The fertility of the unfit / [W.A. Chapple].

  • Chapple, W. A.
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: The fertility of the unfit / [W.A. Chapple]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    2 8 THE FERTILITY OF THE UNFIT Now, it is a remarkable coincidence that in this very year, 1877, the Neo-Malthusians began to make their influence felt, and spread amongst all classes of the people a knowledge of preventive checks to conception. People were encouraged to believe that large families were an evil. A great many, no doubt, had already come to this conclusion ; for there is no more common belief amongst the working classes, at least, than that large families are a cause of poverty and hardship. And this is even more true than it was in the days of the Neo-Malthusians, for then child and women labour was a source of gain to the family, and a poor man's earnings were often considerably augmented thereby. The uniform decrease of the birth-rate is a matter of statistics, and admits of no dispute. It has been least rapid in the German Empire, and most rapid in New Zealand. With the declining birth-rate the marriage- rate must be considered Malthus would have expected a declining birth-rate to be the natural result of a declining marriage-rate, and a declining marriage-rate to be due to the practice of moral restraint, rendered imperative because of hard times, and a difficulty in obtaining work, wages, and food. Given the purchasing power of a people, Malthus would have estimated, according to his laws, the marriage-rate, and, given the marriage- rate, he would have estimated the birth-rate.