we cannot conceive of their
being of sociological importance, e.g., as to whether the
inhabitants of a country take their noonday meal at
twelve or at one o'clock. On the other hand, the num-
ber of school-children with light or dark hair, blue or
brown eyes, may be of importance in connection with
race. We must, therefore, choose what we shall observe,
and the choice is not always easy. As a matter of fact,
also, the choice is limited largely by administrative con-
siderations, i.e., as to what the government officials are
authorized or willing to collect.
Statistics are collected principally by governmental
agency. The task is too great and too unremunerative
for private persons as a rule to undertake. Private indi-
viduals also do not possess the necessary legal power to
compel an answer to their questions or to punish false
and misleading answers. But the primary object of
many, in fact most, official statistics, is to furnish guid-
ance for administrative action or to gain practical in-
formation. Such is the character of the statistics of
imports and exports, of land ownership, agriculture and
industry, shipping and railroads. It enters into the sta-
tistics of population, of disease and death, of crime and
20 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
punishment. This has led to the apportioning of the
work of gathering statistics among numerous depart-
ments of the government, each one securing the informa-
tion that is useful and interesting to it. One great evil
attending this splitting-up of statistical activity is that
the information is often very extensive, but is not com-
parable. For instance, in the English statistical returns
different age-classifications are used for prisoners, pau-
pers, lunatics, illiterates, diseased, married, employed in
factories, etc., so that we cannot trace the same class of
persons through these different social conditions. This
is an example of how scientific interest is sacrificed to
pure administrative routine. Science often suffers also
from the conservatism and obstinacy of governmental
officials, who are first of all departmental chiefs and not
statisticians. A slight change here and there, a little
expansion of the schedule, would often increase the value
of the statistics many-fold without disturbing their ad-
ministrative usefulness or requiring additional labour in
collecting. If there is lack of harmony in the statistics
of different departments of the same government, one
can imagine how useless it is to expect harmony among
the statistical departments of different countries. It is
this fact which makes international statistical compari-
sons so difficult.
Again, with the best will on the part of the statisticians,
the organization of government or of departments is some-
times such as to render certain branches of statistics
practically impossible. The vital statistics of the United
States are imperfect because the Federal government has
no registering office for births, deaths, and marriages, and
it is quite hopeless to expect that all the different states will
collect such statistics with uniformity or efficiency. Prison
statistics as well as educational statistics all suffer in this
country from the variety of laws and regulations prevailing
in the different states. We cannot see any remedy for this
THE CRITERIA OF STATISTICS. 21
except in special inquiries conducted over limited fields
either by state organs or by special offices at Washington,
like the Department of Labour or the Bureau of Education.
Great care should be taken in any statistical inquiry,
especially a census, in determining the questions to be
asked and their form. Questions impossible of answer
should, of course, not be asked. An example of this sort
in the United States census of 1890 was the question of
colour whether black, mulatto, quadroon, or octoroon.
It was impossible for the individuals themselves, ignorant
of their own descent, to answer such a question accurately,
and mere shade of colour is an insufficient guide. Number
of days unemployed during the year could not be easily
answered except from the pay-rolls of the employer.
Itemized family expenditure cannot be furnished except
by the small number of persons who are accustomed to
keep books of account. Questions that demand an unusual
effort of memory are seldom accurately answered by the
mass of the people.
Questions which arouse suspicion or hostility should
not be asked, or asked only with great caution. Questions
as to religious belief often excite opposition. Generally
questions as to property or income arouse the fear of new
taxation or fiscal imposition. Questions as to mental or
physical infirmity should be put in such a way as not
to offend susceptibilities. Of course, questions of mere
opinion should be omitted, and questions which may seem
to offer advantage or disadvantage if answered one way
or the other. An example of the latter was the demand
in the United States census of 1890 whether one was
soldier or sailor in the war, which seemed to hold out
the possibility of a pension. Such, in a charity inquiry,
would be the question of "whether in need of assistance
or not" when answered by the individuals themselves.
A skilled statistician will make out his schedule so as to
give by combination the greatest amount of information
22 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
with the smallest demand on the intelligence of the
answerer. Often a single question, like that of " occupa-
tion," "nationality," or "age," opens up a series of
combinations which were otherwise impossible. It is
obvious that the questions must be worded in such a way
as not to be ambiguous, to be answered if possible by a
single word, to be of such a kind that the enumerator can
detect obvious misstatements by the connection with other
questions. All this belongs to the technique of statistics,
but is often undervalued and not understood. The success
of a statistical inquiry depends largely upon the skill with
which the original schedules are arranged. Of course,
intelligence, honesty and zeal on the part of the enumerators
are equally demanded.
II. Arranging and Tabulating the Material. It is neces-
sary to put the material into such shape as to be most use-
ful in imparting information. This is the ordinary work
of tabulation, as, for instance, the population at successive
censuses or the number of criminals in successive years.
Various devices are employed to make the facts more
luminous. For instance, we can calculate the percentage
of increase of the population from census to census in
order to judge whether the rate of increase is greater or
less. Or we can take the percentage the urban population
bears to the whole from decade to decade ; or the percentage
of the blacks to the total population. Care should be
taken to preserve as much as possible the same standard,
as, for instance, the whole population, in reckoning the
percentages of the different elements, as the native and
foreign-born, the blacks and whites, the illiterate, the
criminal, etc. Sometimes the number of blacks is ex-
pressed as a percentage of the whites, the number of
foreign-born as a percentage of the native-born, etc.
But when we come to consider the strength of the blacks
compared with that of the foreign-born, we have not the
same standard.
THE CRITERIA OF STATISTICS. 23
Vital statistics are commonly expressed by rates, as the
birth and marriage-rate. They may be expressed in one
of two ways. Deaths may be expressed by saying one out
of 40 of the population died during the year, or 25 per
1000 died. The latter is always preferable, it being easier
to judge of the fluctuation from year to year by saying
25 and 24 per 1000, than by saying one out of 40 and one
out of 42. When we say the birth-rate in one country is
one in 29 of the population and in a second it is one in 31,
it is not easy to measure the superiority of one over the
other. When we express the rates as 34.5 and 33.2 per
1000, the difference is obvious. When there is a whole
list of rates to compare, as the fluctuations in birth-rates
for a period of twenty years, the advantage of the latter
method is still greater.
The most common device in statistics for making the
figures expressive, next to the per cent and per mille
arrangement, is to take the average. The average is the
short expression for the general truth underlying the di-
versity of phenomena. The rate of suicide may vary
from year to year in England, but the average for ten
years will be, say, 80 per 1,000,000 inhabitants. One
year it may be as high as 85 and another year as low as
77, but ordinarily it will be near 80. Prices fluctuate
from day to day or from month to month, but the average
price will be the middle point about which the market
prices fluctuate.
The average is of inestimable benefit in statistics.
Without it we should be helpless before the enormous
accumulation of figures, which we could neither remember
nor understand. It is the average which takes hold of
the imagination and presents itself to our minds as the
expression of the real condition of things. It is the aver-
age which is sought in order to unburden the mind of the
mass of details. Hence we have everywhere averages,
the average length of life, average price, average wages,
24 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
average wealth, average well-being, and even the aver-
age man.
It is necessary to use the average with care for it is
often delusive. In the first place only those things should
be averaged which belong to the same class. If we try to
get the average length of life of healthy males, it is not
permissible to include unhealthy males. If we are seeking
the average wages of men, it is not permissible to include
the wages of women and children. In the latter case we
get an average, but it represents nothing. It is too low
for men's wages ; it is too high for the wages of women
and children.
Care must be taken not to allow extreme cases to have
too much influence. The rate of interest on money may
in some flurry of the stock-exchange suddenly rise to 40
or 50 per cent for a few transactions, while for the great
mass of transactions during the day it has been 5 or 6 per
cent. To say that the average rate for money had been
22 or 28 per cent would be misleading, the great mass of
transactions having been at 5 or 6 per cent. A remedy
for this is found by taking account of the number of trans-
actions at each rate instead of merely the rates themselves.
Sometimes it is permissible to drop out extreme cases
where they can be distinguished. For instance, if we are
calculating the ordinary mortality of a community by tak-
ing the average death-rate for a series of years, and find
an excessive death-rate for a single year due to a particu-
lar cause, as cholera or a war, we can drop out that year
and get a truer average.
An average must not be a mere numerical average, for
that amounts to nothing. It must be a typical average,
expressive of about what the real condition of things is.
This requires great care and discrimination in the use of
the figures and in their arrangement.
III. We must compare the statistics of one social phe-
nomenon with those of another in order to discover if
THE CRITERIA OF STATISTICS. 25
there be any relation between the two. These relations
may display themselves either in space or in time. Suppose
we have reason to suspect that city life increases the
death-rate. We arrange on one side the death-rates for
the cities of England, and on the other the rates for the
rural communities. If we find in the former column con-
stantly higher death-rates than in the latter, we conclude
that for some reason or other deaths are more frequent in
cities than in the country. If we believe that altitude
has something to do with lung diseases, we arrange the
deaths from such diseases in mountainous regions with
those in the lowlands, and see if in one case they are more
numerous than in the other.
Or we may compare differences in time. If we find the
largest number of suicides everywhere falling in early
summer, then we conclude that temperature has some-
thing to do with the suicidal mania. Or if we find that
in times of high price of food and dull business, crimes
against property always increase in number, then we con-
clude that economic condition is an influence on crime.
It is obvious that in the complexity of social phenomena
we may have two or three causes bound together and may
attribute to one cause an effect due to another. Crime is
more frequent among the foreign-born population of the
United States than among the native-born. But if we
take account of the larger number of adult males among
the foreign-born, we shall suspect that the greater crim-
inality is due as much to the sex and age proportion
as to the nationality. There is a larger proportion of
the blind, and deaf and dumb, among the Catholics of
Ireland than among the Protestants, but one must remem-
ber that all the poorest and most helpless of the popula-
tion are included among the Catholics.
It is necessary, therefore, to eliminate as far as possible
the causes other than the one we are studying, so as to
trace the connection between that one cause and the effect
26 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
produced. This requires great care and a true statistical
insight, for often unsuspected causes are at work.
Finally, can we measure the intensity of the cause?
How much is bad economic condition responsible for
the increase of crime ? This is simply a question of
greater refinement of method, which is sometimes possible,
but more often impossible. Bad economic condition in-
creases crime, but is very seldom of such importance that
a proportionate variation in it results in a proportionate
variation in the amount of crime. Such exact measure-
ments are almost always impossible. We must be content
if we can show that the influence is a constant one.
IV. Even when we discover constant regularities or
relations of cause and effect, have we any right to dub
them statistical or sociological laws? That is what we
are inclined to call them. Some are merely the expres-
sion of a fact, as that there are always more boys than
girls born. Others are statements of regularities which
remain as long as the conditions remain, as that the rate
of suicide in England is 80 per 1,000,000 inhabitants.
Still others are affirmations, e.g., that economic condition
is a cause of crime. About these so-called laws it is only
necessary to remark :
(1) That they are merely empirical laws of no high
degree of validity, simple regularities that may be easily
affected in a great variety of ways. Suicide is influenced
not only by economic condition, but by social opinion,
religious belief, external hindrances, etc., so that the num-
ber may vary from year to year.
(2) In order to formulate a law we must demand a cer-
tain regularity. This is commonly measured by the law
of probability. If the fluctuations from year to year are
not greater than the mean error in a series of a like num-
ber of events happening by chance, then we seem to have
a regularity showing the working of a constant cause. If
they are greater, then we must try to discover a par-
THE CRITERIA OF STATISTICS. 27
ticular cause for the variation and eliminate it. Here
we have a chance for careful and minute inspection of
these regularities revealed by statistics.
(3) The regularities of the mass have no compelling
force over the individual. That the rate of suicide in
England remains constant from year to year does not mean
that I am in any more danger of committing suicide than
if the rate fluctuated capriciously. That 500,000 people,
that is one-third of the inhabitants of New York, are car-
ried daily on the elevated railroads does not mean that I
am obliged to ride once in three days. I may ride every
day or I may never use the road. These things are some-
times forgotten when we speak of the inevitableness of
social laws, of the responsibility of society for the crimes
committed in its bosom, of the budget that must be paid,
the budget of the galleys, the scaffold, and the prison.
(4) This last affirmation means that statistics do not
destroy the doctrine of the freedom of the human will.
Whatever may be the validity or non-validity of that no-
tion, it cannot be overthrown by statistics. With all the
regularities there are numerous irregularities which leave
room for the freedom of the individual. And it is scarcely
possible that statistics will ever be so perfect an instru-
ment of investigation as to destroy these variations. Free
will may not really exist, but it is not yet disproven.
(5) But, it is commonly said, if you admit freedom of
the will, what becomes of your statistical regularities and
your sociological laws ? This question has already been
answered. By statistics we seek to show that social
actions are controlled often and demonstrably by certain
great and general influences. This is mere connection of
cause and effect, but the connection is so close that if the
cause remain the same the effect also remains the same.
This is a great discovery to make and is the first step
towards understanding social phenomena and formulating
a theory of the organization of society. We do not affirm
28 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
that the causes do not change. In fact directly the con-
trary is affirmed, viz., that if the causes change, the
effects will change. And it is just as important to prove
this as the former. The irregularities of statistics point-
ing to unlike causes are just as important as the regu-
larities pointing to like causes.
CHAPTER III.
METHOD OF STUDY.
THE statistical method offers us an enormous amount
of material of all degrees of completeness and trustworthi-
ness. If we are not to be entirely confused and over-
whelmed by the mere mass of data and by the conflicting
conclusions to which they seem to lend support, it is
necessary that we strive for and attain absolute clearness
in respect to the ends to be sought and the methods of
seeking them. For this purpose we shall adopt a certain
rigidity of arrangement and of argument which will be
carried out in each chapter, although it may sometimes
appear superfluous and even pedantic. This rigidity does
not lie in the nature of the material itself, for social
phenomena are constantly intermingling and overlapping
and can be separated only in thought ; but it lies in the
limitations of the human mind, which ordinarily in scien-
tific investigation is obliged to contemplate separately
things which in life never exist separately.
In order to preserve a certain degree of clearness, each
of the successive chapters will be arranged on the follow-
ing plan : (1) Sociological purpose of the investigation ;
(2) Statistical data now accessible; (3) Scientific tests
of the trustworthiness of these data ; and (4) Reflective
analysis of the results obtained. The object of this
arrangement (and its value) will best appear as the sub-
ject is developed, but some preliminary explanation of
what is meant under each head may find a place here.
(1) Sociological Purpose. In order to deal intelli-
29
30 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
gently with a particular group of statistics, it is absolutely
necessary to have in mind the purpose for which we wish
to use them. It is impossible to work in any science
without some " working hypothesis." We must assume
that it is possible to prove that which we wish to prove,
and that the data of which we have command will help
us on to that proof.
The general sociological purpose of any group of statis-
tics is to throw light on the organization of society. That
is the general purpose. More particular purposes will
vary according to the character of the statistics, but the
general line of inquiry will be that indicated in Chapter I.
We inquire first what bearing the particular statistics
have on the classification of population. This bearing is
sometimes direct, as in the statistics of race, or of sex, age,
and conjugal condition. It is sometimes indirect, as in
those of migration, births, deaths, and marriages.
The second sociological purpose is to arrange the par-
ticular statistics in such a way as to reveal any relation
between population and land (physical environment).
This relation is sometimes direct, as between births and
the season of the year ; sometimes it is indirect, as between
births and density of population due to the physical
character of the land.
A precisely similar purpose must be kept constantly in
view in regard to the social environment, that is, the effect
of other phenomena of population upon the particular
phenomenon we have in hand, e.g., the influence of relig-
ious confession on illegitimate births, of economic condi-
tion upon marriage, of sex upon suicide. What sort of
co-existences can we reasonably expect to establish here ?
We must have some conception of what we expect to find
before we shall ever find anything.
Sociological purpose must keep our minds open to
changes in the different groups of phenomena and their
relation to each other. Fluctuations in birth-rates must
METHOD OF STUDY. 31
obviously find a possible explanation in a variety of ways,
as in changes in the marriage-rate, in wars and times of
adversity or prosperity, or in statutory enactments, etc.
A definite purpose must exist in our minds to test all
such sequences and to try to establish relations of cause
and effect. The object of Statistics is often not so much
to establish new truths as to confirm truths already guessed
at.
Finally, our sociological purpose in many groups of
statistics must be to gain information for the purpose of
guiding social action what we have called practical
sociology. What effect does the infliction of certain
penalties have upon the repetition of crime ? From what
classes in the community are juvenile offenders recruited ?
Is pauperism due to economic misfortune, lack of thrift,
lack of intelligence, habits of dissipation, or to general
social causes over which the individual has no control?
The statistician who should neglect such practical ques-
tions while seeking to establish the general outlines of
social organization, would fail to comprehend one very
important sociological purpose of his investigation.
(2) Statistical Data. The main purpose of each chapter
will be to present the particular statistics in accordance
with the sociological purpose laid down in the intro-
ductory part. The data should be developed in that
order, viz., the general data with reference to the whole
population, in connection with the physical environment,
in connection with the social environment, with refer-
ence to the changing relations of a dynamic society,
and with reference to specific problems. It is not neces-
sary to give all the statistics. Typical ones should be
selected which will prove the point in hand, but enough
should be furnished to show that the rule is general and
not exceptional. Care must be taken in comparing phe-
nomena that the comparison is a fair one, e.g., in comparing
the number of paupers and defective persons among the
32 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
Catholics and Protestants of Ireland, that the two bodies
represent the same social and economic condition ; or in
comparing the numbers of persons convicted of larceny in
England with those in Italy, that larceny covers the same
range of offences in the two countries. The number of
statistical data at command is enormous. It is not easy
to select those that are homogeneous and suited for the
purpose. Fittingness and suggestiveness are more impor-
tant for us than mere accumulation of facts. So, too, in
making our comparisons it is well to fix our attention
upon two and only two phenomena at the same time, e.g.,
combine criminality at first with age classes alone, and
afterwards with sex and conjugal condition. Our rule
should be to present the simple first, and proceed from the
simple to the complex. Ordinarily, however, we shall
find it necessary to eliminate as many of the influences
as possible in order to study the effect of one.
(3) Scientific Tests. Having chosen our material with
respect to the sociological purpose in view, the next ques-
tion is whether it is adequate. This is a very important
matter, the neglect of which leads to many impotent
conclusions and much wasted labour. Our general scien-
tific method is observation, analysis, induction, and gen-
eralization. But all observation is not statistical, and
after observing a particular group of phenomena, the
first question to be asked is whether the statistical
method is at all applicable, and if so, to what extent.
Degree of intelligence would be a valuable item in the
study of crime, but have we any statistical method of
measuring intelligence ? Density of population probably
has an influence on many social phenomena, but it is com-
monly so associated with other things, such as city life,
industrial condition, economic well-being, that statistical
analysis fails to isolate it. Always and everywhere with
statistical analysis comes the question whether our classi-
fication is legitimate and scientific. What is the distin-
METHOD OF STUDY. 33
guishing mark of race? With classification comes the
question of nomenclature. Do names mean the same
thing in different countries or at different periods of
history? When we make comparisons, have we elimi-
nated all the disturbing elements? For instance, in
comparing death-rates of city and country, do we take
account of differences in sex and age ? Finally, in pro-
ceeding from analysis to induction and generalization,
it is necessary to consider the universality of the facts
upon which our reasoning is based.
Besides these general scientific tests there are the
particular questions of technique mentioned in the pre-
ceding chapter. In some cases there are difficulties in
getting the material, as in the birth, marriage, and death
statistics of the United States. We can see that some
inquiries are very difficult to answer with certainty, e.g.,
the exact motive leading to suicide. Again, we suspect
that some questions will not be answered truthfully, as
when parents are asked the age of their children employed
in factories. In other cases we know that the adminis-
trative processes are so inadequate that the returns are not
trustworthy. Such is said to be the case in some South
American censuses and is true of many local statistics.
Because the material is imperfect or incomplete it does
not always follow that it is useless. It may give us in-
dications of relations or tendencies without our being able
to define them exactly. It may confirm to a certain
degree what we have already suspected from observation.
It may be used to frame hypotheses which may then be
tested in other ways.
Questions of technique connect themselves also with
tabulating and presenting the statistics. In many cases
we have to determine the most practicable classification,
as, for instance, in ages ; shall we take each separate age
by itself or shall we group them, and if the latter, shall we
group them by quinquennial or decennial periods or other-
34 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
wise ? One great difficulty in all age classifications is the
concentration about ages ending with zero or the figure
five. We should adopt a classification that will avoid the
evil effects of this as far as possible.
In tabulating population in respect to density, it is nec-
essary to determine what scale of gradations we shall use ;
in separating urban and rural population, what limit we
shall adopt as minimum size for a city ; in studying rela-
tion of population to land, whether we shall take lines of
equal latitude, equal altitude, or equal temperature.
Still further, in making comparison between different
countries, or in studying the changes in time in the same
country, it is necessary to adopt some sort of rate. Births,
for instance, vary from year to year because of increasing
population. It is obviously better to take a per capita
relation than the absolute numbers. It is the same way
with marriages, deaths, sickness, suicide, crime, and almost
all social statistics. In order to make them comparable it
is necessary to turn them into rates. The important ques-
tion is, what standard shall we adopt. The most simple is
that of the whole population. It has the added advantage
that then all our different phenomena are comparable
among themselves. It has the disadvantage that the
whole population is not affected by the particular phe-
nomenon. Marriage is only entered into by adults who
are not already living in the married state; hence the
number of unmarried persons above the age, say, of fifteen,
is the true standard with which to compare the marriages
in any country or at any one time. Legitimate births are
due to the married women of child-bearing age, illegiti-
mate to the unmarried of child-bearing age, and neither
has reference to children or old persons. It is always an
important question, now, what standard we shall employ
for each particular group of statistics ; or if we use the
general standard, the influence which difference in the sex
and age proportions may have.
METHOD OF STUDY. 35
The presentation of the figures involves the question of
the average. We must have some short expression for the
multiplicity of facts, and the average is useful for that
purpose, as already explained in the last chapter. In our
" scientific tests " we shall constantly be obliged to decide
whether our averages are " typical," that is, corresponding
to something in real life, or are empty mathematical ones.
(4) Reflective Analysis. Having thus tested the sta-
tistical data of each particular kind collected together for
the sociological purpose defined in the beginning, it will
be necessary at the end of each chapter to determine how
far that purpose has been attained. This will be done
simply by reflective analysis of the results for the pur-
pose of determining whether the classification is adequate,
whether there is any connection between the particular
phenomenon and the physical environment, or with other
phenomena showing relations of co-existence or of sequence.
Finally, we must determine whether we can formulate any
sociological laws, what effect such laws have on the doc-
trine of the freedom of the will, and whether our results
have any practical sociological consequences.
BOOK I.
DEMOaRAPHIO.
CHAPTER IV.
SEX, AGE, AND CONJUGAL CONDITION.
Sociological Purpose.
POPULATION falls into natural groups according to two
characteristics present everywhere, viz., sex and age.
Both are natural in the sense of depending for their classi-
fication upon nature and the natural divisions of time.
Both are of very considerable sociological importance,
inasmuch as the relative size of the groups affects the
social and political constitution of each community. The
relative number of men and women has some economic
influence, inasmuch as the man is stronger and better able
to bear the work of production than the woman. An
excess of males or of females affects the marriage relation,
the increase of population and the mortality of the com-
munity. Still further, the characteristic of sex either in
itself or as a result of historical evolution seems to influ-
ence social phenomena, such as mortality, disposition to
disease, participation in vice and crime, in particular ways
which are explicable only by reference to sex. It is the
purpose of Statistics to disclose these relations. It is a
question of sociology whether the cause is physiological
36
SEX, AGE, AND CONJUGAL CONDITION. 37
or due simply to social influences which have centred
about the distinction of sex.
Classification by age has important social, economic
and political influences. A population may have an
excessive number of children and old people, thus increas-
ing the burden on the productive class. It may have a
deficiency of children, thus leading to depopulation or at
least a stationary population. Emigration may weaken
the economic power of a nation by drawing away the full-
grown persons ; or immigration add to it by increasing
the relative number of adults. The military strength of
a country is measured by the number of men able to bear
arms. The voting strength is measured by the number of
males above a certain age. The growth of population is
conditioned by the number of women of child-bearing
age. The number of criminals depends partly on the
number of adult men. Disease, mortality, and other phe-
nomena vary in intensity because of the distribution of
the age classes, as, for instance, many of the facts peculiar to
large cities are explicable by the age-constitution of urban
populations. Thus the mortality rate in cities cannot be
directly compared with that of the country, but account
must be taken of the distribution of the population by age.
It follows from this that in many cases comparison of
the same fact in two classes of the population can only be
made accurately when we take into account the age-
constitution of each. Thus, in asserting that crime,
pauperism, and insanity are more frequent among the
foreign-born in the United States than among the natives,
we must remember that all these are phenomena of adult
life and that the proportion of adults is greater among
the foreign-born than among the natives. The contrary
is true in respect to homeless children, idiots, and the
feeble-minded. The rate of mortality among the blacks
at the South is greater than among the whites because of
the large number of children.
38 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
While the total number of the population ordinarily
furnishes us the basis of comparison for such social phe-
nomena as the rate of increase, the birth-rate and the death-
rate, in some cases a particular section of the population
gives us a truer standard. The number of births is some-
times compared with the number of women of child-bearing
age ; the number of marriages with the number of unmar-
ried persons of marriageable age ; the criminals with the
number of adults ; the illiterates with the number of
persons 10 or 12 years of age and over ; the number
of permanent paupers with the number of persons 60 or
65 years of age and over ; the celibates with the number
of persons 40 years of age and over ; the adult mortality
with the number of adults.
The classification by age and groups of ages is there-
fore very important in sociological investigation. Almost
everywhere it gives us greater precision. It enables us
to eliminate one of the permanent causes, so to speak, and
leaves us free to search for the particular cause. When
we are examining the prevalence of insanity among the
foreign-born and natives, the elimination of children
among whom insanity is rare removes one cause of vari-
ation and concentrates our attention on the influence of
race. When we compare the marriage-rate of city and
country, the number of marriageable persons is the stand-
ard we are seeking, not the number of children.
The distribution of the population according to conjugal
condition (single, married, widowed and divorced) does
not depend upon natural causes, like the distribution by
sex and age, but upon the social institution of marriage.
Nevertheless, marriage is so well established in civilized
communities, its consummation is so dependent on age,
and its dissolution upon death, that the classification of
the population according to conjugal condition is almost
as natural and as stable as that by sex and age.
Conjugal condition is a very important fact in social
SEX, AGE, AND CONJUGAL CONDITION. 39
organization. The relative number of the single and
married affects the growth of population, the number of
births, the constitution of the family, and social morality.
Widowhood has important economic and social effects,
as has also divorce. Still further, the married and
widowed states seem to have peculiar influence on other
social phenomena, such as death, disease, insanity, suicide,
vice and crime. The combination of conjugal condition
and age reveals many interesting relations.
The sociological purpose of presenting statistics of sex,
age, and conjugal condition is to establish firmly this
fundamental classification of population which is abso-
lutely essential to any understanding of social organiza-
tion or the facts of social life. We must inquire how
far the classification itself depends upon natural and
social influences, e.g., climate and celibacy, social customs
and second marriages. But our more important task is
to establish the distribution of population itself accord-
ing to these categories as a foundation for all our later
statistics of births, deaths, marriages, suicide, vice, and
crime. Such foundation is absolutely necessary in order
to make these statistics comparable and thus to establish
relations either of co-existence or of sequence, i.e., of cause
and effect.
At the same time it is the sociological purpose of this
chapter to consider whether the relations of sex, age,
and conjugal condition disclose any regularities which
may be termed sociological laws. Practical questions
must also be kept in view, such as the effect of an abnor-
mal number of unmarried women on the policy of fac-
tory laws, the effect of celibacy occasioned by economic
condition on social morality and the like.
Statistical Data.
Sex. The relative number of males and females varies
widely in different parts of the world and in different
40 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
countries. General estimates lead us to suppose that
to 1000 males there are in Australasia only about 852
females, in Asia 958, in Africa 968, in America 973. It
must be confessed, however, that our knowledge of these
populations rests on estimates or very imperfect enu-
merations, so that the figures are uncertain. In Europe,
on the other hand, we have an excess of females, 1024
females to 1000 males, and this is typical of old countries.
In the United States, typical of a new country, the excess
of males is undoubted, 952 females to 1000 males in
1890.
In both Europe and the United States we have wide
variations, as is shown by the following figures, indicating
the number of females to 1000 males in different coun-
tries of Europe and different sections of the United
States :
EUROPE 1024 EUROPE Continued.
Norway 1091 Belgium 1005
Scotland 1072 Italy 989
Sweden 1065 Servia 947
England and Wales . . 1064 Greece 929
Switzerland 1067
Denmark 1051
Austria 1044 UNITED STATES .... 952
Germany 1039 North Atlantic States . . 1005
Ireland 1029 South Atlantic States . . 1004
Holland 1024 North Central States . . 928
Hungary 1016 South Central States . . 961
Prance 1014 Western States .... 698
It is a curious circumstance that the greatest excess
of females is found in the northern countries of Europe,
thence diminishing towards the South until in the coun-
tries on the Mediterranean there is an excess of males.
Ireland forms a marked exception to the rule. It might
seem at first sight that climate or geographical position
had something to do with this distribution of females
among the countries of Europe. But we cannot believe
SEX, AGE, AND CONJUGAL CONDITION. 41
that there is any direct influence of climate on the pro-
portion of the sexes. If there be any influence it must
come about indirectly through births, deaths, or migration
affecting the two sexes unequally.
In the whole of Europe there are more males born from
year to year than females. That would naturally lead to
an excess of males. But in most countries there is also a
greater mortality among men than women, and sufficiently
greater to wipe out the excess of male births. If in any
country, therefore, we started out with an equal number of
males and females, at the end of the year there would be
an excess of females. In England, for instance, during the
decennium 1881-90 there were 1037 males born to every
1000 females ; but there were, out of equal numbers living,
1123 male deaths to 1000 female. The greater mortality
among males more than effaced the superiority of male
births. This tendency going on year after year would
eventually accumulate in the population a greater num-
ber of females. There would be a limit to the excess,
however, when females became so numerous that even
with a lower death-rate the number of deaths among them
would counterbalance the excess of male births.
The greater mortality among males is commonly ascribed
to the dangers of their occupations, as soldiers, sailors,
miners, and factory and railway hands. Men are also
more addicted to vice, crime, and excesses of various
kinds which shorten life.
When we consider that the different countries of Europe
differ both in the relative number of males to females
born, and especially in the dangers to male life owing to
differences in occupation, we can readily understand that
the proportions of males to females might vary greatly
even from these natural causes.
It is not, however, always true that mortality among
males is sufficiently great to overcome the excess of male
births. In Italy, from 1865 to 1880, the excess of births
42 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
over deaths among males was 1,567,091, while among
females it was only 1,417,955. Italy has in its population
an excess of males. 1
Among uncivilized peoples there seems to be usually an
excess of males, although our data are not very certain. It
has commonly been supposed that among savages the con-
stant wars tend to decimate the men, while the women
are accumulated as slaves and servants. But whenever
peace is established it is probable that the hardships of life
and burden of labour fall on the women even more than on
the men, while the female life is less valued than the male.
It is only upon some such theory that we can explain the
excess of males in Asia and Africa.
In Europe and America we have a second cause power-
fully affecting the relative proportion of the sexes in any
particular country, namely, migration.
Emigration is a direct cause of excess of females by
carrying off more men than women ; 60 per cent of the
immigrants to the United States from Europe are males.
Emigration is stronger from Great Britain, Germany, and
Scandinavia than from France, Italy, or Greece ; this
partly accounts for the excess of females in Northern
Europe. The relative number of males and females among
the emigrants is not the same for different countries. Of
the immigrants to the United States from England, 1880-
90, 61.3 per cent, from Scotland 61.6 per cent, and from
Ireland only 51.0 per cent, were males. These figures
explain the smaller excess of females in Ireland than in
the two other divisions of the United Kingdom. Fewer
females are left behind. Of all the emigrants from Ireland,
from 1851 to 1892, only 53 per cent were males. In 1892
the numbers were almost equal, 25,495 males and 25,372
females, and in some years there has been an excess of
females. The eastern provinces of Prussia show a much
1 BJicher, Ueber die Vertheilung der beiden Geschlechter auf der Erde.
Allgemeines Statistisches Archiv, Vol. II., p. 392.
SEX, AGE, AND CONJUGAL CONDITION. 43
greater excess of females than the western, due probably
to the greater emigration.
In a new country there is generally a preponderance of
males owing to immigration. This is plainly the case in
the United States as a whole. The states of the North
and South Atlantic divisions show, however, an excess of
females, as Massachusetts, 1058, and Rhode Island, 1056,
females to 1000 males. This is due to the emigration of in-
habitants of those states to the West, and the immigration
of females into the factories. The excess of females has
diminished since 1880, showing probably an increasing
immigration of men. In the South Atlantic states, like
the countries of Europe, the excess of females is due to
natural causes, e.g., North Carolina with 1024, and South
Carolina 1011, females to 1000 males. Some of the South-
ern states are influenced by immigration, as Florida with
only 938, and Texas 906, females to 1000 males. The
"Western states are typical of newly settled communities,
as Montana with only 503 females to 1000 males. Even
Utah shows only 882 females to 1000 males, notwithstand-
ing the experience with Mormonism.
In a new country the changes from decade to decade are
often very marked. In the United States the relative
number of females seems to be diminishing, 978 in 1870,
965 in 1880, and only 952 in 1890. This must be due to
the large immigration of the past two decades. The re-
sult of this has been to decrease the excess of females in
those states of the East and the South where there was an
excess, and in some cases to turn it into an excess of males,
as, for instance, in Maine, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Ala-
bama, and Louisiana. In the extreme Western states the
number of females has increased owing to the settlement
of the country.
Owing to mortality and emigration the excess of females
increases with advancing age. In Germany, up to the age
of 10, there are more boys than girls, but from that point
44 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
on there is a regular progression in the excess of females.
The progression is apt to be interrupted or at least re-
tarded during the period 10 to 15, owing to the increased
mortality among girls at that age. In Massachusetts
there is an unusual excess of females of the age of 20 to 30,
due to the immigration of girls as domestic servants and
factory hands.
The proportion of males to females does not remain the
same from year to year, but varies with social causes such
as those mentioned above. In France the movement has
been almost constantly in the direction of greater equality
in the relative number of males and females. In 1821
there were 1059 females to 1000 males, in 1891 there were
only 1007. In Scotland the proportion was 1128 in 1821
and only 1072 in 1891. Is this an effort of nature to re-
store equilibrium ? In England the change has been the
other way, the number of females to 1000 males having
been 1038 in 1821-31 and 1060 in 1881-91.
Sex in Cities. In large cities there is commonly an ex-
cess of females. In England there were 109 females to 100
males in the urban districts, while in the rural districts the
proportion was only 101 to 100. Up to the age of 10
there is practically no difference in this respect between
the two districts, the proportion of males being almost the
same as that of the other sex. After the age of 10 the
girls begin to migrate to the towns as domestic servants,
leaving their brothers behind them, and this migration
continuing during the next period, the proportion of
females at the age 15 to 20 is, in towns, 107 to 100 males,
while in the rural districts it is only 87. Then begins the
migration of men to the towns, so that the excess of females
is diminished. During the age period 35 to 45 the pro-
portion is very nearly the same. As old age comes on,
the excess of females in towns again becomes very large.
There are two possible explanations of this : One is
that old men migrate from the towns back to the country,
SEX, AGE, AND CONJUGAL CONDITION. 45
and the second, that town life is more inimical to old men
than to old women. Dr. Ogle thinks that both of these
causes are at work. He finds that the death-rate for per-
sons from 55 to 65 years of age was in London 34 per cent
greater for males than for females, while in the rural dis-
tricts it was only 16 per cent greater. The other assump-
tion is incapable of statistical proof, but men become
incapacitated for work earlier than women, to whom a
variety of light occupations is still open even in advanced
age, so that it is not improbable that they retire to the
country, where living is cheaper, at an earlier age than old
women. 1 Statistics of other countries show a similar ex-
cess of females in cities.
Population by Age. Distribution by single years makes
so many divisions that it is customary to group the popu-
lation by quinquennial or decennial periods. In countries
with increasing population the lower age classes are always
well filled. The typical example is Germany, where one-
third of the population is under the age of 15. In coun-
tries where the population is stationary, the middle-age
classes are well filled and there is a large proportion of
old men. France is the typical example. England is a
country where population is increasing at a moder-
ate rate and stands between Germany and France. Ire-
land approaches France because population is decreasing,
but emigration taking away a large number of adults
makes the proportion of children larger than in France.
On the other hand, the number of children in Ireland is
smaller than in either England or Scotland, while the
number of old people is greater. The real weakness is in
the age class 30 to 40, that is, in the productive years.
Immigration influences the population of a country by
increasing the proportion in the middle-age classes and
decreasing that of the children and old people. In the
United States we have several classes, the whites and
i Census of England, 1891, Vol. IV., p. 31.
46 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
coloured, the native and the foreign-born. The foreign-
born have very few children because there are very few
children among the immigrants, and the children born here
go to swell the number of the native-born. The various,
contrasts are shown in the following table :
POPULATION BY AGE. PERCENTAGE IN EACH GROUP. 1
Eng-
land.
Scot-
land.
Ire-
land.
France.
Ger-
many.
United
States.
U. S. United
Foreign States
White. Coloured.
Under 10, 23.9
24.3
20.8
17.6
24.2
24.29
3.67
28.22
10 to 20, 21.3
21.6
23.4
17.4
20.7
21.70
10.06
25.19
20 to 30, 17.2
16.8
16.2
16.3
16.2
18.24
21.81
17.40
30 to 40, 13.1
12.6
10.8
13.8
12.7
13.49
19.88
11.26
40 to 50, 9.9
9.6
9.8
12.3
10.4
9.45
18.06
7.89
60 to 60, 7.1
7.2
8.6
10.1
7.8
6.38
13.53
4.92
60 to 70, 4.7
4.8
6.0
7.6
5.2
3.94
8.65
2.87
70 and over, 2.8
3.1
4.5
5.0
2.8
2.51
4.34
2.25
Large cities generally have a large proportion of adults
from the age of 20 to 40, owing to the influx of strangers.
In Germany (1885) the population was distributed as in
the accompanying table. 2
Age.
Under 20
Large Cities.
39.3
All Germany.
44.9
20 to 40
37.2
28 8
Over 40
23.5
26.3
100.0 100.0
Some industrial cities, however, show a large number of
children due to the large number of young married per-
sons and the heavy birth-rate. This varying age constitu-
tion of urban populations is an important consideration in
calculating the real death-rate, as we shall see hereafter.
The Western states of the United States are very much
like cities in this respect.
Population may be grouped in many other different
ways for particular purposes. One is as productive and
1 Stat. Archiv, III., pp. 403 ff. U. S. Census, 1890.
2 Briickner, in Allg. Statis. Archiv, I., p. 651.
SEX, AGE, AND CONJUGAL CONDITION. 47
unproductive, taking those from the age of 15 to 70 as
productive and those below or above that age as unpro-
ductive. Ordinarily the productive population varies be-
tween 60 and 70 per cent of the whole. The United
States shows the smallest percentage, namely, 60.1, while
France shows the largest, namely, 68.2. It would seem as
if France were in the better situation ; but we must also
consider that the small number of children now may make
a small number of producers in the future.
Military Age. It is sometimes of interest to know the
proportion of males capable of serving in the army. This
is to a certain extent indicative of the military strength
of the nation. The proportion of those actually in the
army is indicative of the burden of military service. Or-
dinarily the military age is said to be from 18 to 44 or 45
years, both inclusive. In England the males 18 to 45 years
of age were 19.5 per cent of the total population. In
Germany, in 1885, males between the ages of 18 and 45
numbered 9,128,722, or 19.4 per cent of the total popula-
tion. The proportion varied in different parts of the
empire, being generally high in the large cities, as, for
instance, Berlin, 25. 2 per cent, Hamburg, 23 per cent ; and
low in the country districts such as Wiirtemberg, 17.8
per cent, Posen, 17.8 per cent, etc. We may say, how-
ever, that, as a rule, about one-fifth of the population of
Germany is of an age to serve in the army. The propor-
tion of those who may be actually called into service (from
the age of 20 to 37) comprises 6,134,578 males, or 13 per
cent of the total population, and this represents the total
number of men from whom Germany recruits her army.
Of course only a small proportion of these are in actual
service. In 189495 the German army and navy numbered
605,046 out of an estimated population of 51,217,000, that
is, a little over one per cent.
In the United States the males 18 to 44 years, both
inclusive, numbered 13,230,168, that is 21.1 per cent of the
48 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
total population. Of the whole number, the native-born
constituted 10,424,086, or 78.79 per cent, and the foreign-
born 2,806,082, or 21.21 per cent. Since the foreign-born
constitute only 14. 77 per cent of the aggregate popula-
tion, they are excessively represented among those of mili-
tary age. If we separate the two classes we find that the
native whites of military age are 19.8 per cent of the total
native white population ; while the foreign-born of mili-
tary age are 29.7 per cent of the total foreign-born popu-
lation. These proportions are explained of course by the
facts mentioned above.
Voting Age. The number of persons of an age to exer-
cise the right of suffrage is of some interest, especially
when brought into comparison with the actual number
exercising the right. In Germany the number of males
25 years of age and over (the age required for voting
for members of the Reichstag) is 22.3 per cent of the
total population. It is higher in cities and lower in the
country, as usual.
In the United States the number of males 21 years of age
and over is 27.05 per cent of the total population. Here
we have several classifications that are of interest. Of
the total number of males 21 years of age and over, 74. 33
per cent are native-born and 25.67 per cent are foreign-
born. The potential voters among the foreign-born num-
ber 47.01 per cent of the foreign-born population. The
voting strength of the foreign-born would thus seem to
be formidable. But they cannot vote until they are
naturalized, so that although the foreign-born males 21
years of age and over are 25.67 per cent, yet only 58.55 per
cent of them being naturalized it reduces their actual vot-
ing strength to 15.02 per cent of the total males 21 years
of age and over. If we consolidate the foreign vote and the
native vote of foreign parentage, the percentage for the
whole of the United States is 34.77. The possible vote
may be still larger than this as foreigners become natural-
SEX, AGE, AND CONJUGAL CONDITION. 49
ized. Male native whites of native parentage constitute
only 51.98 per cent of the total male population 21
years of age and over. That is to say, only about one-
half of the potential voting power among the men in the
United States is held by whites of American birth and
parentage.
School Age. The number of children of school age is
a matter of interest, especially in countries where there
is compulsory school attendance. There is some differ-
ence in custom as to the limits of the school age in
various countries, and in different states. In England
the children from 3 to 13 years of age were 23.2 per cent
of the whole population. In Germany the compulsory
school age is from full 6 years to under 14 years. In
1885 the number of children of that age amounted to
8,609,198, or 18.3 per cent of the total population. In
the United States, in 1890, the number of children from
5 to 17 years, both inclusive, was 18,543,201, or 29.6 per
cent of the total population. The native whites between
5 and 17 years were 14,946,990, or 32.5 per cent of the
total native white population ; while the foreign whites
of school age were only 917,475, or 10 per cent of the
total foreign white population. This great difference in
proportion is due, again, to the large number of adults
among the immigrants, and to the fact that the children
of the foreigners born in the United States are classed as
natives. If we take these native whites of foreign parents
we shall find that there are 4,400,105 of school age, show-
ing a percentage of 38.2 of that class. The coloured of
school age constitute 2,678,736 persons, or 35 per cent of
the total coloured population. This seems to be an enor-
mous proportion. The interesting point in these compari-
sons is to show the burden of common school education
which rests upon the different states. In this respect the
proportion of children of school age in the United States
is very heavy. The very large proportion among the
50 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
coloured increases the burden because they are of the
ignorant classes, and the large number of those of foreign
birth or at least of foreign parentage also renders the
task more difficult.
In European censuses other age classifications are often
made. In Germany we have the age of majority from
the completed twenty-first year, the number of persons of
that age being 53.3 per cent of the total population, vary-
ing from 60.5 per cent in Berlin down to 48.5 per cent in
an agricultural district like Posen. In the same way we
have the marriageable age. In Germany the men 20
years of age and over constitute 26.5 per cent of the total
population, and the women 16 years of age and over con-
stitute 32. 3 per cent. Then we have the women of child-
bearing age, that is from 17 to under 50, who constitute
in Germany 22.9 per cent of the total population. All
these combinations and other similar ones may be made
up for any country from the tables of population accord-
ing to age. 1
Average Age of the Living. If we take all the people
of a country and add together their ages and divide by
the number of people, we have the average age of the
living. In Germany it is about 27 years ; in France it
is, for males, 30.69 and for females, 31.19 years ; in Eng-
land it is 25.31 for males and 25.86 for females. This
average age of the living is sometimes confounded with
the average length of life, or the probability of life. But
it is not safe to draw any conclusions from this number
as to the health or viability of a community. For the
average may be made up from a great variety of figures,
the result of many different causes, some of which are
favourable and others unfavourable to the well-being of
the community. A large infant mortality, by leaving a
relatively small number of individuals in the lower age
1 Jahrbuch, 1889. Similar figures for England in General Report,
Census 1891, p. 30.
SEX, AGE, AND CONJUGAL CONDITION. 51
classes, would increase the average age of the living,
although it would not be a sign of good economic or social
conditions. Thus, in Bavaria, where infant mortality is
very great, the average age of the living is more than 29
years. In France the average age is also very high, but
owing to an entirely different reason, namely, a small
number of births. Emigration of full-grown men and
women tends to diminish the average age of the living,
and immigration of the same classes tends to increase it,
although neither may have anything to do with the gen-
eral health of the community.
Conjugal Condition. In studying the conjugal con-
dition of the population we take only the persons over 15
years of age, because marriage does not begin until that
age. The relative proportion of the four classes ( omitting
the divorced, who are a mere fraction ) in various countries
is shown in the following table : l
Percentage of Males over
15 who are
Single. Married. Widowed.
Percentage of Females over
15 who are
Single. Married. Widowed.
Austria . . .
43.8
51.3
4.8
40.0
48.1
11.8
Hungary . . .
Switzerland
31.5
45.2
63.7
48.0
4.7
6.4
22.0
41.6
62.8
45.6
15.0
12.3
Italy ....
France . . .
40.9
36.0
53.1
56.5
6.0
7.5
33.2
30.0
63.2
66.3
13.6
14.7
Great Britain .
39.5
54.9
6.6
37.3
60.9
11.8
Ireland . . .
49.3
44.8
6.9
43.5
42.1
14.4
Belgium . . .
Holland . . .
46.0
42.2
47.5
62.0
6.6
6.8
41.8
38.7
47.1
49.8
11.1
11.4
Germany . .
Sweden . . .
40.9
42.6
53.7
51.9
5.3
6.4
36.5
40.8
50.8
47.1
12.4
12.0
Norway . . .
43.3
61.0
6.6
41.7
47.0
11.1
This table shows us some interesting differences. The
married males are generally a little over 50 per cent
of the males above 15, and the married females are some-
what less. The larger proportion among the males is due
1 Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, No. 44, p. 35.*
52 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
to the fact that marriage is more often dissolved by the
death of the husband than by that of the wife, so that
there are always more widows than widowers. This is
seen clearly in the columns headed "widowed." Widow-
ers also remarry more frequently than widows, thereby
increasing the proportion of "married." The proportion
of widows is almost always twice that of widowers.
There are striking differences between countries. Hun-
gary has a very large proportion of "married." This
is probably due to early marriages, as shown by the fact
that only 22 per cent of the women above the age of 15
are single. Early marriages (and remarriages of widow-
ers, which are said to be frequent in Hungary) produce
many widows, as is seen in the high 'proportion (15 per
cent). France also shows a large proportion of widows,
due to the comparatively large number of old people. In
Ireland the proportion of married persons is very small,
on account of the emigration of young men and women
of marriageable age. The contrast between two coun-
tries lying side by side like Belgium and Holland is very
noticeable. It probably means that marriage is deferred
to a later age in Belgium.
The importance of these statistics lies in two directions.
They point to fundamental differences in the constitution
of the population of different countries which must have
some effect on the social organization, the life, and activity
of the community. And the relative number of the
single, married, and widowed affects also all vital statistics,
especially births. Conjugal condition seems also to affect
certain social phenomena, such as crime, vice, suicide, and
pauperism. This classification is therefore fundamental
for any precise characterization of such phenomena.
Conjugal Condition by Age. Whether a man is married
or not depends very much upon his age. If we distribute
the population into three classes, 15 to 40, 40 to 60, 60
and over, we shall get more precise results in regard to
SEX, AGE, AND CONJUGAL CONDITION. 53
conjugal condition. The figures for Germany (1872-80)
are shown in the following table :
MEN WOMEN
15-40 40-60 60 15-40 40-60 60
and over and over
Single 62.1 9.6 8.2 63.6 12.1 11.3
Married .... 37.3 84.8 62.2 44.5 70.2 36.6
Widowed and D. 0.6 5.6 29.6 1.9 17.7 53.2
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
A careful study of this table shows some very interest-
ing differences between the two sexes. In the lowest
age class, 15 to 40, the proportionate number of single
is greater among men than among women, while in the
upper age classes it is less. This is due to the fact that
in the earlier years single women marry more frequently
than single men, while at a more advanced age they have
less chance of marrying. In the upper age classes the
proportion of the married is greater among men than
among women because of earlier widowhood among women
and the fact that widows have less chance of remarrying
than widowers. For the same reasons, the proportion of
widowed and divorced is greater at all age periods among
women than among men.
It would lead us too far to carry out all these details of
conjugal condition according to sex and age for different
countries. Some special points may be noticed which are
of interest. Von Mayr has remarked that the proportion
of married persons to the population over 15 years of
age gives us no exact information as to the number of
persons unable or unwilling to get married, because at the
age of 16 marriage is just beginning. If we take, how-
ever, the proportion of persons 60 years of age and over
who are not and never have been married, we have some
indication of the number of people unable or unwilling to
marry.
In the above table for Germany 8.2 per cent of the men
54 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
and 11.3 per cent of the women above the age of 60 are
still single. In England, Germany, and France the pro-
portions are about the same. In Sweden and Norway
they are lower, while in Holland, Belgium, Italy, Switzer-
land, Austria, and Ireland the proportion is over 10 per
cent, in some cases running as high as 15 per cent.
It would seem from these figures that the normal pro-
portion of bachelors in the population above 60 was about
10 per cent, and of single women was somewhat greater.
There are, however, considerable variations due to peculiar
age constitution or to particular laws and customs. In a
portion of Bavaria, for instance, owing to the influence of
the old marriage laws, 16.9 per cent of the men and 25.7
per cent of the women above the age of 60 are still un-
married. In the other part of Bavaria called the Palati-
nate the proportions are only 5.2 and 10.1 respectively. 1
Von Mayr also tries to indicate the commonness of the
marriage state, that is, the proportion of marriageable
people whom we may ordinarily expect to find living in
the married state. For this purpose we may take the
proportion of married persons between the ages of 40 and
60. At that time most marriages have been consummated,
while not too many have been broken by death. The
normal number appears to be about 75 per cent. In
Germany (see above) 84.8 per cent of the men and 70.2
per cent of the women, between 40 and 60, were living in
the married state. Similar statistics for other countries
give about 80 per cent for men and 70 per cent for women.
Switzerland, Belgium, and Ireland seem to have smaller
proportions among both men and women, about 73 per
cent for men and 62 (Belgium 68) for women. In the
case of Ireland the reason for this is emigration. In
1 Dr. Ogle has shown that celibacy is least among shopkeepers, then
come artisans and labourers, while the proportion of permanent bachelors
is by far the greatest among the professional and independent class. Jour.
Stat. Soc., 1890, p. 276.
SEX, AGE, AND CONJUGAL CONDITION. 55
Switzerland and Belgium there is a very large proportion
of single persons in the population 40 to 60 years of age,
running over 19 per cent, while the ordinary proportion
in other countries is from 12 to 15 per cent. There seems
to be a strong tendency for men and women in these
countries to remain single.
If we compare the conjugal condition of men and women
at successive quinquennial age periods we shall have a
vivid picture of the family life of the community. Below
the age of 15 all the men are single. At the age of 20
they begin to marry, and at the age period 25 to 30 the
number of married is about equal to the number still
single, while a few have already become widowed or
divorced. From this point on the relative number of the
married compared with the single is always greater,
although from the age period 30 to 35 the absolute num-
ber begins to decline. In other words, death carries off
more married men than marriage is able to create out of
the ranks of the single and the widowed. The number of
the widowed increases steadily until the age period 75 to
80, when it exceeds that of the married. From that time
on the absolute number of widowers decreases because the
source of supply is exhausted. Among women the process
is a little different because marriage occurs at an earlier
age. In the age period 25 to 30 the married and widowed
women are almost double the single women ; at the age
period 60 to 65 the widowed and divorced already nearly
equal the number of married women ; from the age of 65
the proportionate number of widows to married women
increases enormously. The above description relates to
the age classification according to conjugal condition as
shown by the Prussian census of 1890. In other countries
the particular relations might be slightly different owing
to differences in age distribution and in the time of mar-
riage, but the general course of events would be the same. 1
1 Zeitschrift des Preuss. Bureaus, 1892, p. 233.
56 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
In Massachusetts, in 1885, they compared the number of
native-born persons 20 years of age and over with the
foreign-born of the same age as regards conjugal condi-
tion. It was found, of course, that the number of married
among the foreign-born was proportionately greater than
among the native-born, because the foreigners are very
largely in the early years of manhood and womanhood.
Of the foreign-born 53 per cent were married and 10 per
cent widowed, while of the native-born only 32 per cent
were married and 6 per cent widowed. 1 These figures
give rise to interesting reflections in regard to the increase
of the foreign element in the United States.
Scientific Tests.
There is no doubt that the statistical method is the
proper one for the classification of population according to
sex, age, and conjugal condition. The chief question is
whether there are any particular difficulties connected
with the collection ot the statistics, and whether they can
be tabulated in such a way as to show social relations. In
regard to the statistics of sex there is ordinarily no reason
to doubt their accuracy. Even where a census is defective
there would seem to be no reason why one sex should be
omitted more than the other, so that the relative number
of males to females would seem to be pretty well estab-
lished. There are, however, some exceptions to this.
One of the most remarkable is furnished by the last census
of India, which returned six and a quarter million fewer
women than men. This made a proportion of 958 females
to 1000 males. The proportion varied in the different
provinces between 804 and 1084 to 1000. There has been
much discussion as to whether this small proportion of
women is due to omissions, or whether the number of
women is really so much smaller than that of men. Un-
doubtedly part is due to simple omissions. Women are
* Census Mass., 1885, Pt. I., p. 53.
SEX, AGE, AND CONJUGAL CONDITION. 57
held in such low esteem that many males, heads of house-
holds, would simply neglect to return daughters or female
servants, not thinking the matter of sufficient importance.
Others having daughters of marriageable age not yet mar-
ried, would neglect to return them on account of a feeling
of shame, and among the hill tribes there is said to be con-
siderable jealousy in regard to their wives and daughters.
From these various causes it is believed that there were
very considerable omissions in the number of females
returned, the largest deficiency being between the ages of
10 and 15. At that age there were only 795 girls to 1000
boys. It is probable also that there are real causes tend-
ing to decrease the number of females. Infanticide is
not now practised to any great extent, but girls are still
regarded as more or less of a burden because a dowry
must be provided for them when married, so that they are
less well taken care of than boys. Early marriages, child-
bearing at immature age, and insufficient medical care are
also fatal to the life of the female. Later on in life there
is not that distinction of employments which increases the
mortality of men in European countries. The mass of
the people in India are engaged in agriculture, and
women share equally with men in the labours of the
field. Mortality tends to bear equally on the two sexes,
so that it is not until the age of 60 that the number of
surviving women is greater than the number of men. 1
In Europe we do not find any such prejudices in regard
to returning the true number of either sex. Occasionally
there are practical difficulties in getting at the number
of men belonging to a given community. This is due
either to their absence as soldiers, marines or sailors,
or to the agglomeration of men in particular localities,
either soldiers in garrison, or men drawn together by indus-
trial works. The most striking example of this is Eng-
land. If we exclude the army, navy, marines, and mer-
* Census of India, 1891, p. 244.
58 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
chant seamen abroad, the number of females is 1063.3 to
1000 males ; while if we include these classes the number
of females is only 1049.1 to 1000 males. It is necessary
for us to know whether these classes are included or ex-
cluded in the enumeration of any country. The chief
scientific test, therefore, is to examine the figures with
care in order to see whether the excess of males or females
may not be due to some purely local and possibly tempo-
rary cause. The general causes are those noted above, viz.,
the greater mortality of men, emigration, and immigration.
These may be called real social causes, that is, they are
wide-spread and general in their nature. Emigration,
it is true, may be merely temporary, like the Irish passing
into England, and Italians across the frontier into France
at harvest time or some other occasion for securing work.
The time of taking the census might have great effect in
distorting the relative number of the sexes for particular
sections owing to these temporary causes. It is desirable,
where possible, to eliminate these influences.
A very good illustration of local and temporal influ-
ences is found in the relative number of the sexes in
the cities of Germany, which, as a rule, show a large pro-
portion of females compared with males. This has not
always been so. In Prussia, in 1867, there were only 990
women to 1000 men ; in 1875 there were 1006 ; and in
1885 and 1890 there were 1037.
It is somewhat difficult to account for this growing
excess of females. The true reason seems to be the
establishment of factories employing women. Owing to
this cause the migratory movement, which was formerly
much more prominent among men, has seized the women
also. 1 There are still some cities, however, where there is
an excess of males. These are the garrison towns like
Magdeburg, Strassburg, Metz, Mayence, Potsdam, and
1 Stat. Jahrbuch deutscher Stadte, 1892, p. 21. Preuss. Zeitschrift,
1892, p. 147. Allg. Stat. Archiv, 1890, p. 628.
SEX, AGE, AND CONJUGAL CONDITION. 59
Kiel, and places like Dortmund and Essen, where there
are large ironworks.
When we consider the general reasons for an excess of
one sex over the other, aside from the particular cases
mentioned above, it is interesting to ask whether the
relative strength of the different influences can be meas-
ured. Such an attempt has been made in Prussia. From
1871 to 1885 the statistics of births and deaths show that
there should have been an excess of 59,250 women over
men. As a matter of fact, by the census of 1885, there
was an excess of 174,639 women. How shall we account
for this difference of 115,389 in the excess of women ?
If we take the statistics of emigration from 1872 to 1885,
we shall find an excess of 107,803 male over female em-
igrants. This almost exactly balances the deficiency of
women noted above. It seems, therefore, that the excess
of women over men in Prussia is due about two-thirds
to emigration and one-third to natural causes. 1
Trustworthiness of Statistics of Age. The statistics of
age are much more uncertain than those of sex, because
many people, even in a civilized community, are ignorant
of their exact age or give it wrongly from pure careless-
ness. This is shown by the well-known tendency for
the ages to concentrate on the years ending with a or
the figure 5. Changes from age to age should be gradual,
unless some unusual event has occurred to diminish or
increase the normal number of a certain age. But there
is always a larger number returned as of the age of 40
years than of either 39 or 41, more of 50 years than of
either 49 or 51, etc. Some illustrations are as follows :
Massachusetts, 1885, number of persons 39 years old was . . . 21,972
Massachusetts, 1885, number of persons 40 years old was . . . 38,331
Massachusetts, 1885, number of persons 41 years old was . . . 18,061
Massachusetts, 1885, number of persons 44 years old was . . . 18,489
Massachusetts, 1885, number of persons 45 years old was . . . 30,873
Massachusetts, 1885, number of persons 46 years old was . . . 18,367
1 Zeitschrift des Preuss. Bureaus, 1888, p. 231.
60 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
Even in Prussia, where the common people are well edu-
cated, we find that while the number of people returned in
1890 as 40 years of age was 372,604, the number of 39 years
was only 335,607, and the number of 41 years was 337,596.
In India, where the population is very ignorant, the con-
centration on the decennial periods is extraordinary. Out
of 100,000 persons of all ages the number returned as 40
years of age was 5240, of 39 years was 322, and of 41
years was 216. In India the termination 5 is the next
favourite, the figure 2 stands third, and the figure 8 fourth.
In England the number of women returning them-
selves as from 20 to 25 years of age is always greater than
the number of girls 10 to 15 years of age ten years
previously, although they are only the survivors of the
latter after a lapse of ten years, and should of necessity
be fewer in number.
The absolute numbers in the age classes are evidently
far from being correct and are not safe to use by them-
selves. If, for instance, we find a small number of people
in the age class 19, in 1890, in Germany, it is not per-
missible to attribute it to a small number of births in the
year 1871 on account of the war. Various devices are
used to combat this difficulty. One is the arrangement
by periods, to 4, 5 to 9, 10 to 14, 15 to 19, 20 to 24, etc.
Here each period contains a year of concentration ending
with a or a 5, while the depleted years each side of the
or 5 fall into different periods. In England they take
the decennial periods 25 to 34, 35 to 44, 45 to 54, etc., so
that the year ending with will fall in the middle of
each class. There are some difficulties even here, for
sometimes other years, such as 18 and 21, are favourites
either among men or women. Where arbitrary classes
are made, as from 5 to 17 (school age), 17 to 45 (military
age), 17 to 49 (child-bearing age), these difficulties are
not removed. The result is that it is possible to use these
age classifications only in a very general way.
SEX, AGE, AND CONJUGAL CONDITION. 61
A second device is to control the return by other sta-
tistics. There is apt to be a larger number of children
two years old than one year, although the reverse should
be the case. This seems to be due to a confusion in the
minds of the parents as to whether two years old means
in the second year or in the completed second year.
This can sometimes be controlled by means of the regis-
tration lists of births and deaths. Among those of middle
age this means of control is useless because migration is so
active that reference to the registration lists is of no avail.
At the other end, persons of extreme old age, an inves-
tigation can be made for each case. By this means the num-
ber of centenarians is being steadily reduced from census
to census, as greater care is taken to investigate the proof.
In Prussia the number of persons declared to be 100 years
old in 1890 was 149, of whom more than one-half were
discovered upon investigation to be of less age ; and of
these 8.8 per cent were found to be from 95 to 100 ; 14.3
per cent between 90 and 95 ; and the rest not yet 90 years
old. 1
Statistics of Conjugal Condition. Ordinarily there
would seem to be no difficulty in believing the state-
ments of persons in regard to their conjugal condition.
The number of married women always exceeds that of
married men (England, 1891, 4,916,649 wives, 4,851,548
husbands). This is due to the absence of the husbands,
although probably in some instances women return them-
selves as wives when they have no right to that title. It
is also believed that many divorced persons called them-
selves widowed in the census return. This may account
for some of the excessive rates of crime, insanity, sui-
cide, etc., found among the divorced. In the particular
phenomenon careful inquiry is made about the conjugal
1 This was in a total population of 30,000,000. In South Carolina,
in 1840, out of a coloured population of 336,000 there were 228 reported as
100 years of age and over !
62 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
condition of the person, while in the census such careful
inquiry is lacking. 1
The proportion of married persons in the population
does not always vary according to the number of mar-
riages. In England the average annual marriage-rate in
the period between the censuses of 1881 and 1891 was
very considerably lower than that of the next preceding de-
cennium, but the proportion of married persons decreased
very slightly. This is explained by the fact that while
a decline in the marriage-rate has primarily the effect of
diminishing the proportion of married men and women in
the population, it has the secondary effect of diminishing
the number of children born, and thus of cutting down
also the proportion of the unmarried. This would not
happen if we took simply persons above the age of 15 for
our standard. 2
Reflective Analysis.
The distribution of population by sex and age shows
the working of a variety of causes. Can we generalize
from these to sociological laws of wider bearing, tracing
back the peculiarities of sex and age distribution to natu-
ral factors, or to social factors of universal significance ?
Can we, for instance, trace any influence of climate or topo-
graphical features upon the proportions of the sexes or of
the age classes ? Can we show that the proportions vary
according to the stages of civilization ? Only the most
general results are to be expected.
A German statistician traces the natural influences on
the proportion of sexes as follows: In cold climates
there should be more men than women because life makes
greater demands on mere physical strength. In warm
climates there should be more women than men. Social
conditions, however, affect the proportion of the sexes.
1 Westergaard, Mortalitat und Morbilitat, p. 35.
2 Census of England, 1891, General Report, p. 33.
SEX, AGE, AND CONJUGAL CONDITION. 63
The hunting and nomadic conditions are more favourable
to men than to women. In early agriculture the women
bear the burden as well as the men, and being less strong,
perish earlier. As civilization advances the economic
position of woman improves and disastrous social events
such as wars, pestilences, hard times seem to bear heavier
on the men, and we find an excess of women. Among
particular civilized nations or sections of countries the
variation in the proportion of the sexes seems to be due
neither to climate nor to race, but to social causes, the
principal of which are emigration and immigration, and
industrial development.
Similar remarks would seem to hold good in respect to
the distribution of population by ages. It is not probable
that climate and race have any influence except as they
are the underlying causes of varying social conditions.
The distribution itself is determined by the rate at which
population is increasing, and by the chances of life at
different ages. Among savage and barbarous tribes there
is commonly a large number of births, but owing to the
hardships of the life there is great mortality. Among
such peoples there are very few old men, and thus the
tendency is to depress the age classes. As nations become
more civilized greater care is taken of human life and the
upper age classes are better filled out. If it is a progres-
sive nation population continues to increase, that is, the
number of births is greater from year to year, so that the
lower age classes are also well filled out. A typical case
of this sort is Germany. Increase in population may also
be brought about, not by increasing the birth-rate, but by
decreasing the death-rate through sanitary and economic
improvements. In such a case the lower age classes will
be proportionately smaller, while the middle and upper
classes will be strengthened. An approach to such a
type is seen in England. Where population is declining,
although the upper classes may be well filled, the weak-
64 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
ness of the lower ones is fatal for the future. We have
no example of this among civilized nations, although the
stationariness of population in France has alarmed some
of her economists and statesmen. With her, however, the
question is not so much sociological as political, owing to
her military rivalry with Germany, a country of rapidly
increasing population.
Various important social results follow the distribution
of population by sex, age, and conjugal condition. A large
excess of unmarried males or females may lead to condi-
tions resulting in social vice or to the dependence of a
large class in the community. It leads often also to vary-
ing social ideals in regard to the position and privileges
of women. There seems to be no "natural" law of
equality in the number of the sexes such as was formerly
asserted as a support for monogamy. One or the other is
always in excess. It is necessary for us to discover the
reasons for this excess in order to adjust social institutions
to actual conditions. The varying distribution by age and
sex affects the economic productive power of the com-
munity, as has been insisted upon above. Such age distri-
bution is an index of the economic strength of the nation.
The productive ages must always support the unproduc-
tive.
It is true that the actual age distribution does not seem
to be within the control of man. But its careful study
may enable us to judge of the influence of social forces
which can be encouraged or discouraged by public opinion.
This fundamental classification of population is the result
of great natural and social influences. In all cases it is
necessary to an understanding of social phenomena, and
in many it gives us the explanation of facts of practical
bearing on social life.
CHAPTER V.
BIRTHS.
Sociological Purpose.
THE population of the world or of a country is con-
stantly losing by the death or withdrawal of certain
individuals and constantly gaining by the addition of
others. It is like an army whose ranks are depleted by
deaths and desertions but continually refilled with new
recruits, the total number of the army perhaps increasing,
perhaps decreasing, perhaps remaining the same. Sta-
tistical observation has three questions to investigate
here : (1) Is population increasing or decreasing ?
this is merely to establish a fact which can be established
only by statistical enumeration. (2) At what rate is
population increasing or decreasing ? this also is merely
the establishment of a fact. (3) What are the causes of
the increase or decrease ? This last is the attempt to
establish a connection of cause and effect in social phenom-
ena by means of statistical observation. For the world
at large the immediate cause of an increase or decrease of
population is the relation of the number of births to the
number of deaths. The facts for a particular country
may be distorted by emigration and immigration, but
from the standpoint of statistics they are secondary
phenomena. Back of them lie births and deaths as pri-
mary factors.
Births are the primary phenomenon of a continuing
population. If it were not for births population would
f 65
66 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
cease. Hence they are the foundation of all demographic
or demological inquiries. The sociological purpose of our
investigation extends in several directions in accordance
with the questions noted above. In the first place we
have merely to constitute a fact, namely, what is the
number of births in a country at a given time or in suc-
cessive periods of time. This bare fact has great politi-
cal and social interest. In connection with the number
of deaths it determines the natural increase of the popu-
lation, the population of the future, the relative strength
of nations. For the purposes of comparison, the number
of births is commonly expressed by a birth-rate, i.e., the
number of births per annum per 1000 of the population.
This birth-rate (although somewhat crude in itself)
enables us to compare the births in different countries or
in the same country from year to year. Its connection
with the death-rate reveals a variety of conditions of
great sociological interest. A population may increase
by having a large birth-rate and a large death-rate ; or it
may increase by a comparatively small birth-rate accom-
panied by a correspondingly small death-rate. It is, how-
ever, evident that these two different relations create
different social conditions. A large or small birth-rate
creates a different age distribution, with certain important
consequences to be mentioned hereafter. It is also a mat-
ter of social interest to observe the birth-rate among
different classes in the community, the rich and poor,
urban and rural, agricultural and industrial, and in such
a country as the United States between the whites and
blacks, the native and foreign-born. The mere relative
growth of these different classes is often a matter of
interest. The particular sociological purpose, therefore,
of enumerating the number of births in any community
is to bring out these facts clearly and scientifically in
order to direct attention to social conditions.
But there is a range of questions in regard to births,
BIRTHS. 67
lying deeper than these, viz., what is the cause of a large
or small birth-rate or of variations in the birth-rate ?
We can conceive of two sets of causes, natural and
psychological. In the individual cases, births are a pure
process of nature ; but their total number may be affected
also by social-psychological causes influencing large bodies
of men. Is it possible for us to demonstrate that the
number of births is influenced by purely natural causes,
such as climate, geographical and topographical position,
the seasons, etc. ? Then there are great influences which
are partly natural and partly social, such as race, density
of population, residence in city or country, occupation,
good or bad nourishment, economic prosperity, social
hopefulness and ambition. Do any of these have influ-
ence in determining the birth-rate ? Finally, do social
customs in regard to marriage, family life, sexual moral-
ity, public opinion, have any influence on the number
of births ? All these questions may be reduced to two,
namely, the influence of physical and the influence of
social environment.
Some minor characteristics of births are subject to
the same analysis. The number of boys and girls
born, the still-born, and multiple births seem to be due
to physical laws of which we have little or no knowl-
edge. The number of illegitimate births in connection
with the great social institution of marriage and with
the state of public morality, or at least public opinion,
is of great importance. What are the laws which govern
these phenomena, and what is their relation to social
conditions and social progress ?
Statistical Data.
For purposes of comparison the number of births is
expressed as a rate, that is, the number of births per
annum for each 1000 of the population. This is called
the crude birth-rate, but it is sufficiently accurate for
68 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
general purposes. We have exact statistics of births for
the countries of Europe only, and even in Europe the
statistics for Russia, Spain, Greece, and Turkey are not
very trustworthy. Taking the average for a period of
twenty years in order to avoid accidental fluctuations, we
have the following birth-rates : 1
Hungary (1876-90) . .
Average
1871-90.
44.0
38.6
1891.
42.3
38.1
1892.
40.3
36.2
1898.
42.5
Germany
38.1
37.0
35.7
36.7
Italy
37.3
37.3
36.3
36.6
Holland
35.2
33.7
32.0
33.8
England and Wales . .
Scotland
34.0
33.6
31.4
31.2
30.5
30.8
30.8
31.0
United Kingdom . . .
32.6
31.7
30.4
31.0
29.5
29.5
29.9
30.6
31.0
29.6
28.9
29.5
30.7
30.9
29.6
30.7
29.8
28.3
27.0
Switzerland ....
Ireland
29.4
24.9
28.3
23.1
28.1
22.4
28.5
23.0
France ,
24.6
22.6
22.1
The above table shows wide differences in birth-rates,
from Hungary with 44 per 1000 down to France with 24
per 1000. In Russia the birth-rate is commonly supposed
to be higher still, running up to 49 per 1000.
Influence of Climate, Geographical Position, and Race.
To study such influences it would be necessary to have
statistics of the different parts of the world. But in bar-
barous or uncivilized countries such statistics are entirely
lacking or very imperfect. It is generally supposed that
in warm climates births are more frequent than in cold.
The women marry younger, the climate makes less demands
upon their energy, there is greater improvidence in regard
to the future ; hence there is a large number of children,
1 Report of Registrar General, England, 1893. (The rates are exclusive
of still-born. Later figures, quoted from German reports, include still-
born.)
BIRTHS. 69
and population is restrained only by the correspondingly
large number of deaths. In India the birth-rate is said to
be nearly 48 per 1000, greater than in any country of
Europe except Russia. 1 The women marry at the age of
fifteen, and among the higher and middle classes there is
a general feeling that the paternal hearth is disgraced by
the presence of a girl who has arrived at womanhood
unmarried. Notwithstanding the enormous birth-rate,
population grows but slowly on account of the abnormal
death-rate, which, even if we omit the frequent occurrence
of famine and epidemic disease, reaches on an average 41
per mille. What is true of India would probably be true
of other hot countries inhabited by uncivilized races.
If we look at the above table for Europe, minor vari-
ations of climate seem to have no effect. Countries distant
from each other, such as Norway and Belgium, have about
the same rate ; while adjacent countries, like Italy and
France, or Germany and France, have widely different
rates. Some authors have discovered a rough geographical
arrangement, namely, that the highest rate is in the east
of Europe (Russia and Hungary) ; a lower rate in Central
Europe (Austria, Prussia, Germany, and Italy) ; a still
lower rate in Northern Europe (Great Britain, Norway, and
Sweden). Ireland and France seem to be exceptions. It
is evident, however, that this arrangement is only a rough
one, and general social condition probably has more influ-
ence than either climate or geographical position.
The influence of race also seems to be covered by that
of general social condition. Uncivilized nations have large
numbers of children. The negroes in the United States
have a larger birth-rate than the whites, this being due to
their low social condition and general improvidence. 2 The
1 Census of India, 1891, p. 61.
2 The birth-rate as calculated by the Census of 1890 was for the whole
population 26.68 ; for whites, 26.35 ; for coloured, 29.07 ; for whites^
with both parents native, 28.58 ; with both parents foreign, 38.29. The
70 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
same remark may be made in regard to distinctions of
race in Europe. The enormous birth-rate in Russia and
the eastern provinces of Prussia would seem to indicate
great fertility in the Slavonic race. But this again is
probably social condition rather than race. We can trace
no distinction between the Germanic or Teutonic and the
Romance or Latin races. Among the Teutons, Germany
is high, Scandinavia and England low. Among the Latins,
Italy is high and South France is low.
Density of Population and Birth-rate. It has often
been supposed that the density of population had an influ-
ence upon the birth-rate. But in the table given above it
is impossible to trace any connection between average den-
sity and the number of births. Belgium and Saxony, both
of which are very densely populated, have very different
birth-rates, viz., Belgium 29.6 and Saxony 43.1 in 1891.
So England and Scotland have very nearly the same birth-
rate, although the density of population differs. Even
if we take the smaller divisions of the same country, it is
difficult to trace any connection between density and birth-
rate. For the provinces of Prussia, taking the average
birth-rate for the period 184185, a period sufficiently long
to obliterate all exceptional causes, we reach contradictory
results. The eastern provinces, with the exception of
Silesia, have the least density of population and the highest
birth-rate. They are agricultural. But Silesia, Saxony,
and Rhineland, which also have high birth-rates, have
much more than the average density of population, owing
to their mining and industrial occupations. It seems clear,
therefore, that mere density of population does not control
the birth-rate, but that it is subject to social influences.
In England the registration counties in which the birth-
rates were highest (1891) are the mining and industrial
last two figures were only for limited areas. These rates are probably
too low by from 20 to 30 per cent, owing to deficiencies in the return of
infants " born and died " during the year.
BIRTHS. 71
counties, such as Derbyshire, 33.0; Lancashire, 33.3;
Northumberland, 34.1; South Wales, 35.1; Staffordshire,
36.3 ; Monmouthshire, 36.4 ; and Durham, 38.2. On the
other hand, the lowest rates, in no case exceeding 27.5,
were in the agricultural counties, such as Surrey, Sussex,
Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Dorsetshire, Devonshire,
Herefordshire, Shropshire, Rutlandshire, Westmoreland,
and North Wales.
Birth-rate in City and Country. In England, where
the urban districts consist very generally of industrial and
mining towns, there is commonly a higher birth-rate in
the cities than in the country. For other countries the
evidence is conflicting.
