1937-04-27 — Page 11

THE CHINA MAIL, APRIL 27, 1937.

11

How National Birth - Rate Could Be Raised

SIR

Family Endowment Against Race-Suicide

8

I agree that they will not on the humane work of birth-con-

The plain fact is that, with exist- IR Walter Langdon-Brown' in Meanwhile we may notice that he

1e occurred in fact in a period of great- recent comments on the fall- endorses the view that "contracep- progress in increasing the pro- ing birth rates, our country will be- No econo ing birth-rate, writes with studied tive methods were the means and bability that any given children will come rapidly derelict.

and mist would support the view that moderation, but he uses certain ar- not the cause of the declining birth- have a comparatively happy

ex- a too decent life. Why should we

reduction of numbers would re- guments which, just because they rate." This puts the matter

these move the causes of unemployment, appear sensible and are widely cur- simply. Innate disposition and the pect. further progress along rent, require correction.

environment act and react on each lines to set up a reverse tendency? and many modern economists hold

that the declining birthrate is In the first place it is necessary other, and potential tendencies may

increased un- to get the setting right. The aver- remain latent in the absence of any Substantial Endowment factor making for

Sir Walter Langdon-Brown writes employment. age size of the family has been fall- means of giving effect to them.

be If all these things were done, and ing in Britain for more than So long as family limitation could that "people are not going to 60 years, and has now reached a only be secured by heroic measures bullied or bribed into having chil- the fundamental conditions sound, would have nothing but praise level at which eventual extinction of moral restraint, ambitions, de- dren.”

But the bribe is a dif- for t and a very rapid dwindling in the sires and the idea of the "good life" be bullied.

trol clinics. But when one realises comparatively near future are in- were adapted to the large family, ferent matter. evitable.

which was taken as a basic assump-. All attempts in this direction on what a far cry it is to the realisa- tion. Now all that is changed; with the Continent have been pettifog tion of a generous family endow- My construc- ment scheme and the reversal of Britain Leading Decline the new means of family limitation ging in the extreme.

A similar process has been at we have a different orientation. tive proposal is such a generous scale the process of race suicide, work in the other countries of Nor- A new kind of life becomes pos- of family endowment that the par- praise requires qualification. thern and Western Europe, in the sible. Desire feeds and grows on ents of four or five children will United States and Australasia. In opportunity.

Is not this the prin- not be worse placed than those of other white lands the position is not ciple on which modern advertising one or two in the same walk of life. yet so bad, the decline in births is based? It is easy to point to To cover the bare cost of main

psychological factors having begun later; but it is still the

which tenance will not suffice. The endow~ But with- ment must be sufficient to provide in process there, and we have every cause the small family. reason to suppose that it will con- out the sine qua non of opportunity the extra children with such educa- tion and opportunities as the par- tinue on the same lines. It also they would have remained latent. seems likely that we have not yet reached the limit of family reduc tion in this country; in that case the dwindling will be

rapid.

still

The continued existence of

more

the

By R. F. Harrod,

Walter

Oxford University Lecturer in Economics sery business over and done

that

too

Danger Of "Spacing"

It is one thing, when another child endangers the life of the mother. But Sir

Langdon-Brown talks of encouraging people to space their children. This may be sound hygiene, but it is possible that it is inimical to the larger family; it may be wiser, given the tempera- ment of women to-day, to encourage the mother to get the tiresome nur--

with quickly. The effect of “spacing" white peoples is seriously threaten-

In this sense of cause, contracep- ents would choose to provide for may often be that for one reason or ed; those who are particularly in- terested in the relative magnitude tion must surely be given pride of the first or second; and there should another the postponed children never

place. But it is fair to add that be such provision of excellent col- see the light.

