Here again the striking fact is that the death rate of wives is lower than that of single women of the same age. The only exception is at the age period 20 to 29, perhaps due in part to the influence of child-bearing at those years upon the mortality of wives and in part to the greater average age of the wives in that group. As women marry at the average age of about 25, the average age of wives between 20 and 30 would be noticeably above the average age of spinsters in the same group. The advantage of wives over spinsters in the matter of mortality, however, is far less than that of, husbands over bachelors. The mortality of widows and divorced women as a rule is higher than that of spinsters. It also exceeds that of wives, but not as much as the mortality of widowers and divorced men exceeds that of husbands. So, from the standpoint of mortality, marriage is of less benefit to women than to men. Attention has been called to the fact that these results differ widely from those drawn from insurance statistics, showing that the death rate of insured wives is higher than that of insured spinsters. Probably both results are correct for the classes to which they apply. The conclusions for New York are corroborated by the results in every foreign country which has made a similar analysis of its vital statistics. The divergent results reached by some students of insurance companies' experience, like other similar divergencies, can best be explained as due to the influence of selection. For example, the death rate of insured women is often higher than that of insured men of the same age, a result in striking contrast to the lower death rates of women in the general population, except perhaps in some countries among women between 20 and 30 years of age. This is probably due to the fact that a large proportion of men take out insurance policies even when they believe themselves in perfect health, while among the women who apply for and receive insurance a notable proportion have reason to suspect that their health is subnormal. Interstate Migration.-The census has given figures showing the state of birth of our native population for every census since the Civil War. Before that date the figures applied only to the free population, and therefore are not to be compared with the figures since emancipation. Between 1870 and 1900 the migratory tendency of the native population of the United States as thus measured was slowly diminishing. In 1870, 23.2 per cent. and in 1900 only 20.6 per cent. of the population were living outside the state of birth. But during the first decade of the twentieth century interstate migration increased with about the same rapidity as it decreased between 1870 and 1880 or 1880 and 1890, and the proportion living outside the state of birth is now nearly as great as it was in 1880. This increase in the amount of interstate migration holds true not merely of the country as a whole, but of every state west of the Mississippi River and of 11 out of the 25 states east of that river. The 14 states in which emigration of natives showed no increase between 1900 and 1910 included all the New England states. New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. The census figures, also, make it possible to determine what states have had a net gain and what a net loss through interstate migration. Those with a net loss are such as have contributed more of their native population to the population of other states in the Union than they have received from the natives of other states; those with a net gain are such as have received from other states more natives than they have contributed to the rest of the Union. Both in 1900 and in 1910 the United States was divided approximately by the Mississippi River into an eastern area, the states of which had suffered a net loss through interstate migration, and a western area, the states of which showed a net gain by interstate migration. But the division line is moving westward; in 1880 a number of states east of the Mississippi River, namely, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Mississippi, had gained more than they had lost by interstate migration, and even in 1900 this was true of every state west of the Mississippi River; but in 1910 it was not true of four trans-Mississippi states, in 1908 the Bureau of Immigration Iowa, Missouri, Louisiana and Utah. began the publication of figures by At all these censuses a few manufac- the aid of which it is possible to corturing or mining states east of the rect the error. For five years the Mississippi River, like the three south-annual reports of the Bureau have ern New England states, New Jersey, and West Virginia, and outlying states like Florida and Michigan, largely surrounded by water, had received more native immigrants than they had sent out. In shown not only the number of arriving aliens, whether coming to this country as residents or for a temporary stay, but also the number of departing aliens. During the five years 1908-12 the arriving aliens numbered Of the two races in the United 5,114,442, or an annual average of States of which the native population 1,022,888. But during the same period is composed, the white and the negro, 145, or an annual average of 525,829. the departing aliens numbered 2,629,the whites are the more migratory. This is shown by the fact that in The difference between the two cur1910 the native whites who were liv-rents, or the amount of immigration, ing outside of the state of birth were 22.4 per cent. of the entire number, but of the native negroes the corresponding percentage was only 16.6. This difference exists in the great majority of the old slave states and in four of the free states, namely, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kansas. For example, among the negroes native of Texas 9.3 per cent. were living in some other state, while of the whites native of Texas 13.8 per cent. had emigrated. But in all the western and nearly all the northern states the proportion of the few native negroes who have left the state is greater, and often much greater, than the proportion of the whites. Between 1900 and 1910 interstate migration increased among each of the main races. The proportion of native whites living outside the state of birth increased from 21.5 per cent. in 1900 to 22.4 per cent. in 1910; the proportion of native negroes outside the state of birth increased from 15.6 per cent. in 1900 to 16.6 per cent in 1910. IMMIGRATION in the popular or ordinary accepta- 1911-12. Insanity among Immigrants.