ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the genesis, influence and eventual demise of Walker's theory. In Canada, some felt that their country's population history provides an even more convincing illustration. But Walker's analyses and criticizes as an ideological construct designs to allay the fears of old-stock Americans who felt threatened by change, it provides a significant example of the boundary-drawing process by which modern demography and statistics achieves a degree of scientific autonomy. One's view is that it became obsolete precise because it could not stand up to the various standards and devices that became intrinsic characteristics of demographic and statistical methodology in the late 1920s and early 1930s. In fact, Walker's theory offers an illumination to the complex relationships between the interpretation of numerical series, public and more expert-restricted debate, and politics. The chapter describes Walker's argument, and then presents the considerable support it rapidly gained.
