Population

Philip J. Haag sends Theodore Roosevelt a postcard.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-09-11

President Roosevelt shakes a stork’s hand and says, “De-lighted! You’re a grand old bird!” He holds a paper in his hand that reads, “Births in 1906 in greater New York 111.772 an increase over 1905 of 8.000.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The motif of cartoonist Felix Mahoney’s drawing in the Washington Star is one of Theodore Roosevelt’s peripheral crusades, but one of fierce advocacy, “race suicide.” He believed that hardy races in world history advanced in numbers and territory, as well as cultural achievements; and he was alarmed at falling birth rates among European and American populations.

Blank form for reporting basic demographics of barrios in the Philippines.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-12

Typed excerpt from Chapter V of Theodore Roosevelt’s Autobiography, Applied Idealism, in which he discusses gender relations and roles in society.

Collection

Dickinson State University

Creation Date

1913

A newspaper article describes the upcoming nuptials of Thomas Collier Platt and proposes that “old men” like Platt must save the human family from race suicide. The writer suggests that a few words of encouragement from President Roosevelt would be in order.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903

“The Idle Stork” has little to do as the upper class chooses not to have children, whereas “The Strenuous Stork” is being worked to death by a population explosion among the lower class.

comments and context

Comments and Context

As is the case in the 21st century, the birth rate among American whites and “old stock” declined at the turn of the last century. There is a double-reference to Theodore Roosevelt in Ehrhart’s cartoon. The first is the very theme and the caption. One of the president’s extracurricular campaigns was to preach against low birth rates, small families, willful sterility, what he called “race suicide.” He believed that all families, not only Anglo-Saxons in the United States, should be large; that increasing the family lines and “being fruitful and multiplying” was incumbent on healthy citizens. He sent letters of congratulation to parents of large families when he learned of them. In turn, a number of children during Roosevelt’s presidency were named Theodore.

Theodore Roosevelt writes William Sidney Rossiter that he would be glad to see the memorandum published but cautions Rossiter to review it carefully so as not to “convey a false impression.” Roosevelt suggests Rossiter “emphasize that there are different conditions in different countries” in regard to limiting of population and points to China, France, and Germany as examples.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-28

Theodore Roosevelt found Professor Ross’s article on China to be interesting and important. With France dying due to excessive limits on population and China because rational limits will not be set, Roosevelt favors a middle course. He does not recommend enormous families but believes that if the average American family does not have three or four children the “American blood would die out.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-11

Theodore Roosevelt cites the last census to inform W. N. Mitchell that about three immigrants arrived in the United States for every two children born to American parents. Roosevelt writes that this is “the worst showing about our natural increase rate that has been made in any census.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-05-05

Theodore Roosevelt does not believe that the wars in France had anything to do with the decline in the French birthrate, as William G. Taylor suggests. Roosevelt points to the fact that the French population increased during the Napoleonic Wars. Roosevelt cites the belief of President Wheeler of the University of California that nations with low birthrates lose their ability to successfully fight wars.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-04-21

Theodore Roosevelt thanks Dr. Guthrie for his letter and pamphlet. He will send Guthrie’s letter to The Outlook, but they have not taken anything from Roosevelt about “race suicide.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-11-25

President Roosevelt is already familiar with Stanford University President Jordan’s work The Human Harvest, and agrees with much of what he wrote. Roosevelt adds, however, that he feels melancholy that even when there is not such a war that kills the bravest men of the nation, “the best men nevertheless seem content to let the citizens of the future come from the loins of others.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-14

President Roosevelt has received the tables of census data from William Sidney Rossiter, which he thinks are “rather melancholy.” He believes they suggest that by the middle of the century, the population of the “civilized races” will have stopped increasing. However, he notes that it is possible that by then the country will have been “aroused to the moral side of the matter,” and that trend will have changed.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-11-19

President Roosevelt hopes Albert Shaw can add a footnote to his letter. He thinks it important to add that he agrees with Professor Edward Alsworth Ross, who has stated that middle class families having only one or two children would lead to extinction.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-04-18

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-04-03

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Recipient

Shaw, Albert, 1857-1947

In response to Reverend Smith’s suggestion that families with fewer, but better cared for, children are better for the state than large families, President Roosevelt encloses a copy of his address to the Mothers’ Congress. Roosevelt strongly believes that advocating for smaller families would lead to the collapse of the country and western civilization as a whole.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-01-24

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-06-24

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Recipient

Haggard, H. Rider (Henry Rider), 1856-1925

This newspaper article discusses Germany’s increasing prosperity and rapid population growth, including statistics for birth and death rates. A comparison is made to England and/or the United Kingdom.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-01

Ahyatt J. Smith sends Theodore Roosevelt a picture of his three-month-old triplet sons. His family now consists of five sons, which he regards as fine for a common, laboring man concerning race suicide.  

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-02

Martin M. Hester was reading Theodore Roosevelt’s speech at the Congress of Mothers. He notes some of the changes in the local population he has observed over the last 84 years. Anna Cary Southgate used to care for prospective mothers in the area and only charged one dollar. Since her death, women have to see a doctor, who charges upwards of fifteen dollars. Hester believes that women would have more children if the state paid for such medical care. He asks Roosevelt to do something about this. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-11-09