-There has been much discussion of the growing burden of insanity upon the taxpayers and of the part in that burden to be ascribed to the foreign-born population. It has been frequently said that the rapid increase of insane in institutions is largely due to unrestricted or unsifted immigration. But this question has usually been discussed with too little appreciation Arrival and Departure of Aliens.- of the real nature of the evidence It is very common to think and write necessary to prove the assertion. Inof immigration into the United States sanity is essentially a disease of old as amounting to approximately one age. For example, in 1904 among million persons a year. For this pop- each 100,000 white persons 20 to 24 ular delusion, encouraged by a natural years of age in the general population, fondness for round numbers, the Bu- 83 were insane persons in institutions; reau of Immigration is in large meas- among those 40 to 44 years of age. ure responsible. Thus, in its annual 448 were insane; and among those 60 report for 1912 (p. 4), the statement to 64 years of age, 522 were insane. is found: "If the past decade is con- This indicates that insanity at ages sidered as a whole, it will be noted 60 to 64 is more than six times as that immigration has amounted to common as at ages 20 to 24. Any almost 1,000,000 aliens a year." But comparison which ignores this rapid increase of insanity with age and the | diverse age composition of the native and the foreign-born population is almost sure to be misleading. The insane in institutions are increasing with great rapidity in the United States, as in many other countries. How far this increase is due to and proves an actual increase of insanity, and how far it is to be explained by the extension of public provision for the insane in institutions, cannot be determined from the evidence in hand. The latest Federal figures regarding the insane in the United States are those for 1890 and 1904. By comparing the results of these inquiries with the census figures of 1890, 1900 and 1910, it is now possible to estimate the number of foreign-born white males between 35 and 39 years of age who are in institutions for the insane to every 100,000 foreign-born white males between 35 and 39 years of age residing in the country. Similar figures can be computed for each sex, each age and each nativity class, and thus more accurate comparisons than ever before can be made between the prevalence of insanity or at least institutional insanity among the native and the foreignborn at two different enumerations. The general result is to show that insanity is more common among the foreign-born than among the native of the same sex and age. This is true in all but three of the 56 classes compared. In seven of the 56 classes the ratio of insanity among the foreignborn is more than double that among the natives, while in 46 of the 56 cases the excess of insanity among the foreign-born varies from nothing to 100 per cent. In interpreting these figures two considerations should be kept in mind. In the first place, the insane in institutions are much more numerous relative to population in the North than in the South. In the southern states there were 116 such insane in 1903 to each 100,000 persons; in the northern states the proportion rose to 218. The simplest and most obvious explanation of the difference is to ascribe it, at least in large measure, to the more adequate provision of in stitutions for the insane among the wealthier and more densely settled northern states. If this interpretation is accepted, then the larger proportion of foreign-born insane in institutions can be ascribed, at least in some measure, to the fact that the foreign-born, living as they do mainly in the northern states, share in the proportions characteristic of those states. To test the conjectural explanation, the insane population in institutions in the several states should be classified by sex, age and nativity, and this information is lacking. In default of that information, I have estimated for New York State the number of native and of foreign-born white over 20 years of age in 1903 from the census returns of 1900 and 1910, and have compared the number of native and of foreignborn insane in institutions with these results. This method, though crude, is probably the best which the tabulations permit. It indicates that the proportion of insane in institutions among the foreign-born white adult population of New York State exceeds that among the native white adult population by about 38 per cent., a difference notably less than that indicated by the figures for the entire country. A second difference between the native and the foreign-born population, of much importance for the present purpose, is that the foreign-born live largely in cities. Insanity is more likely to occur in cities, or at least, if it occurs there, it is more likely to result in a transfer of the patient to an institution. Hence the larger proportion of insanity among the foreignborn is probably due in some degree to the fact that they are massed in areas where insanity is more likely to arise, to be detected, or at least to demand and secure institutional care. On the whole, then, the figures of 1903, compared with the census figures of 1900 and 1910, do not indicate an abnormal or alarming prevalence of insanity among the foreign-born population. They afford no reason to suppose that through either public or private agencies this country is being made a dumping ground for the insane of other countries. XVI. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS RECREATION ROWLAND HAYNES The Year's Progress. The year | A new feature of these statistics in 1913 has been marked by important the last two years has been the relegislation affecting the administra- ports of communities of less than tion of recreation; by the appearance 5,000 population, showing the spread of a new type of recreation survey, of the movement in small towns and namely, a survey of the efficiency of rural districts. recreation systems in certain cities and a working out of standards therefor; by extension in the special train ing of playground and recreation workers; by growth of the propaganda for wholesome recreation in rural communities and smaller cities; and by the progress of plans for an International Committee on Recreation. Public Administration of Recreation.