For the 47 cities of Germany of 50,000 inhabitants and
over, the birth-rate seems to be less than that for all Ger-
many. The figures for the last few years are as follows : l
1885. 18S6. 1887. 1888. 1889. 1890.
Germany. . . 38.5 38.5 38.4 38.1 37.9 36.9
Cities .... 35.8 35.6 35.4 35.0 35.7 35.2
If we take another classification, however, namely, the
25 large cities having 100,000 and over, we shall get some-
what different results. Arranged by periods, the birth-
rate in these large cities was as follows : 2
1861-M. 1864-67. 1867-71. 1871-75. 1875-80. 1880-85.
All cities . . . 36.9 38.7 38.3 41.9 42.1 37.4
Chemnitz . . 47.5 50.4 - 61.8 49.3 45.3
Frankfort . . 21.0 25.0 29.0 30.6 34.3 29.6
This last table shows that the birth-rate in cities
varies from time to time and from city to city. For
instance, in all cities there was an enormous fall from the
period 1875-80 to the period 1880-85, which is not easily
accounted for. There had been a corresponding rise from
the period 1867-71 to 1871-75, but that was partly expli-
1 Stat. Jahrbuch deutscher Stadte, II., p. 22.
" Allg. Stat. Archiv, L, p. 162.
72 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
cable by the influence of war upon the first period. The
two cities shown in the table represent two extremes, and
we see in some cases that the birth-rate in Chemnitz is
twice that of Frankfort. In both cities we find the same
rapid fall from 1876-80 to 1880-85.
It is pretty plain from this evidence that it is not city
life in itself which influences the birth-rate, since there
are so many variations and in such different directions.
The number of births is influenced by the age composition
of the population, especially by the number of women of
child-bearing age, the number of such women actually
married, and the number of new marriages. The rapid
growth of cities on account of immigration allows very
great fluctuations from time to time in these elements of
population. For instance, in the last table the great
increase in the birth-rate from 1867 to 1875 was partly
due to the great industrial development, which attracted
a large number of marriageable men and women to the
cities. As that industrial development slackened and immi-
gration fell off, the number of births naturally decreased,
because there was a less number of women of marriage-
able age or newly married, and decreased very much,
proportionately, because population was now increased
by the large number of children born during the previous
decade. Such movements might naturally affect different
cities in varying degree, as they shared or not in the in-
dustrial development. That would probably explain the
difference between two such cities as Chemnitz and Frank-
fort. Minor differences may sometimes be noted. As,
for instance, in some cities the working population and the
young married people of the middle classes are accustomed
to live in the suburbs, while doing business in the city.
If, now, these suburbs happen to lie outside the municipal
line, the city birth-rate is apt to be low, while it would be
high if they were included. 1 The effect of city life on
1 Briickner, op. cit. Allg. Stat. Archiv, I.
BIRTHS. 73
births cannot be determined by this crude birth-rate. It
might be studied by following out the births among the city
born and bred, as compared with the country immigrants.
Such statistics are not yet available to any great extent.
Births according to Religious Confession, Social Position,
and Occupation of Parents. It might seem that great
social influences would be expressed under the above
titles. But if there be such influences it is difficult to
distinguish them. The great religious confessions show
no differences. We have about the same birth-rate in a
Catholic country like Italy, as in a Protestant country like
Prussia. Where both religions are represented in the
same country, as in Germany, no difference is visible.
Social position has some influence, but it is difficult to
follow out on account of the difficulty of classification.
Occupations would have an effect principally by affecting
the economic position of the parents.
Influence of War on the Birth-rate. If we follow the
birth-rate of a country by single years we can generally
detect the influence of great public events like a war by
a depression in the rate during the war period, followed
by an unusual rise during the year or two following. Von
Mayr gives the following example of the influence of the
war of 1870-71 in Bavaria. 1 Before the war, under nor-
mal relations, the number of births was about 16,000 per
month. During the war it sank about 2000 per month.
Immediately on the cessation of hostilities it rose to its
former number, while the actual return of the troops
brought an increase of 2000 per month. The maximum
was reached in March of 1872, when it was 18,450. The
1 Figures for births are thrown back nine months, so as to show time of
conception. Von Mayr believes that the war had a depressing influence
apart from the mere absence of the men, as shown in the fact that immedi-
ately upon the cessation of hostilities the number recovered, although it
was several months before the return of the troops. This and subsequent
references are to Yon Mayr's earlier book, Die Gesetzmassigkeit im
Gesellschaftsleben.
74 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
war of 1866 seems to have passed over Germany without
any great influence, the birth-rate in 1865 being 39.2; in
1866, 39.4; in 1867, 38.3; in 1868, 38.4. On the other
hand, while the birth-rate in 1870 was 40.1, in 1871 it was
only 35.9; in 1872 it recovered to 41.1, and remained
above 41 down to 1878.
Births and the Price of Food. The economic condition of
the population has an influence upon the number of births
by increasing or decreasing the number of marriages, and
even perhaps directly. In former years when the popula-
tion was mainly dependent upon the local supply of grain,
economic prosperity or adversity was expressed by a low
or a high price of the grain commonly used for food. It
was then found that if we compared the number of births,
marriages, and deaths with the price of food, the first two
varied inversely, and the third directly with the price of
grain. This connection is seen most clearly in marriages,
but may be traced also in births if we take pains to
place the births somewhat later than the variations in
prices. Von Mayr has shown by means of a diagram that
during the 25 years from 1835 to 1860 any violent rise in
the price of rye in Bavaria, such as occurred in 1845 and
again in 1853, was followed by a fall in the number of
births. After 1860 the relation is obscured, and, with a
single interruption, births seem to go on utterly regardless
of the price of food. There is a local explanation for this,
inasmuch as the Bavarian marriage laws, which had been
very severe, were relaxed in 1862 and entirely abolished in
1868. This encouraged marriage, and doubtless affected
births. Even before 1860 the fluctuations in the price of
food were much more violent than the corresponding fluc-
tuations in the number of births, showing that the price
of food was only one factor in the economic prosperity of
the community. Since 1860, owing to the industrial and
commercial development of Germany, the price of food has
ceased to be the main factor in the economic life of the
BIRTHS. 75
country. This is still more true of England, so that there
the connection between the price of food and births has
disappeared, and a better index of economic prosperity has
been found in the amount of British exports. But eco-
nomic prosperity and adversity have a much more direct in-
fluence on marriages and deaths than on births, so that it
will be better to defer farther treatment of the subject to
the next two chapters.
Births according to Seasons. If we arrange the births
of the year according to months, we shall find great fluc-
tuations. The largest number almost always falls in the
month of February, 1 the minimum number in the month
of June or July, while there is a second increase towards
the month of September or October. 2 From a great num-
ber of observations this general tendency seems to be well
established, although there are occasional variations in
different countries. 3 It is possible that we have to do
here with some sort of physical law, but this physical law
is very much obscured by social influences. One great
social influence is the time of marriage. Marriages tend
to accumulate about the social festivities of Christmas
time, 4 and, in Catholic countries especially, in the period
just before Lent.
1 Corresponding to conceptions in May and June* Some statisticians are
disposed to look upon this as pointing to a natural " pairing time " among
human beings in the spring, as among some birds and animals. As the
number of births is influenced largely by first marriages, and the time of
marriage is largely governed by social conditions, the influence is ob-
scured.
2 Corresponding to conceptions in December.
8 Observations tend to show the largest number of conceptions in
Sweden falling in June, in Holland and France in May-June, in Spain,
Austria, and Italy in May, in Greece in April. That is, the farther South,
the earlier the spring and the earlier the conceptions.
* In agricultural districts this concentration is most marked, due per-
haps to the leisure following the labours of the autumn. In cities the births
are more evenly distributed, showing that artificial life has overcome the
influence of seasons and particular occupations.
76 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
Such being the causes of the varying birth-rate so far as
we can trace them, we now turn to certain facts in regard
to the children born which are the subject of statistical
investigation. These are (1) the number of boys com-
pared with the number of girls ; (2) the number of still-
born ; (3) the number at a birth ; and (4) the number of
illegitimate births.
Sex at Birth. This is the establishment of a purely
physical law over which we have no control, and whose
reason we do not understand. It is an excellent illustra-
tion of the value of the statistical method in establishing a
mere fact, which can be established in no other way. By
personal observation of particular families, we can get at
no rule in regard to the number of boys and girls. The
number seems entirely arbitrary. Sometimes they are all
boys, sometimes all girls, more frequently both boys and
girls. Reasoning, however, from general observation, one
would probably say that the numbers would in the long run
be about equal ; there might be more boys born this year,
and more girls the next, but the numbers would tend to
counterbalance each other. Statistical observation shows
us a constant relation, but this relation is not one of equal-
ity, but of a constant excess of boys. This excess of male
births over female varies from country to country, as is
shown in the following table : 1
BOYS BORN TO 1000 GIRLS BORW.
1887-91. 188T-91.
Italy 1058 Scotland 1055
Austria 1058 Ireland 1055
France 1046 England and Wales . 1036
Switzerland .... 1045 Massachusetts . . . 1046
German Empire . . 1052 Connecticut .... 1072
Holland 1055 Rhode Island . . . 1049
Belgium 1045
This table shows a constant excess of boys, but there
are considerable variations from country to country. In
1 Bulletin de 1'Institut international de Statistique, VII., Liv. II., p. 19.
BIRTHS. 77
England the proportion is less than in any other European
country, and is tending to become still smaller. In Germany
we find great variations in the states and provinces. In
1891, while for all Germany there were (including still-
born) 1062 boys to 1000 girls born, in Baden there were
only 1052, in Pomerania only 1044, and in Bremen only
990. On the other hand, the proportion ran up in Posen
to 1073, in Schleswig-Holstein to 1074, in Westphalia to
1073, and in Mecklenburg and Brunswick to 1098.
The reason for this predominance of male births over
female has never been determined. The theory most
heard of is Sadler's, that the age of the parents deter-
mines the sex in the way that more boys are born in
proportion as the father is older. This, of course, corre-
sponds to the fact that the fathers are as a rule older than
the mothers ; but the theory is purely hypothetical, and
has never been supported by any exact statistical proof.
Statisticians have sought in various directions to discover
whether social influences have any effect. Levasseur has
shown that the proportion of boys to girls is less in cities
than in the country, but the bearing of this fact is not yet
apparent. It is found, too, that among illegitimate children
the excess of boys is less than among legitimate, and this
has led to various theories in regard to the desire of
the mother having a psychological influence upon the sex
of the child. 1
Among the still-born the excess of boys over girls is
very much greater than among the living-born. From
1887 to 1891 the proportion was in France 1422, in
1 Levasseur argues that parents generally desire sons. When that de-
sire is satisfied by the first or second birth, they cease to have children,
or are indifferent as to the sex of thef ollowing ones. Levasseur, Popula-
tion franchise, II., p. 60. Another argument is that most women desire
sons, and hence the greater number of boys born. Among mothers of
illegitimates the feeling of shame and despair would render the mother
indifferent. See for other theories, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Article,
" Sex," and Dtising, Das Geschlechtverhaltniss im Konigreich Preussen.
78 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
Sweden 1350, in Italy 1311, in Germany 1283, in Austria
1321, in Massachusetts 1461, in Connecticut 1451, in
Rhode Island 1418 to 1000. l This excess is probably
due to a physiological cause.
The Living and the Still-born. A certain number of
children do not survive the dangers of the act of birth,
the still-born. The number varies from country to country,
as one would naturally expect, owing to differences in
medical care and economic condition. It is probable that
in Europe between three and four per cent of all the
births are still-born. The proportion to 100 births (1887-
91 ) is as follows : 2
Sweden . . . 2.62 France. . . . 4.60 Italy .... 3.67
Norway . . . 2.75 Switzerland . . 3.80 Massachusetts . 3.41
Denmark . . . 2.72 Germany . . . 3.53 Connecticut . . 3.85
Holland . . . 4.76 Austria . . . 2.85 Rhode Island . 3.62
Belgium . . . 4.56 Hungary . . . 2.00
There is great uncertainty in these statistics, owing ta
the natural difficulty of distinguishing in the returns
between infants still-born and those dying soon after
birth. In Catholic countries there is a great desire to
have the child live until it can be baptized, and in many
communities a still-born child is looked upon as a greater
misfortune than one dying soon after birth. It often
happens, therefore, that a child is declared to have been
born living when it was really born dead. Still further,
in the French law and in the German law based on the
Code Napoleon, it is provided that a child must be regis-
tered within three days after birth. It often happens
that a child who has died during those three days is
registered as a still-born. The statistics, therefore, are
so imperfect that it is impossible to compare one country
with another. For instance, in the Palatinate, a Protestant
country with the French law, the number of still-born
1 Bulletin de 1'Institut, cited above,
a Ibid., p. 25.
BIRTHS. 79
from 1835 to 1860 was 4.8 per cent of the total number of
births, while in Lower Bavaria, a Catholic country with
German law, the number was only 1.7 per cent. The
large number in France is probably due to the French
law.
The number of still-born has been studied in various
directions. The proportion among illegitimates is always
greater than among legitimates, owing to the large num-
ber of foundlings.
The still-born are always more numerous in the city
than in the country, owing, however, to the fact that
the number of illegitimates is greater in the city.
In Prussia they have studied the still-born in connection
with the social and economic position of the parents.
If we take the mothers according to religious confession,
we shall find the percentage among Evangelical mothers
to be 4.26 ; Catholic mothers, 3.84; and Jewish mothers,
3.35. The low percentage among the Jews is probably
due to their better economic condition.
If we take the social position of the parents, we natu-
rally find a very heavy percentage among the inmates
of hospitals and asylums and among beggars. We find
the proportion to be greater than the average among
servants and day labourers, to be less than the average
among the officials and the well-to-do. The figures for
different occupations show great variations, due principally
in all probability to economic condition. 1
The smallest number of still-born is found among the
mothers from 20 to 25 years of age. It then increases
with increasing age, until for women over 45 it is 6 and
7 per cent. 2 The proportion of the still-born is natu-
rally much greater among the first births than among
the later. It is much heavier in the case of twins than
1 Statistisches Handbuch fiir den Preussischen Staat, 1890, p. 139.
2 Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, No. 44, p. 178. For Berlin, see
Jahrbuch fur die Stadt Berlin, 1880, 1884, etc.
80 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
in the case of single births. The proportion is greater in
winter than in summer.
Multiple Births. It is only in a little more than one
per cent of the total number of parturitions that there is
more than one child. The latest statistics give the
following averages of the number of cases to 100 births
where there were two or more to a birth : 1
Sweden .
. . 1.45
Germany .
. . 1.24
Bavaria . .
. 1.38
Denmark .
. . 1.34
Holland .
. . 1.30
Prussia . .
. 1.26
Scotland .
. . 1.22
Norway .
. . 1.32
Saxony . .
. 1.20
Italy . .
. . 1.21
Austria .
. . 1.17
Switzerland .
. 1.16
France . .
. . 0.99
Belgium .
. . 0.97
Spain . . .
. 0.86
In Prussia, from 1826 to 1880, there were 85 cases of
quadruplets and three cases of five at a birth.
The number of twins or more at a birth is thus com-
paratively rare, so that it is scarcely worth while to
follow out their statistics in detail. It is a well-known
fact that there is a greater number of still-born than
in the case of single births, and the mortality increases
as the number at a birth increases. Westergaard has
made a curious study on the basis of material gathered
by the National Life Insurance Society of London. The
investigation covered only 337 cases of multiple births,
of which four were triplets. Of the total number of
children, 51.5 per cent were boys and 48.5 per cent were
girls. In 35 per cent both the children were boys, in 33
per cent both were girls, in 32 per cent they were mixed.
On the basis of probability, one-half of the cases should
have been mixed. Westergaard shows the greater
mortality among the twins, which continues during
the first five years of life. He shows also that where
one of twins dies, there is great probability that the
other one follows ; when one of twins, lives, the proba-
1 Harald Westergaard, Zur Statistik der Mehrgeburten, Allg. Stat.
Archiv, II. , p. 609. See also Levasseur, La Pop. fnw^aise, II. , p. 201,
and Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, No. 44, p. 178.
BIRTHS. 81
bility of life for the other is, indeed, smaller than for
single births, but is much greater than in the preced-
ing case.
Illegitimate Births. In civilized countries, where the
institution of marriage is firmly established, by far the
greater number of children are born in wedlock. There
still remains a certain percentage, varying from as low as
3 to as high as 14, of children born out of wedlock.
This figure is often taken as an index of the morality
of a community. This, however, is not always justi-
fiable, because the number is often indicative of the
influence of special laws and customs rather than of vice
or dissipation. A classical example of this is Bavaria.
In former times, owing to the severe marriage laws which
forbade marriage to all except those who possessed prop-
erty or who were members of a guild, the number of ille-
gitimate births was simply enormous. Even with the
modification of those laws the percentage of illegitimate
births during 1860-68 was 22.2. With the repeal the
proportion sank at once to 17.9 per cent, and continued to
sink each year until 1875, when it was 12.6 per cent. The
explanation, of course, is that many couples who had lived
together without being legally married were now permitted
to marry. The customs, however, engendered by this con-
dition of things have continued, so that even to the present
day the number of illegitimate births in Bavaria is very
large. In other countries, as in Scotland, and in the
eastern provinces of Prussia, public opinion is disposed
to regard a birth before marriage lightly, if the child be
legitimized by subsequent marriage. In Rhenish Prussia
and in England, on the other hand, such a birth would be
looked upon as a disgrace and a hindrance to marriage.
A large number of illegitimate births would naturally
follow in the first case, but would not necessarily show a
lower state of public morality than a small number in the
second. Poor-law relief and laws in regard to the respon-
82 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
sibility of the father also affect the number of illegitimate
births.
Under these circumstances the number of illegitimate
births varies greatly in different countries, and for fair
comparison it is necessary to study carefully the laws and
customs of each. The most common way of calculating
the number of illegitimates is to give the percentage of
the total number of births. The largest numbers are in
Bavaria, 14.01 per cent; Austria, 14.6 per cent; and Sax-
ony, 12.45 per cent. Other Germanic countries like Den-
mark, 9.4 per cent; Sweden, 10.2 per cent; Scotland, 7.9
per cent ; and Prussia, 7.8 per cent ; together with France,
8.4 ; Italy, 7.3 ; Belgium, 8.7 ; also show a large percentage.
England, 4.5; Holland, 3.2; and Ireland, 2. 7; show a smaller
percentage. 1 The number of illegitimates is said to be
increasing in Italy, France, Austria, Hungary, Belgium,
Roumania, Servia, and Massachusetts ; to be decreasing in
England, Scotland, Holland, Norway, and Denmark. 2
The number of illegitimate births varies in a most ex-
traordinary way in different parts of the same country.
Thus, in England the proportion varies (average of 10
years 1881-90) from 8.2 per cent in Shropshire, 7.6 per
cent in Cumberland, 7.2 per cent in Norfolk, 7.6 per cent
in Herefordshire, and 7 per cent in Westmoreland and
North Wales, down to 4.1 per cent in Surrey, 3.4 per cent
in Middlesex, and 3.3 per cent in Essex. 3 These propor-
tions remain very constant from year to year. The Reg-
istrar General has pointed out that England and Wales
can be roughly divided into three zones : a south zone,
with an illegitimate rate below the general average ; a
midland zone, with illegitimacy somewhat above the
average ; and a northern zone, with an excessively high
rate of illegitimacy.
1 Figures are for 1887-91, from Bulletin de 1'Inst., etc., Vol. VIL
'Ibid.
8 Report Registrar General, 1891. See also, Leffingwell, Illegitimacy.
BIRTHS. 83
In Prussia we find the same contrasts between different
provinces as between the different counties of England.
Pomerania and Silesia have an extraordinary number of
illegitimate births, 10.48 and 10.15 per cent, although one
is agricultural and the other is mining and manufacturing.
On the other hand, Saxony and the Rhineland, although
both are industrial regions, have very different rates of
illegitimacy, viz., 9.36 and 3.76 per cent. Agricultural
or industrial life does not seem to be a determining
influence.
The number of illegitimates is particularly large in
cities. For France, Levasseur gives the following num-
bers per 100 births for 1879-83 : *
Department of the Seine 24.1
Urban population (France) 10.1
Rural population (France) 4.2
Average for France 7.4
In Germany, in 1890, the number of illegitimate births
in the cities was 13.2 per cent, while in the country it was
only 9.1 per cent. 2 The large number of illegitimates in
cities is due partly to the presence of garrisons and partly
to the fact that the city is the refuge for the vicious and
thoughtless of both sexes.
In Prussia they have made special investigations in
regard to the religious confession of the mothers of
illegitimate children, with the following result (average
1875-81) : 3
Among Evangelical mothers the number of illegitimate
children was 8.86 per cent
Among Catholic mothers the number of illegitimate chil-
dren was 6.64 per cent
Among Jewish mothers the number of illegitimate children
was 2.73 per cent
1 La Pop. franchise, II. , p. 34.
a Jahrbuch der deutschen Stadte, 1892.
Zeitschrift des Preuss. Bureaus, 1882, p. 232.
84 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
In Ireland the percentage of illegitimate births (1881-
90) was greatest in Ulster, viz., 4.3, and least for Con-
naught, viz., 0.8. The percentage for all Ireland was 2.7
against 2.4 for the preceding decade.
The Prussian statistics show that illegitimate children
are more frequent among divorced women than among
the widowed, although among the latter three-fourths
of the children are illegitimate. It is difficult to follow
out exactly the occupation of the mothers of illegitimate
children, but in Prussia the highest illegitimate fecundity
seemed to be among female agricultural servants ; then
came domestic servants, factory-hands, etc. A very low
rate of illegitimate births is shown among women living
with their parents, and women employed in hospitals,
churches, and public offices. 1
Scientific Tests.
Method of Observation. The first question that arises in
statistics of births is whether we get all of the births.
For it is evident that if we have omissions, our compari-
sons between different countries and for different periods
in the same country are vitiated. In our observations in
regard to the number of the people, their distribution by
race, sex, age, etc., a single census at intervals of five or
ten years is sufficient to give us the necessary data. But
for the statistics of births, deaths, and marriages a census
is inadequate. It is utterly impossible to recover at the
end of such a period all the births or deaths for the pre-
ceding five or ten years. It is even impossible (as shown
by experience in the United States) to go back a single
year and get a satisfactory enumeration for the census
year. For vital statistics it is necessary to have immedi-
ate and continuous registration. When the birth, death,
or marriage occurs it should at once be registered. In
the old days when baptisms, marriages, and burials were
1 Zeitschrift des Preuss. Bureaus, 1889, p. 195.
BIRTHS. 85
all church offices, the church registers furnished a founda-
tion for vital statistics. In modern times the duty of
collecting such statistics is exercised by the state. In
England the office of Registrar General was established
in 1837. Down to 1876 the registration of births was
voluntary, and Dr. Farr estimates that the proportion,
of unregistered births was about 5 per cent. By the Act
of 1874 registration was made compulsory, and the birth-
rate for 1876 reached 36.6 per 1000, the highest on record,,
being 1.2 per 1000 higher than the average for the ten pre-
vious years. 1 It is probable that there are still imperfec-
tions in registration due either to negligence, or to the
shame of illegitimacy, or in order to avoid compulsory
vaccination, or among migratory people such as gypsies.
Notwithstanding these, the registration in England reaches
probably within a very small fraction of the true number
of births. Conditions in the United States are quite
different, as we have just seen. The above illustration of
England shows how impossible it must be to expect good
birth statistics in barbarous or uncivilized countries.
Basis for Comparison. In all the statistics of births
we are met with the difficulty of a proper basis for com-
parison. If the age distribution were the same for the
population of all countries, we might then compare the
number of births with the total population and we should
have a fair standard. But if in any population the
number of adults, especially of women from 20 to 40
years of age, be large, we naturally expect a large birth-
rate ; while if such proportion be small, we expect a low
birth-rate. Thus in the United States, in 1880, 46.4 per
cent of the population were between the ages 20 to 60,
while in France (1886) 52.3 per cent were of that age.
London has a larger birth-rate than the county of Here-
ford, but this is partly explained by the fact that in
London 36.3 per cent of the population are between the
1 Farr, Vital Statistics, p. 87. Newsholme, Vital Statistics, p. 16.
86 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
ages 20 to 40, while in Hereford the percentage is only
28.4. The same difficulty meets us when we study the
statistics of illegitimacy.
On account of these uncertainties it has been proposed
to take as basis for comparison, not the whole population,
but the women of child-bearing age, say from 15 to 45,
15 to 50, or 15 to 55. Dr. Farr carried out such calcula-
tions in many of his annual reports, going back as far as
1851. In the last-mentioned report he makes the follow-
ing observations : "The mothers of all the children that
are born in the country are between the ages of 15 and
55 ; and the greater part of them are between the ages of
20 and 40. The proportion of children to 1000 married
women under the age of 55 ranges between 197.3 in
Herefordshire and 255.6 in Durham; the proportion of
children to 1000 unmarried women (age 15-55) ranges
between 11.2 in Devon and 28.3 in Norfolk." Later on he
says : " For all England 1000 married women of the age
15 to 55 have 220 children annually, 1000 unmarried
women have 16 children annually, or one in 14 of them
is exposed to the same chance of bearing children as
married women."
This method would seem to give us a satisfactory basis
for comparison of birth-rates. The difficulty with its use
is that we must know the number of married and unmar-
ried women between 15 and 55 years of age. For census
years it would be easy to obtain this number, but for
intermediate years it would have to be calculated on the
supposition that the proportion of married and unmarried
women of that age remained the same from census to
census. For a very large population this would probably
be true, but for small divisions like counties or cities the
divergencies, owing to migration, might be considerable.
We know that calculations of the total population for
intermediate years on the basis of births and deaths is
sometimes as much as 15 or 20 per cent out of the way,
BIRTHS. 87
in the case of rapidly growing towns. The chances for
error would be greater in the case of a particular class, and
the number being comparatively small, the proportionate
birth-rate would be considerably affected. It would seem
to be better, therefore, to employ the crude birth-rate for
comparison between large bodies of population, or for the
purpose of following the number of births from year to
year in a population which is reasonably stable. The
refined birth-rate may be used during census years for
comparison between small bodies of population.
A second reason for retaining the crude birth-rate is
that we then have the same basis for general vital statis-
tics, such as marriages, deaths, disease, crime, pauperism,
etc. It is true that in these cases also we have other
standards of comparison, as in the case of marriages, the
number of persons of marriageable age ; in the case of
criminals, the number of adults ; but these special classes
do not correspond to each other. It is, therefore, conven-
ient to retain a crude birth-rate for comparison with the
crude marriage-rate, crude death-rate, etc., bearing in mind
the scientific limitations in each case.
Question of the Still-born. The statistics of different
countries often differ in one respect which gives rise to
considerable confusion, i.e., by including or excluding from
births and deaths the still-born. In England the number
of the still-born is returned, but they are included in neither
births nor deaths. They are not regarded as forming or as
having formed a portion of the population. On the Con-
tinent, on the other hand, they are included in both births
and deaths. Their inclusion or exclusion makes a very
considerable difference in the birth-rate. For instance, the
birth-rate for Germany, including the still-born, was 38.24
per 1000 in 1891. The still-born were 3.31 per cent of
the total number of births. Excluding the still-born re-
duces the birth-rate to about 37 per 1000. For 1890 the
birth-rate, including the still-born, was 36.97, excluding
88 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
them, it was 35.75. We must, therefore, in comparing the
birth-rates of different countries, always know whether
the still-born are included or excluded. Comparative tables
published by continental authors always include them ;
while those published by the Registrar General of England
always exclude them. Care must be taken not to bring
into juxtaposition figures taken from these two sources.
The abstract question whether the still-born should or
should not be included in the birth-rate is not of great im-
portance compared with the practical inconveniences men-
tioned above. Continental statisticians defend the prac-
tice of entering the still-born among both the births and
deaths, because of the difficulty of distinguishing between
the still-born and infants dying a few minutes, or, at least,
a short time after birth. If the child were capable of liv-
ing when born, they contend that it is to all intents and
purposes a birth. The English statisticians think that the
proper plan would be to register all still-births in a sepa-
rate category. By them no child is considered to have been
born unless actually breathing after birth.
Particular Tests. The age distribution is perhaps the
most important factor influencing the birth-rate. But in
studying the birth-rate of small communities, care should
always be taken to consider local circumstances which may
affect the birth-rate. We have already referred to the
fact that in some cities the young married people live in
the suburbs where rents are cheap. In such suburbs the
birth-rate would be high, while in the centre of the town
it would be low. In some cases we have the reverse
phenomenon, the poor being crowded into the centre, and
the rich and well-to-do living in the park-like suburbs.
Other particular circumstances are the presence of troops
in barracks, the number of women living as domestic ser-
vants, immigration in search of temporary employment,
and economic conditions. These things affect both the
legitimate and illegitimate births.
BIRTHS. 89
Reflective Analysis.
It appears from the above statistics that the number of
births in a country from year to year has an important
connection with its social condition. Where it decreases
suddenly it shows the effect of a war, or of commercial
distress or economic disaster. Where it increases, it is
generally a sign of economic prosperity, because no such
increase could be brought about except by some influence
affecting a large portion of the community. Even if the
birth-rate only brought about a shifting of the age distri-
bution, it would be a fact too important to be neglected.
If the number of births remained the same from year to
year, then, the mortality remaining unchanged, the com-
munity would retain the same age distribution. Where
the number of births increases from year to year, at first
there is a proportionately large number of children and
youth in the population. If there then follow a period
of decreasing births, the proportionate number of adults is
increased. If the births continue stationary, the propor-
tionate number of old people is increased. These differ-
ent conditions have considerable social importance. In
France, the low birth-rate results in a population of high
productive power, but with poor prospects for the future.
The moderately increasing births in England give a popu-
lation of good productive power, with great elasticity and
reserve power for the future. A low birth-rate, in one
direction, is an evil if it lead to future low productive
power, to social immorality, or to the destruction of family
life ; while a high birth-rate, in the other direction, is an
evil if it overburden the productive power and lead to
a condition of persistent and hopeless poverty. Close
analysis and study of local communities may sometimes
enable us to detect instances of these two extremes.
The comparative birth-rate among different classes in
the same community must always be a matter of social
90 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
importance. It would seem to be a dangerous sign where
the upper classes cease to have children, while the lower
have large numbers. It must be a matter of social concern
that the negroes in the United States have a large birth-
rate, and the whites a small. It must be a matter of social
interest, if it be true, that the foreign-born in the United
States have a large number of children, while the descend-
ants of the colonists have smaller and smaller families.
It is sociologically important to know that the population
of cities is kept up only by immigration, and that the city
born and bred show a decreasing birth-rate from generation
to generation. It is true that the importance of the relative
growth of different sections in the community may be
exaggerated. For, owing to the many changes brought
about by births and deaths, the antitheses are softened
and the upper classes are recruited from the lower. The
birth-rate, however, is a rough index of the rapidity with
which these changes are going on.
The way in which a community grows, whether by numer-
ous births and numerous deaths, or by a moderate number
of births and few deaths, is to a certain extent an indication
of the stage of civilization in which that community finds
itself. The former must be looked upon as unfortunate
and degrading. In some mining districts of England the
large birth-rate is due to the fact that the women marry
at a very early age, have numerous children, and that the
great mortality among their children, by shortening the
suckling period, enables the births to be more frequent.
Such early marriage and frequent child-bearing destroys the
health and strength of the women, and reduces the whole
family life to the level of the brute. The other extreme of
late or no marriage is equally destructive of social mor-
ality. The desirable system is marriage at a reasonable
age, and the birth of a sufficient number of children to
keep up family life and recruit the population.
The statistics of illegitimate births must always be of
BIRTHS. 91
interest as indicative of social morality, but must be
studied under the limitations and conditions noted above.
It is certainly astonishing, when we take a long period,
to see how little the birth-rate varies from year to year.
In Germany, for instance, for the long period from 1841
to 1885, the annual variation from the average birth-rate
was on an average only 3.98 per cent. This number is
calculated as follows. The average birth-rate is ascer-
tained, being the arithmetical mean of all the different
years. The variation for each year from this mean is
ascertained, and these variations are added together. The
per cent relation of this sum to the sum of all the yearly
birth-rates represents the per-cent variation from the
average birth-rate. That this variation was so small,
does not show, indeed, that there were not larger varia-
tions in different parts of the country, but simply that
they counterbalanced each other. It is also curious to
notice that the variations are much greater if we take
the legitimate and the illegitimate births separately, than
if we take them together, and are especially great among
the illegitimate. The annual variation among legitimate
births was 4.57 per cent, and among the illegitimate was
9.40 per cent. In the smaller territories the variation
among the latter was very great, often running as high as
20 or 25 per cent, and in one case going as high as 31 per
cent. Of course, where we have small figures to deal with,
as in the case of illegitimate births in a small population,
the variations from year to year may be very considerable. 1
We may, in conclusion, demand whether we have dis-
covered any sociological law bearing upon the number of
births. The answer to this question is perfectly plain
from the statistical data given above. Natural influences
seem to have an effect only indirectly, by affecting the
economic condition of the community. Here the effect
is probably enormous, working again indirectly through
1 Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, No. 44, p. 15*.
92 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
the increase in the number of marriages. Natural influ-
ences may be traced also in the variation of births during
different seasons of the year, and possibly in the com-
monly supposed large birth-rate in warm climates. Great
social influences are undoubtedly seen in the variations
from province to province or from county to county in
the same country. Psychological influences may occasion-
ally be detected in the depression in the birth-rate during
a time of war or some public calamity, or in public opin-
ion encouraging small families, as in France. It is safe to
say, therefore, that we have here traces of sociological
laws governing the number of births. Some of them are
simple regularities, like the proportion of boys to girls
born ; some are physiological, like that governing the
number of still-born ; some are social-moral, like those
governing the number of illegitimates ; some are social-
psychological or social-economic, like those governing the
general birth-rate. The difficult and delicate task of
Statistical Science is to disentangle these relations so
as to enable us to catch a glimpse of the working of
these laws.
CHAPTER VI.
MARRIAGES.
Sociological Purpose.
THE second great sociological event in the life of man
is marriage. For the community it has significance, not
only because the number of marriages affects the number
of births, but also because marriage establishes the family,
and through its influence on the life of the individual
permeates all the phenomena of social life.
The number of marriages from year to year is always
worthy of study. A sudden decline is generally traceable
to a war or some economic shock. A gradual decline
may be due to declining economic prosperity, or to some
change in social condition or habits. It may be indicative
of conditions leading to social vice or unhappiness, and if
continued may affect the character and happiness of the
whole nation. A gradual rise is indicative of economic
well-being and hopefulness in regard to the future. A
tendency to defer marriage may affect the growth of
population by diminishing the period of married life and in-
creasing the interval between generations. It may indicate
economic difficulty, or simply prudence and forethought.
The sociological purpose of an inquiry into the number of
marriages and its increase or decrease from year to year
is to explain its significance for the social life of the
community.
But just as in the case of births, so with marriages,
93
94 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
there are questions lying behind the mere number and its
increase or decrease, viz., whether there are causes affecting
marriages. Do natural causes such as climate, geographi-
cal position, seasons, race, etc., influence the proportionate
number of marriages or the marriage-rate ? Marriage in
the case of the individual is simply a private act, but the
total number of marriages for the community is a social
phenomenon. How is the action of the individual affected
by other social phenomena, such as economic prosperity
or adversity, human laws, public opinion, social hopeful-
ness and ambition? Is the influence of social forces so
powerful that in the mass of cases the will of the individual
is controlled by them, and, the forces remaining the same,
the number of marriages remains the same ? These in-
quiries may be extended to consideration of density of
population, residence in city and country, social position,
occupation, etc. Where we can establish relations of
regularity or variation we are on the track of sociological
laws.
Finally, there are certain circumstances connected with
marriage which are of the highest sociological importance.
One is the dissolution of marriage by death or divorce,
with the result for the individuals concerned and the
community at large. Another is the fruitfulness of mar-
riage, i.e., the number of children to each married couple.
Another is the question of conjugal condition. The in-
stitution of marriage resolves the community into four
classes, the single, married, widowed, and divorced. The
relative number of these four classes has economic and
social importance, as already set forth in a preceding
chapter. Their connection with other demographic phe-
nomena is extremely curious. The probability of marriage
or of remarriage is of considerable social interest. In all
these respects the sociological purpose of our inquiry is to
arrange the statistics of marriage in connection with other
phenomena so that they may explain each other.
MARRIAGES. 95
Statistical Data.
The number of marriages is generally reduced for
purposes of comparison to a marriage-rate, i.e., the num-
ber of marriages celebrated in a year per each 1000 of the
population. There is some slight confusion here because
some statisticians count the number of marriages, and others
the number of persons married. As the latter number is
naturally exactly twice the former and the variations
are not wide, there is little danger of confusing one with
the other. For purposes of comparison, of course, the
two methods must be kept apart. The number of persons
annually married per 1000 of the population, according to
the figures of the Registrar General of England, for the
different countries of Europe, is shown in the following
table :
Average
COUHTBT. 1871-90. 1891. 1892. 1893.
Hungary (15 years) . . 19.1 ITS 18.4 18.6
Prussia 16.7 16.3 16.1 16.1
German Empire . . . 16.4 16.1 15.9 15.8
Austria 16.3 15.4 15.6
England and Wales . . 15.6 15.6 15.4 14.7
Italy 15.6 15.0 15.0 14.7
France 15.4 15.0 15.2
Denmark 15.2 13.6 13.6 14.1
Holland 16.1 14.2 14.4 14.6
Switzerland 14.7 14.4 14.8 14.7
The United Kingdom . . 14.4 14.6 14.5 13.9
Belgium 14.2 14.8 15.4 15.2
Scotland 13.9 13.9 14.1 13.2
Norway 13.7 13.2 12.7 12.8
Sweden 13.1 11.7 11.4
Ireland 9.0 9.2 9.3 9.4
This table shows wide differences between the different
countries of Europe, the number of persons married per
1000 of the population being double in Hungary what
it is in Ireland. These, however, may be regarded as
extremes, the usual marriage-rate being between 14 and
96 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
16 married persons, or between 7 and 8 marriages annually
for each 1000 persons in the population.
Taking one country, the marriage-rate shows very con-
siderable regularity from year to year. Since 1871-80
there has been a tendency to a decline in most of the
countries of Europe, with some recovery since 1890.
During the period 1838-92, the average marriage-rate
for England and Wales has been 16.1, with a maximum of
17.9 in 1853, and a minimum of 14.2 in 1886. The aver-
age, 16.1, has not been attained since 1876. Much the
same tendency is observable in France and Germany.
Influence of Climate and Geographical Position on
Marriages. To study these influences it would be neces-
sary to have statistics of the different parts of the world.
For barbarous or uncivilized countries, such statistics are
entirely lacking, or very imperfect. It is generally sup-
posed that in warm climates women marry young, and
thus the marriage-rate would be increased. In India,
for example, although we have no exact marriage statistics,
we know that marriage is almost universal, that the girls
marry at a youthful age. and that widows often remarry.
What is true of India would probably be true of other
hot countries inhabited by uncivilized races. As marriage,
however, is not a process of nature, but merely a social
custom, the statistics of civilized and uncivilized nations
differing in religion and law would not be comparable.
Even in Europe, where the degree of civilization is about
the same, the influence of climate, geographical position,
and race is less noticeable than in the case of births. It
is true that in the east of Europe, as in Hungary, Austria,
and the eastern provinces of Prussia, we have a large mar-
riage-rate. That is due probably to the state of civili-
zation, which encourages early marriages, rather than to
any climatic, geographical, or race influence. In Northern
Europe, as in Norway, Sweden, and Scotland, we have
rather a small marriage-rate, but this is due probably to
MARRIAGES. 97
emigration. An extreme case of this sort is Ireland, where
we have an abnormally low marriage-rate, owing to the
emigration of young men and women. It is a curious
fact that France, which has such an abnormally low birth-
rate, has about the same marriage-rate as England and
Italy.
Marriages according to Seasons. In births we found
a well-defined tendency to concentration about certain
months, due somewhat to natural influences and somewhat
to social customs influencing the time of marriage, the
principal among which are the observance of religious
fasts or festivals. In most countries there are few mar-
riages during Advent and Lent, while they tend to con-
centrate themselves about the Christmas holidays and
before and after Lent. This movement, however, differs
in different populations according as the religious influ-
ence is strong or weak.
In Germany (1872 to 1885), if we represent the average
per month by 100, the maximum number of marriages
would be represented by 153 for November ; and it descends
to 76 for December, and ascends over January (97) to
February (118) ; March shows the minimum with 58 ;
then the number ascends over April (115) to May (124) ;
June shows 91, July 84, August 68, and then the number
ascends over September (92) and October (128), to the
maximum in November. The influence of religious and
social causes is very plain. Where Catholicism is power-
ful the influence of the fasting time is much more marked.
In cities like Berlin the religious influence almost disap-
pears. In Sweden and Finland, Protestant countries,
the maximum falls in December, that is, during Advent ;
in Scotland it falls in January, and a second maximum
in June, showing the absence of churchly influence. 1
Density of Population and Marriage-rate. It is diffi-
1 Becker, Allg. Stat. Archiv, II., p. 29 ff. Statistik des Deutschen
Beichs, No. 44, p. 200.
H
98 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
cult to trace any uniform influence of density upon
marriages. Belgium, with a high density, has a low mar-
riage-rate, but not so low as Norway and Sweden, which
have a thin population. If we take the provinces of
Prussia, using the average marriage-rate for a period of
45 years, which ought to exclude merely temporary influ-
ences and show us any permanent power of climate,
density, and agricultural or industrial condition, we are
struck by the fact that the highest marriage-rate, just
as in the case of the birth-rate, is found in the eastern
provinces, which have also a low density of population.
Silesia and the Rhineland, however, which both have
dense populations and are both mining and industrial
regions, have, the former, the average marriage-rate,
while the latter has the lowest marriage-rate of any
province.
In England the registration counties in which the
marriage-rate is the highest are London (17.6), Lanca-
shire (16.2), Northumberland (16.0), Nottinghamshire
(16.3) ; while the lowest is found iii Hertfordshire (10.8),
Rutlandshire (11.2), Herefordshire (11.8), and Middle-
sex (11.1). This is for the decade 1881-90, when the
rate for all England was 14.9. These variations in Eng-
land are due more to the age distribution and occupations
of the people than to any density of population or influ-
ence of climate.
Marriage-rate in City and Country. The marriage-rate
is generally higher in towns and cities than in the coun-
try, because of the larger number of persons of the age
of 20 to 40. In Germany, while the average marriage-
rate for the whole country (1890) was 16.6, in 47 cities
the average rate was 19.9. In the city of Berlin it was
22.9, in Hamburg 21.7, in Leipsic 22.7, in Munich 19.6,
in Breslau 18.9, in Cologne 19.8, in Dresden 20.2, in
Magdeburg 19.3, in Frankfort 21.0. In a few of the
cities the marriage-rate fell below the average. Thus
MARRIAGES. 99
in Stuttgart it was only 13.8, in Strasburg 14.9, in
Metz 14.6, and in Darmstadt 14.9. These variations
again are due probably to variations in the age
classes. 1
In France the marriage-rate in 1885 was for the Depart-
ment of the Seine 16.6, for the urban population of France
14.8, and for the rural population 14. 6. 2 The difference
is inconsiderable. In England the marriage-rate is gener-
ally highest in manufacturing towns.
Marriages according to Race and Religious Confession.
Marriage depending partly upon age and partly upon
social customs, general influences like race and religious
confession are obscured by the influence of the age
distribution and the social and economic condition of the
people. Race nowhere asserts itself. For religious con-
fession we have some particular statistics. In Prussia, in
1890, the average marriage-rate among men was 16.64 ;
among Evangelical men, 16.84; among Catholic men,
16.80 ; among Jewish men, 14.66. The marriage-rate
among women was 16.04 ; among Evangelical women,
16.35; among Catholic women, 15.59; among Jewish
women, 14.12. The low rate among the Jews may per-
haps be due to greater prudence in marriage, that is, to
marrying at an advanced age, 3
Influence of War on the Marriage-rate. The effect of
war, removing as it does a considerable number of men
of marriageable age, and interfering often with the occupa-
tions of those who remain, is to bring down the marriage-
rate. In 1866 the Prussian rate fell from 18.2 to 15.6,
while the Austrian rate fell from 15.5 to 13.0. In the
war of 1870-71, the Prussian rate fell from 17.9 in 1869
to 14.9 in 1870 and 15.9 in 1871 ; but in the two years
after peace was made it rose to 20.6 and 20.2, the highest
1 Jahrbuch deutscher Stadte, 1892.
2 Levasseur, Population frangaise, II. , p. 77.
8 Handbuch des Preuss. Staats, 1890, pp. 109, 144.
100 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
rates ever recorded. In France the rate fell from 16.5 to
12.1 and 14.4, and then rose to 19.5 and 17.7, the highest
rates ever recorded in France. The reason for this is too
obvious to need explanation. 1
Marriages and the Price of Food. In former times
there seems to have been a close connection between the
number of marriages and the price of food. For instance,
in Bavaria, while the number of marriages was usually
about 30,000 per annum, in 1846-47 it sank to 28,331, and
in 1853-54 it sank to 26,939. This was undoubtedly due
to the scarcity of food. So marked was this influence in
the early part of this century, that it became a common-
place of statistics that the number of marriages varied
inversely with the price of corn.
In Germany this tendency of the number of marriages to
decrease when the price of rye was high and to increase
when the price was low was observable until about 1860.
Since that time Germany has become so industrial and
commercial that the price of food is only one element in
the economic well-being of the masses. The truth of the
above maxim is better expressed in a more general form
in the words of Hermann, the Bavarian statistician, as
follows : " The number of marriages in any period ex-
presses the expectation of economic prosperity prevailing
at that time, and expresses this the more clearly, the
greater the degree of economic freedom in the country."
This is well illustrated in England, where during this
century, at least, the number of marriages and the price
of corn have seemed to bear no relation to each
other. 2
*Dr. William Ogle, On Marriage Kates, etc., Jour. Stat. Soc. 1890,
p. 253.
2 In recent years the marriage-rate has increased as the price of corn
has increased. Dr. Ogle explains this by increased exports and imports
putting up freights and thus increasing the price of corn, although it is a
time of economic prosperity and marriages are more frequent. Jour.
Stat. Soc. 1890, p. 262.
MARRIAGES. 101
English statisticians have taken other things as the
measure of economic prosperity, such as the amount of
exports or imports, or the transactions of the Clearing
House, per head of population. The marriage-rate cor-
responds most closely with the value of exports j for
although the fluctuations from year to year are much
greater in the latter than in the former, yet an increase
or depression in the one is almost always followed by a
corresponding increase or depression in the other. Dr.
Ogle asserts that in the 50 years from 1839 to 1888 there
are only five in which the marriage-rate moved in a differ-
ent direction from the export values ; there are three years
in which the rate remained unchanged, while the exports
rose or fell ; while in all the remaining years the two rose
or fell together. The amount of exports is an index of
economic prosperity, because it gauges the opportunity for
employment. And it does this the more surely in proportion
as the people of England become less dependent on agricul-
ture and more on industry. But although the fluctuations
correspond in general direction, they do not correspond
in amount. For while the value per capita of British
exports in 1891 is as great as it was in 1866, the marriage-
rate has decreased from 17.5 to 15.6. Dr. Ogle ascribes
this continued decrease to the depression in agriculture,
which has rendered marriage more difficult for those
who depend for their livelihood upon the land, and
secondly, to the increasing standard of comfort, which
makes men and women unwilling to burden themselves
with a family until they are assured of a much higher
income than they would in former days have held to be
sufficient. 1
The Probability of Marriage. The marriage-rate which
we have been using thus far is simply the proportion of
persons getting married during the year to the whole
1 Jour. Stat. Soc. 1890, p. 265. For effect of scarcity on marriage-
rate in France, see Levasseur, Pop. franchise, II., p. 71.
102 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
population. But a large portion of the population, namely,
the children, are unable to get married, and another large
portion is already married. These persons have nothing
to do with the marriages of the current year, and hence it
is incorrect to include them in the standard of comparison.
We get a better standard if we take the persons over 15
years of age who are not living in the married state, that
is, are either single, widowed, or divorced. The proportion
of persons getting married to this total of marriageable
persons may be called the refined marriage-rate. It rep-
resents also the probability of marriage. It is higher for
men than for women, because the number of marriageable
men is less than that of women. For instance, in Germany,
during the period 1872-80, of every 1000 persons cap-
able of marriage 55.7 became married; of 1000 such
men, 59.3, and of 1000 such women, 52.6. This figure
diminished during the nine years, for while in 1872 it was
64.7, in 1880 it was only 49.1. 1
The probability of marriage differs widely in different
countries and even in the provinces of the same country.
In Hungary it ran as high as 81.4, and in Ireland as low
as 25.8. In Great Britain it was 53.1 ; in France, 50.4 ;
in Italy, 48.6 ; in Austria, 47.5 ; in Norway, 43.2 ; in Swit-
zerland, 42.6; in Sweden, 40.3.
Should we continue this examination for smaller
subdivisions of territory such as the provinces of
Prussia, we should find equally great variations. In
the province Posen the marriage -rate calculated on this
plan was 63.8, while in the Rhine province, exclusive
of Diisseldorf, the rate was only 47.3. In the former
province there was the usual difference between the
sexes, the rates being 72.6 for men and 57. for women,
while in the Rhine province it was the same for men and
women.
The cause of these great variations can lie in part only
a Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, No. 44, pp. 44* and 45*.
MARRIAGES. 103
in the age distribution. Other influences are at work but
it is difficult to trace them. The high rates in most of
the provinces of -eastern Prussia would seem to indicate
that an agricultural and sparse population was favourable
to marriage. But the rate is also high in the city of Ber-
lin, in the kingdom and province of Saxony, and in the
cities of Bremen and Hamburg. There is a sort of
geographical distribution, inasmuch as the heaviest rates
are found in Central and East Germany, the lightest in
South and West Germany. Other countries of the
Continent group themselves to a certain extent about
Germany. Galicia and Hungary resemble East Ger-
many ; West Austria is something like South Germany ;
in France the numbers correspond to those in Baden ; in
Belgium to the Rhine province ; Holland and Denmark
resemble Schleswig-Holstein. A more minute study of
small areas might very likely reveal the influence of
climate, race, or social condition. 1
Age at Marriage. Here we have two figures of statis-
tical interest, namely, the average age at which men and
women marry, and the combination of ages, that is, the
relative ages of bridegroom and bride. We find very
great differences in different countries. In Prussia the
average age of bridegrooms was 29.56 and of brides,
26.52 years; in England, of bridegrooms, 28.37, and of
brides, 26.08 ; in Norway, of bridegrooms, 30.66, and of
brides, 27.83. It makes considerable difference whether
we take the age of all bridegrooms, or only those marry-
ing for the first time. In England, for instance, the
average age of bachelor-bridegrooms was 26.44 ; of
widowers, 44.30; of spinster-brides, 24.87; and of
widows, 40.43.
This average age varies considerably for different social
classes, the upper classes generally showing an advanced
age. The following figures are for England (1884-85) :
i Ibid. p. 46.*
104 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
Age of bachelors
marrying.
24.06
Age of spinsters
marrying.
22.46
Textile hands
2438
23.43
24.92
24.31
Artisans
25.35
23.70
Labourers
25.56
23.66
Commercial clerks
2625
2443
Shopkeepers, etc
26.67
24.22
Farmers and sons
29.23
26.91
Professional and independent class .
31.22
26.40
There seems to be a general tendency in England to
defer marriage, for while, in 1891, the average age of
bachelors marrying was 26.4 and of spinsters 24.8, in
1880 it was only 25.8 and 24. 4. 1 The number of under-
age marriages in England has steadily declined since 1874
from 8.4 per cent for men and 22.7 per cent for women
down to 5.9 per cent for men and 19 per cent for women. 2
In Prussia, in 1891, only 1.26 per cent of the men and 16.5
per cent of the women were under 20 years of age. In
Prussia the lowest average age at marriage was found
among miners, printers, factory-hands and day-labourers ;
the highest among artists, literary men, inn-keepers, clergy-
men and soldiers. Men marry most frequently women
without occupations (JIaus-Tdchter) ; then women who
possess some knowledge of household work, such as cooks
and domestic servants. 8
The average age of brides and bridegrooms is of less
interest than the distribution by age classes. Here we
find very peculiar national differences. In some countries
both bridegrooms and brides are much younger than in
other countries. The general facts are seen in the follow-
ing tables referring to the period 1870-82. 4
1 Ogle, Jour. Stat. Soc. 1890, p. 274. Newsholme, Vital Statistics,
p. 48.
2 Registrar General, Rep. 1891, p. vii.
8 Zeitschrif t des Preuss. Bureaus, 1889, p. 179.
*Levasseur, II. , p. 214.
Russia .
. . . 37.8
43.9
11.8
Scotland .
... 3.1
68.8
18.8
England .
... 3.3
73.4
14.4
Prussia . .
... 0.6
67.2
22.6
Bavaria
... 0.2
55.5
30.0
Italy
... 1.1
61.9
26.1
France .
... 2.4
62.3
25.1
Sweden . .
... 0.1
58.9
28.8
Norway
... 1.7
62.1
24.6
B.
PERCENTAGE OF
BRIDES BY
AGE CLASSES.
MARRIAGES. 105
A. PERCENTAGE OF BRIDEGROOMS BY AGE CLASSES.
Under 20 years. 20-30 years. 80-40 years. Above 40 yean.
7.4
9.3
8.9
9.6
14.3
10.9
10.3
12.2
11.6
Under 20 years. 20-30 years. 80-40 years. Above 40 years.
Russia 58.0 33.2 6.2 2.6
Scotland .... 13.5 68.9 13.1 4.5
England .... 14.4 68.8 10.9 5.9
Prussia 10.3 69.7 14.9 5.9
Bavaria 6.4 64.8 20.6 8.1
Italy 16.9 65.8 12.6 4.7
France 21.2 59.6 13.7 5.6
Sweden 5.5 65.0 22.2 7.2
Norway 0.9 59.1 27.6 12.4
It appears from these two tables that the brides are
as a rule younger than the bridegrooms ; that in Russia
there is an extraordinarily large number of bridegrooms
under the age of 20, and that more than one-half the
brides are under that age ; that England stands next in
the number of youthful marriages ; while Bavaria shows
the greatest number of bridegrooms above the age of 40 ;
and Norway leads in the number of brides above the age
of 40. The reason for these differences lies probably in
local customs. Russia is an example of an agricultural
community with communistic arrangements under which
marriage is easy and undertaken at a youthful age.
Bavaria shows the effect of the old marriage laws. In
Norway young married couples are said to have great diffi-
culty in getting established. The comparatively low age
in England may possibly be explained by the influence of
factory life, which brings men and women together and
106 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
renders marriage easier by the fact that the woman is able
to contribute to the expenses of the household.
Another interesting investigation is the combination of
ages of bridegrooms and brides. Here we may have a
great variety of combinations, as women marry men older
than they, or men of about the same age, or even younger.
From German statistics it appears that as a rule bride-
grooms under 20 marry women between 20 and 30 ;
bridegrooms from 20 to 30 marry women of the same age ;
and bridegrooms above 30 marry women younger than
they. Brides under 20 marry men from 20 to 30 ; brides
between 20 and 30 marry men of the same age ; brides
between 30 and 40 marry men between 20 and 30 ; and
brides above 40 marry men of the same age class.
In most countries the most frequent marriages are of
men with women of the quinquennial age class immedi-
ately below them. A singular exception is England,
where in nearly one-third of the cases both men and
women are between 20 and 25 years of age.
The combination of ages differs very much in different
occupations. Dr. Ogle has followed it out for all the
occupations mentioned on page 104. Taking the two
extremes, namely, the miners and the professional and
independent class, we have the following distribution per
1000 bachelors marrying and their wives. 1
PROFESSIONAL AND
AGES. MINERS. INDEPENDENT CLASS.
Men. Women. Men. Women.
Underage .... 169 439 7 127
21 to 26 535 388 144 402
25 to 30 228 123 376 278
30 to 36 47 30 272 107
35 to 40 14 11 98 34
40 to 45 6 4 43 24
45 to 60 4 26 11
50 and upwards . . 1 1 34 17
1000 1000 TOOO TOOO
1 Jour. Stat. Soc. 1890, p. 274.
MARRIAGES. 107
One is struck here by the fact that not only do the men
marry younger among the miners, but also the women.
The possibility of a man marrying is generally controlled
by his economic condition. But among women such a
cause would not be active in the majority of cases^ so that
one does not see exactly why marriage should be deferred
in the case of women of the upper classes.
Ttie Probability of Marriage at Different Ages. The above
tables showing the number of men or women marrying at
different ages do not take into account the fact that there
is a greater number of people in the lower age classes than
in the upper, and also that there is a less number married.
It is obvious, however, that the number of men, say of the
age 20 to 30, who contract marriage must depend upon the
number of men of that age, and especially upon the num-
ber of men still unmarried. For certain states of Germany
they have compared the number of men and women marry-
ing at each age with the number of men or women still
unmarried of that age, and thus they reach what may be
called a refined marriage-rate or the probability of marriage
for each age. The following table shows the number of
men or women marrying per 1000 men or women unmarried
in each age class (eight German states, 1872-80) :
A OB CLASS.
15-20 20-25 25-30 80-40 40-50 50-60 60 and over.
Among men . . 0.2 42. 152. 141. 77. 32. 6.6
Among women . 12.0 97. 146. 90. 30. 6. 0.6
It appears from this that the chance of an unmarried
man to marry is greatest from the age of 25 to 30, but is
very nearly as great from 30 to 40. The chance of an
unmarried woman to marry is greatest from the age of 25
to 30, and is much less in the periods above and below. 1
Marriage according to Conjugal Condition. If we analyse
marriages according to the condition of people marrying,
that is, whether they have ever been married before or not,
1 Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, Neue Folge, No. 44, p. 49.
108 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
we find that from 75 to 85 per cent are between bachelors
and maids ; 3. 5 to 5 per cent are between bachelors and
widows ; 8 to 10 per cent are between widowers and maids;
and 2.5 to 5 per cent are between widowers and widows.
The number of first marriages shows very considerable
regularity in different countries, but there are some differ-
ences of combination in the later ones. Austria and
Bavaria have a very large proportion of second marriages,
that is, where one of the parties has been widowed. In
all countries there are more marriages between widowers
and maids than between widows and bachelors. Mar-
riages between divorced persons make up only a small
proportion of the total, because of the small number of
divorced people. Here also, as in the case of widowhood,
the man has a better chance of remarrying than the
woman. In Saxony 11 per cent of the divorced men
married again, against 5 per cent of the divorced women.
In Prussia the most common combination was between a
divorced man and a maid, the next between a divorced
woman and a bachelor, and the least common was where
both parties had been divorced. 1
The above figures show the distribution of marriages.
If we take the persons who contract marriage according
to their conjugal condition, we shall find that out of 100
bachelors marrying, about 95 choose maids, and 5, widows
or divorced women ; of 100 widowers, about 75 marry
maids, and 25, widows or divorced women ; of 100 maids,
about 88 take bachelors, and about 12, widowers or divorced
men ; of 100 widows, about 60 marry bachelors, and about
40, widowers or divorced men. The proportion of bach-
elors marrying maids remains about the same, but the
other combinations are subject to wide variations. Pecu-
liarities are that in Hungary widowers marry widows
1 In the large cities of Prussia the number of marriages where one or
both of the parties had been divorced was exceptionally large, 1881=2.49
per cent. Zeitschrift des Preuss. Stat. Bureaus, 1882, p. 235.
MARRIAGES. 109
in more than one-half of the cases, and widows marry
widowers in nearly 70 per cent of the cases. On the other
hand, in Sweden and Norway widowers marry widows in
less than 20 per cent of the cases, and widows marry wid-
owers in less than 40 per cent. These variations can be
explained only by national customs and habits of life.
Probability of Marriage according to Conjugal Condition.
From the above figures it would seem that in by far the
largest number of marriages one of the parties is either
bachelor or maid. This is perfectly natural, because, of the
people of marriageable age and still unmarried, by far the
greatest portion consists of bachelors and maids. This
shows nothing, therefore, as to the frequency of marriage
among the four different classes, bachelors, maids, widow-
ers, and widows, or, as we have chosen to call it, the proba-
bility of marriage for persons in each of these conditions in
life. That probability is represented by the number of per-
sons of each class getting married per 1000 persons of
that class over 15 years of age. Maids have a better
chance than widows, but widowers in many countries have
a greater probability than bachelors. (See next table.)
Probability of Marriage by Conjugal Condition and Age.
The probability of marriage may still further be studied
according to the ages of persons in each of the four differ-
ent conjugal classes. The following table (England, 1880-
82) shows the number of persons marrying per 1000 of
each conjugal condition, and in each age class : J
AGES.
15 to 20
Bachelors.
4.6
Spinsters.
21.5
Widowers.
Widows.
566
20 to 25
106.8
1219
1930
1553
25 to 35
112.4
80.6
2465
1146
35 to 45
40.5
263
1578
502
45 to 55
14.3
10.4
769
186
65 to 65
4.4
2.5
33.9
6.4
65 and over ....
1.0
0.4
66.0
0.6
All ages ....
55.8
56.9
58.2
18.2
1 Jour. Stat. Soc. 1890, p. 273. For other examples see Farr, Vital Statistics,
pp. 79 and 80, and Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, No. 44, p. 53*, and p. 172.
110 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
A close examination of this table shows that widowers
have a better chance of marrying than bachelors at all
ages, but that the chance becomes better with increasing
age. On the contrary, widows, as a whole, have much
less chance of marrying than spinsters, notwithstanding
the fact that at each age widows have a better chance of
marrying. That the frequency of marriage is less, on the
whole, among widows than among spinsters, is due to the
large number of the latter in the younger ages compared
with the former.
Mixed Marriages between Persons of Different Religious
Confession, Race, or Nationality. The general tendency
is for persons of the same religion, race, or nationality to
marry, simply because they are brought into relation with
each other and marriage follows naturally. In former
times the clergy discouraged marriage with persons of
other religious confession, and race and national preju-
dice prevented intermarriage between different races and
nationalities. In modern times these prejudices have
been very much softened if not done away with, and mar-
riages between persons of different religion or nationality
are not infrequent. Race seems still to be an obstacle
where the difference is marked by colour.
As a rule, persons of the same religious confession marry.
In Prussia, during the period 1875-90, 94.77 per cent of
the Protestant men, 88.20 per cent of the Catholic, and
94.79 per cent of the Jewish, married women of the same
religious confession. Marriages between Christians and
Jews form in the marriages of Jewish men 5.21 per cent,
and among Jewish women 5.23 per cent, of the cases. On
account of the small number of Jewish brides and bride-
grooms, such mixed marriages form only a small propor-
tion of the total number of marriages of Protestant and
Catholic men and women. Catholic men seem to be the
most liberal in contracting mixed marriages, especially with
Protestant women. 1
1 Zeitschrift des Preuss. Bureaus, 1891, p. 197.
MARRIAGES. Ill
Mixed marriages between persons of different nation-
ality are not very common in Europe compared with the
total number of marriages, because of the small number
of foreigners present in the country. Some statistics from
France for 1891 show that more than one-fourth of the
Germans marrying there married German wives, while
about one-half married French wives. On the other hand,
more than one-half of the German women married French
husbands. About the same proportions are true of the
English. Two-thirds of the Belgians marry women of
the same nationality ; about one-third of the Italians and
about one-sixth of the Swiss marry women of the same
nationality. In all these cases the foreign women are
more disposed to marry French men than foreign men are
disposed to marry French women. 1
It is in the United States that we have the greatest
mixture of nationalities, and it is here that we should ex-
pect to find some facts in regard to intermarriage. The
very fact, also, that among the immigrants there is always
an excess of males, while among the native-born there is
often a local excess of females, would lead us to expect
intermarriage. Our statistics of marriage, unfortunately,
are very incomplete, and give no indication of the nation-
ality of bride and bridegroom. We have some indirect
information in the statistics of mixed parentage. In Mas-
sachusetts in 1885, 6.17 per cent of the total population,
comprising 119,741 persons, were the offspring of mar-
riages between natives and foreigners. Of these, 67,656
had father foreign-born and mother native, while 52,085
had native father and foreign mother. There was also
some intermarriage between foreigners of different nation-
ality. The Tenth Census made the interesting deduction
that in those portions of the country where a single nation-
ality was numerously represented, as, for instance, the
Irish in New York city, there was little intermarriage
1 Zeitschrift des Preuss. Bureaus, 1893, S. C. IV.
112 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
with other nationalities. But where the nationality was
not numerously represented, as the Irish in St. Louis,
there was a greater tendency among the men to marry
native-born women, or women of other nationality.
Marriages between Blood Relations. These are not very
frequent, but have always been of interest on account of
the physiological questions supposed to be connected with
them. They are generally less than one per cent of all
the marriages, and as a rule are more frequent in the
country than in the city. Very few countries make com-
plete returns. The following table shows the number per
1000 marriages : 1
COUNTET. First Uncle and Nephew
cousins. niece. and aunt. Together.
Prussia, 1877-80 .... 7.8 0.70 0.18 8.7
Bavaria " .... 8.6 0.82 0.35 9.8
Italy, 1872-80 6.6 0.57 0.09 7.3
France " .... 10.6 0.60 0.23 11.4
Fecundity of Marriage. The fecundity or fruitfulness
of marriage is of the greatest importance, for upon it
depends the increase of population. In order to measure
it exactly we should take each married couple and record
the number of children born during marriage. This would
require ordinarily a period of say 20 years and extremely
accurate statistics. It is impossible to attain such per-
fection, and in order to judge of the comparative fruitful-
ness of marriage in different countries, we have recourse
to cruder methods. One is to divide the total number of
children born in the year by the number of marriages con-
summated that year. Of course the births in any one
year are not due to the marriages of that year. But if
the number of marriages 'did not increase, such a division
would represent pretty accurately the average fecundity.
In most countries, however, the absolute number of mar-
riages is increasing rapidly, so that the births of this year
1 Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, No. 44, p. 53*.
MARRIAGES. 113
represent the fruitfulness of a less number of marriages
than those of this year. It is therefore desirable to divide
the number of births by the marriages of some previous
year. Dr. Farr calculated that the interval between the
mean age of mothers at marriage and their mean age at
the births of their children is about six years. Hence, if
the legitimate births of a given year be divided by the
marriages of six years earlier date, the quotient will be
the proportion of children to a marriage. This gives a
slightly larger average than the cruder method. An ex-
ample of the two methods is shown in the following table,
where the first column gives the number of births divided
by the marriages of six years previous, while the second
column shows the number of births divided by the number
of marriages of the same year. The ordinary number of
children to a family varies from three in France, to five
in Ireland and Italy. 1
1876. 1838.
Births to marriages Births to marriages
six years previous. of same year.
Italy 5.15 4.5
Ireland 5.00 4.8
Prussia 4.92 4.1
Sweden 4.84 4.3
Holland 4.83 4.1
England 4.63 3.9
Belgium 4.48 3.9
Spain 4.47 4.5
Denmark 4.24 3.7
Austria 3.73 3.9
France 3.42 3.0
A second method of measuring the fecundity of mar-
riage is by comparing the number of births with the num-
ber of women of child-bearing age. This has already been
referred to in the chapter on Births, as giving a truer
standard of comparison than the ordinary birth-rate. In
order to show the fruitfulness of marriage, we take the
legitimate children and compare the number of births in
1 Newsholme, Vital Statistics, p. 51, Levasseur, Pop. franchise, III., 191.
i
114 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
any one year with the number of married women of 15 to
50 years of age. Some of the results are shown in the
following table : l
Births to 1000
married women
15 to 50 years
of age.
Holland .... 310
Belgium .... 289
Norway .... 268
Switzerland . . . 259
Austria . 258
Bi
ma
15
Italy
rths to 1000
rried women
to 50 years
of age.
254
248
241
174
Sweden ....
Denmark . . .
This table shows the very considerable variations
between different countries. In Holland, for instance, 1000
married women of the age 15 to 50 bear 310 children per
annum, while in France 1000 married women of the same
age bear only 174 children.
In regard to fruitfulness at various ages we have data
from a few countries giving the number of births per annum
for 1000 married women of each age class as follows :
15-20 20-25 25-30 30-35 85-40 40-45 45-50
Eight German States. 693 504 405 299 221 102 13
Denmark .... 729 491 391 315 240 120 13
Sweden ..... 637 476 384 334 262 157 24
Norway 263 413 395 354 301 187 43
Finland 408 415 369 328 268 165 27
It is seen from this table, how much the fruitfulness of
the younger age classes excels that of the upper, although
there are very considerable variations from country to
country. It is not true, however, that the mere age of
the married women is the controlling influence in the
number of births. If that were true we should find the
birth-rate heaviest in those countries where the largest
proportion of married women is in the lower age classes.
This is not always the case. In some countries, as, foi
instance, in Sweden and Denmark, a low birth-rate corre-
sponds to a small proportionate number of married women
1 Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, No. 44, p. 56*.
MARRIAGES. 115
under 30 years of age. In Holland and Belgium, on the
other hand, with a similarly small proportionate number of
married women of that age, the birth-rate is considerable.
In Italy, and especially in France, although the number
of such women is large, the birth-rate is small. All this
goes to show that the f ruitf ulness of marriage is controlled
by social as well as physiological causes.
In Prussia there are statistics of the fruitfulness of mar-
riage according to the religious confession of the parents.
These statistics, which have been continued for a long
series of years, show that marriages between Christians
and Jews result in a very small number of children.
From 1875 to 1890, there were born to each marriage of
Protestants, 4.35 children, to each marriage of Catholics,
5.24 children, to each marriage of Jews, 4.21 children.
But when the husband was a Jew and the wife a Protes-
tant or Catholic, the number was only 1.58 and 1.38 ;
when the wife was a Jewess and the husband a Prot-
estant or Catholic, the number was 1.78 and 1.66. Whether
this small fruitfulness of mixed marriages is due to differ-
ences of blood or to social reasons is uncertain. 1
In Massachusetts they have made some attempt to
determine the relative fruitfulness of the native and
foreign-born population. These figures do not rest on the
statistics of births, but on the census statistics in regard to
the family. It appeared in the census of 1885, that of all
the married women in Massachusetts 17.56 per cent had
never had children. Of the native-born married women
it was 20.18 per cent, while of the foreign-born mar-
ried women it was only 13.27 per cent. Of the foreign-
born married women, among the Irish only 11.57, among
the French Canadians 11.66, and among the Germans only
11.16 per cent had never had children. These figures
would seem to indicate that the fruitfulness was greater
among the foreign than among the native-born. The
1 Zeitschrift des Preuss. Stat. Bureaus, 1891, p. 196, 1892, p. 32.
116 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
same census seemed to show that the foreign-born women
had a larger number of children than the native-born, for
the average number of children to the foreign-born mar-
ried women was 5.22, while to the native-born married
women it was only 3.37. This figure is inconclusive
because the total number of children which have been
born depends upon the length of time during which mar-
riage has existed, and unless the proportions were the
same among the two classes the figures would not be com-
parable. Another interesting fact is that while the foreign-
born women have the largest number of children, they
lose a larger number by death. The number of living
children among the foreign-born women was only 3.46,
while among the native-born married women it was 2.41.
While the native-born, therefore, have a less number of
children, more survive. 1
In Prussia they have studied the fecundity of marriage
according to the occupation of the father. Men change
their occupation sometimes (as servants become inn-
keepers), so that the statistics are not altogether exact.
The highest fruitfulness was shown by agriculturists,
miners, and clergymen more than five children to a mar-
riage. Next came labourers, factory-hands, men engaged
in transportation, etc. The lowest number was among
artists, literary men, and the higher proi'essions. These
figures must be used with great care, for all classifications
of occupation are doubtful, and many other influences
affect the result. 2
Dissolution of Marriage. Marriage is dissolved either
by the death of one of the parties, or by divorce. The
former, of course, is the more frequent, and the death of the
husband is more frequently the occasion than that of the
wife, because husbands are, as a rule, older than their
wives. Out of 100 marriages dissolved by death there
1 Census of Massachusetts, 1885, p. ciii.
2 Zeitschrif t des Preuss. Bureaus, 1889, p. 193.
MARRIAGES. 117
were in Denmark 55.3, in Norway 53.4, and in six German
states 56.2 due to the death of the husband. In England,
Dr. Farr declared that the mean age at marriage being 25
years, the mean time that such a couple survives is 27
years, which represents the duration of married life. The
further mean life-time of the survivor is, in case of the
husband, 9.44 years, and in case of the wife 11.31 years.
In Prussia (1867-81) the average length of married
life was 22.4 years. Where the husband died first the
average length was 23.2 ; where the wife died first it was
21.5 years. This less duration of married life where the
wife dies first is due to the fact that the marriages of short
duration are apt to be those broken by the death of the
wife from the dangers of child-birth. Marriages which
have stood five years are more apt to be broken thereafter,
especially during the following 20 years, by the death
of the man. 1 Some later statistics for the three German
states, Prussia, Bavaria, and Oldenburg are a little different,
but show the same general course of events. Out of 100
marriages dissolved by death the following table shows
how long they had lasted, and compares the length of
those dissolved by the death of the husband with those
dissolved by the death of the wife. 2
Dissolved by Dissolved by
DURATION OF MARRIAGE. death of the death of the
husband. wife. Average.
5 years and under .... 9.4 14.1 11.6
Over 5 to 10 years ... 11.7 13.8 12.6
Over 10 to 15 years . . . 12.2 12.4 12.3
Over 15 to 20 years . . . 11.6 10.3 11.0
Over 20 to 25 years . . . 11.8 9.7 10.9
Over 25 to 30 years ... 11.3 9.6 10.6
Over 30 to 35 years . . . 10.6 9.5 10.1
Over 35 to 40 years . . . 8.3 7.9 8.1
Over 40 to 45 years ... 6.7 6.4 6.5
Over 45 to 60 years ... 3.9 3.8 3.9
Over 50 years 2.5 2.5 2.5
Sum 100.0 lOOXT lOOlO
1 Zeitschrift des Preuss. Bureaus, 1882, p. 242.
2 Statistik des Deutschen. Reichs, No. 44, p. 184.
118 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
This table shows the greater frequency of the marriages
of short duration which are broken by the death of the
wife. It also shows an almost steady progress in the
dissolution of marriage.
Dissolution of Marriage by Divorce. It is difficult to
determine the exact number of divorces because of the
difference in law in different countries, some granting
full divorce with liberty to marry again, and others
granting simply separation. The following table shows
in the first column the absolute number for the year 1885,
and in the second column the number per 100,000 of the
population in 1886. 1
COTTNTBT. Total Number per 100,000
number. of the population.
France 6,245 32.51
Germany 6,161 25.97
Austria 1,718
Russia 1,789
Switzerland 920 64.49
Denmark 635
Italy 556 3.75
Roumania 541
Great Britain and > ( 3.79
Ireland / ' I .28
Belgium 290
Holland 339
Sweden 229
Norway 68
Australia 100 11.14
Canada 12 4.81
United States 23,472 88.71
Total 43,583
It appears from this table that there are more divorces
in the United States than in all other countries put
together, and that the divorce-rate is higher than in
any other country. In 1870 there were 155 divorces,
1 Willcox, The Divorce Problem, and A Study in Vital Statistics, Polit-
ical Science Quarterly, 1893. Report of the Commissioner of Labour,
1889, Marriage and Divorce.
MARRIAGES. 119
and in 1880, 203 divorces, to 100,000 married couples.
In 1870, 3.5 per cent of the marriages were terminated
by divorce; in 1880, 4.8 per cent; and in 1890, 6.2 per
cent. Divorce is more frequent among the blacks than
among the whites ; less frequent among Catholics than
among Protestants ; less frequent among the foreign-
born than among the natives. The city divorce-rate is
greater than the country and increases more rapidly.
The duration of marriage before dissolved by divorce
was on the average 9.17 years, but,
One-fourth of the divorces came within 3.42 years
One-third " " 4.36 "
One-half " " 6.56 "
Two-thirds " " 9.66 "
Three-fourths " " 11.83 "
Nearly two-thirds of the divorces were granted on
demand of the wife. The causes alleged were : deser-
tion, 40.15 per cent ; adultery, 21.45 per cent ; cruelty,
16.35 per cent ; drunkenness, 4.40 per cent ; neglect to
provide, 2.52 per cent ; imprisonment, 0.87 per cent ;
combination of general causes, 11.23 per cent ; local and
minor causes, 3.03 per cent. It does not appear from
statistics that divorced men and women are more disposed
to remarry than widowers and widows.
Scientific Tests.
