een demonstrated that the women who belong to Phi
Beta Kappa and other honor societies, and therefore represent a second
selection from an already selected class, have a lower marriage rate
than college women in general.

In reply to such facts, the eugenist is often told that the college
graduates marry as often and as early as the other members of their
families. We are comparing conditions that can not properly be compared,
we are informed, when we match the college woman's marriage rate with
that of a non-college woman who comes from a lower level of society.

But the facts will not bear out this apology. Miss M. R. Smith's
statistics[106] from the data of the Collegiate Alumnae show the true
situation. The average age at marriage was found to be for

_Years_
College women 26.3
Their sisters 24.2
Their cousins 24.7
Their friends 24.2

and the age distribution of those married was as follows:

_Equivalent_
_Percentage of married_ _College_ _non-college_
Under 23 years 8.6 30.1
23-32 years 83.2 64.9
33 and over 8.0 5.0

[Illustration: Wellesley Graduates and Non-graduates

FIG. 36.--Graph showing at a glance the record of the student
body in regard to marriage and birth rates, during the years indicated.
Statistics for the latest years have not been compiled, because it is
obvious that girls who graduated during the last fifteen years still
have a chance to marry and become mothers.]

If these differences did not bring about any change in the birth-rate,
they could be neglected. A slight sacrifice might even be made, for the
sake of having mothers better prepared. But taken in connection with the
birth-rate figures which we shall present in the next chapter, they form
a serious indictment against the women's colleges of the United States.

Such conditions are not wholly confined to women's colleges, or to any
one geographical area. Miss Helen D. Murphey has compiled the statistics
for Washington Seminary, in Washington, Pennsylvania, a secondary school
for women, founded in 1837. The marriage rate among the graduates of
this institution has steadily declined, as is shown in the following
table where the records are considered by decades:

'45 '55 '65 '75 '85 '95 '00
Pe