Lecture on U. S. Census of 1900

Under the auspices of the Department of Economics Professor W. F. Willcox of Cornell yesterday afternoon gave his first lecture on "Some Results of the United States Census of 1900." His subject was "The Birth Rate and Death Rate of the United States."

It is very difficult, he said, to obtain accurate statistics of the birth and death rates throughout the United States. The census results, which furnish the only means of ascertaining the vital statistics of the rural population, are inaccurate. According to the census statistics, the annual death rate in the United States is 16.3 per cent, of the total population. Professor Willcox, however, after a careful calculation of possible errors, places the death rate at 19.56 per cent, of the population. It is interesting to observe that the death rate of negroes is in some states 60 per cent, higher than that of whites. From 1890 to 1900 there has been a marked decrease in the death rate throughout the country. The birth rate in the United States is lower than that in Europe and during the past century it has steadily decreased.

Professor Willcox will lecture this evening at 8 o'clock in Harvard 1 on "The Population of the United States." This lecture will be open to the public.