Method of Observation. We may repeat here the re-
marks made in the chapter on Births, as to the method
of observation necessary in order to get good statistics of
marriages. A single census of the number of people
married within the year is utterly untrustworthy because
of the omissions due to deaths, migration, and careless-
ness about dates. Each marriage should be registered
at the time it is celebrated and the various facts of socio-
logical interest, such as the age, conjugal condition, and
120 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
occupation of the two parties, should be ascertained.
Marriage is such an important event and has such impor-
tant legal consequences in domestic relations and the
transmission of property that its registration should be
compulsory. In old times marriages were celebrated in
churches, and the church registers give us more or less
complete statistics. With the establishment of differ-
ent religious denominations, and of civil marriages, the
church registers are no longer adequate. For instance, in
England, at the end of 1891, there were 15,044 churches
or chapels belonging to the Established Church in which
marriages could be solemnized, and 10,781 buildings regis-
tered for marriage by other rites than those of the
Established Church. Of 1000 marriages, 699 were cele-
brated according to the rites of the Established Church,
42 in registered places belonging to Roman Catholics,
118 in registered places belonging to other Christian
denominations, 0.3 according to the rites of the Quakers,
4.6 among the Jews, and 136 were civil marriages in
Superintendent Registrar's Office. 1 In such a condition
of things, with marriage celebrated in so many different
places and by such a variety of officers, no dependence
can be placed upon voluntary registration, and so com-
pulsory registration with penalty attached for non-com-
pliance with the law is necessary.
In the United States the statistics of marriage, like
those of births and deaths, are very incomplete. The
Eleventh Census put into its list of questions the inquiry
" Married during census year," with the hope of supply-
ing this deficiency. But such a method is very crude
and can give us no complete or accurate knowledge. 2
The whole matter is one that pertains to the states, and
1 Rep. Registrar General, 1891.
2 The total number married during the year was 730,562 : males, 368,
809 ; females, 361,753. This would give a marriage-rate of only 11.6 per
1000, which is evidently absurd.
MARRIAGES. 121
the way in which the states perform this duty is described
by Commissioner Wright as follows : 1
" It is to be regretted that while this report is practically complete
as regards divorces, it is thoroughly incomplete and unsatisfactory
so far as marriages are concerned. Very few states have any regis-
tration system by which marriages are recorded. . . . Licenses are
recorded on various bases and under various conditions, and there
is little compulsory law relative to the returns of marriages cele-
brated. In some states the number of licenses issued greatly exceeds
the number of marriages celebrated. In some other quarters the
number of marriages celebrated greatly exceeds the number of licenses
issued. This may occur on account of conditions of law, as, for
instance, in some counties in Maryland, marriages celebrated exceed
the licenses issued, and in others the reverse is true. The reason of
this is that marriage may take place either under license or publica-
tion of bans ; so if those under licenses were well reported, or those
under bans were many, they might together exceed the number of
licenses ; and if poorly reported or but few occurred under bans they
might be considerably less than the licenses. It will be readily
understood that no records, under such a condition, can be very
valuable."
Basis for Comparison. It has already been remarked
that the so-called marriage-rate, that is, the number of
marriages or of persons marrying per 1000 of the popula-
tion, is not an altogether scientific method of comparing
the marriages of different countries. The reason for this
is that one population may have a larger proportion of
children and non-marriageable persons than another. This
would make a great difference in the marriage-rate. A
better standard would seem to be the number of marriage-
able persons, who are not yet married. Such a compari-
son has already been made on page 101, under the head of
Probability of Marriage. The employment of the refined
marriage-rate changes considerably the order of the dif-
ferent countries as regards the frequency of marriage. The
crude marriage-rate, therefore, would seem to be a very
inadequate method for comparing the frequency of mar-
1 Marriage and Divorce, 1889, p. 18.
122 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
riage in different countries or in different portions of
the same country. The reason for employing it is that
it is easier to calculate. It is not easy to ascertain
for years between censuses the exact number of unmarried
persons above the age of fifteen, which is the standard
for the refined marriage-rate. For whole countries the
changes from year to year will probably be indicated
with sufficient accuracy by the crude marriage-rate, because
the constitution of a large population by age and con-
jugal condition changes slowly.
Particular Tests. The distribution by age and conjugal
condition is the most important factor whose influence
must be considered in comparing the marriage-rates of
different communities. But in studying the marriage-
rate of small communities care should always be taken to
consider local circumstances which may affect the mar-
riage-rate. The relative proportion of the sexes, the
number of domestic servants, the presence of religious
houses, social customs, military conscription, all of these
may have special influence on the marriage-rate. Dr.
Ogle, for instance, explains the high marriage-rate in Bed-
fordshire by the great extent to which young women are
employed in certain industries, and are thus able to earn
money and contribute to the family expenses. It has
generally been supposed that the age of marriage was
determined among men by economic condition, and among
women by their maturity. Dr. Ogle's theory would seem
to show that economic condition may be a factor among
women also.
In considering the influence of natural conditions upon
such a phenomenon as marriage, care must be taken to
explain the facts if possible by social influences. Thus in
tracing the frequency of marriage according to seasons,
the influence of social and religious festivals is probably
greater than any natural influence. Becker has still
further pointed out that in large cities the habit of chang-
MARRIAGES. 123
ing the domicile at certain fixed periods, or of making
contracts for service for certain fixed periods terminating,
for instance, the first of May or the first of November, might
be sufficient to influence the marriage-rate. For the
marriage would not be celebrated until the contract had
expired, or until the new domicile had been taken posses-
sion of by the family. It behooves us, therefore, before
attributing sudden changes in marriage-rates to natural
influences or even to general social causes, to eliminate all
local causes which can be detected.
With these provisos and under these conditions it would
seem as if marriage were a social phenomenon peculiarly
fitted for the statistical method. There is no valid reason
why every marriage and every dissolution of marriage
should not be accurately registered, with full details of
the time and circumstance and the demographic condition
of the participants. Births may be concealed and deaths
wrongly classified, but marriage is generally an important
event of adult life, easily ascertainable, and with little
motive for concealing or falsifying the facts. At the
same time, it is of so much importance in social life that
it either influences or is influenced by almost all other
social actions. The scientific collection, tabulation and
comparison of statistics of marriages is one of the most
important parts of statistical science.
Reflective Analysis.
It is not necessary to dilate here upon the importance
of marriage to the social condition of any community.
It has important influence on population, although there
is no fixed proportion between the marriage-rate and
birth-rate. We have seen in the case of France that
while the marriage-rate is about that of the rest of
Europe, the birth-rate is very low. But marriage in itself
has great social significance. It forms the family and
influences the social condition of its members. Fluctua-
124 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
tions in the marriage-rate are therefore an important
index of the economic and social prosperity of the com-
munity. Although the old relation between the marriage-
rate and the price of corn has become obscured by the
great complexity of modern industrial relations, yet there
is no doubt that the former is an index of economic pros-
perity. The great problem is to find the phenomenon
which is the best barometer of industrial life with which
to compare it.
Marriage and Population. The way in which marriage
affects population is somewhat interesting to follow out.
A possible effect might be produced either by decreasing
the number of marriages, or by advancing the age at
which people marry. In Europe the marriage-rate seems
to be slowly decreasing, t.e., the number of celibates is
increasing. The decrease is so small, however, that it
has very little effect on population. Dr. Ogle estimates
that the number of children per marriage (4.2) remain-
ing the same, it would be necessary to reduce the English
marriage-rate from the lowest rate ever recorded (14.1)
to 7.8 per 1000, in order to reach a stationary population.
That is to say, nearly one-half of the people who now
marry would have to remain single.
An advancing age at marriage might retard population
in three ways : (1) because there would be a less number
of persons to get married, say at the age of 30 than at 25 ;
(2) the child-bearing period would be somewhat dimin-
ished ; and (3) the interval between generations would be
increased. The most important influence would seem to
be the second, and an increasing age of women at mar-
riage would probably have an effect on the number of
births. The difficulty is that the child-bearing period is
indefinite, and although a woman is probably less fertile
as she advances in age, yet the period is so long that there
is still time to bear the average number of children. Dr.
Ogle estimates that, if the age of all women at marriage
MARRIAGES. 125
were advanced five years, the child-bearing period and
presumably the number of births would be diminished by
26.6 per cent. Even then we should have in England a
birth-rate of 23.3 per 1000, which is 5.5 per 1000 in excess
of a perfectly attainable death-rate. When we remem-
ber that from 1873 to 1888 the average age of spinsters
marrying increased by only six months, we see how im-
possible it is to expect a stationary population either from
an increase in celibacy or from advanced age in marriage. 1
Artificial restraints compelling celibacy or deferring
marriage very long would probably not restrain popula-
tion, but would simply destroy social morality. Certainly
a sound sociology would not advocate such a course.
We may demand, as in the study of Births, whether
there are sociological laws governing the number of mar-
riages from year to year. Marriage is a peculiar phe-
nomenon. It is partly dependent on physiological laws,
as the impulse to get married is in response to a natural
desire, and the time of getting married is governed pri-
marily by age. It is at the same time a psychological
and social phenomenon, for there are purely social influ-
ences leading to marriage, and the choice of time and
circumstance is in the hands of the individual although
he may be governed by considerations of economic expedi-
ency and of public opinion. We should expect, therefore,
to find a phenomenon preserving a general regularity in
its movement and yet subject to considerable fluctuations.
And we find the marriage-rate answering to this description
perfectly. If we take a long period, say 1841-85, in Ger-
many the average marriage-rate was 16.39. The average
annual variation from this marriage-rate was only 6.48
per cent. This, of course, does not prove that there were
no greater variations from year to year, but that the
variations often balanced each other. If we take a
smaller territory the variation is more considerable, as, for
1 Jour. Stat. Soc. 1890, pp. 270 and 279.
126 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
instance, in most of the smaller German states it is 10 per
cent. And where the population is homogeneous, as in
cities, the variation is more considerable, in Hamburg it
was 11.86 per cent, and in Bremen 12.07 per cent. This
is because any cause affecting particularly, say the indus-
trial class, would not be offset by some other influence
affecting other classes in a counterbalancing way.
The regularity for all Germany, however, is something
very peculiar. And it is more striking from the fact that the
marriage-rate has on the whole been declining during the
period. Marriage therefore may be looked upon as one of
the great natural social phenomena whose movement we
can to a certain extent explain and even predict. It is
not so regular and constant as births and deaths. While
the annual average variation from the average in the case
of marriages was 6.48 per cent, for births it was only 3.98
per cent and for deaths only 3.90 per cent. Marriage is
thus probably more subject to individual caprice than the
other two.
What the influence of natural causes on marriage may
be, it is difficult to determine. Climate seems to have
little influence, unless it be in the earlier maturity of
women, leading to earlier marriages. Still there is a
curious geographical concentration of high marriage-rates
about Hungary, Austria, and the eastern provinces of
Prussia, thence decreasing on the north and west, which
is difficult to explain. The influence of the seasons is
but dimly felt.
On the other hand, the influence of great social causes is
evident in all the statistics of marriages. The effect of
war and bad times in decreasing, of economic prosperity
in increasing the marriage-rate, shows how the natural
desire to get married is controlled by the favourable or
unfavourable opportunity. That the man is older than
the woman is due to the fact that in our civilization the
man is largely responsible for the support of the family,
MARRIAGES. 127
and hence must attain full wages or a secure position
before he marries. The woman either adds nothing to the
money income or her addition is only supplementary, and
hence she need not wait until attaining economic inde-
pendence before being married. That widowers have a
greater probability of getting married than bachelors is
doubtless due to their better economic position. That
widows have less chance than maids and marry less often
than widowers is again due to the fact that widowhood
often leaves them without the means of support, or per-
haps burdened with children. The more advanced age
at which the upper classes marry compared with the
lower shows the effect of ambition and prudence in one, of
contentment and perhaps improvidence in the other.
Are these influences strong enough to destroy the
notion of the freedom of will on the part of the individual
in contracting marriage? We cannot say. The great
social movement goes on, governed and influenced by
general causes working through the individual. That the
mass of the people are controlled by these great influences
is shown by the recurring regularities in the statistics or
in their variations. How much room there is left for the
exercise of choice on the part of the individual it is
difficult to say.
CHAPTER VII.
DEATHS.
Sociological Purpose.
NEXT to birth the most important phenomenon in
human life is death. It is also of great sociological
significance. Upon the relation of births to deaths
depends the increase of population, with all its conse-
quences for the strength and prosperity of the commu-
nity. Upon the character of this relation depends the
social character of the increase. For the same net increase
may be attained either by a large birth and death-rate or
by the conjunction of a small birth and death-rate. When
one considers the economic, social, and moral interests
connected with the bearing and rearing of children, the
difference between these two methods of increase becomes
fundamental for the type of society. In fact we are apt
to think of the former as characteristic of barbarous and
half -civilized conditions, and of the latter as more or less
the ideal aimed at by civilization. And although a large
birth-rate may often be consistent with national prosper-
ity, a large death-rate always demands explanation.
Death is always a loss and a misfortune. The compara-
tive death-rate is therefore an index of the relative
civilization of countries, an index which needs to be used
with care, but which, when once established, appeals with
almost irresistible force to the imagination and the under-
standing. Man will not believe it to be a good country
to live in where human beings are born simply to be swept
away like flies at the end of the summer.
128
DEATHS. 129
In the same way in any particular country the death-
rate is looked upon as an index of the condition of the
community from year to year, of the healthfulness of
different localities and occupations. Wars, epidemics,
and economic adversity show themselves in an increased
death-rate during the year or in the years following ;
while economic prosperity, peace, and social morality are
marked by a slowly decreasing death-rate. The death-
rate tests the circumstances under which men live. It
discloses the evil influences of city life. It reveals the
dangers accompanying civilization. In other words,
wherever a circumstance or a condition can be shown to
produce an increased mortality, such circumstance or
condition is at once condemned. There is no appeal
from the decision if the fact be once established. So the
death-rate is watched eagerly, in order to detect the result
of sanitary legislation or other measures intended to pro-
mote the health of the community.
The death-rate thus has important connections with all
the social interests of the people. As Dr. Farr quaintly
said more than twenty years ago :
" How the people of England live is one of the most important ques-
tions that can be considered; and how of what causes, and at what
ages they die is scarcely of less account ; for it is the complement
of the primary question teaching men how to live a longer, healthier,
and happier life. . . . There is a relation betwixt death and sick-
ness ; and to every death from every cause there is an average number
of attacks of sickness, and a specific number of persons incapacitated
for work. . . . There is a relation betwixt death, health, and
energy of body and mind. There is a relation betwixt death, birth,
and marriage. There is a relation betwixt death and national pri-
macy : numbers turn the tide in the struggle of population, and the
most mortal die out. There is a relation betwixt the forms of death
and moral excellence or infamy ; men destroy themselves directly or
their fellows under the most varied mental conditions, they may die
by indulgences in excesses, by idleness, or by improvidence." l
1 Vital Statistics, p. 116.
130 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
This is simply saying that the statistics of death have
relation to all other social statistics. The death-rate
varies according to sex, age, and conjugal condition. It
varies in different climates, according to seasons, among
different races, in city and country, in different occupa-
tions. Death is the concomitant of crime, of vice, of
poverty, and of misery. It is, on the other hand, often an
index of the resisting power of the community in times of
economic distress and hardship. Where the death-rate
fluctuates, going up and down with every change of social
conditions, it shows that the community has but little
resisting power against the forces of nature. Where, on
the other hand, a community has reached a stable and self-
contained position, it rides over these calamities without
suffering the extreme penalty which the other community
pays.
Death in itself is a pure process of nature, but the time
and circumstances are, to a certain extent at least, under
the control of man. He can adapt himself to every climate ;
he can resist the extremes of heat and cold ; he can take
precautions against accidents and disease; in other words,
his life is partially in his own hands. The statistics of
mortality under different circumstances show us the suc-
cess or ill success which accompanies man's struggle
for life. The statistics of deaths at successive ages, the
calculation of the mean mortality and of the average
length of life, show us with what success the community
at large is guarding its vital force.
The sociological purpose of statistics is to follow out
the relation of death to all these other social phenomena.
We are to place the statistics in such a way as to show
the influences mentioned above. We are to seek every-
where to disengage the constant and inevitable influence
of nature frqm the transient and remediable influence of
social condition and environment, for the purpose of in-
dicating the possibility of social amelioration. We are to
DEATHS. 131
discuss the question how far the astonishing regularity in
the death-rates for successive years proves that death is a
pure process of nature, and how far the irregularities show
us the influence of varying social conditions. In other
words, as in all vital statistics, we seek to reach back of
the mere phenomena to the real underlying causes.
Statistical Data.
Deaths are commonly expressed by means of a death-
rate, that is, the number of deaths per annum for each
1000 of the population. This crude death-rate is open to
criticism, as we shall see later on, but it is sufficiently
accurate for large populations or for the study of the same
population from year to year. The deaths (still-born
excluded) per 1000 of the population are shown in the
following table r 1
Average 1871-90.
1891. 1892. 1898.
Hungary (15 years) . . 33.7 33.1 35.0 81.1
Austria 30.6 27.9 28.8
Italy 28.6 26.2 26.3 25.3
Germany (19 years) . . 26.0 23.4 24.1 24.6
Prussia 25.6 22.9 23.4 24.2
France 22.8 22.6 22.6
Holland 22.6 20.7 21.0 19.2
Switzerland .... 22.1 20.8 19.3 20.5
Belgium 21.4 21.0 21.8 20.3
Scotland 20.4 20.7 18.5 19.4
England and Wales . . 20.3 20.2 19.0 19.2
United Kingdom . . . 19.9 20.0 19.0 19.1
Denmark 19.0 20.0 19.4 18.9
Ireland 18.0 18.4 19.4 17.9
Sweden 17.6 16.8 17.9
Norway 16.9 17.5 17.8 16.4
The above table shows wide differences in the death-
rate, Hungary with its 33.7 per 1000 being almost
double Norway with its 16.9. Austria, Italy, and Ger-
many, including Prussia, all seem to have a heavy death-
1 Registrar General, England, Report 1893.
132 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
rate for the period 1871-90, but since then the rate has
declined. France stands about midway in the death-rate,
while it stood lowest in the birth-rates. Ireland, which
had a very feeble birth-rate, has also a feeble death-rate.
Influence of Climate and Geographical Position. There
is no doubt that climate has enormous influence upon
mortality. There are some places where it is impossible
for human beings to live. In tropical climates, while the
native thrives, the foreigner succumbs. All these things,
however, are generally matters of particular observation
and do not enter into general statistics. The most inter-
esting question in this connection is that of acclimation,
that is, whether by continued residence foreigners can
accustom themselves to a climate which at first is fatal.
Our statistics are not sufficiently accurate to indicate that
it is impossible for Europeans to become permanently
acclimated in the tropics, but they do show that it is a
matter of extreme difficulty. The death-rate for the
British army at home in 1891 was 4.7, abroad 13.5, per
1000. Older statistics show that out of a thousand
soldiers stationed in Ceylon, 44 died the first year, 48 the
second, and 49 the third ; of 1000 stationed in Jamaica, 77
died the first year, 87 the second, and 93 the third ; of
1000 in Guiana, 77 died the first year and the number
increased steadily till the tenth year, when it was 140.
These figures seem to show that the longer the soldiers are
kept abroad the greater the mortality.
Mere geographical position does not seem to be a de-
termining factor in the distribution of death-rates. It is
true that we find the highest death-rate in the east of
Europe, a moderate one in the centre, and the lowest in
Northern Europe. A somewhat similar distribution was
observed in the birth-rates, and, generally, heavy death-
rates accompany heavy birth-rates. Both are due more to
general social influences than to mere geographical position.
Influence of Race and Religion. The influence of race
DEATHS. 133
is also obscured by that of social and economic condition.
The high death-rates prevalent in Russia and the Slavonic
provinces of Prussia and Austria would seem to show
greater mortality among the Slavs than among Germanic
nations, but this is probably economic condition rather
than race influence.
In the United States the census of 1890 gives a death-
rate of 17. for native-born whites of native parentage,
24.42 for native-born whites of foreign parents, 19.85 for
foreign-born whites and 19.57 for the coloured. The ex-
cessive rate among the native-born whites of foreign
parentage is due to the large number of children in that
class. The death-rate of the coloured is a trifle less than
that of all the whites, but in the cities the death-rate of
the coloured is 34.52, while that of the whites is 23.22.
Jews show everywhere a small death-rate. Thus in
Bavaria in 1876, the death-rate for Protestants was 25.5,
for Catholics 32.2, for Jews 18.8, average for the whole
country 30.3. The low rate for Jews is due partly to
their lower birth-rate. In Prussia it was shown, that
while they were 13.25 per mille of the population, they
were only 7.28 per mille of those dying under the age of
15, and 11.16 per mille of those dying over the age of 15.
This shows the preponderance of the Jews in the upper
age classes.
Density of Population and Death-rate. It has often
been supposed that the density of population had an influ-
ence upon the death-rate, but no such influence is trace-
able for whole countries. Belgium, which has a very
dense population, has a very low death-rate, but Norway,
with a sparse population, has a still lower rate. If we
take the provinces of Prussia for the period 1841-85, a
period sufficiently long to obliterate exceptional influences,
and compare the average death-rate with the density of
population, the highest death-rate (42 per mille) is found
in the thinly peopled agricultural provinces of the East ;
134 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
but a low death-rate (30 per mille) is found in the equally-
agricultural region of Schleswig-Holstein, while the
thickly peopled, industrial Silesia, Westphalia, and Rhine-
land have a medium death-rate (36 per mille).
If we take smaller areas, there seems to be some relation
between density of population and mortality. Dr. Farr
believed that he had discovered an exact formula for this
relation. However this may be, if we divide the popula-
tion of England into urban and rural, classifying under
the former all towns of 3000 inhabitants or over, we shall
always find a higher death-rate in the former than in the
latter. For the decade 1881-90, while the death-rate for
all England was 19.1, for urban districts it was 20.3,
while for rural districts it was only 17.3, that is, the mor-
tality in towns was to the mortality in the country as 117
to 100. 1 The true difference between urban and rural
mortality is greater than this, if due allowance be made
for age and sex distribution. There is in towns a large
proportion of females and of adults, and a small propor-
tion of very aged persons. There is the slightly counter-
balancing influence of a large number of infants in towns,
but this is followed by an increase of young persons, whose
death-rate is very low, so that general mortality in towns
should be less than in rural districts. 2 The method for
eliminating this disturbing factor will be considered under
the head of Scientific Tests.
Mortality in Cities. If density were the only factor
determining the increase of mortality, then the death-rate
in cities ought always to be much greater than in the
country. But when we compare city with country mor-
tality there are many things to be considered. In cities
we have, as already mentioned, a favourable age classifica-
tion ; we have, as a rule, better medical assistance, hospitals,
free dispensaries, and in some cities the water supply and
1 Registrar General, England, 1891, p. Ivii.
2 Newsholme, Vital Statistics, p. 137.
DEATHS. 135
sanitation are better than in small villages or country
districts. On the other hand, there are many things
tending to increase mortality in large cities, such as pov-
erty, crowded tenement houses, filth and neglect of sani-
tary precautions, vice, crime, drunkenness, and accidents.
As a consequence, if we compare city with city, we do not
find that the death-rate increases either with the popula-
tion or with the density. Some cities have a larger death-
rate than the average for the whole country, and some
have a smaller. Thus in England and Wales, in 1887, the
death-rate for the whole country was 19.1, for 28 large
towns it was 20.8. But for Manchester it was 28.7, for
Preston 27.9, for Newcastle 25.3, and for Blackburn 25.5;
while, on the other hand, for Brighton it was only 16.9,
for Derby 17.1, and for Nottingham 18.7, all below the
average, while even for London it was only 19. 6. 1
In Germany the cities seem to have a somewhat greater
death-rate than the average, but not markedly so. For
successive periods the rates were as follows :
18T1-75. 1875-80. 1880-85.
In great cities 31.5 29.5 27.5
The empire 29.5 27.8 27.2
It will be seen that in the last period the death-rate in the
cities was only slightly higher than in the Empire at large.
The cities of Germany vary widely in this respect. Some
of them, such as Munich, Konigsberg, Breslau, and Chem-
nitz, have a high death-rate, varying between 31.6 and
33.2. On the other hand, in Frankfort the death-rate
was only 19.7, in Hanover 21.9, in Bremen 21.8, in Stutt-
gart 23.5, in Leipsic 24.1, and even in Berlin it was only
27. 8. 2 It is probable that all these death-rates would be
raised if due regard were paid to the sex and age distribu-
tion. Nevertheless, the example of Germany seems to
show that we can have city populations with a very low
death-rate.
1 Newsholme, op. eft., p. 143 a Allg. Stat Archiv, 1890, p. 164.
136 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
The reason for the higher death-rate in cities is not the
density itself, but the circumstances which accompany it.
In Scotland, it was found that Aberdeen, which has only
13.6 per cent of its population living in one room to a
family, has the lowest death-rate of eight great Scotch
towns, the death-rate rising pari passu with the diminu-
tion of size of the average house, until we come to Glasgow,
with 24.7 per cent of its population living in one room and
the highest death-rate.
In comparing the 24 districts of Glasgow, the same gen-
eral relation was demonstrated. For those living in one
and two room houses the death-rate was 27.74 per 1000 ;
in houses of three and four rooms, 19.45 ; and in houses
of five rooms and upwards only 11.23. In an investiga-
tion made in regard to " back-to-back " houses in England,
it was found that the greatest mortality was in those dis-
tricts which contained an average proportion of over 50 per
cent of such houses, while the lowest mortality was found
where there were none. 1
Various attempts have been made to distinguish differ-
ent rates of mortality in different quarters of the same city
according to density of population. In Paris, for instance,
the Elysee and the Opera, rich quarters, had only 13.4
and 16.2 deaths per 1000, while Menilmontant, a poor
quarter, had 31. 3. 2 In Berlin they distinguish the deaths
according to the storey of the house where the deceased
lived. The statistics were not entirely complete, but in
1880 the mortality was shown to be greater, as a rule, in
the cellars and the garrets than in the other stories, and
greater in the rear than in the front tenements. Probably
poverty of the inmates had as much to do with it as the
inferiority of the tenement itself. 3
Death-rates in Successive Periods of Time. If we take
1 Newsholme, Vital Statistics, pp. 140, 155.
2 Levasseur, Pop. fran^aise, II., p. 403.
8 Stat. Jahrbuch der Stadt Berlin, Jahrgang IX. , p. 36.
DEATHS. 137
the average death-rates by decades there is often a won-
derful regularity. In France, for instance, the rates for
the successive decades from 1840 to 1880 were 23.3,
23.9, 23.6, and 23.6. But from year to year we find con-
siderable fluctuations. In England we have a death-rate
beginning with 21.7 in 1842, going as high as 25.1 in
1849, and as low as 18.9 in 1881 and 18.1 in 1888, and
then re-ascending to 20.2 in 1891. In Germany we have
a death-rate of 26.4 in 1841-45, ascending to 29.3 in
1848, descending to 23.7 in 1860, and ascending to 30.8 in
1866, then decreasing to 23.4 in 1891.
Effect of War on Deaths. The variations in the death-
rate from year to year are brought about either by war,
epidemics, and hard times, or the reaction from them.
The effect does not always show itself immediately, for
the privation may result at first in simply weakening
the physical strength and leading to disease and death
later. During a war period the death-rate commonly
increases. In Prussia, for instance, in 1865 it was 29.2,
in 1866 it rose to 35.9, and in 1867 sank again to 28. 1. 1
In Germany the effect of the war of 1871 was only slightly
felt, the death-rate in 18C. being 28.5; in 1870, 29.0;
in 1871, 31.0 ; from which point it steadily decreased. 2 In
France, on the other hand, the death-rate, which in 1869
was only 23.4, rose to 28.3 in 1870, and to 34.8 in 1871,
sinking to 22 in 1872. 3
Influence of Scarcity of Food upon Deaths. If we look
back in history, we read of famines and dearths which
swept away large fractions of the population. In half-
civilized countries like India, even at the present time,
the failure of the principal food crop is the immediate
cause of the death of millions of people. In civilized
countries absolute famine is rarely felt, although there
1 Zeitschrift des Preuss. Stat. Bureaus, 1885, p. 176.
2 Stat. Jahrbuch f iir das Deutsche Reich, 1890, p. 14.
"Levasseur, La Pop. fraucaise, II., pp. 9 and 149.
138 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
may be scarcity and hardship. Unless the dearth is
accompanied by some epidemic it is difficult to trace
its influence on the death-rate of the same year. The
usual effect of scarcity of food is through deprivation to
cause disease and weakness, which later result in death.
But the resulting deaths may naturally spread themselves
over several years. Many attempts have been made to
connect the price of food directly with the death-rate.
The results, however, are not altogether satisfactory. For
instance, in Germany they have traced the price of rye
and the corresponding curve for deaths from 1841 to
1885. During the first 10 or 15 years there is close
correspondence. When the price of rye rose from 120
marks for 1000 kilos in 1844 to 225 marks in 1847, the
death-rate rose from 26 per 1000 in 1844 to 30.5 per 1000
in 1848 ; and when the price of rye sank to its former level
a year later, the death-rate also resumed its usual level. 1
We have here a striking example of the effect of a sudden
and distressful failure of the food supply. But the next
period of scarcity in 1853-54 which raised the price of
rye even higher than in 1847, and resulted in both a
decreased marriage and birth-rate, brought about a fluctu-
ating death-rate, which rose to only 29.5 and sank imme-
diately thereafter. Since that time the price of rye and
the death-rate in Germany have shown no direct connec-
tion with each other. The price of food has become
only one factor in the economic life of the community.
A detailed study of deaths in connection with years of
scarcity points to some interesting facts. It is said
that in times of hardship, at first men suffer more than
women, because they are exhausted by labour and have
insufficient nourishment ; when the scarcity continues, the
strain comes upon the women. In Prussia and England
it would seem that the portion of the people engaged in
agriculture suffers more than the city population from the
1 Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, Neue Folge, Bd. 44, p. 20*.
DEATHS. 139
high price of food ; in Belgium the reverse seems to be true.
In England it is said that children do not suffer so severely
in dear years as usual, old people more. This probably
comes from the fact that little is gained by depriving the
child of food, and in times of non-employment of the parent
the child receives at least equal care and attention as before. 1
Influence of Death-rate on Birth-rate. It is sometimes
assumed that a high birth-rate is necessarily followed by a
high death-rate. This, however, is not true. In England
from 1871 to 1892 there were five years in which the birth-
rate rose ; in three of these cases there was a rise in the
death-rate, in two, a fall. In Germany during the same
period there were eight years in which the birth-rate rose
and in only three was there a rise in the death-rate.
The notion that an increased birth-rate results in an
increased death-rate is founded on the well-known fact of
the heavy mortality in the early years of childhood. And
it is undoubtedly true that a very sudden increase in the
number of births, by increasing the relative proportion
of young children in a population, would be apt to increase
the death-rate. Dr. Farr, however, has pointed out that
if the high birth-rate continues, the age classes from 10 to
40, where the mortality is the least, will gradually become
well filled, so that the death-rate in such a population will
be low, notwithstanding the large birth-rate. It must be
remembered also that a large birth-rate ordinarily implies
a large number of young married persons who, of course,
are in the healthy ages.
It seems, therefore, that the influence of the birth-rate
upon the death-rate has been greatly exaggerated. The
director of the official German statistics, after comparing
the curve of births and deaths during a period of 45 years
comes to the following conclusion :
" It is impossible to discover any connection between the birth and
death-rates in the sense that a high birth-rate corresponds to a high
1 Weisz. Einfluss von theueren und billigen Zeiten auf der Sterblichkeit.
140
STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
death-rate in the same or subsequent year, as one might expect on
account of the great infant mortality. Only in Bavaria, where the
infant mortality is particularly large, it is to be observed that the
level of both rates is higher at the end of the period than at
the beginning. Otherwise the years with numerous births fall more
commonly together with those where the death-rate is low, the low
birth-rates with the high death-rates, or the low birth-rates follow the
high death-rates. This seems to indicate that the economic prosperity
of the year, while it increases the birth-rate decreases the death-rate."
Deaths according to Seasons. In the changes of seasons
we have a natural influence which has a great effect upon
the health of man and hence upon mortality. We have
here a large number of observations which are commonly
illustrated by tables or charts showing the months in
which the death-rate exceeds or is less than the average.
The distribution varies from year to year, as an epidemic or
some unusual cause may increase the rate during a particu-
lar month. But for the same country the general course of
events commonly preserves about the same appearance.
Characteristic types of death distribution may be seen
in the following table, where Sweden represents a north-
ern country, Germany and France countries of Central
Europe, and Italy a southern country. The city of
Berlin is added as a type of a city population. If the
average number of deaths were 100 per month (1200 per
year), the number for each month would be as follows
(1872-80):
Sweden.
Germany.
France.
Italy.
Berlin.
January .
. 112.6
101.7
105.0
107.8
89.0
February
. 113.3
108.0
111.3
106.6
88.3
March
. 110.7
109.9
108.2
104.4
90.2
April . .
. 112.9
105.8
105.4
94.2
89.4
May . .
. 111.4
101.5
98.1
84.2
92.0
June . .
. 93.9
94.2
92.5
84.9
132.1
July . .
. 84.9
94.9
92.1
103.9
144.7
August .
. 79.5
103.0
100.8
111.9
116.0
September
. 79.8
99.7
100.7
104.9
101.4
October .
. 88.1
91.5
92.8
97.1
89.1
November
. 102.1
92.6
94.2
98.9
81.8
December
. 111.8
97.7
99.4
101.2
85.2
DEATHS. 141
In a northern country like Sweden the extreme mortal-
ity is found in winter, the whole summer being favour-
able. In Italy, on the other hand, the extreme mortality
is found in summer, there being a second maximum
in winter. Germany and France have the maximum
in winter, with a tendency to a second maximum in
summer. A large city like Berlin resembles a southern
country, with the maximum in summer. This is undoubt-
edly due to the crowded and unsanitary arrangements
of large cities, which increase the mortality, especially
among children, during the hot weather. Of the other
countries of Europe, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, and
Belgium resemble Germany and France, with the maxi-
mum in late winter and early spring, and a second rising
tendency in late summer. Denmark, Norway, Finland,
and Scotland resemble Sweden, with a single maximum
in winter. Spain resembles Italy, with the maximum in
late summer, but without the second rising tendency in
winter. 1
It is obvious that in cold countries the cold weather
is the most dangerous, while in warm countries warm
weather is the most so. This may sometimes be traced
even in the same country in the varying severity of
winter and summer in different years. Thus in Olden-
burg from 1831 to 1860, if we represent the average
mortality by 1000, then the mortality
In years with cold winter and warm summer would be repre-
sented by 1065
In years with cold winter and cold summer would be repre-
sented by 1020
In years with warm winter and warm summer would be repre-
sented by 1007
In years with warm winter and cold summer would be repre-
sented by 944
The most favourable mortality is shown when the winter
is warm and the summer cool, and the extreme mortality
1 Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, No. 44. pp. 80 and 206.
142 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
when both winter and summer show extreme tempera-
tures. 1
Deaths according to Seasons, combined with the Ages
of the Persons dying. The seasons affect old and young
differently. In countries like Germany winter is most
fatal to all classes except the infants under one year of
age, who seem to be protected against the cold, their
greatest mortality falling in summer. The next class,
children from one to under five years of age, have an
excessive mortality in winter, their weak organisms not
being able to resist the extremes of cold. From that age
on, the extremes of temperature have less influence, and
especially during the age 20 to 40 the death-rate is very
evenly distributed throughout the year. As old age
comes on the winter cold is again dangerous, while the
summer heat is favourable. It thus appears that the ex-
tremes of age are the least able to resist the influence
of temperature. In a southern country like Italy summer
heat is particularly dangerous to children from the age
of one to five, becoming less marked with increasing age,
until after the age of 40, when winter is most dangerous
and summer shows a minimum.
Deaths according to Sex. More men than women die
every year. This is due to the greater general mortality
attending the life of the male. The difference is vari-
ously expressed. Sometimes we have the number of
males dying to 100 females. For instance, during the
period 1865 to 1877, the number of males dying to 100
females was in Denmark 102 ; Holland, Sweden, and Nor-
way, 104 ; Italy, 106 ; France, and England and Wales,
107 ; Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland, 108 ; Germany
109 ; Servia, 110 ; Greece, 112 ; Roumania, 117. The
method is inadequate, because it does not take into account
the relative number of the two sexes. For instance, in the
province of Westphalia in Prussia, in 1890, there were
1 Westergaard, Mortalitat und Morbilitat, p. 136.
DEATHS. 143
110.9 men dying to 100 women, but in that province
there were 104.3 men to 100 women; in Silesia, there
were only 105.2 men dying to 100 women, but in that
province there were only 90 men to 100 women.
The second and only scientific method is to calculate
the death-rate per 1000 of each sex. The average death-
rate (1872-80) was in Italy, males 30.6, females 29.3;
in France, males 23.2, females 21.6 ; in Ireland, males
18.8, females 17.7 ; in Great Britain, males 22.7, females
20.2 ; in Germany, males 28.6, females 25.3.
Everywhere the male death-rate exceeds the female.
There are some striking differences pointing to important
social differences in the condition of woman. In Italy,
Holland, France, Denmark, and Ireland the female death-
rate is from 93 to 96 per cent that of the male. Probably
in these countries woman participates in the life and labour
of man, and is exposed to the same dangers. In Switzer-
land, Germany, and Great Britain the females are less
exposed to the dangers of life, and the female death-rate
is only about 88 per cent that of the male. There is a
certain correspondence between the two in the sense that,
where there is a heavy rate for one sex, there is a corre-
spondingly heavy one for the other, and vice versa.
Deaths according to Age. It is well known that mor-
tality varies according to age. Sometimes an attempt is
made to show this by simply distributing the deaths
according to ages. This method, however, is utterly
valueless, because there is always a larger number of
persons in the lower age classes than in the upper, and
hence a larger number of deaths. The only true way is
to compare the number at each age with the number of
persons living at that age, that is, ascertain the death-rate
at each age. During the greater part of life, the death-
rate changes slowly as persons grow older. It is highest
in infancy, decreases rapidly until about the age of ten,
and then slowly increases.
144 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
Infantile Mortality. Mortality among small children is
so great that it has always received particular attention
from statisticians. Whenever we have high death-rates it
is almost always caused in great part by heavy mortality
during early years of life. There is an enormous differ-
ence among countries in this respect, and the difference is
indicative of good or bad sanitary and social conditions.
For instance : Out of 100 born living, there die during the
the first year : l
In Bavaria .... 30.6 In France .... 16.6
European Russia . 29.6 Great Britain . . 14.5
West Austria . . 25.6 Denmark . . . 13.8
Italy 21.4 Sweden .... 13.0
Prussia .... 21.2 Norway .... 10.4
Holland .... 20.3 Ireland .... 9.7
In this table, West Austria, Bavaria, and Russia show
a very high infant mortality ; while Norway, Sweden,
and Denmark have a very low infant mortality.
The causes of infantile mortality must be sought for in
the particular locality. Among general causes are pre-
maturity of birth and congenital defects, hereditary
tendencies, improper food and methods of feeding, in-
fanticide and accidental deaths, and insurance of infants. 2
It is a disputed question how far industrial conditions
affect infant mortality. In Germany high rates are
found equally in agricultural and industrial regions.
The highest is in Southern Bavaria (37.2), which
is an agricultural region. In England, on the other
hand, infantile mortality is almost invariably greater in
towns and mining districts then in rural counties. If we
take three agricultural counties, Hertfordshire, Wiltshire,
and Dorsetshire, and compare them with three manufac-
turing towns, Preston, Leicester, and Blackburn, we have
the following contrast. Of 100,000 children born living,
1 Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, No. 44. p. 71*.
Newsholme, Vital Statistics, p. 106.
DEATHS. 145
there survive at the end of three months in the rural
counties 94,820, in the three towns only 90,874 ; at the end
of 12 months in the rural counties 90,283, and in the three
towns, only 78,197. The reason for the greater mortality
in towns is found in their crowded and unsanitary condi-
tion, the spread of contagious diseases, the drunkenness
and vice of parents, and the employment of mothers in
factories. 1
Infant mortality is greater among the lower classes than
among the upper. Two methods have been attempted
for proving this. One is to take the infant mortality in
different quarters of the city. Thus, in Breslau, it was
less in the three rich quarters than in the three poor ones.
This method is very general because no definite geo-
graphical boundary separates the poor from the rich. In
Prussia they compare the infant mortality for different
social classes. It is rather less among the professional and
commercial classes, and rather greater among servants
and ordinary labourers. The result is affected by the
greater mortality among illegitimates, which are more
numerous among the lower classes than the upper. The
excessive infantile mortality among illegitimate children
has been everywhere observed. It is due, of course, to
the neglect of the child, and to the fact that almost all
foundlings are illegitimate. Out of 100 of each class born
living, there died during the first year : 2
Legiti- Illegiti- Legiti- Illegiti-
mate, mate. mate. mate.
In Austria . . 24.5 33.3 In Prussia . . 19.3 34.8
France . . 15.6 30.0 Bavaria . . 29.4 38.6
Belgium. . 16.1 26.2 Wiirtemberg 29.6 36.4
Norway . . 9.9 12.6 Baden . . 25.0 32.8
1 Report of Registrar General, England, 1891, p. xi. Full discussion
there.
2 Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, No. 44, p. 183. For an elaborate
study of infantile mortality in Prussia, see Neumann, Pauperismus und
Kindersterblichkeit in Preussen. Jahrbucher fur Nationaloekonomie,
etc., DritteFolge, Vol. V., p. 617.
146 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
It will be seen that the mortality among illegitimates is
always greater and sometimes nearly double that among
legitimates. The usual rule that the mortality is greater
among males than among females holds good for both
classes. Where there is a heavy infantile mortality it
affects both. In some places in Bavaria, from 1867 to 1869,
between 70 and 75 per cent of the illegitimate children
died during the first year.
Deaths according to Conjugal Condition. There is no
doubt that marriage influences mortality. But it is impos-
sible to compare the number of deaths with the number
of persons of each conjugal condition, because of the
marked differences in age of the single, married, and
widowed. It is necessary, therefore, to look at the death-
rate for each class at each age. In Germany (1876-80)
the number of deaths per 100 of each age and condition
was as follows : l
MALES. FEMALES.
Aw.
Widowed
Widowed
and
and
Single.
Married.
Divorced.
Single.
Married.
Divorced.
15 to 20 .
. . 0.49
-
-
0.45
0.74
_
20 to 30 .
. . 0.84
0.67
1.78
0.59
0.88
1.17
30 to 40 .
. . 1.58
0.90
2.28
1.00
1.01
1.14
40 to 50 .
. . 2.65
1.42
2.99
1.54
1.14
1.34
60 to 60 .
. . 4.2
2.4
4.1
2.7
1.9
2.3
60 to 70 .
. . 7.1
4.5
6.7
5.3
4.1
4.9
70 to 80. . . 13.8 9.6 12.9 11.9 9.7 10.9
80 and over . 26.3 20.2 26.0 25.7 20.3 22.7
If we compare the males in this mortality table, we
shall see that at all ages the death-rate is less among the
married than in either of the other two classes. Among
women the death-rate for the married is at first slightly
greater than for the single, but later on it is less than for
either the single or the widowed and divorced. The sta-
tistics for Italy, France, Holland, and Sweden show very
much the same thing, namely, a favourable mortality
1 Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, No. 44, p. 72*.
DEATHS. 147
among the married, the men at all ages, the women in
the ages after child-bearing. This favourable mortality
is due partly to the fact that marriage in itself is more or
less a process of natural selection, and partly to the greater
regularity and soberness of life induced by marriage.
Accidental and Violent Deaths. By far the larger num-
ber of deaths are owing to weakness or disease, but there
is always a certain number due to suicide, murder, or
accident. The figures for suicide and homicide we shall
treat of later on, the latter under the statistics of crime.
The number of accidental deaths varies principally accord-
ing to the industrial character of the country. Thus we
have a large number in England (16,343 in 1892), Sweden,
and Norway, on account of the large number of men
engaged in mining and shipping. In Switzerland there is
a large number, due partly to the mountainous character of
the country. There are always more accidental deaths
among men than among women, owing to occupation, the
proportion being generally three to one. There is a larger
number among the single than among the married and
widowed, owing to accidental deaths among children, and
the employment of single men in dangerous industries.
In respect to age, among the males about one-fifth are chil-
dren under the age of five ; the number in the next age
period is small, increasing with advancing age, reaching
the maximum in the period 35 to 45, and then decreasing.
Among females nearly one-half are children under the age
of five, while old age is represented much more heavily
than among the men. The kind of accident depends very
much upon sex and age. In England and Prussia drown-
ing is the most frequent. In Italy, falls are the most fre-
quent, and they come next to drowning in England and
Prussia. In England, for children under the age of five,
suffocation is the most frequent cause of accidental death,
and next to that, burns, scalds, and explosions. As the
child advances in age, drowning becomes the most frequent
148 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
cause. In middle life, accidents due to vehicles and rail-
ways and those connected with mines and machinery
become frequent, although drowning and falls are still
numerously represented. Owing to the large number of
deaths from drowning, the maximum number of accidental
deaths generally falls in summer. 1
Deaths in the United States. The death-rate in the
United States is very difficult to estimate, owing to the
absence in most of the states of any adequate registra-
tion. The total number of deaths reported as having
occurred in 1890 was 875,521, giving a death-rate of
only 13.98 per 1000. In some states and cities the
registration returns were used, and there we have a
death-rate of 20.27 per 1000; while in those states where
the returns of the enumerators of the Eleventh Census
were alone used, the death-rate was only 10.79 per 1000.
Estimating the returns as deficient by 30 per cent, we
have a death-rate for the whole country of about 18 per
1000.
Scientific Tests.
Method of Observation. It is probable that the registra-
tion of deaths is more complete than that of marriages or
births, because of the necessity of getting a burial permit.
In the interests of criminal justice, also, a close watch is
kept upon deaths, so that cases of violence, neglect, or mal-
practice may be detected. Thus, while an infant who has
never been registered may live and grow up, and persons
may go through the form of marriage without being re-
corded, in the case of death, official cognizance is taken of
the fact, and in case of doubt an investigation is made.
The deficiencies in registration, therefore, are not so much
deficiencies in the number of deaths as in the detailed
information in regard to age, conjugal condition, and the
cause of death. This last is principally a question of cer-
ipreuss. Zeitschrift 1881, p. 29. Italy, Cause di Morte, 1890-91. Eng-
land, Beg. Gen. Rep., 1891.
DEATHS. 149
tification by medical practitioners. In England (1891) the
causes of 91.8 per cent of the deaths were certified by
registered medical practitioners, of 5. 5 per cent by coroners
after inquest, while the remaining 2.7 per cent were not
certified. The proportion of uncertified deaths is steadily
decreasing, it having been in 1880, 4.3 per cent. The
number is largest in North Wales and Huntingdonshire,
in those counties running up to 6 per cent. In London
it was only 1.1 per cent.
There is always some difficulty in getting the true death-
rate according to ages. This is felt, for instance, in the
mortality of children under the age of one. When the
ages of the population are taken, children of 9, 10, and 11
months are often returned as being one year of age, when
in reality they are only in their first year of age. In case
of death, more care is taken to get the exact age. The
death-rate for infants is thus exaggerated. It is advisable,
therefore, to calculate the death-rate upon the basis of the
children born during the year rather than upon the census
return of children under one year.
A somewhat similar difficulty is met in comparing the
number of deaths according to conjugal condition. In the
census, persons may conceal the fact that they are widowed
or divorced, which fact, however, comes out in the closer
investigation at death. The death-rates of these classes
would hence be exaggerated.
Comparison of Death-rates. The ordinary basis for
comparison of mortality is to take the number of deaths
per 1000 of the population. As the death-rate, however,
is greater among males than among females, and at certain
age periods than at others, it is obvious that comparison
would only be fair between two populations, where the
sex and age distribution was exactly the same. This
never happens, and even in the same population in course
of time, the sex and age distribution may vary. The use
of the crude death-rate has given rise, therefore, to many
150 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
criticisms. In 1881 the general rate in England and
Wales was 18.9 per 1000 of all ages, while in France it
was 22.0, i.e., 3.1 higher. But had the age distribution of
the French population been identical with that of the Eng-
lish, the general death-rate would have been 20.9 and not
22.0. Thus, of the 3.1 difference between the two rates,
2.0 was due to difference of health condition, and 1.1 to
difference of age distribution. 1
Dr. Ogle has proposed to correct the death-rates for
different countries by reducing population to a common
standard. He shows, that even if we had the same mor-
tality at different ages in all the countries of Europe, the
differences in age distribution would, nevertheless, bring
about a different general death-rate. For instance, if we
should apply the death-rates for England and Wales ac-
cording to 12 age classes, to the populations of 7 different
countries, the general death-rate would be :
18.88 per 1000 in England and Wales, 20.18 per 1000 in Holland,
18.82 per 1000 in Austria, 21.31 per 1000 in France,
19.38 per 1000 in Switzerland, 19.33 per 1000 in Italy.
19.21 per 1000 in Germany,
These differences are due solely to differences in age
distribution. Dr. Ogle proposes to establish a standard
population, which shall be the average of the population
of these 7 countries. A death-rate shall then be calcu-
lated for each country, on the supposition that its popula-
tion corresponds in age distribution to this standard
population. 2
Kb'rosi 8 has investigated the subject more in detail, in
order to discover how many age classes it is necessary to
employ, and how many countries it is necessary to intro-
duce into the standard population. He has discovered
that four age classes, namely, 0-1, 1-20, 20-50, and over
1 Newsholme, Vital Statistics, p. 96.
2 Bulletin de 1'Institut international de Statiatique, VI., p. 83.
8 Ibid. 2 erne Livraison, p. 305.
DEATHS. 151
50, give about the same result as using six or even twelve,
and of course saves a great deal of labour. He also de-
clares that the results are very nearly the same, whether
one uses the population of a single country as the stand-
ard, or that of all Europe. He therefore proposes to take
the population of Sweden as the standard, and to get a
corrected death-rate for each country by calculating what
it would be if its population were distributed in the same
way as is the Swedish. An example of his method for
Austria is as follows :
Per cent of popula- Death-rate in Aus- Deaths In population
AGE CLASS. tion In Sweden of tria for each age of Austria dlstrlb-
each age class. class per cent. uted as In Sweden.
Under 1 year . . 2.65 30.67 8.13 per 26.5
1 to 20 years. . 39.81 1.90 7.56 per 398.1
20 to 60 years . . 38.62 1.20 4.63 per 386.2
Over 60 years . . 18.92 6.39 10.20 per 189.2
Sum . . . 100.00 30.52 per 1000.0
The crude death-rate for Austria was 30.6 per 1000.
The advantage of this method is its simplicity. All one
has to do is to take the death-rate at each of four different
ages and multiply it by the percentage of the Swedish
population living at that age. The result is the number
of deaths which would occur if the population were dis-
tributed as in Sweden. The sum of these deaths for the
four age classes gives the number of deaths for 1000 of
the population, or the corrected death-rate. Applying
this method to various countries, Korosi found that there
were considerable differences between the crude and the
corrected death-rates, but that the order of the countries
remained practically unchanged. The crude death-rate
is sufficient for international comparison. For smaller
communities it is advisable to use the corrected rate.
Dr. Ogle has shown that while the mean annual death-
rate in 1871-80 in London and in Lancashire, representing
an urban population, was 23.69 per 1000, the rate in 12
152 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
rural counties was 19.14. But this does not fairly repre-
sent the difference between the healthfulness of urban and
rural communities. For if the rural population had had
the same age and sex distribution as the urban, its general
death-rate, instead of being 19.14 per 1000, would have
been only 16.33. The difference, therefore, between the
urban and rural mortality was really very much greater
than would be supposed from the death-rates as ordinarily
given, the true comparison being between 23.69 and 16.33
and not between 23.69 and 19.14.
Birth and death-rates depend on the enumeration of
the people. Between censuses the population must be
estimated by carrying on the average rate of increase or
decrease during the last census period, or by adding each
year the excess of births over deaths. This sometimes
gives rise to serious errors. Thus in England the esti-
mated population in 28 towns for 1891 was 6.4 per cent
greater than the census population. In Liverpool it was
20 and in Salford 26.3 per cent greater. This vitiated
all the birth and death-rates of the previous ten years.
In Liverpool they believed on the basis of the estimated
population that the death-rate had decreased from 26.7
per 1000 in 1881 to 23.6 in 1891. When they got the
census population in 1891 they found that the real death-
rate was 27.8 per 1000. Great caution must be exercised
in drawing inductions from city death-rates based on
inter-censal estimates of the population.
Reflective Analysis.
It is unnecessary to speak again concerning the impor-
tance of the death-rate in considering the social condition
of any community. The cause of deaths, which is the
most important thing to be considered, we shall treat of
more fully in the next chapter. But even in this chapter,
as we have considered the variations of the death-rates
according to climate and geographical position, in city
DEATHS. 153
and in country, by seasons, as influenced by war and scarc-
ity, as varying according to sex, age, and conjugal con-
dition, we have had abundant opportunity to point out
how intimately the death-rate is connected with the
natural environment, with the social condition, and with
the demographic constitution of any community. But
notwithstanding all these variations, the death-rate main-
tains a wonderful regularity. In Germany, during the
long period from 1841 to 1885, the average annual vari-
ation from the average death-rate was only 3.9 per cent.
This was less than for births and very much less than for
marriages. The fluctuations above and below, however
great, tend in the long run to counterbalance each other. 1
i Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, No. 44, p. 16*.
CHAPTER VIII.
SICKNESS AND MORTALITY.
Sociological Purpose.
IN the previous chapter we considered the statistics of
deaths. We regarded the death-rate as an index of the
prosperity of the community, and we studied carefully its
variations according to time, place, and circumstance.
We also examined the true method of getting death-rates
for different populations, which shall be comparable after
eliminating the influence of age and sex.
We turn now more specifically to the causes of deaths
and the influence of death upon human life, i.e., upon
the length and vigour of life.
Most human lives come to an end through disease.
Congenital weakness, old age, and lack of food are not
diseases in the ordinary acceptation of the term, although
they often receive their final expression under some specific
form of disease. At all ages, noxious influences, exposure
to the weather, poisonous germs or bacilli may cause in-
flamation or atrophy, some abnormal condition of an organ
or of the whole body, and this we call disease.
The presence of disease in the world influences the hap-
piness and prosperity of the community in two ways of
which statistics can take notice. It disables or hinders
men from working, and causes thus a loss of time and
productive power. It ends in death, and thus shortens
human life. We have, therefore, the statistics of Mor-
bidity (sickness) and of Mortality.
154
SICKNESS AND MORTALITY. 155
Our statistics of sickness are in a very imperfect con-
dition. The registration of deaths gives us only those
cases which terminate fatally. But for every case that
terminates fatally there are many which cause loss of time
and often impairment of strength and possibly permanent
loss of health. It is impossible to reason from the deaths
to the number of illnesses, because the rate of mortality
varies for different diseases, and according to time, place,
and circumstance. There are some diseases, again, which
do not greatly affect the mortality, and of which the death
returns are silent. But from an economic point of view,
this sickness is almost as important as death, for it destroys
the productive power and thus the prosperity of the com-
munity. The great mass of such sickness now escapes
registration. We have some information from Friendly
Societies and Sick Clubs, but the statistics do not cover a
large number of persons, and relate generally only to
diseases of adult life. We have also some returns from
public institutions such as hospitals, poorhouses, and
asylums, but these, too, cover a comparatively small num-
ber of cases. Finally, we have compulsory notification of
contagious diseases, such as smallpox, scarlet fever, diph-
theria, and typhoid fever. It would be very desirable to
extend the principle of notification to all infectious dis-
eases. By such means early measures could be taken to
choke epidemics at their birth, to isolate those actually ill,
to prevent the commingling of " suspects," who have been
exposed to infection, with others, and to control the at-
tendance at school of children from an infected family.
Incidentally an inspection following early notification
might lead to the discovery of conditions causing or likely
to spread the disease. Such compulsory notification of
infectious diseases is not always insisted upon, and there
seems to be no probability of our getting a complete regis-
tration of all sickness.
If we had complete registration of sickness we could
156 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
ascertain its total amount, and then analyze the different
diseases according to their absolute and relative frequency,
according to the length of sickness, the greater or less
fatality, according to their causes, and, if possible, accord-
ing to the success of different methods of treatment. The
value of such statistics, both for scientific purposes and
for medical practice, as well as for sanitary guidance,
would be enormous.
When the disease results in death, the cause is com-
monly registered, and our Morbidity statistics are completed
through our statistics of Mortality. The medical practi-
tioner is compelled to return the cause of death. This of
course is commonly the disease according to his diagnosis.
Where there is doubt an autopsy may take place, but
nowhere is an autopsy compulsory unless crime is sus-
pected. Our statistics of death from disease suffer from
the ignorance of physicians, and from the natural difficulty
of making a correct diagnosis where the symptoms are
obscure. It is the office of medical statistics to arrange
deaths from disease according to a scientific classification,
to study each disease according to the age and sex of the
victim, according to the season, the time and place of its
prevalence, the influence of profession or occupation, or
habit of life, such as intemperance, etc. These statistics are
of great interest to the science of medicine even in their
minutest details, and are also of general concern as affect-
ing the health and happiness of the community. We
cannot go into the details of medical statistics, but the
sociological purpose of this chapter is to delineate in a
general way the effect of disease on the community, and
to trace out the accompanying circumstances. Some of
these may be said to be natural conditions which are not
influenced by the will of man. But there is no doubt that,
if we had sufficient knowledge, much of the disease which
now afflicts the human race might be avoided.
Finally, having thus rounded out our study of deaths,
SICKNESS AND MORTALITY. 157
sickness, and mortality, we can conclude by studying
the general effect of death on human life. We do
this by constructing Mortality Tables, or, as they may
also be termed, Life Tables. These show us the average
length of human life, the expectation of life at birth and
at each successive age, whether human life is increasing
in length, the periods of life most fatal, etc. In short,
we may sum up and put into scientific shape our statistics
of deaths and mortality.
Statistical Data.
Statistics of Sickness. There being no official registra-
tion of sickness, our information is derived principally
from the experience of private associations, such as benefit
societies, which give aid to members when they are ill.
The following table is based upon the experience of the
largest and most important Friendly Society in England
the Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows, comprising
400,000 members.
ASK. AYIBAGK SICKNMSS PEE INDIVIDUAL
PER ANNUM (IN WEEKS).
Males. Females.
15 to 20 666 .666
20 to 25 737 .737
25 to 45 995 .995
45 to 65 2.736 2.751
15 to 65 1.314 1.334
This table shows that during the working years of life
the average annual time of sickness is 1.314 weeks, or a
fraction more than 9 days in each year. If this experi-
ence were applied to all England, the total annual loss of
work through sickness among males would be 9,692,505
weeks ; among females, 10,592,761 weeks, or about 20,000,-
000 of weeks altogether. The members of this society
may be regarded as belonging to the more frugal portion
of the working classes, and would include very few insane,
158 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
imbecile, or idiotic, such as are present in considerable
numbers in the community at large ; this calculation
may therefore be regarded as approximately correct.
The great economic loss from sickness is at once ap-
parent.
According to another method of estimate based on the
experience of the English Friendly Societies: for every
100 men living at the age of 20 to 30, 1.69 are constantly
sick ; of the age 30 to 40, 1.91 ; of the age 40 to 50, 2.89 ;
of the age 50 to 60, 5.21 are constantly sick. 1
Another estimate is that of Dr. Farr, who declares that
in England to one annual death in a body of men, two are
on an average constantly suffering from sickness of some
severity. According to some Friendly Societies the con-
stantly sick to one annual death are 2.8. As the number
of deaths in England per annum is about 750,000, this
would mean a million and a half of persons constant
sufferers from severe sickness.
The German legislation in regard to insurance against
sickness promises to give us a better basis for our sta-
tistics. In 1892 the number of persons insured was
7,723,000 and there were 2,752,000 cases of sickness. 2
The experience has not been long enough yet to trace the
effect of good and bad years upon the number of cases of
sickness; but it is said that when times are good, the
number is less because the workmen dislike to lose high
wages ; while in bad times, when wages are low and
employment scarce, they are both inclined and compelled
to resort to sickness insurance. In the building trades,
however, increased activity brings increased sickness on
account of the bodily strain and liability to injury of the
work itself. The number of days lost for each sickness
was 15.7, and for each insured person, 5.6.
If the danger of sickness be expressed by the average
1 Newsholme, Vital Statistics, pp. 276-278.
2 The Economic Journal, Vol. III., p. 142.
SICKNESS AND MORTALITY. 159
number of days of sickness to each member of a certain
trade or occupation, we have the following figures. The
most unfavourable result is shown in gas works, and dye
and paint works, where there were 8.8 days of illness to
each insured workman. From 7 to 8 days of illness fell to
each workman in iron, steel, wire, and chain works ; in
ship-yards and manufactures of machinery ; in silver, lead,
copper, zinc, and tin smelting works, in blacksmithing and
other trades having to do with metals. Between 6 and 7
days of illness happened in 13 trades, such as the chemical
industries, breweries, printing, powder works, etc. From
5 to 6 days happened in 24 trades, such as paper mills, pot-
teries, flour mills, distilleries, tanneries, etc. From 4 to 5
happened in 15 occupations, such as boots and shoes, glass
works, and match works. From 3 to 4 days happened in
6 occupations, such as ribbon-weaving, cigar and tobacco
factories. In the group from 2 to 3 days fell the corset
factories, while the least number of sick days, namely, 1.6,
fell in the factories for underwear and cloaks. The enu-
meration of these occupations shows that sickness is not
determined by the kind of occupation, but must depend
largely upon other circumstances. 1
Accident Insurance. Statistics of the accidents in Ger-
many are of very considerable interest. The figures for
the year 1892 gave 18,014,280 persons insured against
accidents. In that year 236,265 accidents were reported,
and compensation was paid for 55,654. The remainder
resulted in disability for less than 13 weeks, and so came
under the sickness insurance. This shows an average
of 13.1 accidents to each 1000 workmen, or 3.1 com-
pensated accidents to each 1000 workmen. In agriculture
the number of accidents was only 4.1 to each 1000 insured,
while in industry it was 32.5. The number of accidents
in different occupations has not yet been clearly worked
out. The highest number is found in the iron and
i Allg. Stat. Archiv, Vol. II., p. 233 ff.
160 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
steel works, and in the breweries, where the experience
of four years showed more than 40 accidents to 1000
insured.
Of the compensated accidents 10.6 per cent resulted in
death, and 5 per cent in permanent incapacity for work.
The proportion of fatal accidents varies greatly in different
trades. In ocean shipping, for instance, the number of
accidents resulting in death ran as high as one-third.
The nature of the accident varies with the occupation,
as burning and scalding in sugar and iron works, poi-
soning in chemical works, injury to the right arm in
machine works, etc. Curious statistics in regard to the
hour of day when the accident occurred show an in-
creasing number from 6 o'clock in the morning up to
noon, and from 1 o'clock up to 6 in the afternoon,
apparently due to the fatigue of the continuous work.
According to the statistics of 1887, 53 per cent of the
accidents were due to negligence, namely, 19.7 per cent to
the negligence of the employers, 25.6 per cent to that of the
workmen, 4.5 per cent to that of workman and employer,
and 3.3 per cent to the negligence of fellow-workmen and
third persons. In regard to age, among persons under
16 years of age 40.14 per cent of the accidents were due
to their own negligence, among persons from 16 to 20
years, 33.45 per cent, and among persons over 20 years,
24.4 per cent. Among women 39.65 per cent, among
men 25.08 per cent, of the accidents were due to their own
negligence. 1
The Statistics of Disease. Disease being the principal
cause of death, one of the great functions of vital statistics
is to classify deaths according to the diseases which cause
them. Unfortunately there is no universally accepted
system of classification, and medical science is making
such rapid progress that it does not seem possible to
devise one which shall be good for the future. As an
. Stat. Archiv, Vol. II., p. 272.
SICKNESS AND MORTALITY. 161
example of classification the following table is given for
England: 1
CAUSES or DEATH. Total Deaths, Bate per Million
1891. Living, Mean, 1881-90.
Zymotic diseases 78,704 2,656
Parasitic diseases 658 32
Dietetic diseases 2,406 65
Constitutional diseases 97,108 3,325
Developmental diseases 49,156 1,593
Local diseases 314,253 9,785
Violence 19,500 651
Ill-defined and not specified causes . . 26,140 1,042
All causes 587,925 19,149
Under the zymotic or specific febrile diseases are in-
cluded small-pox, measles, scarlet fever, typhus, diphtheria,
etc. Under dietetic diseases are included starvation, scurvy,
and alcoholism. Under constitutional diseases are included
gout, rickets, cancer, phthisis and other forms of tuber-
culosis. Under developmental diseases are included pre-
mature birth, congenital defects, old age, etc. The class,
local diseases, is divided into those of the nervous, the
circulating, the respiratory, and the digestive system. In
all there are about 150 different diseases registered. In
Italy the number is 169. It is evident that the statistician
cannot enter into the details of all these different diseases,
because in many cases the numbers are so small that
variations from year to year would be due to purely
accidental causes. It is therefore customary to pick out
the principal diseases or classes of disease, and estimate
the death-rate per one million persons living. We can
also calculate what proportion the deaths from any par-
ticular disease bear to the total deaths. That figure
is not very satisfactory, because the deaths from any
particular disease remaining the same and the total num-
ber of deaths varying, the proportion would vary.
The death-rate from different diseases varies greatly
1 Report of the Registrar General, 1891.
162 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
in different years. There may be an epidemic, and
after such epidemic there may be a lull for several years
caused by the fact that there are but few in the popula-
tion who have not purchased immunity by a previous
attack.
It is the duty of medical statistics to connect the preva-
lence of particular diseases with temperature, density of
population, sanitary condition, sex, age, etc. For us it is
impossible to go into these details. Diseases of the diges-
tive system are especially fatal during the summer months,
and hot and dry summers are more fatal than cold and
wet ones. Measles in large cities like London seems to
have two periods of prevalence, one in May and June, the
other in December. Typhoid fever shows its maximum
in October. Age, of course, makes a great difference in
the mortality from particular diseases. Many are dis-
tinctively diseases of childhood. The mortality from
scarlet fever rises to a maximum in the third year of life,
and then falls, at first slowly, but afterwards rapidly,
becoming smaller at each age period. Cancer, on the
other hand, is very infrequent in childhood, but after the
25th year of age increases with great rapidity. Similar
facts might be given for other diseases. Sex also makes a
great difference. The mortality among males is greater
in small-pox, measles, scarlet fever, diarrhoea, phthisis,
diseases of the nervous system, and of the respiratory
system. The mortality for females is greater in diphtheria,
whooping cough, and cancer. The mortality from differ-
ent diseases varies greatly according to geographical situ-
ation, character of the soil, conditions of temperature,
quality of the water-supply, and density of population.
Each one of these, however, requires minute investigation
for each disease, which is of great interest to the medical
profession, but is too special for the statistician and the
student of sociology. 1
1 Newsholme, Vital Statistics. Longstaff , Studies in Statistics.
SICKNESS AND MORTALITY.
163
International Comparison of Mortality from Different
Diseases. The system oi classification of diseases differs
in different countries. The skill of the medical practi-
tioners, the correctness of the diagnosis, and the careful-
ness in the registration also differ. When we consider in
addition the different climatic and sanitary peculiarities of
each country, the varying conditions of the population
according to age, sex, density, and economic position, we
may at once admit that international comparison of mor-
tality from diseases can have but little value. In giving,
therefore, the following table, we give it simply as an
illustration of an attempt in this direction.
DEATHS (1887-91) FROM CERTAIN DISEASES PER 10,000 INHABITANTS. 1
COUNTRY. S:
Italy .
mall-por.
3.86
2.30
0.11
0.01
Measles.
6.17
5.18
4.68
2.01
Scarlet
Fever.
2.99
3.10
2.31
1.22
Diphtheria.
6.08
6.66
1.74
0.76
Typhoid
Fever.
7.49
5.32
1.90
2.33
Tuber-
culosis.
13.61
33.00
16.09
21.15
France (cities)
England ....
Ireland ....
Germany (cities) .
Prussia ....
0.04
0.03
2.80
3.20
2.15
2.46
10.212
14.17 2
2.11
2.26
31.29
28.06
Austria ....
4.43
5.36
5.57
13.20 s
6.42
37.20
Switzerland . .
0.06
1.53
1.22
3.o3
1.47
21.07
Belgium ....
Holland ....
1.52
0.02
6.20
3.93
1.62
0.38
5.77 s
1.45
3.83
2.50
19.87
19.21
Sweden ....
0.01
2.30
3.69
3.89
2.22
_
The figures for each disease give a rough measure of its
prevalence in different countries. The large figures for
small-pox in Italy and Austria show the absence of vacci-
nation. Diphtheria seems to be very fatal in Germany
and Austria. Italy has a large rate in typhoid fever, and
the same is true of other fevers. France, Germany, and
Austria show a large rate for tuberculosis, while Italy
shows a very small one. Other diseases show similar
variations. All these proportions must be taken with
great caution, in consequence of what has been said above.
1 Statistica delle Cause di Morte, 1891-92. Roma, 1894.
2 Includes croup.
164 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
Mortality according to Occupations. There is no doubt
that the trade or occupation which a man pursues often
has a great effect upon his health and length of life.
Some occupations are so dangerous owing to liability to
accident, or so unhealthy owing to the conditions under
which they are carried on, or the necessity of using
poisonous substances, that no insurance company will have
anything to do with the persons engaged in them. Some
of these unfavourable conditions might possibly be re-
moved, and the first step is to ascertain whether the
occupation is dangerous or not, and the second, to detect
the exact cause of the dangerous or unhealthful influence.
Care must be taken to get a trustworthy statistical basis
for our observations. Of course the mere distribution
of the total number of deaths among different occupa-
tions shows us absolutely nothing, because the number
of persons is so different. Even if we calculate the
death-rate for all persons in an occupation, it is not
a good basis for comparison, because of the different age
distribution. The only method of making death-rates
that can be safely compared with each other is the labori-
ous one of calculating them for each occupation at each
successive age period, and then applying these death-rates
to a population with precisely the same age distribution.
The latest calculation of this sort is one published by
Dr. Ogle, based on a comparison between the census
returns in England for 1881 and the death registers for
the three years 188012. The figures relate only to
males between 25 and 65 years of age, the death-rates
being calculated for two groups, one above and the other
below 45, and they have been applied to a male popula-
tion in which these two age classes bore a certain fixed
proportion to each other. Of the death-rates thus ob-
tained the lowest was that of men in the clerical profes-
sion. That is therefore taken as a standard represented
by 100, and the death-rate of each other profession or
SICKNESS AND MORTALITY.
165
occupation is represented by a figure proportionate to this
standard. We have then a table of the following sort :
Compar-
ative
OOCTTPATIOK. Mortal-
ity.
Clergymen, priests, ministers . 100
Lawyers 152
Medical men 202
Gardeners 108
Farmers 114
Agricultural labourers . . . 126
Fishermen . 143
Commercial clerks . . .
Commercial travellers . .
Innkeepers, liquor dealers .
Inn, hotel service . . .
Brewers .
179
171
274
397
245
Butchers 211
Bakers 172
Corn millers 172
Grocers 139
Drapers 169
Shopkeepers generally . . . 158
Tailors 189
Shoemakers 166
Hatters 192
Printers 193
Bookbinders , 210
OCCUPATION.
Compar-
ative
Mortal-
ity.
Builders, masons, bricklayers 174
Carpenters, joiners .... 148
Cabinet-makers, upholsterers . 173
Plumbers, painters, glaziers . 216
Blacksmiths 175
Engine, machine, boiler-makers 1 55
Silk manufacture 152
Wool, worsted, manufacture . 186
Cotton manufacture .... 196
Cutlers, scissors-makers . . 229
Gunsmiths 186
File-makers 300
Paper-makers 129
Glass workers 214
Earthenware-makers . . . 314
Coal miners 160
Cornish miners 331
Stone, slate, quarries . . . 202
Cab, omnibus service . . . 267
Railway, road, labourers . . 186
Costermongers, hawkers, street
sellers 308
It will be seen from this table that the differences of
mortality in the different industries are very great. If
the mortality of clergymen, for instance, is represented
by 100, that of men engaged in the earthenware manu-
facture is represented by 314, and that of inn and hotel
servants by 397. Dr. Ogle classes the causes of high
mortality under the following seven general headings :
(1) Working in a cramped or constrained attitude, as
the silk weavers, lace-makers, and possibly shoemakers.
166 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
(2) Exposure to the action of poisonous or irritating
substances, such as phosphorus, mercury, lead, infected
hair or wool. We have here a list of diseases peculiar to
certain trades, which attack the dippers of lucifer matches,
gilders, hatters, furriers, and others who make use of
quicksilver ; the arsenical poisoning of paper-hangers ;
lead poisoning among painters, plumbers, glaziers, gas-
fitters, printers, and file-makers.
(3) Excessive work, mental or physical, especially such
as involves sudden strains, as among fishermen.
(4) Working in confined and foul air, as among tailors,
printers, book-binders, and hatters, or even shopkeepers.
(5) The effect of alcoholic drinks, as seen among inn-
keepers, publicans, and wine and spirit dealers.
(6) Liability to fatal accident, as among miners, stone
and slate quarrymen, and fishermen.
(7) Inhalation of dust increasing the mortality from
phthisis and diseases of the lungs. The effect differs very
greatly, not only according to the amount, but also accord-
ing to the character of the dust, that which consists of
hard and sharp, pointed particles naturally being more
irritating to the air passages than that of which the parti-
cles are soft and rounded. The hard woods, such as are
used by cabinet-makers, are said to give off a much more
injurious dust than do the softer ones used by carpenters.
Flour, of which millers, bakers, and confectioners inspire
large quantities, appears to have no injurious effect upon
their vitality. The dust given off in textile factories, es-
pecially cotton factories, increases the mortality from dis-
eases of the respiratory organs. Most injurious is metallic
dust, such as is given off in the manufacture of cutlery
and file-making, and the dust of stone, giving rise to great
mortality among masons and bricklayers, stone and slate
quarrymen, Cornish miners, and pottery makers.
The low mortality from lung diseases among coal miners
has provoked much discussion. Dr. Ogle says there are
SICKNESS AND MORTALITY. 167
two possible explanations : one, that the apparent exemp-
tion is simply due to the picked character of the miners,
inasmuch as none but strong men are likely to adopt so
laborious a calling ; the other, that there is some special
preservative condition attaching to the industry, namely,
that coal dust possesses the property of hindering the de-
velopment of tuberculosis and of arresting its progress.
Dr. Ogle thinks the latter theory has some basis of
probability.
It is comparatively easy to give plausible reasons for
the differences in mortality in different occupations. Cler-
gymen, for instance, for the most part live in the country,
pursue a quiet, regular life, have a moderate but certain
income, and escape the worry and excitement of modern
life. The mortality among medical men is due to the ex-
posure and irregular hours necessitated by their profes-
sion. Among lawyers the mortality is greater than among
clergymen, but less than among physicians. It is less
among barristers than among attorneys, due probably to
social position. The mortality of school-teachers is about
the average of the whole population, but increases with
advancing age, owing to the confining nature of the
work. Commercial clerks have rather high mortality,
they mostly live in cities, work in a confined posture, and
are not particularly well paid. Commercial travellers
have about the same mortality, due probably to the expos-
ures of travel and their irregular life. Out-door occupa-
tions, as farming and gardening, are the most favourable
to life.
This whole subject of mortality among occupations
demands further and minute investigation, and especially
a more exact census of occupations. And it is also evi-
dent that economic and social position must have great
influence on the mortality as well as the occupation itself.
There is one profession, namely, the army, of which we
have very exact statistics. In time of peace the mortality
168 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
is generally less than among the male population of the
same age. In England, in 1887, the general mortality
for the whole army in the United Kingdom was 6.68 per
1000. For the troops abroad it was generally higher,
being in Gibraltar 9.51, in the West Indies 14.70, and in
India 15.51. The death-rate in the Prussian army for the
period from 1846 to 1863 was 9.49.
In time of war the death-rate is naturally greater. The
German army, in 1870 and 1871, lost by death 40,743 men,
of whom three-fourths were killed, and one-fourth died
from disease. In addition to these, 112,336 were wounded,
and 4009 were missing. The death-rate for the whole
army during the time of war was 45.89, but varied greatly
according to the branch of service and rank, as the follow-
ing little table will show :
BRANCH OF SERVICE. Death-rate. BANK. Death-rate.
Headquarters .... 16.93 General 46.15
Infantry 62.79 Staff officers 105.18
Cavalry 27.08 Captains 86.23
Artillery 27.22 Lieutenants 88.69
Pioneers 17.63 Surgeons 11.95
Train , . 26.39 Non-commissioned officers
and file 45.01
This table shows the greater exposure of certain branches
of the service, and especially how much greater danger
the staff and commissioned officers are exposed to than
the ordinary rank and file.
