Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 1.djvu/752

736 line of argument which has been employed with reference to other countries. The state of Maine had an excess of males in 1890. It is alleged that the cause of the excess is immigration from other countries and from other states of this country. The census reported, in 1890, 332,590 males and 328,496 females to be living in Maine, or 50. 31 per cent, of males. Assume that these numbers represent the population January 1, 1892. The recorded births and deaths in Maine in that year were:

Males Females Births 7-038 6.634 Deaths 5-939 6.175 Natural increase 1.099 459

If this natural increase of each sex by excess of births over deaths be added to the assumed population of January 1, 1892, the population at the close of the year, disregarding all immigration or emigration, would be males 333,689, females 328,955 or 50.36 per cent, of males at the end of the year instead of 50.31 per cent. at the beginning. This increase of .05 per cent, in the proportion of males would be due to biological causes, the inequality between the surplus of births in the two sexes. If the assumption involved in the illustration could be admitted, it would follow that the population of Maine has a tendency to develop by internal growth a slight excess of males. Similarly it might be shown that the population of a city usually tends by natural increase to develop an excess of females. The limit at which this tendency would be checked by the increasing number of deaths in the preponderating sex could be easily computed. Unfortunately, our scanty or untrustworthy materials make such a computation of little practical value.

Another method of showing that the excess of females in our cities is not due solely to migration is found in a study of their population by sex and age. For example, in New York City, according to the Police Department Census of 1895, the males under two years of age outnumbered the females, but between two and twenty-five the females were in excess. Now, it can