Canadians, although among English
Canadians the proportion of childless families is found to be almost
exactly the same (nearly 20 per cent) as among the infertile Americans
of Massachusetts. The annual Reports of the Registrar-General of
Ontario, a province which is predominantly of Anglo-Saxon origin, show
that the average birth-rate during the decade 1899-1908 has been 22.3
per 1000; it must be noted, however, that there has been a gradual rise
from a rate of 19.4 in 1899 to one of 25.6 in 1908. The report of Mr.
Prevost, the recorder of vital statistics for the predominantly French
province of Quebec, shows much higher rates. The general birth-rate for
the province for the year 1901 is high, being 35.2, much higher than
that of England, and nearly as high as that of Germany. If, however, we
consider the thirty-five counties of the province in which the
population is almost exclusively French Canadian, we find that 35
represents almost the lowest average; as many as twenty-two of these
counties show a rate of over forty, and one (Yamaska) reached 51.52. It
is very evident that, in order to pull down these high birth-rates to
the general level of 35.2, we have to assume a much lower birth-rate
among the counties in which the English element is considerable. It must
be remembered, however, that infant mortality is high among the French
Canadians. The French Canadian Catholic, it has been said, would shrink
in horror from such an unnatural crime as limiting his family before
birth, but he sees nothing repugnant to God or man in allowing the
surplus excess of children to die after birth. In this he is at one with
the Chinese. Dr. E.P. La Chapelle, the President of the Provincial
Conseil d'Hygiene, wrote some years ago to Professor Davidson, in
answer to inquiries: "I do not believe it would be correct to ascribe
the phenomenon to any single cause, and I am convinced it is the result
of several factors. For one, the first cause of the heavy infant
mortality among the French Canadians is their very heavy natality, each
family being composed of an average of twelve children, and instances of
families of fifteen, eighteen, and even twenty-four children being not
uncommon. The super-abundance of children renders, I think, parents less
careful about them."[99]

The net result is a slight increase on the part of the French Canadians,
as compared with the English element in the province, as becomes clear
when we compare the pro