Duration of Life. One of the most important facts to
learn about population is the length of human life. Sup-
pose we observe a million children, born the same year,
and follow them through life, entering in a column
the number still alive at the end of each successive
year until all have died. In this way we shall have a
complete life table or history of that generation from birth
to death. We can tell at a glance how many out of the
one million are still surviving at the age of 20, or 50, or 85,
or " x " years. If we add together these survivors for all
SICKNESS AND MOKTALITY. 169
the years, we get the total number of years of life enjoyed
by the whole one million persons. Dividing this total by
one million we get the average number of years of life
enjoyed by each of the one million. This is called
the "expectation of life." Such "expectation of life"
does not represent the number of years a man will prob-
ably live. Very few of the lives will fail when they have
exactly completed the expectation of life. Many will fall
far short of it ; and many will long survive it. In fact,
to form the expectation of life, we take the excess from
those who live long and distribute it among those who die
early, so as to place all on an equality ; and the expecta-
tion of life has no relation whatever to the most probable
lifetime of any given individual. 1
The expectation of life may be calculated for each age
and then represents the Mean After Life, or the average
number of years that the survivors at that age will still
live. At the age of 20, for instance, a man in England
will on the average still have 39.4 years to live, that is, he
will reach the age of 59.4 years.
The expectation of life, or Mean After Life, according
to Dr. Ogle's English Life Table, is as follows :
AGK. Males. Females. Ao. Males. Females.
. . 41.35 44.62 55 . . 15.95 17.33
5 . . 60.87 53.08 60 . . 13.14 14.24
10 . . 47.60 49.76 65 . . 10.55 11.42
15 . . 43.41 45.63 70 . . 8.27 8.95
20 . . 39.40 41.66 75 . . 6.34 6.87
25 . 35.68 37.98 80 . . 4.79 6.20
30 . . 32.10 34.41 85 .. 3.56 3.88
35 . . 28.64 30.90 90 . . 2.66 2.90
40 . . 25.30 27.46 95 .. 2.01 2.17
45 . . 22.07 24.06 100 . . 1.61 1.62
60 . . 18.93 20.68
In early childhood the expectation of life increases, up
to about the age of five. This is due to the excessive
1 Quoted from King, Life Contingencies, p. 29.
170 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
mortality among infants, which causes a large number of
very short lives to be counted in the average. After the
age of five the " expectation " decreases with advancing
years, but even at a very advanced age the chance of sur-
viving the following year is greater than the probability
of dying during the year.
It will be observed that the expectation of life is always
greater for women than for men, on account of the greater
mortality among men.
Countries differ very much in the expectation of life.
At birth it is in Germany for males 35.58, and for females
88.45 ; in France it is for males 40.83, and for females
43.41. At the age of 25 it is in France 37.17 for
males and 38.67 for females, as contrasted with 34.96 for
males and 36.53 for females in Germany, and the figures
given in the table for England. The low expectation
at birth in Germany is due to infant mortality, and the
high expectation in France to the large number of old
people who live long lives, and thus bring up the average.
In extreme old age the expectation of life both in France
and England is superior to that in Germany.
It is to be observed that life tables for a whole commu-
nity differ from those which are prepared for a particular
purpose, such as the insurance of lives, calculation of
annuities, payment of pensions, etc. The life table for
the whole country includes all classes of persons, the poor,
the criminal, the diseased, and the vicious. Persons
insured are as a rule a select class. They therefore may
be expected to have a longer life than the average. So
in calculating the cost of pensioning the civil servants of
a government regard must be had to the same fact that
they are probably a select class, and will live longer than
the usual life table would show. In granting pensions to
soldiers who have been disabled by wounds or disease the
reverse might be true. Hence for these particular pur-
poses special tables are made out, founded upon actual
SICKNESS AND MORTALITY. 171
experience with the classes concerned. Occupation, social
position, and place of residence also have influence in these
calculations. As an example of these variations we give
the following list, showing the expectation of life or
Mean After Life at the age of 40 for different classes of
persons : 1
Tears.
Prance, civil pensioners in general 20.59
France, pensioners, from a sedentary life 17.88
France, pensioners, from an active life 21.23
France, pensioners, widows 29.31
Mean after life of members of the Institute, deceased 1795-1869 . 29.74
England, pensioners, males 26.00
England, pensioners, females 29.80
Experience of twenty English insurance companies 27.60
Experience of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York . 29.73
Experience of thirty American offices 28.48
Experience of the Gotha Mutual, Germany 26.94
City of Berlin, males 23.40
City of Berlin, females 28.36
City of New York, males 22.54
City of New York, females 25.24
City of Baltimore, white males 26.70
City of Baltimore, coloured males 21.71
City of Baltimore, white females 29.40
City of Baltimore, coloured females 27.64
Deaths among 10,618 Jewish families, United States, 1889, males . 36.17
Deaths among 10,618 Jewish families, United States, 1889, females, 31.98
This table, which might be extended to other ages, is
sufficient to show how much depends upon the selection
of lives in calculating life tables. The figures for the
United States, especially for the Jewish families, are very
uncertain on account of imperfect methods of registration.
The data for cities are often deceptive because of the
number of persons who come to the city for treatment in
hospitals and asylums.
1 Levasseur, La Pop. fra^aise, II., p. 321. Tenth Census of the
United States, XII., p. cxliii. Stat. Jahrbuch fur die Stadt Berlin.
Eleventh Census of the United States, Bulletin No. 19.
172 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
Scientific Tests.
Methods of Observation. In all statistics of Morbidity
and Disease the initial difficulty is in denning what is
sickness, and in diagnosing the disease. Of course, slight
ailments such as colds, aches, pains are disregarded. They
could never be gathered by any statistical machinery, how-
ever perfect. It is only serious sickness, principally that
disabling persons from work, that we can consider. Even
here there are several sources of error viz., that serious
sickness may escape notice because the persons afflicted
are not insured, or are not attended by a medical practi-
tioner; or that the disease is of such a character that the
person desires to conceal it. So even if we had compulsory
returns by physicians of all serious cases of sickness, it is
not probable that they would be exact. Another question
would come up as to the duration of the sickness. Are
we to count the period of convalescence until full health
and strength are regained, or count only up to the time
when the disease proper may be said to have left the
person ?
These difficulties seem to disappear when our statistics
are based on returns from benefit societies, or from state
workingmen's insurance against sickness, as in Germany.
But here another danger meets us, viz., that of simulation.
When a workingman is lazy, or sees hard times and
lack of employment approaching, will he not feign sick-
ness in order to draw his allowance ? There is some
reason to suspect that this is being done in Germany at
the present time. It has even been asserted that workmen
injure themselves in order to get the accident insurance
money. Where the insurance is voluntary, as in a benefit
society, there is a greater or less feeling of honour, and
where the group is small each one is exposed to the watch-
fulness of the others who contribute to the funds. But
where the group is large and the funds come partly or
SICKNESS AND MORTALITY. 173
wholly from the employers, there may be a feeling of
indulgence or sympathy for the fellow-workman, or a
sentiment that the workman is only getting back a part of
what the employer has been squeezing out of him. Simu-
lation, too, may be more or less unconscious, consisting in
simple exaggeration of aches and pains, until the sufferer
really makes himself ill. A very rigid and severe stan-
dard of duty would be required among physicians to
guard against all these cases. 1
The difficulties of classification of disease have already
been mentioned. Even if we had a consistent and satis-
factory classification, there would be numerous errors due
to the ignorance or carelessness of physicians, or to the
obscurity of the subject, or to deaths due to a complication
of causes. Many physicians use the popular rather than
the scientific name of diseases. Some vague term such as
fever, heart-failure, etc., is used to designate the cause.
Examples of ignorance among the physicians are given in
the following quotation from the Mortality Statistics of
the Tenth Census, I., p. xii. :
" While the results obtained from these physicians' returns are of
interest and value, it must be constantly borne in mind that they
were not derived solely from competent medical men, but from all
those who chose to call themselves physicians.
" When the cause of death is reported as ' Tecis,' ' Spinalgitis'
'Colory in Phantum,' ' Colria fontim,' 'Cholor Rhear Infantum,'
' Hasphmar,' ' Xew Moner Fever,' ' No fisian tendin,' ' Struck in on
the aire sells,' ' Yaller ganders of the Liver,' ' Unnowing,' ' Know
Knowen cause,' etc., it is evidently unsafe to lay too much stress
on the scientific accuracy of the diagnosis by the same reporter
in other cases, even although the spelling may be more nearly
correct."
When we come to statistics of disease and occupations,
we have the uncertainty of the classification of occupa-
1 See Brooks, A Weakness in the German " Imperial Socialism." Brit.
Economic Journal, II., p. 302.
174 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
tions to contend against. This makes international com-
parison difficult. Still further, the question arises, how
far the mortality in a particular occupation is due to the
work itself, to the circumstances under which it is carried
on, tp the character of the persons who choose it, or to
the general social and economic condition of the commu-
nity. These must be carefully distinguished. If the mor-
tality is due to the occupation itself, then our statistics
may point to the necessity of taking some measures to
guard against dangers due to that particular occupa-
tion, as accidents from machinery, poisoning from fumes
or vapours, etc. Where it is due to the circumstances
under which the occupation is carried on, then a limita-
tion of the number of hours of labour, or provision for
ventilation, etc., may remedy part of the evil. Where it is
due to the social or economic condition of a whole class of
persons who are forced into such occupation, as mendi-
cants and vagabonds, then the problem is more difficult
and requires social amelioration or reform. Where the
mortality is due simply to the fact that the occupation is
such that the weak and infirm can enter it, then nothing
can be done. Such information is of the highest social
value, but it must be carefully analyzed.
Duration of Life. This term has been sufficiently ex-
plained, but we have a number of figures which are often
confused with it.
Comparative Death-rates. In the first place, the death-
rate is sometimes supposed to be an indication of the
average length of life. If we had a death-rate of 40 per
mille, it would mean that one out of every 25 of the popu-
lation died each year. In another country, if we had a
death-rate of 30 per mille, it would mean that one out of
every 33 inhabitants died each year. It is sometimes sup-
posed that these figures indicate that life is longer in the
second country than in the first, and in the proportion of
33 to 25. But this is fallacious. Only in case of a popu-
SICKNESS AND MORTALITY. 175
lation neither increasing nor decreasing, and dying regu-
larly from year to year, would the death-rate indicate
anything as to the duration of life. But as a matter of
fact, population is generally increasing, and death-rates
are very different at different ages. In one country the
deaths may be largely of children, and in another of adult
persons, so that even if the rate were the same, the
expectation of life would be very different in the
two. In England, the expectation of life for males was
41.35 during the decade 1871-80, while one in 44.2 died
annually.
Average Age of the Dying. In the second place, we can
take the ages of those who have died during the year, add
them together, and divide by the number of the deceased.
This gives what is called the " average age of the dying,"
and is sometimes said to indicate the average length of
life. This, however, is evidently on the supposition that
the deaths are regularly distributed throughout a station-
ary population. But in an ordinary population this
average age of the dying is affected by so many different
things, that it indicates nothing in respect to the ex-
pectation of life. Where a generation is weakened,
either because it started with a small number of births, or
on account of some epidemic or war which has fallen
heavily upon it, such generation would contribute less
than it ought to the total number of dying. For instance,
the civil war of 1861 to '65 swept away a large number of
men of the ages between 20 and 30. Men of that genera-
tion would now be between 50 and 60, and they contribute
less than their proper share to the number of the dying.
This decreases the average age of the dying at the present
time, although the event happened 30 years ago. So a
hard, cold year, which sweeps away the old people, in-
creases the average age of the dying, while a prosperous
year, resulting in a large number of births, and conse-
quently an increased number of deaths among infants,
176 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
decreases it. Engel gives the following striking example
for Prussia : 1
Tears.
In 1829, hard, cold year, average age of dying was . . 31.31
1831, cholera year, average age of dying was . . . 31.24
1847, scarcity year, average age of dying was . . . 28.29
1855, scarcity year, average age of dying was . . . 29.82
1851, prosperous year, average age of dying was . . 25.60
1860, prosperous year, average age of dying was . . 25.17
So also, if a population were increasing, it is evident
that the average age of the dying would be pulled down
because the death-rate would be applied to a constantly-
increasing number in the lower age classes. Emigration
and immigration would evidently affect the average age
of the dying without any reference whatsoever to the sani-
tary condition of the community. So also, as Newsholme 2
points out, "it would be absurd to draw any inferences
from a comparison of the mean ages at death of bishops
and curates, as men do not usually become bishops till
they have passed the middle period of life." "The low
mean age at death of dressmakers has been adduced as a
proof of the unhealthy character of their employment.
Without denying the latter fact, the low mean age at death
is no more a proof of their insanitary circumstances than
is a low mean age at death among the pupils in a boarding-
school."
Average Age of the Living. In the third place, by a
census we can get the average age of the living. This
also is sometimes confused with the average duration of
life, but it is fallacious for precisely the same reasons as
have just been mentioned when speaking of the average
age of the dying. 3 If both of these corresponded with
the average duration of life, then they should correspond
1 Preuss. Zeitschrift, 1861, p. 335. 2 Vital Statistics, p. 247.
8 See ante, p. 60.
SICKNESS AND MORTALITY. 177
to each other. How widely they differ is shown by the
following table :
Prussia
Average Age of
Dying Years.
31.10
Average Age of
Living Years.
27.50
40.49
27 85
Sweden
40.66
27 66
England . , . . .
38.92
25 31
Holland
34.72
27 76
Belgium
38 35
28 63
France .
40.36
31.06
Reflective Analysis.
Sickness and mortality bring great loss to the commu-
nity. Even sickness and death among children, while
they do not directly affect the productive power of the
community, are a loss because the child has to be replaced
by a new birth, and thus the expense of bringing the
child up is lost. A still greater economic loss is caused
by the preventible sickness and mortality from 15 to 45
years of age. According to Dr. Farr's English Life
Table, of a million persons born, 72,397 die between the
ages of 15 and 45 as the result of phthisis, and 24,805
as the result of zymotic diseases. If we take the money
value of each person aged 15 to 45 as 200 pounds sterling,
the pecuniary loss from phthisis alone is 14,479,400 1.
It is therefore of great importance to the community
that the amount of sickness and mortality should decrease.
A comparison between the annual deaths per million in
England during the two decades 1861-70 and 1871-80
shows that the deaths from fever had decreased 401 per
million and from phthisis 359 per million. Every decrease
of this sort is a direct gain to the community. 1
One use of life tables is to show whether the average
duration of human life is increasing or decreasing. From
such evidence as we can get, it is probable that it is
steadily increasing. In England, if we compare the ex-
1 Newsholme, Vital Statistics, pp. 279, 273.
178 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
pectation of life at birth according to Dr. Farr's table,
1838-54, with that of Dr. Ogle's table, 1871-81, the in-
crease for males has been 1.44 years, and for females 2.77
years. By the old life table one-half out of a million
males born would be dead before the end of the 45th year ;
by the new table one-half would not have died until
after the end of the 47th year. It is true that the death-
rate has increased for males over 35 and for females over
45, but notwithstanding this, the survivors at the end of
each year by the new table exceed the survivors by the
old table at every age up to the 67th year. After that
date the survivors at the end of each subsequent year
are more numerous by the old than by the new table.
This points to the fact that the survivors at the end of
the 45th year are so much more numerous than they
were under the rate of mortality prevailing in 1838-54,
that they can support the higher mortality of after years
for a considerable period and yet retain their numerical
superiority. In the same manner it is shown that the
length of human life has increased in France, Sweden,
Holland, Belgium, and Norway. 1
The average duration of human life has great economic
importance. Engel reckoned in 1855 that the population
of Prussia, consisting of 17,702,831 individuals, had lived
a total of 444,281,631 years, of which 210,792,890 were
in the unproductive ages under 15 and over 70 ; while
233,488,741 were in the productive ages between 15 and
70. These latter years have to support not only them-
selves but an almost equal number of unproductive ones.
Suppose now that the productive years should be reduced
by reducing the average duration of life so that they
amounted to only 200,000,000. It is true that the total
number of years to be supported would also be reduced,
so that instead of 444,281,631 there would be only
1 Newsholme, Vital Statistics, p. 268. Levasseur, La Pop. fran^aise,
II., p. 309.
SICKNESS AND MORTALITY. 179
410,792,890 years. But these years must now be sup-
ported by 200,000,000 years instead of 233,488,741, so that
the pressure on each individual is greater. In quintes-
sence : the shorter the mean duration of life, the more dif-
ficult it is for a generation to pay the cost of bringing
itself into existence. 1
This subject has been pursued in somewhat greater
detail by Dr. Ogle in England. He shows by a table
of death-rates that the mean annual mortality has de-
clined from the period 1841-70 to the period 1881-85
by 12.44 per cent for males and 14.95 per cent for
females. This gain is due principally to less mortality
among children, for, as already said, males over 35 and
females over 45 have a greater mortality than formerly.
It has consequently been affirmed not only that this
decrease in the death-rate is no economic benefit, but still
further that by preserving the weak and unsound constitu-
tions a higher death-rate results in adult life. This, how-
ever, gives a false impression. The extinction of any
disease might theoretically produce two results on the
mean duration of life. Either the proportion of deaths
from other causes would remain as before ; or if one
disease were annihilated (as, for instance, small-pox), other
diseases (as scarlet fever and measles) would become
more fatal, thus counterbalancing to a greater or less
extent the gain. If all the deaths now caused by violence
were to cease, the persons thus saved would doubtless
share the rate of mortality of the whole community. If
again the causes of death annihilated were those peculiar
to children in the first year of life, the actual mortality
would necessarily be increased at the higher ages ; for all
men must die at some time, and the larger the number
escaping the dangers of childhood, the more numerous
will be the victims in adult life. 2 The higher rate of
iPreuss. Zeitschrift, 1861, p. 323.
a Newsholme, Vital Statistics, p. 265.
180 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
mortality may, of course, be due to the survival of the
weakly, although Dr. Ogle finds two other possible causes
of this increased adult mortality, viz., the increasing
severity of competition among adults, resulting in greater
wear and tear on life ; and the ever-increasing proportion
which flocks to share in city life. But, however this may
be, if we sum up the additional years of life saved by the
decreased death-rate, we shall find that in the case of
males 66 per cent, and of females 65 per cent, of the years
gained are lived between 25 and 65.
Dr. Ogle gives a further calculation, showing the actual
annual gain owing to the lower death-rate in 1871-80.
The mean annual number of births in England and Wales
in 1871-80 was 858,878. If these children be traced
through life, the changes occurring in the death-rates
1871-80, as compared with 1838-54, will result in an
addition of 1,800,047 years of life shared among them ;
and since this number of births occurs annually, it may
be reasonably inferred that there is an annual addition
of nearly 2,000,000 years of life to the community, the
greater share in which must be ascribed to sanitary
measures. 1
These facts would seem to be an answer to those per-
sons who maintain that by our sanitary measures, hospitals
and charitable relief, we are simply promoting the sur-
vival of the unfittest and thus weakening the human race ;
for it appears that a large proportion of those born sur-
vive to the non-dependent or useful ages. We must also
consider the diminution of suffering brought about by the
decrease of disease, which counts in the sum total of
human happiness.
1 Newsholme, p. 272.
BOOK II.
SOCIAL.
CHAPTER IX.
SOCIAL CONDITION.
(FAMILIES AND DWELLINGS, EDUCATION, RELIGIOUS CONFESSION, AND
OCCUPATIONS.)
Sociological Purpose.
WE have reviewed the principal demographic facts
concerning population sex, age, and conjugal condition.
We have also reviewed those great phenomena, births,
marriages, deaths, sickness, and mortality, which affect
the population of the world. But we have not yet
exhausted the range of sociological inquiry, or the func-
tion of statistics in such inquiry. Populations differ
from each other in numerous ways. Their composition
shows a great variety of elements combined in a great
variety of ways. We have differences of religious con-
fession, of education, of social position, of occupation, and
of family life. These combined give a certain impress
which we designate as social condition. Such condition
involves, of course, the question of civilization, i.e., the
happiness and prosperity of the community. Each fact
181
182 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
has important sociological connections. Occupation, illit-
eracy, and social position affect births, marriages, deaths,
and all other social statistics. The family is the impor-
tant factor in the growth of population. Family life is
the foundation of the moral life of the community. Eco-
nomic condition decides often the question of social prog-
ress.
The general sociological purpose of all statistical inquiry
is to reveal the existence of social organization. There
is no doubt that the constitution of the family, religious
confession, occupation, and economic condition are elements
in such organization. Social condition stratifies the com-
munity in more directions than we are aware of. If we
could have exposed before us the real motives of men's
actions, we should see in many cases how the narrow bond
of family relation makes itself felt in the broader mani-
festations of social life. Such connection it is not easy
to depict with accuracy, because the influence is often
unconscious, when conscious is often concealed, and sel-
dom (in modern times) manifests itself in large or domi-
nant groups. Religious confession, on the other hand,
does result in a classification of population, and only a little
while back such differences led to the most bitter polit-
ical and international struggles. No one can doubt that
in modern times, although the political significance of
difference in religious confession has nominally been sup-
pressed, in reality it is still present and its social signifi-
cance is in many communities enormous. Much more
can be said of the importance of occupation and economic
condition in classifying the community. Here we have
the associations and the antitheses implied in the terms
capitalists and labourers, employers and workmen, masters
and domestic servants, the rich and the poor, the produc-
tive and the unproductive classes, plutocracy and wage-
slavery. Statistical classification is not always exact in
these directions, for the terms themselves are not precise,
SOCIAL CONDITION. 183
but such classification is essential to the understanding of
modern industrial society.
To connect these facts of social condition with the
physical environment is not always easy, although in the
study of city life a relation of this sort is often manifest.
Their connection with each other and with other social
phenomena (social environment), as already said, is strik-
ing. Relations of co-existence and of sequence meet us on
every side. This is the great field of practical social re-
form, and all effort at reform implies a knowledge of the
cause of the evil and the belief that such cause can be
modified, changed, or removed. The sociological purpose
of Statistics in this chapter cannot be mistaken nor should
it be underestimated. We have to do with phenomena
of considerable difficulty to grasp and gauge. They par-
take of the complexity of social life, and thus are difficult
to classify and arrange. The inter-relations are numerous
and it is not easy to disentangle cause and effect. Often
all we can do is to analyze the facts and wait for future
knowledge to show the proper correlation. Social statis-
tics present the most delicate questions of correct analysis
and interpretation, for the facts themselves are so elusive
as to escape exact expression. It is the purpose of this
chapter to present these facts in as scientific a way as
possible.
Statistical Data.
Families. All social conditions have intimate connec-
tion with the family and family life. Hence, as a basis
for our social statistics, we can commence with an enumer-
ation of families, and a description of the composition
of the family as to the number of persons. The number
living alone and living in families is a matter of consider-
able interest as showing the habits of the people and their
inclination to family life. The varying size of families is
instructive as showing the fecundity of the population,
184 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
and the disposition to undertake or to avoid the burdens
of married life. The statistics are not altogether exact,
because under the term family it is necessary to include
persons living alone, as well as agglomerations of persons,
such as hotels, schools, and asylums. For whole countries,
however, these latter cases are not important.
In Europe, with the exception of France, there are
always four or more persons to a family. In France in
1891 there were 10,662,423 households or families in a
population of 38,133,885, giving an average of 3.57 persons
to a family. In 1861 the average was 3.8, and in 1851,
3.9. This steady decrease is due to the small number
of births.
In Germany, in 1890, there were 10,617,923 households,
giving 4.66 persons to a family. Among these house-
holds, 747,689 were single persons living alone, 33,674
were institutions, and 9,836,560 were ordinary families of
two or more persons. 1
In Austria the number of persons to a family was 4.84 ;
in Switzerland, 4.6; in England, 4.7; in Scotland, 4.6;
and in Ireland, 5 persons to a family. 2
In the United States the total number of families, in
1890, was 12,690,152, with an aggregate population of
62,622,250, or 4. 93 persons on the average to each family.
In 1880 the average size of family was 5.04 ; in 1870 it was
5.09 ; in 1860 it was 5.28 ; and in 1850 it was 5.55. The
decrease in the North Atlantic division is particularly
marked, the average size of family in 1890 being 4.69,
against 5.45 in 1850. In the North Central division
there has also been a considerable decrease, from 5.69
in 1850 to 4.86 in 1890. In the extreme Western states
there is a tendency to increase. In newly settled terri-
tories the average size of family is small at first, but
1 Allg. Stat. Archiv, Dritter Jahrgang, p. 405.
2 Census of Ireland, p. 630. Single persons seem to be included in the
families as " visitors."
SOCIAL CONDITION. 185
increases steadily as settlement goes on. In the Western
division the average for 1890 was 4.88, against 4.18 in
1850. When the population becomes more or less urban
in character the maximum is reached, and a constantly-
receding average is likely to be shown at each census
thereafter. This is now the case with all the older
commonwealths of the United States except the Southern,
where the coloured element is large. In these latter,
although there has been a decrease in 1890 as compared
with 1850, there has been a general increase since 1870.
For instance, in the South Atlantic division the average
size of family in Virginia has increased from 5.29 in
1870 to 5.44 in 1890; in North Carolina, from 5.20 to
5.27 ; in South Carolina, from 4.67 to 5.16; in Georgia,
from 4.98 to 5.22; and in Florida, from 4.77 to 4.89,
although there has been a slight decrease in the latter
since 1880. In the South Central division the same
increase is shown ; in Alabama, from 4.92 in 1870 to
5.27 in 1890; in Mississippi, from 4.96 to 5.35; and in
Louisiana, from 4.60 to 5.22. In Texas and Arkansas
an increase is also noticed, due partly, no doubt, to the
great growth of population since 1870.
In cities there is a very marked tendency for the size of
the family to decrease. In New York the average size of
a family decreased from 4.96 in 1880 to 4.84 in 1890; in
Brooklyn, from 4. 92 to 4.72 ; in Philadelphia, from 5.13 to
5.10; in St. Louis, from 5.38 to 4.92; and in Chicago,
from 5.19 to 4.99. 1
Families of Different Size. Families may be analyzed
according to the number containing a specified number
of persons. In France, for instance, out of 100 house-
holds, 14 consisted of single individuals, 41.3 of from
two to three individuals, 29.8 of four to five individuals
and 14.5 of six or more individuals. For the United
States we have the following table, showing interesting
1 Compendium of the Eleventh Census, Part L, p. cxi.
186
STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
differences for different sections of the country and for
cities :
One Two to Sir Seven to Ten Eleven
Person. Persons. Persons. and over.
Per Cent. Per Cent. Per Gent. Per Cent.
3.63
73.33
20.97
2.07
3.23
78.05
17.00
1.72
3.45
67.70
26.16
2.69
3.43
74.96
19.84
1.77
3.00
67.40
26.97
2.63
10.15
68.16
18.85
2.84
t 3.08
77.38
17 65
1 89
1.89
76.49
19.68
2 04
hia .... 1.91
2.71
74.67
78.37
21.09
17.53
2.33
1 39
4.64
73.22
19.82
2.32
The United States . . .
North Atlantic division .
South Atlantic division .
North Central division .
South Central division .
Western division . . .
Cities :
New York
Chicago
Philadel
Brooklyn
St. Louis
If we look at different sections of the United States we
find the largest number of families of one person in the
Western division. This is due, of course, to the mining
and frontier population of that region. The other notice-
able thing is, that, while in the North Atlantic and North
Central divisions the moderate-sized families of from two
to six persons constitute nearly three-quarters of the total
number, in the South Atlantic and South Central divisions
they constitute only two-thirds. The complementary re-
lations are seen in the large families, which are more
numerous in the South than in the North. This is due
probably to the large negro families in the South, and the
urban population of the North, for in cities the size of
family is small. This latter fact is apparent in the second
part of the table, showing the large percentage of moderate-
sized families of from two to six persons in the five largest
cities of the United States. In some industrial cities, not
shown in the table, the proportion of moderate-sized fam-
ilies of from two to six persons runs as high as 79 or 80
per cent. Such is the case with Indianapolis, Ind.,
Newark, N.J., and Providence, R.I. At the other ex-
treme stands Omaha, Neb., showing 65 per cent of mod-
SOCIAL CONDITION. 187
erate-sized families, and 28 per cent of large families of
from seven to ten persons.
The number of families of different size is determined
first of all by the fecundity of the population. This is
shown by comparing the 14 per cent of families consisting
of one individual in France, with the 7 per cent of such
families in Germany, and the 3.63 per cent in the United
States. It is indicative, in the second place, of the general
character of the population, for we find the largest families
in the rural districts. In France, for instance, families
having seven children and more are found principally in
Corsica, Brittany, Poitou, the lower Pyrenees, the Massif
Central, and the Alpine region, all agricultural communi-
ties, and in three departments of the North. 1
Dwellings. The number and kind of houses the people
occupy, and the number of families and persons to a house,
are important indications of the social condition of the
community. In England there were 5,451,497 inhabited
houses, 372,184 uninhabited, and 38,387 building. This
made 1.1 families and 5.3 persons to an inhabited house.
In Scotland there were 1.07 families and 4.92 persons; in
Ireland, 1.07 families and 5.4 persons ; in Germany, 1.8
families and 8.45 persons ; in Austria, 1.6 families and
7.5 persons ; in France, 1.4 families and 5 persons to a
house. In the United States there were 11,483,318 occu-
pied dwellings, or 1.1 families, and 5.45 persons to a dwell-
ing. These figures show that everywhere there are more
families than dwellings, i.e., that sometimes two or more
families must live in the same house. Thus, in the United
States there are 1,206,834, or 10.5 per cent more families
than dwellings. In the agricultural states of the South
the excess is very small, only 3.2 per cent; while in the
North Atlantic division it is 25.3 per cent; in Massachu-
setts, 35 per cent; in Rhode Island, 43.5 per cent; and in
New York, 46 per cent.
1 Levasseur, La Pop. fran^aise, III., p. 166L
188 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
It is, of course, in cities that we find the largest num-
ber of families and persons to a house. The cities, indeed,
vary in this respect. Philadelphia has almost as many
houses as families, while in New York there are 3.82 fam-
ilies and 18.5 persons to a house. There is great con-
centration in some of the smaller cities also, as in Fall
River, where there are 11.2 persons to a dwelling. In
some of the wards of New York City concentration is
still greater. In the district below East 14th Street there
are 6.39 families, and 30.27 persons to a dwelling. The
highest number is in the Tenth Ward, namely, 7.85 fami-
lies, and 38.50 persons to a dwelling. In three wards
only is the average number of families to a dwelling less
than two ; in two wards it is between two and three ;
in nine wards, between three and four ; in three wards,
between four and five ; in two wards, between five
and six ; in four wards, between six and seven ; and
in one ward it is very nearly eight. In New York, 46
per cent of the dwellings have one family, 11 per cent
have two families, and 43 per cent have three families and
over. Brooklyn stands next to New York, 51 per cent of
the dwellings having one family, 23 per cent having two
families, and 26 per cent, three or more families. 1 New
York makes a particularly bad showing, because the tene-
ment house population is concentrated on the island while
the ordinary middle class is scattered in neighbouring
towns and states.
For English cities, the census of 1891 reported only 7.72
persons per inhabited house in London; 7.33 in New-
castle-upon-Tyne ; 5.68 in Liverpool; and 5.04 in Man-
chester. 2
Kind of Dwelling. The mere enumeration of the num-
ber of houses does not give us very satisfactory informa-
tion of the condition of the people. In the census every
1 Compendium of the Eleventh Census, Part L, pp. cxiv and cxx.
* Census of England, Vol. IV., p. 21.
SOCIAL CONDITION. 189
inhabited building is a house, from the stone castle to the
mud hovel. Even where we ascertain the number of fam-
ilies or of persons to a house, the information is not very
definite, for a modern apartment house may contain more
than the worst crowded tenement house. It is, however,
extremely difficult to classify houses in such a way as to
indicate their real value as dwellings. Some attempts have
been made in various countries which will be noted here.
In Ireland all houses are classified in four divisions,
according to size, as shown by the number of rooms ; ac-
cording to quality, as shown by the number of windows
in front ; and according to solidity and durability, as
shown by the material of the walls and roof.
In the lowest of the four classes are comprised houses
built of mud or perishable material, having only one room
and window ; in the third class, a better description of
house, with from one to four rooms and windows ; in the
second, what might be considered a good farm house,
having from five to nine rooms and windows ; and in the
first class all houses of a better description than the
preceding.
The number of houses of different classes was : First
class, 70,740 (8.1 per cent) ; second class, 466,632 (53.6
per cent) ; third class, 312,589 (35.9 per cent) ; and
fourth class, 20,617 (2.4 per cent).
The mud hovels (fourth class) are almost exclusively in
the rural districts. The houses of the third class are
mostly in the rural districts. On the other hand, nearly
one-half of the houses of the first class are in the civic
districts. The extraordinary thing is the 20,617 mud
hovels having only one room and window, inhabited by
20,729 families. The number of these mud cabins, how-
ever, is only one-half what it was in 1881, and considerably
less than one-fourth of the number in 1861. In the county
of Kerry, indeed, they still comprise 7.9 per cent, and
in the county of Limerick 6 per cent of all the houses. In
190 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
the counties of Mayo and Donegal, the houses of the third
class are more than one-half of the whole.
The Irish census tries to combine the style of house
with the number of families occupying the house. For
this purpose, it calculates what it calls house accommo-
dation. House accommodation is arranged under four
classes, viz. :
First Class accommodation, consisting of first class
houses occupied by one family.
Second Class accommodation, consisting of second class
houses occupied by one family, or of first class houses
occupied by two or three families.
Third Class accommodation, comprising third class
houses with one family each, or second class houses with
two or three families, or first class houses occupied by
four or five families.
Fourth Class accommodation includes all fourth class
houses, third class houses with more than one family,
second class houses with four or more families, and first
class houses inhabited by six or more families.
This classification gives us a slightly different result
from the above. Specimens of the variations in different
counties are given in the following table, showing the
percentage of families having each class of house accom-
modation:
First Class. Second Class. Third Class. Fourth Class.
Per Cent. Per Cent. Per Cent. Per Cent.
All Ireland 5.3 47.7 43.3 3.7
County Mayo ... 1.9 22.5 71.0 4.6
County Kerry ... 2.8 35.6 51.6 10.0
County Dublin . . . 12.2 52.3 31.3 4.2
County Tipperary . . 6.0 65.9 34.1 4.0
This table gives a very fair idea of the differences in
house accommodation between a poor agricultural county
of West Ireland like Kerry or Mayo, and an urban county
like Dublin. 1
1 Census of Ireland, 1891, General Keport, pp. ix and 167.
SOCIAL CONDITION. 191
In Scotland they adopt a different system, classifying
the houses according to the number of rooms. In 1891
there were 817,568 houses containing 2,649,186 rooms,
making an average of 3.24 rooms to a house, and 1.52
persons to a room. In towns, each house has an average
of 3.02 rooms, and 1.62 persons to a room; in villages,
each has an average of 3.09 rooms, and 1.55 persons to a
room ; and in the rural districts, each has an average of
3.95 rooms, and 1.28 persons to a room.
In Scotland, in 1891, there were 398 families registered
as living in one room with no window, and 193,337
families (22 per cent) as living in one room with window.
House accommodation is, however, steadily improving.
In 1861 there were 7,964 families occupying each one
room with no window, while 34 per cent of the families
occupied each one room with window. 1
In England they have still another method of measur-
ing house accommodation. They distinguish between a
house and a tenement, the latter being any part of a house
separately occupied either by the owner or by a tenant.
Tenements were classified according to the number of
rooms, and it was found that 4.7 per cent were one-room,
and 11.4 per cent were two-room, tenements. Still fur-
ther, the number of persons to each room was given.
Where there were more than two persons to a room the
tenement was said to be "overcrowded." Taking the
tenements of less than five rooms, it was found that 11.23
per cent of the total population were living in such over-
crowded tenements. The proportion in urban districts
was 12.31 per cent, and in some cities it ran as high as 35
and 40 per cent. The overcrowding is worst in indus-
trial and mining districts. 2
Besides these general census returns as to house accom-
1 Census of Scotland, 1891, Vol. I., p. xv.
s For interesting details and discussion, see Census of England, VoL IV.,
p. 19 ff.
192 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
modation, we have had special investigations with refer-
ence to the so-called tenement house problem of large
cities. The most recent is the Tenement House Census
of Boston which was taken in 1891. This covered 36,223
rented houses inhabited by 71,665 families comprising
311,396 persons, or an average of 4.35 persons to a family,
and of 8.60 persons to a rented house. The average
number of persons to a room was 0.91, but in some cases
it was as high as 2.11. Of the 71,665 families, 11,825
were found in one-tenement houses, that is, in separate
houses held under rental ; 41,245 families lived in houses
containing two and three tenements. These two classes
together comprise three-fourths of all the families and
persons living in rented houses. The number of families
to a house, according to this statement, does not seem to
be excessive. Nevertheless, calling the three-tenement
house a tenement house in the ordinary sense of the word,
and excluding houses containing more than six tenements,
which are ordinarily of the higher class called " apartment
houses," they find in Boston that 48 per cent of the
families occupying rented houses are in tenement houses.
They constitute, however, only 37.24 per cent of the esti-
mated number of families in the city, and only 29.67 per
cent of the estimated total population.
They tried in Boston to indicate more particularly
the character of the tenement houses. It was found, for
instance, that of these families 25.78 per cent have bath-
rooms, while 74.22 per cent do not. The tenement houses
were still further classified in respect to outside sanitary
condition, light and air, ventilation, and cleanliness. The
inspector designated them under each head as excellent,
good, fair, poor, or bad. About 12 per cent of the popu-
lation in rented houses were living in " poor " or " bad "
tenements, but in some of the wards the proportion was
as high as 25 per cent. 1
1 Report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labour, 1891, pp.
SOCIAL CONDITION. 193
In the city of Bale in Switzerland, a still more minute
investigation has been made of the dwelling accommoda-
tions of the people. This covered only tenement houses,
that is, houses inhabited by two or more families. The
peculiarity of the inquiry is that the rooms were measured
and classified according to their cubic contents. Ten
cubic metres was fixed upon as the minimum necessary for
a sleeping room per person, and 20 cubic metres as the mini-
mum for a living room. There lived in dwellings which
did not furnish the minimum amount of sleeping room, 7.3
per cent of the population ; in dwellings which gave the
minimum amount of sleeping room but not of living room,
35.2 per cent of the population. Another 30.8 per cent
lived in dwellings with a moderate amount of living room.
Only 19.2 per cent had abundant room. 1
Education. The condition of a people is very often
gauged by its intelligence, or the prevalence of education.
We have here two statistical measurements, one of illiter-
acy and the other of educational facilities. The first is
much easier to express than the second.
There are various methods of ascertaining the illiteracy
of a population. The first is to ascertain by a census in-
quiry the number of persons who can read and write, or at
least read. An example is the Census of Ireland, which
gives for two periods, fifty years apart, the number of
literates and illiterates in the population 5 years of age
and over as follows :
Bead and Bead but not Neither Bead
Write. Write. nor Write
Per Cent. Per Cent Per Cent.
Ireland, 1841 28 19 53
Ireland, 1891 71 11 18
This shows the wonderful progress made during the last
538, 551, 555. See also The Seventh Special Report of the Commissioner
of Labor : The Slums of Baltimore, Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia.
Washington, 1894.
1 Biicher, Die Wohnungs-Enquete in der Stadt Basel. Reviewed in
the Allg. Stat. Archiv, IL, 296.
194 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
fifty years. The province of Connaught shows the highest
percentage of illiteracy at the present time (27 per cent)
and the county of Galway has the highest percentage
(34.1) of any county in Ireland.
Of the Roman Catholic population 5 years of age and
upward, 22.0 per cent, of the Protestant Episcopalian, 8.6
per cent, and of the Presbyterian 5.6 per cent, could
neither read nor write.
Ireland is considered an illiterate country, but it is not
nearly as much so as some of the countries of continental
Europe. In Austria, for instance, 27.7 per cent of the
males and 31 per cent of the females, six years of age and
over, could neither read nor write, and in Bukowina and
Dalmatia the percentage was 75 and 85 for males
and females. 1
As a contrast to this, we may take the state of Massa-
chusetts in 1885, where of the population 10 years of age
and over, 1.6 per cent could read but not write, and 6.12
per cent could neither read nor write. Of all the illit-
erates, 88 per cent were foreign-born. The number of
adult illiterates (among whom illiteracy is practically
permanent) was much greater among the foreign than
among the native-born. 2
The second method of ascertaining illiteracy is to take
the number of parties contracting marriage who are un-
able to sign their names in the registration book. This
is the English method. The number signing with a mark
was, for one hundred of each sex:
Males. Females. Males. Females.
In 1843 . . 32.7 49.0 In 1883 . . 12.6 15.5
1873 . . 18.8 25.4 1893 . . 5.0 6.7
This table shows a great decrease, especially marked
since 1883. In Scotland the proportion, in 1890, was 3.92
per cent for men, and 6.42 per cent for women. In Ire-
lAllg. Stat. Archiv, III., p. 414.
2 Census, Mass., 1885, Vol. I., Part II., p. Ixxxv.
SOCIAL CONDITION. 195
land the proportion, in 1890, was 20.4 for men, and 20.9
for women. In Prussia, notwithstanding the universal
compulsory school-attendance, there is a certain number
of newly -married people unable to sign the marriage cer-
tificate. They forget how to write between the time of
leaving school and getting married. The number is de-
creasing, and, in 1891, was only 1.6 per cent among males,
and 2.5 per cent among females. 1 The number is greater
among females than among males, because men have
greater occasion to exercise their writing in occupations
after leaving school than have females. The male recruits
also are taught reading and writing, if found illiterate.
A third method is to obtain the number of recruits un-
able to read and write.
In Germany, of the recruits for the year 1889-90, only
0.5 per cent could neither read nor write their own name.
For the province of Posen, the proportion was 3 per cent;
for West Prussia, 3.26 per cent; for East Prussia, 2.49 per
cent; but for all the other provinces of Prussia and the
rest of the empire, it was less than one per cent, in some
cases going as low as 0.01 per cent.
In France 2 the results of the second and third method
correspond, there being, in 1887, about 10 per cent of the
recruits who were illiterate, and about the same per cent
of bridegrooms who could not sign their names. The
amount of illiteracy has decreased rapidly since 1870.
International comparison of illiteracy is difficult, because
countries pursue these different methods. Comparatively
few take a census of illiterates ; and the census answers
being made by the individuals themselves, probably the
amount of illiteracy returned is less than really exists.
On the other hand, recruits and people able to marry are
a select class, and thus the great amount of illiteracy ex-
isting among the lower classes, the vagabonds, criminals,
1 Preuss. Zeitschrift, 1893, S. C. II.
2 Levasseur, La Pop. franaise, Vol. II., p. 490.
196
STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
paupers, and defectives, escapes notice. So, too, where
education has recently been introduced, the older persons,
who passed their youth before it became common, may be
very illiterate, although the younger classes, from which
the recruits and bridegrooms come, are now able to read
and write. In Belgium the lowest number of illiterates
is found among persons 15 to 25 years of age, only 15
per cent ; it then increases, until from the age of 60, over
one-half of the persons are illiterate. Such statistics of
illiteracy by age-groups are always extremely interesting,
because they show the long and wearisome struggle that
any educational system has in overcoming ignorance.
Removal by death is the only cure for this illiteracy of
advanced years. The application to the foreign-born
population of the United States has already been noticed.
Notwithstanding these difficulties, an attempt has been
made to secure an international comparison. For sake of
uniformity the figures are taken from the years 1880 to
1882 and refer to illiteracy among recruits, except for
England, Scotland, and Ireland, where bridegrooms are
taken, and the United States, where males 15-21 are taken
as the class nearest the recruits. We have then countries in
four groups and the percentage of illiterates as follows :
GROUP I.
Roumania . 79.6
Servia . . . 79.3
Russia . . . 78.8
United States
coloured pop-
ulation . . 62.1
GROUP II
Hungary
Italy .
Austria
Ireland
Belgium
France
GROUP III. GROUP IV.
50.8 England . . 13.2 Switzerland
47.7 Holland . . 10.4 Prussia. .
38.9 United States Germany .
27.6 whites . . 7.7 Sweden .
15.9 Scotland . . 6.8 Denmark .
14.9
2.5
2.3
1.6
0.4
0.4
Group I., with enormous illiteracy, is typical of the
Slavonic countries in Eastern and Southeastern Europe.
Hungary and Austria, in Group II., having large Slavonic
mixture, approach the figures for Group I. The second
group is mainly the Latin and Celtic nationalities, but
while Italy approaches the East, France is nearer England
and the North. The condition of Ireland is due largely to
SOCIAL CONDITION.
197
economic circumstances. Group III. is mainly Anglo-
Saxon, and presents a moderate amount of illiteracy.
Group IV. is mostly Germanic, and represents illiteracy
pushed down probably to its lowest limits. 1
The single test of absolute illiteracy is a very crude
one for measuring the social condition of a community.
Education can be of all degrees of excellence and extend
indefinitely into the higher domains of science, art, and
learning. We should therefore extend our statistics so
as to show the number of universities and higher schools,
the number of professors and teachers employed, the
number of students enrolled of various grades, the aver-
age length of the school year, the regularity of attendance,
the amount of money spent, and so on. The combination
of all these things might serve to give us some notion of
the educational facilities enjoyed by different communi-
ties. It is difficult, if not impossible, to bring these figures
into international comparison so as to measure exactly the
social position of different populations, and we shall not
attempt it here. 2
Religious Confession. This is an important index of
the social condition of different populations. We have
first the absolute number of members of different confes-
sions as shown in the following table (1890-91) : 3
COTTNTKY.
Protestants.
Roman
Greek
Other
Jews.
Catholics.
Catholics.
Christians.
Germany . .
31,026,810
17,671,929
2,992
145,540
567,884
Austria . .
436,352
18,934,166
3,358,939
17,645
1,141,615
Hungary . .
2,551,831
8,885,940
4,321,187
74,417
730,342
Switzerland .
1,716,548
1,183,828
-
-
8,069
Holland . .
2,674,994
1,596,482
37
61,513
97,324
Denmark . .
2,163,485
3,648
-
10,582
4,080
Sweden . .
4,735,747
1,390
-
18,606
3,402
Norway . .
1,966,476
1,004
52
15,358
214
Ireland . .
1,045,077
3,547,307
-
79,371
1,785
iMischler, Allg. Stat. Archiv, III., p. 730.
2 Recent attempts are by Levasseur, Bulletin de 1'Institut interna-
tional de statistique, Vol. VI., and by Mischler, op. cit.
8 Allg. Stat. Archiv, ILL, p. 472.
198
STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
The above table gives a general notion of the mixture
of religious confessions in some of the principal countries
of Europe.
When we come to distinguish Christian sects, as in the
United States, the matter is much more difficult. We do
not demand in our general census the religious belief of
each individual, but endeavour by collecting the statistics
of churches to ascertain the relative strength of different
denominations. The great difficulty is that we have
to get the numbers from church officials, and that
the definition of what constitutes membership varies. In
some, it is all who have been baptized ; in others, those
who attend the church service or contribute to its sup-
port ; in others, only those who have previously joined the
church or who are communicants.
Specimens of the Church Statistics of the Eleventh
Census are as follows : 1
DENOMINATION.
Organi-
Church
Seating
Value of
Communi-
zation.
Edifices.
Capacity.
Church
cants or
Property.
Members.
Total . .
165,177
142,521
43,564,863
$679,630,139
20,612,806
Methodists
51,489
46,138
12,863,178
132,140,179
4,589,284
Baptists . .
42,909
37,671
11,568,019
82,328,123
3,712,468
Presbyterians .
13,476
12,469
4,038,650
94,869,097
1,278,332
Catholics . .
10,276
8,816
3,374,907
118,371,366
6,257,871
Lutherans . .
8,595
6,701
2,205,635
35,060,354
1,231,072
One peculiarity to be noted in this table is that while
in Protestant denominations the seating capacity is greater
than the number of members, among the Roman Catholics
the number of members is greater than the seating capac-
ity. This is due to the fact that in Catholic churches
two, three, or even four masses are held on Sunday, which
are attended by and intended for different bodies of com-
municants. One case (an extreme one) is mentioned of
a Polish church in Buffalo where there were 17,490 com-
municants, although the church had a seating capacity
1 Compendium of the Eleventh Census, Part II., p. 306.
SOCIAL CONDITION. 199
of only 1900. These figures of church property, capacity,
and membership for the United States have only a limited
value, because they rest on uncertain data. They show
in a general way the religious proclivities of the people,
and the attention they pay to religious culture.
Occupations. The classification of the population by
occupation gives us important knowledge of social condi-
tion. We adopt for this purpose such general grouping
as will apply to large bodies of men living under some-
what similar circumstances. Detailed occupations refer
to such small bodies of persons that although extremely
useful for the study of particular conditions, they cannot
be used for general purposes. The ordinary classification
is shown in the following table : l
PROPORTIONS PER 1000 OF ALL AGES.
CLASS. England Scotland. Ireland. United
and Wales. Kingdom.
Professional 32 28 44 33
Domestic 66 60 61 62
Commercial 48 46 20 44
Agricultural and fishing . . 46 62 200 67
Industrial 263 256 140 239
Unoccupied 556 559 646 655
Less than one-half of the population, including women
and children, is accounted for as engaged in productive
occupations. The differences among the countries are
apparent. In England and in Scotland one-fourth of
the population is engaged in industry, while in Ireland
one-fifth is engaged in agriculture and fishing. If the
unoccupied and nonproductive classes were distributed
proportionately among the different occupations (which
would not be strictly correct), more than one-half of the
population of England and Scotland would be dependent
on industry, and two-fifths of the population of Ireland
on agriculture.
In other countries the census of occupations is taken on
1 Census of England, 1891, Vol. IV., p. 87.
200
STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
a different plan. In France and Germany the dependents
are classed with the person upon whom they are depend-
ent. This gives a different set of figures from those shown
above. A general comparison of France and Germany
would show the following percentages of the whole popu-
lation dependent upon different occupations: 1
Germany. France.
Agriculture and fishing 42.5 47.8
Industry 36.5 25.1
Commerce and transportation .... 11.0 14.3
Professional and official 4.9 6.6
Unoccupied and independent 5.0 6.2
100.0 100.0
These figures tend to show that France is agricultural,
while Germany is more industrial. Similar figures for
the United States go to show that about 40 per cent of
the population are engaged in agriculture. The figures
are as follows:
PERSONS IN GAINFUL OCCUPATIONS, UNITED STATES, 1890, BY CLASSES
OF OCCUPATIONS.
Per Cent
CLASSES OF OCCUPATIONS. Total. Males. Females. in each oc-
cupation.
Total population ten years Totals.
of age and over . . . 47,413,559 24,352,659 23,060,900
All occupations .... 22,735,661 18,820,912 3,914,749 100.00
Agriculture, fisheries, and
mining 9,013,201
Professional 944,543
Domestic and personal
service 4,360,286
Trade and transportation 3,325,962
Manufacturing and me-
chanical industries . . 5,091,669 4,064,119 1,027,550 22.3
A further refinement of the statistics of occupations is
to divide the persons in each occupation into employers,
employed, and working on their own account. In Scot-
1 Stat. Jahrbuch fur das Deutsche Reich, 1891. Levasseur, Pop.
franchise, I., p. 356.
8,333,692
632,861
679,509
311,682
39.6
4.1
2,692,600
3,097,640
1,667,686
228,322
19.1
14.6
SOCIAL CONDITION. 201
land, 1 for instance, the 623,459 males engaged in certain
occupations (excluding such as the public service, army
and navy, professional and domestic, where it is self-
evident whether a man is employer or employee) are clas-
sified as follows : The number of male employers is 56,789,
of employed, 505,323 ; of those working on their own
account, 48,881. Of the females, 7,316 are employers,
210,716 are employed, and 37,914 are working on their
own account. These figures are not altogether satisfac-
tory, because they include only a portion of the popu-
lation. In Germany they have a still more detailed
classification covering employers, administrative per-
sonelle, day labourers, other assistants, etc. The results
for Prussia expressed in percentages of the whole popula-
tion were as follows : 2
Per Cent. Per Cent.
Working on own account . 11.22 Day service 3.25
Labouring class .... 24.85 Unoccupied or independent 2.58
House service 1.02 Dependents 57.08
Such figures do not carry us very far in our estimates
of the social position of a population. The difficulties of
classification seem to be practically insuperable, especially
when we try to compare the population of one country
with that of another. 8
There are many other indirect indices of the social con-
dition of the community. They are mostly economic in
their nature, and can be treated critically only under Eco-
nomic Statistics. It will suffice merely to mention some
of the more important ones here.
The ownership of land is an important factor in the
social condition of a people. Where we contrast the
peasant proprietorship system of France, with more than
1 Census of Scotland, 1891, Vol. II., Part II., p. xiii.
a Statistisches Handbuch fur den Preussischen Staat., Band II., p. 135.
Interesting discussion of statistics of occupations in Census of Eng-
land, 1891, Vol. IV., p. 36.
202 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
4,500,000 owners of land, with the great landlord system
of England, with its 325,000 owners, the social as well as
the economic influence must be very different. When we
know that in Great Britain the average size of agricultu-
ral holding is 58 acres, while in France it is only 12
acres, the difference between the two systems is very
clearly seen.
The indebtedness resting on owners of farms and homes
is another important index of social condition. Out of
12,690,132 families in the United States, 52.2 per cent
hired their farms or homes, 34.43 per cent owned them
unincumbered, and 13.37 per cent owned them incum-
bered. The details of this interesting investigation will
be considered under Economic Statistics.
The statistics of savings banks give us positive evidence
of the prosperity of the people. In the same way, we have
indirect evidence in the number of benefit societies, of co-
operative societies, of mutual insurance associations, etc.
The consumption of the necessaries and comforts of life,
as revealed in the statistics of imports and the returns of
taxation, may be made to show variations in the well-being
of the mass of the people. Price statistics, in conjunction
with wage statistics, show a greater or less command over
the comforts and conveniences of life. The rent of houses
is especially important in this connection.
Social statistics require minute investigation, and we
can often get details in regard to a small community or
section of a community which we cannot extend statisti-
cally. An example is Mr. Charles Booth's investigation of
the conditions in East London, where he was able to di-
vide the people into general classes, showing on the whole
whether they were utterly wretched, very poor and with
uncertain livelihood, poor but decently comfortable, fairly
well-off, and well-to-do. Such minute investigations allow
us to describe the general sanitary condition of the neigh-
bourhood, park and recreation places, opportunities for
SOCIAL CONDITION. 203
amusement, associations for mutual benefit, which we
could not deal with for larger areas. The greatest oppor-
tunity for social statistics probably lies in this direction.
Scientific Tests.
The principal difficulty in social statistics is to get
definitions of terms sufficiently precise to classify the elu-
sive phenomena of social life.
A very simple example of this is the definition of the
terms family and house. What do we mean by the
term family ? Does an individual living alone constitute
a, family ? Does a boarding-house constitute one family,
or as many as there are individual boarders not connected
by any tie of relationship or pecuniary interest ? A board-
ing-school of 75 girls, is that a family, or shall the girls be
assigned to their respective families ? The latter process
is inconvenient and difficult, for often they live outside
the state, or perhaps the girls are orphans. In statistics
they are obliged to cut the knot very simply by counting
every individual living isolated as a family, and all ag-
glomerations of persons living together as a family or
household. Little harm is done when we still further
classify the families according to size, for the single indi-
viduals at once appear, and the institutions and hotels
become prominent by the number of individuals in them.
Even when we come to average the families for the pur-
pose of ascertaining the average size, if the area is of con-
siderable extent these exceptional cases disappear. For
instance, in Massachusetts in 1885, the average size of
family, including these artificial aggregations, was 4.58
persons, and excluding them it was 4.45, a difference
which would not be important. In small communities it
is otherwise. For instance, in the town of Tewksbury,
including the state almshouse as one family, the average
size of family was 7.05, while excluding it, it was 4.50.
The definition of a house presents some difficulty.
204 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
What a difference between a mud hovel and a city hotel!
Yet they are both dwelling-houses. It seems best to
consider each building as a house, and then to enumerate
the number of tenements in a house, each tenement being
occupied by a family. In Scotland they count a dwelling
with an entrance into a common stair as a house. Care
must be taken in international comparisons to see that the
same definition has been used. The influence of the mod-
ern apartment houses in cities is somewhat peculiar.
Wherever they are present it results in a large number of
families to a house. This, of course, does not represent
"overcrowding." Misinterpretation can be guarded
against by giving the number of rooms to a family or
tenement.
The interpretation of the social meaning of a large or
small average size of family must always be made with
careful consideration of surrounding circumstances. In
a frontier country there will be a large number of single
persons, or young married couples, and the family will be
small. In a settled agricultural region, where the grown-
up children continue to find employment on the farm, the
family will be large. In a city, where adults congregate
and bachelor life is easy, or in a country of immigration,
the family is small. Some influences seem contradictory.
An industrial population generally has a large number of
children, but the children leave the parents at an early
age, and there is large infant mortality, so that in factory
towns the family is small. These things, also, affect the
question of overcrowding, for when we say that a family
occupies only two or three rooms, it evidently makes a
difference whether the family consists of adults or of small
children. Among the lower classes, where overcrowding
is most felt, the small children predominate.
The statistics of occupations offer various technical dif-
ficulties which can only be fully considered when occupa-
tions are treated in detail under Economic Statistics. The
SOCIAL CONDITION. 205
lines of division between great groups, like agriculture
and manufacturing, are not always clearly drawn. Some
men pursue two or more occupations, as farmer and fish-
erman, clergyman and schoolmaster, but must be classed
in one alone. It is difficult to class women and children,
who perhaps assist the husband or father, or work inter-
mittently outside. They are not full members of the
occupation, and yet in a certain sense they belong to it.
The term " professional " especially, allows wide divergence
of interpretation, as, for instance, in the United States
Census of 1880, boot-blacks and whitewashes were in-
cluded under it. Shall a maid in a farm-house be included
under the domestic or the agricultural class ? When we
calculate the proportions of the different occupations,
shall we take the whole population as a standard? In
that case, we must class the women and children with the
men on whom they are dependent, or we shall have a large
class of "unoccupied." Shall we take the population
above the age (say) of ten years? We shall still have
the women and a large number of children " unoccupied,"
and the proportion would vary according to the sex and
age composition of the particular population. Shall we
take only those actually engaged in gainful occupations ?
Then the proportion would vary according to the employ-
ment of women and children in factories. Whatever basis
we adopt, international comparison is difficult. Such
statistics are useful, mainly, in tracing progress in the
same country.
In the statistics of education we encounter the same
difficulty of exact definition. The terms illiterate and
literate are very elastic. It makes considerable difference
whether we take the assertion of the individual or not;
and whether the test is an easy one, such as signing one's
name, or a real one. The education of the literates may,
of course, be widely different, so that while we have a
minimum grade we have no upward divisions.
206 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
Scientific precision, in statistics of social position, is not
to be expected. Status is too complex to be expressed in
numerical terms. We can only take certain facts as indi-
cative of the probable condition, and base our judgment
upon these facts. Science here does not demand exact
measurements, but simply tests pointing to probable con-
clusions.
Reflective Analysis.
Social condition rests always upon an economic founda-
tion. There can be no security or refinement in the art
of living unless the economic organization furnishes abun-
dant and sure means of subsistence. There can be little de-
velopment of intellectual, artistic, and social life, until the
crude physical wants are satisfied. Even the morality of a,
community, its participation in vice and crime, are, as we
shall see later, strongly influenced by its economic condition.
This gives rise to the reflection that in order to meas-
ure social condition we must begin with thorough statis-
tics of economic condition. The most important thing
here is trustworthy statistics of wages, for a large portion
of the modern community consists of wage-receivers.
Wages must then be turned into incomes, and this requires
care, for we must know something about average wages, reg-
ularity of employment, time lost by sickness and accident,
strikes and lockouts, how many members of the family are
wage-earners, size of the family to be supported, etc. In-
comes must then be turned into means of livelihood by
tables of prices of the necessaries and comforts of life,
such as food, clothing, shelter, and medical attendance ;
and these last must be adjusted to incomes by " budgets,"
showing in what proportion the various items enter into
the expenditure of a workingman's family. All these
things belong to economic statistics and cannot be eluci-
dated here. It is evident that they form the foundation
of social condition, and in a thorough treatment of the
subject would hold the first place.
SOCIAL CONDITION. 207
The statistics of social condition which we have given
in this chapter are therefore secondary. They are mani-
festations of social life which serve as indices of the
condition of a community. They depend' upon the eco-
nomic condition lying behind and underneath them.
They are to be looked upon not as independent primary
factors, but simply as manifestations, phenomena, revealing
in a certain way the real condition of things.
One of the most important of these manifestations is
revealed by the statistics of houses and dwellings. Man
always demands shelter for his head. Beginning with
caves and holes in the earth, he progresses through huts,
wigwams, and mud hovels to the heated and lighted
houses of modern times with doors, chimneys, and win-
dows. The importance of such progress cannot be de-
nied. It is seen in the struggles over hearth and window
taxes which have always been denounced as hindering a
development which was most important for the condition
of the mass of the people, viz., better building. When
we find, therefore, 20,000 families in Ireland still in mud
hovels, it gives us a vivid impression of poverty and desti-
tution. And it is a sign of progress noted by the census-
taker of Scotland with satisfaction, that the number of
families living in one room without window has become
extremely small, and the proportion of families living in
one room with window is growing steadily less. The size
of the house, although only a rough measure, for houses vary
infinitely in quality even when built of the same material,
affords us an index of the social condition of the people.
With the crowding of population into large cities the
problem of house accommodation as an index of social
condition has become more complex, while at the same
time even more important. The size of the house in the
country is an index of the comfort of the inhabitants.
The tenement house in the city with its numerous fami-
lies, lack of light and air, bad sanitary condition, and
208 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
deteriorating surroundings is an index of the possibility,
or rather impossibility, of leading a decent, healthful, and
moral life. It means not only a limited space in which to
live and sleep, but constant exposure to disease, to dis-
order and disturbance, and to moral contamination. The
social results of tenement house living are widespread and
permeating.
The statistical problem of how to express these con-
ditions is correspondingly difficult. It is necessary that
we find some measure which will gauge the evils and
point to methods of improvement. Mere statistics of
overcrowding, i.e., of the number of families to a house
or of persons to a room, are not sufficient. Even if ac-
companied by measurements of the cubic contents of the
rooms, the statistics are not altogether adequate, for they
do not give us the quality of the house accommodation.
They must be supplemented by observations of the sanitary
condition, situation, and cleanliness of the house. These
latter are, of course, the subjective judgment of the in-
spectors, but there is no doubt that we must train men
to make such observations, if our house statistics are to be
of value. Only by such refinements can we attain the
desired result. And there is no reason why such re-
finements should not be reached, if we are willing to
expend sufficient scientific care in the development of
our social statistics.
The number of families and the number of persons to
a family are less directly an index of social conditions
proper, because they are evidently closely connected with
merely demographic phenomena, such as births, deaths,
and marriages. They have, indeed, deep social significance,
but this significance has to be interpreted with great care
in connection with other facts. If small families indicate
prudence and foresight, and result in comfort and well-
being, low death-rates and freedom from misery, it is hard
to condemn them. If they are accompanied by vice and
SOCIAL CONDITION. 209
immorality and threaten the future prosperity of the
nation, it is necessary to condemn them. How widely
interpretation differs may be seen by examining the
theories and judgments in regard to the present stationary
state of the population of France. As indicative of the
influence of other phenomena, such as the effect of urban
life, the competition of other nationalities, the growing
taste for luxury, the loosening of the bonds of religion
and domestic life, the statistics of families will always
have great interest and value.
Education can scarcely fail to be always an index of the
social condition of a people. Ignorance generally accom-
panies poverty, vice, and crime. We do not always make
men moral by teaching them to read and write, for some
of the worst criminals have been educated men. Never-
theless, it remains true that the intelligent community is,
in general, a prosperous and moral one. Religious con-
fession, again, is not always indicative of morality, but
certain characteristics accompany different religions, so
that the statistics serve as an index of social condition.
Occupations possess, mainly, an economic significance and
need to be treated in greater detail under Economic Sta-
tistics. We have already shown their relation to sickness
and mortality.
The problem of how to unite these different measure-
ments so as to form a true " index " of social condition has
not yet been solved. If an " index-number " for the prices
of commodities is difficult, how much more so would be an
" index-number " which should measure variations in social
condition.
CHAPTER X.
THE INFIRM AND DEPENDENT.
Sociological Purpose.
IN the last chapter we looked into some of the positive
elements for judging of the social condition of the com-
munity. But the positive elements are always much more
difficult to measure than the negative. It is comparatively
easy to say that people are poor ; it is difficult to measure
how rich they are. When people are very poor they
demand public assistance, and we have statistics of pauper-
ism. But when they are able to take care of themselves
we have no need of knowing how well-to-do they are, and
get only indirect evidence of it by an income tax or the
like. In one respect we have already taken negative
evidence, viz., of illiteracy, which is easier to test than the
degree of education.
There is, now, a range of subjects where we have nega-
tive evidence of the condition of a community, economic
and social. These are the statistics of pauperism already
mentioned ; the statistics of the infirm in body or mind,
such as the blind, the deaf and dumb, the insane and idiotic.
Finally, we have statistics which evidence not only the
absence of wealth, health, and strength, but the commis-
sion of acts which the community absolutely condemns as
bad or immoral. These are the statistics of suicide, vice,
and crime. Here we cannot measure the good directly, as
the morality of a community, but we can indirectly, by
measuring the evil.
210
THE INFIRM AND DEPENDENT. 211
In this chapter we take up the statistics of misfortune,
that is, of those conditions which we do not attribute to
the immorality or criminality of the individual. These
are the statistics of the infirm and dependent.
There is a certain number of persons in every com-
munity who, on account of some physical or mental
infirmity, are not able-bodied. They are more or less
of a burden to society. They do not represent the full
strength which their numbers would indicate. Their
presence is, in that sense, an economic loss. Not only
that, but in many cases their presence indicates some
defect in the social organization, or in the manner of life
of the people. Where possible, it is necessary to remedy
such defects. At least it is necessary to study the con-
dition of these unfortunates with a view to ameliorat-
ing it, both for their sake and for that of the community.
For this purpose we seek statistics of the number of each
class, their sex, age, and conjugal condition, their sickness
and mortality, their economic and social condition, in
order to understand the cause of and the remedy for the
misfortune.
In pauperism we seem to have a slightly different
phenomenon, for men are paupers often through their
own fault, sometimes almost of their own choice. But
we treat pauperism as a social phenomenon, its causes in
social conditions, in intemperance, in industrial organiza-
tion, and the remedies to be applied for its amelioration or
extinction.
In all these directions we still remain true to the soci-
ological purpose of depicting social organization. The
dependent and infirm constitute classes in society, and
they influence many other social phenomena. They make
peculiar contributions to the statistics of births, mar-
riages, deaths, age, and conjugal condition. They con-
stitute a classification which cuts transversely, as it were,
across other classifications. They show us peculiar rela-
212 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
tions to the physical environment, as land, climate, and
economic condition ; while pauperism and dependence are
associated with the social environment, such as institutions,
family life, religious belief, morality, race, nationality,
and social condition. We have abundant opportunity to
study relations of co-existence and of sequence. Practical
sociology is also deeply interested here, and whether we
discover sociological laws or not, our statistics furnish the
knowledge of actual conditions necessary to initiate re-
form. The sociological purpose of this chapter is to
arrange and analyze the statistical data in such a way as
to reveal these relations.
Statistical Data.
There are many classes of infirmities, some of them en-
tirely incapacitating the individual, others only partly,
some present from birth, others coming on with advanc-
ing age. There are also many different degrees of the
same infirmity. Among the blind, some are totally blind,
others have simple impairment of the vision. Among the
deaf, there are deaf-mutes, others are deaf but not dumb,
others are only partly deaf. A great many of these
infirmities have comparatively little social importance,
because they are simply the natural consequence of ad-
vancing age. Such are the natural failure of eyesight
and hearing as people grow old. Partial blindness and
partial deafness are often not incompatible with the indi-
vidual earning his livelihood and fulfilling his social
duties. There are many other physical infirmities, such
as loss of arm, or leg, or eye, spinal difficulty, chronic
diseased condition, which, while they interfere with the
individual's full capacity, do not absolutely prevent his
taking part in the work of the world. These cases of
partial disability are difficult to register, because the line
can never be drawn between the different degrees of the
same infirmity. It is only of the extreme cases, such as
THE INFIRM AND DEPENDENT. 213
total blindness, deaf-muteism, insanity, and idiocy, that
we get trustworthy statistics, and this is due to the fact
that these unfortunates are largely the inmates of public
institutions.
The Blind, Deaf-mutes, Insane, and Idiotic. These
are the four classes commonly registered, and of which
we have statistics. The insane and idiotic are often
classed together under one term, such as mentally de-
ranged, or simply insane and idiotic. The statistics are
not altogether trustworthy, because in some countries
there is a larger number of institutions for such persons,
or more of them are gathered into institutions, in which
case the statistics are more perfect than when they
are scattered among their families. The numbers per
1,000,000 of the population for some of the countries of
Europe and the United States are shown in the follow-
ing table (1890-91) : *
Blind. Deaf-mutes. Insane. Idiotic. Total.
Austria 806 1292 1513 2 656 8 4267
Hungary 1051 1089 603 1009 3752
Sweden 825 1109 1818 1592 5344
Norway 1289 1080 3896* 6265
England and Wales . 809 489 3357* 4653
Scotland 695 528 2594 1246 5063
Ireland 1135 715 3176 1327 6353
United States ... 805 659 1697 1526 4687
North Atlantic div. 777 670 2385 1472 5304
South Atlantic div. 888 634 1322 1653 4797
North Central div. 783 731 1647 1634 4795
South Central div. 895 581 959 1532 3967
Western div. . . 561 430 1878 648 3517
It will be seen by reference to this table that the
1 Alls. Stat. Archiv, Vol. III., p. 474. Comp. Eleventh Census, U. S.,
Part II. Census of England, 1891, Vols. III. and IV. Census of Scotland,
Vol. II. , Parts I. and II. Census of Ireland, Part II. All further facts
are from these sources, unless otherwise stated.
* Under insane are included also " Blodsinnige " or idiots.
8 Under idiots are meant cretins.
* Includes both insane and idiotic.
214 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
total number of these unfortunates is everywhere less
than one per cent of the population. The number is
greatest in Norway and Ireland, where it exceeds six-
tenths of one per cent. There are extraordinary differ-
ences in the prevalence of the various infirmities in
different countries. Norway and Ireland show an ex-
traordinary number of blind. Austria has an extraor-
dinary number of deaf-mutes. Ireland again shows the
largest number of insane and idiotic, while Norway fol-
lows close after, and Scotland is next. It is evident
that there is no geographical distribution of these infirmi-
ties according to climate or elevation above the sea.
There is no fixed law of distribution according to race,
although it is probable that race temperament displays
itself to a certain extent in the statistics of insanity. The
number of unfortunates in these different classes is in-
fluenced most largely by local conditions, such as food
and nourishment, occupation, medical care, and general
social condition. The divisions of the United States
show marked differences, insanity especially being more
frequent in the North than in the South. It will be
necessary to study each infirmity by itself, and with
particular reference to the country whose statistics we
are using.
The Blind. Under the blind are meant, of course,
those who are totally blind. In Ireland a very par-
ticular study has been made of them since 1851. There
were then reported 7587 blind persons in the popula-
tion, and this number increased to 8679 in 1861, not-
withstanding the decrease in population. This was at-
tributed to the prevalence of ophthalmia, especially in the
poor-houses. In 1891 the number had decreased to 5341,
or 770 less than in 1881, and 1006 less than in 1871.
The proportion to the population still remains high,
because emigration leaves the blind behind. In Scotland
also the number of blind has decreased from 3158 in 1881
THE INFIRM AND DEPENDENT. 215
to 2797 in 1891, or from 846 per million to 695. Other
countries of Europe show a slight decrease from decade
to decade.
The Blind according to Sex and Age. There are gener-
ally more males than females among the blind, although
this is not always the case. For every hundred blind
males there are in Scotland 90.4, in England 91, and in
the United States 80.1 blind females. In Ireland, on the
other hand, for every hundred blind males there are
107.3 females, and there is a slight excess of females also
in Hungary and Sweden. In respect to age, we have
those who have been blind from childhood, and others
with whom blindness has been due to disease, accident, or
advancing age. In England 17 per cent, in Scotland
11, and in Ireland 5 per cent, were reported as hav-
ing been blind from infancy. Even these figures are
probably exaggerated, because many of these unfortunates,
poor and friendless, have no clear recollection of whether
they were born blind, or became so later. In fact, blind-
ness is an infirmity of advancing age. In Ireland 71 per
cent of the total blind were aged 50 years or over. In
Scotland 50 per cent of the males, and 65 per cent of the
females, who were blind, were over 50 years of age. In
England 45 per cent of the males, and 56 per cent of the
females, were 55 years of age and over. In England and
Scotland the number of blind males exceeds that of blind
females until the age of 65, after which the females out-
number the males at like ages.
The combination of sex and age shows why the pro-
portion of the two sexes varies in different countries.
There are two conflicting influences. Blindness caused
by accident, dangerous occupations, violence, and dissipa-
tion would fall more heavily on men than on women;
while blindness due to advancing age would afflict more
women than men, simply because the former live longer.
Part of the variation would be explained by differences
216 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
in sex and age distribution, and in the industrial or
agricultural character of the occupations. Ireland, for
instance, is agricultural, with many old people, and we
have an excess of females among the blind. The United
States has an excess of males and a small proportion of
old people. England and Scotland are industrial. The
general excess in the Southern divisions of the United
States (agricultural) over the North (industrial) is prob-
ably due to the presence of the coloured population.
As blindness is an affliction of advancing age, it does
not necessarily interfere with marriage. A very large
proportion of the blind is found among the married,
widowed, and divorced, simply because of the greater age
of persons in those classes.
Perhaps some natural selection is shown in the smaller
number of females among the married. In Prussia
(1880), out of 100 blind males, 55 were married, widowed,
or divorced, while out of 100 females, only 53 were mar-
ried, widowed, or divorced. In a normal population the
proportion is greater among females than among males.
In regard to religious confession, in Prussia the figures
per million were, for Protestants 820, for Catholics 840,
and for Jews 1100. The reason for this excess among
Jews is not explained. In Ireland the proportion per
million was 1216 for Catholics, and 884 for Protestants.
This, of course, is due to the fact that all of the lower
classes are Catholics.
In regard to education, out of the 5341 blind in Ire-
land, 2176, or about 40 per cent, were uneducated. Of
the 3145 reported as educated, 184 had received education
since blindness came on, while 169 had been educated pre-
viously, and had also received a special education fitted
to their condition subsequent to becoming blind.
The occupations of the blind depend upon their previous
occupation, and as to whether they have been able to con-
tinue the exercise of it. So many of them are practically
THE INFIRM AND DEPENDENT. 217
unable to do the latter that the statistics are not of much
value. In Ireland, out of 2932 blind persons whose
actual or former occupation was specified, 590 were farm-
ers, 377 were labourers, 348 were knitters, 301 were
servants, 254 were musicians, and 215 basket-makers. It
is evident that former and present occupations are mixed
together in this enumeration. In nearly one-half of the
cases the occupation is not specified. We have similar
statistics for Scotland and England. In the latter coun-
try musicians, servants, mat-makers, broom and basket
makers are especially heavily represented. The number
of unoccupied is also large.
The causes of blindness would be a matter of great
interest if our statistics were trustworthy. But, as a mat-
ter of fact, the causes are returned by ignorant persons,
so that they possess but little scientific value. Various
diseases are assigned as causes, and various accidents,
such as wounds, explosions, injury by animals, etc. In
Ireland, in 1891, the most frequent causes assigned were
cataract, ophthalmia and external inflammations, small-
pox, and diseases of the brain and nervous system. But
the unspecified causes were much more than one-half of
the whole.
The Deaf and Dumb. Here we have two classes, those
who are deaf and dumb, or the deaf-mutes, and those who
are deaf but not dumb. 1 In Scotland there were 2125 deaf
and dumb, and 741 deaf but not dumb. In England there
were 14,192 deaf and dumb, and 15,088 deaf only. The
number of deaf-mutes is generally decreasing. Among the
deaf-mutes the males exceed the females; while among the
deaf only, the females exceed the males, because of increas-
ing age. In England, among the deaf and dumb, the
1 This is the ordinary classification. In Ireland the Census of 1891
returns 3365 "deaf and dumb," and 1099 "dumb not deaf." This latter
seeuis to me an extraordinary number, and I have not been able to obtain
an explanation of it. The Irish Census makes no return of " deaf only."
