Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/680

 664 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

Belgium, the departments and provinces where the birth-rate is the greatest are also the poorest and the most ignorant, and those where labor is scantily remunerated. In Germany, he says, instruction is no doubt widely spread, but the people still cling to the religious and political ideas of the dark ages : they have little love of freedom, equality, and independence ; and their wages are as low as their aspirations are limited.

Of course, no one acquainted with the great complexity of demographic phenomena would expect the foregoing statements to be more than general conclusions, which must be modified in accordance with the special circumstances and peculiar condi- tions of different countries."

It seems, then, that civilized mankind is solving the popula- tion problem on the lines pointed out by Malthus. Although the motives prompting people to this line of conduct, and the means adopted, are not always as " pure" as those advocated by the reverend author of the Essay, the bare fact cannot be denied that reproduction is becoming more and more a matter of careful calculation. Nor can it be denied that when these feelings and this conduct become more widely spread among the working classes, their condition will be by far better than it is at present. It is obvious that their unchecked (and effective) exercise of the reproductive power is always accompanied by much misery, arising from the double cause of mortality and competition ; for, while some of the children produced are doomed to die of indi- rect starvation, those who survive become rather the antagonists than the partners, or helpers, of their parents, especially where children are extensively employed. And here I would call atten- tion to a very common opinion, founded on arguments that appear to me erroneous and fallacious. It is claimed that a numerous offspring is burdensome and expensive in their early age only, when the parents, being young and strong, are capable of providing the necessaries of life for a large family ; that, as the parents advance in age and decline in energy, the children

■ Thus, in estimating the prolificness of marriages, the age of marriage (usually influenced by the psycho-economic check) is a very important factor to be considered. The marriage-rate, again, is greatly dependent upon the number of persons between the ages of twenty and thirty.