-During the present decade the administration of recreation has been undergoing a change similar to that in the administration of public education in certain parts of this country a century ago, that is, from private philanthropy to public service supported by taxation and carried on by a public board. Hence most of the Growth and Status of Public Recre- problems of the year in cities have ation.-Reports for 1913 gathered been those incident to this change or, from over a thousand communities in some of the cities where the work for the Year Book of the Playground is oldest, to the reorganization of recand Recreation Association of Amer-reation administration on a sounder ica showed 342 cities maintaining basis. 2,402 regularly supervised playgrounds State Legislation. - Iowa passed a and recreation centers and employing law centering the supervision of rec6,318 leaders, directors and super-reation activities in the hands of the visors, in addition to about one-fourth school board. This law permits school as many more caretakers. About 60 per cent. of these leaders were women workers. These figures indicate an increase of 20 per cent. over 1912 in the number of cities maintaining such work. Forty-three cities stated that supervised recreation activities were opened for the first time in 1912, 70 cities for the first time in 1913. boards to appropriate money from their regular funds for recreation purposes, and to submit to the people the question of a separate tax for the support of recreation activities. Massachusetts passed a law for the appointment of a city planning commission in every city and town of 10,000 population or over. These commissions are charged not only with the usual tasks of a city planning commission in selecting sites for public buildings, parks and playgrounds, but also with the task of securing the better use of such facilities as already belong to the city. The growth of indoor recreation centers has been especially marked, returns showing 134 cities with 529 centers open evenings in their school buildings. In 15 cities streets were reported as set aside for play, besides 96 cities reporting streets reserved for coasting in winter. Twenty cities New York amended its school laws, reported bond issues for recreation authorizing school boards, except in purposes aggregating over $2,400,000. | cities of the first class, to equip, main tain and supervise recreation activities, to select sites and to levy taxes for the purchase, lease or improvement of sites for recreation purposes. The law also authorized school boards to permit the use of school houses and grounds for public-library purposes, social, civic, recreational and welfare gatherings, as well as for polling places and political meetings. The extension of the home rule principle by state laws is affecting recreation development in that it permits cities without recourse to state legislation to provide for commissions and other special forms for administering recreation activities. The New York, Michigan and Ohio home rule laws have during the year begun to be used to modify recreation administration in cities of those states. Municipal Provision for Recreation. -Richmond and Norfolk, Va., and Birmingham, Ala., passed ordinances providing for a public recreation system. In Boston the creation of the new Department of Parks and Recreation is significant as unifying administrative forms previously scattered and as recognizing other than scenic functions of the Park Department. The Charter Commission of Detroit provided in the new charter, to be submitted to the people in 1914, for a recreation commission in whose hands is placed the supervision of all recreation activities in the city whether carried on in school or park facilities; representation on the recreation commission of the different boards affected is provided for. The new charter of Cleveland provides for a division of recreation under the Department of Public Welfare. Wider Use of Public Facilities. Recognizing the urgent need for public recreation and that the provision of enough buildings and grounds exclusively for recreation purposes adequately to meet this need would entail either a prohibitive expense or years of delay, many cities have pushed vigorously for the opening of school houses and yards after school hours, the reservation of non-traffic streets during certain hours for play purposes, and the planning of public markets to be available for play use after market hours. Due to the same impulse 1913 has seen the opening of some new school buildings, the best adapted for recreation use of any that have yet been built. The first stage of park development in this country was the provision of one big park; the second stage was the provision of a series of large parks; the third was the welding of the series of parks into a system by connecting boulevards; the fourth has been the provision for the wider use of the parks, often by installing elaborate apparatus and field houses. During the year this stage has been further developed, especially in Chicago, by the outlining of a plan for the distribution on all kinds of public property of a larger number of recreation centers specialized for different age groups. Increase in Self-Support.-The year has seen an attempt to work toward the matter of self-support in a larger way. Late in 1912, at the American Civic Association meeting the Superintendent of Parks of Hartford, Conn.. outlined his plan of self-support of parks from refreshment and checking revenues, a plan on which he had been working for several years. In 1913 the Park Department of Cleveland extended the operation of municipal dancing pavilions in the parks, charging 40 per cent. less than the commercial dance halls and coming out several thousand dollars ahead of expenses. The Social Center Committee of New York City conducted a social center in one of the school buildings and demonstrated the possibilities of partial self-support. About 25 per cent. of the expenses of this social center were met by membership dues in clubs and from dances and entertainments. There is a wide difference of opinion as to the possibilities of selfsupport of recreation both as to the amount and to the distribution of the source of this self-support. Experience so far is not complete enough to give final conclusions, but the following tentative results seem to have been demonstrated: (1) Children using playgrounds and similar indoor activities cannot be expected to bear any appreciable amount of the expense. (2) There is no reason why adults who are paying considerable sums for commercial recreation should |