Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/664

 POPULATION AND WAGES.

THE PSYCHO-ECONOMIC CHECK VS. THE SO-CALLED INSTINCT OF REPRODUCTION.'

The reader who is familiar with the memorable Essay of Malthus will not fail to notice the resemblance between some of the ideas here expressed and those contained in that great work. Nor is the resemblance purely accidental ; and for whatever opinions I entertain that are really Malthusian I am willing to acknowledge my indebtedness to the bold heretic. I am not, however, his defender, his follower, nor his commentator; and the doctrines presented in this article, whether Malthusian or not, I advance on my own responsibility.

It is an undoubted fact that the human race, like all inferior creatures, has the physiological capacity to produce, and does produce, more individuals than can satisfy the normal wants of existence, i. e., the wants on the satisfaction of which their bodily health and the full development of their lives depend. That an unrestricted exercise of the reproductive power is the source of much suffering is a proposition that can scarcely be contro- verted ; for, children being unproductive members of the com- munity, the means for their support must be subtracted from the generally scanty means that the parents can command ; the result being that both parents and children are underfed, poorly clothed and lodged, and fall easy victims to the ravages of disease, both ordinary and epidemic. To this subject I shall revert farther on ; but I would remark, in passing, that a numer- ous family, being a multiplier of wants, compels the workingman to offer his labor for what wages he can obtain, and, by increas- ing the demand for labor, naturally decreases the price of it.

In former times, to contribute new members to the commu- nity was supposed to be one of man's most imperative obligations.

■ This article was written nearly three years ago. Its statistical data are not later than 1896.

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