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12
It is not self-evident that the fact of a declining birth-rate is
an occasion for regret. If the birth-rate had declined uniformly
over the whole district it is doubtful if it could be considered an
occasion for regret. It is too readily assumed that decrease of
the birth-rate in this country is intimately connected with physical
degeneracy; but the unaided mother of a family, even when she
is fortunate enough to escape being a contributory wage-earner,
can rarely do justice to the numerous progeny which she is capable
of bearing. In many instances restricted child-bearing is compensated
in improved mothering of a fewer offspring. Of the
births that occur in the South-West Ward, in more than one-half
of the cases, the mother is employed in occupation outside the
home.
On the other hand, the fact remains that the human race
has now begun an experiment upon its reproduction similar to those
which it has in times past made upon its digestion and other bodily
functions. No one can tell what effects this quiet concealed and
yet widespread and persistent experimenting will have.
The crux of the problem lies in the fact that the larger the
family the less adequate the provision which can be made by the
parents for their children. It cannot be argued from this, though,
that declining fertility necessarily implies superior quality of the
offspring. Given a fixed income anywhere near the poverty line,
it is obvious that a parent can provide better housing, nourishment,
and education for two children than for five. Environmental
advantages which thus accrue to the diminished number of the
offspring outweigh the disadvantages of a slackening of the
intensity of natural selection operating upon a larger number of
children, some of whom must be weeded out. Again, are the
effects upon the health and morals of a nation of the employment
of artificial methods of restricting fertility so prejudicial as to
counterbalance the individual advantages? Opinions differ fundamentally
with respect to them, and it is very doubtful if some of
the measures which are being suggested to arrest the decline will
have the slightest effect.