Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/667

 POP ULA TION A ND I VA GES 651

be : in Paris, 28 among the poor, and 20 among the rich ; in London, 35 among the poor, and 25 among the rich; in Naples, between 39 and 50 among the poor, and between 24 and 28 among the rich. Among the richest Parisian classes the aver- age birth-rate per 1,000 is 16.4, and among the poorest classes it goes as high as 38.8.' And, if we compare the birth-rates of various countries, we may notice that, broadly speaking, the greatest number of births occur where poverty is greatest, wages lowest, and the death-rate highest.

It is not to be inferred, however, that mortality depends on the birth-rate alone, nor that the birth-rate is invariably high where poverty is great. That a great mortality must accompany a high birth-rate in a country where poverty prevails can be regarded as an axiom ; and that the birth-rate, and consequently the death-rate, is greater among the poor, is a truth established by actual observation. But it does not follow that the ratio of births to mortality, or of births to wealth, is a constant quantity ; nor that, because England has a greater birth-rate than Belgium, it should have also a higher death-rate, or the English laborer be in worse conditions than the Belgian. There is no intrinsic rela- tion of cause and effect between poverty and fecundity ; and if a country is in possession of abundant means of existence, its inhabitants can multiply rapidly and yet be relatively prosperous and happy. England, owing to her great manufacturing enter- prises, her extensive commerce, and her rich colonies, as well as to her progress in agriculture, is enabled to supply employment and high wages for a great portion of her people ; so that, the facilities for supporting a family being proportionably great, and sanitation being considerably advanced, mortality among the working classes, and in the early periods of life, has been very much reduced. The case is simply one of a rapid increase of population followingacorrespondingly rapid increase of the means of existence. A very important factor influencing the growth of the English population is that, owing to the common language and the similarity of habits, emigration to the United States

'F. NiTTi, Population and the Social System (London and New York, 1894), PP' 154-8.