218 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
proportion per million of each sex was 548 for males and
only 434 for females ; while for the deaf only it was 444
for males and 592 for females.
Deaf-muteism is an affliction of childhood. In Ireland,
out of 3365 cases, 2570, or 76 per cent, were congenital.
In Scotland the largest number of deaf and dumb is found
during the early years of life. The steady decrease after
the age 15 to 20 shows the greater mortality among these
unfortunates.
In regard to conjugal condition the deaf-mutes are
largely shut out from marriage because of the mortality
among them. In Prussia only 8.5 per cent of the males
and 6 per cent of the females were married.
In regard to religious confession, in Prussia the propor-
tion among Jews was greater than among Catholics or
Protestants ; in Ireland the proportion among Catholics
was greater than among Protestants, for the same reason
as was assigned in regard to the blind.
In regard to education, in Ireland the proportion of the
educated to the uneducated, among those who were not
suffering from any infirmity which would render them
unsusceptible of the instruction imparted to this class of
the community, was as 1 to 1.3.
Occupation depends very much upon the social condi-
tion of the families in which the deaf-mutes live. In
Ireland the largest number was found to be servants, next
labourers, then sempstresses, boot and shoemakers, tailors,
etc.
The causes of acquired muteism are chiefly epidemic
diseases, such as small-pox, measles, and scarlatina, and
accidents affecting the hearing. Among children who
have lost their sense of hearing at an early age, the faculty
of speech often disappears partially or wholly.
In Ireland information was obtained of the number of
congenital deaf-mutes born of the same parents. In 2328
families one mute in a family occurred in 1807 instances ;
THE INFIRM AND DEPENDENT. 219
there were 297 cases of two mutes born in a family; 155
instances of three mutes ; 41 cases of four ; 14 of five ; 8
of six ; 3 of seven ; 2 of eight ; and one case of no less
than 11 deaf-mutes in a family.
Special inquiry was also made into cases of muteism
where consanguinity of the parents existed. In 1891 there
were 185 instances where the parents of mutes were related,
and the result of intermarriage was 105 cases of one mute
in the family, 99 congenital and 6 acquired; 44 of 2
mutes, 42 congenital and two acquired; 20 of three,
9 of four, 1 of five, 3 of six, 1 of seven, and 2 of eight
mutes in a family ; all the cases of more than two mutes
were congenital.
There is a general impression that deaf -muteism, cretin-
ism, and idiocy are often the result of the same general
causes. A recent Austrian inquiry, in which special atten-
tion was paid to cretinism, seems to support this notion.
In general those districts where there is the greatest num-
ber of cretins, such as Salzburg, Carinthia, Styria, and
Upper Austria, also show a large number of deaf-mutes.
Galicia, however, has a large number of deaf-mutes, but
few cretins; while the Tyrol has a large number of cretins,
but comparatively few deaf-mutes. Among persons who
are doubly afflicted the combination of deaf-muteism and
mental derangement is the most frequent, as will be
shown later. 1
The Insane and Idiotic. In some countries they do not
distinguish in the statistics between lunatics and idiots,
so that it is necessary to deal with these two classes
together. We shall, however, distinguish between them
whenever the statistics allow.
It is generally believed that insanity is increasing in
civilized countries. This is sometimes denied, and the
apparent increase is explained on the ground that it has
become more and more customary to treat these unfort-
1 Bauchberg, Bevolkerung Oestem>ichs, p. 234.
220 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
unates in asylums and public institutions, where they will
receive the best scientific care. This fact doubtless points
to the probability that part of the increase is simply due
to more perfect statistics. This is Mr. Noel Humphrey's
argument in reference to the alleged increase of insanity
in England :
" Thus the mean annual proportion of registered lunacy to popula-
tion in the five years 1864-68, compared with that in the preceding
five years 1859-63, showed an increase of 12.9 per cent, whereas, the
rate of increase in succeeding five-year periods, compared with the
preceding quinquennium, successively declined to 11.7, 7.6, 5.0, and
to 2.8 per cent in the five years 1884-88. This marked and steady
decline in the rate of increase of registered cases appears to be incon-
sistent with the supposed real increase of lunacy, whereas it is entirely
consistent with the theory that the increase in the proportion of regis-
tered cases to population is mainly due to improved and more com-
plete registration, which is constantly bringing within the knowledge
of the Commissioners a larger proportion of the total existing cases
of insanity, and thus reducing the reserve of unregistered cases." 1
The census of 1891 (England) shows that there has
been an increase since 1871 in the total number of lunatics,
but accounts for it by supposing that the better care in
asylums prolongs life, and thus tends to accumulate the
total number. The rate of discharge by death and re-
covery from the asylums averaged 19 per cent annually
in 1871-80, while in 1881-90 it was only 17.83. But with
a discharge rate of 19 per cent it required an average of
689 new cases per million persons living to reach the rate
of 1881, while with a discharge rate of 17.83 per cent it
required an average of only 661 new cases per million
persons living to reach the rate of 1891. These figures,
therefore, seem to indicate a slight decrease.
In Ireland the figures show an enormous increase of
lunatics, they having trebled since 1851, or, if we take
into account the decrease in population, having quadru-
pled. In 1851 the proportion to one million of the popu-
i Jour, of Statistical Society, 1890, p. 213.
THE INFIRM AND DEPENDENT. 221
lation was 775 ; in 1891 it was 3174. The proportion of
idiots in 1851 was 750 per million; in 1891 it was 1326.
Since 1881, however, there has been a decrease in the
number of idiots. The proportion in some of the coun-
ties is still astounding. In the county of Meath there
was one lunatic for every 177 inhabitants, and one idiot
for every 438 inhabitants, showing a ratio of 5650 and
2283 per million for the two classes.
In Scotland the number of lunatics has increased from
2250 per million in 1881 to 2594 in 1891, while the num-
ber of idiots has decreased from 1603 per million in 1881
to 1246 in 1891.
Most other countries show an increase in the number of
those suffering from mental derangement, but as the luna-
tics and idiots are seldom distinguished, the figures are of
little value. As already remarked, the increase in the
number of the insane in asylums does not necessarily
indicate an increase in insanity. In the United States,
for instance, the total number of insane persons treated in
both public and private institutions during the year 1889
was 97,535, while during the year 1881 there were 56,205
treated, showing an increase in the nine years of 41,330, or
73.53 per cent. This percentage of increase does not
indicate an increase in the proportion of insane persons to
population, but rather a great increase in the amount of
asylum accommodation provided, and a willingness on the
part of the public to make full use of all the facilities thus
provided. 1 The total number of insane per million of
population was 1697 in 1890, and 1833 in 1880.
Special statistics of the insane in regard to sex, age,
and conjugal condition are as follows: There are more
women than men among the insane in Sweden, England,
Scotland, and Ireland. 2 In Austria and Hungary there is
1 Quotation from Census Bulletin No. 62.
2 In Ireland, however, there was an excess of males if we take equal
numbers living of the two sexes, viz. , 4728 insane males and only 4285
222 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
a greater number among the males, but in the former
country there are some idiotic included under the head
insane. In England, taking the insane and idiotic together,
there were 114 females to 100 males. Where the idiotic
are taken separately there is an excess of males. The real
relations are brought out more clearly by combining sex and
age. Of the 97,383 mentally deranged in England, 7722
were so from childhood, and here we have an excess of
males ; among the other 89,661 mentally deranged, there
is a large excess of females, taken as a whole. Up to the
age of 25, however, the males are in excess, while after
that the females are always greatly in excess. This is
partly, if not wholly, accounted for by the greater mortal-
ity among males. That idiocy is a disease of childhood,
and insanity of advancing age, is shown by the statistics
of those countries where they distinguish the two classes.
In Scotland the largest number of idiots was found
between the ages 15-20, after which it gradually
declined. Among the insane, up to the age of 20 the
number was small, but from that age on, each quinquen-
nial period up to 70-75 was represented by a large num-
ber; after 40 years of age the females outnumbered the
males. For a true comparison, we should obtain the pro-
portion of insane and imbeciles at each age period to the
population of that age. This would show a constantly
decreasing proportion of idiots after the age of 20,
owing to the great mortality among these unfortunates ;
and an increasing proportion among the insane, owing to
new cases. These statistics are confirmed by those for
Ireland, where persons suffering from particular forms of
mental derangement, such as mania, monomania, melan-
insane females per million living of corresponding sex. Even in England,
where the proportions were 3230 males and 3478 females per million liv-
ing, it is argued that the excess of females is due to their accumulation
owing to less rapid discharge by death or recovery. See Census of
England, Vol. IV., pp. 76 and 90.
THE INFIRM AND DEPENDENT. 223
cholia, dementia, idiocy, epilepsy, and various combina-
tions of these forms are distinguished by age. The
violent forms, such as the different kinds of mania, as well
as melancholia and dementia, scarcely appear in childhood,
but are strongly represented after the age of 30. Idiocy,
on the other hand, is strongly represented in childhood,
and the maximum number of cases is found in the age
class 20-25.
In regard to conjugal condition, in Ireland 79.6 per
cent of the mentally deranged were unmarried, 14.8 per
cent were married, and 5.6 per cent were widowed. The
appearance of idiocy in childhood acts as a bar to mar-
riage, and the total number of married and widowed is
insignificant. Among the insane, doubtless the symptoms
which afterwards develop into insanity may, by the law of
natural selection, shut them out from marriage. It is also
possible that married life with its regularity and orderli-
ness acts as a restraining influence, while widowhood and
the divorced state, by bringing grief, remorse, and passion,
lead to insanity.
In regard to education, the lunatics and idiots are
largely illiterate. In Ireland, in 1891, 41.1 per cent
could read and write, 11.4 per cent could read but
not write, 47.5 per cent could neither read nor write.
This large amount of illiteracy is doubtless due princi-
pally to the fact of idiocy being an affliction of child-
hood.
Occupations depend very largely upon the kind of work
that can be entrusted to persons of deranged or weak
minds. Accordingly, in Ireland we find that the occupa-
tion most largely represented among lunatics and idiots
was that of labourer; next in numerical order was
servants ; and the next largest number was tabulated
under the head of farmers and their families. It is evi-
dent that we have here simply the principal occupations
of the country, and that the figures are too indefinite to
224 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
show any causal relation between occupation and mental
derangement. 1
The cause of lunacy and idiocy is always difficult to
determine, even where skilled physicians have had charge
of the case, because it requires a minute knowledge of
the past history of the person afflicted. Where the
lunatic or idiot lives with his or her family the cause
is generally unknown. In Ireland, for instance, out of
21,188 cases the number in which the cause was stated
was only 6565, less than one-third. Of these, 1834 were
attributed to moral or mental causes, 2099 to physical
causes, and 2632 were returned as hereditary. Of the
moral or mental causes, the largest numbers were attrib-
uted to grief (446) ; terror (297) ; religious excitement
(286) ; anxiety (228) ; reverse of fortune (224) ; and love
and jealousy (132). Of the physical causes, the highest
numbers were intemperance (671) ; epilepsy (320) ; injury
to the head (234) ; sunstroke (220) ; cerebral disease
(163) ; and diseases of the nervous system (126).
It is usual to give also a description of the kind of lu-
nacy or idiocy, and this is an indication, to a certain extent,
of the cause. These forms, however, run into each other
so that our information is not very definite. In Ireland,
for instance, the kinds of lunacy and idiocy were classi-
fied as follows in the order of the number suffering from
them: mania, idiocy, dementia, melancholia, epilepsy,
acute mania, dementia with epilepsy, monomania, suicidal
mania, idiocy with epilepsy, puerperal mania.
Double or Triple Misfortune. We have some unfortu-
1 In France, statistics of the insane in asylums gave the following pro-
portions per 100,000 of each class (Levasseur, Pop. franchise, L, p.
347):
Artists 9.6 Government officials ... 1.4
Lawyers 8.5 Industry 1.1
Clergy 4.1 Leisure class 1.0
Physicians 3.8 Commercial 0.4
Professors and literary men 3.5 Agricultural 0.2
Soldiers and sailors ... 2.0
THE INFIRM AND DEPENDENT. 225
nates, who enter not only into one, but into several of these
categories. In England, in 1891, there were 82 both
blind, and deaf and dumb, 380 blind lunatics, 500 deaf-
mute lunatics, and 25 lunatics who were also blind, and
deaf and dumb.
We have thus completed a rapid survey of these four
principal kinds of misfortune. Each one of them is
worthy of study, particularly from a medical standpoint,
with the view of seeking to diminish the loss and suffer-
ing occasioned to the community. From the standpoint
of sociology it would be desirable to point out general
causes, such as food, nourishment, and sanitary condition,
which may have an influence in producing these misfort-
unes. Unfortunately our statistics do not carry us very
far in this direction. In France they find blindness
more frequent in the south than in the north, and this
is believed to be due to the dust, and the blaze of the sun-
light. In France also it is found that the cretins, idiots,
and goitreux are especially numerous in mountainous
regions. These misfortunes are probably due to poor
nourishment, bad water, and absence of sun. Statistics
from Austria show also the greater frequency of cretin-
ism in mountainous regions. While in Austria the num-
ber of cretins per 100,000 of the population was 79, in
Carinthia it was 303, in Salzburg 273, in Styria 248,
and in the Tyrol 140. Statistics for Germany show
that idiocy is more frequent in the south than in the
north, and this again is due to the large number of cretins
in the Alpine regions of Bavaria. 1
Insanity is more frequent in the west of Germany than
in the east, and this is supposed to be due to the more
exciting life of an industrial region.
In Ireland we have a very careful distribution of the
various forms of misfortune according to counties, but
with no very clear results. The largest proportion of
1 Allg. Stat. Archiv, Vol. II., p. 691.
226 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
blind seems to be in the south, in Limerick, Tipperary,
and Cork. The deaf-mutes are scattered through differ-
ent counties ; while the proportion of lunatics and idiots
is greatest in Meath. Ulster stands the lowest of the
four provinces in all three kinds of infirmities.
Other Physical Infirmities. Besides the blind, deaf
and dumb, and mentally deranged, there are many other
forms of infirmity which occasion suffering and economic
loss to the community. An attempt is sometimes made
to enumerate these in a census, but as the classes sought
for are never the same in any two countries it is impossi-
ble to give uniform statistics. We can therefore only
give samples of what different censuses have undertaken,
in order to get a notion of the kinds of misfortune preva-
lent in a community besides those already enumerated.
In Ireland they distinguish between the permanently
diseased, comprising the deaf and dumb, blind, lunatic,
and idiotic, and the temporarily diseased. Under the
latter head are understood those in hospitals and infirma-
ries, and those sick at their own homes who are not able
to follow their usual occupations. The total number
was 35,745 compared with 30,993 of the former category.
Of the temporarily diseased, 16,466 were at their own
homes ; 4490 were in infirmaries, and general and special
hospitals ; and 14,789 in workhouse hospitals. The pro-
portion of those temporarily diseased was 7.6 per 1000
persons living. The rate was highest in the city of
Dublin, a circumstance partly attributable to the hospital
accommodation.
In the United States there were 194,029 persons re-
turned as so afflicted with various forms of disease as to
be unable to pursue their usual occupation, giving a
proportion of 14.5 to each 1000. In addition to these
afflicted with disease, out of every 1000 of the popula-
tion there were 1.3 suffering from the effects of accidents
and injuries ; 1.4 were paralyzed ; 1.6 were lame ; 0.38
THE INFIRM AND DEPENDENT. 227
had lost one arm ; 0.35 had lost one leg ; and 0.38 were
affected with deformed or contracted limbs.
In Massachusetts, in 1885, they made a much more
minute inquiry as to different forms of physical infirmity.
The following classification was adopted: 1
DEFECTIVE PHYSICAL CONDITIOH. Males. Females. Both Sexes.
Acute diseases 675 609 1,184
Chronic diseases 7,519 6,846 14,364
Blind 2,086 1,496 3,582
Deaf 1,255 1,718 2,973
Dumb 74 60 134
Deaf and dumb 438 390 828
Insane 2,344 2,919 6,263
Idiotic 987 651 1,638
Maimed 2,205 177 2,382
Lame 3,454 1,682 6,136
Bedridden 135 298 433
Paralytic 1,437 1,103 2,540
Deformed 399 281 680
Total individuals .... 21,794 17,419 39,213
Out of this aggregate number, 1824 were suffering from
more than one misfortune. The table is interesting, as
showing the differences between the sexes in the various
kinds of misfortune. In addition to the usual classes we
have a large number of persons suffering from chronic
diseases, and a very considerable number who are either
maimed, lame, or paralytic. The proportion of the whole
number to the total population of Massachusetts was 20
per 1000. Of the total 39,213, no less than 6004 were
paupers, 527 were homeless children, and 117 were con-
victs and prisoners. Of the total number, 5976 were
supported by public charity, 540 partially by public
charity, 2396 by private charity, and 887 partially by
private charity. Of the total number, only about 25 per
cent were of foreign birth, although the foreign-born were
27 per cent of the total population.
1 Census of Massachusetts, 1885, Vol. I., Part II., p. cxxv. Persons
suffering from two or more infirmities are entered under each.
228 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
Provision for the Infirm. The final consideration under
this section should be to determine what provision is
made for the care of these unfortunate members of the
community. This consists of asylums for the insane, the
idiotic, the blind, the paralytic, etc., and of schools for
the instruction of the blind, and the deaf and dumb. A
mere enumeration of the number of these asylums, or
schools, would be of little use. We have one statistical
fact which is of interest, namely, the number in each of
these different classes cared for in institutions. In Ireland,
out of 14,945 persons returned as lunatics, 11,265 were
in asylums, 2787 in workhouses, while only 893 were at
large. Out of 6243 idiots, 996 were in asylums, 1170
were in workhouses, and 4077 were at large. The differ-
ent proportions in the two classes are due, of course, to
the greater danger of violence from lunatics. In Massachu-
setts, out of 5263 insane, 4384 were in institutions, and
879 in private families ; of the idiotic, 605 were in insti-
tutions, and 1033 in private families. Of the other kinds
of misfortune, by far the largest number of persons
suffering from them are found in private families. A
considerable number are in hospitals and poorhouses.
The number of schools for the education of the blind,
and the deaf and dumb is a matter of special inquiry.
In Ireland there were nine institutions for the education
of the blind, with accommodation for 758 inmates, but
with only 464 actual inmates in 1891. There were four
institutions for the education of the deaf and dumb, with
533 inmates. In the United States, in 1889, there were
2931 persons under instruction in institutions for the
blind.
Pauperism. There is a large number of persons in
every community, some of them able-bodied, but many of
them infirm, who are dependent upon public charity for
their means of support. Some of them are supported
entirely by the community, such persons being collected
THE INFIRM AND DEPENDENT. 229
generally in poorhouses or almshouses, while others
receive out-door relief. The inmates of workhouses for
Great Britain and Ireland, in 1891, were declared to be as
follows :
Ireland
Males.
19,998
Females.
22,350
Both Sexes.
42,348
Scotland
4,559
4,922
9,481
England and Wales . .
. 102,689
80,024
182,713
Total 127,246 107,296 234,542
These statistics are sufficient to show the immense
number of paupers in the ordinary civilized community.
Besides these inmates of workhouses, there is a large
number of persons receiving out-door relief. This number
varies greatly from year to year, and from week to week.
In Ireland, at the time of the taking of the census in 1891,
the number of persons receiving out-door relief was
62,988, or one out of every 75 of the population. The
number of each class, and the proportion to the popula-
tion, in England, is shown in the following table: 1
RECEIVING
IN-DOOR BELIEF 1 .
RECEIVING
OUT-DOOB RELIEF.
TOTAL.
Ratio
Ratio
Ratio
Number.
per 1000.
Number.
per 1000.
Number.
per 1000.
1850 . .
123,004
7.0
885,696
50.0
1,008,700
67.4
1860 . .
113,507
5.8
731,126
37.1
844,633
42.9
1870 . .
166,800
7.1
876,000
39.4
1,032,800
46.6
1880 . .
180,817
7.1
627,213
24.7
808,030
31.8
1890 . .
187,921
6.6
687.296
20.2
775,217
26.7
1891. .
185,838
6.3
573,892
19.5
759,730
25.8
It will be seen from this table that the total number
of persons in receipt of relief has greatly decreased since
1870, and still more the ratio of persons to the total popu-
lation. As regards the distribution of pauperism, it was
greatest, in 1891, in the Southwestern division, amounting
there to 40.8 per 1000 ; it was least in the Northwestern,
only 17.8 per 1000. The individual counties in which it
was greatest were Norfolk, 45.8, and Dorset, 44.8 per
1 Jour. Stat. Soc., 1892, p. 133.
230 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
1000. The number of paupers varies according to the
season, the ratio being generally from 0.5 to 1 per 1000
lower in July than in January. With one exception
(London), the number of out-door paupers in every
county is much greater than the number of in-door. In
London the ratio of in-door paupers is far greater than
in any other county, viz., 13.9, while the ratio of out-door
paupers is only 11.6 per 1000.
The expenditure on relief of the poor in 1890 amounted
to 8,444,345 pounds sterling, or at the rate of 5s. 9|t?. per
head of the population. The cost per head on the mean
number of paupers of all classes was <10 17*. Id., and the
cost per head on the mean number of out-door paupers
was 4 11. 7rf.
The statistics in regard to sex, age, and conjugal con-
dition of paupers vary greatly for different countries
according to the system of poor relief. Illustrations
of these statistics for England and Ireland are as fol-
lows :
Sex, Conjugal Condition, and Age. In England there
were 102,689 males to 86,024 females, that is, there
were only about 85 females to 100 males. In Ireland,
on the contrary, there were 19,998 males to 22,350 fe-
males, or nearly 112 females to 100 males. In England
57.4 per cent were single, 11.7 per cent married, and
30.7 per cent widowed. In Ireland the figures were 64.6
per cent single, 11.5 per cent married, and 23.9 per cent
widowed. Of course, children and old people are the
most helpless, hence the large proportion of unmarried
and widowed. Of the paupers in England, 23.6 per
cent were under the age of 15, and 45.3 per cent over the
age of 55.
A more scientific table might be worked out, showing
the proportion of paupers of each age to the total number
of persons of that age, as follows : Under the age of 15
there were 43,467 paupers, or 42 to 1000 of the popula-
THE INFIRM AND DEPENDENT. 231
tion ; from the age 15 to 55 there were 54,810 paupers, or
3.5 to 1000 ; above the age of 55 there were 84,726 paupers,
or 28 to 1000. These figures cover only in-door pau-
pers.
There is a large amount of illiteracy among paupers.
In Ireland 48.5 per cent could neither read nor write, and
12.9 per cent could read only. The in-door paupers
represent a great variety of occupations, by far the largest
number being entered as servants and the next largest as
labourers. There seems to be no special connection
between occupation and pauperism.
Pauperism in Other Countries. The laws for the relief
of the poor vary so widely that it is impossible to give
statistics for different countries that will be comparable.
The word pauper sometimes means the inmate of an in-
stitution, and sometimes any person in receipt of relief
either from public or private charity. The following
are some of the recent figures.
In Germany the latest statistics are for 1885. There
were at that time 886,571 families, comprising 1,592,386
persons in receipt of poor relief. This makes an average
of 3.4 to 100 of the population. It appears from further
analysis that only 20 per cent of this total number are
what would be called in-door paupers. There seems
to be a great difference of custom in regard to in-door
and out-door relief in different parts of Germany. In
Bremen, for instance, only 10 per cent of the paupers were
in institutions, while in Hanover, Schleswig-Holstein, and
Saxe-Weimar it was between 32 and 37 per cent. 1 For
any further study of pauperism it would be necessary
to take up the states one by one. For the whole empire
they have one other interesting figure, namely, the cause
on account of which individuals have sought poor relief.
The most frequent (28.4 per cent) was sickness of the
1 Article, Annenstatistik, in Conrad's Handworterbuch der Staatswis-
senschaften, I., p. 807.
232 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
individual or of the head of the family. Next to this
caine the death of the head of the family, or his infirmity
either physical or mental. Lack of work was put down
in 5.4 per cent, and drunkenness in 2.1 per cent of the
cases.
In France it is said that there were 14,116 bureaux de
bienfaisance, extending aid to 1,505,115 persons, which
would make an average of 3.98 assisted persons to 100 of
the population. These bureaux expended 33,620,382 francs
per annum, making an average of 0.89 francs for each
inhabitant. This gave an average of 22.34 francs, or,
subtracting the administrative cost, an average of 18.79
francs for each person assisted. 1
In Austria the statistics for 1881-85 show a total of
270,854 persons in poorhouses and infirmaries, an average
of 1.20 per 100 of the population. In Holland the figures
for 1879 showed 88,917 single persons or heads of families
in receipt of constant relief, or 2.22 per 100 of the popu-
lation ; and in addition, 123,543 persons in receipt of tem-
porary relief, or 3.08 per 100 of the population. The two
together made 212,460, or 5.30 assisted persons per 100 of
the population. In Sweden, in 1886, there were said to be
228,311 assisted persons, or 4.84 per 100 of the population.
Of these, 46,049 were altogether supported by the com-
munity. In Norway, in 1884, there were said to be 147,725
assisted persons, that is, 7.6 per cent of the population. 2
Pauperism in the United States. The census of 1890
returned the total number of inmates of almshouses
as 73,045, or 1166.4 per million of the population. In
1880 the total number was 66,203, or 1320 per million.
These proportions differ very much for different sections
of the country, being highest in the North and low-
est in the South. Of the total number of paupers,
66,578 were whites, and 6467 coloured. Of the white
paupers, 36,656 were native-born, and 27,648 foreign- born,
i Ibid., p. 814. 2 Ibid.
THE INFIRM AND DEPENDENT. 233
Of the native-born paupers, 21,519 had both parents
native, 3580 had both parents foreign-born, 949 had one
parent native and one parent foreign-born, and in 10,608
cases, the birthplace of one or both parents was unknown.
Leaving out of view the cases where the parentage is un-
known, and dividing the cases of mixed parentage equally
between the native and foreign, it would appear that the
foreign population contributes directly or indirectly very
nearly three-fifths of all the white paupers supported in
almshouses. In regard to sex, 40,741 were men and
32,304 were women. The largest number was found in
the age period 60 to 69. The average age of paupers
was 51.03 years.
Scientific Tests.
The principal difficulties in this branch of social statis-
tics are in classification and observation. When the in-
firm are gathered together in institutions, the statistics
are much more perfect than when they are scattered in
their own families. But for this very reason international
comparison is not altogether fair, because those countries
often make the poorest showing where the greatest care
is exercised to get the unfortunates into properly equipped
institutions. It is also obvious that where we are study-
ing the geographical distribution of the infirm, we must
apportion them to the different parts of the country whence
they came. Neglect of this simple rule compels the cen-
sus commissioner of Scotland to explain that the large
number of blind in certain counties is accounted for by
the presence of institutions for the blind in those counties.
Owing to infirmities being sometimes only partial, it is
necessary to inquire particularly into each case. In Ire-
land, for instance, in 1891 there were originally 6663
persons returned as blind, but upon further inquiry 1322
of these persons were discovered to be only partially blind.
In Breslau, out of 200 persons returned as blind, 34 were
not entirely so. It is almost impossible to determine the
234 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
age when blindness came on, and its cause, because the
victims are so often poor and unintelligent that they for-
get the first fact, and have very vague knowledge of the
second.
These same difficulties are met in the statistics of the
other kinds of misfortune, perhaps even in greater degree.
Minute and scientific observation of the cases gathered
together in asylums and institutions will accomplish more,
both for medical and social statistics, than any general
enumeration of the census.
In the statistics of pauperism the chief difficulty is to
distinguish between permanent and temporary relief, and
the different kinds and amounts of temporary relief. In
the United States, for instance, the term pauper has
different significations in different states. The state
board of charities of New York includes in its annual
return of paupers, the inmates of the hospitals for the
sick and for the insane, maintained by the New York City
commissioners of public charities and correction, but these
are not included in the census returns. In Massachu-
setts the state commissioners of charities class as paupers
the children in the Marcella Street Home, who are classed
in the census as inmates of benevolent institutions. In-
mates of insane wards in almshouses are included among
the paupers, except where such insane departments of
almshouses occupy a separate site. In some states paupers
are boarded out, and these are included in the United
States census under the head of inmates of almshouses,
although, strictly speaking, they are not inmates. It is
evident that where we have a variety of institutions, such
as almshouses, infirmaries, hospitals, and asylums for the
insane, deaf and dumb, and blind, it is difficult to calcu-
late exactly the number of real paupers. 1
There is one other difficulty in ascertaining the number
of individuals who are in receipt of public relief. This is
1 Census Bulletin, 154.
THE INFIRM AND DEPENDENT. 235
due to the fact that paupers are at liberty to leave the
poorhouse, and to re-enter. This is a custom among
many paupers who seek the poorhouse as a last resort
when occupation or energy fails. The official figures
give only the total number of inmates at any one period.
So, also, the figures for out-door relief give only the total
number receiving relief on a particular day. Mr. Charles
Booth has made a careful investigation in order to de-
termine, if possible, the number of different individuals
actually receiving relief during the year. For this pur-
pose he finds it necessary to increase the number of in-
door paupers by 85 per cent, and the number of out-door
paupers by 170 per cent. This results in some startling
conclusions, as, for instance, that 40 per cent of the popu-
lation of England of the age of 65 and over is in receipt
of poor relief. 1
Reflective Analysis.
When we consider these statistics of the infirm and de-
pendent, we must at once acknowledge the importance
and interest of such data for the community. The pres-
ence of these persons is, first of all, an economic burden
to the state, because they do not support themselves, and
in many cases have to be entirely supported by the com-
munity. In Great Britain and Ireland alone, the direct
money cost of poor relief was nearly 11,000,000 pounds
sterling. If we add to this the cost of the insane, the blind,
and the deaf and dumb in asylums, and consider what the
able-bodied among these unfortunates might earn, we get
some idea of the economic burden. In many cases also
the infirmity of the head of the family throws the depend-
ents into want, or at least suffering, even if it does not
bring them on to the poor relief.
Much more important than the economic consideration
1 Journal of the Statistical Society, 1891, pp. 625, 631. For exhaustive
study of English pauperism, see Booth, The Aged Poor in England and
Wales, 1894.
236 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
is the thought of the suffering and distress involved in
the presence of the infirm in the community. One author
reckons that there are more than 500,000 mentally de-
ranged persons in the population of Europe and North
America alone. What an immense amount of suffering
for them and for others is involved in this condition ! It
is for the purpose of discovering remedies for such fright-
ful ills that statistical science tries to enumerate them.
Especially in the question of the connection between vari-
ous forms of infirmity and the economic and social con-
dition of the community does statistical science find an
important field to work in. If we can prove that cretinism
and deaf-muteism are the result of poor food, bad dwell-
ings, and bad drainage, then there is an obvious field for
efforts towards social reform. If we can show that gath-
ering these unfortunates into public asylums and institu-
tions not only is the best policy for them, but is also most
compatible with the humanitarian instincts of the commu-
nity, it is an argument for social activity in that form.
It is an interesting question whether insanity is increas-
ing or not. It is the common impression that among
savages there are few insane. Still further, it is believed
that the increased nervous activity among civilized men
induces insanity. The question cannot be answered defi-
nitely, because of the imperfect statistics of former times.
As already mentioned, the increasing tendency to care for
the insane in institutions gives an apparent increase
which may not be real. It has also been suggested that
this scientific care of the insane and idiotic prolongs
their lives so that the number in existence at any one
time becomes greater. It might also be true that a larger
number recover owing to scientific care, but the very fact
that they have received such care tends to swell the num-
ber. It is pretty obvious that we can reach no very
definite conclusion on this point until practically all the
insane are gathered into asylums, and records have been
THE INFIRM AND DEPENDENT. 237
kept showing the number received, the number dying,
and the number discharged cured. It is only under these
circumstances also that our statistics of age, kind of in-
firmity, probable cause, duration, physical and moral
effect, will be satisfactory. If it turn out that the high
pressure of modern life increases insanity, then it is evi-
dent that we have reason to modify our educational system
and the demands which we make upon the mental activity
of the community.
In the meantime, it is a cheering sign of progress that
the number of blind, deaf and dumb, and paupers seems
to be growing less in proportion to the population. This
is due, it is to be hoped, not only to better medical care,
but also to better economic condition, showing that the
increased wealth of the modern community is coming to
the good of all.
CHAPTER XI.
SUICIDE.
Sociological Purpose.
IN the last chapter we gave some negative evidence of
the social condition of the community, namely, the statis-
tics of those forms of misfortune which detract in a
marked degree from the economic prosperity and the
social happiness of the community. As we said then,
these incidents appear in the light of misfortunes. We
do not hold the blind, deaf-mutes, lunatics, or idiots
responsible for the infirmity which makes them a burden.
Even in the case of paupers, sickness, accident, old
age, lack of employment, and unavoidable misfortune are
so often present that our condemnation is not very severe.
But there is another kind of social action which brings
loss and suffering to the community, which we do not
willingly class under the head of accident or misfortune.
In suicide, vice, and crime, we believe not only that the
individuals inflict suffering upon themselves and upon
others, but that this suffering might have been avoided
if they had chosen to regulate their conduct differently.
These actions are equally negative evidence of the eco-
nomic prosperity and social happiness of the community.
For we cannot consider a community prosperous where
suicide, vice, and crime are prevalent, nor as increasing in
prosperity where these actions are becoming more numer-
ous. We naturally use such statistics as an index of
social condition, and in many respects a surer index than
those of economic prosperity, such as the increase of
wealth, or the growth of thrift. Such statistics will
238
SUICIDE. 239
therefore be eagerly welcomed by any community sensi-
tive to the signs of social progress.
In another respect these actions are of great interest,
because we now reach the domain of moral statistics, which
have excited so much discussion on account of the ques-
tion of moral responsibility involved in them. As we
shall see in a later chapter, the effort to show the reign
of law in these actions seems to weaken that moral respon-
sibility which we impose upon the criminal by assuming
that he had freedom of choice to do or not to do the
criminal act. If, on the other hand, you admit this full
freedom of the will, then you seem to take from Statistics
its real purpose, namely, to show by recurring regular-
ities the connection between cause and effect. This is
the great problem in moral statistics, to determine how
large a domain is left for the freedom of the will.
In the statistics of suicide we stand on the threshold of
this great question. Suicide is voluntary death, not due
to accident or disease. On the other hand, it is not a
natural action. It is unnatural, and there must be some
powerful cause driving a man to it. But the more power-
ful this cause, and the more independent of the will of the
victim, the more involuntary, i.e., necessary, becomes the
act of suicide. This is the great question to determine.
If a bridge breaks down, or an embankment gives way and
a person is killed, we call the death accidental ; but if a
man or woman is driven to suicide by misery or despair,
are not these the cause of death, in the same sense as the
breaking of the bridge or the caving-in of the embank-
ment? That is, was it in the power of the individual to
resist in the one case any more than in the other ?
Nevertheless, we consider suicide as more or less a
voluntary action. We cannot think of it as entirely
compulsory. Men are often tempted to take their own
life, and still do not. They often commit suicide under
the impulse of the moment, when if they had taken time for
240 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
second thought, they would not have done it. We readily
admit that circumstances often almost justify the suicide,
but we do not readily admit that the act was unavoidable.
The question of free-will in the case of suicide is some-
what different from that of crime, because the community
does not feel an equal necessity of holding the person re-
sponsible. The action does not benefit the victim, and
does not directly injure the community. Pity takes the
place of blame, and we are inclined to give to circum-
stances all the extenuating influence they can bear. In
addition, we are accustomed by experience to look upon
suicide as the almost natural sequence of certain courses
of action. While holding on, therefore, to the notion of
the freedom of the individual, we are not indisposed to
admit the occasionally almost overwhelming influence of
outward circumstances. It is this which makes the study
of suicide the fitting introduction to the study of statistics
of vice and crime, where the question of moral respon-
sibility has such far-reaching importance.
If we admit now that the phenomenon of suicide is more
or less beyond the will of the individual, that is, governed
by law, how are we to conceive of it ? Is it simply an
effect of environment ? Or is it a part of the great law
of natural selection by which the stronger survive, and
the weaker are pushed to the wall? We have two re-
markable books, one by Adolph Wagner, 1 and the other
by Morselli, 2 in which the statistics of suicide are treated
from these points of view. Suicide is looked upon as a
phenomenon which is to be explained by other phenomena,
such as physical, ethnological, social, and psychological
influences surrounding the individual. The purpose of
this chapter is to give a resume of this evidence, in order
1 Die Gesetzmassigkeit in den scheinbar willkiirlichen Handlungen der
Menschen, Hamburg, 1864 (out of print).
8 II Suicidio, Milano, 1879 ; English translation (abridged), Suicide,
New York, 1882.
SUICIDE. 241
to show the importance of suicide as a social fact, and
also to introduce the question whether it is a voluntary
or an involuntary action.
Statistical Data.
The Number of Suicides. The number of suicides is
somewhat difficult to determine, because it is not always
easy to distinguish between suicides and accidental or
violent deaths. The statistics are sufficiently accurate,
however, to show striking differences between countries.
The numbers per 1,000,000 inhabitants, for the different
countries of Europe (average of 1887 to 1891) are as
follows :
Denmark . . 253 Belgium . . 122 Holland ... 68
France . . . 218 Sweden . . 119 Scotland. . . 56
Switzerland . 216 Bavaria . . 118 Italy .... 52
Prussia ... 197 England . . 80 Ireland ... 24
Austria. . . 159 Norway . . 66
These figures show very marked differences, and al-
though there are some variations from year to year, the
general order of the countries is not changed. There are
some remarkable extremes besides those shown above.
Saxony has a constantly enormous rate of suicides, the
average from 1862 to 1886 being 322 per million inhabi-
tants, and in 1887 it was 340. Russia is supposed to have
a rate of about 27 per million inhabitants, and Spain also
is low. In the United States the rate for 1881-85 was, in
Connecticut 103, in Massachusetts 91, in Vermont 87, and
in Rhode Island 82. Some of the contrasts between
neighbouring countries, such as Sweden and Norway,
France and Belgium, Belgium and Holland, England and
Ireland, are very remarkable. 1
1 For statistics of suicides from 1816 to 1875, see Morselli, Suicide,
p. 20. For later statistics, see Bulletin de PInstitut international de
Statistique, Vol. VII., 2 erne livraison, p. 306. Jahrbticher fiirNational-
oekonomie und Statistik, Dritte Folge, Bd. VIII., p. 430. Publications
of American Statistical Association, Vol. III., p. 163.
R
242 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGT.
In all these countries there has been a great increase of
suicide since statistics were first collected. In Norway
alone there seems to have been a decrease since the begin-
ning of the century. In Prussia the number has more
than doubled, in France it has nearly trebled. In England
it showed a remarkable regularity for many years, averag-
ing always about 66 per million, but in recent years the
number has increased, until in 1891 it was 85 per million.
Morselli, after careful examination of the figures, comes to
the following conclusion : " Frequency of suicide shows
a growing and uniform increase, so that, generally, volun-
tary death since the beginning of the century has increased,
and goes on increasing more rapidly than the population,
or the general mortality." This average annual increase
of suicide is in the generality of cases between one and
three per cent. In Sweden, while the average increase of
population was 0.81 per cent, the annual increase of suicide
was 1.5 per cent. In France the increase of population
was 0.07 per cent, of suicides 2.06 per cent ; in Italy, of
population 0.7 per cent, of suicides 1.28 ; in Prussia, of
population 0.98 per cent, of suicides 1.07.
The regularity from year to year in the number of
suicides is sometimes very striking. In England the
number varies less than that of homicides and illegitimate
births. In Sweden it varies less than the annual number
of homicides, or of marriages, and varies but little more
than the number of deaths, or of accidental deaths. In
Bavaria the annual number of suicides varies less than
homicide, marriage, illegitimate births, and accidental
deaths. In fact, suicide is one of those phenomena where
we expect to find much the same regularity and much the
same variation as in the, ordinary so-called vital statistics
of a population. 1
Influence of Climate and Seasons on Suicide. Morselli
has made great efforts to trace the influence of what he
1 Morselli, Suicide, pp. 30 and 34.
SUICIDE. 243
calls cosmico-natural forces on the number of suicides.
In regard to climate and geographical position no very
clear law is discernible. There are two marked centres
where the rate of suicide is always high, namely, Paris and
the kingdom of Saxony. As we recede from these centres,
the rate of suicide grows less. Thus, it is less in Southern
France than in Northern. It is very large in the Prus-
sian province of Saxony, and lowest in the Rhine province.
It is highest in the southeast of England, and lowest in
North England and Wales. Finally, the rate of suicide
is low in Spain, Italy, Greece, Ireland, Scotland, Finland,
and Russia, countries lying along the circumference of a
circle whose centre is the region of highest suicide in
Central Europe. This distribution, although not exact
in every respect, is rather remarkable.
The influence of changes of temperature on suicide is
better determined. If we take the average number by
months, we find that in general, and for all countries, it
increases regularly from the beginning of the year, and
reaches a maximum in June ; it then decreases, reaching
a minimum in December. In Germany, taking the sta-
tistics for Prussia, Saxony, Wiirtemberg, Baden, and Ham-
burg, for the 14 years from 1872 to 1885, covering 87,439
suicides, the distribution by months, on the basis of 1200
per year, or 100 per month, was as follows :
January . . 78 May. ... 122 September . . 99
February . . 85 June . . . 126 October ... 92
March ... 90 July. ... 121 November . . 80
April . . . 119 August ... 108 December . . 70
It seems that the tendency to commit suicide is influ-
enced, not so much by the intense heat of mid-summer,
as by that of spring and early summer. It is the change
of temperature which affects the system. This fact must
be brought into connection with the greater frequency of
mental diseases at this same season which partly accounts
for the increase of suicide. 1
iMorselli, Suicide, p. 64. Allg. Statist. Archiv, Vol. II., p. 45.
244 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
Suicides have been distributed according to the day of
the week on which they occur, showing the minimum
number on Saturday, pay-day, and the next lowest on
Sunday, the day of rest and recreation. On the other
hand, the proportionate number is very heavy on Monday
and Tuesday, when the debauch is over, the money spent,
and the hardships of life again felt.
Ethnological Influences. There has been a great ten-
dency to attribute differences in the suicidal mania to
differences in race temperament. People of Germanic
blood are supposed to be of more melancholic, and at the
same time idealistic temperament, and thus to be easily
tempted to take their own lives. The Romance nations
are thought of as light-hearted, and little disposed to take
the ills of life seriously. In support of this view is the
fact that the highest rate of suicide is found in Central
Germany. Still further, those parts of Prussia which
have the purest Germanic blood show the highest rate,
while the eastern provinces, with an intermixture of
Slavic blood, show the lowest. In Switzerland the rate
is higher in the German cantons than in the French or
Italian. In Austria it is higher in German Austria than
in Hungary. In Italy the higher rate in the north is
supposed to be due to the greater proportion of Germanic
blood ; and in France, the high rate about Paris is due to
the same influence, intensified by the presence of a great
city. The very low rate in Ireland, Spain, Southern Italy,
Roumania, Russia, and Finland is attributed to the influ-
ence of Celtic, Latin, and Slavonic blood. The great dif-
ficulty with this theory is the comparatively low rate of
suicide in Anglo-Saxon England. Morselli attributes it
to intermixture with Celtic blood, but this is contrary to
the best historians. Economic and political causes may
possibly have reduced the Germanic tendency to suicide.
The general conclusion seems to be, that the peoples of
Germanic blood have a greater tendency to suicide,
SUICIDE. 245
although other causes very often modify or change this
tendency.
Social Influences on Suicide. Habits and manner of life
must have great influence in encouraging or controlling
the tendency to suicide. If, however, the race influence
be a strong one, then all these social influences would be
intermixed with ethnical ones, and be difficult to distin-
guish. If we choose out marked social differences, we
shall find some interesting variations. In Europe, for
instance, it is well known that suicides are more common
among Protestants than among Catholics. We have in
support of this [he broad fact that purely Catholic coun-
tries like Italy," Spain, and Portugal have the smallest
number of suicides, while countries almost purely Protes-
tant, such as Saxony, Denmark, and parts of Prussia, are
among those 'having the largest. Such a classification
might seem to depend upon race more than religion, since
all the first group are Celtic or Latin, and all the second are
Germanic. A better basis for inquiry is found in those
countries where the population is partly Catholic and
partly Protestant. It is then necessary to compare the
number of suicides of each religious confession with the
total number of persons of that confession. Morselli
makes 37 comparisons of this sort, and in only 4 of
them do the Catholics show a rate of suicide superior to
that among Protestants ; in Bavaria and Prussia the rate
of suicide among Protestants was two and a half times that
among Catholics. The Jews everywhere show a strong
aversion to suicide. 1
In regard to education and culture, it is a well-known
fact that those countries where the people are the best
educated show the largest number of suicides. Exam-
ples of this are Prussia and Saxony, with their com-
pulsory school education on the one side, and Spain
and Italy, with their great amount of illiteracy on the
1 Morselli, Suicide, p. 122.
246 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
other. In Italy illiteracy is greatest, and suicide least
frequent in the southern provinces. 1 The statistics of
school attendance, of newspapers, of libraries, and other
evidences of culture show parallel results. This connec-
tion of suicide with education is explained, of course, by
the fact that mental development brings greater danger
of nervous disorders, and greater sensitiveness to mental
and physical suffering.
Influence of Economic Condition. Here we can trace
the same general influence as in births, deaths, and mar-
riages. Bad times, wars, and commercial crises tend to
increase the number of suicides, but the effect is generally
observable the following year. The years 1846-47 showed
an increase in suicide in all the countries of Europe,
except Sweden and Bavaria. The years 1873-74 were fol-
lowed by an increase of suicide in Prussia, Austria, and
Italy. In England the number varies inversely with the
per capita exports and imports.
Suicide in Cities. In general, suicide is more frequent
in the city than in the country. In Prussia, for instance,
in 1888 the rate for the whole state was 198, while that
for Berlin was 288. In German cities of 15,000 inhabitants
and over, the number of suicides from 1887 to 1891 was
246 per million. Morselli says that for every 100 suicides
in each country, there were in London 123, in Berlin 140,
in Copenhagen 112, in Stockholm 464. 2 Nagle gives the
rate of suicide in 1880 in London as 93.4, in New York
126, Berlin 276, Philadelphia 80, Vienna 316, Glasgow
23.7, Brooklyn 54.7, Liverpool 55. 1. 3 The greater fre-
quency of suicide in cities is explained by the immigra-
tion of the vicious and dissipated, and by the greater
excitement and worry of city life.
Individual Biological Influence. There are always more
1 Ibid., p. 131. Statistica delle Cause di Morte, Anni 1889 e 1890.
2 Morselli, D Suicidio, p. 273.
8 Nagle, Suicide in New York City.
SUICIDE. 247
men than women among suicides, generally in the propor-
tion of 3 or 4 to 1. In England the number, in 1891, was
1863 males and 620 females, which is a proportion of 3
to 1. In Prussia the proportion was 3.7, in Italy 4, and
in France 3.7, to 1. The proportion of men to women
is always very low in England, showing that, for some
reason or other, English women are more inclined to
suicide than the women of other nations. It is easy to
understand that there should be more men committing
suicide than women. They have more responsibility and
care, are more ambitious, are less willing to acquiesce in
defeat, are more given to dissipation and reckless conduct,
and, as a rule, have more physical courage. Morselli
asserts that the organic structure of the brain makes women
feel atmospheric changes quicker, so that the increase of
suicide in the spring shows itself more quickly among
them than among men. He also asserts that the increase
of suicide, especially in cities, is falling more heavily upon
men than upon women.
Influence of Age. The number of suicides increases
with age. Suicide among children is rare, although
such cases do occur. In Prussia, from 1883 to 1888,
no less than 289 school-children committed suicide. 1
In large cities cases occur among very young children,
driven to it by misery. Some old figures for France
record, out of an aggregate of 25,760 suicides from 1835
to 1844, 1 child of 5 years, 2 of 9 years, 2 of 10 years,
6 of twelve years, 7 of 13 years, and 2 of 14 years. It
is always difficult to ascertain the motive for suicide, even
among adults ; among children it is much more difficult.
In Prussia the prevailing motive among the pupils in the
higher institutions was failure in examination or pro-
motion, while among those in the lower institutions it
was fear of punishment. Mental derangement was also
assigned as the cause in numerous cases.
iPreuss. Zeitschrift, 1890, S. C. mui.
248 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
Combination of Age and Sex. The true method of
measuring the suicidal mania is to compare the number
of suicides of each sex and age period with the total
number of persons of that sex living at each age. The
number of suicides is so small that the proportions vary
somewhat from year to year. An example of the dis-
tribution is given in the following table, showing number
of suicides per 1,000,000 of each age and sex in Prussia
(1877) :
AGE. Men. Women. AGE. Men. "Women.
Under 15 .
7
3
40 to 50 .
. 600
100
15 to 20 .
. 150
70
50 to 60 .
. 750
90
20 to 25 .
. 320
80
60 to 70 .
. 750
140
26 to 30 .
. 280
60
70 to 80 .
. 670
130
30 to 40 .
. 320
70
Over 80 .
. 460
120
It will be seen from this table that among men there
is an increase of suicidal mania at the age of 20 to 25,
the period of youthful passion and dissipation, but that
the real maximum is not reached until the age of 50
to 60. Among women it is reached about 10 years
later. There is, however, a greater proportion of youth-
ful suicides among women than among men. In Eng-
land the tendency to suicide among women of the age
15 to 20, owing to shame, is so great that the number
actually exceeds the number of suicides among men of
that age. This difference is clearly brought out in the
following table, showing the number of male suicides
to 100 female suicides in England and Wales, 1861-70 :
AGE . . . 0-15. 15-20. 20-35. 35-45. 45-55. 55-65.
PROPORTION. 129 89 182 288 296 400
AGE . . . 65-75. 76-85. 85-. ALL AGES.
PROPORTION. 373 281 264 278
It will be seen that while ordinarily there are 278 male
suicides to 100 female, the proportion is much less up
to the age of 35, and that during the age 15 to 20 there
are only 89 male suicides for 100 female.
SUICIDE. 249
Conjugal Condition of Suicides. If we classify the sui-
cides according to conjugal condition, we shall find that
the proportionate number is greater among the single
than among the married, and is still greater among the
widowed and divorced. In Italy, for instance, while
the rate was 45.9 for the married, it was 56.4 for the
single (15 years and over), and 72.8 for the widowed.
If we distinguish conjugal condition according to sex,
we shall find that the favourable influence of marriage is
much less marked among women than among men. In
some cases the proportionate number of suicides is even
greater among married women than among the single.
In Italy, if we represent the number of married suicides of
either sex by 100, the number among single men would
be 153, while among single women it would be only 118 ;
among widowers it would be represented by 275, and
among widows by 157. There are very great fluctuations
in these proportions from year to year. They probably
point to two influences, namely, the power of natural
selection by which persons with incipient suicidal mania
are more or less shut out of marriage, on account of symp-
toms of mental disorder or violent temper manifesting
themselves ; and secondly, the good influence of married life
in conducing to order and temperance. The higher num-
ber among the widowed is explained by grief, and by the
economic distress and anxiety often following widowhood.
That marriage does not have as favourable influence among
women as among men is due to the dangers which child-
bearing brings to the woman. The highest rate of suicide
is found among the divorced, but the cases are so few
in number that not much reliance can be placed upon
the proportions. But it can easily be conceived that
violence of temper and passion which lead to divorce
might, in many cases, subsequently lead to suicide. In
this same connection it is curious to observe the favour-
able influence of children. Married men with children
250 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
have a lower rate of suicide than childless married men.
Widowers with children have a lower rate than childless
widowers. And among women the influence of maternal
affection is so favourable that it overcomes the adverse
influence of widowhood, so that widows with children
have a lower rate than childless married women. 1
Among the special social influences affecting the in-
dividual none is greater than that of occupation and
profession. We can hence classify the suicides accord-
ing to occupation and social position, whether labourers,
employers, civil or military officials, etc. This classi-
fication, however, is of no value unless we compare the
number of suicides with the total number of persons in
each occupation. Such an attempt has been made in
Italy, and the figures, although probably not very exact,
show the following general order of occupation. The
numbers (for 1889) are on the basis of 10,000 males, 15
years of age and over, in each occupation according to the
census of 1881. 2
Police, custom-house officers, Coachmen, cab-drivers, etc. . 2.0
etc 8.0 Bakers 2.4
Military ' 6.2 Workers in iron 2.2
Clerks and bookkeepers . . 4.5 Porters 1.6
Merchants 3.7 Domestic servants .... 1.2
These figures are not very trustworthy on account of
the uncertainties of the classification by occupations.
There is one profession for which we have particular
figures that are of interest. Suicide in the army is much
more frequent than among civilians. The rate per million
was, in Austria 1220, in Germany 670, in Italy 400, in
France 290, in Belgium 240, in England 230, in Russia 200.
These proportions are far higher than those for men of
the same age in the general population. 3 Suicide is most
1 Morselli, Suicide, p. 231, ff.
3 Statistica delle Cause di Morte, 1891.
Allg. Statist. Archiv, Vol. II., p. 716.
SUICIDE. 251
frequent among the lower officers of the army, three or
four times as frequent as among the privates. The reason
for this suicidal mania seems to be the monotony of the
service. Suicide is more frequent when the army is
abroad than when at home, and in hot climates than in
cold.
Suicide is more frequent among prisoners than among
the ordinary population. Here the reason is manifest,
while the opportunity for suicide is less, so that the exact
figures are not very instructive.
Motive for Suicide. It is, of course, very difficult to as-
certain the exact motive for suicide. The person himself
is dead, and has often carried his secret with him ; the
family friends try to conceal the real motive in case it is
a disgraceful one ; and often it is a combination of evils
which drives to suicide, any one of which may be assigned
as the motive. Very little stress, therefore, is to be laid
upon the relative number of cases set down against each
cause. It is only by taking a long series of years and
many different countries that we get some general notion
of the principal reasons driving persons to suicide. The
distinction of sex also gives us some interesting results.
The following table (from Morselli, p. 278) must be
studied with these considerations in mind.
OUT o 1000 STTICIDBB. PWTSSIA, 1878-75. FKAKOB, 1866-75. ITALY, 18T&-77.
MOTITM ASSIGNBD.
Male.
Female.
Male.
Female.
Male.
Female.
Mental disorders . .
229
441
252
415
280
417
Physical diseases . .
61
64
127
118
82
73
Weariness of life . .
127
97
45
29
43
7
Passions
27
63
17
45
49
75
Vices
129
21
149
56
12
1
Domestic affliction . .
48
51
138
164
96
90
Financial trouble . .
41
12
65
18
170
27
Misery
35
18
48
36
101
62
Remorse, shame, etc. .
103
108
64
52
42
27
Despair, unknown . .
199
125
95
67
125
231
One sees immediately the great dominance everywhere
252 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
of mental disorders as the cause of suicide. It is never less
than one-fourth of the whole number, and is oftener one-
third. This, doubtless, points to a fact, while at the same
time showing a tendency, which is very prevalent, to allege
insanity as the cause of suicide. Closely connected with
mental disorders are suicides from emotional causes, such
as remorse, shame, despair, and domestic affliction. Of
less importance are causes ascribed to passion, vice, and
weariness of life. On the other hand, physical suffering,
under the head of disease and misery, plays a very con-
siderable part. It is obvious, however, that this classifi-
cation is so minute that it is folly to insist upon its
exactness. Between countries there seem to be some
characteristic differences, as misery is especially prominent
in Italy, and mental disorders in the Germanic countries.
The distinction of sex reveals the greater prominence of
mental disorders among women, and of weariness of life,
vice, and financial trouble among men. A classification by
age would show that passion, shame, and remorse are high-
est in youth, while the proportion for mental diseases, vice,
and financial trouble increases up to maturity and com-
mencement of old age. Among women, shame is alleged
as a cause, especially below the age of 20, while vice and
debauchery are very strong between the ages of 40 and 60.
Method and Place of Suicide. It has long been known
that there was great regularity in the method of commit-
ting suicide, in the same country from year to year.
Hanging seems to be the favourite method, except in Italy.
Next to hanging comes drowning, and next to drowning,
the use of firearms. Women prefer the less violent
methods. Hence, in almost all countries drowning is
more common among women than among men, while the
use of firearms is naturally more common among men.
Regularity is shown even in the choice of the same kind
of poison from year to year. In large cities the use of
firearms is more common than in the country, while hang-
SUICIDE. 253
ing is less so. Industrial progress introduces new methods
of suicide, as, for instance, crushing by railroad trains.
Asphyxia from charcoal began in Paris, and has been
steadily extending into the provinces.
Scientific Tests.
A great deal of uncertainty rests upon all statistics of
suicide, owing to the difficulty of determining whether a
death has been an accident or a suicide. Where suicide
is felt to be a disgrace to the family, as it very often is, an
effort will be made to ascribe the death to accident. In
the case of persons found dead, as, for instance, drowned,
it is often absolutely impossible to say with certainty
whether it was a suicide or not. With the increasing
attention paid to the statistics of death, greater care is
exercised in assigning the cause, and so our statistics of
suicide will probably become more trustworthy. In
Prussia, since 1883, they have taken particular pains to con-
trol these statistics. For this purpose, they began to com-
pare the special returns of suicide made in the general death
returns, and those made by the police, the army, and the
railroad and mining service. The result was that, by this
comparison, the total number of suicides in 1883 was
raised 23.8 per cent. This shows that in the case of sui-
cide a special investigation will probably be necessary
before our figures will be either complete or trustworthy. 1
The great uncertainty of the motives assigned for sui-
cide, as ordinarily classified, has already been alluded to.
Here also it will only be by expert service that we shall get
trustworthy results. Still, where the proportion remains
the same through a series of years, it shows that popular
opinion in regard to the motive has remained about the
same. For this popular opinion there must be some foun-
dation in the general circumstances connected with suicide,
so that while our statistics may not show us the true
1 Preuss. Zeitschrift, 1886, S. K., p. xxiii.
254 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
motives, they at least show us the motives ascribed. The
general picture, therefore, may be a true one, and reveal,
in a way, the connection between suicide and other facts
of social life. It may even do more, by emphasizing that
condition of life in each country which is particularly
severe in its pressure, leading even to suicide. When we
find insanity in Germany, and physical misery in Italy,
assigned as the principal motive for suicide, we seem to
detect the influence of the social condition of the two
countries. So, also, when we distribute motives according
to seasons, and find insanity most frequently assigned
during the early summer, we connect the phenomenon
immediately with the greater frequency of mental dis-
orders at that time, which we in turn carry back to the
influence of temperature. In the same way, when we dis-
tribute motives according to the age of the suicide, and
find shame and passion strongly represented in youth,
domestic affliction and financial trouble in old age, our
statistics of motives seem to agree with our psychology of
social life.
The final question under this head would be as to the
real regularity manifest in this phenomenon. Here we
have a variety of considerations. Westergaard speaks as
follows on this question : " The regularity so often spoken
of in this branch of statistics is altogether mythical, the
numbers varying enormously from year to year. In Den-
mark the number of suicides in 1875 was 394, in 1876 it
was 507, and almost the same number in 1871. In most
countries the number of suicides is increasing rapidly.
In Prussia the number of suicides increased from 3300 in
1873 to 5300 in 1882." But while there is no regularity
in the number of suicides, there is an astonishing regular-
ity in some of the minor relations, such as the number of
male suicides to female. The regularity is not as great
as in the case of births, but it is still remarkable. If we
compare the variations according to the theory of proba-
SUICIDE. 255
bilities, we shall find that the variation in the relative num-
ber of men and women is not greater than the mean error
would allow. The same experiment can be carried out in
respect to the choice of the method of suicide by men and
women. Taking the whole number of suicides in Den-
mark from 1861 to 1886, it will be found that 56.0 per
cent of the women and 82.9 per cent of the men committed
suicide by hanging. Applying this average percentage to
the suicides for (say) 1865, we should have 295 men and
53 women. The actual numbers were 294 and 57. 1
But while in many of these minor relations we have
great regularity in the statistics of suicide, when we
come to predict the absolute number for a large country
the difficulties become very great. It is necessary to find
years when the economic condition is the same in regard
to prices, wages, credit, employment, and the like. The
seasons must be similar, and abnormal social influences,
such as wars, must be absent. To distinguish these
different things is, however, much more difficult than to
construct the ordinary categories of married and unmar-
ried persons, etc. All that we can accomplish is, by
observation of these economic and other relations, to reduce
the variations somewhat, and thus to discover any ten-
dency towards regularity.
Reflective Analysis.
Statistics of suicide give rise to various reflections con-
cerning the importance of this phenomenon for the com-
munity. Suicides being for the most part men and
women of adult age, the economic loss to the community
is very considerable, inasmuch as it loses the future pro-
ductive labour of the suicide and also the cost of bring-
ing him up. It is difficult to get a numerical expression
for this, because so much depends upon the quality of the
1 Westergaard, Grundzuge der Statistik, pp. 13 and 45.
256 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
life which has been sacrificed. Morselli reckons for the
persons committing suicide in Italy during the 12 years
from 1866 to 1877, that they had lived through a total
of 448,555 years. Reckoning the average age in Italy as
27 years, this aggregate would represent a loss of 16,613
individuals in the average time of life, equal to an annual
loss of 1386 individuals in the prime of life. A similar
calculation for Prussia gave an annual average loss of
4096, and for France of 7896 persons in the prime of
life. These figures are, of course, to a certain extent ficti-
tious, because many of the suicides are better out of life
than in it. But they serve as a rough measure of the
economic loss.
Much more important than any economic loss is the
consideration of suicide as an indication of social distress.
Suicide means failure in life for a certain number of mem-
bers of the community. It is, therefore, a matter of great
consequence whether it is increasing or decreasing, and
what its connection is with the other facts of social life.
The most striking fact is the constant increase of suicide
with civilization. There seems to be no doubt that this
is true, and the general reasons for it are not difficult to
understand. One is the increased number of desires and
wants of the civilized man, which if unsatisfied, he pre-
fers death rather than continued life. The savage resorts
to suicide only under stress of extreme hunger or physi-
cal misery ; the civilized man from shame, dishonour,
remorse, disappointed ambition, feelings which are pres-
ent only in a state of culture. Again, civilization brings
with it increased intellectual development, and that in
itself means greater delicacy of the nervous system and
greater exposure to mental disorder. This seems to be
a part of the price that we pay for our civilization.
Finally, while the civilized community has an incompara
bly greater command over nature than the savage, so that
the struggle for existence for the whole community is
SUICIDE. 257
much less severe, nevertheless, the competition between
individuals has perhaps become greater. The result is
that a greater number are driven by the struggle for
existence into despair, and hence commit suicide. The
position of the Germanic nations with their high rate of
suicide seems to support this theory, although when we
come to measure different degrees of civilization we are
met with insuperable difficulties. The great question is
whether we can trace suicide to social causes which are
within the power of the community to change.
This brings us to the question whether suicide is sub-
ject to natural law, and is thus a necessary function of
social life. We look upon it as in a certain sense immoral.
But the connection between suicide and morality is not
altogether clear. The question is one of extreme diffi-
culty, because there is no single standard of morality
applicable to all countries, and even if we have some
general notion of what we mean by the morality of a
community it is extremely difficult to measure. With
the ordinary phenomena of immorality, such as illegiti-
mate births and crime, there is, according to Morselli, no
direct connection. For instance, suicide is increasing in
all countries, while the number of illegitimates is gener-
ally stationary or diminishing. It is true, that if we take
the religious confessions, we find among Protestants the
largest proportion of illegitimates and the greatest num-
ber of suicides. But if we take separate provinces in
the same country, we find no uniform relation between
suicide and illegitimacy. In regard to crime there seems
to be a certain coincidence. It has been observed that
where crimes against the person are frequent, as in South
Italy, suicides are rare. On the other hand, where crimes
against property are frequent, suicides are frequent. The
same thing has been observed in France, Austria, and
Bavaria. But no international comparison shows any
direct connection between the frequency of crime and
258 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
that of suicide. In Italy and Spain, where there is a high
proportion of delinquents, suicides are infrequent, while
in countries where crime is least frequent, like Denmark
and England, the one has a very high rate of suicide,
and the other a comparatively low rate.
Morselli also observes that the people most devoted to
the moral sentiment, and who feel the domestic affections
most keenly (the Germans and Scandinavians) are not
those who have the least suicidal tendency, but rather the
contrary. The effort to make suicide dependent upon
morality seems to be a failure.
On the other hand, the regularity of suicides is not suf-
ficient to show that it is a mere physical phenomenon like
births or deaths. It is undoubtedly subject to many
influences, some of them natural, some social, and some
individual. As these influences vary, the number of
suicides will vary. In general, suicide is a mark of fail-
ure in the struggle for existence. It is the weak, the
defective, the unfortunate, the weak-minded, and the dis-
sipated who find the struggle for existence too severe,
and are pushed to the wall. The reason for their weak-
ness may be misfortune, inherited defect, or social circum-
stance. The remedy for the social evil lies in tracing out
and removing those causes which are removable, and in
strengthening the character of the individual. Even
Morselli, whose whole philosophy is evolutionary, con-
cludes his book by saying that the whole cure is contained
in this one precept : " To develope in man the power of
well-ordering sentiments and ideas by which to reach a
certain aim in life; in short, to give force and energy to
the moral character."
CHAPTER XII.
CRIME.
Sociological Purpose.
WE turn now to a very important and most interesting
branch of statistics. Man lives in society, and society lays
down certain laws and rules to govern him. Overstep-
ping the bounds of these laws and rules, doing the for-
bidden things, is declared to be crime and is punished by
society. This phenomenon the wilful doing by the
individual of that which society has forbidden this
revolt of the individual against the organization is one
of very great importance. If this resistance of the indi-
vidual is persistent and widespread, it destroys the social
organization and we return to a state of anarchy. Society
is well organized in proportion as the individual resistance
is reduced to a minimum or kept within safe bounds.
It is, therefore, of importance for every state to investi-
gate crime and its causes. First of all we desire to know
the extent of crime, whether it is increasing or decreasing.
Then we study the kind of crime that is, the character of
this transgression against the law; whether it is against the
person or against property, whether it is great or small,
violent or deceitful (fraud); from passion, or malice, or
viciousness ; against good morals (i.e., shocking the moral
feeling of the community, as rape), or of a simple legal
character, as selling liquor without a license. In all
these directions, again, we must investigate the relative
increase or decrease of particular crimes, for that showa
259
260 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
the direction in which the moral sense of the community
is developing.
It is of great importance to investigate the influ-
ences leading to crime or determining the character
of the transgression, in order to adapt means of preven-
tion and repression accurately to the evil. Influences of
climate, geographical situation, nationality, seasons and
months, possess general scientific interest and are also of
some value even in directing legislative, judicial, and
administrative action. Influences of scarcity of food, com-
mercial crises, war, etc., are of more particular interest.
Individual social influences, such as social condition (pros-
titution), domicile, wealth, education, religion, profession;
and individual biological influence, such as sex, age, and
conjugal condition, are of still more immediate interest
in directing administrative action.
The state ought, by all means, to investigate the
methods it takes of repressing or preventing crime :
the number of accused, acquitted, and convicted; the
number of habitual criminals, i.e., those convicted for a
second time or oftener; the penalties inflicted, death,
imprisonment (length of), fines, etc., and whether these
are fully carried out or not. Close comparison ought to
be made between the penalty inflicted and the increase or
decrease of each particular crime, in order to decide whether
the penalty is really accomplishing its purpose, which is
not to take vengeance on the criminal but to deter him
and others from doing the criminal act.
Such investigations have a double interest. First, the
purely practical interest for each state organization and
for the student of comparative administrative and crimi-
nal law, viz., to determine the measures necessary and
expedient for the prevention and repression of crime, to
what degree the present measures adopted by different
states are successful, and in what way they should be
amended. And second, the general scientific question :
CRIME. 261
What is the real character of this social phenomenon we
call crime ? What influences it ? its extent, its increase
or decrease, and its quality? And finally, how far is
crime simply the result of these influences, how far is it
the result of purely subjective motives? or in other
words, the question of determinism or free-will in social
human actions. In the latter respect we are on the same
ground as in suicide and vice, only the question is more
difficult and complicated, for in crime there is always the
hope of escaping detection, and hence of gaining a benefit
without suffering any of the consequences. This cannot
be true in suicide and can hardly be the case in vice.
In regard now to the work of Statistical Science in this
department.
It is evident that we cannot get by statistical observa-
tion, or by any other observation, the whole criminality
of a community, that is, the disposition to transgress, or
transgression of thought, word, or deed. Such dispo-
sition to transgress would be, of course, the desirable
measure of the law-abiding character of the community ;
but although thoughts and words are social phenomena,
they nevertheless escape observation, and as a rule we
do not try very much to control them.
Even in regard to transgressions by deed we cannot
get at the whole mass, for the endeavour always is to
conceal them, and even when suspected they cannot always
be proven. If the science were left to itself it would
have an impossible task to perform. Fortunately it can
lean on the judicial and police organization of the state,
and in fact we consider only those transgressions which
come to the notice of the administration.
Even with such aid there are many difficulties in the
investigation.
In the first place there is the natural difficulty that the
laws are not the same in one country as another. This
makes international comparison of the amount of criminal-
262 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
ity impossible. Then there is frequent change of law
in the same country, which makes comparisons in time
(increase or decrease) futile. The official classification
also varies, so that an act which receives one name in
one country receives another name in another country,
making comparisons utterly misleading ; or a single name
covers a greater variety of acts in one country than in
another. Again, there are different systems of administra-
tion of justice, sometimes before jury, sometimes before a
single judge, summary without appeal, and it is well known
that the chance of acquittal or conviction is very different
in the two cases. In most countries we have both, that is,
a jury for flagrant crimes and offences, and police-courts
for lesser misdemeanours, but the separating line is no-
where drawn at exactly the same place. Again, there
is not only a great difference in the severity of the ad-
ministration of justice by the courts, but there is also
a great difference in the efficiency of the police system for
the detection of crime and the capture of the criminal
and his accomplices. Still again, the courts and the
police administration give us different data which we
can use. Shall we, for instance, make any use of the
number of suspected persons, the criminal classes, as
they are called in England, or the persons on whom the
police keep an eye, or as in France, the persons who
are obliged to report themselves to the police at stated
intervals? This surely is an indication of the criminality
of the community, but of how much value is it ?
And even in case of those brought before the court,
shall we take into account all who are accused, or only
those who are convicted? And in case of those con-
victed, only those on whom the full penalty is inflicted ?
Shall we take into account extenuating circumstances
when they appear on the trial, as the recommendation
of a jury to mercy; or notice the severity of the penalty,
as the length of imprisonment or the amount of a money
CRIME. 263
fine ? For the amount of criminality indicated is evidently
not so great where it is necessary to inflict the minimum
punishment in the discretion of the court, as where the
maximum is inflicted.
Finally, the official statistics themselves of such cases as
come before the court are not altogether satisfactory, espe-
cially where we try to get at the motive of the prisoner and
his previous condition. Most of all, the statistics are lack-
ing that would enable us to trace the effect of the penalty
on future commission of crime, and it is surprising that the
administration does not investigate the subject more closely.
The sociological purpose of this chapter is to deal with
these statistics in a careful way, so as to deduce some facts
of interest to the social welfare of the community.
Statistical Data.
Quetelet was the first to investigate closely the statis-
tics of crime, and he discovered in the French criminal
statistics an astonishing regularity which led him to write
the famous sentence so often repeated : There is a
budget which is paid with greater regularity than that
of any finance minister, it is the budget of the prison,
the galleys, and the scaffold.
Later investigations over wider areas and greater
lengths of time have confirmed to a certain extent the
observation of Quetelet, but they also show very con-
siderable variations. For the reasons mentioned in the
introduction it is impossible to present an international
comparison of the prevalence of criminality in all coun-
tries. It will be necessary to study each country by itself.
In Great Britain and Ireland the number of criminal
offenders convicted was as follows :
England
and Wales. Scotland. Ireland.
1871 11,946 2,184 2,257
1881 11,353 1,832 2,698
1891 9,055 1,823 1,255
1892 9,607 1,778 1,196
264 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
Serious crime seems to be on the decrease, both abso-
lutely, and still more so, relatively to the population. In
1871, the proportion for the United Kingdom was 522 per
1,000,000 inhabitants ; in 1891, it was only 332.
Besides these serious offenders there were in England
and Wales in 189091 no less than 602,573 persons sum-
marily convicted, most of them for trifling offences, such
as drunkenness, vagrancy, offences against the elementary
education act, simple larceny, common assault, etc. There
was a net increase of 18 per cent in five years in this class
of offences. In Scotland the total number of persons
convicted in 1891 was 104,793, equal to 26,031 for each
million inhabitants, contrasted with 22,454 per million
in England and Wales. In Ireland there were 197,976
persons convicted summarily, making a rate of 42,565
criminals convicted for each million of the population. 1
In France we have criminal statistics reaching back to
1825. It would seem as if from this long period we might
be able to judge whether crime was on the increase or
decrease. Making the distinction between crimes, that
is, serious offences which are tried before juries, and the
lighter misdemeanours which are tried before simple jus-
tices, we have the following proportions for successive
decennial periods of persons accused per 1,000,000
inhabitants : a
Crimes against
Together. Misdemeanours. Total.
Person. Property.
1830-39 67 161 228 2,081 2,309
1840-49 64 147 211 2,983 3,190
1850-59 64 117 181 4,241 4,420
1860-69 51 69 120 3,869 3,980
1870-79 51 76 127 4,316 4,443
1887 43 70 113 5,970 6,083
1 Figures are from the Judicial Statistics of the three countries. See also
Statistical Abstract for the United Kingdom.
2 Zeitschrif t des Preuss. Bureaus, 1882, p. XLVL
CRIME. 265
Serious crimes seem to have decreased, while the lighter
ones have increased. The number convicted before juries
was: in 1883, 3497; 1887, 3099. The number con-
victed before the correctional tribunals was : in 1883,
197,396; in 1888, 215,993. Besides these there were
429,988 persons (in 1888) convicted before the police
courts. These last, of course, were for trifling offences,
but altogether there were 649,015 persons punished for
law-breaking, nearly 17,000 for each million inhabitants. 1
The German criminal statistics begin with 1882 and
show the following number of criminals convicted : 2
1882. 1892. !<. "W to
1892, per cent
Crimes against the state, public
order, and religion ..... 61,623 66,392 28.6
Crimes against the person .... 107,398 167,928 47.
Crimes against property .... 169,334 196,437 16.
Crimes in office ....... 1,613 1,670
Total ......... 329,968 422,327 28.
Since 1882 there has been a large increase of crimes,
especially against public order and against the person.
Population increased about 12 per cent during the period,
but even allowing for that, crime increased nearly 15 per
cent. In 1892 there were 1198 convictions for every
100,000 of the population over 12 years of age, against
1,043 in 1882. These proportions must not be contrasted
with those for Great Britain and France, both because the
basis is different and because they include only crimes
according to the imperial code and do not comprise the
petty offences coming before the local courts.
We shall not follow out the criminal statistics of other
countries in detail. The latest figures show an increase
of crime in almost all countries, especially in the lighter
crimes. One reason for this is the greater activity of the
police and courts ; a second is the increase of the regula-
. Stat. Archiv, III., 381.
2 Stat. Jahrbuch des Deutschen Reichs, 1894
266 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
tive activity of the state creating new misdemeanours and
offences of a petty character. Whether criminality has
actually increased will be discussed later in connection
with the different kinds of crime.
The Kind of Crime. The classification of crimes varies
according to the criminal law of each country. As already
said, when we come to specific names the same name does
not cover the same category of deeds in one country that
it does in another. For international comparison we must
adopt a very general classification in order to reach any
conclusions. The most common division is that of crimes
against the person, and crimes against property. There
is evidently a marked difference between these two acts.
Crimes against the person are generally the influence of
passion, bad temper, or sudden excitement. They are
as a rule accompanied by violence. Crimes against prop-
erty are due most often to economic condition, and may
in fact simply represent economic distress. They show
a different disposition or condition of mind from crimes
against the person. There is a middle category of crimes
against property accompanied by violence against the per-
son, such as highway robbery, and burglary followed by
murder. There is also malicious destruction of property,
where the motive is not economic acquisitiveness, but a
desire to injure the owner of the property. It is diffi-
cult to classify these middle cases.
The proportion of crimes against the person and crimes
against property varies from country to country and from
time to time. The proportion varies also according as
we take the whole mass of crimes and misdemeanours or
only those which are considered more serious. As the
dividing line between the more serious crimes and the
less serious misdemeanours is not the same in different
countries, international comparison is impossible. Exam-
ples will be given from the different countries which will
serve as illustrations.
CRIME. 267
In England and Wales we have the following classifica-
tion of the more serious crimes which come under the
term indictable offences : l
1879-SO. 1890-91.
CRIMES AOAIKST Number. Per Cent Number. Per Cent
Property without violence . . 39,276 75. 26,086 67.3
Property with violence . . . 6,782 13. 5,938 16.