And it must be emphasised that of the British population must re- member that we have an unenviable the followers of Malthus in the nine- lective nurseries available for occa-

teenth century' (of whose apecula- sional use, as to leave parents with if there is a conflict between what lead in this matter, and that in the

tions modern birth control pro- that degree of freedom, the desire makes for a larger family and a immediately coming generations we shall have got quite small and un- Paganda is a belated and anachronis- for which in the modern world 100 per cent. hygienic standards, the ancestors, to whom we owe all we important while other white peoples tie aftermath) did not appreciate makes so strongly against the pro- former must have priority. Our

that growing affluence would, by duction of the extra children. are relatively abundant; in the course

If these conditions could be realis- have, could not afford to be of those generations the balance of offering rival attractions to that of power in the world will be revolu- domestic felicity, be inimical to the ed I believe that there is quite suffi- squeamish. Our paramount duty is large family. Greater affluence is cient parental instinct left in the to see that the torch of human life Sir Walter-Langdon-Brown points doubtless a cause of the low birth- world of to-day to put the future is not put out upon this planet. out the danger ("the fallacy") of rate. It should be observed that of our race on a secure foundation. Compared with this, the humani- These proposals sound very cost- tarian feelings of Sir Walter Lang- this affluence, like birth control, has

must be given second long-term deductions from statistics

come to stay.

ly. But if the "pooling" or "equa- don-Brown alone. "If statisticians had com-

lisation fund" system were adopted place. puted their curves in population in Not Due To War Fear

the burden would not be great. With 1871, when the birthrate was at

a birth-rate much higher than cars its height, they would have forecast I now revert to the one hope

and sufficient, the average number an enormous increase by this time, which Sir Walter Langdon-Brown

of dependent children per earning and they would have been wrong.", holds out for a reaction against pre- man would not be greater than one.

ེ་

sent tendencies. He thinks that the

Thus if a certain tax were levied

Every character in every 1871 No Real Peak present tendency would pass away not only on bachelors, but on all

movie by waving his But 1871 was not, as this sug- "under happier and saner" condi-

left hand·· of families without dependent backward in a circular motion can heads gests, a great peak; it was the end tions. This hope is entirely ground children, an equal sum could be of a high birthrate plateau stretch- less. ing back into the past for many

It is necessary to remember that paid out in respect of each child place it on a telephone.

in excess of one. For the scheme generations. They would, of course, it is the mass of the population to be effective it would be absolute-either flat broke and hungry have been wrong. They would have whose birth rate has fallen and not failed to allow for the great changes merely some narrow class groaning y necessary to have graduation, the

contributors at each level of due to easily available contraceptive under super-tax. The fall in the come having their own equalisation methods. But that is not a reason birth-rate has occurred in a period when the econo-

tionised.

fund.

Į

for our being ostriches with regard (the last 60 years, even allow Room For Propaganda

mic lot of

in

I Learn From The Movies

The characters in all films are

millionaires.

or

The hero and heroine never find themselves in states where the law

requires waiting a certain number of days before marrying.

Any woman over forty referred to the present situation.

to as Countess is a dangerous spy. The dwindling tendency has been ing for the incidence of unemploy-

This is my suggestion on the ma- Nobody in pictures ever looks in far too widespread and persistent ment, has been better than ever for any reasonable person, looking before in human history; and it has terial side. On the psychological a phone book without finding the

recent side it is probably quite true that number. at the gures, to be justified in become intensified in very

A unique sixth sense inherit with neglecting it.

times, when a still higher level has people will not have children for

the sake of national considerations. all actors enables them to drive like It is possible, of course, that the been achieved.

A man may be patriotic enough to fury to any particular office in Nor can the fear of war be called future may have in store some new

his life for his country gladly, strange city. factor, comparable in importance in; for the most spectacular

most yet not to make a permanent change Nobody connected with the plöt with the spread of contraceptive de occurred before 1931, when

elevator, vices, that will set up a reverse ten- people still cherished the illusion in his domestic arrangements. This need wait for the dency to that which followed 1871. that the world had been made safe is where Fascism has gone wrong. produce credentials, or pay for

All the same, there may be room for C.O.D. packages. But what factor is suggested? We for peace.

Automobiles start at a touch, and It has occurred cannot build our policy on such a

in a period too propaganda to combat the totally vague hope. Sir Walter Langdon- when the chances of the beloved erroneous but widely held views that upon stopping, the pulled-up emer Brown makes one suggestion which offspring being cut off by illness more children will mean more un-gency brake emits a smart clicking

sound.. I. shall deal with.

have been greatly reduced. It has employment, or more wars.

next