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14
shall have descended to a much lower birth-rate. It is not so
much the facts recorded, as the tendencies revealed by those
facts that constitute the real problem of the decline in our
natality.
It will be seen from the last table that the birth-rate varies
widely in the three registration sub-districts that make up the
Borough of Battersea. The variations in the birth-rate are
associated, in inverse order, with variations in the standard of
comfort, the rate rising as the standard of comfort is lowered.
The North-Western sub-district is distinctly the poorest part of
Battersea, and it has the highest birth-rate. In East Battersea,
although there is much poverty, the standard of comfort is on
the whole higher than in North-West Battersea, and the birthrate
is lower. South-West Battersea is chiefly occupied by
a middle-class population, the working-class element being comparatively
small, and it is here that we have the lowest birth-rate
recorded in the Borough. It would seem that the influences,
whatever they may be, making for a low birth-rate operate with
greater force as the standard of comfort of the population rises;
and an examination of the variations in the birth-rate in the
metropolitan boroughs provides additional support for this
hypothesis.
With the information at present available, the standard of
comfort of a district is perhaps most readily estimated by the
proportion of domestic indoor servants to families or separate
occupiers ; and in the Census Returns this information is given
for each of the metropolitan boroughs. In the next table it will
be seen that in the boroughs where the percentage proportion
of domestic indoor servants is high the birth-rate is low, and
vice-versa.
It is evident, however, that there is a source of error in
these comparisons if the birth-rate be calculated on the total
population. Domestic indoor servants are almost invariably
unmarried, and they constitute a non-productive element of the
population. Hence, any district having a large proportion of
domestic indoor servants may be expected to have a comparatively
low birth-rate, if the rate be calculated on the whole
population. This source of fallacy can be avoided if we can state