Property, malicious .... 607 1.1 613 1.4
The person 2,865 5.4 3,352 9.
Forgery and counterfeiting . . 1,109 2.1 446 1.2
Not included in above . . . 1,798 3.4 1,917 5.1
52,427 100.00 37,262 100.0
The characteristic thing in this classification is the
small number of crimes against the person, although the
proportion has increased since 1880.
In Scotland the number of criminals convicted of of-
fences against the person appears to be much larger pro-
portionately than in England, constituting 30 per cent of
the total, while those against property without violence
constitute 42' per cent, and those against property with
violence, 20 per cent. 2
In Ireland, owing to the agrarian agitation, there has
been an abnormal number of crimes against the person
under the head of intimidation, and of malicious offences
against property. In 1880, for instance, over 20 per cent
of the jury trials were concerned with the former offence,
and nearly 15 per cent with the latter. In 18C1, the
malicious crimes against property constituted 14 per cent
of the whole, those against the person 19.2 per cent,
against property with violence 5.6 per cent, and those
against property without violence 50 per cent. 3
In France the proportion of crimes against the person
(46 per cent in 1890) is very much larger than in any
of the countries above mentioned.
1 Judicial Statistics, England, 1891. 2 Ibid., Scotland, 1891.
8 Ibid, for Ireland, 1891.
268 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
In Germany the figures for crime apply to misde-
meanours as well as to serious crimes, so that comparison
with the above countries is not possible. Of the total
number of crimes and misdemeanours in 1890, 38.8 per
cent were crimes committed against the person.
In the United States we have a classification of the
crimes committed by the persons enumerated as prisoners,
in the census of 1890, as follows : l
Percentage.
Offences against the government . . 1,839 2.2
Offences against society 18,865 22.9
Offences against the person . . . . 17,281 21.0
Offences against property .... 37,707 45.8
Miscellaneous 6,637 8.1
Total 82,329 100.0
These statistics must not be compared with those of
other countries given, because they are on the basis of
prisoners, which may include crimes committed during
several years, while the others are on the basis of the
crimes committed during a single year. Under the head
of offences against society also are included some crimes
which in other countries are considered to be crimes
against the person.
Particular Crimes. When we come to analyze still
further the kinds of crime, we reach a great variety of
classifications and minute subdivisions which make com-
parison entirely fruitless. For instance, the principal
indictable offences in England and Wales for two periods,
were classified as follows : 2
1886-86.
136
1890-91.
148
Attempts to murder
49
64
Shooting at, wounding, etc
652
269
789
147
90
92
Unnatural offences
166
159
1 Comp. of Eleventh Census, Part II., p. 192.
2 Judicial Statistics, England and Wales, 1885 and 1891.
CRIME. 269
1885-86. 1890-91.
Rape 290 232
Defilement of girls under 13 years
of age 128
Defilement of girls between 13 and
16 years of age 136
Assaults with intent 569 769
Assaults 633 454
Burglary and housebreaking . . 3,169 3,418
Breaking into shops 2,302 2,047
Robbery and attempts with vio-
lence 373 347
Cattle, horse, and sheep stealing 509 376
Larcenies, etc 27,797 22,367
Total indictable offences . . 43,962 37,252
It will be seen from this table, that more than one-half
of the indictable offences in England consists of larcenies.
Attempts to murder and offences against morality are
sufficiently numerous, but comprise only a small percent-
age when compared with the crimes against property.
The crimes against morality show an alarming increase.
In the serious crimes in France there is included a
much larger number of crimes against the person, as has
already been shown. And among these, crimes against
morality are especially frequent. Out of the 4307 persons
tried before juries in 1887 on account of serious crimes, the
principal accusations were: larcenies, 1439; burglary,
robbery, and arson, 524 ; murder, manslaughter, infanticide,
and fatal assault, 779 ; abortion and rape, 726 ; counter-
feiting, forgery, and embezzlement, 570.
In the United States we have only the statistics of the
crimes committed by the 82,329 persons in prison in 1890.
The principal were larceny, burglary, assault, homicide,
and disorderly conduct.
Influences on Crime. It has long been a commonplace of
ethics, that the commission of crime depends more or less
upon the physical and social environment of the criminal.
There is no doubt that social environment has a great
270 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
deal to do with the continuance of the criminal class, aa
one can hardly expect a child brought up among crim-
inals and prostitutes to be right-minded, lawful, or moral.
Many sociologists have sought still further to connect
crime with the physiological characteristics of the crim-
inal, and hence look upon it simply as an infirmity or a
disease. Other sociologists have gone further yet, and
tried to connect the manifestations of crime with the
physical environment, such as climate, and season, or with
social characteristics, such as race, religion, density of
population, domicile, etc., and thus to make it a mani-
festation of social disease or infirmity. This last attempt
has not as yet attained any very precise results. Some
interesting deductions have been indicated as follows :
Influence of Climate and Geographical Position. It is
an old observation that crimes against the person are
more numerous in southern climates than crimes against
property, and vice versd. Guerry observed this in France
as far back as 1826-30. Dividing France into three
zones, he found the following proportions for each class
of crimes:
Crimes against Crimes against
the Person. Property.
Northern zone 2.7 4.9
Middle zone 2.8 2.34
Southern zone 4.96 2.32
It will be observed that these proportions are almost
directly inverse. These old observations of Guerry have
been confirmed in a general way by the later statistics.
In 1882, it was said that crimes against the person were
especially prominent in Corsica and the Eastern Pyrenees ;
in the low and high Alps, in Savoy, in 1'Aveyon and La
Lozere, crimes against property and against the person
were equal in number ; in the other departments crimes
against property were in excess. Corsica and Paris fur-
nish 20 per cent of all the attempts on person or life, but
while in Paris there was one such attempt for 100,000
CRIME. 271
persons, in Corsica there was one for every 13 inhabi-
tants. 1
In Italy there is a general geographical distribution cor-
responding to the above. Homicide and injuries to the
person are most frequent in the province of Rome, in
Sicily, in Calabria, and certain other provinces of the
south. In these same provinces crimes against morality
are more frequent than in the centre and the north. In
simple larcenies the heaviest number is found about Rome
and in Sardinia, but otherwise the northern provinces are
more heavily represented than the southern. 2
In other countries we do not get distinct indications of
the influence of climate on the commission of crime. In
Germany crime seems to be more frequent in the east than
in the west. In the eastern provinces of Prussia crimes
against the person, as well as the grosser crimes against
property, are very frequent, while the finer crimes against
property, such as embezzlement, are more frequent in the
west and south. The reason for this distribution is not
explained. It is apparent, however, that effect of climate
and geographical position might be easily obscured by the
influence of economic and social conditions. 3
Influence of the Seasons. It is pretty well determined
that crimes against the person are more numerous in sum-
mer than in winter ; that crimes against property are
more numerous in winter than in summer. Various
reasons for this have been given. That such crimes
against property as larceny should be more frequent in
winter than in summer may, perhaps, be explained by the
greater pressure of economic wants in the cold season.
But it is not easy to explain why crimes against the per-
1 Zeitschrift des Preuss. Stat. Bureaus, 1882, S. C. XL VI.
2 Bodio, Communication sur 1' organisation de la statistique p6nale en
Italie.
8 Von Scheel, Zur Einfiihrung in die Kriminalstatistik, Allg. Stat
Archiv, I., p. 206.
272 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
son, and especially those against morality, such as rape,
should be more frequent in summer than in winter. Some
authors ascribe it to the influence of the season, others to
the greater opportunity, owing to the out-door life of the
agricultural population. 1
City and Country. There is generally more crime in
the city than in the country, and the reason, of course, is
that the city is often the place of refuge for country
criminals. In France, while in the cities there was one
accused (of crimes or misdemeanours) to 6007 inhabitants,
in the country districts there was one accused to 12,787
inhabitants. Of the persons tried before juries in 1890,
13 per cent had no permanent residence, 43 per cent lived
in the country, and 44 per cent in towns of 2000 inhabi-
tants and over. The rural population is twice as numer-
ous as the urban. In England, on the other hand, we
have some statistics which go to show that, owing to police
control, the number of criminals compared with the total
population is less in the large cities than in the counties.
The police keep a record of known thieves and depre-
dators, of receivers of stolen goods, and of suspected per-
sons. The distribution of these persons in 1890-91 was :
in counties, 1.20 per 1000 of the population ; in boroughs,
1.20 ; and in London, 0.41 per 1000 of the population. 2
When we consider particular crimes, we find great vari-
ations between city and country, which, however, can-
not be reduced to any law applicable to all countries.
London, for instance, shows the largest number of larce-
nies ; in murder, Derby shows the highest percentage,
while London holds only a medium place ; in rape, Ches-
ter, Monmouth, Stafford, and Southampton lead, while
London stands only twentieth. Paris is the heaviest of
all the departments in France in thefts and crimes against
property ; but it is very light in arson and rape compared
1 Allg. Stat. Archiv, Vol. II., p. 49.
2 Judicial Statistics, 1891, England and Wales, p. x.
CRIME. 273
with some of the country departments ; and in regard to
murder Paris stands fifteenth below Corsica. Crimes
against morality are common in France in the industrial
departments, where drunkenness is also most common,
while in the agricultural departments they are less fre-
quent. Infanticide, on the other hand, is more common
in the country than in the cities, owing probably to the
absence of foundling asylums.
General Social Influences on Crime. The influence of
race or nationality is difficult to discern in the statistics
of crime, because of the difficulties of international com-
parison. In the United States we can compare the num-
ber of prisoners and convicts of foreign birth with those
of native birth. Care must be taken to consider the
greater proportion of adults among the foreign-born.
Even then, the amount of criminality may be due to the
strange environment in which these foreigners find them-
selves, rather than to any influence of nationality. Taking
into account the birth-place of the parents of prisoners,
the census attributes 43 per cent of the crimes committed
by white persons to the native white element, and 57 per
cent to the foreign element. Among the native-born
whites there were 882.45 prisoners per 1,000,000 ; while
among the foreign-born whites there were 1,822.43 prisoners
per 1,000,000. Among the native whites of native parents
there were 753.7 prisoners per 1,000,000 ; while among
the foreign-born and those of foreign parentage together,
there were 1523.06 prisoners per 1,000,000. On the other
hand, while the foreign-born male prisoners were 26.2 per
cent of the total number of male prisoners, the foreign-
born males 18 years of age and over were 26.38 per cent
of the total number of males 18 years of age and over,
almost exactly the same percentage. The foreign-born
seem more inclined to offences against society and against
the person than either the native whites or the coloured ;
but this is to be attributed probably to the number of
274 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
adults among them. Among the coloured 48 per cent
were detained on account of offences against property, and
among the native whites of native parentage 50 per cent ;
while among the foreign-born whites only 35 per cent were
in prison for such offences. 1
Influence of Religious Confession. There is nothing yet
very decisive in this direction because the influence of
religious confession is obscured by other conditions. In
Germany, for instance, there is generally less criminality
among Protestants than among Catholics, if you take the
whole empire. This is explained by the fact that in North
and Middle Germany, where the Protestant religion is
prevalent, the inhabitants have a quieter temperament
and are also better off economically. In those sections
the Catholic population also has a smaller criminality
than in other parts. In regard to the difference be-
tween Christians and Jews, the German statistics seem
to show that in general the Jews have less criminality
than the Christians ; but in certain crimes, such as per-
jury, forgery, fraudulent bankruptcy, and slander, the
Jews surpass the Christians. In these cases it is possible
that the difference in religion and the corresponding dif-
ference in race may be the cause, but we must remember
that occupation exerts a great influence, and that the Jews,
being devoted to commerce and finance, have special op-
portunity and temptation to commit the above crimes.
Comparisons between Christian and Jew would, there-
fore, not be fair unless we took the relative number in
each occupation, which would require very minute inves-
tigation and lead to uncertain results. 2
Influence of Social Position. Crime is more frequent
among the lower classes than among the upper. And the
criminals of each year are recruited largely from the crim-
inal classes. Of the persons in England, in 1890-91, appre-
1 Compendium of the Eleventh Census, Part II., pp. 169, 177, 192.
2 Allg. Stat. Archiv, Vol. I., p. 201.
CRIME. 275
bended for indictable offences or proceeded against sum-
marily, those of previous good character were 51 per cent
of the whole number, those known as thieves or otherwise
of bad character were 17.5 per cent, and those of charac-
ter unknown 31.5 per cent. 1 It is commonly said in
criminology that crime is hereditary and descends from
generation to generation. It is often impossible, however,
to trace out the birth of criminals, and even if we show
that there is a larger amount of criminality among the
poor and degraded, that is only what might be expected.
Occupation and Profession. It is doubtless true that
the kind of occupation exercises a considerable influence
upon the commission of crime and the kind of crime. In
Germany they have a very elaborate classification of this
sort, both for crime in general and for the different par-
ticular crimes. The chief categories are seen in the
following table : a
NUMBER PER 100,000 PERSONS OF CRIMINAL AGE CONDEMNED FOR
CRIMES AGAINST
-. The State. The Property. Total.
Person.
Agriculture 78.4 302.6 335.2 717.3
Industry 201.7 671.1 647.8 1322.4
Trade and commerce . . 294.1 650.6 621.9 1480.0
Domestic service .... 11.2 37.2 269.0 307.8
Other and no occupation . 667.8 706.3 1080.7 2476.0
This general classification shows extraordinary differ-
ences between the different classes. The most favourable
relations are found among the domestic servants, the next
in agriculture, the next in industry, then trade and com-
merce, and finally, those with other occupation or no
occupation. The numbers for these five classes stand
in the relation of 1 : 2 : 4 : 5 : 8.
This grouping by general occupation is a very rough
one, and economic and social condition probably have
1 Judicial Statistics, England and Wales, 1891.
Allg. Stat. Archiv, Vol. III., p. 368.
276 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
more influence than occupation upon criminality. If
we take the particular crimes we find a little closer in-
dication of the influence of occupation. Simple larceny
is heavily represented in all the classes, especially in the
fifth, persons of miscellaneous or no occupation, which
includes day labourers, tramps, and persons without
settled position. The proportion is 593.2 per 100,000 in
this class, while in agriculture it is only 175.4. Dan-
gerous injury to the person is very rare among domestic
servants, but is heavily represented among persons engaged
in industry. Embezzlement and fraud are, of course,
heaviest in commerce and trade, while malicious injury
to property is frequent in the industrial occupations.
In order to follow out the statistics closely, it would be
necessary to consider the particular occupation, and also
the age and sex classification. In the case of dangerous
assaults, for instance, agricultural labourers and employees
in industry, mining, and building trades are much more
numerously represented in proportion to their number
than farmers or landlords, or employers of labour; and
this is especially true of the industrial compared with the
agricultural labourers. 1 The reason for this dispropor-
tion is evident when one remembers that among the
employees in these trades there is a great number of
men, and especially of young men who are inclined to
violence. The employers are older men ; and among the
agricultural labourers are included many women. It thus
appears that often it is not the occupation so much as the
kind of persons attracted into the occupation which deter-
mines the amount of crime.
Illiteracy and Crime. Large numbers of the criminals
are illiterate. In England, of those committed to prison
in 189192, 22.8 per cent could neither read nor write ; 74.2
per cent could read, or read and write imperfectly ; 2. 9
per cent could read and write well. In Austria, 40 per
. Stat. Archiv, Vol. I., p. 207.
CRIME. 277
cent of those condemned for serious crimes and 50.3 per
cent of those condemned for misdemeanours were illiterate.
In Hungary the proportion was 52.9 per cent ; in France,
21 per cent.
Influence of Economic Condition, Scarcity of Food, and
War. Hard times increase the number of crimes, espe-
cially of crimes against property. A general rule has
been laid down that as the price of food increases, crimes
against property increase, while crimes against the person
decrease. The immediate influence of war seems to be
restraining on crime. This is probably due to the removal
of men of criminal age. In Prussia it has been shown
that during war the number of all the more serious crimes
decreases, while the effect upon the lighter misdemean-
ours, such as stealing wood in the forest, is insignificant.
In Germany an advance in the price of rye-meal and
potatoes is followed by an increased number of crimes
against property, especially simple larceny, the succeeding
year. 1
Individual Biological Influence. Sex, age, and conjugal
condition have a marked influence upon criminality.
There are always more males among the criminals than
females. In Germany (1885-90) there were 21 female
criminals for every 100 male. But the proportion differs
for different crimes. For crimes against public order the
proportion is only 9.1 per cent ; for crimes against the
person, 15.9 per cent; while for crimes against property
it is 27.8 per cent. The large proportion in larceny (37.8
per cent) is doubtless due to the economic condition of
women left without means of support. The proportion of
women convicted of concealment of stolen goods is always
very large, in Germany being 62.7 per cent of the number
of males. 2 In England it was found that the proportionate
1 See Conrad's Jahrbticher ffir Nationaloekonomie und Statistik, 1894,
p. 719.
2 Allg. Stat. Archiv, Vol. III., p. 367.
278 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
number of women criminals is much greater in the cities
than in the country, and the same observation has been
made elsewhere. In the United States the women pris-
oners were 6405 compared with 75,924 men, or 8.7 females
to 100 males. The proportions differed widely for differ-
ent crimes, the women being much less numerously repre-
sented in homicide, assaults, larceny, embezzlement, fraud,
forgery, etc., and more numerously represented in disor-
derly conduct, receiving stolen goods, and offences against
public morality. l
Age, of course, has powerful influence on criminality.
Crime is most frequent at the age of 20 to 30, and next
to that at the age of 30 to 40. In Germany we have the
following number of persons condemned per 100,000
persons of the same age : 2
FOB CRIMES.
Against the
Against the
) Against
All
Public Peace.
Person.
Property.
Crimes.
From 12 to under 18 years
. 23.0
145.3
536.6
705.4
From 18 to under 21 years
. 273.9
169.6
89.6
534.9
From 21 to under 40 years
. 210.0
650.5
626.3
1493.0
From 40 to under 60 years
. 121.2
372.7
361.6
850.7
32.0
116.0
109.4
259.5
The criminal age is seen to be that between 21 and 40
years. Among children from 12 to 18 years of age crimes
against property are especially numerous, because children
are employed in petty thieving. During the period from
18 to 21 crimes against the person are in excess of those
against property, because that is the age of passion and
violence. At the same age period crimes against the
public peace are also especially numerous.
Conjugal Condition and Criminality. Taking all ages
and both sexes, there is greater criminality among the
widowed and divorced than among the married and
single. It is probable, however, that it is not widow-
iComp. U.S. Census, II., pp. 193-4.
*AUg. Stat. Archiv, III., p. 367.
CRIME. 279
hood or divorce that increases crime, but that among
those classes of the population who are driven to crime by
want, the dissolution of marriage by death or divorce is
especially frequent, and hence there is a relatively large
number of criminals among the widowed and the divorced.
In general the majority of the criminals are unmarried,
as for instance, in France, 59 per cent were unmarried.
In Prussia, on the other hand, the number of married and
unmarried men convicted of serious crimes was almost
the same. There are frequent variations in these sta-
tistics. Von Scheel says that from the German statis-
tics it appears that the married women from about 30
years of age on are more criminal than the single women
of corresponding age. Why should this be so ? Perhaps
they steal for the family. Also among the younger mar-
ried men, under 25 years, there is a higher criminality than
for the single men of that age. Perhaps this is because
men who marry so young are also inclined to other
thoughtless acts. 1
Motives for Crime. It is very difficult to assign any
definite psychological motive for the criminal act, because
it is rarely confessed by the criminal and is often pur-
posely concealed by the defence. In France the follow-
ing motives were assigned for murder and homicide :
Murder. Homicide.
Per Cent. Per Cent.
Covetousness 25 14
Adultery 6 2
Quarrels 22 21
Unhappy love 4 2
Dissipation 10 7
Revenge ..22 20
Other causes 12 34
In the case of arson the motives assigned were, in 19
per cent of the cases, plunder ; in 19 per cent, acts of
hostile neighbours ; in 14 per cent, acts of discharged
1 Al\g. Stat. Archiv, I., p. 202.
280 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
servants ; in 10 per cent, family quarrels ; in 7 per cent,
by escaped prisoners ; and in 10 per cent, by intoxicated
persons.
Penalties. It is a matter of great interest to classify
the penalties inflicted, and especially to study the effect
of these penalties in preventing the repetition of the
offence. It is not easy to classify the penalties, because
the percentages vary according as we take account of the
serious crimes only, or of all crimes and misdemeanours.
In England, in 1891, the number of persons convicted ot
serious offences suffered the following penalties : *
Number.
Death 19
Penal servitude 761
Imprisonment 7548
Reformatory schools 69
Fined, etc 678
Total 9055
The ordinary punishment even for serious crimes in
England is imprisonment for from one month to one year.
If we take the less serious crimes and misdemeanours
which are tried summarily, we find nearly three-fourths of
them punished by fines, and 10 per cent by imprisonment
of one month or less.
In France the punishments appear more serious, but it
is difficult to make comparison on account of the differ-
ence in classification between crimes tried before juries
and those subject to summary jurisdiction. Of persons
convicted (1887) of serious crimes, 47 per cent were
sentenced to hard labour or house of correction, and 41
per cent to imprisonment for more than one year ; of
those convicted by summary courts, 57 per cent were sen-
tenced to imprisonment for less than one year, and 40
per cent were fined. 2
1 Judicial Statistics, England, 1891.
2 Allg. Stat. Archiv, Vol. III., p. 382.
CRIME. 281
In Germany, taking the whole mass of crimes and mis-
demeanours, we have the following percentages :
Death 0.02
House of correction 2.9
Prison 62.3
2 and more years 0.7
1 and under 2 years 2.1
3 and under 12 months 10.8
Less than 3 months 48.7
Money fines 32.7
Other punishment 2.1
100.0
Taking the whole number of convicted persons, nearly
one-third were punished by fine, and nearly one-half of
the total number by imprisonment for less than three
months, two-thirds of these being imprisonment for less
than eight days. The tendency in Germany is towards
an increase of the number of cases punished by fines, and
a decrease of the cases of imprisonment, especially im-
prisonment for short periods. The same tendency has
been observed in Austria. In fact, imprisonment for a
few days seems to have little or no restraining effect
on criminals, and this brings us to one of the most
interesting, but at the same time most discouraging facts
in criminology, namely, the repetition of crimes by the
same individual.
Habitual Criminals. A large proportion of the criminals
who are convicted are found to have been committed to
prison before. In England, for instance, the proportion
of the re-committed to the total number committed (ex-
clusive of debtors and naval and military offenders) was
in 1891-92, 45.3 per cent ; in 1890-91, 50.4 per cent; in
1889-90, 50.1 per cent; in 1888-89, 48.6 percent; and
in 1887-88, 46.7 per cent. The re-committed males were
42.0 per cent of the total number of males committed ;
the re-committed females, 54.6 per cent of the total number
of females committed. The following table shows the num-
282 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
her of times these habitual offenders had been previously
committed : l
PROPORTION PER CENT, 1891-92.
Males Females Males and Fe-
to Total to Total males to Total
Males. Females. Number.
Once 34.4 18.0 29.0
Twice 15.7 10.8 14.1
Thrice 9.8 7.8 9.2 .
Four times 6.8 6.1 6.6
Five times 6.0 4.7 6.0
Six or seven times 7.6 7.6 7.6
Eight to ten times 6.8 8.3 7.3
Above ten times 14.0 36.7 21.3
Total lOOTO 100.0 100.0
This table shows an extraordinary persistency of crimi-
nality, especially among women. It is to be observed, how-
ever, that probably the greater number of these previous
commitments were for short terms of imprisonment or com-
mitments due to inability to pay fines. It was nevertheless
found that in 1891-92 there were 1401 re-committed prison-
ers who, on a previous conviction, had been sentenced to
transportation or penal servitude. This constituted 2.0 per
cent of the total number of the re-committed prisoners.
In Germany 32.8 per cent of the convicted persons in
1890 had been punished before ; of the males 34.6 per cent,
and of the females 24.1. The proportion among females
is less than among males, contrary to the general rule.
Great differences are noticeable in different crimes, as is
shown in the following table : 2
PERCENTAGE PUNISHED BEFORE.
Males. Females. Both Seres.
Crimes against the person .... 31.4 15.6 29.1
Crimes against property . . . . 41.4 29.2 38.5
Burglary 35.8 15.5 33.)
Murder 63.1 10.0 46/
Homicide 52.0 17.4 45.6
Simple larceny 41.8 29.5 38.2
Grand larceny 52.2 37.6 60.4
Fraud 61.2 39.4 48.9
Forgery 39.5 26.8 37.3
i Judicial Statistics, England, 1892. 2 Allg. Stat. Archiy, III., p. 369.
CRIME. 283
These figures are not very instructive unless we know
whether the conviction is for the same crime as the previ-
ous conviction. Figures for other countries, however, con-
firm the notion of the slight effect of imprisonment upon
criminals. In France, in 1888, 52 per cent of those con-
victed before juries and 47 per cent of those convicted for
lighter crimes were habitual criminals. In 1876, out of
100 persons discharged from prison, among males 40
per cent were again convicted within two years. This
number had remained constant for four years. The num-
ber among females was 26 per cent. In Germany in
1892, out of those who had previously suffered imprison-
ment, 35 per cent had committed a new crime within one
year from the previous imprisonment. 1
Scientific Tests.
The statistics of crime are the most difficult to deal
with satisfactorily of any branch of sociological statistics.
The principal difficulties have already been mentioned in
the first part of this chapter, and will be dealt with here
only summarily. The first is that we are absolutely
dependent upon the official records of the courts of law.
These are very little influenced by any scientific considera-
tions, because in the administration of justice it is necessary
to adhere to precedent and the letter of the law. When
one considers the far-reaching consequences involved
in the revision of the penal code of a country, it can
readily be understood how mere considerations of scientific
classification or of international comparability have little
influence. We are, therefore, obliged to take the sources
of information as we find them and do the best we can.
Von Scheel distinguishes four branches of Judicial
Statistics. 2
1. Judicial Statistics proper. These comprise statistics
of the business transacted by the courts, as, for instance,
1 Conrad's Jahrbucher, 1894, p. 729. 2 Allg. Stat. Archiv, Vol. I., p. 185.
284 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
the number of judges and other officers, the number of
cases tried, the kind of cases, whether criminal or civil,
etc. These statistics are of value to the government, but
are of no great interest to the student of sociology.
2. Statistics of the Administration of Justice. These
include the number of persons accused, acquitted, or con-
victed, and the penalties inflicted.
3. Prison Statistics. These include the number of
prisoners, a description of the prisons, the cost of main-
taining prisoners, the kind of work done, etc.
4. Criminal Statistics. These concern themselves with
the criminal as an individual, as a member of the popula-
tion. The study of criminal statistics is the most important
for sociology, although we use all of the last three kinds.
As a matter of fact, we are obliged to seek our data wher-
ever we can find them, sometimes in judicial statistics, some-
times in prison statistics, and sometimes in special investi-
gations of criminal statistics. It requires great care and
discrimination to combine the results from these different
studies so as to make a consistent whole. It is evident, for
instance, that the proportion of different kinds of crime will
not be the same taking the convictions of a single year, as by
taking the number of persons confined in prison. In the
latter case the more serious crimes would be more strongly
represented, because of the greater length of the sentence.
The second question of great importance is upon what
figures we shall base our statistics. In the administration
of justice there are successive periods, during which we
can observe the number of persons connected with crime.
There are, first of all, the persons accused ; that is, the
number of persons arrested or detained on suspicion. Of
these, a certain number are at once discharged for want
of evidence, and we have secondly, the number actually
committed for trial. Of these, a certain number are never
tried, because the evidence is not as strong as it seemed,
so that we have thirdly, the number of persons actu-
CRIME. 285
ally tried, and fourthly, the number convicted. The
number of actual criminals is, of course, represented only
by the fourth class, but the other classes are interesting,
both as showing the extent of criminality, and also the
efficiency of the administration of justice. In England,
for instance, in 188485 the number of indictable offences
committed was 43,962, and the number of persons appre-
hended was 19,207, or only 43.7 per cent of the number
of crimes committed. Of the persons apprehended, 26.8
per cent were discharged, 7.7 per cent were bailed to
appear for trial, and 65.3 per cent were committed for
trial. Of the number of persons committed or bailed for
trial, about 75 per cent were convicted. Of the number
proceeded against summarily, about 80 per cent were con-
victed. It is apparent from these figures, that there are
many crimes committed for which no one is convicted, so
that the number of convicted persons is not a full measure
of the number of criminals in the community. 1 It still
remains, however, the fundamental figure because of its
definiteness and legal character. In England they have
still an additional figure which is of some interest, namely,
the number of the criminal classes, such as known thieves
and depredators ; but while such figures are of sociological
interest, they are not accurate criminal statistics.
It is a question whether to count the number of crimes,
or the number of criminals. Sometimes several persons
are involved in one crime. In that case, to count all the
persons gives us too many crimes. In other cases, one
criminal commits a series of crimes, as, for instance, a
thief may have committed ten thefts, or a forger a hun-
dred forgeries before he is convicted. To count all these
crimes would give us too many criminals. A man also
may be convicted of two or three different crimes. To
enter a conviction under each one of these crimes would
again give too many criminals. Practically, the object of
1 Judicial Statistics, England, 1885, p. xiii.
286 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
interest to the community is the number of criminals. In
Germany it is the custom, where a man is convicted of more
than one crime, to classify him with the heavier, and let
the lesser go without a criminal.
A precisely similar difficulty is met with when we sum
up the total number of criminals or crimes committed
during a single year. Among the less serious offences,
such as drunkenness and disorderly conduct, the same
individual may be convicted and punished twice or oftener
during the same year. It would be impossible to elimi-
nate these duplications, except by careful examination of
the names. These are often falsely given, and even if
rightly given, the convictions occurring in different police-
courts in different parts of the country makes it utterly
impossible to identify the individuals.
Another technical difficulty is that the convictions do
not occur at the same time as the crime. The convictions
of one calendar year represent partly crimes committed
during that year, and partly crimes committed during
the preceding year. This is of considerable importance
when we consider the causes of crimes. When we com-
pare the number of thefts with the price of food, we must
remember that only about two-thirds of the convictions
will fall in that year for which we have the price of food.
Another important question is what we shall include in
the number of crimes. There are a number of transac-
tions which are punished by the courts but which have
nothing of a criminal nature, such as the mere violation
of police ordinances in regard to cleaning the sidewalk,
begging and vagabondage, etc. Among the crimes
themselves there are many due simply to negligence
or carelessness, and others which are committed in
the excitement of the moment but which result in little
damage to the community, and show no serious crimi-
nal instinct on the part of the perpetrator. Of the
356,357 persons convicted of crime in Germany in 1887,
CRIME. 287
Von Scheel excludes 94,472 as being of minor importance.
Among these are disturbance of the house peace, insult,
small damage to property, and slight injuries to persons.
Still further, he excludes over 20,000 evasions of military
duty. Of the remainder, 73 per cent come under the five
heads, simple larceny, dangerous injury to the person,
fraud, embezzlement, and resistance to officers. Less
numerous but more important are the following : murder,
homicide, perjury, and rape. These two classes, namely, the
very serious crimes and the less serious but more numerous
are of special interest in criminal statistics. It is there-
fore advisable to follow these out particularly in our in-
vestigations of crime, its manifestations, and its causes,
rather than to take the whole mass of criminal offences.
International comparison of criminality meets with such
difficulties, owing to differences in the classification of
crimes, in procedure, and in police efficiency, that most sta-
tisticians refuse to undertake it. It is certainly true that
international comparison of the total amount of criminality
in different countries is entirely useless. Our only hope of
success seems to be in choosing certain serious crimes which
are pretty well marked and comparing their prevalence in
different countries. The ones chosen for this purpose are
commonly murder, homicide, grand larceny, and rape. But
even in this limited range it is necessary to exercise the
greatest care in such comparisons. One of the most recent
efforts shows the following results: 1
NUMBER OF PERSONS CONDEMNED PER 100,000 INHABITANTS FOE
Murder. Wounding. Larcenies.
Italy 8.05 226.06 78.17
France 1.46 71.62 114.79
Germany 0.80 154.70 177.36
Austria 2.16 285.19
England 0.40 130.97
Scotland 0.56
Ireland 0.85
Spain 6.21
1 Bodio, Communication sur 1' organisation de la statistique p6nale en
Italic, Iiistitut International de Statistique, 1889.
288 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
This table shows that there are enormous differences
in the tendency to crime in different countries ; and it is
allowable to seek the reason for these differences in the
social constitution and the economic condition of these
different countries. A true criminal sociology will prob-
ably some day be able to trace out the factors contribut-
ing to or causing crime. In the meantime it is the office
of statistical science to present the figures in such a way
that they may be compared with each other.
Reflective Analysis.
It is not necessary to add much to what has already
been said in the introduction to this chapter in regard
to the importance of criminal statistics. The great ques-
tion is : What sort of phenomenon is crime ? Is it a
function of the social organization in the same sense as
births, or deaths, or even suicides ? We have seen that
statistics are unable to answer this question completely.
The evidence points, however, to marked regularity in the
phenomenon itself and to well-defined influence of great
forces such as climate, economic condition, sex, age, and
biological condition. We are simply at the beginning of
this investigation, which will require a great expenditure
of time and labour before we have a real science of crime.
Valuable results, however, are even now reached for prac-
tical sociology.
BOOK III.
ETHNOaRAPHIC.
CHAPTER XIII.
RACE AND NATIONALITY.
Sociological Purpose.
IN our demographic and social statistics, we have classi-
fied population according to distinctions which are given
by nature or which rest on social institutions and charac-
teristics prevalent among all civilized peoples. Sex, age,
and conjugal condition are categories applicable every-
where and under all circumstances ; and religious confes-
sion, illiteracy, dependency, and delinquency are of almost
equal universality and importance, certainly among modern
peoples.
There is one other classification which is often deemed
to be primary and with which sociologists often begin their
exposition of social organization, viz., the ethnographic.
The most general division of mankind is said to be into
races. Closely connected with the distinction of race,
and sometimes corresponding to it, is that of nationality.
Both of these undoubtedly have immense importance for
the sociologist, especially in his study of origins, and
for the student of institutional development ; for whatever
the source of the distinctions, certain characteristics and
u 289
290 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
capacities seem to be associated with them. A striking
example of this is seen in the disposition of writers to
associate free political institutions with the Anglo-Saxon
wherever he is found on the surface of the earth.
The statistician, however, finds some difficulty in mak-
ing the ethnographic distinction a fundamental one in
his classification, for the following reasons:
The definition of race is still unsettled. Some ethnolo-
gists have held that the races of men are distinct species,
that they originated separately, and that crossing between
them produces infertile hybrids. The undoubted crossing
between races so widely separated as the whites and the
blacks, or the whites and the Indians, and the apparent
increase of half-breeds, especially in South America, have
thrown doubt upon this, and there is a disposition at
present to look upon the so-called races of men simply as
varieties whose crossing produces mongrels.
In this condition of things the number of races is
entirely indeterminate. For if crossing is possible we can
produce new varieties at any time, or by recrossing with
the parent stock the half-breed can be brought back to the
appearance of the parent. Even then we should have the
phenomenon of atavism, i.e., recurrence of ancestral forms,
to deal with.
Ethnologists are not yet agreed upon the distinguishing
marks of race. The colour of skin, white, black, yellow,
or red, is not satisfactory. The shape of the skull, dolicho-
cephalic, brachocephalic, and mesocephalic, seems to have
numerous exceptions, for we find individuals of each type
in the same race, where we have no reason to believe that
there has been any mixture of broad-skulled and long-
skulled races. The character of the hair, straight or curly,
is confused by the presence of numerous intermediate
grades which insensibly run into each other.
The name race is used indiscriminately for the grand
divisions of mankind, such as the white, black, red, and
RACE AND NATIONALITY. 291
yellow races ; the families or stocks, such as the Teutonic,
Slavonic, Romance, or Germanic ; and the smaller bodies
or nationalities, such as the Scandinavian, the Anglo-Saxon,
the Chinese, etc. Ethnologists have prepared numerous
schemes of division and subdivision, such as race, stock,
family, group, nationality, and people ; but they have not
agreed upon any one.
Owing to this confusion the statistician finds it impos-
sible to adopt the ethnographic distinction for classifica-
tion. In order to enumerate by classes the marks of
division must be plain. But the moment we try to enu-
merate races we have to deal with the numerous inter-
mixtures and the lack of specific characteristics.
Without committing himself to any rigid classification
of mankind by races, the statistician must acknowledge,
however, that there are important influences both upon
social organization and the life of populations which asso-
ciate themselves with the term race. He does not attempt
to determine whether these are due to common origin,
or to long historical experience, or to prehistoric adapta-
tion to a particular environment. He takes the distinc-
tions and strives to disentangle and define them. Different
races seem to have climatic peculiarities. The negro in
the South can live in swampy regions fatal to the white
man ; while, on the other hand, he seems to have delicate
lungs so that he cannot endure the cold of the North.
Associated with race in this particular instance is differ-
ence in birth and death-rates, in illiteracy, criminality, and
social habits. The statistician does not care for an exact
definition of race; he contents himself with grouping to-
gether all persons with negro blood in their veins, for this
particular study. He can treat the Indian acd the Chinese
in a similar way.
The influence of race becomes in this way a subject
of study from the side of statistics. It is sometimes of
sociological interest to know whether a race is maintaining
292 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
itself in its purity or is mixing with others. Statistics of
the increase or decrease of the number of half-breeds may
in time throw some light on the vexed biological question
of their fertility. The relative rate of increase of two
races living side by side, as the negroes and the whites in
the United States, has important social meaning. The
concentration of the blacks in certain sections, or occupa-
tions, or under peculiar conditions, as in the slums of great
cities, is worthy of study. The connection of race with
births and deaths, mortality, sickness, and suicide has been
brought out in the preceding chapters.
Nationality is a term which sometimes approaches the
meaning of the term race, while sometimes it is used to
signify simply persons living under the same government,
or born in the same country. Under the former con-
ception it is often of interest to note the relative strength
of different nationalities held together in the same po-
litical unity, as Germans, Hungarians, and Bohemians
in the Austro-Hungarian empire. This is often an im-
portant political, as well as social question ; for such
forced union may lead to strife and discord, or in it
may be found strength and international position. In
the latter meaning, we have the accumulation of men
of different nationality, i.e., birthplace, in the United
States. The members of a nationality are not necessarily
members of the same race. As there is no pure race, so
there is no nationality whose members are of the same blood.
But often the dominant characteristics of a nationality
are those of a race. The Irish are Celts; the English,
Teutons ; the Italians, Latins. Still further, where a
country has had a long and peaceful development, or
where for centuries it has been moulded by a common
resistance to outside foes, national characteristics are
formed which are almost as marked as those of race.
The Englishman has marked traits of character, although
he may be part Anglo-Saxon, part British, part Dane, and
RACE AND NATIONALITY. 293
part Norman. So, on the other hand, the Englishman,
the German, and the Scandinavian may all be classed as
Teutons, but there are strong differences between them.
Original mixtures of races such as have occurred in
past times we are no longer able to follow statistically.
But the intermixture of nationalities, such as is going
on in the United States, we are able to follow with at
least some definiteness. We can follow the foreign-born
in their distribution over the country, in their choice
of occupation, possibly in their social condition and their
contribution to the criminality of the community. There
is also a hopeful prospect of our being able to review, on
the basis of nationality, some much-mooted questions
of general sociology. Such are the questions of physical
environment modifying race, of the effect of the mixture
of races on institutions, of the decadence and dying out
of races when transplanted. These will occupy us more
particularly in the last chapter. The sociological purpose
of this chapter is to show the distribution of races and
nationalities as a basis for study of those questions of
sociology which connect themselves with the ethnographic
classification.
Statistical Data.
Statistics of Races. The statistics of the number of
individuals belonging to each of the great races or families
of mankind are the merest estimates. It is impossible to
distinguish, in the case of mixed nationalities where they
all speak the same language, the exact number belonging
to each race. This is especially the case where there
is no census. There are whole nations of Asia and tribes
of Africa which we are obliged to lump as Mongolians or
Ethiopians, although there may be thousands of individuals
of other races living among them. In this system, also,
half-breeds are reckoned with one or the other race without
much discrimination. Following the popular division of
294 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
mankind into five races, according to the colour of the
skin, it is estimated that out of a total population of 1480
millions, the Mongolians number 40 per cent, the Caucas-
sians 29 per cent, the Malays and Ethiopians about 15 per
cent each, the American or red race being a mere fraction.
If we seek to follow out the sub-divisions of races,
or stocks, as they are called, based on language and
political affinity, it may be said that about one-third
of the people of Europe are Teutonic, one-third Grseco-
Latin, and something less than one-third Slavonic; the
remaining fraction consists of Magyars, Celts, Semites,
Finns, Turks, Basques, etc.
More interesting is the question of the number of races
living in the same political unity. The so-called idea
of nationality, namely, that all the members of a na-
tion must be of the same race, is absurd in theory and not
realized in practice. Almost everywhere, under the same
government there live men of different race, or at least
of different origin, and in some cases separated from each
other by language, religion, and customs. It is not to
be denied, however, that a certain homogeneity of popu-
lation is desirable, and that race hostility is often an
obstacle to political strength and unity. It is an in-
teresting task of statistics to show the variety of race
and nationality existing in the same country. The sta-
tistics are based partly on language and partly on former
political affinity, and so are not exact.
In Germany the bulk of the population is (on the basis
of language) Teutonic ; but in the Prussian provinces
of Posen, Silesia, West and East Prussia there are
2,513,500 Slavs (Poles), who, with 280,000 Walloons and
French, 150,000 Lithuanians, 140,000 Danes, and about
the same number of Wends, Moravians, and Bohemians,
make up 3,223,500 non-Germanic inhabitants, or nearly
seven per cent of the total population. 1
1 Statesman's Year-Book, 1893.
RACE AND NATIONALITY. 295
In Austria-Hungary there is a very great mixture of
populations, and this constitutes one of the most serious
political difficulties with which the empire has to struggle.
Besides the Germans, who constitute only a little over
one-fourth of the total population, and even in Austria
proper are only 36 per cent, there are Magyars, Bohe-
mians, Poles, Ruthenians, Servians and Croats, Rouma-
nians, Slovenians, Italians, and many others.
In Switzerland we have an example of a country in-
habited by three distinct nationalities, standing on the
same basis of official recognition, and yet constituting a
stable government. In 1888 the Swiss population was
71.3 per cent French, 21.8 per cent German, and 5.3 per
cent Italian.
In Great Britain and Ireland it is extremely difficult to
distinguish the population by nationality, because English
has become the dominant language in Scotland, Wales,
and Ireland, where the population is largely Celtic by
origin. On the basis of language, the total Celtic-speaking
population in the United Kingdom, in 1891, was 1,844,878.
In Scotland 254,415, or 6.32 per cent, could speak Gaelic,
of whom 43,738 could speak Gaelic only. In Ireland
680,174, or 14.46 per cent, could speak Irish, of whom
38,121 could speak Irish only. In Wales 910,289, or 51.2
per cent, could speak Welsh, of whom 508,036 could speak
Welsh only. The number of persons able to speak Irish,
Gaelic, or Cymric is constantly decreasing, so that lan-
guage is becoming less and less a test of race in Great
Britain and Ireland. 1
In the immense empire of Russia there is great mixture
of races. It is estimated that of the total population of
the empire, 88 per cent are Aryan, 4 per cent Turanian,
4 per cent of Uralo-Altaic stock, 3^ per cent Semitic.
Of the Aryan population, 81 per cent are Slav, 3^ per
cent Lithuanian and Lettish, 1^ per cent Teutonic, 1 per
1 Statesman's Year-Book, 1894.
296 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
cent Graeco-Latin. Of the Slavs, 74^ per cent are Rus-
sian and 6f per cent Polish, while of the former, about
one-half are 'great Russians.' About 40 languages or
dialects are spoken in Russia. 1
In the other countries of Europe the population is
mostly homogeneous, in the sense of speaking the same
language, although historically there may have been mixt-
ure of races.
In Prussia they have made an interesting attempt to
combine the language test of the census with anthropo-
logical observations of the colour of skin, hair, and eyes
of the school-children. The result was that 35 per cent
of the population is supposed to be pure German, i.e.,
German in speech and pure blonde in type ; 24 per cent
is principally German, i.e., German in speech but mixed
in type (blonde hair and grey eyes) ; 28 per cent is
German in speech, but partly Slavic or Romance by type
(dark hair and grey eyes). 2
Race in the United States. In the United States we
have four distinct races, represented by the whites,
the negroes, the Indians, and the Chinese. The total
coloured population as returned under the census of 1890
is 7,638,360. Of this number, 7,470,040 are persons of
African descent, 107,475 are Chinese, 2039 are Japanese,
and 58,806 are civilized Indians.
The persons of African descent are, of course, the most
important item in this enumeration. The Chinese, who
numbered 34,933 in 1860, 63,199 in 1870, and 105,465 in
1880, have remained almost stationary, owing to the pro-
hibition of the immigration of Chinese labourers. Besides
the civilized Indians enumerated in the census, there are
those living on reservations. The total Indian popula-
tion of the United States, exclusive of Alaska, numbers
248,253. They are scattered through the different states,
1 Statesman's Year-Book, 1885.
2 Zeitschrift des Preuss. Bureaus, 1893, p. 199.
RACE AND NATIONALITY. 297
especially in the West, and no longer constitute an ethni-
cal or political force of any consequence.
The most important race distinction in the United
States is that between the whites and the negroes.
Under negroes, we mean all persons of African descent,
or having negro blood. An attempt was made in the
Eleventh Census to distinguish between those of pure
and mixed blood, which gave the following figures :
Blacks 6,337.980
Mulattoes 956.989
Quadroons 105.135
Octoroons . 69.936
Total 7,470.040
"These figures are in all probability of little value.
Indeed, as an indication of the extent to which the races
have mingled they are probably misleading." 1 For the
rest of this discussion all of these persons are included
under the term coloured.
The proportion of whites has increased, and the pro-
portion of coloured has diminished at each census with
the exception of 1810 and 1880. Since 1790 the propor-
tion of the coloured element has decreased from 19.27 per
cent to 11.93 per cent of the total population, that is, the
proportion is to-day less than two-thirds what it was a
century ago.
It has always been a matter of great interest to know
whether the white or the coloured race was increasing
faster. Down to 1870, with the single slight exception of
between 1800 and 1810, the increase of the whites was at
a greater rate than that of the coloured. Owing to the
deficient census of 1870, the census of 1880 showed an
apparent increase during the decade on the part of the
coloured of 34.85 per cent, and on the part of the whites
1 Quotation from Eleventh Census, Compendium, Part L, p. icviii.
298 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
of 29.22 per cent. These figures excited great alarm,
for they showed apparently that in a state of freedom
the coloured race not only increased faster than in
slavery, but increased much faster than the white. The
census of 1890 reverses these figures. It shows that
during the decade the coloured increased 13.51 per cent,
and the whites 26.68 per cent, that is, the whites are
increasing twice as fast as the coloured. Although the
census of 1890 may not be altogether accurate, yet it does
show that the apparent rate of increase of the coloured in
1880 was due to the deficiency of the previous census,
and that the coloured are continuing to lose in relative
strength. This is true not only of the country at large
but also of the Southern states. The increasing indus-
trial character of the country seems to be unfavourable to
the blacks.
The area of distribution of the coloured race in the
United States is very easily determined. While in the
North Atlantic division only 1.55 per cent, in the North
Central division 1.93 per cent, and in the Western division
0.89 per cent of the total population is coloured, in the
South Atlantic division 36.83 per cent, and in the South
Central division 31.71 per cent, is coloured.
A study of particular states shows that in South Caro-
lina and Mississippi the coloured element is more than
one-half of the population, while in Louisiana it is just
about one-half. In Georgia, Florida, and Alabama it is
from 42 to 46 per cent. Proceeding north and west from
this black belt, the proportion decreases, so that in Dela-
ware it is only 16.85 per cent, in Kentucky 14.42 per cent,
and even in Texas only 21.84 per cent.
During the past ten years the proportion has slightly
increased in two states, namely, Mississippi and Arkansas.
In all the other Southern states, especially in Florida and
Texas, the proportion during the last decade has de-
creased. The decrease in these two states has been due to
RACE AND NATIONALITY. 299
the immigration of whites. It seems probable that the
coloured element has reached its highest relative position,
and that from this time on it is destined to give way
before the white.
The influence of the coloured race upon the general
distribution of population in the United States is very
marked. The institution of slavery concentrated the
blacks in the South, and discouraged immigration of
whites to that region. At the same time their racial
peculiarities have adapted them to the climate and the
topography of the country. When we study, therefore,
the distribution of population, we find the blacks always
in contrast with the whites. The blacks are very numer-
ous in the coast swamps, where the whites are scarce. In
the distribution by altitude, the maximum for the blacks
is found below 500 feet, while that for the whites is above
500 feet. In regard to temperature, the maximum for
the blacks is found between 60 and 65 degrees, while that
for the whites is between 50 and 55 degrees. In regard
to rainfall, the maximum for the blacks shows an average
of 50 to 55 inches, while that for the whites, an average
of 45 to 50 inches per annum.
Nationalities in the United States. The census of the
United States distinguishes between the native and the
foreign-born, and among the latter, the place of birth.
This does not give us statistics of races, because nation-
ality does not always mean a distinction of race, as, for
instance, persons born in Scotland may be either Anglo-
Saxon or Gaelic ; and because the descendants of persons
of foreign birth, if born in the United States, are immedi-
ately classed as native-born. The statistics of nationality
do give us however some indication of the mixture of
races, and in many social and political respects they are
of great interest.
It is only since 1850 that the census has distinguished
the place of birth. The number of persons of foreign
300 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
birth, and their proportion to the total population, is
shown by the following table :
Per Cent of
Foreign-
YJEARS. Total Persons of born of Total
Population. Foreign Birth. Population.
1850 23,191,876 2,244,602 9.68
1860 31,443,321 4,138,697 13.16
1870 38,658,371 6,567,229 14.44
1880 60,155,783 6,679,943 13.32
1890 62,622,250 9,249,647 14.77
This table shows a continuous increase in the absolute
number of persons of foreign birth in the United States,
but only a slight increase (since 1860) in the proportion
of the foreign-born to the total population. It must be
remembered, however, that were it not for immigration,
both the absolute and the relative number of persons of
foreign birth would constantly decrease. To maintain
the relative proportion it is necessary that immigration
shall make good the deaths among the foreign-born and
the immigrants, and also counterbalance the natural
increase of both the native and the foreign-born. It is
an astonishing fact, under these circumstances, that while
population has doubled since 1860 the number of persons
of foreign birth has more than doubled, so that the pro-
portion of the foreign-born to the total population is
greater now than it was then.
Almost all the countries of Europe contribute to the
foreign-born population of the United States. The largest
absolute number is shown by Germany, 2,784,894, and the
next largest by Ireland, 1,871,509. But if we include
the Scandinavians (933,249) and the English (908,141)
with the Germans, the Teutonic element far outweighs
the Celtic.
Great changes have taken place since 1850. The rela-
tive proportion of the Irish has decreased from 42.85 per
cent to 20.23. The German element has just about held
its own since 1860. The same is true of the English and
RACE AND NATIONALITY. 301
the Scotch. The Scandinavians have increased, both
absolutely and relatively, at each succeeding census ; while
during the last ten years there has been an enormous rela-
tive increase of persons from Southern and Eastern Europe
including Russia, Italy, Poland, Austria, and Bohemia.
Such a change in the character of the foreign-born is of
very great interest and importance to the people of the
United States.
As the blacks were concentrated in the South, so are
the foreign-born in the North. For the whole of the
United States the foreign whites constitute 14.56 per cent
of the population. But while in the North Atlantic divi-
sion they constitute 22.27 per cent, in the North Central
division 18.13 per cent, and in the Western division 22.22
per cent; in the South Atlantic division they constitute
only 2.28, and in the South Central division only 2.90 per
cent of the total population. The greatest proportion
of the foreign-born is found in the states of Massachusetts
and Rhode Island in the East, and Wisconsin, Minnesota,
and North Dakota in the West. This is due in the first
case to the influx of foreigners into the factories, and in
the second, to colonization of new lands.
The Irish are found very largely in the North Atlantic
division because of their presence in factories and their
liking for large cities. The Germans are most numer-
ous in the North Central division, where they are found
not only in the large cities, but also on farms. The
Canadian and Newfoundland immigration is mainly across
the border line into New England. The Norwegians and
Swedes settle in the Northwest. The English and
Scotch are very much scattered. The Hungarians,
Italians, and Russians still remain in the East, while the
Bohemians and Poles seek the West.
The foreign-born show a great tendency to settle in the
cities. In 1890, more than 44 per cent of the foreign-born
were living in cities of 25,000 inhabitants and over. Of
302 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
the Germans, 47.7 per cent; of the English, 40.7 per cent;
of the Irish, 56 per cent; and of the Poles, Russians, and
Italians, over 57 per cent were found in such cities. The
tendency is to increased concentration of the foreign-born
in large cities owing to the increased immigration of Latins
and Slavs.
Foreign Parentage. In the United States the analysis
of nationalities is carried one step further by an inquiry
into the birthplace of the parents of the native-born. We
are thus able to subdivide the native whites into two
classes, namely, those with native parents, and those with
one or both parents foreign-born. This is an extremely
valuable subdivision, for it enables us not only to carry the
distinction of nationality one generation further back, but
also to distinguish a class intermediate between the for-
eigners and the natives, namely, the foreigners who are
partly Americanized. The population of the United
States thus falls into four grand groups, as is shown in
the following table :
Native-born whites with native parents 34,358,348 = 54.87 per cent.
Coloured 7,638,300 = 12.20 "
Foreign-born whites 9,121,867 = 14.56 "
Native-born whites of foreign parents . 11,503,675 = 18.37 "
This table shows that the native Americans, that is, the
native whites whose parents are native-born, number a
little over one-half of the total population. This indeed
carries us back only one generation. The grandparents
of these persons may have been and probably were, in
many cases, foreign-born, so that it is safe to say that less
than one-half of the people of the United States are de-
scendants of the whites who were here at the beginning
of this century. Upon this native American element are
imposed three elements differing from it either in race, or
birthplace, or parentage. The first is the coloured, 12.2 per
cent of the total population, composed principally of per-
sons of African descent, of whom we have already spoken.
RACE AND NATIONALITY 303
The second, 14.56 per cent of the whole, is composed of
white persons born abroad, that is, the survivors of the
immigrants to this country. This is the element through
which the direct foreign influence upon the people and
the institutions of the United States is exercised. The
third element, 18.37 per cent of the whole, is constituted
of native white persons whose parents were foreign-born.
They may be called the second generation of the immi-
grants. But there is an important difference between
the last two classes. The native-born whites of foreign
parentage are not to be altogether regarded as foreigners.
They have been subjected to the influences of the new
community ever since their birth, and it is probable that
they have thereby lost in part the quality of foreigners,
and acquired the characteristics of natives.
This last consideration suggests the important question
whether, in a new country like the United States, these
different nationalities tend gradually to assimilate and
form one homogeneous whole. Statistics cannot answer
this question definitely, but can give us only certain
figures or relations, which may serve to indicate whether
the process of assimilation has a good field to work in or
not, and if it is making progress. One important fact in
this connection is the relative proportion of the last two
elements mentioned in the preceding paragraph, that is,
of the second generation of the immigrants to the first.
Assimilating forces of whatever character will, as a gen-
eral rule, have more influence upon the second generation
than upon the first. Where, therefore, immigration is
sufficiently old, so that the second generation is more
numerous than the first, the foreign element is in a better
position to be assimilated, than where it is composed
largely of new immigrants.
If we take the United States as a whole we shall find
126 native whites of foreign parentage to 100 foreign-
whites, that is, the second generation is alreadv more
304 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
numerous than the first. This is true even of such states
as Minnesota and Wisconsin, where the foreign element
is particularly strong. On the other hand, in four of the
New England states the second generation is not as numer-
ous as the first. The reason of this is, in part, the recent
extensive immigration of French Canadians into the fac-
tory towns. Sociologically this would seem to indicate
that the Eastern states have a more difficult task before
them than the Western. .
Intermarriage. There are many influences tending to
merge the foreign-born population with the native-born in
the United States. The most natural and effective way of
welding diverse nationalities or races into one nation is
by intermarriage between foreigners and natives, or be-
tween foreigners of different nationality. Thereby is
brought about an intermixture of blood, and a community
of customs and habits of life, which efface any previous
differences. In course of time this assimilation will un-
doubtedly take place in the United States among the
whites, for there are no particularly strong national prej-
udices to be overcome, and the second and third genera-
tions will feel themselves more American than anything
else. We shall not be able to trace this statistically, for
the statistics of marriage in the United States are neither
accurate nor complete, and do not give the nationality of
bride and bridegroom. The only statistics we have are
those in regard to mixed parentage. These indicate that
there is a certain amount of intermarriage between for-
eigners and natives, and between different sections of
the foreigners.
Of the foreign -born persons in this country 99 per cent
have parents who were foreign-born. Among the native
white persons of foreign parentage there is a considerable
mixture of blood. Of the 11,503,675 such persons,
7,370,749, or 64.07 per cent, had parents born in the same
country ; 714,270, or 6.21 per cent, were of mixed foreign
RACE AND NATIONALITY.
305
parentage; and 3,418,656 or 29.72 per cent had one par-
ent foreign and one parent native.
These figures do not show accurately the intermixture of
nationalities, for under the head of native-born may be a per-
son of the same descent as the other parent. For instance,
an Irish child might have an Irish father and an Irish woman
of the second generation of the immigration as mother.
It would be of mixed parentage according to the statistics,
although in reality of pure Irish blood. This combination
would occur more frequently, the older the immigration.
The fact is reflected in the statistics of nationalities, as
shown in the following table : 1
WHITE PERSONS OF
WHITE PERSONS OF
FOKEIGN
PARENTAGE.
FOREIGN
PARENTAGE.
Having one
Having one
SPECIFIED
Having
parent
SPECIFIED
Having
parent
COUNTRIES.
both par-
born as
COUNTBIES.
both par-
born as
ents born
specified
ents born
specified
as speci-
and one
as speci-
and one
fied.
parent na-
fied.
parent na-
tive.
tive.
Per Cent.
Per Cent.
Per Cent.
Per Cent.
Ireland . .
. 84.31
15.69
Norway
. 92.30
7.70
Germany .
. 84.30
15.70
Denmark .
. 91.28
8.72
England . .
. 69.18
30.82
Bohemia .
. 95.29
4.71
Scotland . .
. 72.70
27.30
France . .
. 69.28
30.72
Wales . . .
. 77.01
22.99
Hungary .
. 97.54
2.46
Canada (English) 53.55
46.45
Italy . .
. 94.93
6.07
Canada (French) 86.10
13.90
Russia . .
. 97.46
2.54
Sweden . . .
. 95.04
4.96
Other countries 86.29
13.71
This table shows that the Canadian English, the English,
and the Scotch have the greatest tendency to marry native
women. The Russians, Hungarians, and Italians have the
least inclination that way. This is due to the difficulty
of the language and the newness of the immigration.
It is a well-known fact that foreign men marry native
women more often than foreign women marry native men.
The excess of white persons having foreign fathers over
those having foreign mothers was 1,341,524. This is
1 Elereuth Census, Part I., p. clxv.
306 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
due primarily to the excess of male over female immi-
grants, fully three-fifths of the immigrants being males.
Of the 4,826,245 persons who had Irish fathers, only
4,608,833 had Irish mothers ; and of the 6,759,890 per-
sons who had German fathers, only 6,146,255 had Ger-
man mothers. The percentage of those having foreign
father of the specified country and native mother was:
among the Irish, 10.54 per cent; the Germans, 12.33 per
cent ; the English, 20.63 per cent; the Italians, 4.45 per
cent; the Hungarians, 1.94 per cent, etc.
We meet with some intermarriage among the different
foreign nationalities. There were, in 1890, 922,268 white
persons of mixed foreign parentage. Every conceivable
combination is met. The most common is between Irish and
English, and Irish and English Canadian. But there were
46,131 persons having one parent Irish and one German ;
9739 of mixed Irish and French parentage ; 4,774 of mixed
Irish and French Canadian ; 2993 of Irish and Swedish ;
1869 of Irish and Italian ; 1739 of Irish and Norwegian;
466 of Irish and Russian, and 228 Irish and Bohemian.
Some of these combinations are extremely curious and
show what an alembic the United States is for the mixt-
ure of nationalities.
Scientific Tests.
When we come to base sociological reasoning on statis-
tics of race and nationality, the first question that arises
is whether there are distinguishing marks by which to
classify. For it is obvious that unless there exist some
clearly defined characteristic which ordinary statistical
observation can take cognizance of, our enumeration and
classification is mere guess-work, and the basis of our
reasoning fallacious. In respect to the statistics of races
of men we are in fact in that predicament. Ethnologists
differ as to their number. Some allow only three, others
make five, seven, and so on up to sixteen. Colour of skin,
RACE AND NATIONALITY. 307
craniology, hair characteristic, physical measurements, are
variously used, but no one is an unfailing test. Hence,
as already said, the enumeration of the number of men
belonging to the white, red, yellow, and black races is
entirely misleading.
The scientific test in the case of half-breeds or mixed
races fails also. The attempt of the Eleventh Census of
the United States to distinguish between blacks, mulattoes,
quadroons, and octoroons was a failure, and the failure
might have been and was predicted. The persons them-
selves could not give their ancestry, for such mixture
comes about generally in a state of slavery or social
degradation of the mother. Shade of colour of skin could
not determine it, for it is too uncertain, and we have also
the phenomenon of atavism, or reversion to a pure
ancestral type, e.g., a mulatto woman may have a pure
black child. Such statistics are impossible.
When we come to the races of the same group, such
as the Teutonic, Celtic, and Slavonic, the difficulties are
almost as great. There are two tests, language and
political affinity. The former is insufficient, for men of
the same race may speak different languages, i.e., a por-
tion of the race may acquire a new language, like the
French Huguenots in America, whose descendants speak
English. The language of the minority tends to disap-
pear, like Irish, Gaelic, and Cymric in Great Britain and
Ireland. The stronger the political union, the more apt
this is to occur. In the United States, English is the
dominant tongue, and the Slav, the Teuton, the Latin all
acquire it and lose the old language in the course of a
generation or two.
It is true that statistics of race based on differences of
language sometimes have political importance for a par-
ticular country. The strange language may serve to
mark a portion of the population, which, on account of
race, or religion, or previous political independence, con-
308 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
stitutes an element hostile to the dominant power. Such
is the significance of the mixture of races in Austria-
Hungary. The Bohemians, the Poles, the Servians, the
Croats, represent not so much differences of race as sec-
tions of population bound together by old national ties,
and imperfectly united to the empire. The Magyars
represent not so much race, as a nationality ambitious
of political independence. In Germany, the Poles, the
Lithuanians, the Danes, and the French represent unassim-
ilated fractions of the population, which are too small
to be dangerous, but still are irritating. In Switzerland
the test of language is of political importance as measur-
ing the balance of power between the German and Latin
element. In Great Britain and Ireland the census dis-
tinction of those persons who speak Celtic only, Gaelic
only, or Cymric only, is important, because it measures the
strength of the anti-Teutonic element which refuses to
be assimilated. The number of persons able to speak
Irish, Gaelic, or Cymric, together with English, represents
an intermediary step towards assimilation. The language
test in these cases possesses some scientific value.
This test has been applied with some success in the
United States. The census of 1890 distinguished, among
the foreign-born males 21 years and over, between those
who had been naturalized or had taken out naturaliza-
tion papers, and those who were aliens. The aliens
were further classified into those able to speak English,
and those who are not. For the whole country, 32.6
per cent of the aliens do not speak English. The results
vary, of course, from state to state, according as the im-
migrants come from English-speaking countries, or have
been here a sufficient length of time to learn English.
In Massachusetts only 13.38 per cent of the aliens do
not speak English, while in Wisconsin 42.33 per cent do
not. This test shows nothing in regard to the strength
of the foreign element in different states, for it applies
RACE AND NATIONALITY. 309
only to those foreigners who have not been naturalized,
or have not at least taken out their first papers. Nor is
it a test even of the strength of the non-naturalized por-
tion, because it applies only to immigrants coming from
non-English speaking-countries. But so far as it goes
it is an interesting figure, because it discloses the portion
of the population that is alien, both in the sense of not
exercising political rights and in language.
Political allegiance is a very rough method of distinguish-
ing race, as, for instance, in classifying all the inhabitants
of France as Celts, or all the whites of the United States
as Anglo-Saxons. This method takes no account of sec-
tions of other races residing within the territory, as the
Basques or the Walloons living in France. It takes no
account of the immigration of large bodies of people of
well-defined race, such as the Irish, Italians, and Rus-
sian Jews, into the United States, who, to whatever race
they may belong, are certainly very far from being Anglo-
Saxons. This method also absolutely ignores the mixture
of races which has gone on within national bounds by
successive conquests. All nations are mixed in blood.
On the soil of Italy we have had Latins, Celts, Greeks,
Germans, Normans, and Arabs, not to speak of Spaniards,
French, and Austrians, who have been at different times
masters of various parts of the peninsula. A nationality
of pure race is unknown. Even the Chinese are mixed
with Tartars, and the population of India is composed of
a variety of elements.
Former political affinity is also a rough method of classi-
fying race, and does not gain in precision. For history and
political association often modify race so that likenesses
become unlikenesses. The Norman of England, if he
could be distinguished, would at the present time be
entirely different from the Norman of France. The Saxon
of England is not the same as the Saxon or Low German
of Germany. It is arbitrary to classify the Irishman and
310 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
Frenchman together as Celts, when history has developed
them into such different beings. The attempt to group
men into races on the basis of former political association,
while having all the indefiniteness and vagueness of a
grouping by language, lacks the precision of a grouping
by nationality (birthplace) pure and simple. Physical envi-
ronment also is declared by some ethnologists to be an
active force in modifying races, as well as in producing
them. Thus the climate and physical characteristics of
America (it is asserted) have so modified the white colo-
nists from Europe, that a new race is being produced which
in some respects approaches more closely the aboriginal
American than the ancestral European race. If this be so,
the only recourse is to classify all the inhabitants of
North America, for instance, as a new race, instead of
identifying them with either the Anglo-Saxons or Germans
of Europe.
When we turn now from the statistics of races to those
of nationality, we seem to have a more solid basis for our
observations. The distinction of nationality is one that in
general is not difficult to draw. Most of the people born
in a country are of that nationality. There are exceptions,
as where children are born to parents living abroad who
have retained their allegiance, but such exceptions are
insignificant. In the United States, for instance, in 1890,
out of a population of more than 62 millions, there were
38,030 persons, the children of native-born parents, who
were born abroad. In general, therefore, the distinction
of nationality on the basis of place of birth is capable of
statistical observation. The next question is how far
such a distinction is of any real importance. As we have
just said, the greater number of people living in the coun-
try belong as a matter of course to that nationality. In
Germany, out of a population, in 1890, of 49,416,182, there
were 433,271 foreigners, that is, less than one per cent.
In France, out of a population of 38,343,192 in 1891, there
RACE AND NATIONALITY. 311
were 1,101,728 foreigners, that is, about three per cent.
The most numerous among these foreigners in France are
the Belgians, and next to them the Italians. In Switz-
erland, in a total population estimated in 1888 to be
2,933,334, there were 238,313 foreigners, that is, 8.1 per
cent. Among the countries of Europe the number of
foreigners is so insignificant that the question of national-
ity has no great importance. It is only, therefore, in new
countries like the United States, where a large fraction of
the population is composed of immigrants or their descend-
ants, that the distinction becomes one of interest.
It is true, indeed, as we have already seen, that na-
tionality does not correspond closely to race. On the
other hand, national characteristics have, by the develop-
ment of centuries, become almost as strong as race
characteristics. We cannot absolutely distinguish the
Celt from the Teuton, but we can distinguish the Irish-
man from the Englishman, and we know that each has
marked peculiarities. We cannot say whether the Scotch-
man is more Saxon or Celt ; but we do know of Scotch
thrift, industry, and perseverance, which, although not
exemplified in all individuals, are yet characteristic of
the nation. In some cases, it is true, compound nations
require subdivision, and although this is not always
logical, yet by interpretation it becomes useful. Thus,
in the United States statistics, both of emigration and of
the foreign-born, they make a distinction between Aus-
trians, Hungarians, and Bohemians, although they are
all subjects of the Austro-Hungarian empire. So also
in those statistics they recognize "Poland," a country
which has long since disappeared from the maps. We
know, too, by observation that under the term "Russian,"
in the statistics of immigration and of the foreign-born, is
commonly concealed a Russian Jew. In the Massachusetts
census of 1885 persons born in Canada were distinguished
as Canadian French or Canadian English. By these
312 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
various interpretations and devices the mark of nationality
becomes a valid statistical distinction.
Reflective Analysis.
One final question arises in regard to these modern
statistics of race and nationality, viz. : Is the classifica-
tion of sufficient importance to serve as a basis for reason-
ing? When we say that the foreign element must be an
important factor in American political and social life,
do we bear in mind that under the foreign-born is in-
cluded a great variety of nationalities, German, English,
Irish, Scandinavian, Italian, Russian, etc. The addition
to our population of a hundred thousand intelligent Eng-
lish artisans cannot mean the same thing as that of a
hundred thousand ignorant Italian or Russian peasants.
The problem of assimilation must be very different in the
two cases. In some respects the nationalities serve to
counterbalance each other. The German and Irish ele-
ments have been in this position for many years. The
so-called foreign influence must vary, also, in different sec-
tions of the country according as it is predominantly of
one or of another nationality. The proportion of the
foreign-born may be the same in Massachusetts as in
Minnesota; but in the former case it is composed of Irish,
and in the latter, of Scandinavians.
There are great differences also among the individuals
of the same nationality. Some are intelligent and edu-
cated, others are ignorant ; some desire to become Ameri-
cans, others are hostile to our institutions ; some come
here at adult age with habits fixed and unable to change,
others are brought in childhood and grow up under the
influence of American institutions. The position of these
different individuals, their attitude towards American
life, their " alienage," so to speak, must be very different,
although we throw them all together into the one class
of foreign-born. The same particular difficulties meet us
RACE AND NATIONALITY. 313
when we attempt to distinguish the second generation of
immigrants, that is, the native-born of foreign parentage,
from the immigrants themselves. For instance, in the
same immigrant family a child born before the immigra-
tion belongs to the first generation, while its younger
brother or sister born after the parents arrived here is
counted in the second. These two persons have the same
parents, and are brought up under the same influences.
Nevertheless they fall into different classes. On the other
hand, an immigrant who has been here fifty years, perhaps,
and is surrounded by children or even grandchildren of
native birth, falls into the same class as the foreigner who
arrived yesterday.
The continuance of the strength of the foreign influence
depends largely upon the circumstances which surround
the immigrant after he lands. Where the foreign-born
of the same nationality congregate, the foreign lan-
guage, customs, and modes of thought are perpetuated
even into succeeding generations. There are in Wiscon-
sin, for example, whole villages and even townships com-
posed entirely of Germans or Swedes. Where, on the
other hand, the foreigners are scattered among the na-
tives, the dissolving influence of American life manifests
itself much more rapidly. Statistics can help us, to a
certain extent, by showing these agglomerations of foreign-
born persons in different sections of the country. Differ-
ences of nationality are also shown by the statistics. Dif-
ferences of individual intelligence, of age, of character,
and of length of residence here, cannot be shown. They
must be thrown together as in the long run counter-
balancing each other. Our classification, therefore, is a
general one, but is sufficient for purposes of sociological
reasoning. The reasoning must be general and our con-
clusions must be drawn with some care. But under these
conditions the statistics of nationality seem to be available
for scientific use.
CHAPTER XIV.
MIGRATION.
Sociological Purpose.
BESIDES the natural increase or decrease of population
by births and deaths, the number of inhabitants of any
country or locality may be increased or diminished by
migration. From the beginning of human history there
have been migrations of men. In early times they con-
sisted of movements of whole tribes in a career of con-
quest. The great historical example of this is the
migration of the German tribes which resulted in the
overthrow of the Roman empire. History records simi-
lar movements in Asia, and ethnology declares migration
to have been one of the great factors in the formation of
races and the peopling of the surface of the globe. A
second sort of migration began with the discovery of
America, and of the new route to India around the Cape of
Good Hope, and may be called colonization. This move-
ment had enormous results in the establishment of Euro-
pean civilization in America, in Australia, and in South
Africa, and the extension of European influence all over
the world. These colonization movements were under-
taken under national auspices, and the colony remained in
connection with the mother country. After the colonies
in America rebelled against England and Spain, and estab-
lished themselves as independent nations, emigration to
these countries no longer took on the form of colonization,
but of expatriation. The modern movement of migration
314
MIGRATION. 315
is, therefore, a movement of individuals, and not of com-
munities. Its object is not to extend the power of the
mother country either by conquest or by colonization, but
simply to improve the economic or social condition of the
individual migrating. It is, however, on this account
none the less important. The abolition of the restraints
upon the liberty of movement of the individual, the
improved means of communication, and the inclination to
travel have made it extremely easy for large numbers of
individuals on very slight notice, or under small pretext,
to change their residence and their allegiance. Such a
movement has considerable influence upon the population
both of the state losing the emigrants and of the state
receiving the immigrants. Still further, international
relations are so close that the emigrants from one country
may seek a home in another, whose inhabitants speak a
different language and have different laws, customs, and
modes of thought. This gives rise to ethnical mixtures
and to complicated questions of the reciprocal influence
of men of different races and culture upon each other.
These questions involve, not merely the number of the
population, but the whole social and economic develop-
ment of the community.
Besides migration from one country to another, an
almost equally important phenomenon is the change
of residence of people within a country. The typical
example of this is the migration from country to city.
This movement has very important economic and social
consequences. It threatens to depopulate the rural dis-
tricts and to concentrate population under the less health-
ful conditions of city life. It magnifies the social evils
of pauperism, mendicancy, overcrowding, intemperance,
and lack of employment. It is one of the characteristic
features of modern life.
The sociological purpose of this chapter is to give the
statistics of these movements of population, both external
316 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
and internal. We have first the statistics of emigration,
which is principally from the countries of Europe to those
of the New World. We have secondly the complementary
figures, or the statistics of immigration to the countries
of the New World. We have in the third place to balance
the emigration and immigration, and thus to ascertain the
net movement. We have in the fourth place the internal
migration from province to province, from commonwealth
to commonwealth, from county to county, and from country
to city. We thus gain a statistical picture of this move-
ment, its direction, its intensity, and its relative strength at
different times and places.
It cannot be our intention to leave the subject at this
point. It is the office of statistics by depicting the ebb
and flow of emigration to try to determine the influences
which govern its intensity and its direction. It is also
its duty to describe the quality of the emigration, or
more especially of immigration, by analyzing it according
to the race or nationality of the individuals, their sex,
age, and conjugal condition, their occupation and social
position, their wealth or poverty, and their physical or
mental infirmities. All of these questions are important
in considering the effect of immigration upon the country
concerned. We must, therefore, not only ascertain how
far emigration and immigration affect the decrease or
increase of population, but also study their influence
on the economic, political, and social condition of the
community concerned. This will lead us into some
minute and careful investigations. For internal migra-
tion we must pursue a similar course of inquiry.
The ultimate sociological purpose of such an inquiry is
to determine whether migration is a natural function
of human society at the present time. It is also neces-
sary to determine what are the advantages of this move-
ment, and what are its disadvantages. The final question,
of practical sociology, is whether it is necessary or possi-
MIGRATION. 317
Me to restrict the freedom of individuals in such a way as
to avoid the evils of indiscriminate migration.
Statistical Data.
Emigration. For ancient and mediaeval movements of
migration our sources of information are very incomplete.
The numerical strength of the German tribes which con-
quered the Roman empire, or of the Anglo-Saxons who set-
tled in Britain, is entirely a matter of conjecture. For the
period of colonization also our information is incomplete,
because no records were kept. Even in modern times our
statistics are approximate only. We have on the one hand
the statistics of emigration from the countries of Europe,
and on the other the statistics of immigration to the coun-
tries of the New World. The number of emigrants to coun-
tries outside of Europe in 1892 was : from Great Britain
and Ireland, 210,042 ; from Germany, 112,208 ; from Italy,
116,642 ; from Russia, 74,681 ; from Austria, 31,359 ; from
Hungary, 20,313 ; from Sweden (1891), 38,341 ; from Nor-
way, 13,341. The total number recorded for all Europe
was 709,073. Owing to modern methods of transportation
it is very easy to leave any country, so that not much
stress can be laid upon the accuracy of these figures.
