The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-05-16
POPULATION
 AND PROGRESS
BRITISH ANXIETY OVER DECLINE
 IN THE BIRTH RATE.

IN THE BIRTH RATE.
 Bfshcp's warning--signincant | Statistics--survfval of the Un- ht-The vagrancy
 Problem.
 London Correspondence New York | Evening Post.
 There Is consternation in the breast of the British patriot. A bishop of the Church of England has sounded note or alarm in regard to the decline of the English birthrate, and as himself the father of eleven this prelate, the bishop of Ripon. speaks with author tty The bishop of London, though a ! bachelor. has had the temertty to take | up the cry. and the half-penny press are in full pursuit. That the English birthrate has declined IT per cent in the past twenty years is certainly | significant fact, and such a statement as the following, which is made by a London doctor with very large mid dle-class practice, cannot be waived | aside as mysteries. "The fact at pres | ent is." says this doctor. that the weekly birthrate in London shows a decline of nearly 400 births as com pared with the average of the past ten years. This means that London is los-
 
 dren year. which will mean probably 250,000 during the next ten years. I expect that the decline will be even more marked for I find that the idea that children are luxury to be avoid | ed is rapidly spreading among the working people. Twenty years ago. | the danger arose among the aristocra- cy; ten years ago it began to spread among the middle classes; now the lrf inc to ,xyt At,a We are not going to be bothered with children. We've got enough to do to keep ourselves The question is one which vitally affects the future of London, for the growth of this idea l brings us face to face with the fact | that before very many years the nat | ural increase of Londons population | will cease" The Bishop of London this week har- | angued large meeting of men on the l subject, and there is qquite a stir in the land. The bishop Is a good man and good citiben, but is perhaps more | important in order to get at the facts to quote what the President of the | Home Counties Branch of the Medical l Officers of Health has to say. Some persons" pr. Beale Collins states. claim that, although our birthrate is declining, our death rate is also going | down, and that we are, therefore. | steadily increasing, though at a slower rate of progress. This might be true if it could be proved that the saving Is in the bringing up of more children. and not in prolonging the lives of a greater number of the unfit Unfortu- nately, the improvident are so ham, pered by heredity, environment and lack of opportunity that those of their children who survive infancy and reach adult age are physically of little use for imperial purposes. The we'll to- do decline to burden themselves with large families. because they feel that large family would interfere with their social enjoyments. They would incur expense in putting many chill dren out in the world. and they decline to bring up children to fill places in a lower social position, just to benefit future generations in the empire. Of every six children born, one dies" con- tinues Dr. Collins. Among the poor 1t Is probably one in every five. This means loss of 150,o00 children a year. of whom at least 50,000 might reason ably be expected to grow Into strong men and women, 9n a really we'll or dered State premiums would be of- fered to the patriotic parent who brought up his children to be good cit izens. Why should the parent bring ing up a child to adult perfection be treated in the same way as the selfish bachelor who contributes no effective units towards the continuance of the empire?"
 Of course 1t is pointed out that this dlsinclination to bear the burdens of parenthood is worid-w wide affair. You know of 1t In America, as they have long known of 1t in France and other Continental countries. Even Australia knows of 1t, for a correspondent of The Sidney Bulletin recently pointed out that Australia, and particularly New South Wales, is in even a worse plight than England. In twenty years the New South Wales birth rate has fallen 30 per cent. Give us employment. constant employment" says this Aus tralian, and for one will marry. be- come a patriot and attempt to remedy the failing birth rate" Experience shows that this remedy would not be of general application. There is no lack of employment in America or France, and there is very little lack of 1t in England for those who really want to work.
 The bishops and the halfpenny press do not, 1t will be noted, admit for one moment that smaller families may be to the national advantage. They point to the curtailment of families as one of the first symptoms of a decadent race Just as the burden of clothing makes for physical strength" says one writ CT, 'so does the burden involved In the upbringing of a family conduce to greater morality and finer mental fibre" And this same writer is espe- cially disquieted because he sees the survival of the unfit. Large families occur not as formerly, in districts and among people whose conditions con duce to moral and physical health. but among the least healthful and desir- able sections of the community. We have heard of the case of a small coun- try town, five and twenty years ago. where the families of three married couples-a banker. a wine merchant and a hotel keeper-numbered sixty six. Of these forty-one attained man hood. We do not suppose 1t would be possible to find a parallel to this in- stance at the present day" Certainly such cases are few and far between. and apart from the personal appeal which the bishops are making no real ly serious remedy has as yet been put forward.
 The VagranT.
 Another social problem Is much in the mind of Englishmen just now. It concerns the eternal vagrancy ques ton. The tramp Is a perpetual nuis- ance in both the town and country life