336Section III.F. L. Hoffman.
I9°5’ ^ ^ shown that twenty years ago, of all the children born to native-
born mothers 70.8% were living, against 79.5% in 1905. In contrast, for
the foreign-born element the percentage of living children increased from
64.9 in 1885 to 75-7 in I905i The true significance of these results cannot
be determined without a complete analysis of the facts with a due regard to
the age distribution of the population and the duration of married life.
Considered with reference to religious belief, it is shown by the census
that of 33,727 married Protestants of all nationalities, 24,514, or 72.7%,
were mothers, and of this number 9,213, or 27.3%, were childless. Of
34,160 Roman Catholic married women of all nationalities, 27,438, or
8°-3%> were mothers, and 6,722, or 19.7%, were without children.
The number of married women of the Jewish faith of all nationalities
was rather small, but apparently the facts are quite conclusive. Out of
1,623 married women of the Jewish faith, 1,428, or 88.0%, were mothers,
and only 195, or 12.0%, were childless. Extending this analysis to the
native-born and foreign-born, it is shown that of the native-born married
Protestant mothers 30.7% were childless; whereas of the foreign-born
Protestant mothers only 19.4% were childless; of the native-born Roman
Catholic mothers 24.2% were childless; whereas of the foreign-born
Roman Catholic mothers only 16.9% were without children. Of the
native-born mothers of the Jewish faith 18.9% were childless; whereas for
the foreign-born Jewish mothers only 11.4% were without children.
Since the relative fecundity is largely conditioned by age, I give,
attached hereto, in Table I., the maternity statistics by divisional periods of
life, showing the numbers and percentages of native and foreign-born women
without children. According to this table, at ages 15-24 the percentage of
native-born married women without children was 42.7, and of foreign-born
married women, 33.2. The difference becomes more pronounced with
increasing age, and at ages 25-34 the respective percentages are 29.0 for
native-born married women, and 17.0 for the foreign-born; whereas at ages
35-45 the percentage of childless women for the native-born group is 22.9,
against only 12.2 for the foreign-born.
In Table II., the number of mothers, according to the size of the family,
is shown for the age period 15-45, amplified in more detail in Table III.,
which gives the data by divisional periods of life, or respectively, ages
15-24, 25-34, and 35-45. At ages 15-24, 60.3% of the native-born mothers
had only one child, against 53.4% for the foreign-born; but only 0.6% of
the native-born mothers had from six to ten children, against 0.9% for the
foreign-born. At ages 25-34, the proportion of native-born mothers having
only one child was 35.1%, against 22.6% for the foreign-born; the propor
tion of mothers having from six to ten children was 6.8% for the native-
born, against 12.9 for the foreign-born. At ages 35-45, the proportion of
native-born women having only one child was 23.$/Q, against 10.g/ for
the foreign-born; but the respective proportion of mothers having six to ten