They serve to illustrate the strength of the movement
and the relative participation of countries in it. 1
In respect to destination the great tide of emigration
is from Europe to North America ; although the Latin
nations send a very considerable number of persons to
South America, and Great Britain to Australia. There
is also in Europe a very considerable emigration to
neighbouring countries. This is commonly called tempo-
rary emigration, that is, the emigrants go merely for
the sake of finding work, and return after a period, gen-
erally after the harvest. Thus in Italy, in 1892, while
the emigration "beyond seas," i.e., to America, Asia, and
1 Bulletin de 1'Institut international de Statistique, VoL VIII. p. 222.
318 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
Africa, numbered 116,642, the temporary emigration to
European countries numbered 107,02s. 1 The temporary
character of this emigration is shown by the fact that it
comes largely from the provinces on the frontier. Thus
in the provinces of Udine and Belluno more than 7 per
cent of the inhabitants emigrate temporarily for the pur-
pose of finding work. Of such temporary emigrants (in
1892), 32,391 went to France, 21,610 to Austria, 15,580 to
Germany, 13,676 to Switzerland, and 12,625 to Hungary.
This temporary emigration is strongest in the spring. Out
of 100 emigrants, 28.52 leave in March, 21.75 leave in
April, 10.14 leave in February, and 7.25 leave in May.
Of the temporary emigrants, nearly 90 per cent are males
and only 10 per cent are females. This is a much larger
proportion of males than in the permanent emigration,
where generally about 66 per cent are males. The
number of children among the temporary emigrants is
small, those under 14 years of age numbering only 6 per
cent, while they were 22 per cent of the permanent emi-
grants. The temporary emigrants are principally agricult-
urists, farm and day labourers, bricklayers and masons.
This, of course, is precisely what we should expect in such
an emigration. The whole movement is an interesting
one as showing the mobility of labour. These persons
expatriate themselves for a time simply in order to seek an
opportunity to labour. It is said that many of the Italian
emigrants even to countries outside of Europe return
after a few months. We have not the statistics to show
this ; but it is reported that, in 1893, there were 55,281
Italians returning third class to Italy, and these were
probably returning emigrants. Of this number, 20,964
returned from La Plata, 11,352 from Brazil, and 22,965
from the United States.
Emigration and Population. The absolute number of
emigrants does not show the strength of the migratory
1 Statistica della Emigrazione Italiana, nell' Aiiuo 1892.
MIGRATION. 319
movement, because the number of inhabitants is greater in
some countries than in others. To get at the true strength
we must compare the number of emigrants with the total
number of inhabitants. If, at the same time, we compare
the emigration with the excess of births over deaths, we
can see how much the increase of population is affected
by emigration. The following table gives, for two years,
the excess of births over deaths, and the emigrants to
countries outside of Europe, per 1000 inhabitants, for each
of the principal countries of Europe :
Italy 9.88
France
Great Britain and Ireland . 11.87
England and Wales .
Scotland 12.90
Ireland 4.95
Germany 12.88
Switzerland .....
Sweden 12.61
Norway 13.84
Denmark 13.40
It will be seen from the last two columns that the emi-
gration tendency is strongest in Ireland, where the num-
ber of emigrants mounts as high as 11 and 15 per 1000
of the inhabitants. It is next strongest in Norway and
Sweden. But while in Ireland the excess of births over
deaths is less than the emigration, in Norway and Sweden
it is much greater. This table shows us clearly the effect
of emigration upon population. With the exception of
Ireland it is generally the countries having a large excess
of births over deaths that have a large emigration. Emi-
gration, therefore, very seldom depopulates a country.
In fact, it is sometimes affirmed that it simply makes room
for a larger number of births, so that population increases
Excess OP BIRTHS
OVER DEATHS, PBB
1000 INHABITANTS.
EMIGRANTS rat 1000
INHABITANTS.
1888.
1892.
18S8.
1892.
9.88
10.14
6.87
3.63
1.16
0.5
0.61
0.14
11.87
10.64
7.46
5.51
12.88
11.50
5.97
4.56
12.90
12.17
8.88
5.74
4.95
3.04
15.06
11.39
12.88
11.6
2.05
2.23
7.79
8.7
2.85
2.64
12.61
9.1
9.70
6.87
13.84
11.9
11.20
8.53
13.40
10.1
4.01
4.76
320 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
as fast as it otherwise would. The only effect of emigra-
tion thus is to take adults out of the population and sub-
stitute for them children. This may be a bad economic
process, for it throws the burden of rearing the population
entirely upon the country of emigration, but it does not
diminish population.
The statistics of particular countries give us more exact
information in regard to the emigration movement. In
Germany, for instance, we find the strength of the emigra-
tion very different in different parts of the country. In
Prussia (1892) the emigrants numbered 2.49 per 1000 in-
habitants, which is slightly greater than the proportion
for all Germany. But in the Prussian province of Posen
the proportion was 8.63, in Pomerania 6.44, and in West
Prussia 9.33. 1 In fact, in some of these eastern provinces
the emigration is occasionally so large as almost to wipe
out the excess of births over deaths.
If we take the statistics of Ireland we find the most
extraordinary case of emigration affecting population.
From 1851 to 1894 the total number of emigrants from
Ireland was 3,639,465, which was 65.1 per cent of the
estimated average population for that period. In the
province of Munster the emigration amounted to 85.9
per cent of the average population, and in the county
of Kerry it rose to 93.4 per cent. The drain on the pro-
ductive part of the population is shown by the fact that
83.1 per cent of the persons who left Ireland in 1894 were
between the ages of 15 and 35 years, the percentage over
35 years being 9.0, and under 15 years, 7.9. 2
In all the countries of Europe it is probable that emi-
gration is balanced to a certain extent by immigration,
that is, the return of the emigrants to their native coun-
try. This returning tide is so intermingled with the tide
of travel, and comes over so many routes, that it is
1 Statistisches Jahrbuch des Deutschen Reichs, 1893.
2 Emigration Statistics of Ireland for the Year 1894.
MIGRATION. 321
difficult to distinguish. In Great Britain they keep a
record of persons of British and Irish origin entering the
United Kingdom, and deduct these from the number of
British and Irish origin leaving the United Kingdom.
They obtain in this way what they call the net emigra-
tion. In 1892 the emigrants of British and Irish origin
numbered 210,042, while the immigrants of British and
Irish origin numbered 97,780, leaving a net emigration of
112,262, or about 3.0 per 1000 of the total population of
the United Kingdom.
Immigration. The other statistics of emigration in re-
gard to sex, age, and occupation of the emigrants corre-
spond very much to similar statistics of immigration. As
the United States is the most important country in regard
to immigration, it will be sufficient to give the statistics
for that country. The arrivals in the United States from
1820 to 1894 are shown in the following table:
Total. Percentage.
Austria-Hungary 682,804 3.91
Belgium 57,452 .32
Denmark 178,129 1.02
France 388,657 2.23
Germany 4,904,187 28.13
Italy 643,631 3.69
Holland 124,338 .71
Norway and Sweden .... 1,113,819 6.39
Russia and Poland .... 612,245 3.61
Spain and Portugal .... 57,103 .32
Switzerland 194,200 1.11
United Kingdom 6,656,059 38.19
England 2,613,366 15.00
Scotland 367,309 2.10
Ireland 3,675,384 21.08
Rest of Europe 24,390 .14
Total Europe 15,637,014 89.72
British North America l . . . 1,046,875 6.00
China 303,065 1.73
Other countries 441,453 2.52
Total 17,428,407 100.00
1 Immigration from British North America and Mexico is not included
since July 1, 1885.
T
322 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
Immigration according to Race. Out of the 17,500,000
people who have come to the United States since 1820,
more than one-fourth have come from Germany, and more
than one-fifth from Ireland. In addition we have 15 per
cent from England, 6 per cent from Norway and Swe-
den, and 6 per cent from British North America. The
mixture of blood is quite evident. The Germanic blood
would be dominant in the emigration from Germany, from
England, from Austria-Hungary, Denmark, Holland, Nor-
way and Sweden, and Switzerland. The immigration from
British North America is partly French, but if we take it
as one-half Germanic and add this to the immigration from
the countries mentioned above, we shall have about 60
per cent of the total immigration as of Germanic blood.
The next strongest element is the Celtic blood of Ireland
and Scotland ; next comes the Latin blood of Italy, France,
Spain, and Portugal. The Germanic blood is evidently of
the greatest importance.
Nationalities. Further analysis of immigration by nation-
alities shows remarkable changes in the proportions during
the last few decades. During the 40 years from 1821 to
1860 over one-half of the entire immigration was from
England and Ireland, and over one-third was from Ireland.
During the decade 1841 to 1850 the Irish immigration
rose, in fact, to such a figure that it was over 45 per cent
of the total. The German immigration reached its high-
est proportionate point in the decade 1851 to 1860, when it
constituted 36.6 per cent of the whole. Since 1860 the
English, Irish, and German immigration has decreased in
relative importance, and that from the south and east of
Europe has become more important. This comes out
clearly in the following table showing the percentage of
immigration attributed to each country:
COUNTRY. 1861-70. 18T1-80. 1881-90.
England 24.54 16.38 12.53
Ireland 18.82 15.54 12.49
Germany 34.02 25.54 27.70
MIGRATION. 323
COUNTRY.
1861-70.
1871-SO.
1881-90.
Austria- Hungary ....
.34
2.60
6.74
Norway and Sweden . . .
4.72
7.51
10.84
Russia and Poland . . .
.20
1.86
5.05
Italy .
.51
1.98
5.86
The effect of the recent immigration of Italians, Rus-
sians, and Poles is clearly seen.
Immigrants according to Sex and Age. There are always
more males than females among the immigrants, the pro-
portions ordinarily being about 60 per cent males and
40 per cent females. Countries differ in an interesting
way. Taking the ten years from 1881 to 1890, of the
immigrants from Ireland, 51 per cent were males and 49
per cent females. This shows the immigration of Irish
domestic servants. From Germany the percentage of males
was 57.6, i.e., less than the average, due to the fact that
the Germans emigrate in families. Of the immigrants
from England, Scotland, and Norway, 61 per cent were
males, or about the average. On the other hand, of the
immigrants from Russia, including Poland, 65.8 per cent;
of those from Hungary, 73.8 per cent ; of those from Italy,
79.4 per cent were males. These latter figures show the
characteristics of a newly beginning immigration, namely,
that it is composed principally of unmarried men, or of
married men who come first and send for their families
later. In the case of Italy the proportion of males may
be increased, perhaps, by those who come here to seek
temporary work.
In regard to age, out of 5,246,613 immigrants from 1881
to 1890, 1,121,499, or 21.4 per cent, were under 15 years of
age; 3,572,273, or 68.1 per cent, were between 15 and 40
years of age ; and 552,841, or 10.5 per cent, were over 40
years of age. 1 The nationalities differ in somewhat the
same way as just mentioned.
Germany furnishes the largest number of children*
1 Quarterly Report of the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics of the
Treasury Department, No. 2, 1892-93.
324 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
showing the immigration of families. Ireland shows the
largest number of persons from 15 to 40 years of age,
due to the number of domestic servants. Italy shows the
largest number of persons over 40 years of age, due to
the immigration of manual labourers. The large number
of children in the Russian-Polish immigration probably
indicates the coming of whole families, and the large pro-
portion of adults from Hungary, the coming of single
workmen. When immigration is new, the number of
children is apt to be small, while later, women and chil-
dren come to join their husbands and parents already
here, or whole families come together.
Occupation of Immigrants. By far the largest number
of immigrants to the United States belong to the un-
skilled occupations. The professional class, which em-
braces musicians, teachers, clergymen, artists, lawyers,
physicians, etc., constitutes a very inconsiderable propor-
tion of the total. The skilled occupations represent only
10 per cent, while miscellaneous occupations constitute
nearly 40 per cent of the total arrivals, and this class
includes, in the order of their numbers, labourers, farmers,
servants, and merchants. Nearly one-half are said to be
without occupation, but this means principally children
and married women. It would probably be safe to say
that at least four-fifths of the immigrants belong to the
unskilled occupations. This estimate corresponds closely
with the statistics of the occupations of emigrants from
the different countries of Europe.
Economic and Social Condition. The 152,360 immigrants
above 20 years of age who arrived at the port of New
York during the six months ending June 30, 1892, brought
$3,060,908.05, average per capita, $20.09. Immigrants
from France brought the largest amount of money, namely,
$55.67 per capita ; Switzerland showed $44.01 per capita ;
Germany, $35.42 per capita. Hungary, Italy, and Poland
brought the lowest average amount, namely, between
MIGRATION. 325
$11.42 and $12.31 per capita. The Russians showed wide
variations, a few of them bringing large sums, while the
great majority were almost entirely destitute. If we
consider the whole number of immigrants, it is evident
that the actual amount of money which they bring with
them is inconsiderable.
As to the social condition of immigrants, we have very
few indications aside from those given by the statistics of
occupations and of amount of money brought with them.
In 1892, 3732 persons were refused admittance, and of
these 26 were convicts, 17 lunatics, 4 idiots, and 1002
paupers. These, of course, include only the extreme
cases. There were 1763 contract labourers excluded. 1
Causes of Migration. The causes influencing migration
at the present time are principally economic. This is
shown clearly if we study the emigration or immigration
by years. The bad times in Europe in 1827 led to an
increase in emigration. The bad times in the United
States in 1837 led to a falling off in immigration during
1838. The great Irish famine of 1845-46 led to an
enormous movement of emigration, afterwards supple-
mented by the bad times in Germany in 1853, which
raised the immigration into the United States to the
enormous figure for 1854 of 427,833. That number was
abnormal, and immediately declined, being still further
decreased by the panic of 1857 in the United States and
the outbreak of the war of the Rebellion, which reduced
the number of immigrants to 89,007 in 1862. The num-
ber soon rose again, especially with the prosperity of the
early "seventies," reaching 459,803 in 1873. The com-
mercial panic of that year brought a diminution, which
found its minimum point in 1878 with the number 138,469.
The apparent return of good times in the United States
brought up the number, so that in 1882 it reached the
great maximum of 788,992. Since that time the number
326 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
has fluctuated, but has maintained an average of half a
million immigrants per annum. The year 1894 shows a
remarkable falling off again (314,467), due doubtless to
the panic of 1893. *
Balance of Emigration and Immigration. It is doubtless
true that there is a return movement of emigration from the
United States, that is, of persons returning to their native
country. If these persons were counted as immigrants when
they came, they should now be deducted in order to
get at the net immigration into the United States. Un-
fortunately, although in our immigration statistics we
distinguish between immigrants, United States citizens
returning from abroad, and foreigners travelling in this
country, for our statistics of emigration we have only the
total number of passengers departing from the United
States. If, for a considerable period, we take the total
number of passengers arriving, and subtract the total
number of passengers departing, we shall have the net
immigration. This figure would not be true for any
one year, for the persons departing would not necessarily
be the same as those who arrived during that year, but for
a series of years the number should be approximately
correct. By this method we arrive at the conclusion that
while the gross immigration during the ten years 1881-90
was 5,246,613, the net immigration was only 4,414,337,
showing an emigration of 832,276. This would seem to
show that 15. 86 per cent of the total number of immigrants
to this country sooner or later return home. Comparing
the net emigration of persons of British and Irish origin
according to the British statistics with the gross immigra-
tion of such persons according to the United States sta-
tistics, we reach a return movement of about 20 per cent
of the gross immigration. This does not seem excessive.
There is one other method by which we should be able
to ascertain the net strength of the emigration movement,
1 Immigration, etc., Treasury Report, 1894.
MIGRATION. 327
that is, by comparing the statistics of immigration with
the statistics of the foreign-born. If, for instance, we
take the foreign-born of 1880, and add the immigration
of the succeeding decade, and allow a death-rate, say of 20
per 1000, we should have the number of foreign-born
in 1890. Where the number thus calculated is too large,
the excess is due either to emigration or to a deficiency in
the statistics. The different nationalities show great dif-
ferences in this respect.
In the case of Russia and Poland, Denmark, Norway
and Sweden, there is little or no deficiency, so that it is
not necessary to allow for any emigration. In the case
of Germany, an emigration of 12,500 per annum would
account for the deficiency, and it is not unreasonable to
suppose that there is such an emigration. The other coun-
tries show either that there is a very large emigration,
or that the death-rate is greater than 20 per 1000. In the
case of Italy and Hungary there is more or less temporary
immigration, which perhaps accounts for the large figures.
It is in the case of Ireland that we have the greatest dif-
ficulty. With a death-rate of 20 per 1000, there is still a
deficiency of 240,000, or 36 per cent of the total immigra-
tion. It is possible that the death-rate among the Irish
may be greater than 20 per mille although it scarcely
seems probable. It is also possible that some of the Irish
in 1890 declared themselves to be native-born when they
were in reality foreign-born. Or both of these causes
may have been working together. 1
The Effect of Immigration on Population. Immigration
must increase population by the total number of immi-
grants, and as the greater number of them are in the
productive age of manhood and womanhood, the natural
increase of the population is greatly accelerated. We
cannot determine precisely what proportion of the popu-
1 For full discussion, see my article, Immigration and the Foreign- Born,
in Publications of the American Statistical Association, Vol. IIL, p. 304.
328 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
lation is due to immigration, because there is no uniform
registration of births and deaths. If we take the figures
of the foreign-born and the native-born of foreign par-
entage given in the last chapter, we have 20,625,542
persons representing only two generations of immigrants,
or 32.93 per cent of the population. But the immigrants
of the earlier years are now represented by the third or
fourth generation, so that the above figure is entirely in-
adequate. Another estimate is reached by taking the
annual immigration since 1820 and applying to it the
general rate of increase for the whole population. We
have no means of knowing, it is true, whether the rate of
increase is the same for foreign as for native-born. It is
probably greater, so that our result would be a minimum.
Such a calculation would give us, for 1890, about 26 mill-
ion descendants of immigrants and 29 million descendants
of the white colonists. 1
It is sometimes denied that immigration has had any
very decided effect in increasing the total population of
the United States. The theory is that the immigrants
have simply taken places which would otherwise have been
filled by the natural increase of the natives, and that, if
there had been no immigration, population would have been
the same or nearly the same, only it would have consisted
of the descendants of the colonists instead of the foreigners.
Then the decreasing size of the American family is cited
as proof that, owing to the pressure of immigration, the
natural increase among the native-born is diminishing.
The census of Massachusetts (1885) showed that the
foreign-born women had a larger number of children
than the native-born, but that there was greater mortality
among them. These facts have already been referred to
in considering the fecundity of marriage, Chapter VI.,
p. 115.
1 Mayo-Smith, Emigration and Immigration, N. Y., Chas. Scribner's
Sons.
MIGRATION. 329
Immigration in other Countries. The phenomenon of
immigration is more important in the United States than
elsewhere, but the other countries of America have also
their immigration. In the Argentine the immigration of
1889 amounted to 218,744 persons, of whom 88,647
were Italians, 71,151 were Spaniards, and 27,173, French.
This immigration was excessive. In 1892 it was only
73,242. As a rule, the Italians form 70 per cent, the
Spaniards 10.25, the French 7.75 per cent of the total.
There is a large emigration. The excess of immigration
over emigration in the years 1871-91 was 1,096,450.
Brazil has a very considerable immigration, amounting,
in 1892, to 54,509. More than one-half are Italians, and
the others are Portuguese, Spaniards, and a few Germans.
Uruguay had an immigration of 11,871 in 1892. In all
the South American immigration, the countries principally
represented are those of Southern Europe ; the majority
of the immigrants are adult males and farm labourers. 1
Australia has an immigration which amounts to from
200,000 to 250,000 per annum, but is offset by a large emi-
gration. The immigrants are mostly British in origin,
and 68 per cent are males. Canada has a large immi-
gration which is very similar to that received by the
United States. In 1891 the number of immigrants pass-
ing through Canada to the United States was 105,213.
Doubtless many others eventually go to the United States,
so that it is difficult to say what the real immigration into
Canada is.
Internal Migration. Besides emigration from a country,
there is a constant movement of population within the
boundaries. In some respects this is almost as important
as the movements of emigration. It tends to increase the
population of some districts at the expense of others. It
leads to a circulatory movement which is sometimes almost
feverish in its intensity, and has important economic and
social consequences.
1 Bulletin de PInstitut Int. de Statistique, VH., p. 225.
330 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
There are various ways of observing this movement of
local migration. In some districts where it is of pro-
nounced character, such as the influx of agricultural
labourers from another district at harvest time, pains are
taken to enumerate the number of such persons. An
example of this may be given for Germany in regard to
the so-called " Sachsengangerei." This is the movement
of wandering labourers, principally farm labourers, into and
out of the eastern provinces of Prussia. During the year
1892 in the four provinces, East Prussia, West Prussia,
Silesia, and Posen, 96,894 labourers left in search of work.
During the same year 19,128 wandering labourers entered
those four provinces from Russia and Galicia. This
movement corresponds to the temporary emigration which
we have already noticed in the case of Italy. The statis-
tics are not very accurate, because in many cases it is only
the provincial line that is crossed, and sometimes not even
that. Similar movements used to occur of Irish labourers
crossing into England for the harvest time, and of London-
ers going down into Kent to gather in the hops.
A second source of information is furnished by those
censuses where the birthplace of the individual is distin-
guished according to state, province, or county. 1 In the
United States, for instance, it was shown in 1890 that more
than 21.55 per cent of the native-born inhabitants were
living in a state other than that in which they were born.
This is due to the great migratory movement of settlement
from the East to the West. In 1890 there were 1,233,629
natives of New York living in other states. Besides the
Western movement, there is a constant exchange of inhab-
itants among neighbouring states. In Massachusetts, in
1885, out of its 1,941,000 inhabitants, 216,725 were con-
tributed by other New England states. Of all the inhabi-
1 See Ravenstein, The Laws of Migration, Journal of the Statistical
Society, 1885, p. 187, and 1889, p. 241, for application of this method to
various countries.
MIGRATION. 331
tants of Massachusetts, only 700,813 were born in the town
in which they now live. The census of 1880 showed that
only one -half of the inhabitants of the United States were
living in the county in which they were born.
The migratory movement in Europe is not so great as
in the United States. In Germany they divide the coun-
try into three great sections, the East, the West, and the
South. Taking the statistics of birthplace we have the
following table of the gain and loss by internal migration :
Gain Per 1000 Loss Per 1000
by of by of
Immigration. Population. Emigration. Population.
East 530,534 30.4 686,666 39.0
West 866,881 44.1 707,857 36.3
South 272,755 23.1 275,647 23.4
The changes here are of comparatively little importance.
If we take the single states or provinces we find the
changes more considerable. In Prussia the province of
Silesia has contributed 475,866 persons to the rest of
the empire ; Posen, 321,319 ; East Prussia, 324,351. In
the case of Silesia this was equal to 105.5 per 1000 of the
population, in Posen to 166.7, and in East Prussia to
146.1 per 1000 of the population. These provinces all
lost more than they gained. Other states and provinces
gained more than they lost. Among them were Branden-
burg with Berlin, Hamburg, and Schleswig-Holstein with
Liibeck, all of them containing large cities. In addition,
the industrial provinces such as Westphalia, and Rhine-
land, and the kingdom of Saxony gained. Alsace-Lor-
raine also gained.
A third method of detecting the influence of internal
migration is by using the census at successive periods, in
connection with the registration of births and deaths.
By means of the latter we calculate what should be the
population from one census to another if natural increase
were the only factor in the movement. Any variation
from this must be due to migration. Such a change, it is
332 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
true, includes emigration and immigration as well as inter-
nal migration. It represents also only the net result of
these movements. Such statistics do not give us a full
picture of the whole movement of migration, but present
simply the gain or loss of different parts of the country.
A comparison of the population for 1885 and for 1890 in
Germany shows that the net loss by emigration for the
province of East Prussia was 13.45, for West Prussia
13.86, for Pomerania 12.07, and for Posen 13.76 per 1000
inhabitants. On the other hand, Brandenburg shows a
gain of 4.94, the city of Berlin of 25.69, Dresden 7.59,
and Leipsic 8.45 per 1000. This method is very general,
and is used principally for the purpose of showing the
more rapid growth of the cities than of the rural districts.
This is the so-called rural depopulation which has excited
considerable alarm.
Scientific Tests.
It is impossible to say that our statistics of emigration
and immigration are perfect. In some countries they
require emigrants to secure a permit in order to emigrate,
but with the modern means of communication it is per-
fectly easy to get away without such permit. Thus,
in 1880, the number of Germans who secured permits to
leave Germany and settle in the United States was 21,251.
But the number of Germans actually sailing from the four
ports of Bremen, Hamburg, Stettin, and Antwerp for
the United States was 103,115. From Prussia, during the
years 1872-77, it is estimated that 64 per cent of the
emigrants went without permits. In fact, these figures
are so inadequate that they are no longer published by the
German government. On the other hand, we have sta-
tistics of the number of Germans emigrating from German
seaports, together with Antwerp, Dutch, and French sea-
ports. This enumeration is never quite perfect, so that the
number of Germans recorded as emigrating to the United
MIGRATION. 333
States is always somewhat less than the number of those
arriving in the United States. For Italy we have similar
statistics of the Italians emigrating, with similar dif-
ferences. In 1889, 113,093 Italians declared their in-
tention of emigrating ; while from the statistics of the
ports, 161,937 actually emigrated. In the same way,
while 25,881 Italians declared their intention of emi-
grating to the United States, 30,238 were recorded as
arriving there. Our most perfect statistics probably are
those of immigration. Where the immigrants arrive by
sea it is comparatively easy to get their full number. But
even in the United States there is a large overland immi-
gration which it is impossible to control. It is probable,
therefore, that our statistics both of emigration and immi-
gration are imperfect.
It will not do to lay too much stress upon the minor
statistics of immigration. They depend upon the declara-
tions of the individuals, which we are entirely unable to
control. The declarations as to age and occupation are
very often carelessly made, owing to ignorance, difficulty
with the language, or suspiciousness. The declarations
as to the amount of money brought with them are doubt-
less below the truth. Even the nationality is sometimes
confused, especially as in the United States we continue
to treat Poland as a separate country.
In considering the effect of immigration and emigra-
tion upon the economic condition of the country, care
must be taken not to lay too much stress upon mere sta-
tistical calculations. The question of gain or loss depends
more on the quality of the immigrant than upon the
number of persons. Immigration is a gain if the country
can make use of the immigrant. Otherwise it is a detri-
ment.
All statistical estimates of the social influence of immi-
gration labour under precisely the same disadvantage, viz.,
the impossibility of expressing in numerical terms the dis-
334 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
position of men. When, however, we do make use of
statistical measurements, such as the representation of the
foreign-born among the dependent, delinquent, and defec-
tive classes, care must be taken to use the most refined
methods. The principal observation to be made here is
that such statistics are of no value unless regard is paid to
the age and sex distribution of the respective classes.
To say that in the United States among the native-born
whites the number of prisoners, in 1890, was 882 per
1,000,000, while among the foreign-born whites it was
1822 per 1,000,000, does not prove that criminality ia
twice as frequent among the foreign-born as among the
native whites. Crime is more frequent among men than
among women, and much more frequent, of course, among
adults than among children. Among the foreign-born
there is a much larger number of males than of females,
and children are scarcely represented at all. It would be
perfectly natural to look for a larger number of criminals
in a population thus constituted than in a native-born
population. In the same way, insanity is a disease of
adult life, blindness increases with advancing age, pauper-
ism is often due to the failure of strength, and we should,
therefore, expect all these misfortunes to be strongly rep-
resented in a population of adults. On the other hand, the
idiots, the deaf and dumb, the homeless children, the
juvenile offenders, are more heavily represented in a
youthful population than in an adult. Each one of these
facts must be studied in connection with the sex and age
distribution.
Strictly speaking, in order to make our statistics com-
parable, two other things should be taken into account.
One is the economic condition of the foreign-born, for it
is a well-known fact that crimes, especially petty crimes-
against property, are more frequent among the poor than
the well-to-do. If, now, the immigrants upon their arrival
are both poor and ignorant, without resources and without
MIGRATION. 335
friends, it would be only natural to expect a large amount
of criminality among them. This, however, is a condition
of things that can easily change with improving economic
condition, and which does not necessarily affect the per-
manent morality of the community. A precisely similar
consideration enters in regard to the effect of the change
of environment upon the physical and moral condition of
the immigrant. Change of climate, of food, of manner of
life, may predispose the immigrant to certain diseases,
and occasion increased mortality. Change of social envi-
ronment, freedom from the restraint of public opinion,
newly-found independence of action, may predispose the
immigrant to social immorality and irresponsibility of
conduct. These things, however, may also change, as
succeeding generations become acclimated, physically and
morally, to the new country and the new society. It may
require some time to accomplish this, for our statistics
seem to show that the second generation, that is, the
native whites of foreign parentage, are peculiarly subject
to deteriorating influences. For while, among the pris-
oners, the native whites of native parents had 753 for each
1,000,000, the native whites of foreign parents had 1345.
The proportion is not so great as among the foreign-born
whites, but is astonishingly larger than among the native
whites of native parents. Bad economic surroundings,
orphanage, homelessness and friendlessness, and residence
in cities, probably account in large measure for this differ-
ence. It would be extremely desirable in our statistics to
take account of these social differences, but it is only occa-
sionally that we can measure them.
Our statistics of internal migration are also of great
interest and importance. With the modern freedom of
travel and the frequent change of domicile, it has become
impossible to keep track of this movement by direct
observation, i.e., by enumerating all those who go out or
come in. Our only resource is to take the statistics of
336 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
place of birth at successive censuses. This gives us only
a very general picture of the movement. Some of the
internal migration is merely nominal, as when a per-
son changes his residence from New York to Jersey City,
he changes the state, or from New York to Brooklyn, he
changes his county, although the movement is no more
a migration than changing from down-town to up-town
in New York City. Much of the interstate migration is
simply crossing the frontier, and so has no great socio-
logical significance. Of course, when we find hundreds of
thousands of natives of New York scattered through the
Western states it represents a movement of real importance.
The constant change of domicile in a large city also has
sociological significance, but it is different in character
from that of foreign immigration, or of interstate migra-
tion.
Reflective Analysis.
In studying these figures of the migration of men, the
great question which presents itself is as to the effect of such
a movement upon the community. So far as we can answer
this question by statistics, emigration does not seem to
affect the population of old countries. With the excep-
tion of Ireland, wherever there is large emigration there is
a large birth-rate, which more than makes up for it. This
gives rise to two reflections, viz., that there is no great
danger of emigration depopulating any country of Europe,
and secondly, that emigration is not a cure for over-pop-
ulation. It has often been discouraged from fear of the
first, and encouraged as a remedy for the second evil.
Our statistics do not show that it accomplishes either.
It may result possibly in the abandonment of very sterile
portions of a country, but such abandonment can have
but little effect on the real strength of a nation. It
may temporarily relieve congestion of population, as where
the Scottish crofters were removed from their insufficient
MIGRATION. 337
farms to America ; but the example of Ireland seems to
show that over-population may continue even where emi-
gration is continuous and active. Where emigration is
left to the caprice of the individual it may remove the
strong element in the community and leave the weak, and
thus entirely fail to afford a permanent cure. Emigra-
tion on a sufficient scale to really relieve over-population
would be very expensive, and would have to be exercised
with such disregard of the wishes of individuals that it
would be extremely difficult. Such state-aided or state-
directed emigration, which seeks to remove the weak and
superfluous, meets with bitter opposition from the new
countries, which do not consider such additions to their
population to be at all desirable. Emigration, therefore,
while perhaps temporarily relieving the labour market, does
not seem to have a very great sociological effect upon the
countries concerned.
Immigration, on the other hand, constitutes the life his-
tory, so to speak, of the countries of the New World. In
one sense, all the inhabitants of the United States are
immigrants, or the descendants of immigrants. We
commonly draw the line by calling the first settlers, who
founded the commonwealth and gave it their impress,
colonists ; and designating the late-comers, who simply
merge themselves into the nationality already established,
as immigrants. But even confining ourselves to this
latter class, the effect of immigration is enormous, because
it is cumulative. Continuous immigration of people of
the same nationality, the same character, the same social
position, and the same language, exerts a continuous and
never-ceasing pressure upon the assimilative power of the
community. Immigration thus is a constant factor in the
growth of population in the United States. Still further,
it is a constant factor in determining the ethnical composi-
tion of the population. Never in the history of the
world has there occurred a mixture of so many different
338 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
races and nationalities, under peaceable conditions, as in
the United States.
The economic influence of immigration has attracted
much attention. The United States owes much of its
material prosperity to the labour force which it has drawn
from Europe. Of the economic value of this labour force
it is unnecessary to speak. One other question sometimes
arises, viz., what is the effect of immigration on the Amer-
ican workman ? The number of skilled artisans among the
immigrants is so small that direct competition would not
seem to be very great. It is true that, owing to the factory
system, the unskilled workmen apparently find places in
manufacturing and mechanical industry. This is shown
by the statistics of the foreign-born in those occupations.
The competition does not seem to be excessive, and the
great danger which is feared by workingmen, namely, the
importation of labourers from Europe to take the place of
those on strike, is guarded against by the Contract Labour
Law. The most dangerous competition is from the im-
migration of labourers with a lower standard of living
than the workmen of America have been accustomed to.
That certainly is a great hardship, and is carrying compe-
tition to an extreme. Here is found the excuse for the
prohibition of Chinese immigration. With this in mind
we watch the changing proportion of immigration, which
is bringing us an increasing number of persons with a low
standard of living from Southern and Eastern Europe,
with considerable anxiety.
The social effects of immigration have already been
dwelt upon. One other thing might have been adduced
as worthy of study, namely, the social effect upon the
immigrants themselves of the change to the New World.
When we consider that in some states the immigrants
and their children constitute three-fourths of the popula-
tion, and that, notwithstanding this, those states' seem
to be as American in legislation, in political life, and
MIGRATION. 339
in public opinion as any of the Union, the thought sug-
gests itself that established institutions are more power-
ful in assimilating the foreign influence than immigration
is in changing native institutions. This is a question,
however, which still needs to be worked out.
The final question in regard to immigration is as to the
character of the phenomenon itself. It clearly corresponds
to the modern notion of the absolute freedom of the
individual. It corresponds also to the economic doctrine
of laissez faire, and to the economic notion of the desira-
bility of perfect mobility of labour. According to such
doctrine, labour should always be free to seek the area of
greatest demand, which will at the same time be the field
of greatest productivity. Perfect freedom of migration,
from this point of view, is desirable because it results in the
greatest productiveness of labour, which is beneficial both
to the individual and to the world at large. This is the
cosmopolitan view. It regards emigration as a natural
function of modern society. The cause of the movement
from Europe to America, according to Philippovich, 1 is
that wages are high and the rent of land low in America,
while wages are low and the rent of land high in Europe.
Emigration will continue until these differences are effaced.
This view of the matter overlooks all the social effects of
immigration, and neglects the fact that the egoism of
nations will not permit a single country to allow itself to
be damaged in its social position by mere cosmopolitan
considerations. It is for this reason that statistics of the
social influence of immigration upon particular communi-
ties are of so much value and interest. It is only by
knowing the details that we can gain an adequate notion
of the whole phenomenon.
The statistics of immigration are of importance, there-
fore, in directing the policy of the state in restricting
1 Revue d'feconomie Politique, 1890, p. 341.
340 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
or encouraging the movement. While modern principles
of liberty and modern necessities of commercial inter-
course demand that no unnecessary restrictions shall be
made, nevertheless, it is the plain duty of each country
to guard its own civilization and maintain the standard
of living of its citizens. The task of statistics is, by
careful observation of the returns of births and deaths,
sickness and mortality, vice and crime, and other social
phenomena, to detect and measure the influence of immi-
gration on the culture and well-being of the community.
BOOK IV.
ENVIR ONMENT.
_^_
CHAPTER XV.
POPULATION AND LAND (PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT).
Sociological Purpose.
POPULATION is the central fact of Sociology. But popu-
lation without land is inconceivable, and it goes without
saying that the character of the land is one of the fun-
damental conditions of human existence and develop-
ment. Buckle gave great impulse to the notion that the
explanation of social structure and evolution was to be
sought in natural forces. With him, climate, soil, food,
and the aspects of nature are the primary causes of in-
tellectual progress, " the first three indirectly through
determining the accumulation and distribution of wealth,
and the last by directly influencing the accumulation and
distribution of thought, the imagination being stimulated
and the understanding subdued when the phenomena of
the external world are sublime and terrible, the under-
standing emboldened and the imagination curbed when
they are small and feeble." It cannot be said, however,
that Buckle adduced any but the most general proof in
support of these important propositions.
341
342 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
Sociologists have largely followed his lead. Even
Herbert Spencer, although devoting his exposition prin-
cipally to the internal factor of evolution, i.e., the charac-
ter of the individual units, acknowledges the importance
of the external factors, namely, the conditions under
which the units exist. Among these, he enumerates cli-
mate, hot, cold, or temperate, moist or dry, constant or
variable ; surface, multiform or uniform, fertile or sterile ;
vegetal products, abundant or deficient in quantity and
kind ; the fauna, useful or destructive to man, wild or do-
mesticated, etc. Spencer despairs of giving any complete
outline of these factors or of measuring their influence,
and consigns the task to the future students of descriptive
sociology to work out the details for each country.
In the same way the philosophical historians have ex-
plained peculiarities of national development by reference
to the physical characteristics of the country occupied
by a particular nation. We have often heard that the
commercial spirit of the Greek cities was due to the
indented sea-coast of their peninsula and the mountain
barriers of the interior ; that Swiss independence was
preserved in her mountain fastnesses ; and that England's
constitutional development was made easy by her insular
position protecting her from invasion.
Sociologist and historian have an important field for
investigation in this influence of the physical environment
upon the development of nations and communities. The
question for us is whether statistics can be of any aid in
the investigation.
The limitations are at once clear. It is evident that
statistics cannot give us any information as to the influ-
ence of these external factors upon primitive man and
early civilization, simply because we have no statistics.
But in our modern societies the influence of external fac-
tors is very much involved with social influences, so that
we cannot disengage it. Statistics, therefore, can only
POPULATION AND LAND. 343
use the method of comparison. We can arrange the
population according to the natural characteristics of the
land, and see if any influence is to be traced. No very
precise results can be looked for, in the sense of general
laws showing the connection between population and land.
We may, indeed, by special study of particular countries,
sometimes notice the influence of the natural factor in
determining the distribution of population in a growing
community, in directing the course of immigration, or in
determining the distribution of races, as, for instance, the
negroes and whites, the Scandinavians and Germans in
the United States, the Italians in North and South Amer-
ica. The sociological purpose of statistics, therefore, is
to arrange the data in such a way as to show the influ-
ence of land and natural forces upon population and its
distribution.
Statistical Data.
The general distribution of population is indicated by
its average density, i.e., we divide the number of people by
the number of square miles, or of square kilometers, con-
stituting the area of the territory. This shows the aver-
age density for large divisions like continents, then for
political divisions like states, then for minor political divi-
sions, such as provinces, counties, communes, etc. All
of these are more or less arbitrary, except as political divi-
sions have been laid out on natural lines. We can still
further take the physical geography of any country and
arrange the population according to physical character-
istics, such as mountain or valley, altitude, lines of equal
temperature, character of the soil, and rainfall. The
arrangement by political divisions is very often useful in
studying the constitution of the population of each coun-
try. The arrangement by physical characteristics is the
more direct attempt to study the relation between popula-
tion and land. We shall take them up in this order.
344 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
The general relation of population to land area for the
different portions of the world is shown by the following
table : l
Population. Area In Square Density per
Miles. Square Mile.
Europe 357,379,000 3,742,254 95.4
Asia 825,954,000 17,043,497 49.2
Africa 163,953,000 11,276,872 12.9
America 121,713,000 14,800,810 7.7
Australia 3,230,000 2,971,322 1.08
Oceanic islands . . . 7,420,000 730,000 10.2
Polar regions . . . 80,000 1,724,678
Total .... 1,479,729,000 52,299,433 28.3
These figures are of very little value, because with such
a wide extent of territory the average density gives no
indication of the relation of population to land. In the
same continent vast tracts of land may be almost unin-
habited, while others are densely populated. In Asia,
for instance, China has 233 inhabitants, and India 197, per
square mile ; while Siberia has only 0.77. India contains
one-fifth of the whole human race on 3 per cent of the
earth's surface; while America contains 8.2 per cent on
28.2 per cent of territory.
Density in Europe. We reach somewhat better results
if we take a continent where conditions of living are
more or less alike for different parts, and calculate the
density for sections and countries, as in the following
table :
Population. Density per
Square Mile.
I. Central Europe 105,851,000 207
Germany 49,424,135 235
Austria-Hungary 41,284,966 171
Switzerland 2,933,334 186
Holland 4,558,096 357
Belgium 6,093,798 636
1 Wagner und Supan, Die Bevolkerung der Erde, Petermann's Mitx
teilungen, Erganzungsheft, No. 101. The figures are reproduced in Allg.
Stat. Archiv, II., 324.
POPULATION AND LAND. 345
Population. Density per
Square Mile.
IL Northwest Europe 46,847,000 106
Denmark 2,172,205 148
Sweden 4,774,409 28
Norway 1,999,176 15
Great Britain and Ireland . . . 37,888,152 321
HI. Southwest Europe 90,157,000 166
France 38,218,903 183
Spain 17,246,688 90
Portugal 4,306,554 124
Italy 30,158,408 272
IV. Southeast Europe 18,482,000 90
Greece 2,217,000 88
European Turkey 5,600,000 83
Servia 2,157,477 116
Roumania 5,000,000 98
V. East Europe 96,042,000 47
European Russia 93,703,331 49
Finland 2,338,404 16
Even here the divisions are too large, but we begin to
detect the region of densest population. Central Europe
is the most dense, then Southwest Europe, then Northwest
Europe. If we take each of these in turn we find the
densest population in Belgium, Holland, and Germany
for Central Europe; Great Britain and Ireland for North-
west Europe; and Italy for Southwest Europe. In other
words, there is a great central tract, commencing with Italy,
and extending through Germany, Belgium, and Holland
to Great Britain, which is the area of the densest popula-
tion. Further analysis will define this area a little more
precisely. For instance, if we take Italy by provinces we
shall find density increasing from the south to the north,
culminating in the valley of the Po. The single excep-
tion to this is the province of Campania, which has a heavy
density, due to the city of Naples.
In Germany the results are not quite so clear. Saxony
is the most densely populated of all the states of the
empire. Yet if we take the other states we shall find
that those portions lying in the west, towards the valley
346 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
of the Rhine, have the densest population. The average
density of population in Bavaria is 191.65 per square mile ;
while in the Palatinate it is 318.5. In Baden it is 284.8 per
square mile ; while for the district of Carlsruhe it is 448.3,
and for Mannheim, 332.2. In Prussia the population has
a density of 223 per square mile; while in the Rhine
province it is 452.1, and in Westphalia, 311.4. In Ger-
many, therefore, outside of Saxony, the line of dense
population follows the valley of the Rhine. 1
Belgium and Holland continue this line of dense popula-
tion, which then extends into Great Britain. In the latter
country England is the most densely populated, = 540.7
per square mile; while Wales has only 206.3, Ireland only
144, and Scotland 135. In England itself, it is the middle
and southeast counties which show the densest population.
We thus constitute a line of dense population, beginning
with the plains of Lombardy, extending down the valley
of the Rhine, through Belgium and Holland, to the south-
east and middle counties of England. There are centres
of population outside of this tract, such as Naples, Saxony,
and Paris, but there is nothing so continuous. This analy-
sis evidently points to the influence of rich valleys and
plains as the most attractive places for population. This
is supplemented by the development of industry due to the
presence of coal and iron, as in Belgium and the middle
counties of England, and by commercial advantages pos-
sessed by such places as Antwerp, London, and Liverpool.
The United States. If we divide the United States
into sections, as we divided Europe into countries, we get
the following results :
Density per
Square Mile.
The United States 21.31
North Atlantic division 107.37
South Atlantic division 32.98
North Central division 29.68
South Central division 18.94
Western division 2.58
1 The Statesman's Year-Book, 1893.
POPULATION AND LAND. 347
It is evident that only in the first division have we any-
thing like the population adequate to the territory. In
the others there must either be vast spaces unoccupied or
the country must be undeveloped.
If we take the states in each division we gain a little
more definite distribution. In the North Atlantic division
(the New England states, New York, New Jersey, and
Pennsylvania) the states group themselves as follows:
Vermont .... 36.39 New Hampshire 41.81 Maine .... 22.11
Connecticut . .154.03 Rhode Island .318.44 Massachusetts . 278.48
New Jersey . . 193.82
New York . . 125.95
Pennsylvania . 116.88
The centre of population here seems to be in Rhode
Island, with Massachusetts on the east, Connecticut on the
west, and continuing down the coast. It is evident that
industry and commerce are the causes of the density of
population in this tract, causes which are lacking in the
three northern New England states.
It is useless to examine the states in the other divisions
for the purpose of finding a law of distribution. No other
state in the Union equals those first mentioned above in
density of population. Maryland with 105 and Delaware
with 86 inhabitants to the square mile continue the tract of
density down the Atlantic coast, but it grows less and
less as we go south, where it is only between 30 and 40.
If we look at the North Central division, the heavy popula-
tion is continued to a certain extent by Ohio (90 to square
mile), Indiana (61), and Illinois (68 to square mile) ;
but then descends in every direction until we reach the
light population of the South, Louisiana (24 to square
mile), the sparse settlements of the Northwest, Minne-
sota (16), and the practically unsettled regions of the
West, Arizona (0.53) and Montana (0.91). A few settled
spots on the Pacific coast form an exception to this rule.
We have, therefore, in the United States a central tract,
namely, a short strip on the Atlantic seaboard from Massa-
348 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
chusetts to Maryland, and extending west through Ohio,
Indiana, and Illinois to the Mississippi River. From this
central tract population descends in every direction.
In the United States the territory is so large, and the
divisions by states have so little relation to the natural
features of the land, that the distribution of population
can be shown by purely mathematical divisions. If we
divide the country into zones, formed by the successive
parallels of latitude, and estimate the number of people
living in each, we shall find that more than one-half
of the people inhabit the zone between the 39th and
43rd degrees of latitude. This is the great belt bounded
on the Atlantic sea-coast by Boston on the north and
Baltimore on the south, and stretching through the states
of Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Mis-
souri, and Kansas. In the middle of this belt is a cen-
tral one between the 40th and 41st degrees of latitude,
containing nearly 16 per cent of the population, with a
density of 53.5 to the square mile, thence shading off north
and south. There are several reasons why this belt of
territory contains the greatest population. One is purely
geographical, namely, it is the longest zone contained
wholly in the United States. The belts south of it are
shorter, while north the continuity is interrupted by the
Great Lakes and Canada. Another reason is that, acci-
dentally, almost all the large cities, such as Boston, New
York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, and San
Francisco, fall within it. Economically, population is dense
in this belt because of the iron and coal in Pennsylvania,
the commercial advantages of the sea-coast, and the fer-
tility of the Ohio and Missouri valleys. Politically also,
the stream of immigration was for many years kept
north of 39 degrees by the institution of slavery. Thus
the stream of settlement passed through the Alleghenies,
and pushed either along the southern shore of Lake Erie,
or down the Ohio River, and later up the Missouri.
POPULATION AND LAND. 349
A similar distribution of population may be made by
degrees of longitude, but there is no such concentration
as in latitude. One reason is that the belts of longitude
are shorter and traverse portions of the country varying
in fertility. A more important reason is that, owing to
the trend of the Atlantic seaboard from the northeast to
the southwest, the commercial population and the large
cities fall into different belts. Hence the largest con-
centration of population, lying between the 73rd and 74th
degrees of longitude, due principally to the presence of the
cities of New York and Brooklyn, and having a density
of 249.5 to the square mile, comprises only 5.8 per cent
of the total population.
Distribution of Population by Topographical Features.
The general distribution of population which we have
studied hitherto shows but little connection with the
land, because it is too vague. We must endeavour to get
a more precise comparison. The most common method
is to distribute population in accordance with topographi-
cal features, i.e., mountain and valley, hillside and plain,
drainage basins, sea-coast and interior. Such features have
obvious influence on population, which tends naturally to
congregate in valleys, because they are fertile, protected
from extremes of temperature, and the centres of com-
merce. Rivers are the natural highways into new coun-
tries ; hence population gathers first about them, and cities
are planted on their banks. The shores of oceans are at-
tractive on account of commercial advantages, and a broken
coast-line and good harbours encourage settlement, while
an unbroken coast-line discourages it. On the other
hand, the mountains are barren, cold, and inaccessible.
For that reason they become the refuge of conquered
peoples and the fortress of independent tribes ; but they
never support a large population. We have abundant
examples in history of these general influences. The
valleys of the Nile, the Euphrates, and the Tigris were
350 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
the early seats of civilization. The cities of Greece flour
ished for the most part along the coast. The mediaeval
Italian cities and the German free cities were mostly
either on navigable rivers or on the coast. The history
of the United States gives us a striking example of the
influence of rivers and valleys upon the growth of popu-
lation. When the first census was taken in 1790, 95 per
cent of the population was on the Atlantic seaboard. The
average depth of settlement, in a direction at right angles
to the coast, was 255 miles. From that time on it began
to extend westward, following three lines of march, one
up the valley of the Mohawk, the second over the Alle-
ghenies in Pennsylvania to the head waters of the Ohio,
and the third from Virginia southwestward down the
great Appalachian valley into Kentucky and Tennessee.
The westward growth for many years continued on these
lines. The principal stream of population pushed down the
Ohio River to its junction with the Mississippi, and then
spreading north and south pushed up the Missouri, the
Arkansas, and the Red River. Even since the building of
railroads the stream of population has followed the valleys,
because the railroads were laid in them; and, since 1860,
population has extended itself in great tongues across the
western plains.
The census of the United States has attempted to
distribute population in various ways, according to topo-
graphical features. For this purpose the whole country is
divided into areas differing in the character of their surface,
their products, and their climate, and the population is
classified therewith. There are not less than 21 of these
divisions, extending from the swamps of the Atlantic coast
to the mountain ranges of the Pacific. The divisions are
so numerous that the results are very indefinite. It seems,
however, that, in 1890, 2.8 per cent of the population
inhabited the coast swamps ; 14 per cent, the Atlantic
plain ; 12.5 per cent, the upland country of the Alle-
POPULATION AND LAND. 351
ghenies called the Piedmont region ; 18 per cent, the
interior timbered region ; and 20.8 per cent, the prairie
region. This distribution shows the growing dominance
of the interior agricultural region over the sea-coast.
The census of 1890 has distributed population also
according to altitude above the sea-level, as is shown in
the following table :
ALTITUDE. Per Cent of
Population.
Below 100 feet 16.5
100 to 500 feet 22.0
500 to 1000 feet 38.2
1000 to 1500 feet 15.0
Over 1500 feet 8.0
This is an interesting distribution when we remember
that the first category (below 100 feet) comprises the
commercial population of the sea-coast ; that the second
(100 to 500 feet) comprises the Southern states and
the lower Mississippi valley, largely a cotton-growing
region with some corn and tobacco ; that the third com-
prises the great agricultural and industrial region of the
West ; and that the fourth (1000 to 1500 feet) is the
grain-producing country of the Northwest. We see, there-
fore, population adjusting itself to the economic resources
of the country. The distribution of the various elements
in the population shows that the heaviest concentration
of the foreign-born is in the prairie region ; but of the
coloured is in the region from 100 to 500 feet.
Distribution of Population according to Temperature,
Rainfall, Humidity, and Character of the Soil. These are
all facts connected closely with the topographical features.
Temperature has both a direct influence upon human
life and an indirect through its effect on the economic
resources at the disposal of man. The mean annual
temperature of the United States is 53 degrees ; more
than half the population lives under a temperature between
45 and 55 degrees, and about 75 per cent under a tempera-
352 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
ture between 45 and 60 degrees. The greatest density is
where it ranges from 50 to 55 degrees. The people of
the United States, therefore, enjoy a temperate climate.
In regard to rainfall, the average annual rainfall upon
the surf ace of the United States is 29.6 inches. But the
main body of the population of the country inhabits a
region in which the annual rainfall is between 30 and 50
inches, three-fourths of the inhabitants or thereabouts
being found there. On either side, as the rainfall increases
or diminishes, the population diminishes rapidly. The
greatest density of population is in the area enjoying
from 40 to 50 inches of annual rainfall, the average of this
region being 59 inhabitants to the square mile. Next to
this is the area having from 30 to 40 inches, where the den-
sity is 43.1. The average annual rainfall with relation to
the population, deduced by giving weight to each area
of country in proportion to the number of its inhabitants,
which in 1870 was 42.5 inches, had diminished in 1890 to
41.4 inches, the diminution being caused mainly by the
settlement of the great plains and the arid regions of the
West.
By the relative humidity of the atmosphere is to be un-
derstood the amount of moisture contained in it in propor-
tion to the amount required to saturate it. The amount,
of course, varies with the temperature, the higher the
temperature, the greater the amount of moisture which
it is capable of holding in solution. In the United States
it seems that 36.67 per cent of the population breathe an
atmosphere containing 65 to 70 per cent of its full capac-
ity of moisture ; and 54.4 per cent breathe an atmos-
phere containing 70 to 75 per cent of its full capacity of
moisture. The tendency is towards increase of population
in the more arid regions. This general analysis is not of
much consequence, but may lead to a more precise local
analysis showing the effect of humidity upon diseases.
The character of the soil, especially whether it is clay or
POPULATION AND LAND. 353
gravel, affecting the drainage and the heat-absorbing capac-
ity of the country, has very important influence upon the
health and economic well-being of the inhabitants. It
would be manifestly impossible, however, except after a
geological survey of the utmost minuteness, to distribute
the population according to the character of the soil. It
has been done for certain localities with particular reference
to mortality and disease.
Scientific Tests.
It is evident that no relation between land and density
of population can give us any scientific results, unless our
system of distribution is accurate enough to show some
correspondence between the number of people per square
mile and the character of the territory. It is for this
reason that the average density of population for very
large regions, such as continents, is entirely worthless.
In such cases the average density becomes a mere mathe-
matical average, not true of any portion of the territory,
and very far from the truth for many portions. The
example already given of the average density for Asia
shows that it is equally far from indicating the density of
China and India on the one hand, and the sparseness of
settlement in Siberia on the other. A second example is
the United States. The total area of the United States
is 3,025,600 square miles, which gives an average density
of 20.7 persons to the square mile. But of this territory
only 1,947,280 square miles are actually settled, giving a
density of 32.1.
Even in such a country as England, the concentration of
industry in particular places makes the average density of
population for the whole country more or less fictitious.
The county of Stafford, for instance, shows an average
density of 926.5 per square mile, while Hereford shows
only 139.2, the average for all England being 540.7. The
great differences for different parts of the United States
IA
354 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
we have already spoken of. Even in a single state like
Massachusetts, the eastern counties partake of the density
of industrial and commercial Rhode Island, while the
country towns of the northwest partake of the rural
character of Vermont.
It is an important question, therefore, how small the
subdivisions should be in order to calculate the average
density. The answer is that it depends upon the actual
circumstances. Where population is more or less evenly
distributed over a whole county, province, or state, such
division may be taken as the unit. Where, however, the
population tends to agglomerate in one portion of such
territory, smaller subdivisions will be necessary. The
work is facilitated by the construction of cartograms,
showing by different colours or successive tints of the same
colour, the different degrees of density of population over
a certain territory. The abrupt transition from one tint to
another, in passing from one division to another, is evi-
dently false to nature. Whenever such transition dis-
closes itself as too abrupt, recourse must be had to further
subdivisions. The general effect of the cartogram will
be to reveal to the eye any concentration of population
where such exists.
The second scientific obstacle in bringing the distribu-
tion of population into juxtaposition with the character of
the soil is the disturbing effect of great cities. If the
population of a great city is averaged with that of the
county or province in which it lies, we get an average
which is typical neither of the urban nor of the rural
portion of the district. For instance, if the population of
the city of Berlin is included in that of the province of
Brandenburg, we get an average density for the whole
province of 103.3 per square kilometer, which is not very
much in excess of that of the whole German empire,
namely, 91.5 per square kilometer. It is absurd to take
this figure as typical of a city population, while it is
POPULATION AND LAND. 356
equally absurd to suppose that the rural parts of the prov-
ince of Brandenburg have a density exceeding that of the
empire at large. It is customary, therefore, in calculating
the density of population for the purpose of constructing
cartograms, to cut out the large cities and indicate their
presence by dark circles or spaces. This eliminates the
disturbing effect, at least to a certain extent.
It sometimes happens that the distribution of population
is controlled by reasons which are purely political or his-
torical in their nature. When these are known they must
be taken notice of by statistics. We have already given
one instance of how the institution of slavery kept immi-
gration and the movement of free labour north of Mason
and Dixon's line. Any one examining the map of popula-
tion of the United States for 1820 and 1830 would be struck
by the abrupt cessation of the inhabited territory in west-
ern Georgia, although the whole southwestern Mississippi
valley was already peopled. The explanation is, that the
Cherokee and Creek Indians had not yet been removed.
In 1840, population had covered the vacant spaces. For
many years the line of population on our Western frontier
was determined by similar considerations. 1
The distribution of population according to topograph-
ical features must be used with care, because it is obvi-
ous that a great variety of influences may be present
to counterbalance the one we are studying. The
distribution by altitude is of interest, only as altitude
determines other things, such as climate, and especially
the agricultural resources of the country. It is not the
altitude that attracts population, but simply that at that
altitude the soil will produce the means of sustaining
life.
In some cases we even seem in danger of confusing ante-
cedent and consequent. For instance, in the matter of
1 See the maps of density of population at each census. Eleventh Cen-
sus of the United States, Vol. I., Population.
356 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
rainfall, a great proportion of the population enjoyed a
lighter rainfall in 1890 than in 1870. This does not
show, however, that heavy rainfall has retarded the
increase of population or that population has deserted
the regions of heavy rainfall. It means simply that the
extension of population into the arid regions of the
West makes the average rainfall less for the people of
the United States. This decrease of rainfall relatively to
population does not show a preference on the part of the
people, or an influence of the rainfall itself, but simply the
historical fact that the East was settled before the West.
When we consider all these statistical tests together, we
shall see, that before we can reason in regard to the rela-
tion between population and land we must demand (1)
that the subdivisions be sufficiently minute ; (2) that
political reasons be taken account of ; (3) that large
cities be eliminated ; (4) that peculiarities of race be
taken account of ; and (5) that care be exercised not to
confuse antecedent and consequent, or to regard as an
influence of nature what is merely an accident of his-
tory. The consideration of these things will show us
that it is only by particular and minute study that statis-
tics is able to accomplish anything in this direction.
Reflective Analysis.
How far can the statistics of distribution be said to
contribute an answer to the question of the influence of
physical environment upon population?
Statistics show us, in a large way and on a grand scale,
the general influence of land, climate, and natural forces
upon population. The plains attract, the mountains re-
pel. Cold regions are unpopulated ; moist and warm
climates are fatal to human life. Commercial position
attracts cities ; navigable rivers are natural highways
and are utilized in the migrations of the human race ;
an indented sea-coast is favourable to settlement and colo-
POPULATION AND LAND. 357
nization. Statistics confirm the general observations of
history. Levasseur, after a long survey of the topogra-
phy of France and the history of its population, says that
at all periods Paris has been the attractive pole, and the
mountainous region of South France the repulsive pole
of population. 1
But it is absurd to seek by statistics a direct mathemati-
cal relation between population and land. The popula-
tion of a country is not dense exactly in accordance with
its topography. Plains do not always have a dense popula-
tion, and mountains are not always barren. Population
does not increase or decrease regularly, according to dis-
tance from a certain parallel of latitude or longitude.
There is no direct proportion between the degrees of
temperature or inches of rainfall, and the number of
inhabitants in a certain district. In this respect many
of the statistics distributing population according to topo-
graphical features or natural relations, such as those of the
Tenth and Eleventh Census of the United States, are the
merest vanity. One searches in vain in these elaborate
tables for any illumination. Such influences are not
direct, but indirect. Altitude, temperature, rainfall, influ-
ence population because they affect the economic resources
necessary for population. We must always remember
that economy is the basis of social organization. The
economic is the fundamental side of civilization. Natural
forces control human life in this way. Statistics, by show-
ing the distribution of population, discloses the harmony
between population and nature which is mediated by
economic relations ; and these are, on the one side, the
result of natural forces, and on the other, the conditions
of human existence.
We must also remember, in studying the distribution of
population, that there are commonly many influences at
work, some of them economic, others historical and politi-
1 La France et ses colonies, L, p. 16.
358 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY".
cal ; and that it is often extremely difficult to disentangle
them. We ought, therefore, to expect from statistics, not
exact data, but only general indications of the influence
of natural forces. The density of population in England,
for example, is due partly to the richness of its soil, partly
to its mineral resources, and partly to its commercial
advantages ; but it is due also in part to its insular position,
which has given it peace and stable government for gener-
ations, and to the energy and enterprise of its inhabitants,
which have made the little island the centre of a world
empire. It is impossible for statistics to disentangle these
different influences. It can only confirm the observations
of history. Who could explain that oasis of population, in
the great Western plain of the United States, called Utah,
if he did not know the history of the Mormons? Why
should the sterile mountain-tops of Nevada be populated ?
might be asked by one who did not know the history of
gold and silver mining. The coast swamps of the United
States would probably be uninhabited, did not the popu-
lation of the United States include a large proportion of
negroes, who are proof against pestilential fevers. Race
explains, in this case, what physical geography would
leave inexplicable.
Finally, we must remember that all these natural influ-
ences are much more powerful over primitive than over
civilized man. As Spencer says, "The earlier stages
of social evolution are far more dependent on local condi-
tions than the later stages. Those societies such as we
are most familiar with, highly organized, rich in appli-
ances, advanced in knowledge, can, by the help of various
artifices, thrive in unfavourable habitats ; yet feeble, un-
organized societies cannot do so : they are at the mercy
of their natural surroundings." Spencer finds here, also,
the explanation of the fact that so many tribes of savages
have made no manifest progress during the long period
over which human records extend. Statistics observes
POPULATION AND LAND. 359
man only in an advanced state of civilization, when he
has been able to free himself to a certain extent from the
influence of natural forces, or at least to neutralize them.
By clothing and improved shelter man habituates himself
to almost any climate, and by sanitary knowledge he
makes places formerly uninhabitable safe for human life.
In pursuit of wealth, of political independence, of religious
freedom, he will risk exposures which would seem to
be entirely unnecessary. By improved methods of
agriculture man often renders districts, formerly un-
inhabited, or at best only sparsely settled, capable of
sustaining large populations. In early times regions cov-
ered with forests are thinly inhabited. Civilized man
cuts down the forest and turns the land into arable fields.
Lowlands, which in early times were at the mercy of the
sea or uninhabitable on account of fevers, civilized man,
by canals and dikes, renders fertile plains. So, also, by
means of fertilizers, by rotation of crops, by improved
ploughing, by the use of machinery, sometimes by irriga-
tion, dry and sterile plains are made productive. Even
from year to year changes in agriculture, or in the prices
of agricultural crops, may render it expedient to change
arable land into pasture, or pasture land into arable, and
either process, if continued, must influence the population-
supporting capacity of the country. An example of this
is seen in the changing of arable land to pasture in Ire-
land, and the turning of little farms into game preserves
in Scotland.
In the civilized state man often makes use of a country
without any reference to its agricultural capacities. He
seeks the minerals under the soil, either for his own con-
sumption or for export; he turns clay into pottery ; he
utilizes water power for his factories ; he seeks barren
coasts for fishing or gathering seaweed ; he establishes
trading posts in the desert, or in unhealthy localities ;
in other words, he seeks his gain without reference to
360 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
climate or soil. In modern times the improved means of
transportation have still further increased man's command
over nature. He is no longer held to rivers and valleys
as natural highways, but can seek the quickest and most
direct route. Cheapness of transportation gives him com-
mand over the resources of the world. In this way
he can carry on the work of production in any place he
likes, without regard to its food-producing capacity. The
people of England import three-fourths of the bread they
eat. This has the effect of enabling man to concentrate
his efforts in places most favourable to the production
of the kind of wealth which is demanded. It enables
him also to choose climates favourable to his health, as
the English seek the Mediterranean, or consumptives of
the East seek the dry air of Colorado. Man's intellectual
and emotional desires lead him to seek large cities, and
this he is enabled to do by the fact that he can carry on
his occupation independent of the food supply. This is
especially true of occupations demanding intellectual ef-
fort.
It will be seen, therefore, from all these considerations,
that man is still subject to the environment, but the
development of his power over nature has rendered the
cord which binds him down more elastic. He is still
subject to nature, but has at the same time, to a certain
extent at least, subjected her. 1
1 Ratzel, Anthropo-Geographie, I., p. 86, remarks that it is an error to
say that civilized man is any less dependent upon nature than primi-
tive man. The agriculturist is as much bound to the soil as the hunting-
savage. The inhabitants of Great Britain are dependent upon the coal
and iron mines of that country. This does not contradict what is said in
the text. Man is dependent upon nature still, but not so subject to her
caprices.
CHAPTER XVI.
POPULATION AND CIVILIZATION (SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT).
AN explanation of human life in society based solely on
the working of physical forces is not likely to be satisfactory,
or of great practical value. In the first place, such natu-
ral forces modify human life and social organization only
indirectly. Fertility of the soil undoubtedly determines
the possibility of the existence of society, and variation in
fertility would seem to be necessarily a fundamental factor
in all social development, and in every phase of human
existence. Sociologists, in their grouping of social forms,
are accustomed to lay great stress upon the method of
getting food, as the fishing and hunting stage, the nomadic
stage, the agricultural stage, and the like. Fertility of the
soil works, however, only indirectly, by determining the
economic resources of the community. The economy itself
is determined by many other things as well, such as the
state of agricultural skill, the stability of government, the
preservation of law and order, the recognition of the rights
of property, the energy of labour as influenced by the con-
dition of the labourer, the tenure of land, the system of
wages, the prevailing religious and ethical systems. So
complicated do these influences become, that it is a barren
metaphor to say that the population of the United States
is conditioned by the soil of the continent.
In the second place, as has already been remarked in the
preceding chapter, while man is subject to nature, he has
361
362 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
also, at least to a certain extent, subjected her. It is idle
to deny that there is a reflex action by which man modifies
his physical environment in order to adapt it to his liv-
ing. Man, as the more plastic, is obliged to conform, in a
general way, to the great natural forces about him ; but,
in a certain sense, nature is obliged to adapt itself, or
more properly be adapted to the demands of man. It is,
of course, only in society that man acquires strength and
intensity of purpose enough thus to modify the physical
environment to his needs. And it is precisely in modern
society, which we study by means of statistics, that this
modification becomes conscious and observable. Concen-
tration of population in cities is the most marked example
of the deliberate choice of certain means to attain his ends,
entirely independent of, and often contrary to the demands
of natural environment, such as the food supply. The
force of political allegiance or race loyalty in keeping a
population fixed on an ungrateful soil, when migration
might make all the conditions of life easier, is another
example of the working of tradition and established cus-
tom in counterbalancing the advantages of mere physical
environment. The spread of the spirit of enterprise
and search for economic advantage, in encouraging
emigration even from remote rural districts of Europe
to countries of the New World, is an example of the
effacement or weakening of one social influence by an-
other.
The influences leading man to emancipate himself from
the direct working of physical environment are too numer-
ous to be followed out in detail. They become of im-
portance when they are manifested in social institutions,
customs, or facts of social life. Together they constitute
civilization or human culture. From the standpoint
of the study of human society they constitute the social
environment, as distinct from the influence of nature,
or the physical environment. It is impossible to isolate
POPULATION AND CIVILIZATION. 363
the two completely, for many institutions, customs, and
habits of life, which we now call social, have had their
origin and find their ultimate explanation in the physical
environment.
In many directions we have sought, in the preceding
chapters, to trace the influence of the social environment.
Race and nationality, family relationship, the institution
of marriage, religious confession, illiteracy and education,
social condition, are all phenomena of the social environ-
ment, and, as we have seen, have important influence on
the life of man. It remains to consider those great
aspects of civilized life which are so marked that they
have become essential features of modern society. We
deal only with those which can be expressed .statisti-
cally.
Size of Communities. The primary statistical charac-
teristic of modern population is that individuals are
gathered together into stable and well-defined political
communities. The relation of the individual to the commu-
nity also is not only legally established, but is intensified
by a feeling of naturalness and permanence which creates
a national loyalty and patriotism sufficient to sway the
actions of large bodies of men. Mere size, again, deter-
mines to a certain extent the international position of a
nation, and thus animates the ambitions and desires of men.
The fact that Germany is now an empire, the greatest
military power in Europe, gives a specific direction and
force to German policy. The citizen of such an empire
must be actuated by different feelings from those felt by
the Hanoverian or the Bavarian in the days of the Con-
federation, when the little state was everything and the
unity of Germany a fiction.
The relative size of rival nations and the rate of growth
are important factors in their political life. In the preced-
ing chapter statistics were given showing the population
of the nations of Europe in connection with density. The
864 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
changes in relative population during this century are
shown in the following table : 1
COUNTRY. Population COUNTRY. Population
in 1801. in 1891.
Russia in Europe . . 40,000,000 Russia in Europe . . 93,703,331
France 26,800,000 Germany 49,424,135
Germany 25,000,000 Austria-Hungary . . 41,284,966
Austria-Hungary . . 25,000,000 France 38,218,903
Italy 17,500,000 Great Brit' n, Ireland. 37,888,152
Great Brit' n, Ireland . 16,300,000 Italy 30,158,408
Spain 6,000,000 Spain 17,246,688
The leading nations have all increased in population,
but at different rates, so that the order is very much
changed. Russia remains at the head, but France has
sunk to the fourth place, and in another decade will
doubtless be passed by Great Britain and Ireland. Ger-
many has doubled in population, and now occupies undis-
putedly the second place. When we consider the great
rivalry between Germany and France, this steady draw-
ing ahead of the former must be a matter of momentous
interest to the latter. In fact, the question suggests itself,
whether, if this process continue, France will not sink into
the class with Italy and Spain.
With this increased size of the leading nations of the
world, the smaller ones have sunk into a secondary position,
taking rank only with the larger cities. London, with
its population of 4,211,060, is very nearly as large as
Portugal, Holland, or Sweden ; and Paris, with 2,447,960,
nearly equals Switzerland, and surpasses Denmark, Nor-
way, Greece, and Servia.
Colonial Power. The influence of a nation is not
measured solely by the number of inhabitants at home.
Many of the nations of Europe have colonies which con-
tribute to their importance and commercial influence, if
not to their military strength. Great Britain with its
possessions includes a population of 335,000,000 souls.
: See Levasseur, La Population fran^aise, III., Chap. VI.
POPULATION AND CIVILIZATION. 365
France with her dependencies numbers over 65,000,000 ;
Germany has a very small colonial population ; while
Spain still claims possessions with a population of over
9,000,000. The colonies of Holland have a population of
30,789,000, or seven times that of the mother country.
Closely connected with this question of colonies is that
of the future dominant speech of the world. There seems
to be no doubt that English is the widest spread, and is
destined to be spoken by an increasingly large proportion
of the civilized inhabitants of the earth. To the inhabi-
tants of Great Britain and Ireland we have only to add
those of the United States, Canada, and Australia, and
we get at once over 100,000,000 civilized white persons,
living in powerful communities, whose speech is English,
besides the thousands scattered in the British colonies.
We must also consider the millions of men of other
races who are subject to the English or under their
influence.
Concentration of Population in Cities. There is one
marked characteristic of modern populations which de-
serves consideration, namely, the agglomeration of popula-
tion in cities. We have in them a density of population
far exceeding that of the country, but having little con-
nection with land. It is true that, in their origin, many
cities owed their site to commercial advantages, or to
favourable positions as centres of population. But some
cities were simply fortresses, others, the seats of bishop-
rics, and still others, the capitals of monarchies. So in
modern times, some cities owe their position to commer-
cial advantages, such as Hamburg, Liverpool, and New
York ; others, such as factory towns, are due to the pres-
ence of minerals or a supply of fuel. But there are also
many which have grown into importance simply as politi-
cal capitals, such as Berlin, Madrid, and Washington ;
while others seem to have had largely an artificial growth,
due to the energy of their inhabitants. Thus the con-
366 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
centration of population in cities sometimes seems to
confirm the influence of nature, and sometimes to show a
purely artificial social influence.
There is a slight statistical difficulty in determining
what is a city, that is, in drawing the line between the
urban and the rural population. On the continent of
Europe it is customary to take all villages or agglomera-
tions of people of 2000 or more as urban population. In
England it is customary to assume that the population
of urban sanitary districts is urban, and the population
outside such districts, rural. In the United States we
commonly take the incorporated villages or towns having
a certain minimum population, as, for instance, 8000, or
in some cases 4000. In the New England states, how-
ever, the town corresponds to what is known as the town-
ship in the other states, and includes both urban and
rural population. In the face of these difficulties, it is
manifestly impossible to obtain an exact enumeration of
the urban population. For, where we take an arbitrary
limit such as 2000, it will often happen that some villages
above the limit will have all the characteristics of a
rural population, while others below it may have all
the characteristics of an urban population. Where we
take an arbitrary distinction, such as the boundaries
of sanitary districts, or the municipal limits of incorpo-
rated villages and towns, it will often happen that these
limits will be so widely drawn as to include agricultural
districts ; while in other cases they will be too narrowly
drawn, so that populous suburbs will be counted as rural
when they are really urban. In the long run these differ-
ences will more or less offset each other, so that although
the figures for different countries may not be exactly com-
parable, nor the figures for any one country absolutely
accurate, yet the statistics for successive periods will give
us interesting information.
The number of the urban population in any country
POPULATION AND CIVILIZATION. 367
depends principally upon whether the country is agricult-
ural, or commercial and industrial. In Germany, for
instance, we have the following contrasts, showing the
percentage of the population living in towns of 2000
inhabitants and over :
German Empire . . 42.8 Baden 38.4
Hesse 44.6
Prussia 42.4 Liibeck 83.1
Bavaria 31.3 Bremen 92.0
Saxony 62.9 Hamburg 96.3
Wiirtemberg .... 35.2 Alsace-Lorraine . . 37.8
The percentage for Saxony, 62.9, shows the industrial
character of that region; that for Bavaria, 31.3, shows
the prevalence of agriculture in South Germany; while
the figures for Liibeck, Bremen, and Hamburg show that
these states of the German empire are simply cities.
In France, where we have the same dividing line,
namely; 2000 inhabitants, statistics show a constant aug-
mentation of the urban population. In 1846 the urban
population was 24.42 per cent; in 1866 it was 30.46 per
cent ; in 1886 it was 35.95 per cent.
In England and Wales, in 1891, 71.7 per cent lived in
urban sanitary districts. This showed an increase of
15.3 per cent since 1881. In Scotland they make a three-
fold division, into town, village, and rural population.
In 1891, 65.37 per cent of the inhabitants of Scotland
resided in towns; 11.57 per cent resided in villages;
26.26 per cent resided in the rural districts. The towns
showed an increase of 14.06 per cent, the villages an
increase of 4.01 per cent, and the rural districts a decrease
of 5.33 per cent in population, since 1881.
In Ireland 17.9 per cent of the population lived in
towns of 10,000 inhabitants and over, while 26.4 per cent
lived in incorporated towns having 2000 inhabitants and
over.
In the United States the proportion of urban popula-
368
STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
tion has steadily increased since 1790, as is shown in the
following table :
CINSUS YEAR.
Population
of the
United States.
1790 3,929,214
1800 6,308,483
1810 7,239,881
1820 9,633,822
1830 12,866,020
1840 17,069,453
1850 23,191,876
1860 31,443,321
1870 38,658,371
1880 60,155,783
1890 62,622,250
Population
of Cities.
131,472
210,873
356,920
475,135
864,509
1,453,994
2,897,586
6,072,256
8,071,876
11,318,547
18,284,385
Inhabitants of
Cities in each
100 of the Total
Population.
3.35
3.97
4.93
4.93
6.72
8.52
12.49
16.13
20.93
22.57
29.20
In 1790 only 3.35 per cent of the population lived in
towns having 8000 inhabitants and over, while in 1890
29.20 per cent of the population lived in such towns.
The number of these towns in 1790 was only 6, while in
1880 it was 286, and in 1890 had reached 448.
In the North Atlantic division 51.58 per cent, or more
than one-half of the entire population, is contained in
cities of 8000 or more inhabitants. In the North Central
division only 25.91 per cent of the inhabitants are classed
as urban. In the South Atlantic and South Central divis-
ions the proportion of urban population is comparatively
small, being in the first named but 16.03 per cent of the
entire population, and in the second but 10.45 per cent,
the proportion of urban to the total population in all
the Southern states being less than 13 per cent. In the
Western division the urban population constituted 29.99
per cent of the total number of inhabitants.
