The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-04-03

| Atothuu WuiCH uIoSxCOntIOnoIyp ONoTty htTlCh'
on and those sections which measured BY an
Irish standard are exceptionally prosperous
Look. for example. at thetwo counties OF Mayo
and Down. one on the bleak const Of the Attain
tic. the other In thriving Ulster. but each con-
tanning By the census OF 1881 about the
same number OF inhabitants We should
promise that in the Irish census OF
the year named four classes OF dwell
fngs wore enumerated. Houses OF the
fourth class were defined as mud huts. with
only ono room and one window. while those OF
the third class were built OF loss perishable
materials and contained moro than single
window and single room. Now. In county Mayo
more than three fourths OF tho population oc-
cupied dwellings OF tho third and fourth class
es. while in county Down scarcely one-thiri
Of the people wero equally impoverished.
Again. in Mayo but little over ono eighth OF
the surface ia even susceptible OF cultivation.
whereas In Down nearly half Of the total area
is actually under tillaGe. Let us sec how those
two sections Of tho same country diffor In tho
| moral sentiment which tends to prevent illegit-
innate births. During tho ton years from
1870 to 1883 both inclusive. tho total
number OF illegitimato births in Mayo
was 1922. while In Down It was 1904.
However, those figures may DO accounted for.
theycertatply do not imply that restitution.
hunger. and chronic wretchedness arc provo
| cative OF sexualimmorallty. Similar COMPARE
sons have been made between different sec.
lions in Scotland France. Italy. and Swltzer-
land: they do not show that poor districts are
invariably the most virtuous. but they do
prove that there is nowhere such uniform
relation between the Indulgence OF people and
the prevalence OF illegitimacy as to Justify the
deduction that this phase OF moral delinquency
should be ascribed to poverty.
Another hackueyed text Of poets and specu.
lative moralists In oil ages Is the assumed
wickedness Of cities and contrasted virtue Of
rural populations. 1t Is doubtless true that
crime. considered as trade or profession,
, nourishes best in centres OF population. but
the statistics of England provo that the
percentage Of the vicious is smaller In ur-
ban than in rural communities Tho great
cities OF England nearly all show a pro-
portion OF ilegitimate births below the
rate prevalent In agricultural and rural
districts inhabited by an honest sober. in
dustrious. and estimable population. Thus
In 1880. out Of one thousand births the
illegltimats amounted in London to 80.
In Birmingham to As. and in Liverpool to
SO: whereas In North Wales they num-
bored II. in Westmoreland 72. in Cumber-
land and in SHROPSHIRE. each TO- There
arc certain sections Of England and Wales
whore every sixth. seventh. or eighth child Is
illegitimate: yet every one OF these districts IL
at some distance from any great city. It is q
striking fact that in three English counties ad-
joining each other. viz. Essex. Suffolk, and
Norfolk. the rate Of illesItimacy increases in
proportion to the distance from London. and
this popularity goes back to 1912. when sta
tistics on the subject were first compiled. So
much for the alleged effect Of urban contami- |
nation on sexual immortality.
We como now to ignorance generation |
ago It was an accepted axiom that ignorance |
was the chief cause Of vice and crime. It may |
be true that habitual criminals whose trans
eressions there Is now q tendency among |
scientists to ascribe to coneenital proclIvities,
are often found to DO destitute Of the rudi- |
ments Of education. It is equally certain that |
30 far as illegitImacy is concerned no deter
rent influence can be attributed to school
instruction. II We study the map Of
Europe We find that many countries
oil classes. such as Denmark. Norway
and Sweden. Prussia. Baxony. and Scot
land. show high rate Of illegitimacy. while In
other countries relatively illiterate. such as
Russia and Ireland. the rate is very low. Even
in the same country and under tho same laws
and institutions We do not find that virtue and
the spelling book are associated. Many years
ago 1t was observed that in Scotland the coun-
ties which show the highest proportion Of ille-,
gitimacy arc the counties which are in tho
highest condition as to education: while. on
the other hand. the counties which produce
the fewest illegitimate births arc those where
education is at tho lowest ebb. Tho same
phenomenon is remarked to-day Take, for
example. Kirkcudbright. q county In southern
Scotland: here 90 per cent. Of the women
married are able to write their names In the
register: showing o larger proper
ton Of women thus far educated than In any
country OF Europe or than In any county OF
England or Wales. Yet tho rate OF illegitimacy
which prevails in Kirkcudbright is year by
year greater than In any Of the eighty nine
departmen OF France. Paris alone excepted.
Similar facts have been observed in ireland.
During the ten year period 1870-8S there was |
not o twelvemonth in which the rate OF ille-
gitimacy was not four times as high in Ulster
rs In Connaught: vet education Is VIGOROUSLY
lar more general In the former province than |
n the latter. In France. putting Paris aside.
the departments whore ignorance OF tho |
alphabet Is most common are in many
,ases the very ones which hold the virtue Of
chastity In highest esteem. Finisterre. for
Instance. among the eighty-nino French de-
oartments. stands first for ilteracy. yet it's
ate for illegitimacy was but thirty-four per
ZOO births. less than that which prevailed
Turing the same time In any one of the coun-
les Of England. Wales, or Scotland. Mani.
estly. then. tho absence Of secular education ,
8 not sufficient or even an appreciable
ause Of sexual delinquency
Nv. :
We turn to tho effect Of religious belief upon I
luman conduct No one disputes that religion 7
8 ono OF tho most potent OF agencies In +:
hecking the passions and proclivities of the )
humen animal. At every stage, too,
1 the worlds history 1t has Influenced legisIa-
lon and tended on the whole to solidify and I
rystallize the best clements OF advancing CIV Z
lzation. Yet granting the immense force ex- r
rcised by religion upon the human conscience
n the abstract. Gun We say that its power a
epends in any sense upon tho truth OF r
Is dogmatio teachingsr At the first glance g
very reader would answer in the alIlrma- @