A study of the State groups (Table IV) shows that in fifty-six groups the birth-rate is above the average for the United States and the death-rate from nervous diseases is below the average, and in thirty groups the birth-rate falls below the average and the death-rate from nervous diseases rises above that is, in eighty-six of the one hundred eight groups the phenomena oppose each other. The same study by States and Territories (Tables V and VI) shows that in thirty-nine of the forty-seven States and Territories the birth-rate and the deaths from nervous diseases are opposed; in twenty-six States and Territories the birthrate is above the average for the United States and the deathrate from nervous diseases is below, while in thirteen States and Territories the birth-rate is below the average and the death-rate from nervous diseases is above. The obvious deductions from such facts are (1) that the conditions that cause a high death-rate from nervous diseases lower the birth-rate and vice versa, and (2) that since, in two-thirds of the thirty-nine States and Territories in which the phenomena oppose each other, the birth-rate is above the average and the death-rate from nervous diseases below the average, the variations above and below the average in the remaining one-third must be proportionally greater; in other words, the conditions of life which cause such variations must be more intense. If civilization, as Mr. Spencer believes, be the cause of the lower birth-rate, we should expect a high civilization where the birth-rate is low. These conclusions are confirmed by the statistics. The thirteen States in which the birth-rate is low and the death-rate from nervous diseases is high, are Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Ohio. These States are acknowledged to have reached a higher state of civilization than most of those in the other group. They are more thickly settled, have a greater degree of wealth per capita, and possess more of the marks of an advanced civilization. |