The minimum limit of 8000 for urban population is
much higher than is customary in Europe. If we take
lower minima, we shall find that in 1890 there were 3715
places of 1000 inhabitants or more, having a total popula-
tion of 26,109,074, and representing 41.69 per cent of the
POPULATION AND CIVILIZATION. 369
total population of the United States ; we further find
that in 1890 there were 1522 places having a population
of 2500 and over, with a combined population of 22,717,-
465, and representing 36.28 per cent of the population ;
and that there were 905 places with a population of 4000
and over, containing 20,799,296 people, or 33.21 per
cent of the total population of the country. The urban
population in the United States is not so numerous as that
of England, but seems to be about that of France, and
perhaps a little less than that of Germany.
Everywhere the cities are growing faster than the rural
districts. In England the population of the urban sani-
tary districts increased (1881-91) 15.3 per cent, whereas
that of rural sanitary districts increased only 3.4 per
cent. These figures show only a less rapid increase in
the country population than in the city population.
In some counties, however, there has been an actual
decrease in population. Cornwall has decreased contin-
uously since 1861, and has lost in all 46,801 people ; Here-
ford, since 1871, has lost 9571 ; Huntingdon, since 1861,
has lost 6478 ; Rutland, since 1851, has lost 2536 ; and
Shropshire, since 1871, has lost 11,795. The total loss
has amounted to 4.8 per cent in Salop, 7.5 per cent in
Hereford, 10.1 per cent in both Huntingdon and Rut-
land, and 12.7 per cent in Cornwall. 1 A similar state of
things is found in the rural counties of Wales and Scot-
land. In Ireland all the counties have decreased owing
to emigration, with the exception of Dublin and Antrim.
In France not less than 55 out of the 87 departments had
decreased in population, according to the census of 1891 ;
and of the 32 that had increased, not less than 7 showed a
decrease in their rural parts, when the large towns were
deducted. In Germany the towns of 10,000 and over
showed a much more rapid increase than the rural dis-
1 Longstaff , Rural Depopulation, Jour. Stat. Soc., Vol. LVL, p. 380
(1893).
la
370 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
tricts. The same fact is true for other countries of
Europe. Even in new countries like the United States,
the cities are growing faster than the rural districts.
The reason for the more rapid growth of cities is found
in the changed industrial character of the modern com-
munity. The old handicrafts have been given up, and
manufactures are now carried on in factory towns and
cities. The introduction of machinery in agriculture
renders a smaller population sufficient in the country,
and the surplus is drawn off to large towns. Improved
means of communication and intelligence render the
migratory movement easier, and give opportunity to
the restless and discontented to change their domicile.
The same means of communication allow this concen-
tration of population by rendering it easy to bring food
and raw material from great distances. The process is
to be regretted only if it create an actual insufficiency of
labour in the agricultural districts, or on account of the
unhealthful influence of city life.
This concentration of population in large cities is one
of the most important manifestations of the social environ-
ment. The influence of city life is, in many respects,
artificial and stimulating. The traces of this influence
revealed in births, marriages, deaths, disease, suicide, and
crime, we have already studied. There are many others
which may find statistical expression by special study.
Radical political parties flourish in large cities, as may be
seen by an analysis of the social-democratic vote in such
places as Berlin, Hamburg, and Leipsic. Cities mean a
concentration of wealth, as may be seen by compari-
son of the assessed valuation of New York City with
that of the rest of the state. Theatres, clubs, and
places of amusement are most numerous in cities, and we
might have interesting detailed statistics showing the re-
lation of these things to the classes of inhabitants in
different quarters of the city. The cities are the great
POPULATION AND CIVILIZATION. 371
centres also for hospitals, orphan asylums, homes for the
aged, and charitable institutions of all sorts. Public
charity here takes on its most systematic form, owing to
the fact that personal relations are not close and intimate
as they often are in the country, and that the city has to
deal with a large proportion of the vagrant and floating
population. London shows a much greater proportion of
in-door paupers than the rural districts of England. All
these things modify the population of a country in many
different directions, and give to modern civilization a
stamp of its own. Unfortunately, the influences are so
dependent on local circumstances that general statistics
are of little avail. We have here an opportunity for
sociological investigation of particular problems, by the
statistics of social condition, which would probably bear
rich fruit ; and to this the sociologists must address them-
selves, if they desire to express the actual influence of
city life in an intelligible way.
Wealth and Social Position. It goes without saying
that the influence of civilization, representing the social
environment, is keenly felt in the statistics of the social
condition of the community. The great question is :
Does civilization increase the material well-being of the
mass of the population ? With increasing wealth is there
increasing comfort? This is a question of Economic
Statistics, and we cannot go into it here. It involves the
question of wages and the condition of the wage-receiving
class. It requires a statistical analysis of the distribution
of wealth and the relative shares received by the rich and
the poor. The general fact stands out that the majority
of the community is better fed, clothed, and housed than
in former times ; that education and general knowledge
are more wide-spread ; that participation in political power,
which is the guarantee against exploitation by other
classes, is almost universal ; and that the social importance
of the working classes is greater than it ever has been
372 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
before. On the other hand, there is great concentration of
capital in the hands of corporations and a few individuals,
while a portion of the community seems to be sunk in
abject poverty. The stress of civilization is felt in the
greater opportunity to some, and the hopeless submergence
of others. Crime is on the increase, except perhaps in
England ; suicide, vice, and insanity are more manifest
than ever. Here again, the minute investigation of par-
ticular communities seems to be the most feasible method
for comprehending these phenomena, while at the same
time throwing light upon some of the questions of practi-
cal sociology.
Social Environment and Race. The fundamental fact
of ethnography is the division of mankind into races and
nationalities. We cannot trace the distinguishing marks
of race back to their origin ; but we know that all early
history of mankind is full of migrations, that these migra-
tions probably had something to do with the separation of
men into races, and that physical environment would very
likely tend to perpetuate differences when once established.
A second important fact of history is that the constant
struggle of races and nations for mastery has resulted in
frequent conquests of one nation by another. Men of
different race and nationality have thus been brought
under the same physical environment, and there has oc-
curred a mixture of institutions, language, and sometimes
of blood.
Historians have tried to determine how far races or
peoples mingled in these conquests, and what was the result
of such mixture on subsequent institutions. To determine
these questions they have the evidence of history, the
character of the language, and the type of institutions.
Contemporary accounts of the German conquest of Britain
convince historians like Stubbs and Freeman that the
Britons were, for the most part, exterminated by their
conquerors. Language confirms this view, for very few
POPULATION AND CIVILIZATION. 373
Celtic words are found in English, and these pertain only
to domestic and household objects. The institutions
also are pure German, being neither Celtic nor Roman. 1
On the other hand, in the Frankish conquest of Gaul
historians trace an intermingling of two races, which
resulted in marked changes in the language and constitu-
tion. The Norman conquest of England invigorated the
whole system of government, although the infusion of
blood was small. Bancroft traces the free institutions of
America to the Anglo-Saxon blood of the settlers, who, he
affirms, were not of " the high folk of Normandie " but
of " the low men " who were Saxons. 2
It will be observed that historians follow a double line
of reasoning. They argue that there has not been a mixt-
ure of races because the language and institutions are pure.
In the second place, they ascribe the mixture of languages
or institutions, where they are mixed, to the influence of
two or more races. All this, however, must be largely
hypothetical. As a matter of history, we may know that
the Anglo-Saxons came to England and brought certain
forms of institutions and certain customs with them, and
that we find these perpetuated. It is impossible, however,
to disentangle the relation of races, and ascribe institu-
tions to a specific origin. Races are never pure, but
always mixed ; our statistics of the number of each race
are always incomplete, and in past history are abso-
lutely lacking ; and even at the present time we cannot
distinguish clearly the ethnic elements which have sur-
vived.
From the standpoint of statistics, the theories of his-
torians in regard to the effect of the mixture of races
must always remain extremely imaginative. On the other
hand, the statistics of the foreign-born in the United States
suggest the inquiry whether we have not here an opportu-
1 Stubbs, History of England, I., Chap. 1.
2 Bancroft, History of the United States, Vol. II., p. 176.
374 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
nity to study the mixture of races such as we have never
had before. The advantages are many. It is true that
nationalities (by place of birth) do not represent, accu-
rately, different races. But during the fifteen hundred
years of contest which the peoples of Europe have passed
through in forming themselves into nations, differences
have developed which are almost as sharp and marked as
those of race. It is also true that our statistics are im-
perfect, inasmuch as they reach back only one generation,
and we cannot tell what the whole strength of the inter-
mixture has been. But we never have had so complete
statistics before, and it is improbable that we shall ever
have them again. They are unique in the experience of
the world.
Finally, the circumstances under which the mixture of
nationalities has occurred in the United States are unique.
In history, the mixture of races has been due to conquest
which has resulted in one race assuming the position of
master, and the other of servant. It is not always the
conqueror, indeed, whose civilization has triumphed in
the long run. Where his civilization was inferior, that
of the conquered has survived, as in the Prankish con-
quest of Gaul. Where the civilizations were about on
a par, there has been a fusion, the conqueror introducing
his system of government in the upper part of the organ-
ization, leaving the mass of the conquered to their own
language and local institutions. Such a fusion was the
result of the Norman conquest of England. In the United
States the mixture of nationalities has been under different
conditions. There has been no conquest by one nation-
ality, no relation established of master and dependent.
Each nationality has had the same opportunity to develop
and attain a position of power. The free extension of
political privileges, and the absolute equality before the
law, have still further accentuated the doctrine of equal
chances. Under these conditions we might expect to find
POPULATION AND CIVILIZATION. 375
the different nationalities leaving their distinct mark upon
the institutions of the United States.
The statistical method by which we may study this
question has been indicated in a preceding chapter. We
are able to distribute the foreign-born and those of for-
eign parentage by states and nationalities. It would seem
that when two states or sections differ radically as to
the character of their inhabitants, some trace of it ought
to appear in the institutions. When we know that 75. 67
per cent of the population of Minnesota is foreign by birth
or by parentage, while only 43.78 per cent of the popula-
tion of the neighbouring state of Iowa is foreign, we might
expect to find some marked difference in the legislation, the
institutions, and the internal policies of those two common-
wealths. This would seem to be more probable when one
knows that in Minnesota there are 238.8 foreign voters of
two generations to 100 native voters, and in Iowa only
71.5. Many other contrasts as striking will be found upon
careful examination of the statistics. 1 But we do not find
the states differing radically from each other. How shall
we explain this ?
It is evident that there must be influences which tend to
overcome those of race and nationality. To go into these
in detail is the office of sociology. We shall only indicate
them here, emphasizing those upon which statistics are
able to throw light. They are as follows :
(1) The physical environment. Some ethnologists lay
great stress on this, asserting that the climate of America
tends to reduce whites and negroes alike to the type of the
American Indian. Without dwelling upon what seems
to be rather an extreme view, it is doubtless true that
climate has an effect in effacing national differences, by
inducing the same kind of life, outdoor or indoor, by
leading to the same kind of food, clothing, shelter, and
1 See my article on Assimilation of Nationalities, Political Science
Quarterly, Vol. IX., p. 64ft
376 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
the like. More particularly, the common struggle against
nature, the frontier life, the necessity for self-reliance, the
distance from government, all this has been a constant
influence tending to develop the same qualities in all the
inhabitants.
(2) Immigration in the modern sense is a fact of the
nineteenth century. Formerly there was colonization,
which had a more permanent and influential character.
But the recent immigrants have entered into a country where
institutions and state-forms have already received their
impress. This impress has been English. Everywhere
the language, the form of government, the customs, are
P^nglish. Into this mould already prepared, the individual
immigrant has been precipitated. It is no wonder he
has not been able to withstand the dissolving influence of
American life. Common-school education, the exercise of
political rights, intercourse with natives, intermarriage to
a small extent, all tend to make him feel and act like an
American. Connection with the mother country has been
broken off, and he soon becomes a citizen of the New
World.
(3) It seems to be the super-organic influence which
thus counterbalances or overcomes the influence of race.
Physical environment may have some influence in develop-
ing a somewhat similar physique. But social environment
has a still more marked influence in bringing all into accord
with the prevailing type of society. Doubtless the con-
ditions of modern civilization have something to do with
this. The means of communication and expression, rail-
roads, telegraph, newspapers, make it possible to infuse a
great mass of people with the same ideas and the same
intelligence. Public opinion vibrates from one end of the
land to the other, and soon touches the most ignorant
immigrant. The social influence everywhere tends to
Americanize him. To succeed, he must learn English ;
and he desires that his children shall speak English with-
POPULATION AND CIVILIZATION. 377
out accent. To compete in commercial enterprises, he
must adopt American quickness and energy. To become
a farmer, he must use machinery and cultivate land on a
large scale. To enter politics, he must follow the estab-
lished methods. Add to this that in many cases the im-
migrant finds advancement in social and political position
by adopting American ideas, and looks forward to a
future for himself and his children which he never could
have aspired to at home, and one sees how the incentives of
ambition, hopefulness, and prosperity unite to make him
conform to American life. It is, therefore, probable
that, under the free conditions of a new and democratic
country, social influences are more powerful in forming in-
stitutions than either physical environment or the mixture
of races.
It would seem from the example of the United States
that the influence of the social environment is to efface the
differences of nationality, and to bring all the citizens of
a country to similar institutions, customs, and aspirations.
The same influence extended to international relations
would tend towards cosmopolitanism. Doubtless modern
intercourse has this assimilating effect. But national prej-
udices are still strong, and civilization finds its surest line
of progress in national development, where there is some
homogeneity of population and mental character as a
foundation. That social environment is able to assimi-
late such divergent elements, and in such numbers as
are brought to the United States by immigration, shows
what a powerful factor civilization is on the life of
nations and of individual men.
The Law of Population. Since the days of Malthus
much thought has been expended in trying to formulate
a law of population. Most of the formulae which have
found expression rest on biological considerations of
the power of reproduction in the human species, and the
relation of that power to the possible increase of the
378 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
means of subsistence. The results reached by theory are,
however, rather indefinite and altogether unsatisfactory.
The reproductive power is undoubtedly enormous, and, if
unchecked and unhindered, would in a few hundred years
literally cover the globe with human beings. Even with-
out dealing in imaginary geometrical ratios, we have
historical examples of population doubling in less than
twenty-five years, and Levasseur asserts that population
in Java has quadrupled in thirty-five years. 1 In regard
to the means of subsistence the theory is equally indefi-
nite. The amount of land being limited, there must be a
final limit to the number of people. On the other hand,
invention and progress increase the power of man over
nature, and add to the resources of the race in an almost
miraculous way. It is absolutely futile to discuss the
relation of two such unknown and unknowable quantities
as the possible increase of population and the possible
supply of food. The useful things to know are the real
facts respecting the growth of population, and the con-
nection this growth has with the economic resources of
the population. Here the science of statistics indicates
several fruitful lines of investigation.
In the first place, population is actually increasing in
civilized countries. Leaving the United States out of
consideration as an exceptional case, the population of
Europe has doubled during the last one hundred years.
In 1801 the number of inhabitants was estimated at 175
millions, and in 1891 at 357 millions. 2 And population is
still increasing. Ireland, it is true, loses from decade to
decade, but from altogether exceptional causes. The
population, which was 8,175,124 in 1841, had sunk to
4,704,750 in 1891, that is, a little more than one-half.
Even from 1881 to 1891 population decreased 9.08 per
cent. France also has apparently reached a stationary
*La Population fran^aise, III., p. 19.
* Levasseur, La Pop. fran^aise, III., p. 232.
POPULATION AND CIVILIZATION, 379
condition. But England and Wales increased from 1881
to 1891 by 11.65 per cent; during the preceding decade,
by 14.36 per cent ; and in no decade since 1801 has the
increase been less than 11 per cent. The population of
the German empire increased from 1871 to 1890 by 20.4
per cent, and is still increasing at the rate of 1.07 per cent
per annum.
Civilized populations, therefore, with very few excep-
tions, continue to grow. The actual means of subsistence
must also continue to grow ; otherwise, either such in-
crease would be impossible, or would be accompanied
by a lower standard of well-being. It belongs to Eco-
nomic Statistics to measure the increase of wealth and to
determine whether its distribution is such as to increase
the average well-being. As a matter of fact, statistics
do show a constant increase and also a higher level
of subsistence for the mass of the people. 1 It would
take us too far, however, to enter upon that subject
here.
In the second place, statistics enable us to study the
actual relations of births, marriages, and deaths, the
immediate factors in the increase or decrease of popula-
tion. The present condition of things in civilized com-
munities is particularly interesting. The birth-rate in
Europe seems to be everywhere diminishing, as is shown
by comparing the average birth-rates for the period
1871-90 with those for subsequent years, on page 68.
The decline in the marriage-rate, as shown on page 95,
is much less marked, and in itself probably has not much
influence on the increase of population. The advanced
age of marriage also is not marked enough to retard
population. 2
While the birth-rate is decreasing, the same is true also
of the death-rate, so that the net gain in population con-
1 Giffen, Progress of the Working Classes. Growth of Capital
a See Fetter, Versuch einer Bevblkerungslehre.
380 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
tinues. The facts for England are shown in the follow-
ing interesting comparison : 1
Increase Decrease Gain per cent
Intercensal per cent per cent by Excess of
Periods. by Births. by Deaths. Births over Deaths
1841-51 34.64 23.73 10.91
1851-61 36.19 23.58 12.61
1861-71 37.56 23.98 13.58
1871-81 37.89 22.80 15.09
1881-91 34.24 20.27 13.97
The birth-rate (1881-91) is about the same as in 1841-
51, and much less than in 186171 ; but the death-rate
has decreased, so that the natural increase by excess of
births over deaths is much greater.
It is hardly possible that this decrease in the birth-rate
has been brought about by lack of food, for that would
certainly have had some effect on the death-rate. There
must have been psychological causes inducing married
persons to have a less number of children. These causes
are difficult of investigation by statistics, but there is
some evidence which can be brought to bear on the
question.
The first fact is one which we have already alluded
to in the chapter on Births, viz., that the upper classes
have fewer children than the lower. Whenever we can
distinguish classes by social condition, as, for instance,
according to profession and occupation, or character of
dwelling, or race (as blacks and whites in the United
States), we almost always find a lower birth-rate among
the well-to-do and intelligent than among the poor and
ignorant. There is power in whole classes to maintain
a standard of living above the bare means of subsistence,
and to transmit it to a limited number of offspring.
A second fact is the stationariness of population in
France, which has excited so much interest and which is
undoubtedly due, in part at least, to the thrift and pru-
1 Census of England, IV., p. 5.
POPULATION AND CIVILIZATION. 381
dence of the agricultural class. A similar process seems
to have begun in Austria, where, according to the last
census, the birth-rate is decreasing, while wages are in-
creasing, and the prices of food diminishing. l
It is in these directions that statistics may possibly
reveal the working of psychological motives, which will
enable us to formulate a law of population applicable to
man in civilized society. That such motives are actuat-
ing individuals, classes, and even whole communities,
there is no reason to doubt. The problem is to detect in
what way such prudential action is exerting itself, and to
measure its effects. Sociology has no more important
question, and statistics seems the most efficient instru-
ment of investigation for its solution.
Social Environment and Statistics. As civilization be-
comes more complex, the number of social influences
affecting the population must increase both in number and
complexity. The birth-rate in such a country as Eng-
land is influenced by the disposition to marriage, by the
state of medical knowledge, by the sanitary condition of
towns, by the fluctuations in the state of well-being, by
the social ambitions of the people, and in a thousand other
ways which can scarcely be formulated, much less meas-
ured, although we know that they are present. Under
such conditions, we may ask, what will become of the
regularities of statistics ? As we perfect our instrument
of investigation, will not the phenomena become so illusive
that it will be useless to try to distinguish them ? In a
civilized state the regularities which statistics reveal will
not be persistent from year to year, regardless of changes
in the social environment. They will always be subject
to the condition, " provided the circumstances remain the
same." It is perfectly conceivable that the rate of suicide
in England might change violently, if there should be a
sudden change in religious opinion, or a spread of pessi-
1 Rauchberg, Bevolkerung Oesterreichs, p. 524.
382 STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY.
mistic views of life. Statistical regularities will, there-
fore, be subject to overturning from the side of the social
environment. An example of this is seen in the sudden
and unexpected shifting of political majorities in a large
community. The relations of social organization some-
times seem to change in a similar way. That, notwith-
standing these rapid changes, the great facts of population
remain about the same, is a proof of the enormous power
of those forces which lie at the basis of society. At the
same time, the very rapidity of these changes is some-
times favourable to statistics, inasmuch as it makes it
easier to isolate the peculiar influence which causes the
disturbance. It must never be forgotten that the best
work in statistics remains to be done, not so much in the
world-wide investigations covering millions of individu-
als, where all local influences are effaced, as in the more
minute investigations of particular conditions, where the
specific forces can be detected.
Social Environment and Free-will. The more complex
the social environment, the more difficult it is to reduce
all the phenomena to regularity, and hence the greater the
room left for the play of caprice. It will be impossible
in civilized life to reduce all phenomena to regularities.
The individual will always make himself felt. This cor-
responds probably to reality, for with social self-conscious-
ness, not only does environment modify society, but society
modifies environment with a set purpose in view. Statistics
explains only the direction of the changes. It remains
for the sociologist to discover the purpose under which
society is acting. Statistics is, therefore, subordinate to
sociology inasmuch as it cannot pretend to explain the
social forces whose existence it reveals by the regularities
and the irregularities of the phenomena.
INDEX BY TOPICS.
ACCIDENTS : deaths from, 147 ; Ger-
man insurance against, 159 ; suffer-
ing from, 226.
Acclimation : of Europeans in tropical
regions, 132.
Acquitted : proportion of accused, 285.
Advent : marriages in, 97.
Age: Chapter IV.; classification by,
37 ; statistics of, 46 ; importance of
distinction, 38; and sex, 43; in cit-
ies, 44, 46; population by, 45, 46;
productive and unproductive, 47;
military, 47; voting, 48; school, 49;
of majority, 50; child-bearing, 50;
marriageable, 50 ; average age of the
living, 50; and conjugal condition,
52 ; trustworthiness of statistics of,
59, 60 ; of mothers of still-born, 79 ; at
marriage, 103; of bridegrooms and
brides, 105, 107 ; probability of mar-
riage at different ages, 109 ; women
of child-bearing age, number of
children to, 114; at different ages,
114; deaths according to, 143; in-
fantile mortality, 144; deaths ac-
cording to conjugal condition and,
146 ; accidental deaths, 147 ; effect
of, on birth-rate, 85; on death
rate, 150; sickness and, 157, 158;
disease and, 162; expectation of
life at different ages, lt>9; average
age of the dying, 175; average age
of the living, 176 ; illiteracy by, 196 ;
of the blind, 215 ; of deaf-mutes,
218 ; of insane and idiotic, 222 ; of
paupers, 230 ; of suicides, 247, 248 ;
and criminality, 278; immigrants
from different countries according
to, 323 ; of emigrants from Ireland,
320.
Agriculture : proportion of population
in, 199, 200; criminals engaged in,
275 ; agrarian crime in Ireland, 267 ;
influence on proportion of sexes, 57 ;
on births, 75 n. ; illegitimate births,
84 ; accidents in, 159.
Aliens : in United States, 48 ; who do
not speak English, 308.
Altitude: distribution of population
in accordance with, 351 ; ditto of
coloured population, 299.
Area in square miles: of continents,
344 ; of countries of Europe, 344 ; of
the United States, 353.
Army: mortality in, 168; at home
and abroad, 132; illiteracy of re-
cruits, 195; suicide in, 250; strength
of German, 47; see also military
age, 47.
Artisans: age at marriage, 104; celi-
bacy, 54 n. ; mortality, 165.
Aryan population of Russia, 295.
Assimilation of nationalities in the
United States, 303, 312, 375.
Asylums for the insane, idiotic, etc.,
221, 228.
Austrians: immigration of, to the
United States, 321, 323.
Average age : of the dying, 175 ; of the
living, 176.
Averages, 23.
BACHELORS : in population, 53 ; bach-
elor-bridegrooms, 103; see also Con-
jugal condition.
Bad times : and immigration, 325 ; and
sickness, 158 ; and suicide, 246.
Bale : tenement house census, 193.
Baltimore : expectation of life of white
and coloured population of, 171.
Baptists : in United States, 198.
Bedridden, the: in Massachusetts,
227.
Belgians: immigration of, to United
States, 321 ; marriage with French,
111.
383
384
INDEX BY TOPICS.
Berlin : marriage-rate, 98 ; death-rate,
135, 136 ; expectation of life of males
and females in, 171; suicide in,
246; population of military age,
47 ; deaths according to months in,
140.
Births (and Birth-rate) : Chapter V. ;
purpose of statistics of, 65; crude
birth-rate, 66, 68, 85, 87 ; influences
on birth-rate, 67, 91 ; birth-rates for
all countries, 68; influence of cli-
mate, geographical position, and
race, 68; density of population and,
70 ; in city and country, 71 ; accord-
ing to religious confession and social
position, 73; influence of war on,
73 ; of price of food on, 74 ; accord-
ing to seasons, 75 ; sex at birth, 76 ;
the still-born, 78, 88; multiple, 80;
illegitimate, 81-84; method of reg-
istration of, 84; basis for compari-
son of, 85; births to married and
unmarried women, 86; importance
of statistics of, 89; regularity of
birth-rate, 91 ; reason for excess of
boys, 77 ; births to marriages, 113 ;
to women of child bearing age, 86,
114; to women of various ages,
114; birth-rate and death-rate, 139;
born blind, 215; deaf-mutes born
of same parents, 218; excess of
births over deaths compared with
emigration, 319; in England, com-
pared with deaths, 380.
Blind, the: statistics of, 213, 214; age
and sex, 215; conjugal condition,
216; education, 216; occupation,
216; religious confession, 216; suf-
fering from other infirmities, 225;
in Massachusetts, 227; schools for,
228 ; difficulties of statistics of, 233.
Blood relations : marriages between,
112.
Bohemians: intermarriage of other
nationalities with, 305, 306.
Boston : tenement house census of,
192.
Boys born to girls, 76 ; see Sex.
Bridegrooms : age of, 103, 105.
Brides : age of, 103, 105.
Brooklyn : size of families in, 185,
186 ; persons to a house, 188 ; suicide
in, 246.
Buckle : theory of society, 341.
Bureaux de bienfaisance, 232.
CANADIANS: intermarriage of, with
natives in United States, 305, 306;
immigration of, 321.
Catholics : number of, in Europe, 197 ;
in United States, 198; still-born
among, 78, 79; illegitimate births,
83; marriage-rate, 97, 99; marriage
of, with other confessions, 110; fe-
cundity of marriage with other con-
fessions, 115; fecundity of pure
marriages, 115; death-rate, 133;
illiteracy in Ireland among, 194;
the blind among, 216; deaf-mutes,
218 ; suicides, 245 ; crime, 274.
Caucasian race, 294.
Celebration of marriage: places of,
120.
Celibacy, 53, 54; see also Conjugal
condition.
Celtic-speaking population of Great
Britain and Ireland, 295.
Celtic blood : immigrants of, 322.
Centenarians : number of, 61.
Character : previous, of criminals, 275.
Charity: persons supported by, 226,
227 ; see also Pauperism.
Chicago, size of families in, 185, 186.
Child-bearing age : women of, 50, 86.
Children: to married and unmarried
women, 86; to marriage, 113; see
also Births ; mortality among, 144 ;
see also Deaths; among suicides,
247 ; see also Age.
Chinese: in United States, 296; immi-
gration of, 321.
Church statistics of United States,
198.
Cities: sex in, 44, 58; age, 46; birth-
rate in, 71, 72, 75 n. ; still-born, 79;
illegitimate in, 83; marriage-rate,
98; marriage of divorced persons,
108 n.; mortality in, 134; ditto ac-
cording to seasons, 140; infantile
mortality, 144, 145; death-rate in
cities compared with country, 151-2 ;
death-rate in French and Germrr.
cities from certain diseases, 163;
families, size of, 185; families of
different size, 186; houses in, and
persons to a house, 188 ; tenement
nouses, 191 ; in Boston, 192 ; suicide
in, 246 ; crime, 272 ; foreign-born in
cities in United States, 301 ; density
of population in, 354 ; population of
London and Paris, 364; concentra-
INDEX BY TOPICS.
385
tion of population in, 365 ; origin of,
365 ; difficulty in denning the term,
366 ; proportion of urban population
to rural, 367 ; urban population in
Germany, 367, 369 ; in France, 367 ;
in England and Wales, 367, 369; in
Ireland, 367, 369; in the United
States, 367, 369; growth of, 369;
reasons for growth of, 370 ; effect of
concentration of population in, 370.
Civilization : and population, Chapter
XVI. ; and suicide, 256.
Classes, social : age at marriage, 101.
Clergymen, favourable mortality of,
165, 167.
Climate : influence of, on proportion of
the sexes, 62; on births, 68, 75 n.;
on marriages, 96; on deaths, 132,
141, 142 ; on crime, 270.
Code Napoleon, influence on still-
births, 78.
Colonies, population of, 364.
Colonization, movement of, 314.
Coloured population of United States,
302 ; distribution by age, 46 ; birth-
rate, 69 n.; of school age, 49; death-
rate, 133; expectation of life, 171;
illiteracy, 196 ; pauperism, 232.
Commerce, proportion of population
engaged in, 199, 200.
Commercial clerks: age at marriage,
104 ; mortality, 165.
Commercial crises and immigration,
325.
Communities, size of, 363.
Conceptions, 73 n., 75 n. ; see Births.
Congenital deaf-muteism, 218.
Conjugal condition: classification by,
38; statistics of, 51; by age, 52, 63,
65 ; native and foreign-born by, 56 ;
and marriage, 107, 109; deaths ac-
cording to, 146; of the blind, 216;
of deaf-mutes, 218; of insane and
idiotic, 223 ; of paupers, 230 ; of sui-
cides, 249 ; and criminality, 278, 279;
immigration of families, 324 ; normal
proportion of married persons, 54;
of bachelors and single women, 53.
Convicted, proportion of accused, 285.
Country, see Rural districts.
Cretins in Austria, 213, 219.
Crime : Chapter XII. ; purpose of
statistics of, 259 ; difficulties of sta-
tistics of, 261; statistics of, 263;
against the person and against
2c
property, 264-8; increase of, 265;
kind of crime, 266 ; in Great Britain
and Ireland, 263, 267 ; in France, 264,
267; in Germany, 265; in United
States, 268; particular crimes, 268;
influences on crime, 269; influence
of climate and geographical posi-
tion, 270; by seasons, 271; in city
and country, 272; social influences
on, 273; foreign-born and, 273;
coloured and, 273; influence of re-
ligious confession, 274 ; influence of
social position, 274 ; occupation and
profession, 275 ; illiteracy and, 276 ;
influence of economic conditions
and war, 277; influence of sex, 277;
of age, 278; of conjugal condition,
278 ; motive for, 279 ; penalties, 280 ;
habitual criminals, 281-283 ; sources
of statistics, 283; difficulties of sta-
tistics, 284; important and unim-
portant crimes, 286; international
comparison of criminality, 287 ; con-
victs among immigrants, 325 ; among
foreign-born, 334.
Custom, and illegitimate births, 81.
DANES: in Germany, 294; immigra-
tion of, to United States, 321 ; inter-
marriage with other nationalities,
305.
Data of statistics, nature of, 31.
Days : lost by sickness, 168, 159 ; sui-
cide according to day of the week,
244.
Deaf, the, 217, 227.
Deaf-mutes : statistics of, 213, 217 ;
sex, 217: age, 218; conjugal condi-
tion, 218 ; religious confession, 218 ;
education, 218; occupation, 218;
causes of infirmity, 218 ; congenital,
218; consanguinity of parents, 219;
and cretinism, 219; combined with
other misfortune, 225 ; in Massa-
chusetts, 227 ; schools for education
of, 228.
Deaths (and Death-rate) : Chapter
VII. ; sociological purpose of statis-
tics of, 128; for all countries, 131, 148;
influence of climate and geographi-
cal position, 132; of race and re-
ligion, 132; of density of population,
133 ; in cities, 45, 134 ; in successive
periods of time, 136; effect of war
on, 137; of scarcity of food, 137;
386
INDEX BY TOPICS.
death-rate and birth-rate, 139; ac-
cording to seasons, 140; ditto com-
bined with ages, 142; according to
sex, 41, 142; according to age, 143;
infantile mortality, 144; among
illegitimates, 145 ; according to con-
jugal condition, 146; accidental
deaths, 147 ; method of observation,
148 ; comparison of death-rates, 149 ;
average for long periods, 152 ; rela-
tion to sickness, 158 ; from disease,
161; international comparison of
mortality from different diseases,
163; in occupations, 164; in army,
167 ; mortality tables, 169 ; com-
parative death-rates, 174; average
age of the dying, 175, 177 ; decrease
of death-rate, 177, 179; in England
compared with births, 380; of old
persons in London and rural dis-
tricts, 45.
Death penalty, 280, 281.
Deformed, the, 226, 227.
Demographic: classes, 6; distinc-
tions, 9.
Density of population: 343-349; and
birth-rate, 70; and marriage-rate,
97 ; and death-rate, 133.
Diphtheria, 163.
Disease: statistics of, 160-162; inter-
national comparison of mortality
from, 163; in various occupations,
166 ; deaths from, in war, 168 ; diffi-
culties of classification, 173; loss
from, 177 ; effect of extinction of, on
death-rate, 179 ; see also Sickness.
Diseased, the, 226.
Dissolution of marriage, 116.
Divorce : statistics of, 118-119 ; see also
Conjugal condition; re-marriage of
divorced persons, 108.
Domestic service : proportion of popu-
lation in, 199, 200; and criminals,
275.
Double infirmity, 225, 227.
Dumb not deaf, 217 n., 227.
Duration of life : 168, 174 ; importance
of, 177, 178.
Duration of marriage : when dissolved
by death, 116 ; by divorce, li9.
Dutch, immigration of, to United
States, 321.
Dwellings: purpose of statistics of,
181 ; statistics of, 187 ; in cities, 188 ;
tenement houses, 192 ; kind of, 188 ;
house accommodation, 190; in Ire-
land, 189; in Boston, 192; in Bale,
193; definition of, 203; sociological
significance of, 207.
ECONOMIC Condition : and births, 74 ;
and marriages, 100, 101 ; effect on
deaths, 137 ; on average age of the
dying, 176 ; on suicide, 246 ; on crime,
277 ; as basis of social condition, 206 ;
of immigrants, 324.
Education: purpose of statistics of,
181; illiteracy, 193; in Ireland, 193;
married persons signing with a
mark, 194 ; of recruits, 195 ; inter-
national comparison of illiteracy,
195; of the blind, 216 ; of deaf-mutes,
218; of insane and idiotic, 223; of
paupers, 2.31 ; among suicides, 245 ;
among criminals, 276.
Emigration: influence of, on propor-
tion of sexes, 42, 59; Chapter XIV.,
314 ; statistics of, 317 ; and popu-
lation, 318, 336 ; causes of, 325 ; bal-
ance of, with immigration, 326 ; loss
by, 331, 332 ; deficiency of statistics,
332.
Employers, proportion of, to workmen,
201.
English in the United States : 300, 302;
intermarriage of, with natives, 305,
306 ; immigration of, 321, 322, 323.
Environment, physical : Chapter XV. ;
sociological purpose of the investi-
gation, 341; Buckle's theory, 341;
Herbert Spencer, 342; statistical
data, 343; density of population, 343;
density of population in United
States, 346 ; latitude and longitude,
348; topographical features, 349;
altitude, 351 ; temperature, 351 ;
rainfall, 352; humidity, 352; char-
acter of soil, 352; scientific tests,
353; reflective analysis, 356; and
race, 299, 375 ; relation of, to popu-
lation, 7, 12 ; influence on proportion
of the sexes, 62; on births, 68; on
marriages, 96, 126 ; on deaths, 132.
Environment, social: Chapter XVI.,
361 ; size of communities, 363 ; colo-
nial power, 364; concentration of
population in cities, 365; wealth and
social position, 371; influence of
race, 372 ; effaces differences of na-
tionality, 377; law of population,
INDEX BY TOPICS.
387
377; and statistics, 381; and free-
will, 382 ; relation of, to population,
7, 12; influence on proportion of the
sexes and on ages, 63 ; on births, 69,
75; public opinion and illegitimate
births, 81 ; religious and social cus-
toms on time of marriage, 97 ; and
marriage, 126 ; and death, 129 ; and
crime, 273, 334.
Ethiopians : proportion of, 294.
Ethnological influence : on suicide, 244.
Ethnographic statistics, Book III. :
289; classification, 6, 10, 289; see
Race and Nationality.
Expectation of life : 169, 171, 174 ; in-
crease of, 178.
Exports and marriages, 100 n., 101.
FAMILIES : Chapter IX. ; purpose of
statistics of, 181 ; average size of,
184,- 203 ; in cities, 185 ; of different
size, 185; definition of term, 203;
meaning of large and small, 204,
208; decreasing size of American,
328 ; children to marriages, 113.
Family life : course of, 55 ; influence
of, 64, 182, 204, 208.
Farmers: age at marriage, 104; mor-
tality of, 165.
Farms : ownership of, 202.
Fecundity of marriage: 112; accord-
ing to size of family, 187 ; between
persons of the same or different
religious confession, 115; of native
and foreign-born, 115; according to
age of mothers, 114.
Females : proportion of, to males, see
Sex.
Fines: as penalty, 280, 281.
Food, price of: and birth-rate, 74; and
marriages, 100; and death-rate, 137;
effect on crime, 277.
Foreign-born : by age, 46 ; by military
age, 48 ; voting age, 48 ; school age,
49 ; conjugal condition in Massachu-
setts, 56 ; fecundity of marriage, 115 ;
birth-rate, 69 n.; death-rate, 133;
in United States, 300, 306; parent-
age of, 304 : intermarriage with na-
tives, 111, 304 ; with each other, 306 ;
aliens who do not speak English,
308; in Minnesota and Iowa, 375;
infirm among, 227 ; paupers among,
232, prisoners, 273, 334.
Foreigners: in European countries, 310.
Foreign parentage : see Parentage.
Free-will : and statistics, 27 ; in con-
nection with marriage, 94, 127 ; with
'suicide, 239; with crime, 261, 288;
and social environment, 382.
French: intermarriage of the, 305,
306; immigration to the United
States, 321, 324; to South America,
329.
Friendly societies: sickness among
members, 157.
Fruitfuluess of marriage: see Fecun-
dity.
GAELIC-SPEAKING population of Great
Britain and Ireland, 295.
Geographical position : influence of, on
births, 68 ; on illegitimate births, 82 ;
on marriages, 96, 103; on deaths,
132, 141 ; on suicide, 243 ; on crime,
270, 271 ; distribution of the infirm,
214, 219, 225; distribution of col-
oured in the United States, 298, 299.
Germanic blood: and suicide, 244;
immigrants of, 322.
Germanic countries: illegitimate births
in, 82.
Germans : in United States, 300 ; inter-
marriage with natives, 305, 306; im-
migration of, 321-324 ; marriage with
French, 111.
Girls born to boys, 76 ; see Sex.
Glasgow : tenement-houses, 136.
Graeco-Latin stock, 294.
Greek Catholics, 197.
HABITUAL criminals, 281-283.
Homes : ownership of, 202.
Homicide: motive for, 279; punished
for, 282.
Hospitals : number in, 226, 227.
Houses : see Dwellings.
Humidity and population, 352.
Hungarians : immigration of, to United
States, 321, 323, 324; intermarriage
with other nationalities, 305, 306.
Husbands : in excess of wives, 61 ; see
Conjugal condition.
IDIOTIC, the: Chapter X.; statistics
of, 213, 219-22G ; sex, 222 ; age, 222 ;
education, 223; geographical distri-
bution, 225 ; in Massachusetts, 227 ;
institutions for, 228; among immi-
grants, 325.
388
INDEX BY TOPICS.
Illegitimates: births, 81, 86; among
still-born, 79; in cities, 83; by re-
ligious confession of mothers, 83;
occupation and conjugal condition
of mothers, 84; regularity of birth-
rate, 91 ; excess of boys among, 77 ;
mortality among, 145 ; as indication
of morality of community, 81.
Illiteracy : statistics of, 193-197 ; inter-
national comparison of, 196 ; by re-
ligious confession, 194; of the blind,
216; of deaf-mutes, 218; of insane
and idiotic, 223 ; of paupers, 231 ;
among suicides, 245; among crimi-
nals, 276.
Immigration (and Immigrants) : Chap-
ter XIV. ; influence of, on propor-
tion of sexes, 42, 43 ; on age distri-
bution, 45 ; statistics of emigration
from Europe, 317; into United States,
321 ; according to race, 322 ; to na-
tionalities, 322 ; to sex, 323 ; to age,
323; proportion of, from different
countries, 322; occupation of, 324;
economic and social condition of,
324 ; causes of, 325 ; money brought
by, 324 ; balance of, with emigration,
326; effect of, on population, 327,
331, 332; into the Argentine, 329;
Brazil, 329 ; Australia, 329 ; Canada.
329; gain by, 331, 332: influence of,
on new countries, 337, 376.
Imprisonment : as penalty, 280, 281.
Indians in United States, 296.
Industry : proportion of population in,
199, 200; criminals in, 275; birth-
rate in industrial counties and cities,
70, 72 ; accidents in, 159 ; as affecting
the number of blind, 216.
Infantile mortality, 144.
Infirm (and Dependent) , the : Chapter
X. ; purpose of statistics of, 210 ;
statistics of, 212; the blind, 213,
225; deaf-mutes, 213, 217, 225; in-
sane, 213, 219, 225; idiotic, 213, 219;
other physical infirmities, 226; pro-
vision for, 228 ; paupers, 228 ; scien-
tific tests of statistics of, 233 ; eco-
nomic loss, 235 ; among immigrants,
325.
Insane, the : Chapter X. ; statistics of,
213, 219 ; increase of, 220, 221 ; sex,
221 ; age, 222 ; conjugal condition,
223 ; education, 223 ; occupation, 223 ;
causes of insanity, 224; combined
with other misfortune, 224 ; in Massa-
chusetts, 227; asylums for, 228;
among immigrants, 325 ; among sui-
cides, 251.
Insurance, German : against sickness,
158 ; accidents, 159.
Insurance companies: expectation of
life among, 171.
Intermarriage: between different re-
ligious confessions, races, and na-
tionalities, 110, 304-306.
Irish: in United States, 300, 301, 302;
intermarriage with natives, 305, 306 ;
immigration to United States, 321,
322, 323.
Italians: intermarriage of, 305, 306;
immigration to United States, 321,
323, 324 ; to South America, 329.
JEWS: number of, 197; still-born
among, 79; illegitimates, 83; mar-
riage-rate, 99; marriage with Cath-
olics and Protestants, 110; fecundity
of marriage, 115; death-rate, 133;
expectation of life, 171; the blind
among, 216; suicide, 245; criminal-
ity, 274.
LABOURERS: age at marriage, 104;
celibacy, 54 n.; mortality, 165.
Lame, the, 226, 227.
Land: and population, Chapter XV.,
341; see also Environment (phys-
ical) and Climate; ownership of,
202.
Language: as test of race, 294, 295,
307; in the United States, 308;
future, of the world, 365.
Larcenies: number of, 269, 272, 276,
277, 282, 287.
Latin blood : immigrants of, 322.
Latitude: distribution of population
by, 348.
Law of population, 377.
Laws, sociological: character of, 15,
26, 92, 125.
Legitimate and illegitimate children:
mortality of, 145.
Lent : marriages in, 97.
Life: duration of, 168; tables, 169,
177; expectation of, 169, 171, 174;
money value of, 177 ; economic value
of, 178.
Lithuanians: in Germany, 294; in
Russia, 295.
INDEX BY TOPICS.
389
London : death-rate, 135 ; persons to a
house, 188; population of, 364; sui-
cide in, 246; crime, 272; effect of
age distribution on birth-rate, 85;
marriage-rate, 98 ; paupers, 230.
Longitude, distribution of population
by, 349.
Lunatics, see Insane.
Lung diseases : effect of dust on,
166.
Lutherans: in the United States,
198.
MAIMED, the, 227.
Majority, age of, 50.
Malays, proportion of, 294.
Males, proportion of, see Sex.
Manufacturing and mechanical indus-
tries, proportion of population in,
200.
Marriageable age, 50.
Marriage laws, Bavarian, 54, 74, 81,
105.
Marriages (and Marriage-rate) : Chap-
ter VI. ; sociological purpose of sta-
tistics of, 93; marriage-rates for
various countries, 95, 120 n. ; decline
in, 96 ; influence of climate and geo-
graphical position, 96, 103; accord-
ing to seasons, 97; by months, 97;
density of population and, 97; in
city and country, 98; by race, 99;
by religious confession, 99; influ-
ence of war, 99; influence of the
price of food, 100; probability of,
101; age at, 103; by occupations,
lOt, 106 ; probability of, at different
ages, 107 ; according to conjugal con-
dition, 107, 109; and age, 109; be-
tween persons of different religious
confession, race, or nationality, 110,
304-306; between blood relations,
112 ; fecundity of, 112 ; fecundity of,
between persons of different relig-
ious confession, 115 ; fecundity of,
between persons of different na-
tionality, 115 ; fecundity of, accord-
ing to occupation of parents, 116;
dissolution of marriage, 116; di-
vorce, 118 ; scientific tests of statis-
tics of, 119 ; registration of, 120 ;
basis for comparison of, 121 : influ-
ence of marriage, 123 ; marriage and
population, 124 ; fluctuations in, 125 ;
see also Conjugal condition.
Married women : excess of, 61 ; num-
ber of children to, 86 ; see also Con-
jugal condition.
Married persons: proportion of, to
marriages, 62.
Measles, 162, 163.
Mean-after-life, see Expectation of
life.
Mental infirmities: Chapter X., 210;
see Idiotic and Insane.
Method of study : Chapter III., 29.
Methodists : in the United States, 198.
Migration; Chapter XIV.; sociologi-
cal purpose of statistics of, 314;
statistics of emigration, 317 ; immi-
gration to United States, 321; ac-
cording to race, 322; according to
nationalities, 322 ; according to sex
and age, 323; occupation of immi-
grants, 324; economic and social
condition of, 324; causes of, 325;
balance of emigration and immi-
gration, 326; effect of, on popula-
tion, 318, 327 ; in Argentine, Brazil,
Australia, and Canada, 329 ; internal
migration, 329, 331; scientific tests,
332; reflective analysis, 336; social
effects of, 335; economic influence
of, 338; character of the phenome-
non, 339 ; influence of, on formation
of races, 372; effect of, on propor-
tion of the sexes, 44, 59.
Miners: age at marriage, 104, 106;
mortality among, 165, 166.
Mixed marriages, 110.
Money, brought by immigrants, 324.
Months, see Seasons.
Mongolians, proportion of, 294.
Morality: public, as indicated by
illegitimate births, 81.
Morbidity, see Sickness.
Mortality: Chapter VIII., 154; from
disease, 161 ; international compari-
son of, from different diseases, 163 ;
according to occupations, 164-168 ;
tables, 169; decrease of mortality,
179, 180; excess of, among males.
41 ; among twins, 80; infantile, 144;
see also Deaths.
Mortgage indebtedness, in United
States, 202.
Mothers : of still-born, 79 ; of illegiti-
mates, 83, 84.
Mud hovels, in Ireland, 189.
Mulattoes, in the United States, 297.
390
INDEX BY TOPICS.
Multiple births, 80.
Murder: number of persons con-
demned for, 268, 269, 272, 287 ; mo-
tive for, 279; habitual criminals
condemned for, 282.
NATIONALITY: Chapter XIII., 289;
definition of, 292 ; in United States,
299-306; intermarriage of different,
111, 304; foreigners in different
countries, 310 ; immigration (United
States) according to, 322; mixture
of, in United States, 373-377 ; see
also Race.
Native-born (in United States) : by
school age, 49; voting age, 48; mil-
itary age, 47; married women, 56;
fecundity of marriage among, 115;
death-rate of, 133; paupers, 232;
prisoners, 273, 274, 334 ; see also
Foreign-born.
Native parentage, see Parentage.
Naturalization of foreign-born, 48.
Nature: influence on population,
Chapter XV., 341; 361.
Negligence, accidents due to, 160.
Negroes: in United States, see Col-
oured.
New York : families in, 185, 186 ; per-
sons to a house, 188 ; expectation of
life, 171 ; suicides, 246.
Norwegian: intermarriage of, with
other nationalities, 305, 306; immi-
gration of, 321, 323.
OCCUPATIONS: statistics of, 199-201;
employers and employees, 201 ; diffi-
culty of classification, 204; of the
blind, 216; of deaf-mutes, 218; of
insane and idiotic, 223, 224 n. ; in-
fluence on suicide, 250; and crime,
275 ; of immigrants (United States) ,
324 ; age at marriage of men in dif-
ferent, 103, 106 ; mortality according
to, 164-168, 174 ; sickness in different,
159, 173 ; accidents in different, 159 ;
fecundity of marriage according to
occupation of father, 116 ; of parents
of still-born, 79; of mothers of ille-
gitimates, 84.
Octoroons : in the United States, 297.
Overcrowding in tenement houses, 188,
191, 192.
PARALYZKD, the, 226, 227.
Parentage : of people of the United
States, 302-304; mixed parentage,
111, 304-30(3; consanguinity of par-
ents of deaf-mutes, 219; birth-rate
of whites of native and foreign,
69 n.; death-rate, 133; of paupers,
233; of prisoners, 273, 335.
Paris : population of, 364 ; illegitimate
births in, 83 ; marriage-rate, 9'.) ;
mortality in rich and poor quarters,
136 ; crime in, 270, 272, 273.
Pauperism (and Paupers) : purpose of
statistics of, 211 ; statistics of, 228-
233 ; expenditure on, 230 ; in-door
and out-door, 229; sex, conjugal
condition, and age, 230, 235 ; illite-
racy, 231 ; in the United States, 232;
among the foreign-born, 232 ; among
immigrants, 325 ; difficulties in sta-
tistics of, 234.
Penalties for crime, 280.
Pensioners : expectation of life of, 171.
Person: crimes against the, 264-268,
271, 275, 277, 278, 282.
Philadelphia: size of families in, 185,
186 ; suicide in, 246.
Phthisis: mortality from, 177.
Physical infirmities: Chapter X., 210;
the blind and deaf-mutes, 213-219;
other infirmities, 226-228.
Poor-relief, see Pauperism.
Population: of the world, 344; of
countries of Europe, 344, 364; of
the United States, 368 ; of colonies,
304 ; density of, 344-349 ; and birth-
rate, 70; and marriage-rate, 97; and
death-rate, 133; effect of decrease
of marriage-rate on, 124; and emi-
gration, 318, 320, 331, 332, 336; and
immigration, 327, 331 ; and suicide,
242; and crime, 265; classification
of, 6 ; law of, 377 ; see also next two
headings.
Population and land: Chapter XV.;
sociological purpose, 341 ; statistical
data, 343; density of population,
343; in Europe, 344; density of, in
United States, 346-349; by latitude
and longitude, 348 ; by topographical
features, 349; by altitude, 351; by
temperature, 351 ; rainfall, 352 ; hu-
midity, 352 ; character of soil, 352 ;
scientific tests, 353; reflective analy-
sis, 356; no direct relation between,
357 ; influence of civilization, 359.
INDEX BY TOPICS.
391
Population and civilization : Chapter
XVI., 361 ; size of modern communi-
ties, 3G3; concentration of popula-
tion in cities, 365 ; iutiuence of wealth
and social position, 371; influence of
race, 372; law of, 377; increase of,
in civilized countries, 378; relation
of births, deaths, and marriages,
379.
Presbyterians in the United States,
198.
Prisoners: in the United States, 268,
273 ; suicide among, 251.
Price of food, see Food.
Probability: of marriage, 101, 107,
109 ; of life, see Expectation of life.
Productive age, 47, 178.
Professional class : age at marriage,
104, 106 ; mortality, 165, 167 ; insan-
ity among, 224 n.
Professions : proportion of population
in, 199-201; number of immigrants
in, 324 ; see also Occupations.
Property, crimes against, 264-268, 271,
274, 275, 277. 278, 282.
Property in land, 201, 202.
Prosperous years, and average age of
the dying, 176.
Protestants : number of, 197, 198 ; still-
born among, 79 ; illegitimate births,
83 ; marriage-rate, 97, 99 ; marriage
with other confessions, 110; fecun-
dity of marriage, 115; death-rate,
133; illiteracy, 194; blind, 216; sui-
cide, 245; crime, 274.
Public opinion and illegitimate births,
81.
QUADROONS : in the United States,
297.
RACE (and Nationality) : Chapter
XIII.; sociological purpose of sta-
tistics of, 289; definition of, 290;
statistics of, 293 ; mixture of race in
same country, 294-296 ; in the United
States, 296; relative increase of
whites and blacks, 297 ; nationalities
in United States, 299; foreign par-
entage in United States, 302; in-
termarriage of nationalities with
natives in United States, 304; with
each other, 306 ; scientific tests, 306;
reflective analysis, 312 ; immigra-
tion according to, 322; and social
environment, 372 ; theories in regard
to mixture of, 373; nationalities in
United States, 373-377; influence
of, on birth-rate, 68; on marriage-
rate, 99; and suicide, 244; see also
Coloured, Foreign-born, and Nation-
ality.
Rainfall and population, 352, 299.
Recruits : illiteracy of, 195, 196.
Reflective analysis, 35 ; see same head-
ing under each chapter in Contents.
Registration: of births, 85; of mar-
riages, 120, 121 ; of deaths, 148.
Relations: marriages between blood,
112.
Religious confession: purpose of sta-
tistics of, 181 ; statistics of, 197 ; birth-
rate according to, 73 ; and still-born,
78, 79; illegitimate births, 83, 84;
marriage-rate, 97, 99, 110 ; fecundity
of marriage according to, 115; death-
rate, 133; of the blind, 216; of deaf-
mutes, 218; of insane and idiotic,
223; of suicides, 245; of criminals,
274.
Romance nations and suicide, 244.
Rural districts : proportion of sexes
in, 44, 45 ; illegitimate births in, 83 ;
death-rate, 134, 152; infantile mor-
tality in, 145 ; crime, 272.
Russians: intermarriage of, 305, 306;
immigration of, 321, 323, 325.
SACHSENGANGEREI, 330.
Sadler's theory of proportion of sexes
at birth, 77.
Scandinavians: in the United States,
300; intermarriage with, 305, 306;
immigration of, 321, 323.
Scarcity years, and average age of the
dying, 176.
Scarlet fever: mortality from, 162,
163.
School age, 49.
Schools for the blind and deaf-mutes,
228.
Science of statistics, see Statistics.
Scientific tests of statistics, 32; see
also Chapter II., Criteria of Statis-
tics ; see same heading under each
chapter in Contents.
Scotch: intermarriage of, 305, 306;
immigration of, 321, 323.
Seasons : births according to, 75 ; mar-
riages, ( J7 ; deaths, 140, 142 ; diseases,
392
INDEX BY TOPICS.
162; pauperism, 230; suicide, 243;
crime, 271 ; emigration, 318.
Sex : distinction of, 36 ; proportion of,
in various countries, 40-44, 56-59;
causes of excess of females, 41, 44,
57-59; influence of emigration, 42,
59; in United States, 43; at different
ages, 43; in cities, 44, 58; conjugal
condition and, 51, 53; scientific tests
of statistics of, 56; natural influ-
ences on proportion of, 62 ; sociolog-
ical results of varying proportion
of, 64; at birth, 76; among still-
born, 77 ; probability of marriage
by, 102 ; at different ages, 107 ; deaths
according to, 142 ; deaths according
to conjugal condition and, 146; dis-
ease and, 162; expectation of life
and, 169, 170; employers and em-
ployees, 201 ; in occupations in
United States, 200; of illiterates,
19i, 195 ; of the blind, 215 ; of deaf-
mutes, 217; of insane and idiotic,
221; of paupers, 229, 230, 233; of
suicides, 247-249, 255 ; among crim-
inals, 277, 279 ; among habitual crim-
inals, 281-283; immigrants from
different countries according to,
323.
Shopkeepers: age at marriage, 104;
celibacy, 54 n. ; mortality, 165.
Sickness: Chapter VIII.; purpose of
statistics of, 154 ; statistics of, 157 ;
among members of Friendly socie-
ties, 157 ; in Germany, 158 ; accord-
ing to occupations, 159 ; accident in-
surance, 159; statistics of disease,
160; methods of observation, 172;
loss by, 177.
Simulation : of sickness, 172.
Single, the : see Conjugal condition.
Slavonic stock, 294.
Slavs : in Russia, 295.
Smallpox: mortality from, 163.
Social classes: 6, 10; birth-rate among
different, 73, 90 ; death-rate and, 136 ;
infantile mortality, 145 ; crime and,
274.
Social condition : Chapter IX. ; socio-
logical purpose of statistics of, 181 ;
statistics of families, 183 ; of dwell-
ings, 187; of education, 193; of re-
ligious confession, 197 ; of occupa-
tions, 199; ownership of land, 201;
employers and employees, 201 ; farm
and home ownership, 202; classes,
202 ; of immigrants, 325.
Social environment, see Environment
(social).
Social statistics: Book II., 181.
Sociological purpose : 29 ; of statistics
of sex, age, and conjugal condition,
36; of births, 65; of marriages, 93;
of deaths, 128 ; of sickness and mor-
tality, 154 ; of social condition, 181 ;
of the infirm and dependent, 210;
of suicide, 238 ; of crime, 259 ; of
race and nationality, 289 ; of migra-
tion, 314; of population and land,
341.
Sociology : definition of, 1 ; difficulties
of, 3 ; false analogies of, 5 ; material
of, 6; method of, 7; statistics in the
service of, Chapter I.; statistical
method in, 8; dynamic, 14; problems
of, 16; statistics an instrument of
investigation in, 17; sociological
laws, 26, 91 ; ethnographic classifi-
cation in, 289; statistics and, 382;
see also Sociological purpose.
Soil : character of the, and population,
352.
Spaniards : immigration to the United
States, 321; to South America, 329.
St. Louis: size of families in, 185,
186.
Standard population: for calculating
death-rates, 150.
Statistics: science of, 8; office of, 15;
laws of, 16; criteria of, Chapter II.,
17; as instrument of investigation
in sociology, 17; collecting the ma-
terial, 19; schedules, 21; arranging
and tabulating the material, 22; av-
erages and rates, 23; regularities of,
26 ; sociological purpose of, 29 ; data
of, 31; scientific tests of, 32; tech-
nique of, 33; and social environment,
381 ; in the service of sociology,
Chapter I.; see also Sociological
purpose.
Statistical data: see same heading in
each chapter in Contents.
Still-born : number of, 78 ; excess of
boys among, 77; according to re-
ligious confession and occupation of
parents, 79; according to age of
mothers, 79 ; registration of, 87.
Suicide : Chapter XI. ; sociological pur-
pose of statistics of, 238 ; question of
INDEX BY TOPICS.
393
free-will, 239; statistics of, 241; reg-
ularity of, 242, 254 ; increase of, 242 ;
influence of climate, 242 ; of seasons,
243 ; of days of the week, 244 ; eth-
nological influence, 244; social influ-
ences on, 245 ; influence of education,
245; influence of economic condi-
tion, 246; suicide in cities, 246;
women among, 247; age of, 247;
combination of sex and age, 248;
conjugal condition, 249 ; influence of
occupation, 250 ; in army, 250; among
prisoners, 251 ; motive for, 251, 253 ;
method and place of, 252 ; scientific
tests of statistics of, 253; loss by,
255 ; civilization and, 256.
Super-organic influence on assimila-
tion of nationalities, 376.
Suspected persons, 272.
Swedes : intermarriage with, 305, 306 ;
immigration of, to the United States,
321, 324.
Swiss, immigration of, to the United
States, 321, 324.
TEMPERATURE and population, 299,
351.
Tenement houses: in Boston, 192; in
Bale, 193 ; overcrowding in, 188, 191 ;
mortality in, 136; effect of, 207;
problem of statistics of, 208.
Teutonic stock: 294; population in
Russia, 295.
Topography: distribution of popula-
tion by, 349.
Trade and transportation : proportion
of population in, 199, 200.
Trade : criminality among persons en-
gaged in, 275.
Tuberculosis : mortality from, 163.
Turanian population of Russia, 295.
Twins, 80.
Typhoid fever : mortality from, 163.
URBAN population, see Cities.
VIOLENCE : deaths due to, 147, 161.
Voting age, 48.
WALLOONS in Germany, 294.
War : influence of, on birth-rate, 73 ;
on marriage-rate, 99 ; on death-rate,
137; on crime, 277; see also Army.
Wealth and population, 371.
Welsh-speaking population of Wales,
295; intermarriage with, in United
States, 305.
Whites (in United States) : number,
302 ; age of foreign whites, 46 ; birth-
rate, 69 n.; death-rate, 133 ; illiteracy,
196 ; pauperism, 232 ; prisoners, 273,
274 ; distribution of, 301.
Widowed, see Conjugal condition.
Women : of child-bearing age, 50, 86 ;
of married in excess of men, 61 ; age
of, 60 ; see also Sex.
INDEX BY COUNTRIES.
AFRICA: population and area, 344;
sex, 40.
America: population and area, 344;
sex, 40.
Argentine : immigration, 318, 329.
Asia: population and area, 344; sex,
40.
Australasia, statistics of :
Divorce, 118.
Immigration, 329.
Population and area, 344.
Sex, 40.
Austria, statistics of :
Births, 68, 75 n., 76, 78, 80, 82, 113,
114.
Blind, 213.
Conjugal condition, 51.
Cretinism, 219, 225.
Crime, 276, 281, 287.
Deaf-mutes, 213, 219.
Deaths, 131, 142, 144, 145, 151, 163.
Disease, 163.
Dwellings (Houses), 187.
Families, 184, 187.
Idiotic, 213.
Illiteracy, 194, 196, 276.
Insane, 213.
Marriages, 95, 99, 102, 113, 114, 118.
Migration, 317, 318, 321, 323.
Pauperism, 232.
Population, 344, 364.
Race and nationality, 295.
Religious confession, 197.
Sex, 40, 51, 76, 78, 142.
Suicide, 241, 244, 246, 250.
BAVARIA, statistics of :
Age, 51, 105.
Births, 73, 74, 79, 80-82.
Cities, 367.
Conjugal condition, 54.
Deaths, 133, 144-146.
Marriages, 100, 105, 112.
Population, 346.
Religious confession, 133.
Sex, 105.
Suicide, 241.
Belgium, statistics of:
Age, 177, 196.
Births, 68, 76, 78, 80, 82, 113, 114.
Conjugal condition, 51, 54.
Deaths, 131, 145, 163, 177.
Disease, 163.
Illiteracy, 196.
Marriages, 95, 111, 113, 114. 118.
Migration, 321.
Population, 344.
Sex, 40, 51, 76.
Suicide, 241, 250.
Brazil : migration, 318, 329.
CANADA , statistics of :
Divorce, 118.
Migration, 305, 329.
China, population, density of, 344.
DENMARK, statistics of :
Age, 114, 177, 255.
Births, 68, 78, 80, 82, 113, 114, 319.
Cities, 246.
Deaths, 131, 142-144, 177, 319.
Illiteracy, 196.
Marriages, 95, 113, 114, 117, 118.
Migration, 319, 321, 327.
Population, 345.
Race and nationality, 305.
Religious confession, 197.
Sex, 40, 142, 143, 255.
Suicide, 241, 246, 254, 255.
ENGLAND AND WALES, statistics of :
Age, 44, 45-17, 49, 50, 60, 85, 86, 103-
106, 109, 157, 158, 169, 177, 222, 230,
248.
Births, 41, 68, 70, 71, 75, 76, 82, 85,
86, 113, 319, 380.
395
896
INDEX BY COUNTRIES.
Blind, 213, 215, 217, 225.
Cities, 44, 71, 134, 135, 144, 151, 152,
188, 191, 246, 272, 366, 367, 369.
Conjugal condition, 54, 61, 62, 86,
103, 109, 230.
Crime, 263, 264, 267, 268, 272, 274,
276, 277, 280-282, 285, 287.
Deaf-mutes, 213, 217, 225.
Deaths, 41, 131, 134, 135, 137, 139,
142, 144, 147, 149-151, 152,161, 163,
164, 168, 169, 177-180, 319, 380.
Disease, 161-163, 177.
Dwellings, 187, 188, 191.
Expectation of life, 169-171, 175, 178,
179.
Families, 184.
Idiotic, 213, 222.
Illiteracy, 194, 196, 231, 276.
Insane, 213, 220, 222, 222 n., 225.
Marriages, 95, 96, 98, 100 n., 101,
103-106, 109, 113, 117, 120, 124.
Migration, 42, 319, 321-323.
Occupations, 104, 106, 164, 199, 217.
Pauperism, 229-231, 235.
Population, 346, 353, 379, 380.
Race and nationality, 295, 300-302,
305,306.
Sex, 40, 41, 42, 44, 50, 58, 76, 103-
106, 109, 142, 157, 169, 194, 217,
221 n., 222, 229, 230, 247, 248, 281,
282, 323.
Sickness, 157, 158.
Suicide, 241-244, 246-248, 250.
Europe, statistics of:
Migration, 317.
Population and area, 344, 378.
Sex, 40.
FINLAND, statistics of:
Age, 114.
Births, 114.
Marriages, 114.
Population, 345.
France, statistics of:
Age, 45-47, 50, 51, 105, 177, 247.
Births, 68, 75 n., 76-78, 80, 82, 83,
113, 114, 319.
Blind, 225.
Cities, 83, 99, 136, 163, 272, 367, 369.
Conjugal condition, 51, 279.
Crime, 264, 265, 267, 269, 270, 272,
277, 279, 280, 283, 287.
Deaths, 131, 136, 137, 140, 142-145,
150, 163, 177, 319.
Disease, 163, 251.
Dwellings, 187.
Expectation of life, 170, 171.
Families, 184, 185, 187.
Idiotic, 225.
Illiteracy, 195, 196, 277.
Insane, 224 n.
Marriages, 95, 99, 100, 102, 105, 111-
114, 118.
Migration, 318, 319, 321, 324, 329.
Occupations, 200, 224 n.
Pauperism, 232.
Population, 242, 345, 364, 365.
Race and nationality, 305, 310.
Sex, 40. 44, 50, 51, 76, 77, 105, 142,
143, 170, 247, 251.
Suicide, 241, 242, 244, 247, 250, 251,
256.
GERMANY, statistics of:
Age, 43, 45-50, 53, 106, 107, 114, 146,
160, 278.
Army, 47.
Births, 68, 71, 74, 76-78, 80, 83, 87,
91, 114, 139, 319.
Blind, 233.
Cities, 46, 47, 58, 71, 83, 98, 135, 136,
140, 163, 246, 367, 369.
Conjugal condition, 51, 53, 54, 61,
146.
Crime, 265, 268, 271, 274, 275, 277,
278, 281-283, 286, 287.
Deaths, 117, 131, 135, 137-143, 145,
146, 153, 163, 168, 319.
Disease, 163.
Dwellings, 187.
Expectation of life, 170, 171.
Families, 184, 187.
Idiotic, 225.
Illiteracy, 195, 196.
Insane, 225.
Marriages, 95, 97, 98, 100, 102, 106,
107, 111, 114, 117, 118, 125.
Migration, 43, 317-319, 321-324, 327,
331, 332.
Occupations, 159, 200, 275, 276.
Pauperism, 231.
Population, 344, 345, 354, 364.
Race and nationality, 294, 300-302,
305, 306, 310.
Religious confession, 197, 274.
Sex, 40, 43, 51, 53, 57, 61, 76-78, 102,
106, 107, 142, 143, 146, 160, 170, 277,
282, 323.
Sickness, 158-160.
Suicide, 243, 244, 246, 250.
INDEX BY COUNTRIES.
397
Great Britain, statistics of:
Births, (58, 319.
Conjugal condition, 51.
Crime, 263, 264.
Deaths, 131, 132, 143,144, 319.
Marriages, 95, 101, 102, 118.
Migration, 317, 319, 321.
Occupations, 199.
Pauperism, 229.
Population, 345, 364.
Race and nationality, 295.
Sex, 51, 143.
<5reece, statistics of:
Births, 75 n.
Deaths, 142.
Population, 345.
Sex, 40, 142.
HOLLAND, statistics of:
Age, 177.
Births, 68, 75 n., 76, 78, 80, 82, 113,
114.
Conjugal condition, 51, 54.
Deaths, 131, 142-144, 163, 177.
Disease, 163.
Illiteracy, 196.
Marriages, 95, 113, 114, 118.
Migration, 321.
Pauperism, 232.
Population, 344, 365.
Religious confession, 197.
Sex, 40, 51, 76, 142, 143.
Suicide, 241.
Hungary, statistics of:
Births, 68, 78.
Blind, 213, 215.
Conjugal condition, 51.
Crime, 277.
Deaf-mutes, 213.
Deaths, 131, 142.
Idiotic, 213.
Illiteracy, 196, 277.
Insane, 213.
Marriages, 95, 102, 108.
Migration, 317, 318, 323, 324.
Race and nationality, 305, 306.
Religious confession, 197.
Sex, 40, 51, 142, 323.
INDIA, statistics of:
Age, 56, 60.
Births, 69.
Deaths, 69, 168.
Sex, 56.
Ireland, statistics of:
Age, 45, 46, 218, 320.
Births, 68. 76, 82, 84, 113, 218, 319.
Blind, 213-217, 225, 228, 233.
Cities, 367, 369.
Conjugal condition, 51, 54, 223, 230.
Crime, 263, 264, 267, 287.
Deaf-mutes, 213, 217 n., 218, 219, 226,
228.
Deaths, 131, 143, 144, 163, 319.
Disease, 163, 224, 226.
Dwellings, 187, 189, 190.
Families, 184, 187.
Idiotic, 213, 221-224, 228.
Illiteracy, 193, 194, 196, 216, 218, 223,
231.
Insane, 213, 220, 221 n., 222-224, 226,
228.
Marriages, 95, 102, 113, 118, 219.
Migration, 319-324, 327.
Occupations, 199, 217, 218, 223.
Pauperism, 229-231.
Population, 320, 346, 378.
Race and nationality, 295, 300-302,
305,306.
Religious confession, 194, 197, 216,
218.
Sex, 40, 42, 51, 76, 143, 194, 221 n.,
229, 230, 323.
Suicide, 241.
Italy, statistics of :
Age, 105, 256.
Births, 68, 75 n., 76, 78, 80, 82, 113,
114, 319.
Conjugal condition, 51, 54, 249.
Crime, 271, 287.
Deaths, 131, 140, 142-144, 147, 163,
319.
Disease, 163, 251.
Illiteracy, 196, 246.
Marriages, 95, 102, 105, 111, 112-114,
118.
Migration, 317-319, 321, 323, 324,
329,333.
Occupations, 250.
Population, 242, 345, 364.
Race and nationality, 302, 305, 306.
Sex, 40, 41, 51, 76, 78, 105, 142, 143,
247, 251, 323.
Suicide, 241, 242, 244, 246, 247, 249,
250, 251, 256.
MASSACHUSETTS, statistics of:
Age, 43, 59.
Births, 76, 78.115.
398
INDEX BY COUNTRIES.
Conjugal condition, 56.
Dwellings, 192.
Families, 192, 203.
Illiteracy, 194.
Infirm, 227, 228.
Marriages, 111.
Population, 347.
Race and nationality, 56.
Sex, 43, 76, 78.
Suicide, 241.
NORWAY, statistics of:
Age, 103, 105, 114.
Births, 68, 78, 80, 114, 319.
Blind, 213.
Conjugal condition, 51, 54.
Deaf-mutes, 213.
Deaths, 131, 142, 144, 145, 319.
Idiotic, 213.
Insane, 213.
Marriages, 95, 102, 103, 105, 109, 114,
117, 118.
Migration, 317, 319, 321, 323.
Pauperism, 232.
Population, 345.
Race and nationality, 115, 300, 301,
305, 306.
Religious confession, 197.
Sex, 40, 51, 103, 105, 142, 323.
Suicide, 241.
OCEANIC ISLANDS: population and
area, 344.
POLAR REGIONS : population and area,
344.
Portugal: population, 345.
Prussia, statistics of :
Age, 60, 61, 103-105, 176-178, 247,
248.
Births, 70, 79, 80, 82-84, 113, 115.
Blind, 216.
Cities, 58, 140, 246, 367.
Conjugal condition, 55, 108, 216, 218,
279.
Crime, 271, 277, 279.
Deaf-rnutes, 218.
Deaths, 131, 133, 137, 140, 142, 144,
145, 163, 176, 177.
Disease, 163, 251.
Illiteracy, 195, 196.
Marriages, 95, 98, 99, 102-105, 108,
110, 112, 113, 115-117.
Migration, 59, 320, 330-332.
Occupations, 104, 116, 201.
Population, 242, 346.
Race and nationality, 294, 296.
Religious confession, 79, 83, 99, 110,
115, 133, 216, 218, 245.
Sex, 55, 58, 59, 102-105, 142, 195, 247,
248, 251.
Suicide, 241-248, 251, 253, 254, 256.
ROUMANIA, statistics of:
Deaths, 142.
Illiteracy, 196.
Marriages, 118.
Population, 345.
Sex, 142.
Russia, statistics of:
Age, 105.
Deaths, 142, 144.
Illiteracy, 196.
Marriages, 105, 118.
Migration, 317, 321, 323, 325.
Population, 345, 364.
Race and nationality, 295, 305, 306.
Sex, 105, 323.
Suicide, 241, 250.
SCOTLAND, statistics of :
Age, 46, 105, 222.
Births, 68, 76, 80, 82, 319.
Blind, 213-215.
Cities, 136, 191, 367.
Crime, 2G3, 264, 267, 287.
Deaf-mutes, 213, 217, 218.
Deaths, 131, 136, 319.
Dwellings, 187, 191.
Families, 184, 191.
Idiotic, 213, 221, 222.
Illiteracy, 1!!4, 196.
Insane, 213, 221, 222.
Marriages, 95, 97, 105.
Migration, 42, 319, 321, 323.
Occupations, 199, 201.
Pauperism, 229.
Population, 346.
Race and nationality, 295, 305.
Sex, 40, 42, 44, 76, 105, 194, 201, 229,
323.
Suicide, 241.
Servia, statistics of :
Deaths, 142.
Illiteracy, 196.
Population, 345.
Sex, 40, 142.
Spain, statistics of:
Births, 75n., 80, 113.
Cities, 367.
INDEX BY COUNTRIES.
399
Crime, 287.
Marriages, 113.
Migration, 321, 329.
Population, 345, 364, 365.
Suicide, 241.
Sweden, statistics of:
Age, 105, 114. 177.
Births, 68, 75 n., 78, 80, 82, 113, 114,
319.
Blind, 213, 215.
Conjugal condition, 51, 54.
Deaf-mutes, 213.
Deaths, 131, 140, 142, 144, 163, 177,
319.
Disease, 163.
Idiotic, 213.
Illiteracy, 196.
Insane, 213.
Marriages, 95, 97, 102, 105, 109, 113,
114, 118.
Migration, 317, 319, 321, 323.
Pauperism, 232.
Population, 242, 345.
Race and nationality, 300, 305.
Religious confession, 197.
Sex, 40, 51, 78, 105, 142.
Suicide, 241, 242, 246.
Switzerland, statistics of:
Births, 68, 76, 78, 80, 114, 319.
Conjugal condition, 51, 54.
Deaths, 131, 142, 143, 163, 319.
Disease, 163.
Dwellings, 193.
Families, 184, 193.
Illiteracy, 196.
Marriages, 95, 102, 111, 114, 118.
Migration, 318, 319, 321, 324.
Population, 344.
Race and nationality, 295, 310.
Religious confession, 197.
Sex, 40, 51, 76, 142, 143.
Suicide, 241, 244.
TURKEY : population, 345.
UNITED STATES, statistics of:
Age, 45-49, 323.
Births, 69, 76, 78.
Blind, 213-215, 228.
Cities, 171, 185, 186, 188, 192, 246,
301, 366-369.
Crime, 268, 269, 273, 278, 325.
Deaf-mutes, 213.
Deaths, 133.
Diseased, 226, 227.
Dwellings, 187, 188, 192.
Expectation of life, 171.
Families, 184-187, 192.
Idiotic, 213.
Illiteracy, 196.
Insane, 213, 221.
Marriages, 111, 118, 120.
Migration, 42, 43, 317, 318, 321-328,
330,334.
Occupations, 200, 324.
Pauperism, 232, 234.
Population, 346-353, 355, 368.
Race and nationality, 46, 48, 49, 69,
111, 133, 171, 196, 233, 273, 274,
296-306, 308, 310, 322, 323, 334, 335,
373-376.
Religious confession, 198.
Sex, 40, 42-44, 76, 78, 171, 200, 215,
233,278.
Suicide, 241, 246.
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