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The greater proportion of blindness among the foreign born whites, as compared with the native whites, is due to the difference in the age distribution of the two classes, 46.5 per cent of the foreign born white population being over 40 years of age, while 49.5 per cent of the native white population is under 20 years of age. The differences in the proportions for the native and the foreign born whites are further explained in the discussions under "ages of the blind" and "age at which blindness occurred."

The relation of nativity to blindness is shown in the following general tables:

Table 1 gives details of nativity, color, and age.

Table 3 gives details of nativity, color, age, sex, and age when blindness occurred.

Table 8 gives details of nativity, color, causes of blindness, and sex.

Age. -- Blindness, either total or partial, is so largely a defect of the aged, and occurs with so much greater frequency as the age advances and the population diminishes, that in any comparison of the proportion of the blind in the general population of different classes, such as native and foreign born whites, or white and colored, the age distribution of the population of each class should be constantly borne in mind. The differences in this respect account for many of the differences in the gross ratios, and it is only when ratios are compared for classes of population of identical ages that their relative liability to blindness can properly be inferred.

The proportion of the general population of the stated classes of each age, per 100,000 of all ages, is shown in Table VI.

Table VI. -- Proportion of the general population of each specified age per 100,000 of all ages.

The figures given in Table VI show that the proportions of the native white and the colored population comprised in the specified age groups are very similar, while the proportions of foreign born whites at ages above 20 years greatly exceed those of the native whites; the proportion of foreign born whites between 60 and 80 years of age-- the period in which blindness most frequently occurs-- being nearly three times that of the native whites (foreign born whites, 13,678 per 100,000; native whites, 4,779 per 100,000).

Table VII shows the classification, by degree of blindness, of the blind under 20 years of age, 20 years of age and over, and of unknown age, with respect to color and nativity, with the number at the specified ages per 100,000 of population in the same age group.

Table VII.-- The blind, by degree of blindness, age periods, color, and nativity.

It will be seen from Table VII that among the blind under 20 years of age the number of totally blind is practically the same as the number of partially blind -- 4,123 and 4,185 being the respective numbers. But among the blind 20 years of age and over the totally blind are much more numerous, the number of totally blind being 31,363 and of partially blind, 24,802.

It will also be seen from the preceding table that the number of totally blind under 20 years of age per 100,000 population of corresponding age is practically the same for native whites, foreign born whites, and colored, the numbers being, respectively, 12.1, 12, and 12.6. In the group 20 years of age and over the number totally blind per 100,000 of population is about the same for the native whites (70.8) and the foreign born whites (69.8), but is considerably greater for the colored (103.3) than for either class of whites.