The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-16
RACEDECGDENCE The DANGER
HIGHEST BIRTH RATE IN THE
LOWEST SOCIAL GLASS;

HhU EoA nAhAH hHAb u" A"N
LOWEST SOCIAL CLASS
- ~ - A..
Sir james Crichtoa.BrOwme Draws EAW.
lands AttentiOn 20 Another Phase %
the Problem support Prem the Rural
Population Rapidly Being weakened.
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LONDON, Sept. iS!-WidsspreAd attention
has been attracted by the alarnist opinions
expressed on certain vital social prOblsma
by Sir James Crichton-Browne In bis proSi-
Dental address to the sanitary INSPECTOR
congress. He discussed race suicide not
from the point Of view Of . falling birth
rata but In regard 70 tho cloae relation
ship existing between undesirable social
conditions and . high birth rate. .
He quoted startling statistics which
proved that in districts where there VI q
overcrowding. where there was q super
abundance Of the lowest type Of labor,
who're infant mortality was greatest, where
there q the most generaa ~pAupersm,
where signs Of bad environment, like
phthisis, were most abundant, and where
pauper lunatics were most numerous, the
wives OF reproductive ages had the most
children. Where there was more culture
and education, a. shown by a higher pro-
portion OF professional men, where there
was more comfort and leisure, As shown
by b higher percentage Of domestic ser
vants, there the birth rate was lowest.
Wives in districts Of the least prosperity
and culture had the largest families and
the morally and socially lower classes OF
the community were reproducing them
selves with the greatest rapidly. -
We had, he said, to lea with a reduced
fertility in the more intellectual, the more
prosperous, the more thrifty n cleanly
classes Of the community which could not
be accounted for byA variation in the mean
age Of possibly productive wives. We
we're confronted by diminished fertility,
lessened exercise OF fertility or deliberate
restraint Of fertility among the klite Of our
people. Bearing in mind that rs per cent.
OF the married population produced so
per cent. Of the next generation and that
mental n moral traits were not lees heredi-
tary than ySorporeal appearances, Il was
impossible % e~kaggerate the Importance
OF the problems that were raised by the
figures he had adduced.
IL we were recruiting our population
from the poor and mentally and ,p~hysically.
feebler stocks ofthe community alta greater
rate than from d. better and more Capable
stocks, then they gradual deterioration Of
the race was Inevitable. Weeds would
accumulate and good grain grow scarce,
and IL the relationship between inferior
social status me d high birth rate in towns
had practically doubled during the last
fifty years the outlook was gloomy.
Some hope might be. founded on the
fact that the operative causes of the low
birth rate had not yet affected the rural
population. from which we might hope to
draw invigorating elements. The relative
fertility of women living in the country
was from 8 to II per cent. greater than OF
women living in towns, but urhanization
was going on at a rate hat must rapidly
reduce and before long cutoff the supplies
from this source Of sound progressive
human material.
The complex problem d connected With
racial, industrial, economical and religious
"a we'll as social conditions, but in the
main the decline must be ascribed either to
physical degeneration affecting the repro
ductive power and diminishing fecunditY |
or 70 wilful and systematic prevention Of
child birth. The deterioration of the
moral standard which the practica Of race
suicide implied was itself an indication
Of debility and decay. II race failure was
being manifested more rapidly in the Su-
perior than in the inferior varieties Of the
race, If the reduction In size OF families
had begun at the wrong end Of the social
scale, then national ~decadence and disaster
must be anticipated.
We must not wrap ourselves up, in racial
self-conceit, he said. We must net forget
Greece and Rome and the Byzantine En-
pire. The racial struggle for existence is
not over and finally decided in our favor.
The strategy Of the struggle and the
weapons employed in it are changing daily,
but it Is going o.. and il thu second$Hague'
conference werer to succeed to- morrow
in abolishing war and securing universal
disarmament it would only mas%<the con-
fict and, perhaps hasten the catastrophe,
and a declining birth rate, especially . de-
clining birth rate among the best breeds,
means.a diminjshing racial resistance,
The entire press discusses Sir Jarnes's
warning in a much more sober spirit than
it has before devoted to the subject. lite
previous references to the problem have
been largely confined to remarks in aay-
thing but a serious vein in regard to PreeS
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