Fewer Babies

The Birth Control issue, which flits from State to State like fox fire, flared up last week in Wisconsin. A legislator named O'Malley had offered a bill stringently forbidding any advice or device preventing parenthood. Debate on the measure was customarily vigorous and. as is also customary, came to no conclusion last week.

The Wisconsin debaters on birth control argued in generalities about the nation's declining birth rate. Last week Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. supplied specific figures. Between 1921 and 1931, births had slumped 17% throughout the country. Connecticut's rate dropped 34.9%. New Jersey's 34.5%, Massachusetts. North Carolina, Rhode Island each declined by almost one-third.

Greatest declines occurred where the population is highly industrialized. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, Vermont and Kentucky registered decreases below the average.

New Mexico had the highest 1931 birth rate--28.4 per 1,000 population. Nevada had the lowest--13.2 per 1,000. New Mexico's rate has risen slightly the past several years. Contiguous Arizona has had no general downward trend. Both States have a large Mexican population.

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